Letter Bee

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

@Ryik, Approval One given, but note that it's mostly because the Bios are good.

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Balibago, Angeles City - 10/18/2022, Philippines, 20:50, UTC+8

Noel had a copy of Sophist's gravity powers and Qingshe's shadows - Multiple copies gained from observing multiple uses, actually. And so, as the moon rose high in the sky, the boy took a step and every combatant, whether rage-addled mobster or infected zombie, within sight suddenly found themselves floating six feet upwards into the air, while a half-dozen zombies were plunged into a living shadow that began to pump information into Noel's head about what anomaly was happening.

It was clear that he, for now, didn't need Qingshe - What he needed was to restore the situation with decisive force with the tools at hand. Looking at Myron, he said to the Intelligence Officer, "You were right. If we don't squash this soon, we'll lose the trust of our people - Tell Rear Admiral Absolo we'll follow his orders for Mandatory Leave... Once we clear the obstacles preventing us from enjoying our rest."

Noel had fought in the coup that had brought the Government of National Salvation and its civilian allies into power, and before that, against Moro Rebels in Mindanao. He was no stranger to his country's internal conflicts. He looked at the road labels; he was at Aniceta Gueco Street, close to Muraya Ramen House. With no hesitation, he marched there, throwing a few more zombies and mobsters (just a pair of each) into his copy of Qingshe's Shadow; was it some sort of pocket dimension? It mattered not; he was not panicking this time.

"What next?" Myron asked, and Noel pointed northwards, where another infection point had been reported.

As they moved forward, with Noel using more copies of Sophist's gravity control to restrain looters, mobsters, and infected, the young man messaged Callie, saying, "Special Operative Lidmann! Orders are to contain every rioter and infected - Use your portal to put them away!"

------

Amadeo pointed his gun at Jason, any civilians were behind the counter with him, but he was confident enough in his aim to only hit the enemy Arms Master even behind the counter, and so technically, technically, he could make the shot. But instead, he chose to talk, "I have aerokinesis precise enough to rip off your breath from your lungs. Do not test me."

He was lying. Can Jason detect that? But what Amadeo will not lie about was, "You've already killed civilians; by the laws of war, you would be designated a terrorist and war criminal and deprived of the Geneva Convention's protections because of that and your presumed lack of official military status. Do not make your situation any worse; if you surrender now, arrangements can be made in exchange for the survival of the remanining civilians; even more for curing the infection you caused..."

Amadeo knew this second lie would not work. But he needed time, time for reinforcements to arrive. But how to draw them towards this spot? Wait, military officers had flares, and he was one - Perfect.

With his other hand, he pulled out a flare gun and fired, all the while leaving himself vulnerable for a split-second; enough time for Jason to call his bluff.

------

Henri Jamessen would see the flare from several meters away; the truck carrying him could probably get there in thirty seconds, twenty if they didn't care about accidentally trampling people. Now, it was his decision not just whether to go there or not, but at what pace, and what would they do if they got to wherever the flare came from?

------

Sister Marta would also see the flare; she had ended up in a location slightly farther from the area than Henri, and on the other side of the neighborhood too. That meant more infected to knock unconcious, more rioters to do the same, and the occassional scared child to heal and otherwise tell to go to a safe place. Either way, it would take her a full two minutes to get to Amadeo's location on foot, unless she ignored everyone else while running.

------

"Your orders?" Cornelio Malong said as Noel made his way northward, beads of sweat on his face as he strained to continue controlling his copies of Qingshe's shadows, "I was going to ask you to fight the Zombies, but it seems like Task Force Obsidian is counterattacking already; playing it smart. So instead..."

He spotted a Drone/UAV that was taking a video of the entire scene, and said to Cristina, "That drone isn't one of ours' - Bring it down. We cannot let the enemy know their attempt at destruction was so successful."

@Lewascan2@Conscripts@Gerlando@Creative Chaos@Nimbus@QJT@Amidatelion@Ryik@Digmata

Chronicles of the Six: Magic’s Awakening: A Magical Boy RP.

Deuel Akakios

"Actually," Deuel said, "I paid for the plushie; had it custom-made -"

Then all of a sudden, they were Isekai'd. Not in the 'hit by a truck and conviniently getting their connections to their old lives cut off' way, but in the more traditional 'got sucked into a portal and are now trapped in another world' method. And he knew that everyone except maybe Noah had a reason to return to their world. So it was time to try and get back as soon as possible, unless of course, time was out of sync between universes (?), but to do that, they needed to get their bearings, get back on their feet, and hope that this world held to more recent 'Isekai' tropes.

