Lettuce+Rogue Bunny=Teaser

[Rieverre]

---

*timestamp - a horde of Slaves darkening the skies over Windbloom's capital.*
If the sheer amount of noise caused by a single impact was loud, a multitude of them ringing out in close succession could be described by one word only.
Cacophony.
The Slave recoiled, leaping back in an attempt to bring more distance between itself and its assailant, sickle arms raised to parry further blows.
It was summarily swept out of the air and slammed down with enough force to make one of the sickles crack and lower limbs bury themselves a meter into the pavement.
A moment later the already damaged arm was shattered entirely, as a straight thrust carried the blade of the assailant's naginata through it, and into the Slave's head beyond.
The weapon was withdrawn as quickly as it had been used, though perhaps 'naginata' wasn't entirely accurate description for it.
The general shape of said polearm ran roughly along the lines of that particular weapon, but this one was simply far too big. To compare the two would have been like comparing a longsword and a Zweihnder.
Its wielder swayed ever so slightly, lowest extremities a good four feet above the cracked and broken pavement. While the upper part was humanoid, roughly defined as having a head, a torso, and two arms, the lower one consisted of what could at its simplest be described as a hoversled. In function, if not in form, since the four stubby 'limbs' projecting outwards from a central hub that could be described as the machine's abdomen couldn't really be considered legs by even the most remote of margins.
It gleamed a royal purple in the light of the noonday sun, with the occasional black highlights, and for some reason its head was adorned by a blunt, chisel-tipped horn protrouding from the center of its forehead.
For an instant, there seemed to be a lull in the sounds of combat coming from the other parts of the city ...
... before a most startling sight unfolded to join the skyscape from what looked to be two to three blocks to the West.
Like a blooming flower, a crystalline construct of ice climbed upwards, before unfolding to rain fragments of 'steaming' ice from its extremities.
Fujino Shizuru had her C-Class Frame sliding backwards, gravitic emitters on the tips of the lower limbs adjusting attitude accordingly ... before she sent it rocketing past a newly appeared Slave, ignoring the construct entirely and heading towards the 'flower's' assumed origin point.

---

*yawn* more tomorrow. Sorry. Meant to do the whole battle, but I'm more tired than I'd thought I was when I started scribbling.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Rieverre]

---

*some twenty minutes prior to the last scene*
"What the hell is _that_?!" Headmistress Kruger voiced the thoughts of pretty much everyone present as the screening faded away to reveal ... well, what was supposed to have been the reconstructed palace of Windbloom.
Frankly, if that was the way the palace designs had looked when they'd gone past the Queen and her advisors, she'd eat her hat.
"The sound of my bloody bonus going down the drain, it looks like," she heard and was turning to glare at Schrdinger, only to be nearly taken off her feet as the odd construct at the summit of what would have been Windbloom palace's central tower flared with energy, and sent a beam of focused power out over the city. Despite the explosion of its impact being a bit beyond the horizon from where they were standing, the onslaught of light and sound was enough to stagger everyone in the arena.
A moment later, the flare came again. Smaller, though ...
... unfortunately, directed at a far closer target as well.
The Meister Otome barely had enough time to curse as the lance of light slammed into the arena, and everything went white ... only to fade to a featureless and blank blackness with an impact of some sort that knocked the air out of her and knocked her head against something very very solid.

