soul_logs | Phase 3: Mission 153

Entry tags:

Phase 3: Mission 153

Characters: Grand Canyon mission goers, victims, medics
Location: Grand Canyon
Rating: R
Time: Feb 5, 2009, mission starts at dawn
Description: Event links list.

The scouts had done their jobs well and the mirror deposits its travelers just at the end of the area Shibusen has closed off as their mission target. It's still dawn, the sun barely visible over the horizon. The witches hasn't noticed them there yet, the scouts say, so it's still possible to take them by surprise.

This is what the agents are told: In the rock face of the Grand Canyon is a cavern system made up of many small caves and three large ones. The large caves contain a kishin egg pit, the kidnapped agents and civilians, and what appears to be a machine at one end. There are about five dozen zombies crawling the area, and an equal number of ants, spiders, and ravens on top of it.

Worst of all, the scouts report that they had sighted a few of the agents patrolling for the Witches. The scouts hadn't been certain if these ones had soul perception or other abilities, and had given the area as much space as they could in order to avoid an early confrontation. Still, it's bad news and it looks like a fight with some of the kidnappees themselves is inevitable.

Not much time is given to the agents after the briefing before they're being ushered into place. A few scouts are going to be causing a commotion some distance away to distract the familiars and zombies, clearing a path for the agents. After that, it's all up to them.

[ooc: Just put up your own threads with the subject line [Characters][Feeding Cave/MMM Cave/Kishin Egg Pit/Elsewhere][Open/Close]
Kidnappees can go thread in the caves while waiting for the rescuers, too.
For those who want to thread with a witch, please add it in the subject line so we know where to go!
This day change will be one week irl.
The mirror will stay open for anyone who needs to be rushed back to the medics.
For those handwaving, please put your summaries here for the meister points and soul tally record.]

Threaded | Flat

When she had been told that many agents would be going, Teresa had been uncomfortable with the idea. She was a warrior who had always worked alone, and the idea that there would be 'allies' fighting close by was disconcerting. Certainly she had seen other warriors of the Organization fight together against Awakened Beings, but she had always been strong enough to take them by herself. This concept of fighting with other was novel to her.

Still, standing at the edge of a pit full of Kishin Eggs was easier than fighting back-to-back with another agent. She set her foot forward on the upraised edge and looked down at the weak creatures that had obviously made some sort of meal out of some of those taken. She supposed that she should feel sad for their deaths, but she didn't. The most she could do was avenge them.

She glanced to the broadsword in her hand, lifting it slightly so that Yuuri could also see the scope of their target. She knew that he was far more sensitive to the reality of death and what had been done here, but she felt no need to shelter him from it either. She simply supported him and offered a silent sort of guidance.

"Our orders are to destroy the pit and anything in it. Shall we go now, or do you wish to wait for others," she asked simply, her silver eyes shifting back to the Kishin Eggs hissing and making their way towards the wall she stood by.

Staring at the various caves and aware of what they were going up against, Cloud realized how much he disliked running around in the cramped confines of caves. He had done it so many times in the past, but his Buster Sword had seemed far more manageable. The length of the Masamune made him far more intimidating, but he wasn't able to do wide slashes that made him look impressive.

He and Sephiroth were initially charged with heading into and clearing out some of the smaller caves. He had no problem with that, given how well they worked together now, but it would be a pain maneuvering in such tight quarters. He just hoped that whoever was coming in behind them would stay clear of seven feet just to be safe.

He settled the humming Masamune across his shoulders and waited for the signal to move in. While his eyes were moving around the area, most of his attention was on the presence of his Weapon on his shoulders. 'If you need a break, you have to tell me, alright? I know you won't, but you should anyway.'

With agents coming over from Europe to guard Shibusen and Death City, Sarah had allowed herself to be deployed with the rest of the troop. She had tracked down Tassadar, aware that he would go and demanded that they team up for this mission. She wasn't about to let the big alien out of her sight for awhile, even if that meant that he was stuck listening to her bitching and glaring at him far too often.

Because they weren't actual partners in the agent sense, they had been assigned to killing anything that got in the way of other agents. Apparently that included zombies, the familiars of the witches and any low level kishin egg that was around. She was fine with that; destruction of enemy troops was something she was very good at.

