2358/Grand Theft Linker Core Part 1

Grand Theft Linker Core Part 1
Date of Scene:	17 January 2017
Location:	Somewhere in Tokyo
Synopsis:	An ailing, Witch-corrupted Miss White puts her plan in motion. The team of Senshi, Shitennou, and friends comes to stop the woman's theft. Hannah gains a linker core to study, but at what cost to herself and her beloved friendships?
Cast of Characters:	Hannah Sharpe, Mamoru Chiba, Kukai Souma, Amu Hinamori, Makoto Kino, Kunzite, Naru Osaka, 158

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Hannah Sharpe has posed:
It's a late night out for three former TSAB members. Two young women, and one guy, all dressed up for a local rave. Festooned with your usual glowsticks, jeans, and jeanshorts, they exit the party laughing and jostling each other. Thankfully it's easy to fake being older when you have a Device.

The burst of magic that comes from the nearby alleyway gets their attention however. The three look to each other, clasp hands in friendship, and run off. An emerald barrier arises, three circles of magic flare, and their world is cut off from everything else. Only the waves of magic coming from the alleyway give any hint as to what might have caused all of this.

Inside the barrier, there's two sharp reports of a handgun. Two bodies fall loudly. A third stands defensively over her fallen comrades. A dress-like barrier jacket in purple, long hair, and what looks like the magical equivalent of a shotgun complete with attached bayonet.

Gasping, grinning, Miss White stowes away two round objects into her suit jacket, tucking away her other weapon.

"Sorry kiddo, it's just business. Why don't you just...take your friends and run, huh?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
@};--',--'-,--

Abruptly, the moon is shadowed, and a brilliant red rose wings lightning through the air, rocketing toward Hannah's jacket where she disappeared the orbs with its magically reinforced and super cutty stem.

"The lives of magical girls are difficult, and friends of justice have lives more difficult still: they seek to redress the wrongs of the world and still get good grades in school! Someone who purports to wish the world a better place and yet takes arms against these brave young girls for her own gain is tragically misinformed as to the methods that world improvement will tolerate. Stealing the magical energy of others is cowardly and weak, and I, Tuxedo Kamen, will not stand for it!"

It's almost like he was stalking Hannah. For some reason.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Raves are not exactly Kukai Souma's scene, but with a warm night in late January there's a lot of people out enjoying a chance to have a party and get crazy. It's live, it's electric, there are young people, so that means there's probably somebody planning to sic a youma on the scene and eat people. At least, that was Kukai's thought process.

So, here Kukai is, stuck inside a nearby staircase near the clubs and warehouses and such, listening to three separate distant dubstep songs thumping through the night air. It's not the worst night. It could be worse. His phone could be going bananas with Amu messaging him about Lacrima doing... something. Oh wait. That is what's happening. He taps out response after response, his attention beginning to wane...

And then, gunshots. Uncommon? Not even - rare as hell, in Tokyo. But it yanks Kukai's attention back to the real world and he looks up. Then back to his phone, tapping out a rapid response and then pocketing his phone, diving up the stairs to the small cloak room at the top, which then shines with a bright green and white light before the henshined hero Sky Jack leaps out of it on his flying board, searching for the source of the gunshots...

Which only takes a few moments as he hears a familiar voice speaking from one of the nearby rooftops above an alleyway. He sails in to land off to one side of Tux and nods to him, not wanting to break into the Earth prince's speech.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amulet Heart was texting away frantically on her phone, in a mild panic as she tried talking with kukai. And then she'd gotten another text about GUN SHOTS. It only took her a few moments to character transform before she was off on her way.

Fortunately, she'd been nearby when it all went down and managed to hear the tail end of his little speech. She gave Tuxedo kamen a look. Soooooo. Cooooooooool.

"Really? Isn't that a little old fashioned?" she asked with a smile, before looking down. "Jack!" she yelled out, waving to him before leaping through the air and landing by them, her heart rod appearing in her hand.

"So, what do we have? X-egg? Youma? Rampaging yogurt snacks?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Unlike Mamoru, Makoto wasn't really out on the lookout for anything in particular. Exam season's kept her pretty thoroughly occupied recently, and she's been pretty far out of the loop on the magical goings-on of Tokyo as a result.

But tonight the wind had a voice that urged her out, onto the rooftops, and when the sound of shots rings out and Tuxedo Kamen's voice rises after it, Sailor Jupiter isn't far away.

"He means, knock it off." Her voice calls out, just as clear and carrying and a whole hell of a lot more blunt; there she stands, on the edge of one of the nearby buildings overlooking the scene, standing tall and tense with her hands curled into fists at her sides. "Give back what you took. I won't ask twice."

Kunzite has posed:
Where there is a prince, there are often enough guardians for that prince. This moment is no exception. Except, this time, the most immediate guardian is moving -- there's a whisper of his cape as Kukai and Amu arrive, that's all --

Kunzite lands in the alley, not between Hannah and the defender with the shotgun, but to one side. Out of the line of fire. Close enough to threaten an intercept.

Somehow less ominous than Sailor Jupiter's stance, all the same.

He regards Hannah directly, quiet and implacabl, and his words are lower than the others', not pitched to carry. He can't control what the wind does with them, but they're intended for her alone.

"What would your father say?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
Rampaging yogurt snacks are taking over Tokyo!

Possibly not the best marketing slogan, but it certainly would catch the attention. Naru is out and about, on her way from point a to point b, if point a was some fussy upscale gallery with pretencious art snobs and point b was some value of 'home'. This does not mean that she was /expecting/ gunshots to echo out, and it's a mercy for her dress that she henshins on the way, because of course she's headed towards them, well /duh/.

