interstellar5555 | ☆TRACK XIII: HIT THE BOTTOM PT 2

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☆TRACK XIII: HIT THE BOTTOM PT 2

It’s almost the very end of the Tokyo tour when it happens. There was no way for anyone to be sure when exactly Gold would strike, but at least with the information gained from Silver and their dreams, the rebels have been able to prepare and lay in wait. Despite some effort, contact with Gold has been impossible.

It isn’t until Lesedi has presented herself on stage that Gold comes out of hiding. It’s a special occasion, presumably. Maybe our of arrogance, or maybe as some key feature of her plan, one of the final performances is Lesedi Santiago herself singing. The crowd loves it, irrationally so – it’s clear to anyone that knows what’s going on that by this point Lesedi could be making fart sounds into a microphone and the audience would swoon.

The magic is thick, and the civilians are all but zombies in its wake. So much, so, that they don’t even seem to notice when Gold drops the entire metal lighting structure right onto the stage, on top of Santiago, mid performance. Gold rides the structure down, and metal bends and grinds, screeching as lights explode and sparks fly.

It’s so brazen that even Lesedi doesn’t seem to be expecting it. That becomes all too obvious when the nebulae emerges from the wreckage, furious and literally glowing with astral energy. Her song and its momentum has been cut like a rope, and the stage has fallen down like the figurative piano.

“What is this?!” she screeches, indignant beyond words but ostensibly not actually hurt. Metal shrapnel bursts into the air as Gold emerges as well, a powerful aura surging around their masked form as well. The remaining musicians that were dosed with Gold’s powder some months ago will feel a strange pull against their spirits.

“You.”

The word is cold, in contrast to Lesedi’s fury only a moment before. Gold only offers a theatrical shrug as they tight rope walk across twisted metal scaffolding. The crowd roars in appreciate for a performance that only they seem to understand.

“This is where you swear you’re going to destroy me, right?” Gold says, with antagonizing ambivalence. “Well, here’s your chance, princess.”

Yet, in this moment, Silver is nowhere to be seen.

[This is mostly going to be one, big free for all log, though you can make separate top levels if they aren’t going to be related to the main fight. Remember, your actions here matter! What players characters do or don’t do will heavily affect the outcome.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

While the guards are doing a pretty good job keeping the crowd away, something slips past. A toy-sized shark dives between legs and heads and people, circling closer to the stage. It floats near 3, positioning itself more or less between her and Lesedi, light blue flame flickering around it.

Eiji stands at the ready too, having followed after his fellow rescuer. Fighting off the bodyguards before this hadn't been easy but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Too much was at stake here.

One attacker Lesedi could understand, but in all her vanity, she would have never assumed that this many people would have the balls to out themselves to her all at once. In the height of her power, even! In the thick of it all, it seems that its actually the least physically harmful that agitates her the most - that is, the bomb blasts of green ink coming from Agent 3.

Lesedi is showered with the stuff like an inverse Carrie, and every additional blast of it just makes her angrier. It doesn't hurt her, no, but it's outrageous and humiliating, and at the end of the night, that's what matters to her more. She turns on the squidkid like a cornered beast, lightening crackling around her arms as any kind of magical creativity is sacrificed for just throwing as much destructive power as she can muster.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" she screams, and just as she is unleashing her blast, Mars's firey arrows sear straight through the projection of energy and magic that serves as her body. Ink catches fire, and her flesh burns - albeit, it sheds like a glitching hologram more than actual skin. As the damage comes, her body repairs itself, but Rei is too far away for her to easily get a clean shot with everything that is going on.

And its in that moment of distraction that Gold comes jumping in, feet first.

They pound into her chest like a leather clad bullet, the lion's share of their magical energy wound into a tight pocket of seeming invulnerability. They move with the flow of reality in these moments, their own song combining with what energy people are offering from the crowd. Lesedi attempts to pull in her own reserves at the same moment - though there seems to be something weakening the connection that she doesn't have the time to properly understand.

