World Tree MUSH

    Amberdome is a large city, but the name is a little bit of a misnomer. It is technically many small domes, interconnected with walkways and shuttles, floating in the upper Venusian atmosphere. Not every building is even under a dome, as the domes themselves are relatively expensive to maintain and keep transparent, with the constant maintenance of the protective film outside of them. The corrosive clouds are brutal to the unprotected machinery and lethal to humans, so this is pretty expected.

    This hasn't stopped even the miserly government from setting up several domes in each floating city. The sight of the clouds, illuminated by filtered sunlight from the layers above or by colored lighting rimming the city, is an oft-fascinating sight to both tourists and scientists alike. Many 'decks' are under one dome or another, usually with portions of the city enclosed as well.

    For this reason, most of the city bans personal transport aside from bicycles or the like, relying on public transport. The typical futuristic 'flying car' is very rare. Rare... but not unknown. Safeties and licenses are required, so once in a while one passes overhead the Watchway Court, where we find ourselves today. It is a popular destination because it is near the recently-formed Vine that has attached to Venus, and people from other worlds are filtering in - while some desperate who were stranded on Venus are trying to get out - because it's uncertain if it's a stable, long-term presence here. The Watchway Court, a two-level plaza that looks out into the swirling, violent clouds, is thus packed pretty full...

    When screams announce something else is happening. A low-flying car, altitude-limited to only two meters off the ground, zips through and crashes into the ground. It skids right for the edge of the top level, and its trajectory will carry it directly through a knot of people and into the edge of the dome at high speed if it isn't stopped. Behind, several other cars are chasing it, for their own reasons.

>> SUMMARY[Athena] >> It's a peaceful day. OH HEY A CAR IS HEADING FOR THE LIFE SUPPORT! Action?!

    "My, my, my. What a fascinating world. A fascinating world." Merlin is, quite bizarrely to the planet, standing on top of one of the domes rather than inside it and poking it with his staff. He is not human, so that is hardly of concern to him the lethality of the clouds on the average life, "To think that mankind one day reached beyond the stars. And to think it resists Venus so violently on her own homeworld. I do wonder what became of her Type. Or perhaps it never existed on this world. As ever, what mankind cannot tame with its own hands, it merely uses technology to beat into submission. Truly fascinating." 

    "Technology is so wonderous." He ponders to himself as he walks atop the Venusian dome of Amberdome, pondering it as he looks up at the 'sky', "To think. If humans could live so protected from the outside in domes like these. What would you have done with your Kingdom, Arthur? Ah, I would have liked to see that. I would have so liked to see that." 

    Of course, there's a commotion going on inside, so Merlin takes more note of that. As the car moves out of control, Merlin calmly turns spiritual and drops through the top of the dome with a flicker, eventually landing on the ground as he watches the thing, "So tragic! So strange! Perhaps a hero will appear to prevent this looming disaster." He cries, trying his best to portray perhaps a dramatic mirror to the shocked crowd.

>> SUMMARY[Merlin] >> Merlin was walking around on top of the dome up until Stuff started happening. He drops down through it to stand amidst the crowd and see if a hero will appear.

    Navi had spent so much time trying to figure out where she was and trying to get back - not to mention distracted by all the weirdness of the multiverse - that she hadn't really realize the opportunities it might offer. That changed when the air sprite caught wind of... erm, something. No one seemed to talk about exactly what it was, but it sounded important, or valuable, or powerful. Interesting, in a word.
    ...And Navi spent most of her short time in this new world regretting it. The smells, the air, the claustrophobic domes and tight passageways, the lights and all the people. But she doesn't have to walk among them - she stays incorporeal, invisible to those not equipped to see the insubstantial. Drifting, unsure of what she's looking for.
    A flying carriage, chased by others and out of control? Maybe that's it. Maybe. One with the air currents, Navi follows behind and then channels the aether - trying to generate a very local microburst on the car. Aside from summoning the downdraft, Navi remains aloof and insubstantial. Time to observe.

>> SUMMARY[Navi] >> Microburst on the lead car; waiting to see outcome.

Sightseeing!, a good reason to visit a unique place like this, and the main reason for Luke to be on this place. He was not planning to be around for too long, he was keeping his pokemon stashed to avoid causing trouble, and they didn't like it for too long!. Still, he was working his way through the Court, wanting to buy some souvenirs, perhaps snacks, "this place is amazing... I am sure a lot of people back at home would love a dome like this... it's so futuristic." he muses. 
    When the conmotion happens, he is actually in the same level as the crashing car!. He watches, unsure what to do, before releasing one of his pokemon, a rather... round looking tiger emerging from the beam of red light. "Dynamo, help me disperse the people!". The pair struggle to push people out of the way, pushing them away from what he assumes might be the risk area.