So his next words were, "We are in a forest. With magical creatures. And I'm in my speedo and sandals; does anyone else have anything that can be used as a weapon? And more importantly... Should we wait here assuming there's a guide who can tell us what happened and what we can do, or should we look for the nearest settlement? There must be a trail somewhere..."

Assume Western 'Portal Fantasy' Tropes, not Japanese Isekai Tropes. This is going to be one of those tests of physical, emotional, and mental endurance; maybe spiritual too if we want to be preachy. Deuel then thought, Trying to cheat would probably wind up badly for us all, but I can't just let go of common sense or play blindly to a 'script'.

He then looked towards Niels and Noah and said, "You two; if we're going to move forward, I need two of our best potential... brawn to help me take point. If we're staying here, however, we need to take stock of what we have and form a defensive perimeter... Unless you guys have other ideas?"

Best to ask the others if they had their own thoughts; it was bad to blindly assume they were going to panic, after all.

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

“I’ve been spending three long years trying to find her and yet nothing comes up. If you could help me find her, I’m willing to follow any orders you give me.”

@Digmata

Cornelio Malong turned Salamin towards Cristina, showing her a slightly older woman who definitely looked like her sister, but with hair completely bleached white, a psychotic grin on her face, massacering ASEAN - Thai, specifically - troops before turning two Noble Arms in her hands against a battalion of Chinese troops who had been marching behind her. His next words were, "Your sister has fallen to the words of the Downward Descent, and has become an uncontrollable calamity on both our forces and the Chinese, who are supposed to be allied with the Downward Descent. After that, we believe she was imprisoned by the People's Republic of China, perhaps in one of their PoW camps downstream from Jinghong Dam..."

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

Raven Rivers

Raven grinned widely, before saying to his Colonel, "This is a perfect plan. A chance to exonerate ourselves just barely 24 hours after we've been formally accused. And the only potential flaw is that the Crimson Fists might somehow pull off a win once we ambush them... And that has a snowball's chance in hell."

He could taste it; victory against all odds, the light at the end of the tunnel, a legitimately earned happy ending. And all he had to do was what he did best: Grind down an enemy with all the firepower he can muster, then pummel them with his BattleMech's fists until the cockpits were pulp. His eyes flickered with glee as he said, "It is better to be feared than loved, but that's only if one cannot have both, right? And if all this succeeds, we will have both."

Nothing more need be said, at least from him. His mood was clear, his renewed faith in his Colonel ironclad. But his faith in himself... He had to admit he had a seed of doubt in himself and his capabilities, that he had a dent in his belief that he can make it through the coming battle and campaigns and that he won't fail himself and his people when things got tough. But he looked at the Colonel and everyone around him, and thought, I can do this. For them.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

((Collab between @Letter Bee and @Supertinyking))

Ken Illustrious Ikari and Hajime Sakurazaki

A second later, Ken remembered the existence of one ‘Mr. Immortal’, and pulled out his smartphone, turned on maximum encryption through VPN, then called the guy, asking, “Hey, Mr. Immortal, you free?”

The other end of the line comes to life with the sound of…bubbles and muffled screaming?
“Depends, how important is i- SHUT UP!”
CRASH!
“Depends, how important is it?”

Ken said bluntly, “I killed a person. He was leading a conspiracy to kill all Gifted. No one knows I did it yet but his death is all over the news. And now I need help destroying that conspiracy while making sure I get legally exonerated of all wrongdoing. Is that important enough?”

There is a moment of silence before a few bursts of gunfire blast through the microphone, most likely hurting Ken’s ears.

“Yea, I say that’s important enough. Where do ya need me boss-man?”

Ken mused, “Find Mrs. Plagrezes and her secret laboratory, wring as much information about their plans from both as possible, then leak it to every media outlet willing to cover it. Also, rescue one Alrune, also known as a clone of Shal-Akkun, an ancient hero of Rhea. Yes, this applies even if this is a scenario where they are blackmailing or coercing him to do their dirty work, which is perfectly possible.”

