[CG/DtB] The Day a New Sky Was Born

[delta639]

Sanae
Sanae feels a small twinge of regret as she notes the photos, but not enough to slow her down as she steps away. "You failed the moment you signed up with this group...there were better options," she mutters to the dying man before moving over to the doorway, where the atmosphere of hostility almost forces her a step back. Wow. I think I'm even more hated here than the game-playing sadists- the sad part's that this isn't even a new feeling. She shoots Nina back a look saying 'deal with it, you bigoted invertebrate'.

Ignoring her phone and opening fire, she winces at the brief but searing pain at the returned shot to her thigh; (Toughness Roll(1d20)+6: 11,+6 Total:17) but a hasty glance downward reveals the wound as superficial, a bloody red line and little more. The yelp and redhead's movements garner a double take from Sanae, staring at Kallen for half a moment. Wasn't she supposed- never mind, if she's not as much of a useless invalid as I thought I won't complain. "Means I can deal with this one just like her friend Sammy..."

She steadies her footing and levels her guns on the green-eyed woman, concentrating to take her down before the woman can shoot her further. (Aggressive stance declared. Defense -4 for this round, attacks +2.) She aims both her pistols at the woman's chest and fires away. (Hold-out (1d20+9)[19], Light (1d20+4)[14].) "Kallen, can you manage that one for just a mnute?" she calls, hastily stepping back to interpose the wall between the unmasked woman and herself.

OOC

Spoiler

Show

Yeah, my apologies about that, won't happen again. I'll try and actually think more/again before my posts to prevent such character-reestablishing edits from being necessary, and will tell you the post's up only when I'm confident I've done the minor edits. Do appreciate your spending your money for us like this in the first place, also, but will try not to make you waste it.

[Valik Sparks]

Jin Wu

Jin's eyes flare wide open as the shot rings out and blood begins to pour from Sophie's leg. His gaze tears furiously towards the shooter and a spark flashes through his eyes. Then they erupt with fury.

"You..." Was the only word he could manage, laced with venom, hissed through gritted teeth. He lunged.

[Touch Attack: 16+6 = 22]

Latching both of his hands around the man's armed one, Jin locked his wrist in a vince grip, twisting the entire hand...and the gun with it...backwards. Two fingers slid over the man's trigger finger. Jin's nostrils flared, eyes wide, veins bulging.

He twisted and squeezed furiously, attempting to point the man's gun back at his own head...and force him to pull the trigger.

Spoiler

Show

For this maneuver, I believe it would be.. Grapple to hold his hands, then Strength to force the gun back and pull the trigger?

So, Grapple is an effective 17
And Strength is 15

Note: I say "effective" 17 for Grapple because Jin has a feat that gives his opponents a -4 to their roll on any opposing Grapple or Pin check. So instead of constantly reminding you to apply the penalty, I think it would be easier if I just add +4 to all Jin's checks instead? XD

[Jellyfish]

Orion

"Well. That's a big gun," she says bluntly, fitting an arrow to the string and aiming at the one with the supposed grenade launcher. "I think it goes without saying that I would like not to be shot with that."

(She goes into aggressive stance, defense -4, attack +2. Roll: 2+4=6)

She stares emotionlessly. "That could have gone better."

[Shadon]

Swim Club
“Only the wrong target if that’s not where I was WOAH!” His sentence is sadly unfinished as Artemis attempts to pistol whip him, to which the man dodges to the side in a clumsy manner, nearly tripping over the tiled floor as he does so. “Give up? Against some kids?” It comes out in a derogatory manner as well as a musing one as if he can’t believe he’s considering the prospect. The distraction is long enough for Jin to get a good grip on the man’s hands, but as he begins to force them and the gun to turn backwards he snaps back to, pushing his own strength against the boy’s.

It looks like Jin is about to win when the terrorist slowly forces the gun upwards instead and the trigger pulls, shooting into the ceiling and raining down bits of debris, none beg enough to do damage. The man then wrenches his hand and the gun down, trying to hit Jin in the head – and missing, as the boy can easily dodge.

At the edge of the water, Sophie is struggling to get up and move herself out of the way, phone in hand as she dials furiously.

Spoiler

Show

That’s fine for adding +4, much easier. XD

Sanae
Taking her two shots at the woman, the hold-out pistol hits but goes a little high, embedding into the shoulder – and apparently doing no damage, as the woman doesn’t even flinch. A certain colorful comic book hero flashes to mind briefly, before she notes the other shot goes wild again, though less so than before.

All
The PA system chimes to life again. “I hope you’re enjoying gym class,” Havoc purrs over the speakers, a raspy laugh following. “I’m here with an amendment to the rules. Any student that should wish an automatic win, and to be allowed to go free, please pay attention. Anyone who eliminates a fellow classmate and brings them to the cafeteria will be given reign to leave. Thank you.” It crackles silent once more.

Sanae (Cont.)
As Sanae backs up to put the wall between the woman and herself, she hears something affirmative from the other girl before the unmasked woman follows after her, gun at the ready. She fires off a shot at Sanae quickly before retreating back, but it misses. Kallen meanwhile makes a kick towards the head of the other foe, wavering in her stance as the announcement comes over but still managing to hit him and disorient the enemy for a moment.

Out in the hallway, all goes silent for a few brief seconds before scuffling begins to sound, not just outside, but much closer as well. Within the room, Nina has retreated to one corner and is rummaging in the supplies for the club, trying not to draw attention and doing a fairly good job.

Orion
Taking aim, drawing back, Orion feels power surge through her! And then her arrow falls limply to the ground within a few feet. Lame. Glancing over, in a voice that exclaims just how bored she is with the entire ordeal, Amber speaks up. “The point is to hit the enemy, not the ground.” Her expression makes it hard to tell if she’s actually trying to be helpful in her own way, or a pain. Either way, the girl darts forward to engage the closest of the enemies. And manages to fail horribly in an attempt at throwing a knife that was clearly not made for throwing.

Go team ‘Not Die’.

The man with the grenade launcher (?) moves forward and kneels on to the ground, his allies staying back as he fires towards the group! (Reflex dc 12 to dodge, if hit, toughness dc 16. He didn’t make that great of a shot.) As soon as he does, the others withdraw weapons – one a small pistol, one a rifle, and two with bludgeons made of wooden planks. Very classy. One of the two with a bludgeon charges Orion! And apparently either miscalculated or is partially blind as he moves right past her and crashes into a wall. The other one closes in on Lelouch and attempts a hit but Rolo intercepts the man, making another upward cut and slashing him across the cheek.

Spoiler

Show

Back to Orion!

[Demented Dragon]

Artemis

Artemis sneers like only a Britannian noble can, surprisingly uncharacteristic for her. "It's the wrong target if you were planning to keep on living. If you think shooting her instead of the girl with the gun is smart, I'll guess they didn't hire you to do much besides die." Holding the gun properly now she levels it towards his head and fires. Really Jin, you could be a nuisance to A.D. but you couldn't even grab *this* guy?

Spoiler

Show

Attack: 1d20 + 7 = 25
Damage: 6
Power attack for 3 since it's limited to 5 or double damage

[Valik Sparks]

Jin Wu

Jin hesitated for just a second, blinking, thinking about what he had been about to do.. something inside him was glad it hadn't work out. Then Artemis' shot rang out. Snapping back to attention, Jin didn't even take the time to see the affect of the gunshot. He assumed the worst, and threw his fist into the ribs of the terrorist.

[Attack: 1D20+6 = 7]

But the blow went terribly off course as his foot slid on the smooth tile. He staggered, nearly bowling into the terrorist, but flailing off just to the side instead. A low growl rumbled from his throat.

[delta639]

Sanae

Watching her ineffectual shots impact the wall and shoulder, Sanae wonders very briefly why the mental image of Captain Britannia pops into her head. She promptly resolves to use the association as even more motivation to kill this woman. She can't keep getting lucky like that for long-

Despite her best efforts, the announcement derails her thoughts for a moment, and her eyes widen slightly. Oh, that could be very bad. These two...hopefully wouldn't choose me for that- well, maybe Nina would- she corrects herself with a look to the rummaging girl. But I know of a certain patriotic group that would be all too eager to do so, and likely others... She shoots a scanning glance around the hall (Notice 23) and steps back into the room proper, kicking the door shut with a foot. Okay, we need to end this now.

She points her guns to the staggering masked man in an attempted fake-out before turning them back on Green-eyes. (Feint as move action: Roll(1d20)-3: 2,-3 Total:-1) Repressing a wince at how obvious the attempt is, Sanae nonetheless resumes the stance of a moment previously, narrows her gaze and fires both shots at the woman's face. (Hold-out pistol Roll(1d20)+9: 11,+9 Total:20, Light pistol Roll(1d20)+4: 19,+4 Total:23.)

[Jellyfish]

Orion

Orion stares apathetically at Amber's wimpy attempt at knife-throwing. "I'm not even going to comment on that, though I imagine you'd have a pretty good idea of what I'd say if I did."

Then she looks up at the new announcement. "Oh no. This is... horrible." She turns to Amber. "They're already resulting to turning students against students. How unoriginal is that?" Though this COULD be quite an interesting development if that 11 girl were nearby... She quickly drives this thought out of her mind, however, as it's not likely to ever become much more than a painfully beautiful dream. Instead she lowers her bow and calls out, "This is the most steriotypical terrorist attack I've ever heard o-" Blam! The shot nails her mid-sentence.

She stands there unmoving as the smoke clears, her hair flowing heroically in the wind, face practically glowing with sarcasm. "Okay. Let's try this again."

She fits an arrow to the string and fires it at the terrorist with the rifle, propelling it forward with all the snarkiness and all the complete and utter apathy that lives and breathes within her, coursing with indifferent power through her Britannian veins! (Aggressive stance again, defense -4, attack +2)

[Reflex Roll: 4+4= not good enough]
[Toughness: 4+2= still not good enough. Use hero point to re-roll toughness: 4+10(HP bonus)+2=16]
[Attack: 8+6=14]

[Shadon]

Swim Club
Surprisingly, the man looks towards Artemis with something like defeat, laughing once more but in a broken, empty sort of way. “Bingo,” he shoots back at her, right as her shot goes off. The bullet tears into his head through the forehead and knocks him staggering back. He remains standing for about half a second before collapsing on to the ground in an eerily alive pose, looking for all the world as if he’s just sitting and leaning back except for the blood trailing down into his eyes, now staring forward blankly.

Being thrown off course by his punch, it’s not until Jin recovers and turns back that he can see the results of Artemis’ shot. In the background, Sophie has had her call go through and is now speedily talking into the phone, apparently telling the police about the emergency situation. She hangs up quickly and then looks up at the other two, scarily pale and looking faint.

“Is he…” She trails off, either too tired or too afraid to continue on.

Distantly, back towards the hall, Artemis and Jin can hear movement as well as the sounds of fighting. Gunshots ring out from all sides, some distant, some not. There are yells and screams, of anger and terror or mixed. The battle rages on in the school.

Sanae
Kicking the door shut, the room goes a shade darker as the attached blind over the window in the frame goes down, effectively blocking out sight but not light. Just in time, perhaps, as several footsteps go running by and then there’s an anguished scream. An anguished scream that sounds very adolescent in nature. The steps are more quiet after that, and accompanied by a quiet ssshsk sound with the occasional thump. They soon fade into background noise as the fight in the science room continues.

Pulling her feint, the woman is obviously not tricked and dodges to the side, however it doesn’t do much for cover. As the bullets are about to strike, there’s a yelp of surprise and Kallen goes crashing to the floor just as the man appears in front of green-eyes, intercepting the bullets. Both of them burrow into his head, slightly higher than they would have on the woman, and then he crashes to the floor in a bloodied heap.

Glancing down at him, and then back up, the woman raises her hands. “I surrender.”

