A Researcher's Inquiry II

A Researcher's Inquiry II
Date of Scene:	29 May 2013
Location:	Targ Woods
Synopsis:	Taking time out to assist in some Shinra work, Rhia has the good fortune of running into one of those on her list of people to question. ...It turns out to be a little more complicated than that. All hell breaks loose.
Cast of Characters:	Maira, Reno, Angantyr Vespar, Rhiannon Zellen, Montag, Ramza Beoulve, Cissnei
Tinyplot:	A Researcher's Inquiry

---

Reno has posed:
The sun was shining brightly in the small grassy meadow nestled in the Torg woods. Birds chirped and sang their territorial songs to one another from the tall branches of trees, and somewhere in the middling distance, a cockatrice was rooting about beneath a bush, munching on a petrified squirrel corpse.

The red-haired unkempt Turk known as Reno squinted as he looked up and about. He raised his hand to shield his eyes (above which rested his never-used but always stylish tinted goggles), as he turned towards where Rhiannon was poking about with her equipment.

"You almost ready to plant that beacon? We know there's mako energy 'round here, is this hill really that much better than the last one?" He complained. It had passed noon about an hour ago, Reno still hadn't taken his lunch break and the warm sunshine unfiltered by the various smogs of the city was starting to make him drowsy.

The turk leaned back against the parked ShinRa transport helicopter and enjoyed the small shady spot beneath the chopper's blades. "So boooored" He murmered beneath his breath. But not too loudly, lest his fellow employees berate him for it.

As it turned out, there was apparently a nice untapped vein of mako energy just waiting for a reactor to be built out here, and Reno was just about ready to wrap up this prospecting mission. Well, more or less he was just the pilot and security detail, he left the Sciency-stuff to the scientists.

Cissnei has posed:
Cissnei yawns a bit, having returned from a trip to Traverse Town where she had been keeping tabs on the Cetra..Things seemed pretty quiet over there however, and she'd eventually been summoned to the Torg woods to help oversee another important procedure. Knowing that this area might be mako rich has her a little intrigued, although she's not particularly scientifically incined either, so all she can really do is watch and wait.

When she spots Reno, she smiles a little, having not seen him since first stumbling into the world of ruin. It's good to see a familiar face however and she waves cheerfully to him as she comes towards him. "Reno, good to see you again..How go things here? We about ready to wrap things up?"

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
"Now, now, patience my dear Turk. All things in good time." Rhia responded rather airily, not minding the noise or the situation as a whole. It was a pain, but she still worked for Shinra, thus when she was called in to do some recon work, the scientist put her own research on hold to fulfill their needs. Her own would be taken care of in due time after all.

Haste makes waste and all that. "And yes, this hill certainly will prove to be much more desireable than the last one. He must go the highest point available for the greatest effect. Accept no substitutes and all that~" That said, Rhia resumed her prep work, fiddling with a keyboard and checking on an array of stats while the others did their thing.

"You complain about boredom an awful lot, you know. If it pleases you, why don't you go out and take care of that rumored Crushatrice that's been plaguing travellers. I hear there's a rather handsome reward for it's hide~" Of course that same Crushatrice, Klesta, did a number on Fluorgis before, so...maybe not. Leave it to her to make life threatening suggestions though! "In any case, once this beacon is planted, our work here will be all done. Now just sit back and make sure that no curious critters come to close~"

That probably included humans. ...Knowing her, definitely.

Montag has posed:
Montag had not got the full briefing had he got the full briefing he's be backing the hell off from this. Given hojo's likely involved on this somewhere and he looks over at Reno for a moment "Being bored is good it meanss we're not dealing with AVALANCHE, crazed SOLIDERs, screaming hippies, or rag tag adventuring sorts." He notes but it was admittly good to get out o f the tower. "So we need to keep things off the becons right? Maybe I can catch us dinner if it comes to it." So for the moment he's fairly unaware of what's up.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
There was rumors of a powerful mark haunting the Torg woods, Angantyr was known to seek out these kinds of marks, money was good to have prestige and the fame that came with them helped him get free drinks and meals...and it generally keeps the hostile population of the world down. Sure there are more monsters than Ang could ever kill in a lifetime, but...it doesn't mean that he can't make a sizable dent and make a few species endangered if not outright extint.

Maira was clinging to him today, which isn't a problem...with him was probably the safest place for her, all things considered...

Now:

A CRUSHATRICE screach can be heard screaming through the forest, as it goes into death throws. Angantyr and Maira can be seen from a distance if anyone goes to investigate it, Angantyr's body looks as if a dark heat haze is rising above his body. He backs away from the creature, looking back at Maira.

"Nice job." he says to her, "You're getting better at supporting and controling that magic." he says, with a small smile. The darkness starts to die, as the power flowing through it is sent back into him.

"Well, lets see if we can get anything good off of it, and take the part so we can get the bounty."

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
Chocobo feet pad through the forest behind the young leader of the Braves, who was taking a walk today..

Artemis was like to kill him, or at least maim him severely then double the guard over him for the next fortnight. But events as of late necessitated him to have time to himself, to consider.. well, everything.

Boco, was not so easily ducked. The fowl always seemed to know when he was about to do this, as if he were simply that in tune with his rider's thoughts. The bird had slipped away at the same time that he had. Their camp was currently entrenched on the opposite side of the Targ Woods.. Zack was snoring away, as always. The man went through fits of hyperactivity followed by fits of lethargy which were just as extreme. The last battle they were in, he'd actually slept until the second round. Else he'd probably be running circles around the Targ Woods, or shadow boxing with Artemis..

He'd hear the screech of the Crushatrice death, and vaguely he began to wonder if Artemis was out hunting.. possibly for him. Something might have just gotten in her way. As he ranged closer to the pair, he'd just look over the damage they'd wrought, before chuckling. "Well met, Ser Vespar.. Lady Maira. Let noone ever aver that you're unable to handle yourselves. What brings you this far afield? Mark hunting, I'd wager."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"No dinner." Angantyr quips, with a slightly friendlier tone, "Yes, a mark. I've had Crushatrice...not very good."

Maira has posed:
Maira isn't /clinging/ she is following! Traveling! Adventuring! Trying not to make a nuisance of herself. She's useful to have around, and she's hunted marks before too!

