Session 93: Bat For Lashes
The heist is over.
Bast and Orrey linger at the window of the captain's cabin of the Seventh Dawn, heavily laden with stolen goods and intense pressure.
Linnet is on the business end of a crossbow held by one of the officers of the Seventh Dawn, shot down over the food riots raging all along the Yinha docks.
Nets strung below the dock separate the Seventh Dawn from Meteor, cutting off the heist's pre-planned escape route.
The rogue Guardian Force Atomos drifts through the air, a ten-story mouth causing localized earthquakes with every inhale.
Two officers are aboard the Seventh Dawn, responding to the manifestation of Atomos, sure to find the thieves in a matter of seconds.
The others must be on their way.
The battle has just begun. After a hasty glance to make sure Orrey is holding on securely, Bast slams a button on his belt with one hand and two nozzles by his feet flare up. A flick of one foot sets fire to the oil slick he sprayed over the captain's desk. Orrey almost gives a thumbs up, but reconsiders and just nods. The door to the captain's cabin jiggles, then unlocks and opens. "I know no one's supposed to--" the male voice starts, then stops. A fire sylph stands in the doorway, mouth open in absolute bewilderment that unfortunately only lasts half a second. Then Suzaku, Seventh Dawn officer, is all movement, whipping his left hand out and flinging one of his wind and fire wheels at the intruders, flames roaring to life along its edge.
The blade soars past Orrey and Bast, narrowly missing them both. The phantasmal chain connecting them, an end each resting loosely inside their chests, though, remains after the blade soars past... and the chain is heating up, quickly.
Suzaku swears, short and violent. "Cassiat!" he calls out as the intruders drop from the window. "To me!" Bast hisses under his breath and pushes off the windowsill as he ducks to avoid the blade, arcing out over open air and the nets below and perforce taking Orrey with him. Fighting down rising panic, Linnet crosses her arms over her head, then flings them up and to either side with two rapid explosions of ice shards. Byakko winces, the crowd around him sounds significantly angrier, and the air whites out briefly as the shards explode into some very cutting snow. Byakko ignores the sharp snow tearing into him, plus the panicked screams of the people around him, as he tracks the retreating thief down the center of his crossbow.
The weapon fires with a thwip, and the bolt slams between Linnet's shoulders, just as expected. He then turns his back as the bolt and the shield on his back both glow -- bolt orange, shield blue -- and the sylph hurtles down out of the air and into the shield, held in place by a powerful magnetic force. Linnet screams in fury as her flight is stolen again by a force outside of her control, again. "You filthy son of a dust mop, you nearly broke my wing! Fuck you and the smugness you rode in on!"
Byakko calmly turns his attention now to the gliding duo, already preparing his next shot... Several tiers below, Yves had almost managed to successfully explain the rules of Triple Triad to Isa. She was still arguing that the corner rules were stupid when the noises up above started. And by the time Atomos appeared, the cards were forgotten. Isa reaches out to touch Yves on the shoulder, a quickly-fading line of light connecting them as she pulls back. "Get buckled in," she says in her Command Voice, "because we're going to find out if your emergency booster works."
And without looking to see if she's been heard, she takes the stairs to the cockpit two at a time and prepares to aggressively undock. Yves snaps a hook onto a ring on the floor with the practiced movement of someone who was required to practice it before being allowed to to start explaining Triple Triad, and surveys the situation while Isa moves. Orrey clings to the Glider, avoiding looking down as he and Bast start to zoom through the air. He awkwardly pulls out the Armageddon and aims a shot at Byakko.
The flash from the gun is highly visible, as is the trail it puts through Linnet's Blizzard. "...oh, huh," Yves says, having now in fact Surveyed the Situation. "Um. That seems bad?" He waves a hand vaguely in the air, as if drawing circles in nothing. "I think, hm, yeah, I think we could use some help for this. Yes. Definitely. Well. Hm. Yeah. Okay. Diabolos? Sorry to bother you without warning, but do you think you could swing by and, like, do that thing with the bats or something? Like we talked about that one time? Because that would be great, if you're feeling up for it. If you're not, I'll figure out something else. Thanks either way." Really, the sky writes. "Only if it's not too dangerous for you," Yves says earnestly toward the sky. "I know these people can be a real problem. Also that's probably Atomos over there, and, uh, yeah. So." The sky darkens as an orb of shadow forms somewhere below Atomos, and then the flurry of bats heralds the arrival of Diabolos, called, or perhaps merely suggested, by their summoner, Yves.