>> SUMMARY[Luke Gray] >> Luke just calls one of his pokemon, and tries to help people out of the area, or at least make them react so they leave rather than stare and oggle.

    Three more figures are part of the chase, but not driving cars. Two are dressed like knights, wearing what appears to be half-plate over ringmail in shades of white, grey and black, including full helmets that conceal their faces. Their weapons are massive cavalry lances, gleaming red with magitek - hooked onto the leading car by bright red streaks of light, as if... rocket spear grappling hooks? Maybe they're more like levitating speeder bikes. It's hard to tell. Bottom line is, they're chasing the car on huge lances

    The third is a woman in black and red, standing on one of the tailing cars instead of rocketing along with the other two. In one hand the Stoss Spear, red lights streaking across the black and red lance to indicate it's powered on. Aranea brings a hand to her ear, or against her helmet more like.

    "Wind's picking up around the car. Hook onto something else and get ready to pincer. Driver's life is secondary."

    The two soldiers' spears retract their red lines from the lead car, and engines burst to life on the rear of the weapons, carrying them towards the lead car while avoiding the sudden blast of wind.

    Tortured metal screeching is loud in the cramped confines, and there are only a few places people can flee to. The screams are panicked of course... and thankfully, there are a few things keeping people from getting outright run over. The surge of wind forces the car down harder, and in the panic nobody is yet noticing the fact that weather isn't supposed to happen inside the dome. This gives Dynamo a few more precious fractions of a second to scramble some of the pedestrians and civilians out of the way, minimizing casualties. A few people still get clipped by the car, but there are no red smears on the ground, which is a bit plus, isn't it?

    The car screeches to a halt... not quite in time, though. Not enough was done to keep it from slamming into the dome, so the dome's protective safeties are engaged. A shaped explosive blasts the oncoming car, flipping it over and back, making the troops Aranea headed for it need to dodge. By this point the area is mostly clear of anyone though, thankfully only doing... a lot more property damage and shorting out half the lights as the car crashes onto its back, in flames. Alarms start to sound, and the security forces are probably en route now, if they weren't already.

    Smoke erupts from the car now, and in the smoke, a shadowy figure bursts from within, making a beeline for the crowd heading for the nearest transit tunnel. Are they trying to get lost in the crowd during the panic?

    "Hm hm hm. This seems like an interesting chance for a story-teller to see a narrative yet unwritten. What mischief may be mingled and what happenings may be hastened. Or perhaps it is best to ask what stories may be woven with deft hand and the minimal nudging of fate," Merlin ponders to himself as he watches those taking interest in the car crash and muses the thought over in his mind. 

    Merlin's eyes glance between them all and then a gentle grin comes to his face, "Ah ha. This kingmaker spots the visage of a leader. This forger of heroes does spot the personage of one who is willing to make the calls most difficult in pursuit of their vision of the utopia. I believe I know the first act I will be taking in this unfolding story." 

    Merlin spins his spear a bit and then slams the bottom down firmly. There's a faint shimmer of light from him before several spheres dart out towards Aranea Highwind. They might seem threatening at first, but instead they provide her with a rather warm sensation and enhance her strongest actions. She feels stronger, bolder, and more powerful.

>> SUMMARY[Merlin] >> Buff the Lancer: Buster +50%, Max HP +3000, Crit Damage +100% . Welcome to the Buster Card meta, Aranea.

    The car flips and bounces. The two Niflheim spearmen trailing it make hard turns around it to avoid the crash, landing on the ground from their momentary flight. The magitek lances let off hisses of steam as they cool down, but that's enough for the driver to storm off.

    Aranea bends her knees, and makes a sudden jump from the roof of the car she'd been on, just as lights seemingly enhance her capabilities. She's surprised, but there's no time to show it. Her spear trails bright red light as she zips unnaturally in the air, before crashing straight down at the entrance of the tunnel. It'll probably scare and scatter the crowd, considering the impact she makes, shockwave and all. She didn't mean to do that. Merlin's to blame. When isn't he.

    She raises her spear, pointing it at the figure. "We're not turning this into a subway chase. Hand the suitcase over, you've got entirely too much attention and my way won't harm you." He might not look like he has it, but she's not going to assume something that important would be left in a car's wreckage.