Still, when complimented she smiles widely, clearly pleased, her fire extinguishing as she approaches the downed monster, scorched in many places from her flames. "Heh, thanks. I've been practicing a lot," she replies, circling the great beast with curiosity.

"This should pay well at least!" hurray for being able to buy things! Things like food, clothes, shelter, maybe something shiny....

Maira will let Angan handle taking whatever they needed to claim the bounty, while she investigates the general area.

What do you know! She finds a knight on chocobo! "Eee!" she says, spotting Ramza, surprised by his sudden appearance. It takes her a moment to recognize him. "Oh, Ser Ramza! Uh, yes. A mark," she says, smiling anew. "What are you doing out here?"

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
"So have I." He replies back, "And let me tell you, it doesn't taste any better with nutmeg, despite Sheryl insisting on the contrary."

And he'd just smile at Maira, "Camping mostly. We're always on the move, for.. well let's just say it's a necessity, given the life we've chosen."

Maira has posed:
Maira nods. "Right, cause you're heretics," she says nonchalantly. Faruja, he talks a lot sometimes! She doesn't really share his opinion on the matter anyway. "Camping, huh?" she says, looking toward Angantyr. Are they camping? They seem to mostly stay at Inns. "Heh, we travel around a lot too. Its kind of a VALKYRI requirement!"

Reno has posed:
Reno grins back at Cissnei. "Yeah. ...Well, maybe?" Reno shrugged and nudged his head towards Rhiannon fiddling with her makeshift outdoor work-station (which was little more than a computer and some gadgets set up on a folding table in the field a few paces from the helicopter). Their scientist had gotten that glazed over 'oooh, science to do!' look in here eye- and that meant it was more or less useless if not outright counterproductive to try and say anything to her.

"So how you been, Ciss? Traverse Town been quiet lately?" Reno hadn't really gotten a good chance to chat with his colleague in a good while (they'd read reports from one another and left notes around the office, but that was hardly a social call). Since their world's fall to darkness, ShinRa has spread the turks a bit thin, sending them far and wide gathering information. But Cissnei seemed in goods spirits. Maybe she was finally getting over that SOLDIER crush of hers that went rogue and escaped? They never did track him down before the darkness chips hit the fan.

Suddenly, the dying screech of crushatrice tears through the air and sends a flock of more mundane birds flying off in alarm.

"Dinner huh?" Reno turns towards Montag. "Sounds like you ain't the only one with that on your mind, yo. We should prob'ly find out what made that before it comes crashin' through the treeline and wreckin' our stuff. Who wants to come with?" He asked, making a sudden brisk walk towards the origin of the noise and unsheathing his electro-prod weapon in anticipation.

Cissnei has posed:
Cissnei smiles and nods at her 'big bro'. "A little too quiet if you ask me. But I suppose I shouldn't be picky. Afterall, there seems to be enough apocalypses happening all the time, what with the heartless and all." She shrugs, "Just did some information gathering at Traverse. Keeping an eye on the Cetra and her..Interesting friends. Met a survivor from Nibelheim who seems to be keeping an inn and tavern in Traverse and Goug. Another useful source of information..

She leans in a little closer, a bit more conspiratorially. "I..Also hear that Zack may be alive.." There is hope in her eyes as she says that, although she is distracted from her private thoughts as Rhiannon speaks up about patience, and whatever findings she has discovered thus far. The young Turk cant help but smirk at her suggestion, nodding. "Hmmm not a bad idea..I could totally go for dinner later, too." She flashes a smile at Montag as he mentions that.

However, at the sound of a battle on the horizon, she frowns a little, nodding to Reno, "Let's go check it out." And she follows after, wielding her Rekka.

Montag has posed:
Montag says "Right right lets find out what it is. Also heh back on the job eh Ciss? Good, to see the darkness didn't eatcha."

Montag seems to mean a lot of Shinra grunts know they are still alive only due to Turk intervention over the years. It pays to have a good working reltionship with them after all. he mvoes to get up and move "Come on lets go see what it is."

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
"Maybe is hardly an answer for anything. You should try to be more definite. It helps. In more ways than one~" Rhia spoke distractedly, her eyes very much glazed over with that 'Ohoho, I'm a mad scientist doing mad scientist things' look as her fingers went clickety clack on the keyboard.

Soon enough the beacon was programmed and ready for insertion into the ground. Rhia wasted no time starting up the process and began to remotely control some sort of robotic utility droid to do just that. Far be it for a scientist to get their hands dirty now! It was in the middle of the planting though that the sounds of some creature being escorted to death's door caught her ears.

Being brought out of her working trance, Rhia turned her head, braids following in a way only gravity could dictate as she looked off in that direction. "My, well that certainly sounds troublesome." Now, normally, the scientist would leave the dangerous stuff to the Turks and soldiers posted. But it sounded as if whatever was out there was already in the middle of being killed. "Hmn...Hold on for a moment. I do believe I will accompany you." A couple commands typed into the console's keyboard and Rhia had programmed the droid to go through the motions automatically.

With that, the wutai native hopped off her seat and followed after the others, trailing behind safely. She kept her arms folded into her sleeves as she watched. Eventually, the group would come upon the sight of Angantyr, Maira, and...Ramza? Who was this? Either way, Rhia's interest was piqued and she removed a hand to wave slightly at them.

"Hello there~ Was the death of that creature out there your responsibility?" It seemed that question was directed only towards Ang. Tunnel vision much? "This is highly convenient though. I was looking for you." Pause. It seemed like she was trying to remember his name. "...Angantyr Vespar, yes?"

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr laughs a little..

"I know, right? Nothing I have tried...even making jerky from it hasn't managed to make it taste good...but there are good quality parts to make things out of at least." he asys, and pulls out a knife...

DOT DOT DOT...

Now they have all the money making parts. Yes, this is FF logic. Screw you.

"Well, we're just trying to make a bit of money, Ramza...gota have it for traveling." They do camp out if they aren't near a city by nightfall, it happens sometimes. ..And when Ang is really frugal. That happens more than anything. Ang is kinda cheap.

"Yeah...well, Heretics gota stay tog-..." he pauses...

"Someone's coming...I hope it is not scavengers." he says grunting...