Behind Byakko comes the squeaking of a thousand tiny bats and the fluttering of two thousand tiny leathery wings, and then a very bewildered and flustered Linnet appears on the Meteor as (almost) all of the bats dissipate into the darkness.
One stays behind, rather cozy in the braid. "Buckle in and hold on!" Yves says hastily to Linnet at her appearance. "Gonna get fast soon! ...and maybe smoky, depending on how those nets hold." Orrey mutters prayers to the Forgotten to shield them from harm. A few seconds into his joint jump with Orrey, Bast grunts something indistinguishable over the noise of the riot as he adjusts the wings for the extra weight and begins leveling out what was starting to look like a rather precipitous drop. Behind Bast, casting its light over his glider's wings, Orrey watches the fireball all the way in.
The Phantasmal Blaze chain linking Bast and Orrey, slack and relaxed, burns hotter still. Linnet stops cursing up a blue streak and looks around, bewildered. "...hi? Thanks? Okay, what's the plan and can we please kill that dirt stain with the crossbow? And if not, can we catch them? Somehow? Yves, I have no idea what you did to this tub but let's go." It's hard to tell what's moving faster, the speed of chaos or Linnet's conversation.
Upon mutely pointed directions from Yves, Linnet bolts below deck, the better not to get flung into the chaos again. On the deck, Byakko blinks at being some number of pounds lighter and significantly quieter, and then growls. "So they've got their own, do they..." he mutters, and then fires, this time with a brilliant blast of light accompanying the crossbow bolt.
Elsewhere, below decks in the Meteor, that same lance of pain sears through Linnet's shoulders again as the embedded bolt combusts.
Linnet curses, rescues the tiny bat from her hair, and beats out the smoldering bits of her braid and her wings. Byakko grins as the bolt finds its mark in Orrey, narrowly missing Bast as well. He considers activating the magnetism, but elects not to.
"Here," Cassiat's voice calls out from the edge of the captain's cabin, in between coughs from the smoke. "Don't miss."
Cassiat casts Nearsight on Suzaku. At the controls of the Meteor, Isa is flipping levers and pushing buttons. "Hey Linnet," she says distractedly, "grab onto somethi....Linnet?" She doesn't let her surprise divert her for too long, though. Hastily attached to the control panel is an ominously large red button.
Isa punches it. As Bast adjusts his arc with the injured Orrey in his grasp, he sees one of the food rioters take a hell of a punch from another rival food critic and tumble down into the net. A spark runs through the net, a rapid flash of gravity and lightning, and the rioter is a semi-conscious pile of groans. There is a rising whine as Meteor's engines strain against the bubble of Gravity holding them to the docks. But for a craft of this size, the docking bubble is mostly a courtesy to make sure you don't lose your airship in strong winds. The modifications Yves has made are....somewhat less that courteous. When Isa hits the Big Red Button, the shuttle leaps forward as if the bubble wasn't even there. In the cabin, Isa and Linnet are both pressed back against their seats with the acceleration; above, Yves momentarily leaves the deck entirely, performing the world's shortest parasailing on his safety cables. (Linnet has not managed 'seat' and is flung into a corner, but she'll take it. The little bat is cradled safely in her hands, even if she ends up saucer-over-teakettle.)
(The bat is screeing in a very cheerful manner.)
Orrey holds on for dear life. "Oh, heck. Oh, heck," Yves says, as many things happen. His feet scrabble down for the deck again, and he lifts his hands high. When he brings them down, there's a dull metallic orb in his hands, which he places gently on the deck. His feet settle down solidly there, the safety cables going slack. "Right. Much safer. Safer for--OH RIGHT." He looks up toward the sky, and gestures frantically.
