2015-10-30 - You Reap What You Sow
| Title: You Reap What You Sow | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Puella Magi Homura Akemi has been proactive in dealing with Labyrinth, doing her best to permanently get rid of Soular and Eas. Westar intends to have a word about her interference. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Akihabara Electric Town | |
| OOC - IC Date: 4 September 2014 - 10/30/2015 | |
<Pose Tracker> Westar [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
With the fall of night comes the descent of darkness. The moon - nearly full - is nearly obscured by grey clouds drifting overhead, casting the world below in an endless gloom of monochrome. From the top of the highest mountain to the depths of the deepest woods, little natural light can find a way to illuminate this evening.
That's nature. Humanity had other ideas.
Tokyo's streets are well illuminated, even in the most rural subdivisions - but Akihabara stands above the rest. Night is in a sense when this district is at its most alive, with those shops open late displaying their splendour with neon lights in every colour. Off-duty salarymen and enthusiastic college students have the run of the streets, standing in line for midnight releases or ducking off to find the best deals on manga.
There is one who stands out. Not for his clothing - as here, even a black-and-gold suit paired with a billowing cape might be seen as normal - but for his location. Westar, Executive of Labyrinth, walks not the streets below but the rooftops above. He's not skulking - any observant soul might catch a glimpse of a caped shadow leaping from rooftop to rooftop - but he's searching. Amid buildings lit up by electronic display, he searches.
"...where is she? At this rate, it'd be faster to just ruin one of those midnight sales, that'd be bound to bring someone to get in the way..."
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Homura Akemi, once more, is out hunting.
The Puella Magi doesn't think much of poaching in other territories. She knows when Witches will appear that others might not; she kept a careful database about when Witches might arrive. It drive a lot of her decisions, and that led her to Akihabara. She dispatched of the Witch about fifteen minutes ago, then used her magic to heal. The Grief Seed is already tucked away, back into her shield.
She isn't observant, right now. It's a rare slip from Homura; one of those few times where she forgets to always be mindful.
She may regret that later.
She walks down an alleyway in view from Westar's roof. Her eyes don't look up -- she doesn't spot the cape billowing -- and she looks ahead, instead. A few people pass by, in the distance, for one midnight release or another.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has fully healed herself.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi transforms into Puella Magi Homura!
<Pose Tracker> Westar [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
There's villainy, and then there's rudeness - and so Homura gets warning that Westar has shown up to have a word with her. That warning comes in the form of a thunderous crash of metal, as Westar drops straight from the rooftop onto a lidded dumpster. The lid - and part of the body - dent from the impact, but when the dust clears there is a figure there.
He looms. The shadows of the alleyway are Westar's friend here; scattered lights from the street behind him casts a long shadow, his considerable bulk pairing with the height boost from the dumpster perch to sweep darkness across the entire alleyway.
His face is shadowed, but what can be seen is a furious glower. Cape billowing in the wake of his descent, his bare arms show tense muscles as they are folded before him - and his stance serves as a reminder of just how big the Executive is.
"Homura Akemi." There's more chill in his voice than has been heard in this timeline - or perhaps even longer. "You've been interfering with Labyrinth, haven't you? What did you do to Eas and Soular?"
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Homura is completely surprised by Westar's appearance. The crash -- the smash into the dumpster, with the ring of bent steel -- and the long shadows prompt her to be frightened, but she learned to keep those responses muted. The only sign of it is that she stops walking, holding position there. Her only movement is to turn on a heel, staring at the Executive. She ran into Westar before -- here and in other timelines.
She is surprised, inwardly. She has never seen him look so cold or angry before. Outwardly, though, her expression stays perfectly calm, as she turns to look at him.
Before she answers, her fingers reach up -- and then flick, once, through her hair.