    The two soldiers are lagging behind a bit, but they're starting to approach from the rear too.

    More pursuers, using different tools than seemed to be normal here. An explosion - it rattled Navi, but an upside to being difficult to perceive. A fleeing figure. That didn't seem to be carrying anything special. And then some sort of... weird interaction between the pursuers and some mage?
    Navi stays passive for the moment. Save to allow herself to drift closer to the figure and Aranea, ready to move at the right oppotunity.

Luke's attention is on the wounded and bystanders, keeping away from the wreckage, and offering help to get clipped people away from what might be a potential explosion. Dynamo seems to sense some was amiss, spotting the balls of light rushing towards Aranea, and watching as she lands quite loudly. That certainly is enough to get Luke's attention as well, but keeps quiet, instead turning to look to the running figure, motioning his pokemon to approach him, especially as strangers wielding weapons appear. He is not sure if they are police or 'bad guys', but better be safe. The big round tiger seems to be glowing as the light flickers, producing some light illumination whenever they fail.

    Athena is actually here as well, but this is more of a coincidence than any planning on her part. She has no idea what's going on with the case, either, but it seems like it's something that she should keep an eye on. She's also not THAT concerned with the crowd, but seeing Luke and his Pokemon concentrating on saving them does give her some thought. She gestures, trying to help guide the civilians before moving toward the pokemon trainer. "Interesting what your priority was there."

    For the time being it looks like Athena is staying out of this, and the others are going to have their showdown. So many are just eying the situation to see what happens, and one of the other factions in the chase are hurriedly disgorging a half-dozen armed men with rifles, though their leader is motioning for them to hang back. They look well-trained, but the Dragoon and her men are obviously a cut above, and it would be a difficult if not impossible fight if they were to make it an open conflict.

    Meanwhile... the answer to Aranea is a few shots from some kind of crackling energy weapon. It looks to be laser-based though, so the smoke bomb itself actually hurts its accuracy, the shots going wide before the man stumbles out, nearer to the subway but uncertain now, since his escape route would take him through trouble. "No..."

    Clearing smoke reveals a haggard, partly-armored man with a battered briefcase strapped to his chest. He turns to face as many as possible, holding his gun up in front of him. A cybernetic eye looks to be... infected or something, with lines of purple spreading out from the eye and into his skin. With a crazed look he tries to cover everyone visible. "Keep it safe. Keep it safe. Keep it safe."

    This was not the dangerous, calculating enemy Aranea was told about, and those not in the know can tell he's crazed and feverish, probably sick in some way. Even the other faction hesitates... not that they're afraid of killing them, but there are some murmurs and a whisper of a 'Basilisk Hack.'

    "Wonderful, wonderful. She is quite the valiant warrior. And the two focused on saving human lives are telling their own tale." Merlin muses to himself. He waves his hand a bit and the staff he was carrying vanishes as he pulls the hood up over his head and then meanders through the crowd boredly. 

    The wizard boredly flicks his hands a bit as he moves. He can see Aranea squaring off with the unhinged man. It may be safer, or at least more interesting, to see that the briefcase changes hands to someone less erratic and more fascinating. So Merlin is weaving his illusions. 

    Only audible to the armored man with the briefcase, a gentle and soothing voice echoes in his ear, balming his anxiety, "It~ is~ safe~. She is an ally~. Give her the object~." Merlin is curious what is in the briefcase himself. But perhaps more curious to see what happens if someone who might use it interestingly gets it.

>> SUMMARY[Merlin] >> Using illusions on briefcase guy.

    Still not the right opportunity. Patience is not one of Navi's greatest virtues, but she nonetheless doesn't rush in to attack... whatever THAT thing is. Others might feel the air currents shift again, but much more subtly compared to the earlier spell. The incorporeal Navi simply tries to carry those whispers and murmurs to herself, listening for any further hints on what a "basilisk hack" could be - or anything else of interest.

Luke Gray tries to keep his attention between Aranea, the soldiers, and the weird figure that seems the target of all this mayhem. He finishes helping a civilian up, and making sure it can walk away, before focusing on Athena, rubbing the back of his head, "It was the only thing I would do... I don't think my pokemon might be able to stop a car, at least without hurting themselves, or the person in the vehicle." he says, "What's going on?" he asks softly. The laser shots get his pokemon spooked, growling loudly as it begins to spark for a moment, quite a bit of electricity building up there, the big cat glancing back and forth between the man and the target of those shots, jagged tail twitching. "Who... what is going on with that man?" he asks, even as Dynamo moves to stand between the apparently crazed, gun totting person and Luke, it doesn't seem to consider Athena a threat.

