Symphony of Chaos: Act 1

[victoria]

Mana stood on top of an apartment building about five blocks away from the Omotesando Mall. It was a cloudy afternoon on a Saturday, and Britannians both old and young were doing their hustling and bustling in the mall and the surrounding areas, along with some Elevens who had no shame or pride left in their previous way of life.

Mana watched from the top of the apartment building, silently. She was wearing a perfect copy of a plague doctor complete with coat and hat, albeit a technologically advanced version of said outfit, with a mask equipped with visual technology similar to Zero’s mask, though it was her own original design based on what she believed was a better system. The mask itself was made of a light metal alloy, sturdy but easy to maneuver in. The outfit made her androgynous, which further allowed her anonymity. Her coat waved ominously in the cool November wind.
My overture is ignored... let’s make this second piece memorable...

During the length of the day five men had been placing incendiary devices in key locations of the mall’s main strip. These men were at the low-end of society... ironically, all of them Elevens. Three of them were janitors at the mall, two others were homeless. Mana had the homeless bathe, groom, and acquire proper clothing. It was odd, but at this moment, as she looked at her wrist watch, resting under her gloved hand, she could only remember Gauron’s words, money makes the world go round. Mana knew this, but she never stoop that low. She had use for money, but she didn’t covet it... mainly because she had a lot of money. A fortune divided into numerous accounts across the world, all under assumed names.

Each of the five men had been given a small fortune, with more money promised after the job was done. At first they had been hesitant to follow a masked figure, but money, well money can make a man dance circles around his own grave. These men also thought they were doing a good, an attack against the Britannian invaders.

Mana had gotten a bit ‘dirty’ in her overture... this time she returned to the more effective maestro position. She smiled under her mask as the time approached. Her mask zoomed in on the large ammount of people walking and shopping in the mall. Gluttony... such an ugly sin, so common of Britannians.

The time struck. 3:05 pm. Several incendiary devices went off, closing off all exits with walls of spreading flames. Mana’s smile widened under her mask, as an orchestra played in her earpiece. Chaos ensued as people ran, trying to find a way out, but failing. The second stage broke out, setting off several explosives with Black Knight cards, killing off a fragment of the mall patrons. Panic escalated. Mana laughed, her voice distorted horribly by the mask’s voice modulator, making her sound almost like a demonic monster rather than a woman.

The flames kept spreading, making the area of survival minimal. People started collapsing due to smoke inhalation. Others died trampled by their fellow victims. Others burned.

The five men arrived at the rooftop, all smiling as they saw Mana’s disguised figure... the only form they knew her by. Most thought she was a man under the disguise.
“We did it, it’s done!” one of them called out.
“No...” Mana said, her voice understandable but simply creepy and distorted, turning to the men, “This is only the beginning.”
The men nodded silently, “Now where’s the money?” one of them asked.
“Of course. I haven’t forgotten your payment.” Mana smiled, reaching into her coat, pulling out a silenced gun and quickly shooting each man once with one swing of her arm. She didn’t hit every man in a vital spot, but a bullet was a bullet... no matter where it hit, it was a stopping force.
She walked over to the men, shooting each one that remained alive in the head. She then tossed the gun aside, having no more use for it. The gun had been bought in the black market, so it was impossible to trace it back to her.

Mana heard the sirens, turning to look as the final stage of her orchestrated piece came to fruition. As the fire trucks came the last series of bombs went off, “Timely responses... so predictable...” she mused with a chuckle.
These final bombs finished off whatever remained of the shoppers, spreading another payload of Black Knight cards, and taking the lives of several fire fighters. Mana laughed hysterically, before breaking into a run and leaping towards the next building. She had planned all of this weeks ahead... even the parkour run that would take her through the most secluded area of the neighborhood.

[jonny]