Nina emerges from her rummaging holding what looks like a taser in one hand and a nail gun in the other, with something strapped around her belt tie. She holds the nail gun level on the woman even as she surrenders, and looks like she’s unsure on whether to fire or not. Kallen is recovering slowly and then jumps up, knife still in hand and interposing herself between the Britannian girl and the still-living attacker. Both seem to be waiting, unsure.

Orion
A sigh echoes as Orion gives her non-comment on Amber’s knife throwing, interrupted by the announcement. After, the green-haired girl turns to look at her, taking the news apparently the same way. “What a cliché,” she comments, unable to further reply as they are interrupted by an explosion. As it clears, the other girl has been pushed back somewhat by the impact and is sporting many superficial cuts and bruises, none of which manage to cut through her apathy. Though it would be strained to rival Orion’s own at the moment.

As Orion stands, bow at the ready, hair majestically flowing out behind her as she shines with the power of sarcasm and indifference, she feels the raw power of Britannia itself fill her with new strength. When she looses the arrow, it flies with the all of the snark that has ever been had in the name of her country, all of the indifference that has ever been indifferented, all of the – it hits the guy right between the eyes and he topples over backwards.

Quick as a flash, one of his comrades with a gun falls over, knife protruding from his throat and blood spilling. The other ranged opponent fires at Orion! It clips her hair in a most unattractive manner but otherwise leaves her unharmed. Rolo appears beside the one that crashed into the wall, engaging him in combat, while his previous target lays on the ground, a gun wound through his heart and a bored-looking Lelouch standing nearby.

[Jellyfish]

Orion

Orion gives a slow blink as the bullet sails by her head, then sighs. She pulls an arrow out of her quiver and fits it to the string, uttering in a monotone, "How dare you, I will avenge my hairstyle, etc." Thwang!

[Attack Roll: 19+4=23]

[Demented Dragon]

Artemis

So it was lo- Artemis stares at the damage on corpse uneasily. Maybe not the head next time. Turning to Sophie, partly in reaction to her speaking, partly to avoid looking at the corpse much longer she replies, "Yeah, he's dead. Grab the guns, we're going to need them. Especially if you don't look Britannian. For that matter I'm going to guess any other students who don't look Britannian will be needing some help."

Walking over to the less mutilated body, pointedly not looking at the other corpse, she places her pistol in her bag then yanks out the flag. Best flag ever. After some thought she also takes the time to strip him of his body armor for herself. With a twirl of the flag she walks towards the exit. Wait in that condition... "Well I'm headed out, but with Sophie like that maybe you should hide around here. But keep safe, Jin. I'd think if anyone they'd want you. And we both know why." She gives him a wink then heads back out.

[delta639]

Sanae
Giving the outside's sound effects little more concern than an acknowledgment, Sanae keeps her attention on the club room's skirmish- only to blink uncomprehendingly at the masked man's intervention, trying to reconcile the images processing from her eyes with her knowledge of human movement capabilities. ...So if he could move that fast, why not use it offensively against us? Or just push her out of the way, for that matter... She pushes those thoughts to the back of her mind at the woman's declaration of surrender, watching her hands raise into the universal position for the same.

"I say let her live," Sanae speaks up, turning on her offhand pistol's safety and tucking it back in her backpack, finally pulling her phone again and glancing at the messages received. "She's still a potential threat, but one we should be able to contain. More importantly, though, there's still a lot going on close by, which we need to get more informed about- the danger's definitely not over yet, and she can tell us how. Especially if they're planning to bomb the school or similar, definitely would rather find out about that now." She looks back on her classmates' uncertain positions, trying to find something ropelike in the classroom for restraining the woman. "Kallen, can you take her gun- and that other knife, for that matter- out of her reach? And the radio she had, if you saw where that went. I'd do it, but I'd rather not get within easy wounding distance of her...if I was in her place, I'd likely be considering revenge against the girl who'd shot my friends, surrender or not." She keeps an eye and pistol trained on the woman for this very reason. "Nina, I'd suggest getting that nailgun pointed somewhere apart from Kallen's back, stepping farther out of this woman's reach should be enough to keep you safe and her covered."

Once that's done, she steps forward, possibly with makeshift bindings in her unarmed hand, looking closely at the woman for any still-concealed weapons. (Notice take 10=23.) "Alright...you seem to have some sense of what's good for you, so I suggest you answer our questions, clearly and truthfully. If we think you're misleading us, you can expect a nail somewhere unpleasant- if you make yourself seem like a threat, that's getting upgraded to a bullet. If you don't feel like talking at all...well, we can experiment a bit with incentives." She speaks calmly and coldly, staring evenly into green eyes- not trying to intimidate the woman so much as tell her the facts. "But hopefully none of that will prove necessary. So, you can start out with your name...after that, tell us what you were trying to do with this game here. Then explain how you knew I didn't really call the police station- and next, tell us what else we can expect from your leader today. More 'classes'? Explosions? Whatever you know." (Sense motive Roll(1d20)+12: 16,+12 Total:28)

[Valik Sparks]

Jin Wu

Jin stood, arms loose at his sides, staring at the once-man...now..corpse. He turned, looking first to Artemis, eyes gazing blankly. Then he looked at Sophie. He didn't waste much more time.

Moving swiftly to her side, without a word, he yanked his shirt from his body, stooping down to drape it on the floor, stepping firmly on the inside, and then yanking upwards, tearing the fabric at its seams to make it much longer and more manageable for his purposes. Kneeling down, his sturdy arms worked with machine-like precision as he swept the torn cloth under Sophie's leg, wrapping it around, just above the wound, and tying a tight tourniquet. It must have hurt, and when the young girl winced, Jin paused for just a moment to look her in the eyes, some distant wisp of sympathy drifting somewhere deep in his empty black orbs.

When he was satisfied with his work, he reached an arm under Sophie's knees, and another under her back, and hoisted her up off the ground, grimacing as his muscles strained against the weight. She wasn't a large girl. But he wasn't a particularly strong boy. Just average. But he was determined. And used to labor. Nonstop labor.