So is, clearly, damn near everyone she knows. Because of course they are. Hyalite comes to the edge of the alley and then closer again. Silently on the edge as she draws out her sketchbook.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Now some people might respond to such an affront with justice speaches or appeals to familial piety. Others tend to take a more proactive approach to dealing with this kind of problem. A little girl was within the area when the barrier went up, and saw what happened. "Ruby." She says softly, to which the device reluctantly pings, <Yes Master>

Soon after, Nicola is zipping through the sky, pointing her dual handguns at miss White, and the device announces the initial attack <Rose Petals> There's a quick series of energy disks that's fired from those handguns in multiple directions, zipping around until they arrive near simultaneously at approximately the location of miss white. There's some angry yelling in some alien language.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
The poor young woman tries to take aim...and shoots! The magical blast goes entirely wide. She falls to a knee! "Like...I'll let...someone like you go!" She huffs. Despite her linker core, she sorely lacks the experience Hannah's gained.

But before Miss White can even try to push the issue, something sharp comes flying into her Device's range of senses! Credit to team that the cutty rose doesn't uttery tear her jacket to shreds as she turns aside just enough! But Tuxedo Kamen's aim is impeccable, and two beads fall out: one red, one blue. Hannah tries to scramble with her free hand to catch them.

And then she gasps aloud, her entire body shivering as she freezes in place. The red one goes rolling over to it's owner, and quickly is reabsorbed. He doesn't move yet, though. Breathing, thankfully, but out like a light.

A wind slides through the area, and Hannah scrambles for the blue one as the pain resides. She's bent over covetously,as if it were the most precious thing in the world. This time, it's into the /back/ pocket.

Sucked breaths, and she manages to 'look' up to Tuxedo Kamen's voice.

"I'll have you know...that my grades are fine thank you very much. And that I don't care about justice, right, wrong, or anything like that! We've been over this. It doesn't matter."

Slowly, she gets up, and settles into a kickboxer's stance. Sweat drips off her brow. Anyone who knows her, would notice just how pale her skin is compared to her usual dusky tones.

"I don't care what this world wants. I'll change it. But, Tuxedo Kamen, I'll give you one of those two. So points for clarity." Tch.

Then, she's scowling to those gathered. A harsh wave of one hand, and emerald wind blows through the alleyway and wafts upwards. There's no attack here, just emotion pressed to magic. All a try at intimidation, even if she just sounds tired and scared despite herself.

Amu, Hyalite, and Jack get noticed. So many magical girls and boys. Then Jupiter, too, lands. She'd be hard pressed at top form with so many. But now?

She'll have to get creative if she wants to get anything out of this.

"Sorry, Miss Thunderstorm, but I don't have the luxury of giving them up." She almost sounds pensive for a second. Definitely resigned, and frustrated.

It's Nicola and Ruby Rose that attacks first out of the group! The first few disks crash into a quick Shield spell, giving her time to recover. Hannah keeps up her arms defensively, jukes to the left, then weaves back to the right to dodge another set that slices down the alleyway's walls, gouging out brick and mortar and steal in the strange Mage reality. By the time the disks have faded, there's slashes on the sleeve of her left arm. With a sigh of relief, she actually grins.

"Heeeeey! I recognize that Device! Been practicing I see, kiddo! Good job! Now shove off. Your Linker Core looks reeeeeal tasty right now!" Warns Hannah.

But it's that simple whisper that truly draws Hannah's wrath. Kunzite suddenly has Miss White's utter attention. She grows still, eyes widening, and both hands clench to the point of her palms bleeding.

For a moment, there's utter silence. And then, a spell is muttered.

GALE RUSH!

Wind hefts Hannah's feet a half inch off the ground, and then asphault shatters from the force of her being blown towards Kunzite by the force of magical winds. She's a blurr of motion, and most of all, pure anger.

"DON'T YOU DARE PUT WORDS IN MY DAD'S MOUTH!" Seems Kunzite has touched a nerve. Miss White's fist, humming with magical energy, tries to put the young man's head into the wall with her punch.

Given their proximity, Kunzite might notice how bloodshot her eyes seem and the blood dripping down the corner of her lip. It wasn't there a moment before.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen manifests a top hat, pulling it out of the air like he pulls the roses, and tips it in greeting to Sky Jack and Amulet Heart. He doesn't answer Amu's question, since a glance in the alley will reveal the situation readily enough. Instead, he listens to Miss White and sighs, and the press of wind that she moves upward through the alley makes his cape billow and curl and flap like a flag on a windy day.

"The world cares about you, though, and it wants you back."

Then there are attacks in the air and words so quiet and cutting that they might as well be a dead scream, and Hannah's power gathers. The masked prince crouches on his ledge, eyes narrowing behind the luminous white mask, white gloved fingertips touching the edge of the bricks--

--and she moves, and so does he.

Hat first, flung with alarming confidence in its accuracy, toward Miss White's head as she begins to charge Kunzite, and then himself: there's a rustle of silk by Amu and Kukai and he's gone. Down into the alley, feet first, and an unceremonious grab of his head guardian in the same instant -- who's that fast? Who can be so fast? -- and Tuxedo Kamen's airborne again.

It's only so far as the other side of the street that he goes before he sets the other man down. "Priority obviously the mages. Let me help you; Jupiter's here," he says, taking off one glove and offering his hand.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack grins to Tuxedo Kamen as he tips his hat to them. "M'lord. Good to see you on the street again." It's a little teasing, a little trolly, but completely serious - it is good to see him out again. It's a little surprising to see so many people swarm to the sound of gunshots, but he feels thankful for every single one of them.