She sat on Tassadar's shoulder, settled easily even on his golden armour as she surveyed the area of each cave with her enhancing goggles. She knew he could smell the enemy, but she prided herself in being able to see it, and it wouldn't do for them to be rushing blind into a swarm situation. The zerg had been bad enough, but at least with the zerg she could generally sense them.

Pushing her goggles to settle on the top of her head, she uncrossed her legs but allowed them to dangle from Tassadar's shoulder. "Most agents are in the larger caves for the Kishin Eggs. There are zombies, spiders, ants and some kind of snake like creature moving around. We should take to a cave you're not going to have to crouch over in."

[Cybele hadn't cared about the humans who had been taken. The first opportunity she had, the Witch had delved into the depths of their hideout to search out any of her sisters. Most of them has escaped during the confusion of the attack, but she could taste that there was still one here, one she would make beg for mercy, and the thought excited the Witch.

That was why, when the rescuers caught up to where Cybele was, they might have noticed the wide-toothy grin on her face.]

Cowards! Too afraid to face me?

[ooc: hopefully it was okay to start it! I'm happy with action spam/prose - whatever you guys want. Cybele won't remain around for long unless there is either a few Kishin Eggs or a Witch around, so I'm not sure what you all have planned? PM this journal or give me the heads up here, thanks!]

Having slipped away from Ed for a moment to find where Ran Fan might be, Ling crept through the darkness of the cave. Soundlessly, he stuck to the shadows, his Watch-issued sword out and at the ready. It was so dry in here, and dusty. He could hear the sounds of people moving about-- perhaps guards?

Maybe if he caught one, he could extract some information. Well, one of them was coming right now. He ducked behind a rock outcropping, hiding himself completely in the darkness, and waited for them to pass so that he could jump out and grab them.

[After his fight with Takuto and reuniting with Ed, Ling crept forward with Ed into the cave where they'd determined Ran Fan was supposed to be. The prince was filled with a cold fury that was held back for the moment. Heaven help anyone who'd laid a hand on Ran Fan, or harmed a hair of her head. He'd end them all today.]

Edward. This is the place she's supposed to be. Down this passage.

Watch yourself. There are probably booby-traps.

Edited 2012-03-28 00:30 (UTC)

[Aqua had been getting steadily more bored the longer she was here. Nothing happened and that was a problem because she was mostly relegated to patrol duty.

Outwardly, she didn't seem that much different than before her capture. Except she was still smiling even though by now it was obvious this place was under attack. Since when had she smiled like that in the middle of a battle?]

[After she was sure she'd gotten away from Katsura and Gintoki she stopped running, turning around to frown at the direction she'd come from.]

I'm definitely not going back. [She murmured, more to herself than anything.]

They had arrived together. Everything had gone according to plan, transportation-wise. Bakura and Vash as a pair, and Light and L associated, but always keeping an arm's length between them. The two certainly seemed to know each other, they even looked right together, in a strange way... but they still stepped carefully, as if expecting the other man to pull a dagger at any second.

L wore a thick winter scarf around his neck on the mission. Everyone present either knew why, or was too polite to ask.

The more experienced fighters were Bakura and Vash, beyond a doubt. The Meister/Weapon pair walked ahead, with Light and L bringing up the rear. L would never admit it out loud, but Light was right; the two of them really weren't cut out for combat situations. The encroaching zombies and rearing kishin eggs put them so far out of their element that L was hard-pressed just to catch his breath, much less use everything he'd learned in his sparse training sessions.

When a Kishin Egg attacked, he was especially aware of his ineptness. He was here for words, diplomacy and persuasion, not this gaping, dripping maw with a vibrating aura making something quiver and shrink in his own chest. They ate souls, they would eat his soul, if they could... and Light's, too, he realized, and what good was Light without a soul? It was absurd.

He got ready to push the younger man out of the way, deciding that his handcuffs would be more effective than anything Light would be able to pull together.

But Bakura was already moving in front of both of them, standing beside Vash.

"Both of you, find cover! We'll handle this one, just get away from here!"

[It took L a moment to unfreeze, to realize that he was supposed to run after he'd braced himself for a fight he didn't actually know how to win. Light actually shattered the momentary paralysis by seizing his arm, yanking him away, running down a deserted passage. The only sounds were their breath and their shoes against the dusty canyon ground.