"I have," she says. She doesn't argue it; she sees no reason to. "Soular's Nakewameke inconvenienced me. It was unacceptable. I shot him," she states, flatly. "Then I shot Eas, too, when I encountered." She hesitates, before she forces herself to be cold. Soular is already dead, after all. What's done is done. After that moment's pause, she adds: "...I couldn't finish her off."
She says it like it might be unfortunate.
<Pose Tracker> Westar [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
The cape at Westar's back settles as he watches Homura's reaction - and the sheer difference in reaction is something that takes a moment to comprehend. In his time here on Earth, he's run into all kinds of people fighting against his monsters - those filled with earnest confidence, or with passion, or fear and desperation...
But Akemi? He can't read into her heart, only sees that expression of absolute calm, the absolute lack of emotion with which she answers his questions. It's unlike any magical girl he's had the misfortune of facing.
It's not completely foreign. It's just the kind of person he never expected to find outside Labyrinth.
"Couldn't finish...you tried, though. You're out trying to get rid of Executives of Labyrinth - what, do you think you're better?!" Westar flings one arm to the side, and with his clenched fist, slams brick enough that cracks flourish in the wall. "Do you really think that Mobius is going to let you get away with this kind of thing?! Because however big a pain in your side you think we've been, people like you are getting in our way a whole lot more...!"
He slams his fist against the wall again, and growls like an angry gorilla. Ironically, the denizen of Labyrinth sounds more emotional than the denizen of Earth... "You've gone out of your way to attack my comrades...but you know what? You reap what you sow."
COMBAT: Westar has used Cry More! Wail More! on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Westar has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly dodges Westar's Cry More! Wail More!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"I don't think I'm better."
Homura holds her position, keeping her calm and cool even when he hurls that brick into a wall. It's practice that lets Homura stay calm, even when the dust and bits of stone fall down in front of her feet. She doesn't look down at them; her eyes stay on Westar, while her hand reaches down towards her shield. She can see where this is going.
"I know it."
She takes a step backward, fingers lingering just over her shield. She touches it -- and in the next moment, she simply isn't in front of Westar anymore. She stands on the structural steel catwalk above, on a fire escape, looking down at him -- and a quick kick of her foot knocks the steel staircase off its hinges. It comes falling towards the dumpster, ready to make a racket and quite an obstacle.
"You keep getting in my way," she says. "Your chosen methods are unacceptable to me. I told Soular to stop. And Mobius..." Her eyes narrow. "...I'll worry when he sends something besides his cast-offs and failures after me."
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Relativity on Westar.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Westar narrowly dodges Homura Akemi's Relativity, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Westar is Taunted! Cripple and Trap applied to Westar!
<Pose Tracker> Westar [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
She's fast.
It's an observation Westar has made before, and not really a surprise - but Homura's ability to just not be there any more is incredibly annoying. And hard to fight - Westar's stuck looking around in all directions, and doesn't think to look up until it's too late. The staircase comes crashing down, and there's swiftly a maze of metal between him and his opponent.
The Executive yells in fury from beneath the metal - likely spooking any pedestrians thinking to come investigate the noise. "In -your- way?! You keep getting in -our- way - stop thinking your goals are so important! And Soular...!"
The rubble shifts as Westar bodily lifts the full weight of the metal overhead, preparing to hurl it aside. A wild leap upward is his only hope of catching the girl, and he'd be an easy target...
"I'll show you who's a failure! OBEY MY COMMAND!" The staircase is thrown upward to the catwalk - and something swift and yellow hurled after it. An eruption of smoke fills the alleyway, and then...
A leaping Westar would be an easy target. But he's not the target, now - the staircase, and the scaffolding of nearby signs, and the catwalk itself have all joined together. Where Homura was standing is now the arm of a towering skeletal monster made of girders and struts and lengths of metal, baleful eyes looking down on her as it looms even higher than the buildings on either side. One hand, glowing brightly with tubes of neon, reaches down to slam against that perch as screams from observant pedestrians begin to resound.