And then there's an emerald, wafting, pushing, physical emenation on the wind, and Jack lifts off again as Kunzite and Jupiter speak. The first assault comes from offscreen, however, as Nicola dives at Hannah, the shield caroming the shots away. And then a moment later Hannah is leaping up - and a wave of silk flickers past - and Kunzite is out of the way and Hannah is almost to the roof with hate and need and pain in bloodshot eyes.

Jack rushes to meet her, diving towards her as he leans down, grabbing the bottom of his board and yanking it up to spin rapidly, a small windstorm aimed right at Hannah, intent on stunning and slowing her for a moment and focusing her attention on him. "HEY! You! I don't think we're quite settled on that coma thing if you're going to act like this! Chill out a little!"

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amulet Heart frowned and then leaped after them. She... didn't really know what was going on. To be honest. Like, she felt she was missing something? Something big and important. But she didn't really have any idea what.

So, with no clue really what was going on, she decided to throw friendship at her! Okay, no, not really. She threw her heart rod at Hannah! It'd go past her head and... completely wiff.

Only to come back a moment later and trying to knock her feet out from under her!

She landed on the roof over looking the area, before finally dropping down to land by the wounded. "Okay, can you move?" she asked the other girl. "We need to get you and your friends out of here. So she--" motioned to jupiter. "Doesn't have to worry about anyone getting in her way."

What? amu was smart. She knows who the heavy hitter her.

Makoto Kino has posed:
It seems that Sailor Jupiter really wasn't expecting anything else. Her mouth tightens a little, as much as such a small shift in expression can be seen when she's standing high up against the backdrop of Tokyo's night sky; her stance doesn't change, not a twitch of surprise, just coiled power ready for action.

And then the time for argument has passed. She did say she wasn't going to ask twice.

Hannah launches herself at Kunzite in a blur of movement and Sailor Jupiter bursts into motion only a fraction of a second behind. It won't be fast enough to keep Hannah from reaching her target but Tuxedo Kamen is already there - electricity uncurls around her fist in hissing, snapping threads of bright energy as Jupiter rockets down from above, a spiral of petal-strewn wind around her speeding and guiding her on an intercept course.

And unlike Sky Jack, she won't be pulling up at the last second.

Kunzite has posed:
Hand clasps hand at the far side of the street, and Kunzite lifts his other, reorienting even as the motion's completed -- and a familiar curve of black arcs up over the fallen pair, their outgunned defender, and Amulet Heart. Kunzite's shield is shadowy as ever, and the four within it are not chilled in the slightest this time. Not that there's likely to be any immediate attack against them. But between Sky Jack and Jupiter and their shared target, well. There may be shrapnel, of sorts. Fragments of brick and asphalt. Not to mention at least three competing wind-magics. Not to mention that round of energy-discs a moment ago.

Letting the heavy hitters hit without distraction, and buying Amu time.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Hyalite has been noted. She's down on ground level, far preferring to keep her boots on terra-firma than everyone who has a desperate urge to jump off rooftops like sensible magical girls and boys. She is quiet upon her feet, and moves in to help Amu. Two sets of hands are easier for gathering up people who likely don't currently have the wherewithall to walk, and Hyalite might be petite, but she's not so small that she can't manhandle someone to safety, should need arise. Her sketchbook is back into a pocket for the moment. "C'mon." She urges. "Keep over to this side, to try and stay out of the worst of the friendly fire."

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Try me." Nicola challenges Hannah, and then she zips around, using her natural talent for speed to rapidly increase her pace, and she keeps firing simple energy bullets, there's enough speed to make it hard to keep track of where Nicola is, and enough bullets to make it probably a priority to focus on those instead of her exact location.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen is a shadow, a leaping figure. She might have been able to redirect an attack towards him...if she were in top form. But she's suffering, and deep down, she's pulling her punches. Hannah thrives on self confidence. Right now, she's just clinging desperately and too proud to admit it.

Urk! Amu's rod comes flying for her face...and zooms off in a whiff! Cue Hannah too distracted to pursue a certain White-Haired Rock and Prince. The girl finally leans against Amu and Hyalite as they support her. She smiles to the young women. "Ugh...thanks. Don't underestimate her. She...there's something wrong with her. A mage like her shouldn't be standing." The girl shudders, and is happy to help haul her two friends out of the Barrier. "Just get that last Linker Core back!" Calls out Shotty Mage. Soon enough, she too is out for the count, and the pair of Amu and Hyalite have /three/ mages to try to drag away.

A kick for the man comes, only for that hat to intercept! WHAM! There's the sound of magic-hat and magic-wind grinding as the force of the thing holds her back. Wind slams into her from Jack, and she 'looks up. She's practically held in place as she strains to fight back. There's the audible sound of muscle creaking from Hannah as she stubbornly hangs on. All the while, Nicola's bullets crash into her, scoring and marking her Barrier Jacket and body with bruises!

"Wish I could! Would rather be home in a bubble bath than mugging idiots!"

Then, two things happen at once. First, in comes Sailor Jupiter. Down she comes with her mighty, wind-fueled fist, and so too does wind kick up against her. First one, then another, then a fifth and finally an eight shield are all crashed through thanks to the Senshi of Thunder's power and righteous anger! Then finally, it hits Miss White straight in the chest! Electricity runs through her body as she screams in pain. Spittle, and something far darker exits her mouth from the pure impact.