He grits his teeth, then continues, “Also, find out what you can about the ‘Old Faith Collective’; see if there is anything redeemable about their followers and beliefs. Is that doable? Also, tell me if you need any additional rewards…”

“Alright, so, full looting right. Anything I can steal and not get caught with, I keep. Secondly, I don’t leave trails, so I’m going to scrub a lot of my involvement as I go. Thirdly, this is a pretty big favor, so you’ll owe me one. How’s that sound?”

There is another crash, and the sound of a dumpster closing.

Mr. Immortal can hear Ken give a small “Hmm…” before saying, “Full looting, yes. But if I am going to owe you one, I want to know what you’ll use what debt I owe you for. I don’t want to suddenly find out that you have a blood feud against someone I’m friendly with or I might need in the future. Otherwise, I’ll just try and make it on my own, despite the drawbacks; I don’t like feeling like a pawn, hypocritical as it might sound.”

Ken then remembered, Oh, right, the ghost I was sharing my body with; she’s grown quiet lately…

“Ehh, it’ll be something small like hiding something, or letting me crash on your couch for a few days. I do my own fights.”

There was the sound of an engine starting up, and tires squealing.

“Where are ya?”

VROOM!

“I’ll come pick-ya up and we can keep talking more secure like.”

Somehow, one can tell Ken was smiling as he said, “I’m always open for a sleepover! As for where I am… I’m at the doorstep of an apartment owned by one ‘Galand’; I’m trying to reconcile with him before alerting him of the threat, then warning him to keep away.”

He breathed in, then out, then spoke, “I can ask my new fiance to come in my stead if you want. His name is Hajime; future Emperor Consort of Izumo now…”

“....aaannnddd….I think I know where you are. I’ll be parked outside in case your negotiations go awry. Also, congrats on the engagement, and becomin royalty.”

The sound of a vehicle going faster can be heard, screeching tires, horn blowing, wind bustling. It sounded like Mr. Immortal was goin quite fast.

“Thank you…” Ken said. “And this means a lot; you helping…”

“You saved my life buddy. Least I can do, besides, I’ve learned you’re marrying soon. Gotta help the new grooms out. Hehehehehe….If what you say is true, and these wackos were gonna kill all gifted, they’d also be goin after my pops…and I’d of done this for free.”

The joy and jest in Mr. Immortal’s voice drains to a cold serious tone.

“No one fucks with my friends and family and leaves unscathed.”

Ken smiled at that, then said, “Good.”

END

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Ken Illustrious Ikari and Hajime Sakurazaki

Ken Illustrious Ikari was heading for Reverio's home; Hajime was at his side, and both carried their swords openly.

They now had a name and face to attach to the person Ken had murdered, and an organization to name as the legal front of the Conspiracy... And Ken knew whom he had to kill next; his heart had grown cold upon hearing that woman's words and how she was stoking the subtlest embers of social unrest - A wedge between Gifted and Non-Gifted. He will need Reverio to bring this conspiracy down; he was ready to concede a lot of things to do that.

After all, he was not going to disturb Chinami's quiet life, all so that he can be acknowledged by her.

Imagine that; I want that woman to acknowledge me. Who knows, she might have been my first love, if not for Hajime... Nah; her standards are too high.

He arrived at Reverio's apartment door; found him not at home yet. Nevertheless, Ken decided to pass the time to wait for his... Friend (?) before saying to Hajime, "Hajime, I keep believing this, that I broke a band of true companions before it was fully formed, that my courage failed at the wrong time. And now, I come to him because I need to ask a favor? What I should be doing is ask for his forgiveness, then refrain from doing anything more. As it is, I broke the fellowship that was forming between us, a fellowship he tried to form, but which failed due to... Disagreements."

Hajime's response to this was, "Then why not refrain from asking for a favor, then? Apologize to him, admit fault for ruining the fellowship, then solve our problems on our own."

Ken turned to him, then ventured one more concern, "He deserves to know."

Hajime acted as a foil once again, voicing ideas that were pushed at the back of Ken's subconcious, "Then let him know, but tell him that you don't need his help if he feels obliged to give it, that you're letting him know for his sake, not yours'. That if he feels obliged to help, to stay out and let you handle it, but that if he is genuinely willling to help you to rekindle the friendship you break, with no preconditions besides that, he can join."