The sight of the ShinRa causes Angantyr to grip the mace and smash into the ground infront of him....it is drawn, but it is also down. Signifying it is READY to be used, but he isn't crushing their skulls in yet.

The Wutai native addresses him, and he gives her a stare. "Yes, I heard you were looking for me, for whatever reason. I haven't done anything to the ShinRa, and thought we had a nice working relationship going?" he looks towards Montag. Then to the two Turks...the Turks have a reputation...

"So why are you looking for me?"

Reno has posed:
Reno pushes through the underbrush on his way, ducks under a branch, edges around some briars, instinctively electrocutes some hapless L.1 monster that happened to pick the wrong target to launch an ambush at, stubs his toe briefly on a rock hidden under a leaf pile, and then finally comes to an even smaller clearing of trees to find....

A two knights and a lady around the corpse of an immensely rotund bird.

"Uh... hey. Sup." Reno said in greeting to the other group, then to Rhiannon and back. "YEahhhh, and you are, umm..." Reno snaps his fingers. "Maira, right? You were in Traverse town with the VALKYRIs when that dark knight attacked, right?

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr then looks vaguely guilty at Reno's words.

He whistles....

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
He'd chuckle, "Well you're welcome in our camp tonight if you'd like something a touch more palatable for your repast.."

And then the Shinra force would appear, and after they spoke Ramza Beoulve would just, glance sidelong to Maira and Angantyr, "These charming ladies and gentlemen don't appear as if they'll be inviting us to a sinister tea party. More's the pity, I would bring Artemis."

Ramza didn't know the Turks by reputation, but he certainly knew what Shinra was... their eyesore was ruining the landscape in the Land of Dragons. After his little jape, he let Angantyr do the talking, since the group appeared to be after him. He didn't lay his hand on his swordhilt, but he tensed up, as if he expected it to be a battle in short order.

Maira has posed:
The red haired woman jumps when more people suddenly come out of the bushes, Angantyr letting his obscenely gigantic weapon make his intimidate check for him. Maira has no idea who the scientist is who arrives, but she is ready to channel her magic to defend them if she has to.

Then Reno follows, and she tilts her head. "Oh! You were there when Leon came that time..." she says, recognizing him. He'd beat up Leon pretty good, too...He was with Shinra? Well /that/ sucks, he'd helped her. She thought he was probably a pretty cool guy. Suppose he still could be! She is wary of Shinra though, for fairly good reason. "Uh...yeah, Maira. Hi there..." she says, waving lightly before she looks between Angan and Rhiannon. Why exactly was she looking for him?

When Angantyr whistles, Maira is shifty eyed. Any more dark knights want to attack Traverse Town? Want to make a tradition of it?

Cissnei has posed:
Cissnei follows the others, pausing at the sight of the adventurers who felled the monster, and smiles a disarming smile. "Oh, good evening. Seems we have quite a reputation. And who might you all be?" She arches a brow at Rhiannon, then peers at Angantyr. "Oh, you know this guy?" nodding to the others, she offers a polite bow. "My name is Cissnei. Pleased to meet you all.." She probably has some catching up to do..

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
"Simple, simple~" Rhia replied to Angantyr, reaching into her characteristic labcoat and removing a tablet device from a pocket. Powering it on and opening a notepad app, she looked ready to interrogate. Or perhaps the less suspicious term would be...interview. yes. "I simply had some questions that I wished to ask you rewarding some research that I currently have on hold."

She smiled pleasantly, acting as if she weren't totally suspicious. But then again, being a scientist, that probably came with the territory, either way, it didn't seem like she was out for a fight, even if most everyone else was tensed up for the possibility of one. In fact, she strode forward past her group a tad to speak clearer.

"You see, I am seeking out a very specific group of people in order to gather information. You just happen to be one of the people on that list. Now, are you willing to listen and provide a few answers? Hardly anything troublesome, yes~?" She seemed genuine enough, but there was just something off about the way she was looking at them.

It was like the way a butcher looked at livestock.

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
Ramza Beoulve actually looked bored as he looked at her labcoat, "She speaks in nothings, so I'm going to stop bandying about words and start translating. She's likely one of those mad scientists from that ridiculous culture that seems to have sprouted up from all the worlds as it fell, and she actually wants to use you to study the darkness, or perhaps to grow some sort of clone of you to do the same."

...What, you didn't think he didn't read his share of science fiction? Mad Science was a culture, but he came from a world that lacked SENSITIVITY TRAINING.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Not interested." Angantyr dismisses Rhiannon out of hand, "I don't want anything your selling. You don't want to know anything I use. You might think you do, but you don't. Also..."

Angantyr says, staring right at her, "You creep me out. You creep me out and I was trained by a personification of the darkness itself. I just want you to know that." He says, "You might wana get someone to give you an image change. Maybe take some acting classes or go through whatever passes as basic social classes." he says, pointedly.

He looks towards the others.... "Nice to meet you two, thanks for helping Maira." he says to Reno, and a nod to the other turk. Cissnei seems rather young to him...but it takes all types, he muses.

Montag similarly gets a nod, "Any new jobs?" he asks.

Montag has posed:
So just what are they running into and he's shorly behind Reno as he arrives and his helemt is over his face hiding mostly who he is hopefully no one really remeber his rifle well there's always that hope however and he raises one hidden eyebrow at things he's not about to mouth off about things. He pauses as Rhiannon starts to ask questions about Resarch oh dea where could this be going...and he thinks for a moment.

"Could have one the mithril mines are still quite a mess even with the joint venture going on there. Another heavy hitter on for that might be a good thing. Actually."

Reno has posed:
Reno waits until Ramza finishes translating. "Yep. Sir sums-a-lot kinda hit the nail on the head, yo. And that IS a job, ain't it? You do a little...." Reno waves his hand vaguely, reaching for an accurate term "...darknessy-stuff in a shielded room with some gadgets looking at you and dudes in white coats taking notes behind reinforced glass, and then we pay ya. Easy munny."

Reno turns back towards where the chopper was parked. "Hey, we even got transport. If ya don't mind sitting on the Shinsec's lap, we could even give ya a ride." Reno said, gesturing his thumb at Montag with a smirk on his face.

Maira has posed:
You know, if Angantyr didn't want Rhiannon interested in him, he probably should have left out that whole 'trained by supreme darkness being' thing. Really, she's just going to be /more/ interested now!