"CASSANDRA! JENNY!" Lesedi screams into the crowd, staggering back. "PUT THESE FUCKERS DOWN!"

Two thirds of Predator are arriving as she calls, the punk styled Jenny and the enormous Don. Cassandra is, apparently, nowhere to be seen. Jenny's musical weight will kick in, pushing back against the efforts of Greg and Gold in a battle of wills. She thrashes on her guitar, the shredding of which seems to disrupt the flow of music around her.

Gold surges in against Lesedi again, slicing a hand forward as if looking to plow it straight through the Nebulae's chest, paying no attention to the other interruptions. They strike - but in that same moment, Jenny's shrill tune seems to shake their form, and Lesedi catches Gold by the wrist with a gross cracking sound. Gold yelps in digitized tones through their helmet, just as Lesedi digs her claws through Gold's facemask, sharp enough to pierce straight through the material.

Lesedi slams Gold down against the ground like the vengeful god-thing she is, sending the rebel rolling through the wreckage. Their helmet is cracked badly, the tear down its side having shifted the whole thing into an unusable position around Gold's head. Gold's song flounders for a moment - but with the aid of those singing in the crowd around them, it begins to rebound before the rhythm can be totally lost.

Gold begins to stagger to their feet, their fingers prying into the crack down the side of their helmet in order to wrench the rest of the material free.

"And that, kids, is why you wear a helmet," Gold says, for the first time in her real voice. Her hair is singed and her outfit is tattered, but she straightens her back as she tosses the remains of her helmet to the ground. "Couldn't breathe in that thing, anyway..." She almost laughs.

If there was one thing in the world that could stop Lesedi Santiago dead, this was it. For a moment, all the exec can do it stare, for once more dumbfounded than angry. The stage around them burns, Lesedi's own body still smoking and ink covered but seemingly not of major concern above this.

"Cassandra?" Lesedi asks, reddened eyes wide and staring. Jenny, however, is much faster on the uptake.

"Oh, you bitch," Jenny snarls, swinging her guitar off of the strap around her neck and holding it by the strings like a weapon. "I knew there was something wrong with you!"

Just when it looked like one of their saviors was lost the tides turn in a most unexpected, most wonderful way. Roy can't keep back a grin. Like the senior musicians would all put up with Santiago.

3 appears to be safe for the moment and with all the attention on stage Roy turns his attention to the lesser of the two Predator members, Don. It isn't hard to spot him with his height. Roy hurries to get in range of the giant man and doesn't waste any time when Don finally is.

With that head of his sticking out I can borrow that trick from our rescuers. Roy raises a hand to heighten the oxygen levels in a tight space around Don's head. Then with a snap of his fingers he ignites the gas. If this works Don will be the next one with his hair ablaze. Hopefully that will keep him from following his orders.

The flames around the tiny shark flare more intensely as it quickly passes Agent 3 twirls itself into the way of that incoming blast.

The electric energy distorts slightly when it hits the creature, most of it streaming past though in slightly different trajectory like river around a pebble, just barely missing the spot right behind it; some might come right through as well but it'll be weaker than the initial blast. The sheer force of the beam causes the tiny shark to spin like a weathercock, and it looks singed pretty badly, but as no more lightning is coming that way, the injuries start to fade out.

Meanwhile, Squalo is still trying to make his way toward the stage. The reveal does stump him for a moment, though he doesn't think much on it; whatever the explanation, the ex-helmet bitch seems to be the only one capable of facing Lesedi head-on. That means some of them should make sure there's as few interferances as possible, no matter how suicidal it may be.

He spots someone - possibly Eiji - nearby, and motions at Jenny, indicating they should go after her. He probably shouts something like "That bitch", too, though his voice might get lost in everything's that happening - still, if anyone's could go through, it's probably his. They may not be able to do much, but getting her attention off her former pal might still prove helpful. Magic aside, she had to still be human, right? Worst case scenario, collapsing the floor under her should at least put a pause in her playing. Getting close enough to do something like that is a different story, though.