---

-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

---

---

"Do you really think I'm some kind of storybook goody-goody? You seemed smarter than that last time we talked." Nao's face had made the sneer look good. Of course, even more so than the other HiME her face could make almost any expression look good.
Whatever this... job... might be doing to his health or long-term prospects, he had to admit that the scenery would have made it a bargain at twice the price. "Nobody who can make people dance the way you can would be unable to hide their feelings. Yet, talking to Mai and Akane you seemed to do just that... which I don't think'd happen if you didn't care. You sounded so angry... like you'd been betrayed by them, personally.
"No... I think you believe what you said... and I'm willing to bet that you wish you didn't."
She'd slapped him for his presumption and stormed off, which had hardly been the best omen for their future interactions, but that didn't mean that he was wrong. Sometimes, when she was alone in the dark of the night, she could even start to admit it... but that required touching on things she'd gone to great lengths to keep from her waking mind.
The dreams were bad enough, and speaking of the Devil, here he was. "You're early," she told him, carefully not hinting at how good it was to have someone there beyond the faceless orderlies and that pinch-faced, sanctimonious doctor, someone who actually bothered to see her rather than a bundle of symptoms.
"They've brought in some people for the treatment they gave me, now that they've got the bugs mostly out. I don't have much else to do and the Doc though she could use a hand, so..." he broke off and shrugged.
Bringing in others? "I don't get it," she said.
"Well... this Festival nightmare runs on pain, right?" the Director and Midori's research both said otherwise, she knew, but she also knew he wouldn't believe that - Akane had tried. "And since they haven't been able to lever the other HiME apart the way they did us - well, you - they'll have to see all of them defeated - in the worst way they can. Hence, they're arranging backup that will further the goal in its own right. Or that's what they told me, anyway."
"Who?" she asked, and wetted lips that suddenly seemed terribly dry.
He told her.

---

---

Hm. I'm enjoying setting this up.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[Rieverre]