Then Amu's wand comes flying back, redirecting the pair into the ground as there's the sound of first concrete, then dirt, and finally underlying cables crushing as Miss White is smashed through into a crater several times her size. Her eyes roll into the back of her head from the combined assault. She goes limp as her foot kicks off and lets go of the hat that had ground a rut into her barrier jacket.

It goes flying off, then hits a lamp post. There's a slicing of metal from the combined powers of Miss White and Tuxedo Kamen that sends it crashing into a nearby water tower. There's sounds of a hat and magic making horrible richochets as it bounces around!

And then exits in a curving fashion that's slicing right for Amulet Heart, Hyalite, and then finally towards Sky Jack! Even Kunzite's wall of shadowy shield has it bouncing more erratically between. It takes the edge off, but should it hit, this will hurt!

Meanwhile, the limp Miss White lays there. Raging Tempest's readout suddenly glows. "Initiating Emergency Protocol #719" Comes it's robotic tones.

Then, the wind around Miss White draws in like some kind of horrible vacuume. Around her chest, there's a green ring of wind form, and then it /squeezes/. Once. Twice. A third. And then Miss White gasps out, eyes focusing as much as they ever have.

"NNnngh! GET....OFF!" She coughs out, before her legs try to wrap around Makoto. Wind rushes back into her fists, forming drills around them, and then she's trying to smash both into Sailor Jupiter's sides! The blast should hopefully send up enough dirt and debris that she can get some space as she struggles towards her feet.

"Oh really? This world...all it's done is take and take and /TAKE/ from everyone! Why shouldn't I be the one to take a bit, if it'll stop this whole vicious cycle?"

Kukai Souma has posed:
Jack can't keep the spin up forever, but thankfully he doesn't need to. Of course, being a little dizzy is the downside of something like this, but hey, it worked. Better than Jack could have ever hoped, honestly. He was just expecting to slow Hannah down, not freeze her in place as he had!

He sees the shots impacting onto Hannah's jacket a moment before the lightning strikes all around him and mostly onto Hannah in the form of a very angry Sailor. Then Amulet Heart's rod comes back from the other direction, takes the legs out from under Hannah, and she and Jupiter vanish through the roof of the building, leaving only an angered scream from the mostly-villainous mage remaining. Jack peers into the hole, blinking. "Did we get her?"

Perhaps, but then there's a flying, magically empowered hat bouncing around and tearing holes in the alleyway scenery! And it's fast, too, and unpredictable, and Jack finds himself diving to one side as the hat's passage leaves a long rip in his pants leg and a gouge out of his jacket before he can throw himself out of the way!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"That's NOT the world taking, White, it's people like you," Tuxedo Kamen retorts, voice snapping through the air like a whip, loud and resonant even amidst all the sounds of battle. "How many people who take also think they're doing it for the greater good? How many people who hurt the people who save lives, nevermind civilians, are doing it because they think they can pay it back once they have enough power to enforce their idea of what's good for everyone? THAT'S NOT THE WORLD! I CAN SHOW YOU THE WORLD!"

His hand's getting tighter and tighter on Kunzite's, and here's why he took his glove off instead of his usual henshined power-lend: Kunzite can feel the prince's anger rising much more swiftly than it usually does, fiery and uncontrolled, unbound. Kunzite can feel his prince's impulse to tear away and get in the thick of the fight despite everyone else handling it, just so he can shake Hannah's face.

His other hand is holding a sword. It wasn't before.

Hannah died for a second there. He knows she did. He knows she--

There's still a linker core in her back pocket. He has to get his temper under control. Behind the mask, Mamoru shuts his eyes tight. And then abruptly he replays what he just said out loud, and every single Disney movie Usagi's ever made him sit through comes rushing back, and he lets out a sudden and almost ghastly laugh, and the sword is gone.

His hand comes back up, holding another rose, and he watches Hannah's movements in her fight with Jupiter. He watches and tries to predict. He watches and takes aim. He watches and-- still channelling the bulk of his power toward Kunzite so he can play a better defense than Mamoru can-- and-- and--

Another rose. This time, it's aimed at Hannah's back pocket. Someone may have said something about Mamoru and fights and dignity.

Makoto Kino has posed:
In this close, there's no real shielding herself - it's a moment of wild grappling, and then an explosion of wind and debris and sparks of electrical discharge, a choked shout of pain from Sailor Jupiter as she's thrown back off of Miss White. She tumbles once before her fingers catch at the broken concrete, arresting her momentum enough to bring her to a halt, her other hand pressed to her side where the white of her fuku is now torn and dirty.

"Stop it?" she spits back, voice gritty. "You can't stop it by adding to it!"

She gets her feet under her and shoves herself upwards, planting her heels solidly to square her stance as she reaches her full standing height. "I heard you say once," she says, low but filled with intensity, "that the world is rotten. But if it is, what's made it that way--"

Again her fists clench, again the lightning blazes to life around her hands in a searing corona. "--is people like you, who think what they want is more important than anyone they have to hurt to get it--!"

Even before the words are all the way out of her, almost an echo of Tuxedo Mask's, she's launching herself at Hannah again, once more a fists-fist battering ram sheathed in lightning.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amulet Heart would have given her own speech. About friendship, and love, and never giving up, and being strong and believing in herself. But you know what? Magic dapper tux man and lightning princess have it handled. She's got purifying powers and can jump real good. She'll let them handle this.

So, instead she hauls one of the unconscious people over one shoulder, the other over the other(go super henshin strength!), before leaping away, taking the girl with her. "Come on, let's get you guys somewhere safe and secure!" she says as she races away.

