[center][h3]LTJG ROY KILMER, CALLSIGN [color=ff4136]"COMMIE"[/color][/h3][/center] [hr] [color=ff4136]<>[/color] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO7FDs_q_og]With blessings given, he set off, punching the throttle as far as it'd go.[/url] For the next few tense seconds, this was all the 7th, all the UEE, all the field at large heard out of Roy, as the Shrike's thrusters roared to life anew and carved a blue-white tear through smoke-laden skies, diving out of the earth and into the sun on high. He strained his vision, pushing out comm chatter that passed by regarding the world he was leaving below, and searched. His ear was now tuned only to the readout of his sensors, and to the rattling of his airframe. He searched. Like Kojiro, seeking to pierce the glare and find Musashi, before Musashi and his long, heavy oar found [i]him[/i]. He searched— [code][WARNING: ENERGY SPIKE DETECTED.][/code] A flash. A shift in the lumen. Lightning surged through his muscles. And through grit teeth, he swallowed the iron at the back of his tongue, and defied Kojiro's infamous fate, yanking hard at the controls once again. He pulled the Shrike into a hard roll, the first column of light cooking the part of the world that had, base instants ago, held his cockpit. He raised the autocannon, intent to mask his approach behind the last rounds of fire he could muster— [code][WARNING: ENERGY SPIKE DETECTED.][/code] And loosed them blindly, forced by the second shot to rebound from the first weave into another, ignoring the parts of his torso that screamed at being wrenched between the gears of two full-speed, mirrored corkscrews back-to-back. But he had to grin and bear it. If he hadn't transformed into flight mode, he was sure he'd have lost his legs. Clearly, Kilmer'd gotten what he'd asked for— this guy had kept an eye on him, and knew not to let him breathe! [color=ff4136][i]Come on, come on...[/i][/color] Sensors flared. The chassis shuddered under the shear forces, the high gs giving it all it could handle. The engines roared, putting even the biggest and throatiest V8s from home to shame— A ping, and a scream. [code]<>[/code] [code][WARNING: ENERGY SPIKE DETECTED.][/code] [color=ff4136][i]I see you.[/i][/color] He pitched up immediately, pulling the Shrike back out of flight mode once more— and with his autocannons dry, rerouted all power to two places. Firstly, his afterburners, as he skimmed over the top of the sunbeam close enough that he might have cooked the paintjob. His eyes had finally found his foe, its wings of black pitch stark on the white field of the high sun. It had fed him three shots, a curt but respectful greeting, taking his skill seriously. As for the second... Both dark-cast reapers on the field wielded scythes of light, as it happened. As though the interplay of yin and yang were told through their battle, it had been long understood that neither could exist without their opposite, lest they be reduced to void. That much was true of this moment too, as the teardrops swirled at once— and the hunter was now the hunted. The long shafts of light, the scythe of the former, would be swung no more. The short but brilliant fang of the latter would see its day in the sun. The Shrike screamed forth, beam saber surging, as Kilmer's wide-eyed grin could no longer be hidden within his voice, adrenaline dulling all the pain. [color=ff4136]<<[b]Good to meet you, Jaeger![/b]>>[/color] He crashed in close behind his blade, aiming to either take out that cannon or force their new friend to arm itself for the fight at hand, as he made [i]his[/i] greetings at the edge of swordplay, all pomp and circumstance and rich enthusiasm. This was how Kilmer gave his respect to the skilled— any interesting opponent got him at full throttle, and never anything less.