No. Nononono--what?

Of every person who could possibly be a robot, that was not what Garnet was expecting. But if Gold--Cassandra--needs help? Well, Garnet could try and give it. Her Future Vision screams with possibilities. She acts on the one most unexpected.

Especially since no one would expect Garnet to run behind Jenny, leaping to tackle her. Stop the music. Use her own, as weak as she might be in comparison to everyone else.

"GREG!!"

She...she could use some help. Maybe she should have asked first before doing that.

Unlike Jenny and Cass, Don had never been a particularly skilled caster. He had some of the basics, sure, but his ability to actually manipulate reality beyond feelings and thoughts was almost non existent, even after all these years. That didn't stop his bandmates from buffing him up over time, however, resulting in him being an extremely formidable physical threat.

Fire, though? Fire has a way of getting to most people. He's strong, but he's not immortal, and he can't access the magical energy that others are in order to blink that first out of existence.

Don straight up shrieks, as most would with their heads suddenly encased in flame. Jenny is whirling to see what the hell has happened to him, when Garnet leaps on her back. Jenny is very strong, but it's the surprise more than anything that catches her off guard. Here she was, about to give Cass the beating of a life time, when this amateur gets in her face.

"Get off, bitch!" Jenny snarls, swinging her guitar in a whirlwind move which will knock Garnet clean off of her.

Meanwhile, Lesedi's moment of shock is ending. In her eyes there is something conspicuously like genuine betrayal as she advances on Gold, her body now set ablaze by choice instead of due to other people's attacks. Her hair is lit up like a flaming mane.

"How could you?" Lesedi growls, her face contorted in anger and distress. "How dare you?"

Now Don isn't the only one getting set on fire. Lesedi torches the ground all around Gold, sending the rebel wheeling backwards and shielding her face with her arms.

"Ngh!" Though it knocks Garnet off, she still jumps on. This time,. however, instead of getting on Jenny's back, she'll be grabbing those lovely locks of hair on her head, and pulling hard. "Is that the only word you know?! That's unfortunate!"

Try whacking her now, Jenny. Go ahead. Use your whirlwind. You won't have much hair to use if you do, though.

Edited 2016-08-18 16:33 (UTC)

Steven wasn't going to go. Steven didn't feel brave enough - not to face Lesedi head on. He didn't know if he ever would again. But seeing Garnet tear into the crowd, to confront the Pride members on stage - something even deeper than his fear forbids him from leaving her to go alone.

He tries to weave through the crowd after her, and when it gets too thick, he pops out a bubble to make room. He's only just trying to crawl up on stage when Garnet is attempting to maul Jenny, and when the flames go scorching to Gold.

He leaps for it, because something deep down knows he can help. If there's anything he can do, it's this. He summons his shield at a particularly large size, putting himself between the flames and Gold's retreating body. Flames sear across its surface and lick at his pant legs, but its enough to stop most of it, even if it still hurts.

With Lesedi staring him down like that, there's only one thing he can get himself to say, though.

"S-Sorry," he says through a flinch.

TERRY'S HERE EVERYONE.

He wanted to just slip out, slip away, take a few people with him. But it's clear even across the venue that just cutting Lesedi off from the crowd isn't enough to slow her down.

So, he does the smart thing. Leaving? No, no. Terry hitches a ride in the form of being carried across the room by the crowd. Focused as he is on what's about to happen, he still has to admit it feels pretty fucking cool. Riding across on people's shoulders, still playing. Not that he needs the music to cast, but it helps him focus. Plus, the song feels kinda situationally appropriate.

When he steps onto the stage, it's not Terry-- it's Blanche. Blanche-but-not. Pale, gaunt, limbs fading into energy that fades into nothing. Wherever he steps leaves dark footprints and wisps of darkness behind, creating the illusion of someone dragging oblivion behind them. The chords from the guitar aren't musical anymore, but echoes from a screaming chasm of nothingness.