"Nakewameke! No messing around, this is an enemy of Mobius - so make sure she cries and wails!" Westar's voice booms out from...somewhere below, but the shadows around the monster's feet are suddenly deep indeed.
As is the metal monster's voice. "NIGHT LIIIIIFE!"
COMBAT: Westar transforms into Nakewameke!
COMBAT: Westar has used Hands Full Of Misery on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Westar has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly counters Westar's Hands Full Of Misery, taking 28 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi's Reverse ability activates! Homura Akemi's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Homura Akemi's counterattack, Suspend Time, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Westar!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
After the fights with Eas and Soular, this isn't what Homura expected.
But it's a very smart decision.
The staircase and the catwalk shift under her, as it becomes a Nakewameke. Those terrible eyes look up at her, and she feels her footing slip. She flies up into the air -- and goes hurtling up into the narrow alleyway. She still doesn't shriek, but her grimace is sharp -- and her inhaled breath is sharper. She spins her shield and time stops as she goes flying.
Gravity doesn't stop for her when time does. She goes crashing down, but this time, she can grab onto a water pipe, and stop herself. She hits the wall hard, scuffing her cheek, and kicks off it to land on the ground behind the Nakewameke. She swings her pistol up, producing it quickly from the shield.
She fires three shots, rapidly, from slightly different angles. The bullets fly out, leaving trails of spiralling air in their wake, and then come to a stop. Homura clicks her shield back into place and time resumes. When it does, she stands a little behind the Nakewameke; the three shots fly up, one at the monster's left knee, and two up for that arm she stood on a moment before.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Firing Pattern on Westar.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Westar narrowly counters Homura Akemi's Firing Pattern, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Homura Akemi is Psyched!
COMBAT: Westar's counterattack, Stairfall, partially gets through, doing 7 Fatigue damage to Homura Akemi!
<Pose Tracker> Westar [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Like the jaws of some terrible mechanical beast, the Nakewameke's hand clenches shut as it slams shut - but on empty air, Homura having mysteriously vanished again in an instant. Accompanied by shouts of panic from observers on the street outside the alley, the Nakewameke looks around with a lumbering gait. It's ponderous sloth to Homura's impossible speed - but as bone-like girders rattle and spread, it seems to take up more and more of the alleyway. "JAM PAAAACKED...."
Time resumes, and bullets appears from all sides - rattling through the girders, rebounding around with sparks and flashes... "Behind you, now!" And then the Nakewameke sheds several steps from emergency escape stairs, raining them down on Homura's general position as it slowly turns around. Westar's voice resounded from above, this time - still concealed in the shadows.
"Most of them leave well enough - they'll beat up my monster, and ruin my plan - but you?!" Like Westar did before, the monster slams one arm into the wall to one side - and the screams nearby are louder as chunks of stone begin falling from the building. The Executive's voice bellows louder as the rampage escalates... "You just had to make it personal - you tried to 'finish off' Eas! You did worse to Soular! Well, I'm not waiting for you to decide I'm next - this is the last time you interfere with Mobius's plans! Nakewameke - show her what we're talking about!"
That seems to have been some kind of code word, as the Nakewameke slams another fist down to the rough area where Homura was standing - but this one glows with the light of a dozen neon signs, and those bulbs shatter as they meet pavement. There is shrapnel, and there is a brief blinding brilliance...
COMBAT: Westar has used Neon Flash Fist on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Westar has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi perfectly dodges Westar's Neon Flash Fist, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
One of the stairs falls down, slamming into Homura's shoulder. She grunts, stumbling backward; it doesn't tear her jacket, but it leaves a long scuff along it, and a blow that will bruise the next day. She steps back, before she stares up. "What do you think this is?" she asks. "Of course I did. I have to--"
The colossal fist comes crashing down, all alight with neon signs. Homura leaps -- she jumps to the side, without the assistance of her time magic -- and she neatly manages to roll away as a wave of shattered glass explodes outward and the flash of sparks is utterly blinding. Her head is turned to the side.