Jin started to walk. Attempting to find a path out of the school building that typically got less traffic. Some sort of back-way or alternative route.

"I need to get you out of here..."

[Shadon]

Orion
Orion's arrow strikes the ranged opponent in the shoulder, knocking him backwards as he appears injured, but not extremely so. As he stumbles back, his foot seeks to place down where a rock appears to be. However, as he goes to step down, the rock apparently was a trick of Orion's imagination, and the man missteps, falling backwards and conveniently hitting his head against the ground, rendering him unconscious. Nearby, Amber turns up her nose in an act of disdain at the man's graceless fall. Filthy peasant.

With a dignified brushing-off of the hands, Rolo appears near Orion's side, Lelouch following slowly behind at a most royal pace as all of their immediate attackers have apparently been disposed of. Blood stains the outer wall of the clubhouse, unfortunately not going well with the color. Someone will need to scrub that.

"Where's the sixth," Amber cuts in to the sudden relative calm, walking over and giving a slight yawn. As none of the others have an immediate response to her, she makes as if to roll her eyes and then apparently decides they're not worth the energy. "The enemies are traveling in groups of threes. We took five. Where is the sixth?"

Looking around, her claim seems to be true as far as the others can see. Wherever combat is engaged, the terrorists appear to be in groups of threes, or multiples thereof. Either alive or with fallen comrades, the rule of three holds. However, theirs is one short. Rolo makes to answer, and is cut off by his brother.

"We should eliminate all of the terrorists, quickly. They're tainting the school," there's a dark edge to his voice, the most emotion Orion has heard from it since the annoyance over the car phone the previous day.

Artemis
At the affirmation of her thought, Sophie stares forward with a slightly blank expression, seeming to draw inward to herself somewhat. "...Oh," she manages in a choked whisper, going a bit green around the gills. She goes silent after that for the time Artemis remains in the room, not paying attention, nor does Jin, as she goes about collecting her flag and the armor for herself. Her leaving does not seem well-acknowledged.

Making her way from the entrance to the pool area and through the sports building, Artemis makes her way through a relatively quiet collection of areas. Slipping from the building, she can still hear the commotion from the front courtyard, as well as what seems within the main school building. From her side position though, there's nothing. Moving on, she finds herself near the back of the main building, where she comes across a small skirmish.

Two students are scuffling, one with hands tangled in the other's hair and shirt, the other trying to hold their opponent at bay while also attempting to slash with a knife. Their movements are fast and in a flurry, hard for her to make out. At her approach, however, they break apart. She gets a glimpse of classmates, one Britannian...one Eleven. The Eleven, the one with the knife, drops it and begins to run, dodging past her and sprinting through the doors. Without giving her a chance to say a word, the other scoops up the knife and follows suit. However, as soon as the two of them clear the doors, there's the sound of gunfire. Both fall to the ground, visible through the windows.

Further through the halls, she can hear voices. Talking. Something vaguely familiar. The science club looms around the corner.

Sanae
In reaction to the opinion to let the woman live, Nina snaps towards Sanae with a jerking motion, nail-gun whipping from Kallen's back to her face, and then back again to its previous position quickly as she realizes the danger she had just put the other girl in. Apparently a high-risk situation is at least enough to make her consider not shooting Sanae with a nail. However, the Britannian girl gives no comment, staring instead at the terrorist with an expression like an open book. Rage burns deep in her eyes as anguish and fear also manage to bubble up, her bottom lip trembling slightly as she watches their new apparent hostage. However, when her friend looks up, nodding in agreement, she appears to close down the emotions somewhat. Calm, collected. At least more so than before.

Looking down at her phone, Sanae sees she's missed nineteen calls. Eighteen of them are split between Lloyd and Cecile's personal cells - normal for the latter, but somewhat alarming for the former, as he has never used it to contact her before, instead preferring to use a work-supplied one but giving the number of the personal one to his better assistants in case of 'late-working emergencies'. The nineteenth is from Kaede. She has two voicemails, one from her sisters and one from Cecile. As she checks the phone, Kallen has given a "sure thing" and moved on to disarm the woman, setting the apparent weapons back on a far workbench and then taking the radio and holding it. Nina, in the mean time, has finally decided to aim at the ground.

Looking for rope-like objects, Sanae manages to find some extension cables that are not in use and appear in strong condition. The woman watches her, something fierce in her eyes at the mention of revenge, but she gives a dry laugh. "You're a smart one," she whispers rather flatly. As Sanae steps forward with the extension cables, Kallen appears beside her. The woman reaches down, very slowly and obviously, and grabs a knife from the inside of her boot, offering it up to the red-head who takes it quickly and deposits it with the others before stepping close again, her own knife acquired from the other man in hand.

Spoiler

Show

"My name is Jocelyn," the woman begins to answer the questions, watching the girls warily but making no moves to run or fight. "Jocelyn Roemer. " She offers what could, under normal circumstances, be a congenial smile to accompany the introduction. "I was..." she pauses, apparently thinking. There's a small hiccup in her breath that gives away the grief she must be feeling over the loss of her friends, or at least partners, but she grits her teeth and pushes it down, plowing on. "I was following orders, really. I think you're interested in the rules of the game, though. I don't know if this is all of it, Havoc, she's...complex. But we were a team. Team of three. Sam," she stops, takes a slow breath. "Sammy, he was the buffer, she called him. Teams of three, a buffer, a fighter, and a scuffer," she laughs at something there. Maybe an in-joke. "We're supposed to capture students. Bring them back to Havoc. Not allowed to fight full power. But if the buffer goes down, it changes. The game changes then. Then we're supposed to kill you. But if both go down, it's just the scuffer, we give up. Surrender. Scuff your feet, get along, talk. That sort of thing. Like I'm doing." Another little hiccup in the breathing.

She takes a few moments, collecting herself, almost apologetic as she talks. "The station is tapped. We're monitoring the calls that go through, all of the alerts that come in and out. We've got someone reporting, I've been told. As for what you can expect, she said more classes. Each ones' a new game." Everything she says seems to be true, there's nothing false in it except she seems to be slightly disbelieving herself. Off to the side though, Kallen gives a quiet scoff.

"Do you really think we can believe her?"

Jin
Sophie doesn't seem to acknowledge what Jin is doing until he is already doing it. Beginning to tourniquet her leg, she looks up at him, pale, sickly-looking, and altogether absolutely in shock and suffering from minor blood loss. A hand reaches out and grasps his arm as she winces in pain, squeezing lightly and looking at him without much strength. She seems uncomprehending of what is going on, of what he's fully doing. Her reactions are slow, as if through water.

Being lifted, she curls against his now bare chest but gives no indication that she cares or even notices. In his arms, he can feel her shaking. She's definitely in some sort of shock. Or she's contracted a fast-moving cold. More likely shock. Her eyes are glazing somewhat over, and she looks like she may be sick at any second.

Moving from the swim room, Jin navigates towards the back of the sports building. There's a nursing station in the main building, and one as well in the student council club house. There are others on the campus as well, but much farther from his location and he's not as familiar with the traffic. Both are potentially good, and have good routes to get to them.

And hopefully that noise that sounds vaguely like footsteps is just the wind behind him.

[Demented Dragon]

Artemis

Face momentarily taking on a very annoyed look, Artemis grumbles. Tch! Save their lives and you get ignored! Though I think Jin may not only not be playing with a full deck, he's probably trying to play with matches instead. Just as quickly as it comes, it's gone though and she heads onwards.

As she walks along she takes off the hat and waves the flag over it, "Abracadabra Alakazam!" She clumsily reaches inside, no doubt disappointed by the contents then places the hat back on her head. How *does* this stuff work?

Deep in thought, Artemis finds herself rather taken aback by the skirmish and just raises an eyebrow as they leave. Which quickly turns to a grimace when they're both gunned down. Damn it

Sidling over to the door, keeping away from the windows, she listens for a moment, trying to discern whether she ought to go in guns blazing or not then enters, flag at the ready.

Spoiler

Show

Notice: 1d20 + 14 = 29
Not that I imagine it will matter much =P

[Jellyfish]

Orion

Orion looks around for the aforementioned sixth, then lets out a sigh. "Maybe he got bored with us and decided to chase some 11's around instead," she suggests. "Or maybe his ancestors were school children once and he suddenly developed an inner sense of guilt. Whichever the case, I suppose you're right; it would be best if we eliminated these bedlamites before they ruin the school's color scheme entirely." She shoots a look at the unattractive blood stain on the wall, then supposes she'd better load her weapon. Again. This was getting repetitive. "I don't suppose we have much in the way of a strategy, aside from 'go around killing things and don't die'?"

[delta639]

Sanae
Sanae freezes briefly at the nail gun's sudden presence in her face, but calms again as Nina moves it away, mentally chalking up another reason not to let the girl have weapons near her. Her eyebrows climb into her bangs as she takes in the nineteen missed calls. ...Well, I've gotten rather popular all of a sudden, huh. This can only bode well. Once the weapons have been removed, Sanae gingerly ties the woman up with the extension cords. She binds her arms behind her back and legs together as she listens to the questions being answered. Just 'following orders', right, never heard that one before...

"I'm not sure," she replies to Kallen, frowning. "I'm pretty good at telling when people lie and she doesn't seem to be, but there's always the chance she's just holding back- or a better liar, this is a bit hard to swallow." She looks over the green-eyed woman for a moment, calculating. "Still, it seems too detailed for her to have just made up on the spot. And it wouldn't help her to get caught lying to us, I do believe parts like the police station at least. Though if Havoc designated certain members as the ones to be captured...she probably didn't let them know enough to spill too many secrets. Right, Jocelyn?" she asks with a raised eyebrow. "Rather convenient."

"I'd be interested in hearing what you- what she has to say about why her leader wants the students, though, 'complex' as she apparently is. And if she doesn't know, who else might...that we could reach with that radio, for instance." Sanae tells the redhead, with a nod to the device in her hands. "Keep her cov- could you two keep her covered for the moment, though? I contacted some people about getting help, and they tried to call me back rather...vigorously, so I'm going to check that." She takes a step away from the girls and bound woman, starting both voicemails' playback and raising her phone back to her ear- though she flinches and snaps up her other hand's gun as a bloodied girl in body armor comes through the door, half-lowering it warily as she recognizes the fellow student. "Artemis?" Sanae says with a note of surprise. "What are you doing here, and- wait." She blinks. "Why...why do you still have that flag." she says deadpan, gesturing with her pistol at the tattered object. "It's been a whole day, didn't you ever give the thing back?"

[Demented Dragon]

Artemis

Artemis doffs her hat and smiles at Sanae, "Would it be weird to say I left it in a fire throwing assassin yesterday then found Alcaeus with it this morning?" Looking deliberately more innocent, she continues, "When the shooting started I figured I shouldn't go unarmed, you know? Though I've also got this gun here in case anyone needs one?" She waves the gun in her left hand and looks between the other students as she moves forward. "As for what I'm doing here, safety in numbers! And for numbers." Pause. "No offense. I thought I should stop people from trying to pick off any Japanese, especially after Alcaeus' attempt to start a mob earlier."

With an aggravated sigh she goes on, "I saw Jin earlier, but he's just nuts. Saving people from terrorists is one thing, saving them from themselves is another. And I'd prefer help to be mutual, which is hard when I'm not sure he noticed there was anyone besides himself, Sohpie, and two men he apparently thought he could reason with" Her rant stops abruptly. "They're dead now though, so Jin and Sophie should have a chance to hide."

Rant and exposition over, Artemis stops walking, spares a glance at the terrorist, and asks "So, what's the plan from here?"

[Valik Sparks]

Jin Wu

"Violence.. Death.. Senseless..."

Jin mutters quietly, eyes trained ahead, glazed, unblinking, feet pounding against the ground autonomously, unwavering and rhythmic as a machine. He chose the route to the clubhouse, favoring any paths that offered some sort of cover. He did not spare any glances to the noises and dangers that jumped out at his ears; any stop would increase his chances of being spotted.

"Japanese.. Terrorist? His garments say yes. But they lie. His heart betrays him. The Truth betrays him."

In the event of an uninterrupted journey, Jin moves with tunnel-vision towards the nursing station, glancing over Sophie to assess what kind of attention she may need.

"Are you alright..? How are you feeling? I need to know symptoms to treat you properly." Jin said, looking down at Sophie, finally speaking in a normal tone, albeit deadpan.

[Shadon]

Orion
The other three share Orion's distasteful glance at the ruined color scheme, clearly disapproving of such thugs that would do a terrible thing like that. With exchanged looks over the question of strategy, Amber offers a shrug. "We could leave those in the courtyard for now that aren't causing too much of a ruckus. They might help thin the vermin problem." Something almost close to distaste enters her tone at that comment as she makes her way to Rolo's side, taking his hand in hers and holding it as if it were a dead, stinky fish lovingly.

Aforementioned man with a stinky fish hand prince chooses to speak up. "We could play along with their...game for the time being, taking them out systematically as we do so. I doubt they will try very hard to take us on as targets if we appear to be cooperating."

A bullet goes whizzing by Orion's ear at that moment, embedding itself in the wall of the clubhouse. Further inspection shows it was not meant for her, but shot by a student that had managed to get ahold of a gun and was now trying to fight off an attacker.

"Whatever we do, acting quickly would be wise," Lelouch offers. The school buildings loom on three sides, the fourth walled off by the still-guarded gate. Around them, the fighting continues.

Science Club
Inclining her head to the girl in agreement with her comment, Jocelyn gives a slight nod of the head. "Havoc isn't one for giving information out unless it's on a need-to-know basis," she affirms the theory. Kallen looks at Sanae, a hardened expression on her face as she seems to consider the orders, or suggestions, the girl has for her, before she accepts them. Her normal demeanor has apparently disappeared for the most part. Turning on the woman to both cover and wait for answers, both she and Nina, in the midst of asking 'who she could have contacted for help?' turn towards the door. A nail goes flying, missing Artemis by bare centimeters and embedding itself in the doorframe behind her.

Nina calms almost instantly upon realizing who has just entered the room and looks horrified at what she's just done. "A-Artemis! I'm so sorry! I thought you were...a terrorist!" The gun, still pointing up, is shaking badly in her hands. Kallen appears by her side and points it downwards before returning to Jocelyn's side, who looks vaguely amused.

"Jocelyn, answer the questions that you were asked."

"I don't know why Havoc wants the students, and you're not likely to get anyone on the radio that will tell you and especially not anyone who wouldn't be suspicious. We've all had our orders, so there wouldn't be any questioning of them. You could look for Trells or Nesfan, but no guarantee."

Sanae's Messages

Spoiler

Show

As the door hits open to reveal Artemis, Sanae can still get a good enough earful to hear the messages.

Message One: Cecile
"Sanae, are you alright?! The police are getting calls in from all over the city from schools and universities, all reporting terrorist activities! They seemed focused on more military-inclined schools but-" It cuts off her frantic voice with a jarringly loud screech.

Message Two: Kaede
"Your sister is really nice," comes a distinctly non-Kaide voice through the line. "I bumped into her this morning and she seemed really interested in where we'd met." Definitely not-Kaede voice. In fact, distinctly...Raito. "We're at your house now, can't wait to see you when you get back!"

Jin
Jin's journey to the nursing station is, or would be to most people, suspiciously uninterrupted. In reality, he passes several fights and is almost attacked on two occasions, but his luck seems to hold as all assailants are occupied before they can reach him, allowing him to journey safely. Looking down at the girl he holds in his arms, she gives no reply as he asks questions. She's instead staring outwards, eyes looking blank and uncomprehending. She's shaking less, but looking worse. Maybe she-

Jin finds himself crashing into something vaguely squishy.

Clubhouse Exterior
Before Team Don't Die can make their next move, a small shirtless Chinese boy carrying a girl with radiation-purple hair crashes straight into Orion, knocking her off balance but not so bad that she actually falls. Both she and the boy reel backwards, his eyes determined but focused and unsettlingly blank as he does so, hers most likely apathetic but vaguely annoyed. One of their companions makes a noise of discontent. It's probably Amber. She likes being discontent. Let's just say it's her.

[delta639]

Sanae
Sanae blinks slowly at the cheerful hat-wearing girl's proclamation. Flame-throwing...Left it in them? "Um. No, I think I can safely say that's outside the boundaries of weird," she murmurs. "I'd ask why you're convinced that a burnt banner makes a better weapon than a firearm, but at this point I'm..." Her voice trails off, both at the playing messages and at Artemis's stated goals. Altruism, towards us? From a Britannian? She's...got to have some other angle here, right?

"None...taken." She didn't buy the mob-rallying? Alright, so maybe this girl's more perceptive than she looks. "Well, I suppose if you really want to help a Number I have more survival instinct than Jin evidently does. Kallen seems to be a decent fighter too...but ideally, we'd be avoiding too many other people that want to kill us." She glances around the clubroom for any materials she could potentially use, thinking. (Notice Roll(1d20)+13: 14,+13 Total:27) Right. Need a plan.

"I didn't actually mean that they'd be telling us, as such...but I suppose your voice suddenly asking would be too suspicious as well." she says to Jocelyn with a nod. "Who are Trells and Nesfan, and do you have any inkling of where they'd be?...okay." Sanae adjusts her glasses, closing her eyes in thought. "People I called have their own troubles, but they mentioned that there's more attacks like this around the city. Cafeteria's where they're trying to gather us, dead or alive, and the rest of the school's chaos at this point. Can't expect help from the police or likely military..." Maybe I could call Kaede back- no, they wouldn't interfere here. "For the moment, I think we should focus on starting a more organized counterattack. Like you said, safety in numbers, so we can try to recruit other students and start clearing out safe areas, we all know the school's layout so that should help too. Artemis, you're popular and don't look too murderous or foreign, you should probably lead that effort. We can stay in contact with texts, personally I'm going to try and get more information from their communications and such...and I'd like to know just what's going on in the cafeteria." She swaps the pistol for her PDA and takes a glance at the radio channels' activity, placing a tentative call to Lloyd as well.