Safe and secure would be like, a roof top two blocks away. Because she is a sprinter, not a marathoner.

Kunzite has posed:
The hat rebounds off Kunzite's shield more than once, and that shield spits uncharacteristic white-gold sparks each time. At least the Barrier will take care of the physical damage. (But that water tower is something to keep an eye on, given who else is here --)

And the victims are being pulled out of the way. Good. Good. But Sky Jack's not helping Jupiter distract Hannah, right now. And they need Hannah too busy to notice that rose. Kunzite's hand tightens on Tuxedo Kamen's in turn, wordless warning, and he calls, "All you're fighting for right now is making other people suffer -- to let you get out of the consequences of your own actions. The world didn't take a single damned part of this from you. You did."

As if she were likely to be listening. Given the fists-first battering ram sheathed in lightning.

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's not much of a chance that Hyalite is going to be adding to speeches. It's not her style just to start, and she's got better things to do. Left with but a single person to haul off out of the way, Hyalite scoops the now unconscious mage up into her arms, a bit of a challenge, but she's got it and princess carries the now unconscious mage to the entrance of the alley. Not on a rooftop, how terribly pedestrian.

"We know she's sick, she's really not making this easier on anyone involved." Hyalite murmurs to the mage. "Core is coming up." Becuase possibly, the mage in her arms can hear her.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
The wrath of the Prince of Earth finds Miss White. She's compared to so many others. So many who also think the ends justifies the means. She trembles as consciousness finds her once more. Jupiter is thrown back, and that lets her steady herself. She leaps up, landing at the lip of the destruction they both caused.

A sucked, calming breath. She forces aching legs to stand tall. She calls upon every single conviction she has as her very life's work is thrown back at her by Jupiter, by Tuxedo Kamen.

No, Sky Jack, you haven't gotten her just yet. Miss White runs a hand through her hair, setting it back into place. Her fingers run along Gull's haircomb, somehow uncracked in all the violence.

A single finger points to the magical troupe arrayed against her. "...I still don't get it, even now. If you all believe in this world that much, why haven't you all gone and killed me? Because no matter what insults you throw, what you think of me, I'm going to fight for a world where my friend doesn't nearly get eaten by some scumbag youma. For a world where...where the people in power should be people like /YOU/! Not me. I'm greedy, ambitious, maybe even...maybe even Evil! But don't underestimate my love for the people in this world! For EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! Ends /DOES/ justify the means! In this rotting world, no matter how much people love each other, they just get torn apart by circumstances! Even if you all end up calling me a demon, I'll make sure this world gets remade entirely! What..."

Tears well up. Pain. Desperation. Shame, fear, desire, and anger. A horrible soup of negative emotions swims in her eyes.

"What would I be worth if I just gave up now and abandoned everyone, HUH!? NO! I won't die here, not now, not EVER! Not again! I will NOT leave the people I love crying like that!"

Memories of D-point flash through her memory.

Her body is exhausted. But in the face of people she respects, and in some cases, loves, her magic flares. Her steps forward are shivering, weak things as she settles back into a fighting stance. She draws in a breath.

SLICE!

A rose goes flying past, and she very nearly dodges it. A rose, right to her best angle! Out falls that blue Linker Core, and Hannah scowls. A snap of her fingers. Around the little gem, a tightly packed series of windy Shields forms around it! Unlike her defensive ones, these seem far more active.

Kunzite calls out. Miss White is...kind of listening. She knows Kunzite enough by now to get the gist, amidst the extreme pillar of violence coming her way in distinctly Jupiter-like form.

"SH...SHUT UP YOU OVER-HAIRSTYLED BEANPOLE!" Howls back Miss White in annoyance. That /definitely/ helps distract her, but her magic flares up with her anger. And amidst it all, there's that vaguely Witch-like feeling of despair and pure unfocused wrath that comes with it. There's the sound of glass breaking from within Hannah all the more.

And then Miss White meets fist-with-fist to Jupiter. This time, it's a good, straight punch. Even as her eyes screw with pain, even as her Device forces magic to keep her heart pumping at below critical levels, her stubborn resolve only grows in the face of such opposition.

"I WILL BE THIS WORLD'S KING!"

The fist that meets the electric corona of Jupiter is her false one. Knuckles blacken and fall away to pure metal that sparks and quivers as the pair strike as one! Alleyway walls, and a small tornado of impact winds burst out from the two! In the middle of the air, two perfect punches meet, one full of Justice, another of Ambition!

Miss White lets out a scream, and multiple little chutes open up from her arm. There's the sound of a jet, and then suddenly she's crashing her fist towards Jupiter like a fighter plane intending to crash land right into a ship! And with just as little self preservation!

Hit or miss, the impact makes Hannah's entire Barrier shudder with the amount of magic she's forcing herself to throw around. And yet, impossibly, she stumbles and remains on her feet. She pulled her punch at the last second.

Only for that magic to flow into her fists, now clutching handfuls of spinning coins. They're flicked out the group, each one a golden bullet flying out, hard and fast, a miniature railgun-shot each! Kunzite and and Tuxedo in particular get the brunt of the machinegun-like strikes, but the wild things also get flicked towards Sky Jack! The walls now have multiple coins embedded in them.

~Back With Hyalite and Amu~

There's the sound of screeching tires as two limos pull up. White-masked youma step out, looking like white suited mobsters. Six of the things start firing with magical tommy guns at both magical girls! Looks like White called in backup!

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amulet Heart was hauling the people and... wait, mobsters? Why were they-- ACK! She was not equipped for this! "Okay, so, ummm, new plan. If I draw them off, can you get them while I distract them?"