"You're on your own now," comes Blanche's voice, direct toward Lesedi. Absolutely intent on drawing her attention as he looks over his shoulder at what's left of the audience, and back at her with something faintly mocking in his expression, "have you got what it takes to see this through?"

Terry remembers what he is now.

If things were wild before, it's pure chaos now. Jenny's music crashes against Greg's--he's got power, but she's had far more time to hone hers, and it cracks his spell. Greg has only a moment to spare gaping at Gold. Her appearance has done something electric to the atmosphere, enraging her band and Lesedi while urging Pride's victims into action--before he can recover, Garnet and Steven launch into the fray, where minutes before they'd still been so hesitant.

The sight of the fake Blanche sends shivers of panic down his spine, but the words cut through to him in a different way. Yes. I do.

Greg's fingers hit the strings again as he rushes the stage, breathless and mind racing. Garnet and Steven went different ways, he can't boost them both, he can't be in two places at once--oh.

A surge of magical power and strength surges into Garnet, pushing her closer to what a Gem warrior is comfortable with. Steven, meanwhile, gets a more physical presence at his back: his father nudges him, grinning equally fierce with pride and panic as they block the way of one of the most powerful beings in the cosmos.

"Don't apologize, bud." A pinkish glow rises between them. "She can't control every Universe."

Greg's words and presence manages to draw Steven out from his fearful anticipation, allowing him to move beyond just cowering behind his shield. He looks up, his eyes watering, before he manages to grin back with bittersweet resolve.

They've felt like they're a universe apart for so long now, but at least, in this moment, it doesn't have to be that way. His gem grows warm.

"Together!" he says, understanding his dad's intent with no further prompting. Keeping his shield up and strong, he looks at Lesedi for a few bold moments before leaning into Greg and allowing their magic to mingle within that shared determination.

He steps back and throws his shield at Lesedi in the last moment in favour of trying something new.

..........Oh. Oh, this felt good. Even if she doesn't remember just how strong or fast she'd been before, this sure felt right. Possibilities of how to use this power suddenly opens up in her vision, and a toothy grin spreads on her lips, and she goes to yank just that much harder.

"Let's see if a Predator really can win against an alien, shall we!?"

Edited 2016-08-18 19:53 (UTC)

Lesedi just about shits in the few moments it takes her to see through Terry's illusions. She startles before she can control herself. Edward isn't really here right now. He wouldn't be. He couldn't be. It would be in strict violation of the rules, making an attack like this... planning an attack like this...

She hisses at the spectre, tears of frustration in her eyes. The combination of that pause, and Steven's shield, finally gives Gold enough time to collect herself and respond to Lesedi's betrayal. And it's now that all those years of hatred and self loathing come shining through.

"Do you really think anyone wanted this?" Gold screams back at Lesedi, her voice tight and her eyes blazing. "Do you really think any of these people are your friends?"

Gold swoops forward into a complex dance maneuver, matching Lesedi's movements as she swings herself to get out of the way of Steven's shield. Gold's rhythm regaining its hold and growing stronger by the minute. Bending probability around the movements of her body, she lunges at Lesedi, forcing the exec into a hand-to-hand confrontation.

"I hate you!" Gold snarls. "I've always hated you!"

"This could be considered a rules violation," Anansi notes, her voice low and untouched, though it's as clear as ever that she's down for anything. Inside her heart is beating far, far too fast. Juno looks to her and stares for a moment, before turning that scowl to Lesedi burning figure in the distance.

"I consider it taking an opportunity," Juno says, moving to the abandoned stage and seizing control of the keyboard set up to be played. "Lock her down."

"Focus on Lesedi first, aight?" Anansi chides as Juno behinds to play, two more sources of magical energy surging across the crowd. "I didn't come out to get my ass roasted. If Santiago goes down, we're home free."

With that, Anansi falls into Juno's music, and begins working her spell.

Meanwhile, Don and Jenny are not being as helpful as they could be.