He paused for effect, then continued, "But what's important is to admit to your faults, to apologize, but not feel obliged beyond that. My mentor, Akio Takaki, told me that when you did something bad, to not feel entitled to people's forgiveness, nor to let your genuine faults put you in their debt."

Leaning close to Ken's ear, he whispered, "And do not let him know you killed a man. That is the sort of thing that he or someone he might allow to know can use as blackmail..."

Ken looked away a little and said, "How quick I was to leap to murder as a solution. But honestly, I don't feel that much guilt. How sociopathic, even if only for a moment..."

@Dezuel

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Balibago, Angeles City, Philippines - 10/18/2022, 20:47 UTC+8

Cornelio Malong was about to reply, but then he heard the sounds of fire, of mobs, of chaos, and Salamin shifted to show scenes of zombies - The infected human variant, not the undead kind - rampaging throughout the neighborhood. He then gave a sigh and said, "You have your answer; while I did not know that the Chinese would resort to a zombie virus, I did not want to bother the other Arms Masters here as they're supposed to protect the city from any major terrorist incident. So yes, I was asking a child to do my dirty work; how like the political clans I am seeking to dismantle."

He chuckled and spoke, "I've changed my mind; I'm taking care of Flores Corriente myself instead of asking kids to do it. I do still need you, though,... So I'm offering 100,000 Philippine Pesos to get me out of here; is that good enough? After that, we need to link you with First Lieutenant Alonso's 'Task Force Obsidian'; they can take care of you better than I can, I think?"

-------

Noel Alonso was expecting to have to confront a mob but was not expecting the mob to be mixed with zombies, zombies that were not actually undead but rather infected living beings. So the First Lieutenant swallowed his pride as he pulled out his radio and called the rest of Task Force Obsidian, including Qingshe, "Task Force Obsidian, we need your help - Qingshe, you have full authorization to quarantine the infected in your shadow until a cure is found!"

Certain people might find him incompetent, but he knew when to use every resource available. Deftly sidestepping a burst of bullets on instinct, Noel swung his Noble Arm to try and invoke La Luna's power of enchantment, but found out that aside from copies of Qingshe's shadow, which he did not know how to use yet -

"What are you doing?!" he heard Myron's voice call out as the latter and his knot of MPs, who had shot their way through angry lynch mob and zombie alike with their guns. "You're authorized to shoot to kill here! These aren't civilians anymore - Defend yourself while waiting for Qingshe and the others to save the rest!"

Myron was right; he should at least defend himself while doing his duty - Command. So Noel sent a radio to all military and police units in Angeles City, saying, "First Lieutenant Noel Alonso requesting a quarantine of the Balibago Neighborhood! Repeat, First Lieutenant Noel Alonso requesting a quarantine of the Balibago Neighborhood!"

The reply was immediate, "Affirmative; should we ask the Air Force for an airstrike?"

Noel was repulsed by the notion, "No! Primary-friendly assets are here! Give us 45 and we'll have it under control!"

45 minutes, Noel? he thought to himself. You're really depending on Qingshe now...

------

Amadeo Balagtas was flying above Balibago, his Noble Arm giving him the power to act as an aerial asset in lieu of Indra Larsdottir, who had returned to the Ukranian front. Right now, he was scanning the streets for any clue as to whoever started this whole mess.

He didn't expect to find one almost immediately, as he saw a man throw a knife at the neck of a woman carrying a baseball bat and then after wounding her slightly, telekinetically pull said knife out to stab her a second time, in the lower abdomen; strangely enough, the man had a standoff with a stray cat as the woman raged somewhere else, ignoring her fatally bleeding wound. Was that man American? He clearly looked like one, and he had cause to defend himself if he was... But he did not look like a listed volunteer.

Amadeo regretted not having the precision to drag that man's breath from his lungs from a distance. However, what he did have was a height advantage and access to the Philippine Military's Arsenal, including a Barrett M82 strapped to his side.

Lock, load, swirl a few winds around himself to compensate for the recoil, and he was ready to shoot - But first, a warning.

"Oi, you a Volunteer?! If so, state your name and purpose!" Amadeo was not precise enough to carry sound specifically to other people's ears yet, so he settled for being loud.

Jason would be able to turn around to see someone shooting at him from the air - A redheaded man, one who looked like an American-Asian himself, but whose face and expression betrayed privilege that most of them did not have. A redheaded man just barely out of boyhood, with androgynous features that mixed masculine and feminine perfectly.