She then materialized TWO heart rods and sent them flying out, trying to knock away their guns and allow the two a moment's reprieve. Go go magical boomerangs!

Of course, after that she tried to leap up and over them, to land onthecar they'd come in. "Hey! You! Your outfits look like they belong in the fake mobster movie of some decently well done movie about kids setting up traps for burglers!" Before leaping back behind the car.

Kunzite has posed:
Amu and Hyalite and the victims went that way. Kunzite can hear tires screeching -- and worse -- but he has an immediate problem that prevents him from going to the pair's rescue: namely, flying coins. A rain of them. The shield Kunzite had maintained over the unconscious snaps out of existence; a new one rises as Hannah's power is focused in their direction. It's much smaller, barely able to contain the two, and indeed Kunzite bends his head to minimize the distance it needs to go up, making it as compact as he can --

-- because absorbing kinetic energy is hard, and there are a lot of those things.

Coins ring against the pavement in a circle around the pair; Kunzite turns to cover Tuxedo Kamen and himself with his cape, a further layer of protection as the shield is ground down. A few penetrate, though at rather reduced speed -- a scattering around their feet.

Hannah gets one of her wishes, at least. He's too busy, for the moment, to say anything.

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack throws his hands up as Miss White questions why they haven't killed her yet. "Because we're not going to kill you! You're not a bad person at heart, you just have this damn dumb idea that you can do evil, rotten things to other people for whatever reasons and then say 'but I did it for the good of everybody!' You're not gonna get good results from that sort of thing! And you're far from the only person who's been torn apart from the people they love! You're the only one I've seen out here who's trying to kill people over it!"

Jack sees those tears in her eyes and continues. "Nobody expects you to give up or abandon anybody! But how you're going about this is wrong! We won't give up on keeping you from doing this!" The rose goes flying past, snapping into White's barrier jacket and knocking the Linker Core loose.

When she blasts the jet-propelled punches towards Jupiter, Sky Jack rushes towards the two of them, which means the super-speed launched coins bash into chest and legs and arms, putting little bloody red whelks and slices and tears all over him. It's enough - he's had enough. But what's really enough is her scream. Filled with pain and anger, Sky Jack suddenly bursts into his own blast of speed towards her, screaming. "THERE'S ONE KING ON THIS PLANET AND HIS NAME IS PLATINUM ROYALE!"

Jack is not a puncher. He's not a big hitter. But one hand and arm comes up as Jack flashes past her, driving his pain and anger at the girl bare-handed, fueled by magic and emotion and damage, into her stomach and blowing past, suddenly aware of how numb his arm feels a moment after his hand goes white-hot in pain against her body.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I am not generally a fighter type." Hyalite points out to Amu's 'new plan' idea, although she's reaching for her sketchbook, flicking through it as she attempts to keep moving enough to not get shot. Moving targets are harder, right? Thank goodness she's not actually trying to /draw/ while she ducks and dodges.

The weapon that emerges is an old favourite, a beloved of Hyalite's really. A flame thrower. "You're gonna wanna keep away from this!" She calls out to Amu, just in case things are going to go asplody when Hyalite turns back on Roboyouma and tries to light them on fire.

Standing still to aim a flamethrower is not idea for doging being shot, however, no matter how much attempt at cover Naru attempted to find.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Fist to fist, strength to strength, ambition against justice - Sailor Jupiter bears against Hannah for all she's worth, each one of them for a moment half irresistible force and half immovable object. "Where's all your love for the people you're hurting?" she roars back, lips curling. "Who do you think will be happy in a world built on other people's pain? You can't--"

Maybe if she'd been a little less occupied with arguing, she could've done something to shield herself when that punch comes roaring in. As it is, it hits full force and Sailor Jupiter goes flying back in a tumult of wind, sending her crashing back all the way down to the bottom of the crater the two of them made not long previous.

Her breath hisses unevenly through her teeth. Hannah might've pulled that shot a bit at the last, but this time she's distinctly unsteady on her feet as she picks herself up, stiff and scraped and oozing blood here and there.

The wind kicks up, stirring the grit at the heart of the crater, whipping a few scattered petals around her and lashing her hair whildly around her face. The aura of lightning around her hasn't subsided - if anything it's grown, a mantle arcing over her shoulders like wings ready to unfold.

"You will never build a world without tears by trampling over other people!"

Gathering herself as Sky Jake makes his mad charge, Jupiter leaps, a powerful spring that carries her up out of the pit of broken concrete--

--up and then back down in a vortex of wind, sparks flying in all directions as she comes crashing down once again - not on Hannah this time but onto the shields she set around that blue linker core.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"YOU JUST SAID YOU SHOULDN'T BE IN CHARGE!!!" Tuxedo Kamen yells across the street in sheer exasperation. The damn linker core-- he freed it and she still took it. "Why do you have to TAKE when there are SO many people willing to GIVE?" His hand's tight in Kunzite's, and it's the only thing keeping him from doing so, so very many stupid things. That and Hannah's claim of future sovereignty -- she'll have to get in line ahead of at least three people he knows of. Or maybe whatever's mucking up her linker core will make her try to kill him again. He doesn't know and his temper's ratcheting up again.

And then there are coins like a hail of bullets--

--a moment of darkness and cape and the ringing sound of the coins falling to the pavement--

--and in that moment, stolen from a breath of time by virtue of his guardian's quick reprioritization, Mamoru Chiba lets go and crouches down behind the barriers and reaches to pick up one of the coins. His fraying temper snaps as he pauses there, half-crouched, gloved hand holding the coin and bare fingers touching the cracked concrete.