[Jellyfish]

Orion

Orion nods at Rolo's suggestion. "As long as we don't run into anything else weird, inexplicable, or unspeakably rude, I shall be content."

Just then, the Chinese boy from earlier crashes into her. Her arrow drops from the bow and she stumbles backwards.

Her eyes drift towards the boy in mild irritation. Then they freeze. Something is missing here.

She blinks slowly at the shirtless damsel-bearing lunatic. "Do you people make a sport out of showing up to ruin my life at the most ironic moments possible?"

[Demented Dragon]

Artemis

Feeling somewhat more invincible than she is, due to fatigue and victory, Artemis is unfazed by the nail. "Ah, if there must be friendly fire, I'd prefer to take it in the bullet proof vest," she says with a gesture down her torso.

Artemis focuses on Sanae intently, as the one who seems most ready to consider future plans. "More attacks? Well that would explain why Kewell didn't answer me about Villetta. And also rather... worrying..." Is this just like in Pendragon? A.D. was at that, and then he was here yesterday...

No longer cheerful, and far more serious she nods in agreement to Sanae's plan. "Which area do you think would be most defensible? We should reach that, make it our 'headquarters' and spread out from there perhaps? And yes, it would be best if I were to talk to them, I think. Bit less likely to get someone who thinks they found an 'acceptable' target. Could really use Lelouch or Rolo for this though." Looking a bit less serious, but still far from cheerful she offers one word as explanation, "Princes."

With that decided, she walks over to the captive, pointing the sharp end of the flag at her. "Hey, who do you work for? I doubt Havoc just picked people up off the street for this, especially with how many of you must be around the city. There's a ton of you and you're obviously very well organized." After a slight pause and with an uncertain look, Artemis leans in and whispers, "And... have you ever seen a man wearing this hat before? Dressed in red?" After some further thought and a grim look she keeps on going, "Or know a man named Louis? Maybe a tal-" Another pause and realization. "Ah never mind that last one, you'd think I was crazier than you guys"

[Shadon]

Science Club
"Wait, you left a flag...in someone did you say?" The dark-haired girl speaks up, finally realizing what Artemis had said. "That's...well, uh..." She shakes her head, giving a 'never mind' gesture. At this point, Kallen steps forward in a metaphorical sense, throwing in her thoughts.

"I'm decent at both hand-to-hand and ranged, Nina, if she stops freaking out, is a pretty good shot too, if it comes down to it." Looking over to the other girl to get confirmation, she's cut off from saying anything else as the scientist pipes up, sounding appalled.

"Y-you're suggesting we help...one of them?" She clearly means Sanae. Kallen grimaces, moving over closer to try and placate the girl when Jocelyn starts laughing from her chair, wiggling an arm as if to reach up and brush a tear from her eye. One has actually appeared.

"No, no, don't let me stop you, please go on. This is cute." Being addressed again, she calms down, looking over towards Sanae. "Frey Trells, he's running our mobile command. I think they said they were taking up stations in the guard house. He's one of the best we've got, so he'd probably know what was going on. And then there's Kazue Nesfan. She's most likely made a lounge somewhere. Not one for action, but Havoc's right-hand girl. She always knows what's going on."

At the mention of both Kewell and Villetta, Nina looks over at Artemis sharply, but says nothing, probably listening to the plan. "It sounds like a good plan, we should exchange numbers," Kallen offers, givings both hers and Nina's out to the other girls - carefully written on pieces of notebook paper she pulled from her bag, kept from Jocelyn's eyes. "Do you know where the princes might be?" the dark-haired girl asks quietly, seeming to latch on to that idea.

Sanae
Searching the room, Sanae is able to come across many components that could be used to cobble together mechanical things, as well as half-finished radios and a laptop. There's also a small robot.

Using her PDA to scan the radio waves, she picks up the same frequency as the day before. Tuning in, she hears mostly silence and then bits of talking, mostly just 'affirmed' or 'reached'. Occasionally, she gets a quiet laugh, which very much sounds like Havoc, but it seems perhaps they either have other means of communications right now or are really not talking.

Putting in a call to Lloyd, it makes as if to ring through and then is answered with a vibrant "HellooOOOOooo?"

Artemis
Jocelyn looks at her with a quirked brow. "I work for Havoc. I thought that was pretty evident." When she leans in though, the woman seems more amused than anything else. "I don't recall, though I do know a Louis."

Clubhouse Exterior
"I wouldn't be surprised," Amber sighs in all of the languid energy that she can muster, seeming utterly unfazed by the explosive appearance of the boy. "People do seem to choose the most inopportune times to ruin days. Or months. Or years. Or lives." Moving as soon as the commotion started, Rolo had placed himself between Amber and the appearance of the boy. Orion's seeming dislike of him doesn't give the prince any reason to move from his position as it is, so he stays, a knife in his hand, said knife caked in dried blood.

Lelouch, too, has taken on a much more defensive position, a pistol in his hand and aimed at the boy, though both Orion and Jin only catch a glimpse of it before it disappears and he's standing regally again. A somewhat long, uncomfortable silence (minus battle sounds) stretches as the Britannians regard Jin with emotions ranging from hostility to bored amusement. "We-" Lelouch opens his mouth to speak and quickly snaps it shut as something sounds out loudly.

"FELLOW STUDENTS!" Comes the bellowing voice of none other than Alcaeus Porter. Turning their heads frantically, he is finally located by most...standing on the roof of the Clubhouse. How did he get up there? Amarante and a few of his fellow club-goers (whatever club that may be) stand with him, balancing uncertainly. "The rebel scum have invaded our school, our place of sanctuary! They were no doubt aided in this by their comrades within! That's right," he lowers one hand and places it over his heart as if he might faint. "Those that we Britannians have extend our hearts and hands to as brothers have betrayed us and welcomed the enemy! We must band together to rid them and their 'friends' from these grounds!"