And one dead-set on confronting him...

@Lewascan2@Conscripts@Gerlando@Creative Chaos@Nimbus@QJT@Amidatelion@Ryik@Digmata

Rise of Rasalhague

Alvin Davion

Alvin knew that Remy needed help, and Fuka's command only sealed his decision to go and back up the Firestarter. Reviewing the weapons he had, he decided that he needed to focus on his longest-ranged armament, the Laser, and thus aimed it at the Jenner giving Remy problems, moving forward to the edge of the valley before firing the beam and just barely missing the foe, but he noticed that the Center Torso had already been pre-seared by Remy and his Firestarter. Good; time to press on for the kill.

Staying within sight of his comrades, Alvin fired his autocannon next, perforating the area he had already hit with swift bullets that ought to turn the enemy Mech into Swiss cheese, even as he thought, I should begin evasive maneuvers soon, so no time for a third shot - Besides, I don't like my flamer anyway.

Alvin despised the concept of burning humans to death, not just because it was cruel, but also because he hated the idea of burning flesh beyond repair, heck, he hated the idea that anything could be beyond repair or even use. So he used the time he could be using to use his flamer to check the situation; were they winning? Or was the enemy providing more resistance than expected?

Rolls

Medium Laser; Center Torso(?)
Autocannon; Center Torso

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

Intermission Two: Ghosts of Angeles City

Balibago, Angeles City - 10/18/2022, Philippines, 20:45, UTC+8

Her client was an old man; a fellow Filipino whose wrinkled brown skin and wispy white hair fit well with his immaculate tan suit and silken beige tie. Facing the Arms Master, the man spoke, "Cristina Bernardino; I have heard much about what happened to you."

He was sitting on a small chair in the small hotel room, before saying, "Now, let me introduce myself - My name is Cornelio Malong; I am with the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency."

A pause for effect as he breathed hard. "I have spent a third of my life - 34 years - Trying to save the Philippines from itself. I grew my Noble Arm when I saw Angelito Jaime, the 'Hero of ASEAN', force the Chinese to back off with only his courage and a Noble Arm that wasn't even the most powerful, and saw that my country needed me more than I needed to live comfortably."

It was clear he had a habit of pausing often as he halted for a few more seconds and said, "Angelito Jaime is dying; the enemy no longer fears him. Age and lung cancer - A special type that shares his Arms Master Survivability - Are going to claim him within a year. But he fights on, using his own portals to return Chinese drones, missiles, and bombs to where they came from. And who am I to show less resolve?"

He coughed slightly, wheezing a little as he continued, "I'll be blunt. We've thrown away every opportunity to lift ourselves up since that glorious day in 1988. Our politicians are cynical, the poor, alienated, our activists, squabbling among themselves about how to help until their support ebbed away. Our army is split between those who want to fight China - Our side - and those who would gladly yield if it meant cash, a luxury home, and girls."

Breathing hard, Cornelio continued, "And now, we are at the breaking point. China is invading; their supporters, are everywhere. The political clans and 'great families' would gladly fight on the enemy's side to maintain their privileges, clients, and disinformation networks. Even those who want to fight the Chinese are vulnerable to blackmail, threats, intimidation."

He cupped his right hand forward, and a palm-sized mirror with razor-sharp edges materialized, floating above it. Cornelio then said, his tone gathering strength and steel, "This is Salamin (Mirror)."

Images then began to appear on the glass, of various people in dark apartments, typing furiously on computers that somehow kept operating despite power cuts and internet blackouts.

"These people are spreading disinformation about the situation to the world, while at the same time devoting their spare time to convincing the locals that the Amerasian - Asian-American - community in the city is to blame for the war and should be attacked. I will deal with them myself."

Then the mirror showed pictures of various influential politicians of Angeles City and the surrounding province of Pampanga, finally settling on a profile of an influential Ex-Speaker of the House from the province. Cornelio coughed and wheezed some more, then said, "This woman once held a very high position of power, and used it to work closely with China. She was thrown out when the Government of National Salvation was formed but has returned to her childhood home in Lubao, Pampanga, south of Angeles City, and is openly spreading propaganda advocating surrender to the Chinese. Bring her to Justice."

@Lewascan2@Conscripts@Gerlando@Creative Chaos@Nimbus@QJT@Amidatelion@Ryik@Digmata