---

One could call Shizuru obsessed. Which one? Well, both, to a certain extent. That much at least was among the similarities between analogues.
Both had made it their business to learn as much as they could about the respective objects of their obsession ...
Which, in retrospect? More than just a little creepy.
It made both of them driven fighters to say the least.
Which is why we were making such and such time, getting from the arena to Garderobe.
The Slaves we came across on the way to the car ... well, those were soon more than just down for the count. How I got delegated to nursing duty to an unconscious and possibly concussed Natsuki Kruger, I have no ... well, actually, I do have an idea. It involves the fact that Viola's Element is very very sharp.
"Yamada?" I tapped the earpiece comlink.
"Package still secure. Hound has taken up arms on their side," the reply was slightly garbled by static.
'Hmm, so Wong's declared himself? Interesting. Or is it just a feint.'
"Stay on it."
The good news was, every once in a while a Slave at random would rapidly dissolve into a cloud of green shards, meaning Miyu and/or the diversionary teams Ren was heading were doing their share.
The bad news ...
... the bad news took off the front of the limousine, driver included, in an explosion of warped reality and shards of ice.
Too familiar.
The back of the limo spun, skidded, and finally screeched against one of the roadside buildings before it came to a halt.
"Katz! She's here!" Fujino's voice, over the comlink.
The black clad figure touched down in the center of the street, her odd gear still looking more like restrains than actual armor, featureless flat faceplate seemingly glaring, despite a lack of obvious optics, at myself, Viola, and Kruger's inert form that we were moving out of the wrecked Garderobe automobile.
"Yeah, we've sort of noticed," I deadpanned. Luckily, the streets were deserted. Apparently, developing a proper self-preservation instinct came easily to these people.
Which was when our assailant moved, chips of pavement flying from where she'd pushed off, like a cannoball hurtling towards us.
Kruger was gathered up by Viola, who launched herself into the air immediately, while I darted off to the side.
There was a tearing, splitting crash ... too crisp, too 'clear' in a way ...
The remains of the limo, the path the attacker had taken, the wall beyond ... all were left torn asunder, and glittering, and _steaming_ in the afternoon light.
I wasn't granted any respite, though, as she leapt from inside the building and the air between us was suddenly alive with glinting, shimmering spikes of ice.
I dodged one, ducked another, and slapped the rest out of the air with an AT Field that had them shatter into so much shaved ice.
Viola and Kruger were ignored entirely.
Apparently, Kuga wanted to finish what she'd started in Lutetia.
Alright, I could work with that.
***
"Nao-oneesama!"
"Move it! We don't have time to spare, in case you haven't noticed!" Juliet barked out in her best 'command voice' ... which was pretty damn good. Pretty damn scary, too, but that was part of the package.
Basic rules of engagement, at least from what they'd established with the Headmistress and those Black skirmishers Katz had riding around the city and tripping up the invasion force, said 'in case of a SNAFU, retreat and regroup on easily defensible terrain'.
Meaning Garderobe for the Pearl and Coral Otome.
How Nao had gotten roped into this leader gig, when both Huit and Hallard were with the group, she had no idea ... although, no. No sane person would have given Huit, of all people, command over anything more than a broom closet, if that.
"The grounds should be coming up soon," she said, touching down with the Coral group. Pearl Robes let their users fly, true, but Windbloom had rapidly become a high hostility zone, which made stretching their force out a not so wise idea. Not for the first time that day, she wished Akane was still here. She was better at all this 'positive reinforcement' crap. "Stick together, cover one-another, and when we're there give us a defensive peremiter. Chie!"
Hallard had touched down on a low rooftop off to the side, and motioned a 'clear' with her hand before she took off again.
It wasn't even a minute before they were back in intimately familiar surroundings, the Corals splitting up into groups and heading off to previously assigned posts ... it was always a bit of a rude awakening for the first years to find that the first formations they'd learn when using their Robes would be ones that would serve as defensive ones for Garderobe itself. It was a dangerous world out there, though ... and the precautions seemed to be paying off.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Nao froze before turning around. "Leaving the students to protect that which is most precious to them? How disappointing. I had a higher opinion of them, even if they are shamelessly bigoted."
Even if Nao didn't recognize the woman, which she did - briefings had made certain of that - the others were too distinctive to mistake for anything but ...
"Aswad," Juliet Nao Zhang hissed. "Everyone, scatter!"
***
The Slave didn't as much reel as it fell apart, armored segments of its manifested solid hologram body torn loose and sent flying at the impact.
And another.
And another.
Leaving it a twitching heap of semi-metallic, semi-organic limbs before it started to disintegrate, taking its Lord, wherever they were, with it.
There was a reason Haruka Armitage was rumored to be the fiercest fighter Garderobe had turned out in the past century.