It was pitch-black. There was no point of reference; they'd run away from the battle with the Kishin, but what they'd run to was a question that L would have liked answered. He took a moment to lean against the cavern wall, laying a hand against his thin, aching chest and catching his breath. "Light... it's not good for us to be so far from the others... we should..."

He had the sinking suspicion that no one was hearing his words. His hand shot out, feeling for his companion, his Weapon, his partner, his mortal enemy.

His eyes adjusted, gradually, as well as his ears. He was able to pick a path towards a dim red glow and distant sounds of voices, flames and metal at the end of this particular tunnel; he wasn't quite certain if it was back toward Vash and Bakura. He and Light had taken a few turns, he thought... there had been a part of the tunnel that had curved to the left, and then a sharp right turn, and then two lefts...

His eyes widened when he reached the source of the light and sound. He seemed to have found a huge chamber, full of Kishin eggs and prisoners.

Near and Mello were both present... and now, more than ever, they looked to be on opposite sides.

Edited 2012-03-28 02:49 (UTC)

Everything had started going wrong so quickly... The first attack had come far too quickly after they'd entered the caves, and while Bakura and Vash had been easily able to take care of it, somehow Ryuzaki and Light had vanished in the time it had taken to battle, leaving Bakura and Vash with the daunting task of finding the Weapon pair in an unknown and highly dangerous area.

Finally, after what felt like far too long, Bakura spotted a familiar figure through Vash's eyes-- almost at the same time as a kishin egg.

With a warning yell, Vash dashed in, Bakura's attack barreling outward to try and reach the egg before it reached Light.

Gai wasn't ever supposed to be the one who needed this much rescuing. He was supposed to be standing by Kakashi's side through the entire battle; they were supposed to be each other's shoulder to lean on for the walk back home. It was supposed be both of them captured, or neither of them. Maybe Kakashi; never Gai.

That was the beauty of this rivalry--he could trust Gai not to die out there.

Or he could back home. Kakashi had really screwed up this time. The spider had gotten the better of him. Now he just had to trust Gai to not die before they could rescue him. He kept telling himself he would train harder, but hadn't done enough yet. This time, if there was another chance, he would. He would make sure he didn't lose Gai so easily, if at all.

Kakashi hadn't trained with another Weapon either. He wasn't a superstitious man, but part of him sort of believed that if he acquired a back-up weapon, Gai could be taken from him anytime. So he had no back-up Weapon to go into this mission, only his standard shuriken and katana. He wouldn't tell the girls this, but he was thankful Santana and Tenten had decided to come along. Even though he wasn't all that familiar with the pair's fighting style, he certainly couldn't handle a giant spider or something similar on his own.

Standing at the upper opening to a large pit of Kishin Eggs, he scanned the area for any sign of Gai. "Eyes open, watch for attacks from all sides. Our objective is to get Gai and get out. Understood?" That single-minded objective was practical...he hoped. Kakashi hoped he wasn't breaking down into a tactical idiot just because his idiot was missing. He wasn't going to lose another teammate...he wasn't. "Stay close."

There seemed to be no end to the Kishin Eggs. Yuuri was doing what he could to protect Teresa from any harm, but it seemed that whenever they took one down, two would take their place. How long would this go on for? There had to be an end to the Kishin Eggs soon, right?

That was what he hoped, but the young Maou wasn't entirely certain of that... No! They would fight through all of this and destroy this pit so that no one else could be harmed here!

[ooc: did we want to go a Yuuri -> Clare or Eve -> Clare or Eve - Teresa order? Also, prose or action is fine by me!]

[Kei gasped as he walked behind ryuuji, the tunnel had become narrower. The turns and the high amount of encounters they unluckily gotten on the way there had made it hard for Kei to track their location, so he had delivered that task to Sasame.

He should had come better prepared. Why had he been this hasty... He shouldn't have taken the mission this lightly.

He then notices that the tunnel was growing larger again... had they arrived?]

Sasame, can you identify where we are in the map? [He voices, placing his hand on ryuuji's shoulder and as they arrive to the MMM cave. He stood on his side, observing the location which they had arrived.]