Maira shuffles her feet awkwardly. This is a really odd meeting, and she feels like it may go south at any given moment. At least between Rhiannon and Angantyr. Would the other Shinra folk back Rhiannon up if she tried to force the issue?

Would anyone survive!?

Maira looks back to Ramza for a moment, smiling so. "Oh, I'd love to come to your camp that sounds like fun," she answers.

Back to Reno. Maira begins to look decidedly uneasy. If Shinra wanted to test Angan, they may well want to test her too. Rhiannon looked like she was eager to dissect something.

Then Reno mentions his transport and Maira gets completely derailed, moving forward and up on tip-toe to catch sight of the helicopter. "OUUUUU!" Want....to....fly....helicopter....!

Not bad enough to get tested by Shinra though. Nope.

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
And Ramza actually... facepalms, running a hand across his face, as Reno confirms it, he did appreciate that the man was being blunt at least, rather than trying to deceive Angantyr, which would have led to possibly an even worse outcome. He'd nod to Reno, and Montag, "Well.. it was a pleasure meeting you good Sers, regardless of what might just happen.." And then he'd nod to Cissnei, "And you as well, M'lady.."

But he didn't offer anything to Rhiannon because like Angantyr... she creeped Ramza the <GOOSEHONK> out.

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
A tilt of the head was all Rhia had to reply with considering Ramza and Angantyr's observations. "Oh come now. I'm not selling anything. And contrary to popular belief-" Ramza is given a look. "-I have no plans to-" Experiment on his body was what she was going to say. But it seemed like Reno cut in first. Oh well, correcting him now would just be boring.

Let's see how this all plays out, shall we?

Deciding to keep silent, Rhia backed out of combat range, tucking her tablet device away. "Play nice now, you all~" Nope, it didn't seem like she was going to expend the effort to make this right at all. Why? Because this was entertaining. Was she going to help them? Nope. A glance is thrown towards Maira as well and the scientist smirked mischievously. "But why stop there? Seeing just what lies inside you-" And then a glance to Ramza. "-And you, would be just delightful~"

Cissnei has posed:
"Personification of Darkness, you say?" Cissnei arches a brow at Angan as he says that, finding that piece of information particularly interesting. "Hmm, I suppose I can see why..." Why Rhiannon might be interested in him. But she suspects the scientist has other plans for him, other than simply asking him questions. Scientists are pretty curious and creepy that way..

She smiles at Maira and nods. "Well, we have the chopper, but if you're looking for a ride, there's not that much space to fit all of you. I'm sure we could show it to you, though.."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Okay. Guys. I'll do you all one better. If you want to keep me in a workable relationship, you'll keep that <GOOSEHONK> either locked up or away from me." Angantyr says with decidedly more aggressive tones. "I I am not being poked or tested. If you WANT to see my darkness so bad.." He says, and the ground starts to rumble.

"I can show it to you, here and now. However, I don't think you'll appreciate the force I use it on you..." Angantyr's eyes start to blaze...and darkness starts pouring around him. It reforms over his body, sealing itself into his armor, before it litterally CREATES a new armor on his body. The armor was completely encasing him, looking at it was like looking into the abyss itself. The helmet was the only source of light, as two red crimson eyes looked towards those assembled.

"I'm not looking for a fight, but I am not going to be used as a lab rat either...if this gets started.." he shrugs. The mace comes back into his hands as he readies himself.

"Yes. Garland. A shadow lord of no small power. We've had a falling out, lately. However, his lessons are still very much imparted onto me."

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
"Ooooooh~" Rhia cooed, reproducing her tablet and beginning to jot down notes at Ang's armor creation. "This works just as well~" She spoke mostly to herself, but could still be heard as she wrote. "Change of plans! Engage in combat with him. I should be able to gather quite a bit of useful data from this little bout~"

And now she was using her companions as bait while she stayed off to the side and made notes.

Scientists.

Maira has posed:
Maira's eyes widen in alarm at Rhiannon's words. Well, she really DID want to dissect her! Maira is obviously /not/ okay with this. She holds up one of her hands, making a fist--which is then wreathed in flame, coating her fist like a glove, licking at her skin without burning her, the flames slowly crawling up her arm before she releases the fist and uses her index and middle finger to draw a circle around them, a glowing green circle of energy surrounding herself, Angantyr, and Ramza.

It is decidedly less impressive than Angantyr's magical darkness armor. Really, that's a pretty impressive sight. The chances of her going nova however, are rising by the moment.

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
"That was ill done, though I can't claim that I'm particularly suprised."

He just sort of flicks his wrist towards Angantyr and Maira, "Precious light, be our armor and protect us." And crystalline barriers would spring to life in front of each of them, at first they're opaque, multi-faceted and purple. But then they become translucent, and unobtrusive. They'd only flare to life whenever something hostile came into play. And then he'd casually climb atop Boco, who was standing beside him, taking the reins.

He'd then direct him by the reins to stand just beside Angantyr. "Now, shall we keep things civil here, and allow us to withdraw, or do we plan to..." He'd close his eyes, breathing out a sigh, "Why does every single person choose /head-on assault/ when faced with a very angry Dark Knight? Goffard was wont to say, that he found that dead men routed more easily. You'll find us more merciful than he was, at least.."

And then he'd snake a hand through Angantyr's darkness, unperturbed by it, and press a hand against him, opening the Chakra gate closest to his heart, improving his blood flow. He'd then do the same to Maira.

Reno has posed:
At Rhiannon's prompting of 'yes, fight that dangerous dark-magic weilding man with the gigantic bladed cudgel, for SCIENCE!', Reno gives a very slow turn with a hard look at the scientists direction, holding that pose for a few beats.




"Really?"


With a sigh, Reno holds up a finger to Ang and his apparently rough and ready posse. "Uh, give us a sec, yo." Reno turns his back and takes a step over towards Cissnei and Montag, flipping open his phone and punching a number in with one thumb.

How was he even getting service out here? Shinra Technology at it's second-finest. (the first finest of ShinRa Tech was the stuff that exploded, obviously).

"Yeah, hey it's me, yo... Yeah we're done with that now. We met this 'Angantyr Vespar' guy in the woods with some a' his friends, and Rhia wants to study us fighting him...."

"...Really?" Reno glanced back at the dark knight, ready to go.