And this was the sort of fighting she excelled at as well. Her style, her temperament, her Element, they were all geared to be at their best when outnumbered.
And she was angry.
Angry enough that she _wasn't_ shouting out challenges at random, boasting as she fought, or laughing at her conquered foes.
The Meister bond had several unique aspects, one of which being that the Otome slowly gained the ability to track her master, no matter where they were, respectively.
She'd gotten seperated from Yukino in the attack on the Arena, but she could clearly feel the bond pointing her _thataway_ ...
So she went ... and woe to anything to stand in her way.
Haruka Armitage was on the warpath.
***
I yanked the spike from my shoulder, winced, got up.
I was a mess. The reality warps that surrounded the ice and kept it at near absolute zero temperatures also gave it some ability to get through my Field. Not easily, and not often ... but the damn woman was throwing them around like they were going out of style, and the sort of concentration maintaining a full deflection AT Field took for any significant amount of time was still beyond me.
Apparently, this was another thing that was different depending on who you asked, as neither Gabriel nor his/her sisters had that particular problem. The flip side was that projective and receptive empathy via the Field came almost instinctively to me, and they had to try at it, but right there and then I was perfectly willing to switch with them for talent-sets.
Regenerating big holes in one's body, frostbite and all, does that to me.
And before you ask, I was fast ... but she was just that much faster. Or at least less hesitant.
This was, after all, Kuga Natsuki ... or that was the operating theory, at least. That aside, I was fighting a holding action more than anything else, and hopefully Viola had managed to get Kruger back to Garderobe thanks to this little distraction.
"Where the hell are you, Shiraga?!"
Oh my. Fujino. Swearing. This cannot be good.
"Fighting for my life ..." I leapt, pushing off with the Field, bounding away from a nearby wall just in time to avoid a spread of foot-long ice needles. "Or at least Kuga's."
"What do you mean," sounds of steel on steel, tearing pavement, breaking glass, "Kuga?! Natsuki's right here!"
That almost gave me pause, before I remembered that ... well, hello, homicidal ice element wielding chick right here, trying to kill me.
"Then who the hell has been giving my ass frostbite for the past ten minutes?!" I shouted, evading again ...
... before actually thinking on that for a moment.
I hit my attacker with an AT Field that had her twisting almost violently through the air, bunched my legs underneath me, and leapt.
There's nothing quite like the sensation of spreading my wings. It's like ... freedom, distilled.
I went up, twisting aside to avoid an overeager Slave and having it run into the leading edge of one of the four energy constructs that served me for wings. One less slave.
Then I came to a halt, several dozen meters above the city.
There was an odd sort of aesthetics to the scene. Slaves in the air, combat on the ground, the occasional pillar of smoke rising above the skyline ... and blooms of ice shooting up seemingly all over the place.
What in the _world_ ...
... a conversation with Yukino came to mind.
It would explain a lot. Or a great deal, at least. Like why the only things I was getting empathically from my assailant seemed ... disassociated with the body. And like rote. Pale shadows flitting across the mind, faded mirror images.
_Now_ I knew why it felt so familar. And creepy.
It reminded me of a soul-less body. A dummy. Or more specifically ...
"Shizuru, that's not Kuga!"
I twisted aside, lessening the wings' interaction with the various radiation spectra and wavelengths they intersected in order to plummed back downwards.
My Field twisted, turned, and tore downwards in a momentary spike of intense focus.
"How?" the question that came over the comlink was spoken in a voice so cold, so devoid of emotion, that it chilled me to listen to it.
"Cloning," I touched down, hard enough to leave a mark, or at least boot-prints, letting the wings flicker back out of existence.
The spike had taken her low, and its torque hadn't just ripped her legs to shreds. It wasn't a pretty picture. In fact, I was fairly sure I'd be seeing it again sometime soon, most likely during a night when I'd had too much time to think.
Let nobody tell you that war isn't an ugly business. They've obviously never seen it.
"Are you sure?"
Leaning down. Yes. Always make sure. Not of what she meant, but ...
Grab. Twist, almost gently.
The crack of breaking vertebrae. Another thing I don't think I'll ever be forgetting.
"Yes," I replied, after prying the bulky, metallic helmet away from the head.
The sight that greeted me wasn't expected, but it wasn't really surprising either. Much as I hate to recall, I'd seen similar things before.
The head was bald, the eyes a blind milky-white ... there were wires. There were cables. Underneath the expanse of her skin, out from the back of her skull and into the helmet. Small reservoirs of an amber liquid lined the inside of the helmet, connected to some sort of dosage system ... I turned the head to the side again, and this time noticed the two needles that extended to penetrate on either side of the spine.
"I'm sure."
I stood for a moment, ignoring the surrounding bedlam ... everything else aside, these clones were formidable. Something we'd not anticipated. And if there was so many of them here ...
"Yamada," I keyed the comlink. "We may need to implement B. I'm heading backstage to get the props."
He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day after all.