I have not forgotten, says the sky, as a cloud of bats appears around the two fliers. With a susurrus of a thousand wings, the bats vanish, and reappear on the deck to place Orrey gently down on what is now quite securely Down there. The Phantasmal Blaze chain snaps, stretched so far and taut across the vast distance. Orrey blinks away the bats in his vision and let's out a "How..." and then sees Yves. "Thanks! What about Bast?"
"Next time," Yves says. "You might want to clip in? Or go below? The deck is really secure for as long as that sphere lasts, so, uh, you know." He waves towards the orb of gravity by way of explanation. "Just don't bump Isa's elbow while she's gunning it, or we'll probably all fly into a cliff and die. Right? Right." He calls up to the sky, "THANKS. LOVING THE BATS." Bast, unexpectedly lightened, glances over his shoulder to figure out where Orrey went. Only the fading residue of a bat swarm offers any hint. Grimacing, Bast yanks a potion from his belt and downs it, a trickle spilling on the net below, as he banks closer to Atomos and the projected trajectory of the Meteor. With Cassiat's Nearsight guiding his hand, Suzaku unleashes another Flare with pinpoint accuracy.
Byakko adjusts something in his crossbow, forcing a lever down, then fires another holy bolt up at Bast, this one crackling with magical energy.
His clothes flickering with flames, his side pierced with a sizzling bolt of magical energy, the last thing Bast remembers is the sight of the looming Atomos fast approaching... Yves says something far more rude than oh heck and points at the plummeting Bast. But the dark words in the sky are already on it, and a cloud of bats gently wafts the moogle from imminent destruction to a nice cozy spot on the currently very secure deck, which is at the moment inhabited by a human with unusually colored hair and a viera swearing wildly at everything and nothing while trying to fling harnesses and safety lines at people.
He does at least remember to say, "You're the best, you really are! Feel free to mess them up some more, they've been real jerks about this whole burglary thing!" between all the profanity.
Bast and Orrey linger at the window of the captain's cabin of the Seventh Dawn, heavily laden with stolen goods and intense pressure.
Linnet is on the business end of a crossbow held by one of the officers of the Seventh Dawn, shot down over the food riots raging all along the Yinha docks.
Nets strung below the dock separate the Seventh Dawn from Meteor, cutting off the heist's pre-planned escape route.
The rogue Guardian Force Atomos drifts through the air, a ten-story mouth causing localized earthquakes with every inhale.
Two officers are aboard the Seventh Dawn, responding to the manifestation of Atomos, sure to find the thieves in a matter of seconds.
The others must be on their way.
The battle has just begun. After a hasty glance to make sure Orrey is holding on securely, Bast slams a button on his belt with one hand and two nozzles by his feet flare up. A flick of one foot sets fire to the oil slick he sprayed over the captain's desk. Orrey almost gives a thumbs up, but reconsiders and just nods. The door to the captain's cabin jiggles, then unlocks and opens. "I know no one's supposed to--" the male voice starts, then stops. A fire sylph stands in the doorway, mouth open in absolute bewilderment that unfortunately only lasts half a second. Then Suzaku, Seventh Dawn officer, is all movement, whipping his left hand out and flinging one of his wind and fire wheels at the intruders, flames roaring to life along its edge.
The blade soars past Orrey and Bast, narrowly missing them both. The phantasmal chain connecting them, an end each resting loosely inside their chests, though, remains after the blade soars past... and the chain is heating up, quickly.
Suzaku swears, short and violent. "Cassiat!" he calls out as the intruders drop from the window. "To me!" Bast hisses under his breath and pushes off the windowsill as he ducks to avoid the blade, arcing out over open air and the nets below and perforce taking Orrey with him. Fighting down rising panic, Linnet crosses her arms over her head, then flings them up and to either side with two rapid explosions of ice shards. Byakko winces, the crowd around him sounds significantly angrier, and the air whites out briefly as the shards explode into some very cutting snow. Byakko ignores the sharp snow tearing into him, plus the panicked screams of the people around him, as he tracks the retreating thief down the center of his crossbow.