In the same time, she pulls a grenade out of her shield. The pin is pulled free, and she tosses it underhanded; the grenade twists up, before it lands at the middle of the Nakewameke, where there is a hole in those rafters and girders -- and then the grenade explodes in a violent fireball.
"You're my enemies," she says. Then, she lies: "This is the opposite of personal."
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Missile Delivery Service on Westar.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Westar narrowly braces Homura Akemi's Missile Delivery Service, taking 15 Fatigue damage!
<Pose Tracker> Westar [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
Glass shatters, neon hisses from its containment - but to no avail, as the swift Puella Magi escapes once again. Westar's Nakewameke turns about, left, right, hunting for the enemy...but that light is growing ever darker. The alley is growing ever quieter, too - generally, people are fleeing the area. Gunfire and giant monsters tend to do that kind of thing.
A grenade is hurled, rattling around the skeletal monster before detonating - and metal rains down uncontrolled this time, pieces of the monster littering the area. It doesn't seem to deter it, though - it takes another step, lumbering around the crowded alleyway to face Homura Akemi.
"We're Pretty Cure's enemies - not yours." Westar's voice, again - and he can be seen at the monster's feet, arms folded defiantly. It's as if he'd never moved to begin with - and he's glaring at Homura. "You're just one of the other girls getting involved in a fight that isn't yours - and you're lying! The Four Heavenly Kings never got one of your guns hunting them down - those Magic Knights don't come after us personally - what's going on with you and us isn't normal!"
The Nakewameke stomps one foot next to Westar, and as the last of its neon lights flickers and dies, he can be seen sneering. "But whatever your problem is, it's not going to mess with Eas's plans any more after day. You survive, you still have a problem with Labyrinth? You come to -me-."
And then the monster lunges forward, just slamming a very great deal of metal into the rough area Homura's standing. Even as fast as sound, it'll be hard to avoid -that-...
COMBAT: Westar has used Wall Of Metal on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Westar has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi narrowly dodges Westar's Wall Of Metal, taking 14 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi's Fade ability activates! Homura Akemi's Flash ability activates!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"Tch. I don't bother discriminating like that," Homura says, but this time her voice snaps. "I will involve myself in any affair that presents a difficulty to me."
She can see Westar, then, however briefly. She hears his threat -- but she has something far worse to worry about, instead. The Nakewameke rushes forward, and a huge wave of metal comes crashing down towards the Puella Magi. She hisses and leaps, but she can't get away from all of it; some of the girders strike her, and a thin piece of sheet metal slashes into her side.
She goes flying back across the ground. Homura rolls a few times, as she emerges into the street and looks up at the Nakewameke. "You know you can't stop me," she says, as she scowls up at the Nakewameke. "You're forgetting, Westar. Protecting Eas..."
Those violet eyes narrow -- but there is something cruel under that cold facade.
"...has nothing to do with your mission for Mobius," Homura states plainly. She raises her pistol, studying the Nakewameke and the Executive in careful detail -- and to see the results of her words. "You're not just wasting your time. You're wasting his."
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has used Timely Insight on Westar.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Westar narrowly counters Homura Akemi's Timely Insight, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Westar is Quipped! Analysis performed by Homura Akemi!
COMBAT: Westar's counterattack, Stairfall, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Homura Akemi! Critical Counterhit!
<Pose Tracker> Westar [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
For a moment - though it might be Westar's imagination - it sounded almost like Homura Akemi is getting...angry?
A feat, if it's true.
The Nakewameke seemed to crumble for a moment after the impact - but within the morass of metal, a yellow diamond is shining. Slowly, the monster picks itself back up, looming ever taller over the surroundings. One or two brave civilians are still within a few blocks, and those scarce few remain only because they have cameras out. In the chaos after its strike, though...Westar has vanished again.