Jonny enjoyed the rooftops in the tokyo settlement. Why? There was a lot of wind for one thing, but it was not the blow-you-off-the-ground type, more the light-summer's-breeze kind. It was refreshing, especially in the darker times ahead. He was also depressed right now, as his new spaz buddy had fell out of contact rather quickly. Of course, she had been a princess, so it was possible some things had come up. Maybe she was making preparations for her elder brother's wedding - the whole thing had to the biggest in rumour spreadings for years. Still, he looked down at the climb he had made. That had to be what, six, maybe seven stories? And yet it was easy when you weren't carrying someone in those expensive Britannian school chairs. At least, it was for him - being in top physical shape helped with that. He lay there, little bit of arable in his mouth, just enjoying the piece and quiet...
*BOOM*
Jonny bolted upright, to see the nearby mall up in flames. Cards had spread from the explosion, one landing near his feet. The symbol of the Black Knights emblazoned across it.
N-no way. Was this and attack by the Black Knights? It made sense since this was a Britannian held area, but all the innocents-!
He looked to the next building over when he heard the sound of someone's laugh. It was someone wearing what appeared to be a Plague Doctor's outfit. Jonny knew his history, and in the modern day, such a uniform would only be symbolic in nature. A plague doctor's job was to cure people of the plague through what could be considered unorthodox methods...
Unorthodox methods like simply killing the sufferers.
It was when the person with the outfit mentioned something of 'timely responses' as another explosion lit the sky above Tokyo, that Jonny really snapped. Such words indicated this person knew about those explosions and when they would go off, and how else would they know unless they were the one who set them? Combine that with the earlier imagery, and the culprit became obvious.
It was then that he realised that this person was heading straight for him, and he whipped out his phone, sent a premade text of 'bring frame' to his secret keeper of sorts, though he knew it would take at least five minutes for him to get there, probably more. So until then...
"You are not getting away." Jonny said as the person landed on the apartment rooftop, and went to strike at their legs, bring them to the ground, and remove that damned ugly mask - plus take of any weapons they might have. However, he may have to adapt that plan if they proved they weren't so bad at fighting back.

[Josef "Gauron" Totschläger]

Gauron was paid well by the Chinese Federation. He was paid very well. Well enough, in fact, to have an sparsely decorated top floor apartment in the heart of the Tokyo Settlement, very close to the Omotesando Mall. He was browsing the 'net, looking for any clues he could possibly find about the mysterious misanthropic woman from the Saitama Ghetto. A name would have helped his hunt immensely.

Whether or not she knew it, he had been giving her a sort of test. In all honesty, his true motives lay quite a distance from simply making money. And now he had a gift for the woman. Something of a present for passing the test; a spot on the winning team... his team.

"Where are you hiding?" he asked aloud. Seconds later, an explosion rocked the building. It wasn't in the building. That had a different feeling. This was a detonation from nearby. The best target in the vicinity was the mall across the street. With a great deal of joy, Gauron darted to the window, not unlike a child who thought he had heard the sound of reindeer hooves on the roof on Christmas Eve.

Sure enough, Omotesando was burning. Sirens were already echoing through the city. The Britannians were quickly getting back in the swing of things after having been effectively out of the game for the better part of a century. The emergency response teams arrived just a few moments before more explosions destroyed another fair portion of the mall.

Gauron could almost hear the screams of the victims and found it invigorating. A sudden, hearty laughter carried over the wind. It had a familiar timbre to it. He smiled maliciously. "Beautiful work, young artist. I knew we would meet again." He had to find her, had to offer the gift.

He quickly worked through what little he knew of her personality and preferences. She seemed to like places that gave elevated vantage points. She liked to look down on people - as was her right. The woman would be on a roof nearby. With a burst of speed, Gauron ran out of his room and to the stair well. The door at the top was locked, but the mechanism was no match for his pistol's rounds.

He stepped onto the rooftop, gun still drawn. A voice to the side drew his attention. It was a boy, just on the cusp of adulthood. The kid fidgeted with his phone before turning towards what his body language and voice indicated was a threat. Gauron began walking calmly toward the boy when a person in a bizarre costume landed on the roof. The costumed person moved in a way that he recognized. It's her, he thought as the boy attacked.

Gauron brought his pistol to bear and rushed forward. He stopped quite close to the boy. "You won't touch her!" he shouted in a voice that had stopped hardened criminals, jaded soldiers, and merciless savages dead in their tracks. It was the voice he used when he wanted people to know that he was not the sort of man anyone in their right, or wrong, mind should ever consider crossing.

[victoria]

"You're not getting away"
The voice came clear as day through Mana's short-range audio amplifier in her mask/helm. Still, the warning came too late, and the kick to her legs worked, making her trip as soon as she landed. Being an experienced parkour practitioner, however, she rolled on the floor as she fell, gaining some distance from her attacker with the momentum of her fall. She heard Gauron's booming voice as she stood up, her mask's sensors focusing on both faces, taking pictures of both automatically.

Mana quickly drew a tazer gun, aiming it at Jonny, though she was sure Gauron had the situation under control. She took a few steps closer, though still out of arms reach from Jonny, her voice distorted as she spoke, sounding like both a male and female talking in a demonic, distorted, but still clearly understandable unison, "You can't stop this, child. The plague on this land will be cleansed."
Mana's bird-like masked face turned to Gauron, his words finally registering in her head.

"You won't touch her!"

Her mask hid the shock in her cold eyes. She quickly silenced all emotion, though paranoia began to work it's mild ways in her brain. She returned to the matter at hand, "How galiant of you to help me this way, sir." she spoke, hiding the fact she knew who he was, "A supporter of the Black Knight movement, I suppose?" she lied expertly. Sure, she would claim to be a Black Knight, as long as it would support the idea that the attack was orchestrated by them.