---

-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Guest]

Weeeh, shiny new griever writing. Would give more helpfull comments but I can't find anything wrong.

[Valles]

Dear god.


===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[Rieverre]

I've never quite appreciated cosplay as much as I do at this moment.
My immortal soul for an airline ticket and an address. Not neccessarily in that order.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Bob Schroeck]

That is one fine bit of costuming. She looks dead on perfect. And the outfit ain't bad, either!
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[ordnance11]

---

My immortal soul for an airline ticket and an address. Not neccessarily in that order.

---

I'll settle for being indentured to her for a time to be negotiated!
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Elsa Bibat]

I think that's the most beautiful looking man I've ever seen.
Or I could be wrong. Too many androgynous people walking around nowadays.
For really cool cosplay action, Dengeki Layers has probably the widest and biggest coverage of the japanese scene with interesting how-tos. And way too many androgynous men. And way too manly looking women.

[ordnance11]

---

I think that's the most beautiful looking man I've ever seen.

---

*Shatter*
If God is kind, it wouldn't be so!
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Foxboy]

Well then it probably is so.
HE's benevolent, sure, but he's got a STRANGE sense of humor.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rieverre]

Damnit, Elsa ...
*headdesk*
... yeah, that'd be about right, with the way my luck's been going lately.
I need to wash out my brain and repress something fierce now.
*goes off to look for Nao yuri*
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[katreus]

I didn't know Nao yuri existed beyond some doujinshi/images. o.O

[Foxboy]

That's what he's looking for.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Elsa Bibat]

Let's break Griever's brain more... promise, my last post about this...
Guess who's the man?
Break your brain

[ordnance11]

But my brain is so broken that not all the King's horses and King's men can put my brain together again!
You, lady..are an cruel and evil girl to smash a fanboy's fantasy with such glee!
*sob*
*rolls dice*
Okay, dice sez the one on the left is a girl..I think.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Star Ranger4]

So I'll go with the one on the right in the black.
So, which one of us wound up with the Wienner?"I was an Otaku before those kids came along and changed the meaning of the word."
-- HM "Howling Mad" Wilson to more than one team-mate.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[ordnance11]

The odds are 50-50. I don't think I really want to know the answer.
*shudder*
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[CattyNebulart]

I'm fairly sure they are both male. And I am very sure that it is far enough of topic, so Griever, Valles write something to get this back on topic! Quick! (yes, this is my way of encuraging more writing )
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[katreus]

Both hee... I was going to say the one on the left in white.
=S

[Rieverre]

---

Ren threw his Frame to the side, working its thrust verniers past their redline to change heading and momentum while at the same time trying to keep the whole bloody thing from overbalancing and spilling him onto the pavement.
Though he supposed he wouldn't feel all too much pain, if that were to happen. Not for very long at any rate.
The scythe-like blade-arm of a Slave burying itself inches away from the rear of his ride was as sure an indication of this as any he'd be likely to get.
Still, he wasn't in any hurry to take that particular journey quite yet ...
With the howl of overstressed equipment, the Frame shot off at an oblique angle compared to that in which it had been heading just moment ago, and clear into alley.
For a moment, he thought he'd managed to deter pursuit. That is, until the bulk of the Slave obscured his upcoming exit, chips of concrete spraying upwards from where its legs had burrowed into the ground as a result of the impact following its leap.
The man didn't swear. There wasn't time enough to waste on such things. Instead, he cut forward thrust, turned the Frame's body sideways - something barely possible in the relatively narrow alleyway - and cranked up the engines while redirecting all the thrust to the groud effect verniers ...
... and praying, for all that was worth.
There's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.
The Frame seemed to bounce off of nothing at all, in a way resembling a rubber ball, and the Slave's first swing - horizontal and sweeping the bredth of the alley before it - went under the rising vehicle.
For a moment all was still, even as Ren realized the other weapon arm was drawn back and prepared to literally swat ... or slice ... him and his ride out of the air before he could clear the enemy and the alley's exit.
Then the construct roared, shrieked, and exploded in a shower of emerald sparks ...
"Got him!" came a voice over his comm unit, even as the Frame touched down and he had to fight a little to get it balanced again.
Delay, misdirect, confuse ... those were the chief goals of Black skirmishers throughout the city. The fact that all of them knew it just as well as if they'd been born there made the task somewhat easier, if not by any means simple or trivial. He'd just experienced that much, and not for the first time in the past half-hour either.
Still, they were managing to sow discord within the enemy ranks, and isolate and eliminate the occasional Slave/Lord pairs as well.
Now if the Otome would finally get to their part and rally already ...
A sudden flash of light overhead, along with a sort of subsonic shriek that resonated from the direction of Garderobe and was felt rather than heard, derailed that thread of thought.
Why, oh why did he not think that this was heralding a 'good' thing?