Kind of. This time, his shadow can be seen, quickly climbing a fire escape along his monster's back. He stops, however, at Homura's words - stops, and listens.
Listens, and grows furious.
"You'd like it, wouldn't you? If I didn't get involved, you could just keep picking us off. One by one, getting rid of Mobius's servants...well, I'm on to you!" There's a sound of a fist striking metal, and the Nakewameke groans. "It might not be my mission - but if I don't do something, then you're just going to keep going, aren't you?! Besides, I've done way stupider and way less productive things than this - so until you decide to leave well enough alone, I'm not going to stop!"
A fist strikes metal again - but this time, there's a sickly flash of amber light. A clinging shadow of Westar's power, shining from him, flowing into the Nakewameke as a whole - and now, the Data Diamond within can be seen clearly. Unfortunately, that clarity comes at the cost of the monster gaining a visible aura.
"Labyrinth's victory is inevitable - and now, it's time for you to stop fighting it! Nakewameke! FULL POWER!" The monster lets out a shriek of triumph like shearing metal, and practically stampedes forward. Too wide for the alley already, walls begin to crumble in its wake - and as it gathers speed, it slams a glowing fist down on Homura's position with all its might.
This time, even the ground cracks.
COMBAT: FINISHER! Westar has used Overwhelming Force on Homura Akemi.
COMBAT: Westar has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Homura Akemi fails to dodge Westar's Finisher, Overwhelming Force, taking 87 Fatigue damage! Homura Akemi is unable to keep fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"Gh! You're..."
But Homura doesn't find the words. She is getting angry about this, and she knows it. She knows that she shouldn't get angry; she shouldn't let that anger cloud her judgment. Of course, if Homura could keep her anger in check, she would be a different person -- that cold, unfeeling persona is a mask for the depth of feelings she has. In this case, she feels an intense anger that only finds half of an outlet.
"You're nothing but monsters. You aren't even human," she spits at Westar. She stares at the Nakewameke, as the Data Diamond -- and the monster -- glows with a bright golden light. "You don't..."
But she doesn't find the words. She looks up, craning her head slowly, and she looks up as the Nakewameke bursts out of the alleway. Chunks of concrete and metal fly, glass shattering. Homura realizes, then: she underestimated Westar. She assumed he would be easy to outsmart; she assumed his dedication wasn't so deep. She assumed she would win.
Her fingers hover just over the rim of her shield as she stares up at the Nakewameke, transfixed.
Then the glowing fist smashes into Homura. She doesn't cry or wail, but she screams. Glass shatters and electricity explodes out around her. The impact is so mighty that it sends the girl flying, hurtled across the street, and through an electronics store's front window. She slams into a row of LCD TV's, which all collapse down onto her.
A moment later, the wrecked televisions collapse in, filling the hole where she had been -- save for a few pushed to the side. After that, there is no further sign of Homura Akemi.
<Pose Tracker> Westar [Infinity Institute (12)] has posed.
In the wake of the wrath of Labyrinth's Executive of the West, a dread silence falls over the street. The Nakewameke's momentum carries it forward another couple of steps, towards that electronics store...and slowly, it comes to a halt. It heaves a few times, as if the heap of metal enchanted by dark powers is breathing heavily - and then a voice calls out from behind it.
"Good work, Nakewameke. I'll take over from here." There's a flash of light as the diamond detaches from the monster to fly back into Westar's hand - and as the monster collapses into a heap of scattered metal, the Executive walks towards the ruins of the shop.
He kicks at the pile of TVs, knocking the appliances aside with surprising ease...but at the lack of a Homura, he snaps his tongue. "Che. Well. Maybe she'll think twice before messing with Labyrinth again."
And with that, Westar leaves Akihabara. Passing behind a fallen sign replaces Westar with Hayato Nishi - and as sirens begin to sound, the teenager departs the site of a great deal of wreckage.