Mana's head tilted as she looked down at Jonny. She pulled the trigger, the two small wired darts shooting towards his chest, as she sought to tazer him into absolute physical submission. Mana was many things, and one of them was thorough.

[jonny]

Jonny's initial strike seemed to have worked, as he hit the leg perfectly, though his opponent rolled out of the way with what looked like Parkour. He'd never learned it himself, though it would be interesting to see the results if he did. Still, it was far from being an offensive technique, so its not like to worry about it too mu-
"You can't stop this, child. The plague on this land will be cleansed."
"You know the clothes don't make you a doctor right? Maybe a degree or too might prove your arguement." Jonny quipped, though he raised an eyebrow as the figure drew a Tazer gun. Pretty cowardly move for a 'black knight' wasn't it? Especially given the design...
"You won't touch her!"
A voice came from the opposite direction, and there stood a man with a pistol, looking like someone who'd probably appreciate the blood shed earlier today, just great. It was a stern voice, probably meant to make a normal person stop in their tracks. Too bad, Jonny wasn't normal in the slightest. He noted the man's weapon, a pistol.
That made a few things tick in his head, things that made a lot of sense.
"How galiant of you to help me this way, sir." Galiant? That was a term generally associated with knights, sure, but it was also deeply associated with being well... chivalrous. And it seemed to him that noone in this damned country knew what that word meant.
"A supporter of the Black Knight movement, I suppose?" The way she spoke her words would've been a good lie, if it weren't already shattered earlier.
"Ha! Black Knight? It'd be hard to disbelieve if it weren't for 'scarface' over there. He obviously knows you 'Miss', and I'll let you in on a little secret - that pistol of his is a chinese make. Black Knights are far from being on the best terms with the CF right now. And that Tazer gun of yours isn't something you'd find on Penglai Island. I know a guy in the military, taught me a lot." He smiled, this woman may have thought herself smart, but she would do well to remember that there were other people who were smart in this world too.

Smart enough to wear a gauntlet around their belt, that is. He slipped the golden piece of his heritage on in one swift, fluid movement, and blocked the two electrified darts that headed towards his chest. A slight grin appeared across his face, the wind picking up as his hair waved like a fire with it.
"You'll have to do better than that."
And with those words, a Glasgow dropped down, the building clearly showing initial stress, but it would take the weight. Five minutes had gone by in a breeze, the silent sound of a transport helicopter leaving the area.
A good thing his secret keeper knew good positioning, cause from this angle, the guy with the pistol wouldn't be able to get in a good shot.
Jonny climbed into his machine faster than that cable would ever pull him up, the hatch closing behind him as he started it up. The factsphere expanded into life, taking in various aspects of the surrounding area, including the two people outside the machine, and their current status.
Jonny raised his Glagow's assault rifle, with it pointed towards the woman, whilst the main bulk - and subsequently its slash harken - was pointed towards the man with the chinese pistol.
"I say it again - You are not getting away."

[victoria]

Mana let out a faint chuckle at his words, "So you've got half a brain. How amusing. You're still a cockroach."
The tazer darts were blocked by what looked like a gold gauntlet. Surely the thing was insulated, given gold is one of the most conductive metals known to man. Mana was glad she had made this helmet... she was going to do a lot of research on this kid based off the picture the helmet took, and the video of all of this that it was still recording.

Mana had heard the approaching aircraft. She knew it was time to leave, and as much as she would love to see what Jonny's lungs look like out of his body... she knew it would have to wait for another day.
As the knightmare dropped Mana darted off to the edge of the rooftop, using the pipes and air conditioning units as cover. She wasn't just going to stand there as a machine was dropped into the field. Mana dropped two small bombs before jumping off the ledge. As she fell she slid down a drain pipe on the opposite building. This all happened in a rather tight alley, which offered plenty of cover, not to mention the time factor of the escape. By the time Jonny made it to the cockpit, Mana was already at street level. She activated the detonator to the bombs she had dropped. The explosion was strong enough to shake the building and make a good 8 feet diameter hole on the side of it. Mana hoped the roof would give in to the weight of the Glasgow because of the explosions, which would disrupt the structural integrity of the already strained roof. By the time Jonny pulled the factsphere, Mana was well out of range, having slid into the next building's basement. She made her way into the sewers from there, successfully putting tons of concrete, and a few hundred civilians [living in the buildings] between her and Jonny.

Parkour came in handy for these situations. It kept her mind sharp, and allowed her to escape in the blink of an eye doing stunts people with inhibitions wouldn't be able to even fathom. It was key to her escapes.
Mana thought back to Gauron, whom she had left behind. She remembered his files, "He'll be fine..." she thought.