"...Uh-huh. Pshhht, I'm callin' time and a half on this BS, but whatever. You're the boss, yo." Reno flipped his phone closed and pocketed it, turning back around, briefly checking to see that all his combat gear was in place.

"Whelp, aaaaalrighty then. Lets go kick their asses."

Montag has posed:
Montag is having a very bad day, he's having a very bad day and gives the turks this look of Oh dear god are you guys insane and then he remebers. Reno's a pro he doesn't hold grudges her does his job and he does not seem very happy at all about this.

"Doc, this guy could likely rip Angela, or even Geneissi in two! Are serious?!"

One lass plee for sanity which he know is futile but maybe Ang won't kill him ... cause of it?

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
"Oh come now. I doubt you people would die even if you were killed. Just focus on the battle now! The best data is gathered at the most heated moments!" Nope. Sanity check failed. Also a gross ad likely intentional miscalculation of their survival abilities. "You need only engage him for a bit. If you feel the need to flee...do so~"

Sound advice. Still, it looked like Rhia herself wasn't going to actually engage Angantyr's crew. Three on three. Fair enough!

Cissnei has posed:
Cissnei arches a brow at Rhiannon and facepalms when Reno states her subtleties in words. Well, that's not gonna look good for them. "Oh...A demonstration? You really want to do this, Rhiannon?" She shrugs and sighs. "Hmm, very well. How about we have a friendly sparring match then?" Better than the alternative at least.

For now, she focuses on the defensive however..

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
Ramza Beoulve just casually reaches into his cloak, and withdraws two blue orbs, about the size of his palms. And then he just tosses them in the air, with an underhand swing, like he was pitching at softball, rather than seriously trying to hit them. Once they came closer to just flying straight over the group's heads, he'd raise both his hands, and with a tiny gesture with his fingers, he'd use a geomancer's trick to pick up the winds, causing the orbs to suddenly dip in their trajectory. Then cutting across with his hands, the winds, which were under his command would slash through each orb, setting them off... With the enhanced air continuing forward to find gaps in their magical protections, slicing into them.

An aura of superchilled air would explode out of each of them, coating Rhiannon and Reno with rime... assuming they didn't get out of the way quickly enough.

And then he'd look towards Maira and Angantyr, stating in a casual tone. "All yours."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
How do you stop a nearly seven foot tall, three hundred pound man in HULKING darkness armor?

You dive out of his way, Angantyr leaps into the air, aiming to bypass the two Turks, they were just doing their jobs, there was no hard feelings...

The mace comes up, aiming to lash a very powerful strike down towards the scientist. He aims to litterally to DRIVE the weapon through the pad she has, aiming to repeatedly SMASH it into the ground repeatedly...

And then he turns around, aiming to drive the weapon RIGHT into the woman, the weapon aiming to litterally PART her at her center as the darkness attempts to litterally eat at her body like dark flames.

"If you want it so bad...then let me give it to you."

Maira has posed:
Maira makes a squeaky sort of noise of surprise when Ramza reaches out and pokes her. Oouu...Ramza's touch feels funky! What did he just do? Whatever it was, it was lovely and invigorating! "Oou, what did you do?" she asks him, wondering if he can teach her.

Maira looks back then to discover that this is indeed turning into a fight! Rhiannon wants a demonstration, and apparently Reno's boss has given them the go-ahead. Oh dear. This is bad.

For them.

Maira really feels she cannot in good conscience /not/ warn them. She looks to Cissnei, shaking her head vigorously. "No, no you don't understand. Angantyr doesn't do friendly sparring matches. Angan doesn't know how to go easy. You /really/ shouldn't do this!" she cautions.

Alas, but it is too late isn't it? Angantyr flies for Rhiannon, mace first.

Ramza does a nice little trick, but Maira doesn't know what to do!

Wait, yes she does. Light things on fire. DUH.

The fire mage loosens the leash on her magic--it is a wild thing, the fire always lurking. She doesn't summon it when she fights so much as she represses it when she doesn't. Furthermore, just having the darkness Angantyr wields around makes control more difficult.

"You /really/ should run," she the pyre of a woman says, then gesturing outward, sending a blast of fire blooming toward Rhiannon, and Reno, because he's there. She feels bad about it though!

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
"Eh?" Rhia glanced upwards just in time to find Ramza's ice trick burst, showering her in frost. Shielding herself with an arm, Rhia staved off some of the damage, but that left her wide open to Angantyr's heavy attack. There was no defending. It hit the mark completely. And something utterly gruesome happens. Angantyr's attempt to literally part her through...works.

Rhia's top half goes flying a few meters and her bottom half just unceremoniously falls over with an ugly splatter.

Silence.

Did Ang really just succeed in killing Rhia just like that? It would seem so-wait no...something's not quite right. The blood that's beginning to pool takes on a strange glow and it began to retract back into her body halves. The bottom and top halves gravitate towards each other after that and reconnect. The gruesome death scene of previous looked as if it never even happened.

Needless to say, Maira's flames missed the mark a while ago.

With her body back in working form, Rhia sat up and ran a hand through her hair. "Phew! You really should watch it with that mace of yours. You could kill someone!" The scientist spoke cheerfully to Angantyr, seemingly nonplussed about her apparent death just moments earlier. The only remaining clue now is the fact that her clothes are totally torn, but her body itself looks...fine. "...But nevertheless, I did get some good data from..." Pause. Where was her tablet? Oh, right there. On the ground. Totally demolished.

"Oh. Well that's a shame." Seemingly nonplussed about the loss of her tablet, Rhia stood up and tapped a finger against her head. "Nevertheless, I still have everything right here~ Now if you would please continue? I have so much more data to collect."

Creeeeeeepy....

Reno has posed:
Reno gets suddenly magic-bombed by a wind propelled frost grenade, courtesy of Ramza.

"What the hell, dude? We only need HIM to fight. ShinRa already knows how GRENADES work!" Oh well, Reno seldom held grudges against clever trickery. If they wanted to do things this way, well....

Reno saw the fires coming and leapt backwards, letting the flames scorch the green leaves nearabouts where he was just standing.

"Yeah, thanks for the warning..." Reno responded as Ang launched himself overhead, and proceded to smash to the ground the quite expensive piece of technological equipment.

Well... there goes the entire reason for the fi---continue? What!? Rhia's craziness apparently knew no boundries. At this rate, Reno might even stop trying to hit on her whenever they had a private moment. Maybe.
"Rhiannon, NO. SCIENCE DON'T WORK THAT WAY!" Argh! Reno threw up his hands, then pointed to Cissnei and Montag.

"I'll get a spare from the chopper, you two focus on the big guy and don't let him break our scientist!!

and with that, Reno ran off at full sprint through the woods....... Back to the makeshift heli-pad.

Cissnei has posed:
Cissnei arches a brow at Maira, pretty much just staying on the sidelines for now, unless Rhiannon decides to order her to fight again. These people seem quite nice however and she's not really in a mood to pick a fight. "Oh, is that so? That's too bad.." she sighs, "However, if you plan to join too, I guess I have no choice.."

She tosses a smoke bomb towards Rhiannon, then casts a mirage spell around her, hoping to obscure her form a little from Ang's fury.

Montag has posed:
Montag is about to say somerhing else but before he can Ang is there coming down like a Junon Canon shot is just ripping into the Doctor and the worst part is Montag realise she might enjoy it or be getting the data she wanted and not caring how she got it. Then he looks like she's dead, inwardly he knows it's making him horribilr but if she's dead the op is over and they can get out of here he's about to say something as she just ends up reforming like he lowers his gun in a look of stunned horror. It was just like a Raven.

"Right boss but Damn it I don't think she can be broken." her abilityt o do that raises all sorts of disturbuing questions in Montag's mind. He's moving in to back up Cissnei, hoever as he brings up his weapon.

"You know this ain't personal on our end right?"

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr grins...

"Now that's o-" And then Rhiannon starts putting herself back together. Angantyr looks..Horrified. That isn't how things are supposed to work, bodies don't DO THAT. Oh wait, Ang's in armor, he doesn't look horrified to you guys, he looks like an imposing force of darkness clad in shadow.

Rhiannon makes her declaration...and Angantyr responds the only way he knows how. The magic comes to protect her, and Angatyr strikes out, his fist covered in darkness leads the way as he aims to smash it into the Scientist first, the magic protecting her will find itself failing quickly, litterally shattered by the darkness, corrupting the effects, before Ang turns, and dives towards Cissnei as well, aiming to shatter and corrupt her spells too. He finally stops, turning to draw the mace back into a single hand...the thing is easily taller than some people as he looks towards Montag.

"I'd advise you of a different carreer field." Before he takes a machine gun to the chest. He grunts, diving towards him with his fist, aiming to punch Montag right across the face with his own darkness.

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
Ramza Beoulve's expression would actually twitch as he watched Rhiannon seperate, then regenerate back together. Not once, not twice, but thrice. And then he'd look at Maira and Angantyr, giving them an impassive look. "Right, please spare the.. others.. kill that one with fire."

He'd actually remove the peaceknot from his Saya, and start to spur Boco forward towards Rhiannon. He'd inch the katana out of the peaceknot, revealing it's naked steel. A blue aura would lim his body, a crackling corona which.. as he draws the blade, would flow into the blade, wisps of smoke beginning to rise..

And then the blade would burst into life with ghastly blue flames as he drew it. Boco would suddenly pick up speed and.. then...

/Blink/

Ramza totally cheated. He made it appear like it was a cavalry charge, but then he had teleported behind her, moving to bisect her with the flaming blade, and cauterize what was left behind.

Zantetsuken

Thank you Zack and Artemis.

Boco suddenly swivelled about, then ran to safety behind Maira. And then as he flowed past Rhiannon, he'd lift a hand, "Strike the ground with glittering Blades!"

Lightning would arc down through Rhiannon's form if she failed to get out of the way.

Maira has posed:
Well Maira, don't feel too bad, you didn't hit either of them!

SIGH.

What happens next is a truly gruesome sight she will not forget any time soon. It is the most violent, gory thing she has quite possibly ever seen. It is right up there with Garland ripping off Isaac's arm. She blanches, though her fire continues to burn. Her head spins. Maira can handle this. Yup, totally. This is okay.

....Nope.

Maira turns around and promptly retches.

By the time she dares look up again, Rhiannon has somehow put herself back together!? WHAT!?

Okay. Okay. That is the creepiest thing she has ever seen. KILL IT WITH FIRE!

Maira goes nova. The light inside of her is screaming 'BAD THING!' and flaring in wild terror. The air around her grows uncomfortably warm for a good distance, shimmering like the air above asphalt on a hot day. She moves a little so she has a clear shot of Rhiannon, then simply begins blasting her with fire. Unfortunately, Cissnei may get hit as well.

Reno has posed:
Engines on: check.
Stabilizers set: check
all gage levels positive: check
tactical handling system online: check
weapon systems armed: check
External speaker system set to Wagner's Ride of the Valkeries?....

A fierce mechanichal wind ruffles the canopy of the trees beyond the scene of the battle. On this field of might and magic, a flying behemoth arises to deal death from above. A chill runs through every spine as a rising crescendo of strings heightened the tension of the moment suspended in air.... Before divulging seemlessly into a catchy chorus of bouncy J-pop (or whatever Gaia's equivelant would be).

Up in the cockpit, Reno rolled his eyes at the sound-system. "Damnit Cissnei, quit messin with my presets!" he said into the mouthpiece of his headphones.

Oh well, down to business. The targeting display had locked onto Angantyr's noticably large form, and Reno flipped open the covering to the button on the joystick, and fired away.

Two Missiles fired out of the underside of the chopper and accelerated to near-sonic speeds before exploding right in Ang's proximity with a burst of cloying fire that would cling to the dark knight, burning away the shadows clinging to him... maybe? Reno wasn't quite sure how this darkness power stuff worked yet, hence this live arms exercise.

Reno tapped into the comm system again to talk right to Cissnei and Montag's channels. "Get Rhia back to the clearing so she can at least properly record this crap. I'm gonna shoot him with missiles, yo."

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
Rhia just blinked and watches as Reno ran off to secure the helicopter, and then turned back to see the looks on Ramza and Maira's faces. "Oh? Is somethe matter?" It's like they've never seen someone put themselves back together after clearly being killed before! What peasants! Haven't they ever SCIENCE'D before!?

