[center][h3]Detroit[/h3]
[b]Sector 8 Lower[/b]
Level 11 Tora (129/110) Level 12 Poppi (19/120)
Susie and Blazermate’s [@Archmage MC], Raiden’s [@XoXKieroBombXoX], Geralt’s [@Multi_Media_Man], Benedict’s [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2215[/center]

The sudden -and not to mention dramatic appearance- of a giant, hulking monstrosity with an oversized weapon of barbarous aspect, all decked out in the classic bad-guy colors of black and red, just about sent Tora, Poppi, Giovanna, and just about everyone into panic mode. Before any of the Seekers could join the Misconducts in doing anything they might regret, however, Blazermate announced her intentions. That phrase ‘Winds of Destruction’ did ring a bell, after all; it got brought up during the introductory meeting a couple hours ago when they team discussed the machine-oriented branch of Midgar’s defense. This was not, Poppi quickly realized, someone she wanted to hastily draw her revolvers on. The Medabot would head over to court an alliance with Khamsin before all hell broke loose, while the others held down the fort.

“Roger and good luck,” Poppi called back, not taking her eyes of the massive figure of TNT Randy, so mad at this point that steam might as well be billowing from her ears. “We’ll take care of things here.”

As Blazermate zipped out to parley with Khamsin, Tora leveled the blazing purple tip of his gravity-infused Variable Saber at Randy. “Not worry though. Fight with big bullypon not take long!”

While the dynamic duo could not see the face behind the demolitionist’s mask, his almost bestial growl told them all they needed to know about his mental state. “...When I’m through with you two, they’ll have to bury what’s left of you in a matchbox!”

Randy began, predictably, with some TNT. Just as he did with Geralt and the sentry, he hurled a handful of loose sticks to cover a wide area. Even individually those things packed a punch, but after taking on the likes of the Ender Dragon and Red Eye, Tora wasn’t afraid of this big blowhard. “Meeeh!” he cried, charging straight through the deluge of bombs. Those bright, violently fizzing sparks weren’t just for show, he knew. As the Nopon, closed the distance, bounding along like a basketball down the court, the dynamite harmlessly pinged off him and fell to the ground only to blow up a mere moment later, leaving a trail of explosions in his wake. In no time at all Tora got into melee range, and he immediately went on the offensive.

[i]Vwoosh! Vrash![/i] His Saber’s laser blade cleft through the air to slam into Randy’s shield in a shower of violet sparks, first on one side and then the other, leaving a burnt-in groove. Like earlier Tora then went low, but this time he lashed out with Speedy Sword at his much taller foe’s ankles, faster than Randy gave him credit for. He whirled around four times in a pinwheel of pain; Randy took the first two hits, reflexively lifted his leg up and away from the third, and blocked low for the fourth. At that point, however, Tora canceled into Swooshing Slash, launching upward with an explosive backflip swing that left him upside-down in midair. In a flash the Nopon came around with a horizontal cross slash, and though he couldn’t combo Randy without a topple preceding this technique, Tora did land a headshot that seared into ear, hair, and mask strap  alike.

“Aaaagh!” Randy stumbled backward, reaching up clutch his burning headwound. With his opponent wide open, Tora moved in for a thrust to the abdomen, but things didn’t quite go as planned. Randy reached past his ear to seize the giant hockey stick slung over his back, then used his greater range and strength to bring it down on Tora in a tremendous chop. He expected its axe-blade to cleave the poor Nopon in half, but it only managed to lodge in his head. As Tora yelled in pain, Randy knew his partner would be coming to save him, so he planted his foot on Tora’s head to tug the hockey stick free with a kick, then raised his shield.