She followed the maze of sewers, leaving the area.
[exit]

[Josef "Gauron" Totschläger]

"How galiant of you to help me this way, sir. A supporter of the Black Knight movement, I suppose?"[/b] So that was her game. Gauron was about to play along when the kid spoke up.

"Ha! Black Knight? It'd be hard to disbelieve if it weren't for 'scarface' over there. He obviously knows you 'Miss', and I'll let you in on a little secret - that pistol of his is a Chinese make. Black Knights are far from being on the best terms with the CF right now. And that Tazer gun of yours isn't something you'd find on Penglai Island. I know a guy in the military, taught me a lot."[/b] Gauron had to admit that the kid was good. There are some things, though, that intelligence just can't beat,[/i] he thought with a wicked grin. The kid would be more fun to kill than he had first figured on.

The Tazer barbs popped out of the gun in the woman's hand and headed directly for the kid's chest. With surprising speed, he brought up some sort of gauntlet and deflected them before mouthing off. Unfortunately, Gauron had been so caught up in the standoff that he hadn't noticed the noise of an aircraft approaching the roof until it had dropped its cargo: a Knightmare Frame.

The bulk of the Glasgow kept the brat covered from Gauron's fire, but that hardly stopped him. Rounds slammed into the mech, but had little more effect than scratching the paint here and there. The hatch closed and Gauron took careful aim at the Factsphere. As soon as it opened, he unloaded what was left of his magazine at the device. The Knightmare was an older model, and Gauron hoped that he would be able to damage it.

He dropped his gun and pulled a smoke grenade from within his coat. He pulled the pin and rolled it to the Glasgow's feet. If it had Thermal Imaging - which it probably did - the smoke would only be a momentary nuisance, but a moment is all Gauron needed. He sprinted over to the woman as white clouds filled the roof, but she was gone. He caught a glimpse of her disappearing off the roof. She was faster and more agile than he was, so following her wasn't a possibility. He would have to wait for another chance.

He loosed a curse before bolting for the door to the roof. In an open area, the Knightmare dominated the field. To follow Gauron inside, the kid would have to get out and pursue on foot. Against someone with Gauron's experience in battle, such a move would be suicide. The mercenary hoped that the kid wouldn't realize that particular fact until it was too late.

He had started down the stairs when a pair of explosions rocked the building. These were on the structure itself and would cause serious damage. He raced to his apartment and activated a purge on his computer. Within seconds, the hard drive was wiped clean and in the process of melting, leaving no chance of retrieving even a scrap of data. Another moment gave him the time he needed to gather several of his important possessions - disposable cellular phones, fake identification documents, several data sticks and external hard drives, and several smaller weapons - in a duffel bag.

He took to the stairs and was nearly half way down the building when he sent a signal from his phone. Several more charges within his now vacant apartment detonated and incinerated what was left. The remaining weapons would be destroyed along with any trace that he was there. He was a ghost.

He reached street level. He wasn't sure where he would go, but that was of no concern. Gauron's primary objective was leaving the area, and that is exactly what he did. He was impatient to make his offer, but that could, would, wait.
[EXIT]

[jonny]

Jonny cursed as he realised the woman was already gun when he went to point the assault rifle at her. Worse still, the guy with the much smaller gun had decided to shoot the factsphere. Though it didn't do much damage, it did screw the thermal imaging system - but luckily nothing else, like visual and audio. Inconvenient, as the guy through down a smoke grenade, and without the thermals, it'd be hard to follow his movements. Though if the guy moved, the audio sensors shou-
*BOOM*
An explosion rocked blew out the side of the building, and Jonny knew - however annoying it may be - that with a blast of that shaking up the structure, if he stayed there, the weight of the Glasgow would probably bring the building collapsing to the ground. He shot the slash harken into one of the sturdier pieces of material, before having his Glasgow drive slowly off the edge. It didn't long before he reached ground level, probably shocking any innocent bystanders who saw. However he drove off towards the mall since he knew they'd need some help digging out corpses and the like. That and with it being a Britannian model, it wouldn't scare people like a Burai would considering what had been marked across those fliers. Plus the police would be asking who did and all...
Well, at least the factsphere had caught that guy with the pistol on data, whoever they were, they couldn't stay hidden for long...

[EXIT]

[Sylvana Li Britannia]

Topic Complete!

Mana I. Monblanc: (1504 Words, Normal RP) 150 Exp, 150 Credits
Jonny Doberski: (1309 Words, Normal RP) 131 Exp, 131 Credits
Josef "Gauron" Totschläger: (1184 Words, Normal RP) 118 Exp, 118 Credits

Credits and Experience have been added.