Don has dropped to the floor, rolling and smoking and attempting to shield his head. Jenny is too distracted to even consider helping him with her magic. Hair pulling? Really? Bitch, please.

You wanna fucking pull hair? Let's pull hair.

Jenny snatches at Garnet's hair in return and rips back just as viciously, going at the powered up musician like a rabid dog. 'Cat fight' surely doesn't suffice, especially now that it seems like Jenny has suddenly developed fangs and claws and is going straight for Garnet's throat.

Edited 2016-08-18 20:39 (UTC)

Rabid dog, huh? Her hair hurts, her head hurts, really she is starting to squeak from the pain because Jenny's probably taking out chunks. But she's got her resolve, now. She's not going down. Not to Predator. Not with her powered-up strength and speed.

She's not up to what she might have been if she'd been her true self at full power. Certainly, compared to Jenny, she's not very strong at all. She knows it and no doubt, Jenny knows it. But she's got enough, and she's got Future Vision. She's not going to lose. Not if she can help it.

So, she starts to sing, as she tries to keep Jenny at bay. Not...very well, though. The claws are starting to dig into her scalp, and she grunts as she tries to weave her neck back and forth to avoid the snapping mouth.

"This is Garnet
Back together
And I'm never going down at the hands of the likes of you
Because I'm so much better
And every part of me is saying "Go get 'er."
The two of us ain't gonna follow your rules.
Come at me without any of your fancy tools.
Let's go, just me and you.
Let's go, just one on two."

Edited 2016-08-18 20:50 (UTC)

He's been here since the beginning of the concert - struggling to keep himself from falling under Lesedi's sway, struggling to keep his head on straight, struggling to think straight through the cacophony exploding around him, it's all just been a struggle - and it is long past time to step in. J positions himself at the edge of the crowd and moves with them as best he can, weaving through tunes until he can latch onto the one he wants.

Afraid to lose control
And caught up in this world

He buries himself in the acrid fire that is Lesedi's tune, wrapping it around him until he can't catch his breath, until he can nearly feel his skin burning on contact, and for a moment he hesitates. This...this is sabotage. This is the edge of a very slippery slope, one he and every other Agent has avoided until just this moment, and here he is, looking down at it and preparing to step off.

But he can't guarantee that he'll succeed if he tries to support Gold - there's too many factors, and dropping the mission to fight or run will hurt Gold, and despite everything, Gold is someone they absolutely cannot afford to lose. He can't guarantee a success, but he definitely knows how to fail.

I've wasted time, I've wasted breath
I think I've thought myself to death

He pulls Lesedi's tune tight to him and collapses to the ground, taking the tune with him. He can take a fall; what's harder to take is the screeching dissonance the collapse creates, racing into Lesedi's tune. Hopefully, it'll throw her off. Hopefully, it'll give Gold the opening she needs to finish this. Hopefully, it'll be enough. Hopefully.

Edited 2016-08-18 21:11 (UTC)

LITTLE SHARK TO THE RESCUE?

Turns out we haven't seen the last of the flying cat-sized fish. Having apparently recovered from the earlier blast, it's burning bright blue once again, and this time, it's darting through the air like a bullet. It might dive right through Lesedi while she's gawking at the fake Blanche, though at best it'll just cause a tiny ripple of energy in the spot it passes through, but it's possible it'll miss her entirely. The focus is below.

It's going for Jenny, circling her and trying to make contact as many times as possible - her limbs, her bitey face, whatever. If it does manage to graze her, it'll be like quickly moving sandpaper, and the area of contact will quickly start feeling a little numb and heavy.

Terry switches tunes like it's nothing, changing rhythm to match Gold first and then changing his chords to match hers. It's not the same song, but it glides underneath it easily like a booster seat. He can only imagine that everyone here is stronger if they harmonise than if they're all warring against eachother with their music.

He doesn't change back though — Lesedi might know it's a fake, but what you know and what you feel are two different things entirely. This isn't the real Blanche, but he's as real as Lesedi's thoughts and anxieties about him are. So Terry keeps it up, reaching into her mind and pulling at every little tendril he can grasp at.

"They're all going to die sooner or later," a gesture at the assembled, or as much of one as he can do whilst still playing guitar, "and then what have you got left? Me?" He scoffs, almost as derisive as the real thing. "That's pathetic."

There is a brief moment when 3 swears she sees her short life flash before her eyes as Lesedi's anger focuses on her. She activates her half Bubbler shield as a last ditch attempt to survive.

Yet, a flaming shark (?!) takes the brunt of the attack for her. Then the chaos erupts. 3 stands stunned for a few seconds, trying to make sense of it all, before going back into the action with shooting more bright green ink.

And since everyone is singing songs, 3 bursts out into one as well, "City of Color" by the Squid Sisters.

Tyurirurimyotte winiwini
Yuwarinicche nawemohi
Tyurirurimyohe winiwini yuwani
Yuweni yuwenu na nanihenu

She doesn't even have any magic related to it. She just has music inclination in her DNA.

For the moment, Sans is hanging towards to the back with J, and has mostly just been watching the agent do his thing. He's putting himself on reserve - he needs to be functioning in order to get people out of there if he needs to. Especially if that person is Greg or his kid.

Of course, keeping an eye on J has taken a particularly entertaining turn as J executes a truly professional level pratfall out of ostensibly no where. Sans never really got the hang of this music magic stuff - it's all just noise to him.

"Wow," he says. "That's the single most hilarious casting ritual I've seen in my entire life."

He's helping.

By the time Steven's shield rebounds off of Lesedi, it's caught not by a hand, but by the base of Greg's guitar. Rather than a crunch of wood, the shield slots perfectly in place in a hole that had never been there. The resulting axe gleams, bright pink and totally righteous.

(Not, to be clear, a battle axe. Just like--like a super sweet guitar. Way rad. Not for fighting, either. Why would you attack someone with a guitar, don't be ridiculous. All this is a lot of unnecessary showmanship when you get down to it.

But Multiverse is, after all, a showman at heart.)

The father-son fusion's eyes blaze with excitement and fury as he hoists his way sweet axe and lays down a filthy bass line. This guitar does bass now too, it's magic, deal with it.

The cacophony of music from a half dozen sources are playing at once, and it's all been a matter of trying to drown each other out. Multiverse, however, somehow manages to find a beat matching to all of those aimed against Lesedi and her crew. Magic rallied against her swells in confidence as he backs up the rhythm, while her melody is left to flounder out of step.

Edited 2016-08-18 22:41 (UTC)

There is a lot going on, and Mars is not really sure what exactly she can do without getting too close for comfort. That's not really what a sniper does, after all. There are also way too many people down there that she recognizes, and throwing out spells that could potentially hurt them is the exact opposite of why she's even here in the first place. However, she's not going to depart without some parting shot.

In the chaos, she lines up a shot, aimed not at Lesedi but rather at Jenny. The Predator musician has a strong magical sense, making it a little easier to lock on, and her back is turned towards Rei in her struggle with Garnet. A distraction may help, and she owes Garnet for helping Usagi out back in Americana and she owes any member of Predator as much pain as humanly possible for what they did to her friends, so guess where the next Flame Sniper is aimed?

Jenny's big, fat music wizard ass!

Instinct tells her it's low enough that it's unlikely to puncture through and hurt Garnet, and definitely should help get those claws and teeth off the big Gem. It's not just because she wants to hurt and embarrass someone who hurt and embarrassed her one time boyfriend. And while that one's in mid-air, she fires a second shot, much more hastily at Don's prone form. The sooner he's out of the fight, the better. One less troublemaker, if it does it's job. But, with him rolling around? Who knows.

After that, she leaps back out of the stands and takes off to link up with her own group, having done what she can do without risking getting caught or hurting someone with uncontrolled fire magic.

Edited 2016-08-18 22:54 (UTC)

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