Sure enough, Poppi appeared. The minute Tora rolled clear, she lit Randy up with a trio of furious revolver shots, their repulsive force aimed not at his shield, but at his legs. Their subsequent bursts were too much for him to stand, and when he fell to the ground with his shield beneath him for support, Poppi coolly buffeted his mask with a double headshot, leaving her with only two bullets left. The raw force shattered his mask into jagged shards as it bent him over. backward, slicing up the brute’s ugly face, but he didn’t stay down for long. Randy returned with a vengeance and a fistful of TNT. This time, Poppi took a page from her Masterpon’s book and stood her ground. [i]Two shots is all I need.[/i] Even as the dynamite flew toward her she lined up her shot, activated High Noon, and let loose. When the bullet slammed into Randy and split into four, the gravitational collapse it created sucked in everything nearby, from construction debris to the ashes of fallen Misconducts to Randy’s own TNT.

It flew back toward him and exploded in a bone-rattling blast, but the villain’s inherent explosive resistance saw him through. He emerged, roaring in pain and anger, from the smoke to deck Poppi with a giant left hook from his shield, then kick her onto her back. His hockey stick descended like a guillotine, but she managed to roll out of the way and get up onto all fours. Tora springboarded off her back to slash Randy across the chest before he could attack again. He used a shield bash to fling Tora away, but that gave Poppi the chance she needed to aim and unleash her final shot. When it ruptured it pulled Tora right back toward Randy like a flying bowling ball, and the demolitionist reeled. “...Poppi!” her Masterpon moaned as he hit the ground, too dizzy to do anything but lob the Variable Saber at her.

She managed to catch it despite the terrible throw, and in a flurry of light and sparks she and Randy crossed swords again and again. Poppi gave a lot better than she got, and Randy put all his strength into one last-ditch attempt. He delivered a tremendous headbutt to stagger her just long enough to wind up a massive overhead, forcing her to block. The two locked blades, and Randy quickly began to overpower Poppi, thanks to her Superstrength being exclusive to her Alpha form. Gritting her teeth, the artificial blade held out for just a couple moments more, bent backward until her opponent was sure of victory. Then she shut off the Variable Saber’s laser blade, allowing Randy’s strength to carry him right past her and onto the ground. When he rose to his kneels and whirled around, he found the barrel of the Saber’s shotgun mode aimed at his head. Poppi couldn’t have missed even if she wanted to.

The noise of destruction nearby came right on the heels of Randy’s demise. Khamsin was tearing through the construction site, impervious to the gunfire of the Misconducts as he mowed them down with his fearsome axe, one or two at a time. At some point in the fight with the ringleader Poppi did remember hearing Blazermate say that this Wind of Destruction would help, but this monster seemed happy to do the rest of the Seekers’ work for them. Geralt had the right idea, so Tora and Poppi followed suit, hightailing it out of the soon-to-be-wrecked structure and to the fringes of the construction site. Giovanna arrived on their heels, a little more mussed and dusty than last the two saw her but not that much worse for wear. 

“Lead a couple of ‘em on a merry little chase,” she told the others drily, dusting off her hands. “You’d figure that if someone decided to stand up to people with guns empty-handed, they’d probably have a good reason, but these guys seemed dead-set on underestimating me. Oh well.” Susie quickly joined them too, and together the team watched the brief but brutal show as Khamsin made mincemeat of the Misconducts. Giovanna nodded at Geralt. “...Yeah, no kidding.” After a few more moments the solider’s mech -or perhaps the soldier himself?- squashed the last worm wriggling around in the pile with a giant swing of his hammer. In so doing he also took out one of the last load-bearing supports that remained, sending an entire section of the building-in-progress tumbling down. Only a couple sorry souls spared by the death sentence of Galeem’s influence managed to escape, while a shallow and graceless tomb fell upon the ashes of their comrades. Giovanna sighed, both at the situation and having to pat her expensive clothes clean a second time. Those gangsters had come upon some really rotten luck.

Near the wreckage and rubble, Khamsin eased open his war machine’s cockpit. “Whoo-wie!” he hollered as the dust settled on his face, wearing an ugly, gleeful grin. “Another victory for DespoRHado! Freedom reigns!” He glanced up at Blazermate. “Not bad for a tin can, huh? They oughta make more like you. Those crits make one hell of a difference, haha!”

With the battle over, Manananggal and Loup-Garou approached. “Y’know buster, I’m glad you came to help us and all, but…” The female demon looked over the wanton destruction with undisguised disgust on her face and in her voice. “What are you, some kind of ape? You did their job for them!”

“Shut your trap!” Khamsin snarled, his mood turned instantly from elation to outrage. “They’re dead, aren’t they? And you oughta know, I didn’t come for you. I came for freedom! Freedom from the yoke of oppression!” He hefted his axe. “That’ something you Shinra dogs won’t ever UNDERSTAND!”

The colossal weapon smashed down on Manananggal. She tried to resist, but physical strength was not her forte, and after only a moment she was mulch. Loup-Garou backed away with his teeth bared, his hackles on end, but he did not attack. He fixed his cold gaze on Khamsin as the man brought his axe up onto his shoulder, chuckling to himself. “That’s not going to go well with Public Security,” he growled.

“Like I give a damn! What’re you gonna do, fire me?” Khamsin spat back. “They’ll just shit out more of you Shadows anyhow. The Administration’s days are numbered, just you wait. When Armstrong gets elected he’s gonna show you all what freedom really looks like!” His mechs hand gave a shooing gesture. “Now git, before I teach you to play dead!”

Loup-Garou left in a hurry, shifting back into Investigation mode as he did. Khamsin turned to leave, like a force of nature that had just indifferently blown through town.

Tora watched the exchange from afar, rubbing his head. While Blazermate’s healing fixed the divet in his dome, what he just witnessed opened up a whole new can of worms it hurt to consider. “Meh-meh? Tora thought different branches of Midgar defense supposed to be allies.”

“They are. Nominally.” Giovanna leaned against the railing of the construction yard, crossing her arms. “But even in the same organization, people don’t always see eye to eye. In Midgar, there’s about a billion different interests and agendas, with everyone looking out for their own. Politics are especially divisive, now more than ever with the election. I guess even the Ever Crisis isn’t a big enough threat to make everyone get along.” She shrugged.

The Nopon gave a noncommittal grunt as he looked over Poppi, taking stock of her damage. “Tora not know much about politics. Not care either. What we do now?”

Giovanna looked around. Everyone was at least a little banged up and tired from the afternoon’s vigorous activities so far. Benedict and Raiden had been, for lack of a better term, underperforming. An old fart staying away from the dangerous frontlines she could understand, but for that high-tech cyborg to gleefully slaughter small fry and then not even contribute to this battle rubbed her the wrong way. Although, considering how Raiden felt about DespoRHado, maybe that was a good thing.

She gazed off into the middle distance, her eyebrows knit together.  “Uhh…not sure, really. I’ve kind of had enough fighting gangs for one day. Isn’t it…I don’t know, kind of depressing?” She ran a hand all the way through her hair, realized her braid had come undone during the fighting, and started fixing it with practices hands. “As for what to do next, I’m not sure. We could shop around for a red matter detector, but it seems like the tech down here is mostly robotics and augmentation.”

She looked at Poppi, who’d raised her hand. “This might sound like a strange idea, but why don’t we follow Khamsin? Assuming he responded to the distress beacon because he was out on patrol, and that his machine needs energy like any other, he’s probably heading back to base. We could at least get a look at DespORhado HQ before we go.”

Giovanna got off the fence. “Sure, might as well. Never seen it with my own eyes myself, and the Bunker’s supposed to be a pretty big deal. Everyone good to go?” The communal answer seemed to be ‘ready as I’ll ever be’. “Then let’s hurry before we lose him.”

[hider=Results]
[b]Party:[/b] Tora, Poppi, Blazermate, Geralt, Susie
[b]Encounter Reward:[/b] 11 EXP[/hider]