"Five yen," he says flatly.

As he speaks, he stands, and as he stands, he changes with a golden flash behind his eyes and a crackling line of light over his form. "Call Amulet Heart back." He hands the coin to Kunzite and steps from the white-haired man's aegis, other hand already raising in the air and starting to glow.

He watches the attacks, he listens to the arguments, he walks. He walks across the street, enclosed by the shield that Kunzite keeps on him, hand glowing brighter and brighter. All the while Jupiter is taking Hannah's attention, he focuses that fury into his palm as it builds, as all his frustration with Hannah every time she backslides or makes another STUPID decision cascades in on itself, fuelled further by his proximity to her and the waves of emotional turmoil she exudes. Yet-- there is no black despair laced through that gold, damping the glow of his power.

He gets to the mouth of the alley as Jupiter jumps up, and before she even starts coming down, the voice of the Crown Prince of Earth speaks quietly, furiously, its embers banked.

"You can't cut it that easily."

And then it rings out in an audible tower of wrath. "TUXEDO LA SMOKING BOMBER!!"

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
~Amu and Naru~

Amu is a leaping, flying, flipping athletic young woman! These cheap youma don't have the accuracy to hit such a moving target! Two of the youma have their guns go flying, and then scramble for them!

There's still four more pouring fire towards Hyalite! She whips out her flamethrower, and starts spewing liquid burning justice! But fire ruins most of the bullets, only leaving a few to strike at the newly minted member of the Earth Court.

And then the rest of her flame descends, right on car and youma both. There's no screams. Just slowly melting roboyouma. Then the cars have flame meet their gas tanks.

KABOOM!

Suddenly both Amu and Hyalite will have burning, sharp bits of car-like shrapnel coming their way. Two tires, all alight, rush for Amu! Hyalite has entire flaming, melting engine block heading for her direction!

~Alleyway~

"...You should care a little more about yourself, Kunzite." Mutters Hannah as she senses him protecting the /ANNOYING/ prince beside him. It's, oddly, said with both the highest of fury, and highest of love. God bless you Kunzite. Even when Hannah wants to punch you hard.

"LIKE ANYBODY'S GOING TO GET 'GOOD' RESULTS!" Howls Hannah amidst it all! Sky Jack rushes, lashes out! A hard punch towards her abs, and her muscles compress! She's send skidding back, feet and legs tearing up ground as she's forced to use a final burst of magic to halt her progress. There's a horrible bruise where Sky Jack struck! The wind is forced out of her lungs, and she has to suck in a shallow one!

Miss White also has the abs of a dedicated gym-nut. Poor Sky jack just punched the fleshy magical equivalent of steel.

Her gaze narrows to mere slits. Fury bubbles up anew! "Are..are you really that NAIEVE!? I wish you were right. But there's no such thing as a world that isn't built on blood, sweat, and tears! Better for people like you to not take on that burden!" Might-makes-right, self martyring jerk, is this Hannah, or at least in her own screwd up head! Perhaps Makoto might get a peek into just what a long term project a certain Prince is working on!

And then the petal-winged angel rushes for her! She takes up a solid stance, and lets Jupiter /come/! It's then that Raging Tempest realizes the angle, and alerts her Master!

Miss White leaps to the side, right in the way, and both hands cross to take the brunt of the wind-lighting blow! Vicious winds and power slams into her body, driving her back towards the ground...only for wind to whip up around her! The twin forces once more clash, then she's driven down again! It seems Miss White is losing!

"Wind Chains!"

A dozen, then a dozen more chains spring up at the last second. Most of them wrap around Jupiter, halting much of her momentum, even as her sparks and wind slashes against Miss White. But most importantly, MIss White is held in place by one wrist, flapping in the wind, as a single foot kicks up that shielded Linker Core. Half of her suit is ruined, she's dressed in tatters, and she's sucking in horrible breaths. Just as she shoves that Core into her suit's breast?

A single free foot pushes all of her remaining power into a single kick. She spits out blood from her mouth, the pure exertion causing yet another vital vessel to burst from her LInker Core's abuse. But she doesn't hold back, as she kicks a tornado straight into Makoto's chest, aiming to send her flying towards the trio currently fighting her. She needs a distraction.

After all, she just got one thing out of this mess.

"You...you really don't get it, do you? If I have any less than the best...brilliant, lucky people like you...I won't survive! Not at this rate! I...damnit! I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE YOU JERK! Not everyone's born with something amazing like you!"

Spits out Hannah. Just before that brilliant light flares. She knows it, even, anticipates it. She's grinning. Drawing what little strength she has left, as her chain on her own wrist is ripped apart and she's sent flying, she snaps her fingers. A violent, flowing portal begins to gather behind her. It's slow, even cumbersome perhaps compared to what Kunzite once wielded. But it's accurate. Also utterly unrelenting as it starts to draw Miss White towards it.

And then, that light descends, amidst Miss White laughing the laugh of someone desperate and in pain. The impact makes the wall she's slammed into smash into little bits, and her eyes once more roll back into her head. What's left is a howl of determination, of stubborn pride as she barely holds her fake arm against it. Light and smoke obscures everything.

And then, as it clears, there's a single metal arm raised. All of her false flesh pulled away, her body battered to the street, Miss White holds barely onto consciousness. Eyes bleed. Breath is ragged, and painful.

"Not....going....TO DIE!" She offers, before the last of her magic starts to suck her in properly. A blue sphere falls into the portal as she's drawn inwards. Barely conscious, suffering, her blind gaze turns to those gathered.