    On one hand, the man is suddenly surrounded by quite a few people, including what appears to be a battle pet. On the other hand there's a sudden smoke bomb and laser fire, so Aranea utilizes the ancestral skill all dragoons possess.

    She stays in the red zone because if she moves he can go for the tunnel. That means taking a few shots, dampened as they are by a briefly visible red field around her, armor and skin scorching in places. When the smoke clears, she looks at the man, momentarily confused. The intel was wrong.

    And that eye is fucked.

    Luckily, she's from a world with cybernetics. With magitek. And she excels at dealing with it due to her disdain for those particular soldiers.

    Her spear charges up, and bolts of lightning ripple out. Unlike the others, happy to talk and hope things resolve peacefully, she presses for action. The Thundaga "spell" lashes out as the spear is thrust forward, straight for the figure. It's not magic, people can tell, it's some kind of emulation, tainted by darkness, but it's lightning all the same and it'll do the same thing.

    Specifically, she's looking to short the man's cybernetics out without killing him. Lightning damage and machines, you know? She just assumes the principle carries across worlds.

    On the flipside the attack might knock others away too, there's only so much she can do to help with that. No telling if a dose of lightning to the face will help or worsen attempts to mess with his mind, either.

>> GAME >> Aranea Highwind spends an Edge for: Powering up Stoss Spear/Soulless Hammer Perks.

    Athena steps in front of Luke to make sure nothing is going to blast him. The kid seems pretty decent, a budding hero, so she'll look out for him. Even if he already has a lightning creature to do... similar. That's got her curious, right up until she hears what's going on. "A Basilisk Hack... someone is altering his perceptions. He could see everyone as monsters, maybe doesn't even know where he is. Someone is rewiring his brain. I thought they were just stories though... I've never actually seen one done."

    Merlin tries an illusion. It's a good illusion! It just hasn't factored in two things: One being that Aranea decides to leap forward and attack! The other is that he sees everyone as monsters, so immediately assumes a trick because he's seriously not in his right mind. It isn't totally ineffective though! The man looks confused, his pistol waving around dangerously but it's enough. He's hesitating. He's also not really all that strong-willed, for someone protecting something so important.

    "HOLD YOUR FIREE!" one of the others calls out, and motions for his men to take cover and ready weapons. That's just in time, because the lightning assault blast explodes the man's eye and hurls him back, sending him crashing into the remains of the car and sliding to the ground. He's twitching! Doesn't look like he's awake though.

    Opportunity. Time to go. Those not fixated on the encounter might suddenly notice a small-framed woman (in very out of time and place clothes) where there was none before, hurling at a dead sprint towards the basilisk guy before he's even come to rest. Shortsword in her left hand, Navi tries to cut free and grab the briefcase on her way past without losing momentum.

    Okay well making his eye explode wasn't quite what she wanted, but that too is Merlin's fault. She's not used to suddenly being... well, greater, however momentarily. She just hopes that didn't kill him, because that was the entire point of aiming for the cybernetics.

    Criticize her choice of employers all you want, Aranea's not one to murder pointlessly. And that's good, considering what Athena just revealed.

    "Figured it was something like that. Didn't look natural," the dragoon says, lowering her spear and picking up the pace towards the car and its currently seemingly incapacitated owner.

    "I'm getting paid a lot for that thing, but nobody said he had to die for me to get it. Nothing says I have to fight you lot, eit-- DAMNIT!"

    Well, almost nothing.
    A sprinting woman does.

    Aranea's spear twirls and points forward. Red light gushes out like lightning and flames, rocketing the dragoon towards the downed man and Navi. She's not sure she can beat her to the prize, but she sure can come in second place speartip-first. No qualms about rocket-stabbing someone in the back, apparently.

Luke:tries to look around Athena, just to keep an eye on the situation, seems confident the weird lighting tiger might keep him safe. His attention is drawn to the explanation, "That sounds terrible." he might actually have an idea of reference, soem stories of some evil pokemon doing such things, but that only makes it just spookier. "Hack? so he is part machine?". He asks that just as Aranea does that lighting 'spell', his eyes opening wide and looking back at the caster, "Didn't know there were people able to do things like that." he says, only afterwards turning to face the now clearly wounded/twitching person. 
    Meanwhile, Dynamo seems confused by the thunder attack, but unlike Luke, it focuses on the 'target' still, perking ears as the small woman charges at the twitching attacker, seems itching to charge ahead, maybe just instincts to join on the charge, but Luke gives not such command, he is just still kind of awestruck at Aranea to react in time to stop, or aid her really, and Dynamo's priority is still Luke.