The weapon fires with a thwip, and the bolt slams between Linnet's shoulders, just as expected. He then turns his back as the bolt and the shield on his back both glow -- bolt orange, shield blue -- and the sylph hurtles down out of the air and into the shield, held in place by a powerful magnetic force. Linnet screams in fury as her flight is stolen again by a force outside of her control, again. "You filthy son of a dust mop, you nearly broke my wing! Fuck you and the smugness you rode in on!"
Byakko calmly turns his attention now to the gliding duo, already preparing his next shot... Several tiers below, Yves had almost managed to successfully explain the rules of Triple Triad to Isa. She was still arguing that the corner rules were stupid when the noises up above started. And by the time Atomos appeared, the cards were forgotten. Isa reaches out to touch Yves on the shoulder, a quickly-fading line of light connecting them as she pulls back. "Get buckled in," she says in her Command Voice, "because we're going to find out if your emergency booster works."
And without looking to see if she's been heard, she takes the stairs to the cockpit two at a time and prepares to aggressively undock. Yves snaps a hook onto a ring on the floor with the practiced movement of someone who was required to practice it before being allowed to to start explaining Triple Triad, and surveys the situation while Isa moves. Orrey clings to the Glider, avoiding looking down as he and Bast start to zoom through the air. He awkwardly pulls out the Armageddon and aims a shot at Byakko.
The flash from the gun is highly visible, as is the trail it puts through Linnet's Blizzard. "...oh, huh," Yves says, having now in fact Surveyed the Situation. "Um. That seems bad?" He waves a hand vaguely in the air, as if drawing circles in nothing. "I think, hm, yeah, I think we could use some help for this. Yes. Definitely. Well. Hm. Yeah. Okay. Diabolos? Sorry to bother you without warning, but do you think you could swing by and, like, do that thing with the bats or something? Like we talked about that one time? Because that would be great, if you're feeling up for it. If you're not, I'll figure out something else. Thanks either way." Really, the sky writes. "Only if it's not too dangerous for you," Yves says earnestly toward the sky. "I know these people can be a real problem. Also that's probably Atomos over there, and, uh, yeah. So." The sky darkens as an orb of shadow forms somewhere below Atomos, and then the flurry of bats heralds the arrival of Diabolos, called, or perhaps merely suggested, by their summoner, Yves.
Behind Byakko comes the squeaking of a thousand tiny bats and the fluttering of two thousand tiny leathery wings, and then a very bewildered and flustered Linnet appears on the Meteor as (almost) all of the bats dissipate into the darkness.
One stays behind, rather cozy in the braid. "Buckle in and hold on!" Yves says hastily to Linnet at her appearance. "Gonna get fast soon! ...and maybe smoky, depending on how those nets hold." Orrey mutters prayers to the Forgotten to shield them from harm. A few seconds into his joint jump with Orrey, Bast grunts something indistinguishable over the noise of the riot as he adjusts the wings for the extra weight and begins leveling out what was starting to look like a rather precipitous drop. Behind Bast, casting its light over his glider's wings, Orrey watches the fireball all the way in.
The Phantasmal Blaze chain linking Bast and Orrey, slack and relaxed, burns hotter still. Linnet stops cursing up a blue streak and looks around, bewildered. "...hi? Thanks? Okay, what's the plan and can we please kill that dirt stain with the crossbow? And if not, can we catch them? Somehow? Yves, I have no idea what you did to this tub but let's go." It's hard to tell what's moving faster, the speed of chaos or Linnet's conversation.
Upon mutely pointed directions from Yves, Linnet bolts below deck, the better not to get flung into the chaos again. On the deck, Byakko blinks at being some number of pounds lighter and significantly quieter, and then growls. "So they've got their own, do they..." he mutters, and then fires, this time with a brilliant blast of light accompanying the crossbow bolt.
Elsewhere, below decks in the Meteor, that same lance of pain sears through Linnet's shoulders again as the embedded bolt combusts.