---

next: Arika, Erstin, Sergei, Mashiro, et al. come across Smith. Among other things.
-Griever
EAT: Edited to fix a nonsensical sentence.
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[classicdrogn]

On the subject of cosplayers, I'm pretty sure this one's a real girl.
Oh yeah... I think I know hiow Jiraya feels...
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Valles]

---

---

"ohgod," Yukino gasped.
"What... happened, here?" Mai asked.
"Pistol wounds," Akira said grimly. "I think... that they were murdered before they woke up from... whatever procedure SEARRS was using." She stepped around the other HiME to take a closer look at the body on the first of the ward's beds, then went absolutely white. "S-sagisawa-sensei?" she whispered.
"Four bodies, six beds," Midori stayed in the door. "Two... Who's missing?"
"Chie's safe," Mai reminded her - she had turned away as soon as she realized what she was seeing and was leaning against the wall out in the corridor - which was as deserted as the rest of the compound. "Natsuki and Shizuru found her in time." But Mikoto isn't! something screamed inside her mind. She forced it back down into its box - there was nothing she could have done that she hadn't, and it was too late anyway.
"Haruka-chan." It was a whisper.
Akira knew quite well that she had not talent to speak of for people stuff - how Takumi tolerated her she'd never understand - and opted to let Yukino deal with the implications of her love's former presence and current absence, in favor of giving the room a closer examination. An older man, overweight - Natsuki's contact, Yamada. A girl who would have been about Yukino's height, with light brown hair - Mai's friend, Senou. Others she wasn't as familiar with.
Then some sliver of her mind so well-trained it could pass for instinct even in these circumstances rang for her attention. "All of the IVs are empty," she pointed out. "They didn't just shrug it off."
"So one of their people, and Haruka and Tate-ichi and the others." Midori shut her eyes and leaned her head against the doorframe for a split second, then shook her head and stood back up straight. "Okay, let's go."
Shizuru and Natsuki were waiting. "She managed to get away out of sight for a second," the latter reported grimly. "They're doing it, the full Festival."

---

---

Oh boy but there's a lot buried in this bit. Probably it'd be a lot better for being more spread out, but the lady Muse is hinting delicately that she'd rather move on to other things.
Don't worry, though - I was intending the upcoming events even well before she lost interest. I'm not just... well. ^_^
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[Rieverre]

---

"No."
"I'm sorry, what?" the normally unflappable countance didn't visibly slip, but the tone was incredulous.
The scene set had been perfect. Take one monarch, one maid/advisor, one supposed heir to the kingdom - not that many actually knew - one overly sentimental member of Artai's military, one head of a foreign state - though that was more happenstance than anything else, he supposed - and one traitor. Expose traitor's true loyalties. Stir the batch vigorously and see what comes out.
It was as perfect a delaying action as he could have imagined, especially considering that while the harmonics of the newly minted castle's, ah, special addition, had managed to disturb the Garderobe authorized Robes, those with individual Meister ones were unaffected.
True, the presence of Chrysant meant that the Topaz of the Jewel Isle was somewhere out in the middle of this mess - not something that had been expected, but neither was it a fact that could skew the odds _enough_ for the assault to be repelled. Especially not with the presence of their latest toys turning most of the city center into popsickles.
But Yumemiya was here, _now_ ... and it was an eventuality that had been planned for, even with the presence of such extras as Wong or Aries' President.
And the Ho girl had never seemed anything _but_ an obedient sleeper for Schwarz. It was, almost literally, in her blood. Understandably, her saying 'no' to his face when he told her to act was a bit of a shock ...
... and the more down to earth part of his mind was ringing all sorts of alarm bells because it had just realized he'd have to somehow deal with Yumemiya in her newly donned Meister Robe on his own.
And then, accompanied by a sudden feeling of vertigo, all his worries suddenly became irrelevant.
The last thing he heard as his unresponsive body keeled over and out of the seat of the Flea sout hover was the distant *crack*.
He had enough of his facilities left to recognize the sound as that of a rifle roud being fired a fair ways off before everything went black.

---

Are going to tell me you _didn't_ want Smith shot?
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm