RP [Phoenix Team] - See Inside

The Hero's Armaments, Front Parking Lot
Standing up from being bounced across the lot, Luca was quick to reply to Breyja as he got to his feet - all the while, water sprayed down around him from the burst hydrant: "No need! We can stall it for the cops and the UDD-" he recalled seeing the cops and the hologram/hardlight barriers cordoning the area off during the news broadcast, and knew the signals and response times for such occasions. Luca knew reinforcements were on their way, with much heavier armament.

As Luca got back into the brawl, the Raiken's sword and combined strength behind his charge tore two of the creature's six limbs off, flying away in arcs. Luca however take offence to some of Ravnir's terminology. "I'm not squishy!" he protested, firing one end of his grappling hook at the claw that swatted him. "I am the one who squishes - usually!" Suddenly, a second hook fired and tethered itself to the concrete. The hooks dug in and begun reeling the other claw towards the ground, while Luca slotted a fresh set of reel into the gauntlet.

In conjunction with Ravnir pushing the other crab claw out of the way and protecting himself, this gave the others the opening they needed to land decisive strikes - which the team quickly capitalised on - Breyja had the shot she needed to blast one of the major legs into a shower of blackened soulstuff. A trail of ionised air was left in the slug's wake, railgun action cycling with some satisfying noises to Breyja's ears. With half of its legs gone, it was having trouble moving around, and couldn't dodge the incoming Chelti.

Snuffles' vaulting attack from the Raiken's shoulders sent their trajectory just over their antennae and eye stalks - a claw wrapped around a slimy pseudopod with an eye floating in it. As they fell and pulled the stalk with them, the eye popped out and fell to the ground, splattering like a ripe melon. Snuffles meanwhile landed on the creature's back, face to face with its bladed fan-like tail.

The crustacean roared in pain, trying to pull Luca's tether out of the ground - the line begun pulling back at Luca's command, sparking as electricity danced along the wet cable. However, the line could only take so much tension and snapped, whistling as the crustacean spun in place on its remaining legs, pushing Ravnir's bulk backwards whilst a spectral blade of force emanating from their tail put a deep gouge across his blade.

Luca meanwhile was keeping his distance, and continuing to pepper its face with laser fire - worked last time after all and he didn't want his ribs jellied. His lasers left trails of steam in their wake, vaporising the droplets in the air. The momentum of the yabbie's spinning attack also threatened to hurl the Chelti off of its back, and the water-slick plates of armour weren't helping them find purchase. Seiren's raised vantage point from a gas station adjacent to the parking lot gave him an excellent vantage point and view of the fight. With its legs cut out, he had the perfect opportunity to bring his bat down on its head.

Curiously, the boy with the bat could see a glowing thing embedded in the back of its head the Chelti hadn't spotted, shining beneath its chitin. It looked important, the same way an enemy's weak spot in a video game was. Ravnir could see that where he and Breyja had cut, it was already trying to regrow new limbs - the window of opportunity was rapidly closing, and Ravnir hadn't quite isolated where the thing's power source was.

"What's it take to get rid of this thing?" Luca wondered aloud, grapplegunning away from another claw swipe towards him. The answer would be to find its power source - in this case, the vessel of the spurned familiar.

 

"Mr. Pavone, haven't you ever played a combat sim? You have to hit the glowing spot for massive damage!" Seiren said.

The inventor judged the distance, backed up, and took a running start off the roof with a burst propelled from his shoes to get added air. As he came down on the creature, he worked himself into a spin, all the while crying, "TORIYAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

While the spin was an effective strategy for multiplying the force, it wasn't the best for accuracy purposes. The grav-bat made connection with the head of the beast with a squelchy CRACK, but he entirely missed the glowing thing. On the upside, the glowing object was now clearly visible to everybody as it stuck out like a nail embedded in a foot.

Seiren bounced off and landed in a backwards skid, sliding into the wall of a nearby building thanks to the water everywhere. "Okay, somebody ELSE hit the weak point for massive damage!"

 

The Hero's Armaments, Front Parking Lot
Luca saw an opportunity as Seiren had stunned the thing, and Ravnir's massive blade hacked more of its limbs away. The man in red holstered his pistol, knuckles cracking as he closed the gap unnaturally fast - boots springing to life and leaving a trail of orange light in their wake as the right arm begun to glow. "Back in my day we didn't have weak spots!" He called out.

Snuffles meanwhile found themselves face to face with a brazen looking idol, carved from a glassy rock from outer space, embedded into the back of a man's neck - trapped within the crayfish's form. The idol's eyes glowed red - or perhaps purple - the spectrum of magical energy this close to the Chelti's snout was suffocating. It spoke to them, voice snaking its way into their mind. GAZE UPON UXTGUTU'S GLORIOUS FORM! It projected, a vision of the Chelti soaring across an aquatic hellscape, the domain a primordial wyrm stirring in the murky waters. WITNESS VISIONS OF THY DOOM!

Back in meatspace, the giant crayfish still had an eye glowing red on the red blur who was coming back for seconds. A claw shot towards him, trying to intercept him and slice him in half. A slug from Breyja's railgun went through its centre of mass and spoiled its aim - the Chelti could feel the exit wound splattering open between their legs and against their tail as the slug shot past. Luca juked and leapt over the claw and up, hardlight generators dotted throughout his attire inadvertently sprung to life, and the Grapple Stunner sparked in the mist as he made a wind up.

Seiren and Ravnir watched Luca punch the enormous crayfish in the face! The hardlightning force of the punch sent the Chelti flying away from the monster's back, trailing a stream of purple with it while Luca continued travelling forward, somersaulting wreathed in light. Without a power source to sustain it, the form of the crayfish stopped regenerating - and its form blackened and sloughed away in heaps and a naked man came tumbling out, laying unconscious on the ground. They were balding, guesstimated to be in their forties, and there were holes in the back of his neck where the idol had embedded itself before.

The crayfish's form persisted, trying futilely to retain material shape, but it was clear that it couldn't sustain itself, essentially falling into a pile of itself as its chitinous plates cracked and shattered like dishes when they hit the ground. Finishing this thing off would become considerably easier - though a very large street sweeper would be necessary to deal with all the squirming viscera - almost as though scores of little nippers were trying to emerge from it. Though, each of the smaller crustaceans was only the size of an outstretched hand - and they were known to be a local delicacy.

Rolling to a stop on the ground, Luca rose breathing with a renewed love of life (which was fighting) returning to him. All the old memories, and the motions returning to him as renewed purpose surged through his soul and bones. The splendid display of hardlight wings slowly folded, and the Grapple Stunner slowly powered down. "Just like old times..." he said, wondering how far Decker would spit his coffee when he saw this on the evening news.

There was no hiding it now, Codename Phoenix of the EAD had just been reactivated without authorisation - live on TV. He noticed the Chelti laying on their back with something in their mouth, glowing purple like the 'weak point' he'd just struck. He pointed at it and asked "whuzzat?" exchanging a glance with Ravnir as he walked closer, hands on his hips.

Snuffles could feel tingly-feeling, magical tendrils trying to crawl out of their mouth, and a shrill voice called out, somewhat muffled by the Chelti's mouth. "...I am a host of the mighty Uxtgutu!" It spoke to Luca, who was standing over them. "You have made a formidable foe today, mortals!"

Luca crossed his arms, smiling ear to ear. "Formidable my arse. Who's next?" He knelt down to try and pry the idol out of the Chelti's jaw. The sound of an armoured personnel carrier's engines roared over the hill, heavy tyres screeching and grabbing Luca's attention - bootsteps following soon after. The perimeter of the parking lot was surrounded by the soldiers of the United Defence Directive, carrying rifles with underslung grenade launchers. A couple amongst them were brandishing light anti-tank weapons.

A captain with a white-striped helmet emerged from the ranks, looking about with a raised eyebrow before his gaze settled on Luca, eyes narrowing as a frown crept in. Little crabs skittered over his boots, but he didn't bat an eyelid. Not willing to let the captain's disdain go unanswered, Luca met their stare and rose with his arms akimbo. "What kept you; Paperwork?" he was clearly having a jab at their bureaucratic leash, which had seeped into the UDD's forces since EAD's dissolution.