    "Ah, well. I suppose that is another way to take care of it!" Merlin muses to himself, letting out a light-hearted laugh as Aranea just blasts the man while he was casting spells, "What an interesting situation that this is shaping up to be. I suppose I shall continue to aid her!" 

    "Oi! Brave female knight! If I continue to help you, do promise me that you will turn this into quite the interesting tale!" He calls to Aranea before flipping his hands again. This spellcast is a bit more visible than his earlier Illusion. This because Aranea actually seems to split apart into three separate Araneas, all of them attacking from different directions and making a different run at the briefcase. 

    It's meant to confuse the others and give her a bit of an upper hand.

>> SUMMARY[Merlin] >> Using illusions to create extra Araneas to confuse the situation and give the dragoon a bit of help.

    So Navi is darting for the briefcase, while Aranea is too. Athena isn't sure what this is about, but she's walking - WALKING - toward the bearer and the wreckage. Or, she starts to, but decides to keep near Luke. "There shouldn't be. I mean, there are, but it's so rare..."

    The reason Athena halts is because all the other soldiers are rising up and readying weapons. "HOLD IT!" one calls, while sirens are drawing closer. "We're taking that now! We have you surrounded!" And they sort of do. With energy weapons, no less. A bullet through the dome would be bad. They're obviously in a hurry though, so anything that disrupts them will mess it up. Athena isn't taking sides though, even if she suspects keeping the briefcase away from EVERYONE would be a good idea. She's not going to act on a suspicion though.

    It's not like there's anyone else to resist either Navi nor Aranea going for the briefcase though. Both of them can reach it in time to figure out who gets it between themselves. One thing is very very obvious though! It's latched shut, but it does not appear to be locked. Nor even /have/ a lock. Anyone can just open it up if they wanted.

    Aranea has specific instructions NOT to open it though.

    Three of them now? Navi wishes she could close her eyes. Technically she could - but she really needed every sense she could draw on. Unless - something about those others - no wake coming from them. Realizing she's not going to necessarily get there first anyways, aborts her plan to cut the case free for now and she does close her eyes for just an instant. Her longsword slides out of its sheathe and moves to parry the real Aranea's attack - turning what could have been a disastrous strike into a glancing hit instead.
    There's something odd about Navi's 'blood.' Instead of spilling and soaking her clothes, it spreads like a miasma and quickly turns transparent and disappates. The wound doesn't make the woman hesitate in her counterstrike - Navi tries to use Aranea's attack against her - to bring the shortsword in under the dragoon's guard, a slash further driven with the cutting force of a gale.

    Time is in short supply, and so Aranea can't address the people talking to her with the length she'd normally not mind - she can't explain to Luke her spear's doing the heavy lifting, she's just good with it - and her response to Merlin is rushed in the confusion of it all.

    "That's up to the people who want this thing, not me!"

    Which is the truth. She's not planning to open it, or really, do anything with it. Her job's just to get the object of so much desire from its current owner(s) to one particular subset of future owners. Whether they make this "interesting" or not isn't in her control. She'd vadly prefer if they didn't use it to murder millions of people, but a job's a job.

    If they go and misuse the toy, she can always turn on them. It's no skin off her back.

    The spear is deflected, informing Aranea that this isn't a human opponent. It's not unlike daemons, then, who turn into black miasma when wounded.

    The sword coming in meets some kind of resistance - there's a dimly visible red field around the dragoon as the blade reaches for her, the sensation not unlike trying to slash through syrup. It's not enough to turn the sword aside, and it clips her exposed hip, drawing regular old human blood.

    "Why'd you have to go and make this complicated? That thing's probably not even safe to carry around."

    Definitely wasn't for the current owner.

    Aranea's charge hasn't stopped - she's choosing to ignore Navi and not counterattack. She's trying to streak to the downed man, yank him, and then shoot straight up as far she can go, assisted by the constant magitek hum of her rocket spear. She can patch her wounds up, but she can't patch a lost objective quite that easily. Better to be injured than lose focus.

    "Ha HA! Fair enough, you lovely and powerful knight of the skies~." Merlin croons to Aranea, charmingly running a hand through his hair underneath the hood, "But I have meddled enough for one day. Perhaps now I will withdraw and see to this another day." He muses as he sort of fades out of being visible, transferring his existence to a more spiritual form as he vanishes from the crowd.