Nonetheless, their reactions draw a chuckle from the scientist who just brought a hand to her mouth to try and stifle it. Even as Angantyr moved to strike, Rhia just vanished, appearing off the side. Ramza's charge was clearly seen and even when he totally cheated and appeared behind her to cleave her apart-- again, she was prepared.

"Ah, ah, ah~ not this time. While I do so enjoy having to piece myself back together, I would rather avoid bodily damage, you know~?" And much like the way she had dodge Ang, Rhia just vanishes from sight and regains footing outside of the strike's initial range. "Hmn, I do notice that you all are quite adamant on targeting me however." Bringing a hand to her chin, the wutai native smiled in amusement at this turn of events and gave the three before her a look.

"...I do so despise engaging in combat, but I suppose I have little choice this time. Excuse me~" Bowing respectfully, Rhia then vanished from sight again, appearing right in front of Ang. Apparently not using any sort of weaponry, Rhia lashed out with her own two hands, aiming an elbow strike right into the center of the torso of the armor, and then following up with a palm strike. Each attack seemed to be powered by something more than just mere physical strength. If they were to connect, the dark knight would feel some sort of spiritual force behind them.

And then here came Reno with the chopper! "...Oh dear. Perhaps I should....go over there." Not wanting to get caught up in the missle fire, Rhia vanished again, which was more like just fast movement.

Cissnei has posed:
Cissnei sweatdrops as Reno runs off, hopefully he has some sort of plan in mind..Oh right, the chopper. Good idea. She glances at Rhiannon, frowning a bit. Ahh, that doesn't look good. No more pussy footing around. "Alright, hurry back! I'll take it from here.."

Then Ang comes at her with his mace. Usually pretty fast on her feet, Cissnei is still hit by his and Maira's attacks even as she leaps out of the way.

The Turk manages to evade a direct blow, but it still hurts, and will likely leave a bruise. "Ugh!" She then leaps skywards, hurling her shuriken down at Ang, releasing a shower of electricity from her flying weapon. She then darts in close, trying to stab at him rapidly with her rekka.

As for Rhiannon, she's .....Totally trying not to look in that direction. She's seen a lot of gruesome things in Shinra labs before, that's just the tip of the iceburg. Heh..

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
"What was it that you said? Not this time?"

And then he /Blinks/ right in front of Angantyr, taking the elbow strike to the torso, which caused him to be instantly winded, as a rush of air left his lungs. This was followed up by a palm strike as he was beaten back, rubbing his chest.

And then he'd just smile like it was all a big jape to him, despite gasping for breath, stating this casually to Angantyr, "What was it my father said? Be the very soul of a Knight?"

And then he raised a hand, and a healing breeze rushed through Angantyr and himself. "Life's refreshing breeze, blow with energy."

And then he'd totally get out of the way because he didn't want to be in the way when Angantyr did.. well what he was likely to do next.

Montag has posed:
Montag looks as Reno heads off to get more firepower it seems to be a good idea. This is ang more firepower is needed, and then Ang basically drags the chopper down and he looks to Rhia who also regenerates he'll be passing word around the barracks. He need s a drink he so needs a drink right now as he attemps to mvoe in on ang firing several more shots as he does so.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr curses...

She moves to taunt him, and he starts getting ready to try and defend...

Ramza dives to cover him, and shields him from harm.

He grins, "Thanks." he says to the heretic, as he see's a chopper start to lift off and start firing missiles. Missiles start breaking over the area around him, and points a hand towards the chopper...darkness aims to litterally grab the aircraft by the bottom of the landing bars...and DRAGS it to the ground to the ground.

He gives A glare towards the Turk.

The other Turk comes at him, she tries to out juke him, aiming to try and keep him off balanced....but despite being so well armored, he swings his mace in a powerful swing down, aiming to catch her off guard, while the mace aims to tear through her body.

However, Montag opens up on him, waring him down...armor being blasted away as he starts to hurt.

However, he raises the mace upwards...darkness flowing into him as he takes a step towards Rhi, aiming to try and DRAG her into the air as the blood he started to lose starts draining the area around him, dark claws rise from the blood, aiming to repeatedly assault the scientist mutant, before more claws tear towards Cissnei as well, doing the same to her.

Then the darkness shatters, aiming to add more injury, aiming to send the energy into the dark knight to revitalize him.

Maira has posed:
Alright, Maira is still pretty much just barely /not/ freaking out. She's holding onto her calm by a thread because seriously, that was really terrible and she's going to be having nightmares tonight.

Reno comes back in his helicopter. It plays some catchy music. Maira blinks. Right. Uh....

Maira turns her attention to Angantyr, as Rhiannon has finally decided to fight back. She gasps when Ramza is suddenly there, taking a hit for Angantyr, then promptly getting out of Ang's way so he can go on being the wrecking ball that he is.

Angan has been hit. It can be hard to tell through the darkness, but he is bleeding. Luckily, she can also just /ask/ him over shared frequency. Handy!

Maira moves toward Angantyr, stretching her hand out toward him, healing energy flowing outward to wash over him and heal all the damage she possibly could.

As much as she would really like to make Rhiannon a thing that didn't exist anymore, maybe they should think about retreating!

Reno has posed:
Reno spirals to the ground as little red lights blink warnings at him, several arcane gagues signiling desperate loss of altitude at him. "ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap" Reno had only a small idea what was happening to his ride, but he knew what to do.

Reno wrestled with the joystick controls of the Chopper, angling the nose downward and spiraling off towards the only relatively tree-less spot just below him.... The fighting ground.

Leaves and twigs were shredded to a fine salad-y cloud as the chopper blades hit into them, the chopper itself Landing with a hard THUD heard above the whir of the engine and the high-pitched roar of the rotors mowing the foliage.

"Shit... what the hell just happened?" Reno called into the comm link before getting ready to pull the chopper airborn as quickly as possilbe.

Cissnei has posed:
It seems Cissnei's not having much luck today. Angantyr slams his mace into her again, bringing her to the ground and managing to avoid all her attacks. "Damn..He's fast..And strong!" of course the others probably figured that out by now.

Reno struggles in the air with the chopper and her frown deepens. Phew, they're not doing so good on the ground here.."Come on Reno, nuke him.." She drinks a couple of potions to heal her damaged body before attempting to bruise Ang again, darting in quickly with energy draining stabs.

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
THat rock totally just bounced off of Rhia's face, and it drew qute a bit of blood from her nose and mouth. ...But the blood escaping from her wounds seems to suspend, and then retract back into her body after a moment. The scarring heals over as well. Was Rhia immortal!? ...No. There was one not so readily apparent flaw to this supposed instant regeneration.

While her body was being healed automatically, mentally, her energy was nearing a low point. The more damage she took, the more tired and worn out she became...mentally. "Heh heh heh...I have gathered quite a bit of useful data from this excursion. I really must thank you and your companions for showing us a good time." Despite the sitation at hand, she smiled pleasantly, as if they weren't locked in combat.

But then her hands just dropped. "Be that as it may though, I believe that I have collected all pertinent information. While I do lament the loss of my convenient little device-" No, she didn't. She had spares all over. "-I still have the information collected in my mind. Therefore, I believe that it would be beneficial to both sides to cease this as of now, fruitless combat."

Her smile endured even though she was making rather brazen calls for peace now. "So, what do you say? Shall we call this a day and go our separate ways? While I would love to open you all up and examine your innards...the data collected from this bout is more than sufficient~"

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
There were several basic rules that everyone must know in the New Zodiac Braves.

Rule #1: Noone in this Company dies. Rule #2: See Rule #1. Rule #3: Don't eat Sheryl's Cooking. Rule #4: Don't mess with Artemis' tea. Rule #5: See Rule #4 if you want to keep that hand, seriously. Noone dies but you can live without a hand. Rule #6: When in doubt, what would Ramza do? ...Ramza hated rule #6, he suspected Mustadio made it up to make some jape of him, but he had to admit it was apt.

And while somewhere, deep down, he had /some/ desire to act like the warrior..

Prudence instead demanded that support the strongest member of their side, who was starting to look rather injured. A hand was raised, and he spoke several incantations in quick succession, "Precious Light, be our armor and protect us. Silent Light, shield us from bloody iniquity. Life's Refreshing Breeze, blow with energy!"

Yeah.. Noone dies.

Except it didn't seem to matter, since Rhiannon decided to EVIL SCIENCE IS IMMORTAL monologue stopping the battle. Ramza would actually put a hand to his chin, stroking it, then look sidelong to Angantyr. He'd then look towards Rhiannon once again, "I truly despise scientists who treat people like they're chattel and conduct sinister examinations. She reminds me of that Dark Knight we faced in Fluorgis and Wutai.. Even so, I think we should quit the field for now. What say you?"

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr can't hear you, there is a HELECOPTER ON HIM.

However, he suddenly RIPS through it, his eyes red as he swings the weapon RIGHT towards the copter, bashing gunfire and missiles away even as he BURNS. Cisseni tries to take advantage of this, and back stab him.

He turns suddenly, and SWINGS it to litterally BASH her out of the area. She'll probably wake up a few hours later in a different zone.

Rhi tries to shout at him, but he can't hear her, his eyes blazing...his darkness overflowing...he was going to destroy her any way he could.

And once more, he tries to grab her, blood pooling around him as HUNDREDS of claws rip out of the blood to repeatedly dig at her, trying to rip out the yummy inside.

More flies right towards Reno's helecopter.

Maira has posed:
Maira gulps. She knows which dark knight Ramza is talking about. She looks to him, waving her hands. "You met him!? Well I fixed him--for now, so if you see him don't attack him okay!?"

There will be time for explanations later.

Maira doesn't know if it is in Angantyr to just stop fighting, but she really hopes that he will. She wants to be far, far away from this woman until they can lure her into a volcano or something.

A helicopter lands on Angantyr. Maira screams and runs toward it, only to then see Angantyr smash his way out of it, still up and fighting. Still, he's hurt, and even with her and Ramza healing him...Maira just want to get out of here!? She yells over the radio, running toward him, flailing her arms and trying to signal they should just get out of here. The darkness is raging in him, and she's not sure what to do. She just tries to reach out to take his hand and give it a gentle tug, calling his name.

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
Oh.

Angantyr was still on the attack. Did he not hear her? Then again, there was a helicopter sorta DROWNING OUT THE NOISE. Narrowing her eyes and dropping the smile, Rhia watched as Ang moved to tear through both her and Helicopter alike. Not this time. Right when it seemed like he was going to be upon her, Rhia vanished from the range of those bloody claws. "Another interesting bit of data..."

Feeling no need to press a counter attack, the scientist turned away and looked towards Reno and the copter. "PULL OUT. WE ARE LEAVING." She shouted towards him before beginning to retreat back the way they came. A smile began to grow onto her face as she sped away. "Today has been rather...educational."

Reno has posed:
Renopulls up on the joystick and then angles his vehicle to the side, strafing unexpectly out of the way of the blood claws. Reno of course couldn't hear what was going on outside the vehicle, but he had a pretty clear picture, and there was a berzerk dark kinght knocking his teammates around like finely-tailored baseballs. It was time.

for the
BIG
RED
BUTTON.


*beep*


Ang's form locked into Reno's sights before a rediculous volley of missiles exploded out of all sides of the battle chopper, before turning mid-air and arcing all downward to the one spot where the man stood. Maira better get the heck out of the way, but Reno figured a firemage like her would probably be fine. And if not? Eh, they'd science her back together or something. You can't sweat the details like that in the heat of battle.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr litterally stands infront of the missiles...

This is a bad idea.

Everything explodes, and when the fires die down, Angantyr steps out of the flames, staring right at Reno. The armor is blasted away, and Angantyr's basic armor is returned, though horribly battered from the high yeild explosives.

Maira was caught in the blast, he realizes...and he's grown annoyed...this isn't going anywhere, because despite doing something about the scientist, she won anyway.

Woo. Makes him feel real great.

He points his weapon back, opening a portal. He can deal with ShinRa another day. "Portal, now." he says towards his companions, before walking through.

Maira has posed:
Oh, Maira goes through the portal. Oh yes. Because Angan is often scarier than the people trying to kill them, and he is really pissed.

...Zort?

Ramza Beoulve has posed:
Ramza Beoulve normally would have issues with walking through corridors of Darkness.

After the missiles he's not objecting any longer, Boco and him both rush through without a complaint.