"My team-" and he meant that with his heart, since he knew they could fight; He saw it with his own two eyes "-already dealt with the problem." He cast his gaze to Seiren, Breyja, Ravnir, and back down to the Chelti by his feet. He couldn't have done it without them. A familiar and pained moan broke the silence as the naked guy tried to find his feet, only finding that he was coughing up black stuff, his joints had turned to water, and he was surrounded by crayfish. A couple of soldiers amongst the UDD could be heard chuckling as the crustaceans nipped at the naked guy's soft parts.

Breyja heard the door to the pub opening behind her. Ally stepped out, examining at the carnage, the assembled troopers, the team, and the little crabs skittering about. Whistling in appreciation of the chaos of it all, and being thankful that people who could hold both their drink and their own in a fight frequented the premises, she made an offer: "Uh, anyone want a drink or a medkit?"

 

Luca looked down at the thing in the Chelti's mouth, and back up with a raised eyebrow. "Some sorta weird thing, then?" He never looked too hard into what he was fighting - just armed with the knowledge that it could bleed and he could kill it. And a fancy pair of wings. Even without a threat directly in front of him, there were considerations to be made: "And there's more of them or uh, more like them?"

Chuckling along with the Raiken's sentiments on the UDD, Luca thought they were an alright sort of guy: They didn't shy from a fight, and saw the importance of being punctual. The UDD officer looked aside and inclined his head; A squad of troops moved in, forming cover from the vehicles in the parking lot. Few among them didn't look conventional - with the occasional shield and cleaver deployed, or drone floating in their midst. "See? He gets it!" Luca said, pointing to the enormous Raiken. He then blinked as he realised he'd forgotten something important amidst the call to action: "Oh, I didn't get your name, Mister-"

Ravnir noticed a soldier to his right eyeing the alarmingly long blade a few paces away. They were only carrying a carbine, while the man beside them brandished a riot shield and a machine pistol. An almighty thud filled the air when blade dropped, and Luca leapt in surprise, pistol in hand suddenly. The soldiers watching knew it was going to happen.

Sucking air through his teeth for a moment as his senses wound down, Luca slowly holstered the sidearm and crossed his arms at the Raiken, giving him the knife hand.

 

Seiren switched on the bat to repulse the errant viscera that clung to it, but he was otherwise still as pretty as the moment he left the bar. Luca's crazy hardlight wings impressed him - he hadn't expected a man as. . . less tech inclined as he to have a trick like that. Still, in a world where a nine foot tall lizard man can pull swords out of the ground, who could blame him?

"So, soldiers come to clean up the hero's mess. What else is new?" Seiren shrugged. "We gonna bust the tiny talking statue or are we gonna just leave it to top men?"

He didn't bother asking Ally whether his pasta was done yet.

 

The Hero's Armaments, Front Parking Lot
The UDD team leader shot Breyja a venomous glance. As Ravnir started walking away wrapped in thought, Luca turned his attention to the bald, naked man who'd fallen out of the Crayfish's body after the core had been taken out. "Hey," Luca squatted beside them, brushing away an errant yabbie and giving their bald head a light tap. "Hey, wake up."

The statuette beside Luca vibrated, standing up. A shrill voice emerged from it. "Fool!" The idol proclaimed, eyes glowing menacingly. "The useless sack of flesh before you is now a thrall to the mighty Uxt-"

Without so much as a thought, Luca bought his fist down on top of the statue, smashing it flat into the ground. His attention turned back to the unconscious baldy as the light from the statue faded away. "Hey, don't quit your day job for this Uxtgutu guy. Wake up." He reiterated, now slapping their cheek. He looked down at the man's flabby body, spotting a nasty bloody gash across the rolls of fat on his right side - a bullet had passed through them.

Luca figured this was Breyja's doing, but he couldn't hold her accountable to something he couldn't have known about - such as a man embedded within - or probably eaten whole. "Yo medivac, priority yellow, unconscious, restricted breathing, bleeding ... and he needs a gastric band." He said, signalling for the medics of the squad to come forward. Two men emerged and started handling the bald man, assessing his injuries. Luca meanwhile grabbed the statue, keeping an electric pulse through his fingers to discourage it from acting.

Examining the thing, its visage was unsettling, but without the huge eldritch crayfish at its command, Luca simply saw another conquered opponent he could do as he would with it. "As for you-" Strings of white-blue hardlight leapt from behind the crowd and ripped the statue out of Luca's grip, and into the hands of a humanoid Unit. A cubic prison coalesced around the offending object. The UDD sergeant looked aside, heaving a sigh of relief - there was a machine present in their midst.

"Oh, it's you." Luca recognised the configuration of the Unit with them. "How's things?"

The hardlight-driven robot ignored Luca. "Mr. Isbala. I can assure you there is no 'Top Man' here to handle this, as this thing corrupts those it touches." The Unit said, leaving the statue suspended behind them, contained and sealed from movement. "We shall contain this, and pass it to relevant experts for further analysis."

Luca meanwhile seemed a bit offended at the notion that he could be corrupted - he never considered himself good to begin with. Even so, he figured he should wash his hands thoroughly before he ate - Weird Things could have all sorts of nasty diseases. "Like Crone?" Luca said, jabbing for a name. The Unit did not respond, and remained ashen faced. "Well, whatever happens, keep us the loop and we can do the rest. Are we free to go?"

"We have the rest handled, Phoenix." The Unit replied. "We'll call you when we have need you."

Luca blinked, robbed of a snappy response. It'd been a while since anyone had called him by codename in earnest, let alone a Unit.


The Hero's Armaments, Interior
The meals were on tables, and Luca had called his team back to grab them before the went cold - but he hadn't said a word in conversation since he sat down, let alone acknowledge anyone as he ate his steak in silence. He wasn't sure what to do regarding the Raiken, and let them come or go as they pleased: A meal waited for them at their table in tough stoneware on a table away from them.

Ally could see something was on his mind, after she'd done her best to keep the news crews out of the pub and let him have some privacy.

 

Seiren, by contrast, had done nothing BUT talk since they got back in the pub. Before, he'd tried to see if he recognized that specific Unit - he didn't. Now his bat, gauntlet, and helmet were all put away, replaced by an earpiece that he chattered into incessantly in between bites of pasta spooled around his fork.

"Yes, I can see that they pinned me on the news. . . Tell marketing to spin it or something, I don't know! There was a monster and we handled it. . . Local businessman aids war hero or something! Give them the usual bologna about how what I do in my free time doesn't represent the company as a- whoops, spilled some sauce. . . no, not you, I'm eating right now. Well I was meeting with a friend when this all- look I will be back AFTER I eat."

 

The Hero's Armaments, At the Table
After serving a another table, Ally took to the windows facing parking lot, folding the blinds and eyeing the circus outside. The UDD leader present stood far behind, and started ordering his men to move on - an all-out brawl between two rival Maidenhand posses needed breaking up, so they started heading south. The ANR report on the TV in the corner wasn't connecting it with what happened out in the parking lot, the redhead heaved a sigh of relief.

"Seems something else has their attention," She said, midway through closing a curtain. She peered at the diminishing crowd of journalists. The irritating buzz of camera drones faded away, and the news crews out side eventually retreated to their vans to sit in, with one powering up and driving away a moment later. She turned around, relieved. "A mug's the least of our worries Snuffles."

The redhead looked into the kitchen, with two chefs cutting some of the parking lot crabs up and identifying the meat. Luca was pleased things had quieted down, smiling. "Good." He said. Something at the table was slowly making his eyebrow raise, causing him to lose focus on cutting his steak. "Man, who's breathing down your neck?" He asked Seiren.

To the Raiken, Luca gave the scaly patron an upwards nod of acknowledgement. He put his knife down, pointing to Ravnir. Luca made a thumbs up and smiled back. He had his mouth full with a forkful of steak and chips. "Yeah, yeah," he said. "You too!"

A bell rang from the kitchen, and Ally skipped over. She returned with a copious platter of sautéed crab meat skewers, all garnished with spices and drizzled with oil. "Complements of the chef," she said, placing the sizzling dish in the middle of the table. "Quickest thing they could think of." Luca took one and placed it on his plate for later, eyeing the skewered meat cubes curiously.