[Demented Dragon]

Artemis

Artemis looks at Nina and just smiles, "Well would you hand it to the assassin?" She listen to Kallen, opens her mouth to reply, then stops at Nina's interjection. Her gaze turns significantly colder as she looks at Nina. Ignoring Jocelyn for now, she replies, her voice laden with utter contempt, "What, and you assume I'd just help you and not her? If you didn't notice she was the one with the sense not to shoot at me when I came in the door. She kept her cool. In a situation like this, helping her is also a partnership. Helping you might just be charity."

Placing her gun in her bag, she very deliberately turns from Nina to Jocelyn and places a hand rather firmly on her shoulder. "And who does Havoc work for? What's the purpose of your organization? And does your Louis have a habit of breaking his own fingers?" By this point she seems to unconsciously be squeezing the terrorist's shoulder rather painfully.

Abruptly turning back to the others she walks forward and hands Kallen the gun from her bag. While maintaining a challenging look at Nina. As an afterthought she exchanges her number as well. Her gaze now on Kallen she provides a suggestion, "It sounds like an alternative might be to assault the guardhouse. Though I think we need more people for that first. But a more firm goal than just holing up"

[Jellyfish]

Orion

Oh. Not this guy again. She turns her head to look at her fellow teammates. "I suppose someone should shut this imbecile up before he turns the entire school into a horror show reminiscent of my tenth birthday party?" She stands there for a moment, then sighs. "Fine. I'll do it."

Shoulders drooping from the tedium of it all, she walks over to Amber and pulls the tie from her neck. She considers apologizing, but decides it's not worth it. The tie had a speckle of dirt on it anyway.

Then she draws out an arrow and wraps the cloth around the tip, thoroughly blunting the edge. Though hopefully not too much. This boy was an idiot. She briefly reflects on how hilarious it would be if it hit him in the face.

[Aggressive stance; attack +2, defense -4. Attack Roll: 10+6=16]

[Valik Sparks]

Jin Wu

Jin staggered back, grunting as he strained to keep Sophie in his arms, and recover his balance simultaneously. But he managed. He found himself encircled by a group of...rather apathetic teenagers. He glanced between their dull sets of eyes. He didn't seem to mind Rolo's threatening stance towards him. "Do any of you have any medical training..?"

He looked down at Sophie. The boy with the megaphone started shouting. He sighed, looking up and gazing blankly at Alcaeus. "Idiot." He muttered.

Twang!

The slightest expression of surprise crossed Jin's face when a tie bunched around the tip of an arrow went flying through the sky.

[delta639]

Sanae
Sanae's torn between rolling her eyes and smirking at the friendly fire comment, so she does both. She reacts similarly to Nina at the mention of the Purists, speaking up. "The Purist officer that was murdered, and...Lord Kewell is another, right? You know them?" Then she tilts her head at Artemis's willingness to go along with her suggestions. A Britannian that actually listens to me? And Kallen's willing to as well...well, this day really is just full of surprises.

"Let's see, defensible areas..." She thinks over the school's layout for a moment, accepting the slips of paper with phone numbers. Taking a cue from Kallen's secrecy, she rapidly types up a text which she sends to Nina and Kallen, Artemis as well when her number's exchanged, before she places the call to Lloyd.

For the main building now, the Commons on the upper level would be good, but we'd likely want to block off its windows with furniture from other rooms. The lower level Commons has three entrances, but it's sealed to the outside and might make a good location too. Longer-term, the gyms in the sports buildings could do, but focusing on this building for now seems better.

"I saw the Princes head to the council clubhouse earlier, I think." she weighs in verbally as she dials, not batting an eye at Nina's comment and being more surprised at the idea that she's a good shot.

Her eyes do widen, though, at Artemis's contemptuous retort. Oookay. Much as I like seeing Nina put in her place, I should probably try and calm things- actually no, on second thought, I'd rather just stand back and watch. "Hi, it's Sanae," she replies to Lloyd, stepping over to the robot and trying to turn it on to see what it does. "I noticed that you called me...nine times? Is an attack happening there, too?" She covers the phone for a moment to reply to Artemis. "Ask her what Trells and Nesfan look like- and the guardhouse is likely well defended, yes, we shouldn't rush in."

[Demented Dragon]

Artemis

More neutral now, neither particularly joking nor upset, Artemis faces Sanae, "I know Lord Kewell. He saved my life once actually. But, no I don't- didn't,- know Villetta personally. I just know of her by reputation and I know she was a friend of Lord Kewell."

Noticing the texting, Artemis pulls out her phone and sends a brief reply.

Spoiler

Show

Given our low numbers at the moment I think the lower Commons seem better.

"The clubhouse? I think it'd be good to get to them. I could go, I know them and they'd have more sway than I would." When Sanae asks her to question Jocelyn she simply gives the terrorist a look, "What she said."

[delta639]

Sanae
Sanae glances up from her tinkering with the robot (Computers Roll(1d20)+16: 13,+16 Total:29) to give Artemis a look, waiting a few seconds before responding (and listening to Lloyd's response as well). Life saved by him, fighting off flame-throwing assassins yesterday, killing terrorists today- this girl leads an interesting life, doesn't she. "You're on a first-name basis with Pureblood officers- and know royals, even- but you're still going out of your way to help Numbers? Seems a bit..conflicting, if you don't mind me saying."

She frowns as her phone vibrates during her call, fitting in a text response between verbal ones to her boss. "Kallen, could I have the radio?...Anyway Artemis, if you can handle yourself go ahead and find the princes, we probably shouldn't let them be captured."
Return text to Artemis

Spoiler

Show

The lower commons room should do, then, but we can modify the plan as necessary while things progress.
...Were you serious about the fire-throwing assassin? That sounds connected to what happened yesterday in Okinawa.