How are you holding? [He asks]

Hisoka was patrolling, which was boring. He'd much rather be watching and/or listening to the pathetic cries of the unfortunates being fed to the kishin eggs.

As he rounded a series of rocks closer to one of the cave mouths, he spied an enemy scout sniffing around. After a glance in his direction, the scout had quickly slid away. Hisoka grinned to himself. It seemed the enemy had finally decided to make a move. Keeping to the shadows of the rocks, Hisoka tailed the scout. As a hunter, it was an easy task. The scout was good, but he was better.

When he started to hear sounds of talking and movement, he headed up the rock face instead to get a better view from higher above. People were generally stupid, and tended not to look up. From his shadowed vantage point, he watched the enemy break into groups and start heading into the caves.

He grinned. It would be unlikely that the witches hadn't realised they were here by now. Moving back down to flat ground, he noticed some of the enemy heading in his direction. The scout had probably told them about him.

Hisoka stepped out into the open while they were still a fair distance away, crossed his arms and waited. Playtime was about to start.

Thinking ahead wasn't really a strong point of Allen's. He had spent the last several years taking basic orders from people, and making it up from there. It wasn't until right before arriving in the city that he had decided to only take orders from himself, but he found him falling back into the same old routine in Death City. It wasn't really a pleasing thought, though luckily at the moment what he wanted and what Shibusen wanted happened to be the same thing: save the kidnapped.

When he had first signed himself up, the exorcist hadn't even bothered to think about partnerships or any of that. It was easier to go by himself-- safer too, since he wouldn't be constantly worried about keeping whoever he was with out of harms way. It wasn't until right before he stepped through the mirror and had a look through the crowd of people going in that he thought about what Roy had said about the meister/weapon combo being stronger than just a Weapon. It was too late for that now, and he didn't really know anyone well enough anyway, but he couldn't help wondering if he would be as useful without his antiakuma here. His left arm was disfigured as always, but it held no powers in this place.

Moving forward was all Allen knew how to do, and so he took several steps forward, making his way through the mirror without a moments hesitation.

[Those idiots from Shibusen had better think again if they think he'll just let them come running into the labyrinthine caves to destroy the device that has freed him and so many others. Because Takuto is looking forward to the coming battle. He's been too long without a proper fight, and he's never really been able--been free enough--to do the kinds of damage he's itching to do now.

Besides, reunions are so very touching, aren't they?]

"Well, this is an interesting change of scenery," Bayonetta scoffed as she surveyed their surroundings. Currently, it was just she and a man named Auron heading to the dungeons to rescue Hades. Re-l had other friends to save first, and so she decided that she and the man in red could work together for the moment. After all, Bayonetta was rather easy to work with, and Auron seemed like a reliable-enough man.

Despite that, Bayonetta still brought her own pair of guns to defend herself if ever the need arose. She looked over at Auron then.

"Any trouble coming up?"

Genesis surveyed their surroundings. He wasn't all that surprised. Most of these missions that had involved the witches were always in some kind of barren wasteland. Now, the goal of the game was to prioritize saving the taken hostages-- and the one Edgeworth had wanted to pursue was Raidou Kuzunoha. In truth, Genesis had no idea who the man was, so he had to rely on Edgeworth for that information.

For now, the priority was to make sure that they will be able to get through this alive. After all, he had Sakuya to return to in Death City. And he wanted this partnership to work.

Genesis approached the other man, clapping him on the shoulder with a red-gloved hand.

"Are you ready?"

Well, it was certainly noisy all of a sudden. Raidou was largely unconcerned with the ruckus, taking his time strolling through the cavern before finding an appropriate shadowed corner to wait in.

How many would rush into a battle, thinking they were doing the rescuees a favor by dragging them back to the trap that was Death City? Who would come for him, expecting the good old Raidou to go along with them without a word of protest?

Who knows, this might even get interesting.

Ryoki’s hand clutched his shoulder. It was hurting and while fighting he didn’t notice it, now that he had sometime to breathe, the pain told him he had gone too far. A hurt shoulder could made things incredibly hard when you use arms and hands to fight.