"Curse...this world. I don't...I love...all of you.." Whump!

Naru Osaka has posed:
The flamethrower /is/ very effective. Hyalite's always been pleased with how effective her flamethrower really is. There are also moments when it's possibly just a teeny bit /too/ effective. Those moments would be when it manages to not just melt Roboyouma, but also explode a car.

Not part of the Plan.

Getting shot was not on Hyalite's bucket list, but apparently she gets to add that before she crosses it of, the streaks of red blending in well with the streaks of colour in her white dress. Still, even with the addition of bullets, as she watches that fireball emerge from the vehicle, she has just barely enough wherewithall to throw herself backwards, trying to outrun an explosion into some sort of cover. Because /that/ always works well.

Amu Hinamori has posed:
Amulet Heart let out a shriek and lifted up two pom poms, making her shield. What it dies is make the burning hot and fire balls and METAL DEATH raining down against her... mostly stop. Sure, a little leaks through, leaving a few cuts on her side, arms and legs. But, eventually, the blast stops. Leaving an unconscious Hyalite, hurt and wounded, no!

She walks through the rubble, groaning, then picks the girl up and starts heading back towards them. "Err, Prince?" she'd call out. "I've got a patient for you!" She might need a little bit, too.

Kunzite has posed:
Going and fetching Amu -- no. There's not enough time. Literally calling, though -- "AMULET!" No telling whether she can hear that at this distance. No telling whether she can hear anything after the gunfire and the explosion. But Kunzite's shout is designed to pull Zoisite's attention back from burning everything across a battlefield. It's got as good a chance as most.

He does not shout that way at Hannah. No. "You can always choose," he snarls toward her, and the shadows around him dissipate as he lifts the coin Mamoru handed him. "Stop making your choices out of fear."

That bit of gold is held at his forehead, just at the point that parallels where the green gem in Jupiter's tiara lies. And the coin gleams, sudden, as brightly as that gem might; and then moonlight floods out, full and bright, banishing shadows where it touches.

(Makoto has seen this once before.)

Kukai Souma has posed:
Sky Jack finds himself leaning up against the wall in a quiet spot, trying not to scream at the way his arm and shoulder feels. Punching steel - hell, punching magically enhanced steel while leaning out of a Ferrari trying to redline itself was more like it. He gasps, blowing and sucking his breath, wanting to reply to the collapsing Miss White but unable to come up with proper words. At the least he wasn't dead and hopefully he'll heal fast. Still, though. Ow. All he wants to do at the moment is try to recover. Never mind the bleeding spots all over him from the coins...

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Kunzite lets go a surprise attack, and the prince's eyes light up in sudden shock and the faintly hysterical threat of laughter. He stares. He stares and then--

Endymion lets his arm drop. She's halfway out the door, as it were, and he doesn't want to kill her, even if ohmygod he's gonna kill her later. And his fury's spent, having fuelled the outburst of power that didn't even knock her out after Jupiter took her to pieces (and she thinks she's not powerful!) His fury's gone, and he doesn't have the energy to figure out how he feels about Kunzite mimicking Usagi with her stored attack.

Mamoru only feels drained. Tired of this. So very, very tired of this. How many times does he have to remind himself he won't give up on her? Does he still believe in her, or is it now just dogged pride?

He just looks at her, eyes the dark blue of the ocean fixed on hers with, for the moment, a helpless sorrow.

"I'll get it back," he says quietly, swallowed by the rest of the noise, and then turns his back on the alley and--

Prince! I've got a patient for you!

--Endymion turns, cape swirling around him as it catches up to his motion, and he sees Amulet Heart carrying Naru. His eyes close for a second, and then he vanishes from the spot, sails high through the air, and lands noiselessly on the rubble just ahead of the Chara Bearer, holding his arms out. "Got her. Send anyone else who's hurt to the frat house and I'll get to them next."

Hyalite received, the boy closes his eyes again, and--

--space shivers a little, unsettled in the wake of teleportation.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter has no further arguments to make - or rather, she might have, but just at the moment she's a little busy.

Because that was a lot of force to suddenly be brought up short by a mass of tangling magical chains, an awful lot of electrical charge with nowhere safe to ground itself--

--also that is a tornado hitting her square in the chest.

She goes flying with a terrific WHOOM, hurtling through the air. She manages just barely enough presence of mind to catch at the wind, not enough to wholly control her wild tumble, just enough to redirect it so that she doesn't go crashing into any of the others.

Instead she hits ground with a not insubstantial thud, bouncing once and rolling several times until she catches up against something solid enough to stop her.

She's still conscious, and much more intact than anybody really has a right to be all things considered. She's not in a tearing hurry to get back up again, though, not after a very brief effort to lift her head proves that Hannah is already gone.

She'll just... stay here a second. And smolder a little.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Electricity sparks along her body, Jupiter's powerful blows leaving Hannah a twitching mess. Her barrier jacket's tattered, and arm at a horrible angle. One hand is at her ribs. She's a simple heap of a body leaned against a wall.

Light fills her senses as Kunzite raises that coin high, and beautiful light spills. When it ends, her body sizzles. There's the smell of black smoke. Her Linker Core writhes in darkness, and there's a scream from Hannah.

She's silent aside from pain and lingering anger in her gaze. Desperation, fear, pain. It's the look of a wild, scared animal backed into a corner. Hungry and desperate.

"You all...you! I...I'll...."

Her gasping words are cut off as the teleport ends, winds whisking her off to safety just as she groans and utterly passes out.