Luke keeps near Athena, she seems to know what is going on. She might notice that for whatever reason, he is not shocked at the multiple image trick, at best, surprised that she (or someone) pulled it off, glancing around for a moment. Still, his experience on battling puts his attention on the clash, "Should we... do something?... is that suitcase something bad?" he asks, hesitant. He certainly hears the soldiers, and reaches to make sure Dynamo does not get too nervous, "Dynamo, wait." he says, while the thunder creature growls, ears splayed, staring at the confrontation with interest, looking like it might spring to action in an instant.

    Athena is frowning. "It probably is bad, but I don't know who for, so I'm staying out of this. I suggest we take cover," she points out. She could stay and fight, but why? There's no glory in this battle, especially not the way it's shaping up. "Get down, everyone!"

    Because the men around the courtyard are firing, blasting at Aranea and Navi and anyone else in the way, just as they warned. They're trying to spare the case though... and as those two are near the case, they will likely have a good chance to dodge or dive for cover. Or, in Aranea's case, rocket up toward the dome. Where she's going from there is anyone's guess, but it has caught them by surprise as an unexpected avenue.

    Athena calls out, "Security will be here in a minute! We'd better be gone!"

    Now it's Navi's turn to play catch up. She chases after Aranea, but doesn't try to move in close for another strike. The fire from the other men forces her to focus on dodging and ducking behind cover, slowing her even more. She takes but a moment to press her lips together in frustation as she nearly tubles from a blow from one of the energy rifles. But she's not down yet.
    So when Aranea grabs the downed figure, Navi swings the longer of her blades again, glowing as it channels a spell. This time, she sends a cutting blade of air towards the courier, winds kicking up in the wake of the spell. Once more, trying to cut the case free - though it might cut through a lot more - and with a little luck, perhaps leaving Aranea alone in her ascent.

    Gunshots. Everything's worse now. Aranea can't afford to dodge lest she go offcourse. That shield around her is weakening from the sustained and constant strikes, too. Her armor's holding, at least, being more than just steel, but that doesn't stop energy shots from heating her up and burning skin under the metal.

    Then to make things worse, Navi turns out to be a very mean businesswoman, being more than willing to potentially kill the courier for his prize.

    Aranea spins, and exposes her back to Navi instead as she picks the man up and heads upward. The blade digs in hard, causing the dragoon the stop heading up and streak to crash onto the closest, highest surface she can reach. Some roof, probably, or maybe even the roof of a flying vehicle.

    Lucky for her, that landing won't harm her - shock absorbers basically line her armor up. And as long as she lands on her back and holds the man tightly, it won't hurt him either.

    Well... the LANDING won't. Landing on her gaping open blade-related wound sure will, but it's a small price to pay.

    Aranea's riled up, although honestly, more about the fact Navi didn't answer her than about the wound. Fighting's business, but being a jerk is just rude!

    "HOLD FIRE!" The command comes because the group shooting doesn't want to hit the case... but it opens them up to fire from Athena, who has apparently recognized the faction and decided THOSE are not a good group to let have the case. Whatever is in it, probably better to NOT have them have it. This leaves matters up to the ones in the sky now, who get to fight over the... surprisingly light briefcase and the unconscious man.

    Like, really, this thing is very light and rattles a little. It's like someone stuck a hockey puck in a briefcase and just left it there.

    Navi stays in cover. Watching Aranea's maneuvers in the sky and eyes following her landing. Considering the words Athena said earlier. Security... the city guard in other words. She's not too hurt to fight but... to fight, and win against that, *and* deal with the city's forces and whoever else what hunting for this case? That didn't look as good.
    Navi lets out a long breath of frustration through her teeth. She tries to stay out of the sightlines of Athena - probably unsure of the gunwoman is just as hostile or not - instead fading away to her ethereal form once more and choosing to retreat. Maybe there would be another chance later.

    Respite, finally.

    Aranea eventually crawls back up, using her spear as a support. She swipes the suitcase off the man, leaving him there - he's not wounded enough, she reckons, that doing so would threaten his life. He'll probably wake up in some time, missing one eye, pissed, but able to limp to... wherever. Hospital, safehouse, whatever he calls a home.

    As for her, she's going to wait for her ride to pick her up somewhere else. She's in no state to go jumping around recklessly, especially knowing she has her two most reliable men in the vicinity to help her off the floor.

    That thing had better be worth the pain. Then again, money usually is.