Still, he wasn’t going to stop. While the attack went on, Ryoki’s hunger for violence grew; he wanted to see it, he wanted to inflict pain and he wanted to kill someone. Still under the influence of MMM, that’s all it really mattered to him right now, and he was in it for that, even if his shoulder hurt like a bitch.

Who was next? All he wanted was someone to kill. Running through the MMM cave, he looked for that someone, breathing loud. And of course, excited. He was a sadist after all, killing someone was better than any orgasm he would ever feel.

[Kenshin has barely had two days to rest and heal, but there was never any question in his mind about going on the rescue mission, especially once he learned Megumi was missing. He's been numerous fights both under the black blood as well with as the numerous spiders and ants; but while he still hurts everywhere—he has to work to keep his breathing slow and steady as they make their way deeper into the caves—he's been able to bear it enough to get a quick discharge from the clinic, find Sanosuke, and sign them both up to rescue the captured.

He knows that he should have taken longer to rest, but the mission and the victims can't wait. They come first.]

Did you say whether you'd run into any of the "familiars" when they invaded?

[Despite his determination to act, however, Kenshin still knows that he needs to rely on Sanosuke as much as he can.]

It was with a weird sense of irony that Neji detected the Shibusen agents outside. He'd been the one to detect the Witch assault, after all, even if that was regrettable now. This wasn't as preemptive as that had been, but it would be enough to ensure that they weren't caught entirely off-guard.

The Jounin turned to his partner in patrol, almost pleased with the development. "The Shibusen 'reinforcements' made an appearance, after all."

Edited 2012-03-30 04:00 (UTC)

It hadn't been a particularly difficult fight, if he actually thought about it. The spider witch was still a bit young, all things considered. Strong, sure, and incredibly shrewd, but Stein and Spirit could handle Medusa on a bad day.

But Spirit had been so distracted, worried about everything going on inside the caves and outside around them and keeping a tight grip on Stein's sanity while he was at it. Spirit was the best, but he was also exhausted and maybe, just maybe, he might have overestimated his own ability to keep up with things. It was a good thing that Stein was as experienced as he was, or his partner would have gotten into more than a bit of trouble, but at least they'd dispatched that witch to take care of the other one with Tiger and his partner.

Heh, Spirit had good feelings about Tiger. He still remembered their talk about their daughters, and Maka always made Spirit feel warm and cheerful (when he wasn't remembering how much of a bad dad he was that it made him sadly depressed, anyway).

Speaking of that lizard Witch, Spirit remembered him from all the other missions, too. She'd been going after Shibusen for a while now. "Pity we didn't manage to keep her alive," Spirit mused, already in his weapon form as they surveyed the rest of how the mission was faring -- towards the tail end of the mission now, with their group's post here near the entrance to stop the things outside from getting in to reinforce the enemy inside. He ached all over.

Edited 2012-03-30 12:52 (UTC)

Ryoki’s hands had blood on them and his knuckles were bruised, but he couldn’t remember how they got like that. Had that been before or after the attack? Who exactly had he beaten up during his frenzy?

The bull didn’t care, but he’d love to remember because he was those would be beautiful memories. Still in his sadistic madness, the half bull walked through the cave hoping for something. Things were becoming harder because all of Shibusen’s dogs were there, trying to stop them and he couldn’t fight like this; not alone.

“Fuck damnit!” someone had to wield him. Now. If he wanted to kill them, he’d have to be wielded.

[Shion was somewhere else. Ever since Nezumi was taken his mind had slipped into a strange place full of icy rage and determination. One would almost not recognize the soft-hearted boy at that point, such was his focus on getting his friend back-

-and punishing whoever took him.

As such Shion kept trying to rush through, not scared at all of the horrors in their way]

Threaded | Flat

Page 1 of 2

[Teresa & Shibuya Yuuri][Kishin Egg Pit][Closed]

[Cloud Strife & Sephiroth][Outside the Caves][Closed]

[Sarah Kerrigan & Tassadar][Outside the large caves][Closed]

[Shizou/Magoichi/Chosokabe/Cybele] [Dungeon] [Closed]

[Ling, Takuto][MMM Cave][Close]

[Ling, Ed, Ran Fan][MMM Cave][Closed]

[Aqua, Katsura and Gintoki][somewhere inside the caves][Closed]