Linnet curses, rescues the tiny bat from her hair, and beats out the smoldering bits of her braid and her wings. Byakko grins as the bolt finds its mark in Orrey, narrowly missing Bast as well. He considers activating the magnetism, but elects not to.
"Here," Cassiat's voice calls out from the edge of the captain's cabin, in between coughs from the smoke. "Don't miss."
Cassiat casts Nearsight on Suzaku. At the controls of the Meteor, Isa is flipping levers and pushing buttons. "Hey Linnet," she says distractedly, "grab onto somethi....Linnet?" She doesn't let her surprise divert her for too long, though. Hastily attached to the control panel is an ominously large red button.
Isa punches it. As Bast adjusts his arc with the injured Orrey in his grasp, he sees one of the food rioters take a hell of a punch from another rival food critic and tumble down into the net. A spark runs through the net, a rapid flash of gravity and lightning, and the rioter is a semi-conscious pile of groans. There is a rising whine as Meteor's engines strain against the bubble of Gravity holding them to the docks. But for a craft of this size, the docking bubble is mostly a courtesy to make sure you don't lose your airship in strong winds. The modifications Yves has made are....somewhat less that courteous. When Isa hits the Big Red Button, the shuttle leaps forward as if the bubble wasn't even there. In the cabin, Isa and Linnet are both pressed back against their seats with the acceleration; above, Yves momentarily leaves the deck entirely, performing the world's shortest parasailing on his safety cables. (Linnet has not managed 'seat' and is flung into a corner, but she'll take it. The little bat is cradled safely in her hands, even if she ends up saucer-over-teakettle.)
(The bat is screeing in a very cheerful manner.)
Orrey holds on for dear life. "Oh, heck. Oh, heck," Yves says, as many things happen. His feet scrabble down for the deck again, and he lifts his hands high. When he brings them down, there's a dull metallic orb in his hands, which he places gently on the deck. His feet settle down solidly there, the safety cables going slack. "Right. Much safer. Safer for--OH RIGHT." He looks up toward the sky, and gestures frantically.
I have not forgotten, says the sky, as a cloud of bats appears around the two fliers. With a susurrus of a thousand wings, the bats vanish, and reappear on the deck to place Orrey gently down on what is now quite securely Down there. The Phantasmal Blaze chain snaps, stretched so far and taut across the vast distance. Orrey blinks away the bats in his vision and let's out a "How..." and then sees Yves. "Thanks! What about Bast?"
"Next time," Yves says. "You might want to clip in? Or go below? The deck is really secure for as long as that sphere lasts, so, uh, you know." He waves towards the orb of gravity by way of explanation. "Just don't bump Isa's elbow while she's gunning it, or we'll probably all fly into a cliff and die. Right? Right." He calls up to the sky, "THANKS. LOVING THE BATS." Bast, unexpectedly lightened, glances over his shoulder to figure out where Orrey went. Only the fading residue of a bat swarm offers any hint. Grimacing, Bast yanks a potion from his belt and downs it, a trickle spilling on the net below, as he banks closer to Atomos and the projected trajectory of the Meteor. With Cassiat's Nearsight guiding his hand, Suzaku unleashes another Flare with pinpoint accuracy.
Byakko adjusts something in his crossbow, forcing a lever down, then fires another holy bolt up at Bast, this one crackling with magical energy.
His clothes flickering with flames, his side pierced with a sizzling bolt of magical energy, the last thing Bast remembers is the sight of the looming Atomos fast approaching... Yves says something far more rude than oh heck and points at the plummeting Bast. But the dark words in the sky are already on it, and a cloud of bats gently wafts the moogle from imminent destruction to a nice cozy spot on the currently very secure deck, which is at the moment inhabited by a human with unusually colored hair and a viera swearing wildly at everything and nothing while trying to fling harnesses and safety lines at people.
He does at least remember to say, "You're the best, you really are! Feel free to mess them up some more, they've been real jerks about this whole burglary thing!" between all the profanity.
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