Final Five

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It hadn't taken long at all for the creature to learn that this exchange was not one it could win at. It was fairly amusing to watch the beast "sulk" as it collapsed into an indistinct form and settled for the occasional growl or hiss. What was also somewhat entertaining were Amoix's attempts to antagonize the creature with the occasional lobbed sponge. Each of the three landed, albeit she did have a fairly large target, and only served to irritate the creature. Yet a single thrum of power from him was enough to curb the formation of any tendrils or the like.

"It's not that bad," he said, trying to defend the team's driver, and it really wasn't. There would have been a lot more eldritch monsters for everyone to deal with if this mess was enough to draw the attention of some otherworldly/dimensional creature. "Someone should really screen his purchases before they're let into our residence though..."

Eventually, a response came and from Amoix's reaction it seemed more of an annoyance than some disaster really. Turns out, as she hung up and relayed the findings, it was basically exactly that. A bit overkill for a prank, but also somewhat hilarious if the creature was designed to be non-lethal; killing those inside the home was generally more than what could be considered inciting chaos. Given how Amoix had nearly fallen into the creature's clutches he figured his amusement would not be appreciated.

"Don't suppose she knows of a way to move the little beasty to a new residence?" The shocked look, that quickly changed into a glare, he got from Amoix told Ling about all he needed to know about what she thought the idea. "Right, right, just joking. I'll try to keep damage to a minimum." A few small arrow-like projectiles appeared around him and with a regretful sigh he launched them with a flick of his wrist. The fuel tank remained undamaged, but the rest of the bike was literally shredded to pieces as his magic tore through the bike's frame and the creature that hugged it.
 
The participation of Tian and Runa still did not make Iphigenia budge from her position in the crowd. Nonetheless, she cheered them on too; she'd be a bitch to not cheer on her teammates. She didn't have all too much confidence in Kyouko's survival abilities, although it looked like if anything, Tian would survive the challenge with his brutishly tanky endurance. The food brought out before them looked almost appetizing; it was an innocuous looking classic Japanese curry dish. Iphie wouldn't have expected it to be dangerous had the three not signed a legally binding contract absolving the establishment of any wrongdoing if they incurred injury or death from eating their spicy cuisine.

Without further ceremony, the three began to eat. Immediately, began to turn red and keeled over, dead for all Iphie knew. Clearly receiving her comeuppance from entering in so arrogantly, she slow clapped as a team of cutely dressed waitresses hurried the unconscious body of the teenager away. Runa dropped out after miraculously surviving a second round, and Tian shouldered on to finish an impressive four rounds of the hellishly hot substance. This was so spectacular that the crowd has been stunned into silence and one of the staff even fainted, and after the contest had ended, one of them stayed, as if the contest had given her PTSD.

Curious, Iphie briefly stepped up to one of the plates and dabbed the slightest drop of curry with her index finger and placed it in her mouth. Struggling to keep herself from gagging, she returned to group, clearly impressed with Tian's achievement. "Good show," she complemented. "I can see why you two get banned from everywhere," she added, with a sly smile. She then turned away in a coughing fit.

Soon enough, they were all reunited, with a revived Kyouko joining them for the meal. She looked barely capable of even walking around, let alone eating and seeing though, so Iphie gave her pity pats, mainly for her own selfish enjoyment.

Not long after the contest died down down, the atmosphere and flow of people in the buffet shifted, prompting Iphigenia to turn her head towards the source of the disruption. Raising an eyebrow, she watched as a familiar looking trio of girls made a dramatic entrance, ingressing between two columns of employees as if they were high-born royalty. Patrons gasped; Iphie sighed. The three were being discrete and subtle as they always were. The trio that entered was the Thremont sisters, of Heavyware, Corp. fame. Their family were the owners of the largest military-industrial corporation in the world. They made super-weapons, and lots of it. Iphigenia wasn't in the military weapons business, but she was quite familiar with their lineup. While she was more involved in the software side of her holdings, she was fairly sure she supplied components for some of their products.

"Making a grand entrance as usual, I see," she commented to nobody in particular, before actively turning to her three companions. "They're the three sisters from the Thremont family. I wonder why they're here."

She knew them personally. They were the same age as Iphie, and she'd met several times throughout her childhood up until now. The three were not close acquaintances, but she still knew their personalities well; they were not the friendliest of girls. The trio had horrid personalities and to her, were textbook cases of affluenza. Her personal interactions with them weren't too bad though, either because she was an equal or as a matter of professional relations. In all honesty, she would probably be the same as them if she lacked the discretion and filters that had become her trademarks. Hell, if things had turned out differently and she was born into their military-industrial complex family and not energy, semiconductors, and bloody ice cream, she could very well have been on the other side of the Final Five. Funny how those things worked.

Distasteful as their flashy arrival was, it would be in poor form to not say hello to them. With a wry face, she suggested introducing them to the girls after the Final Four had dinner. After all, she wasn't about to interrupt their meal, let alone her own.
 
Runa happily took her meal ticket and joined up with the others. This way, they even had one for the spooky shadow-guy! ..Who wasn't present. Did he even eat? Well, whatever, more free food is more free food. "Man...I'm not sure how much I can actually eat now," she complained to he rest of the party present. "That was a bit of an ordeal." Her tone was fairly whiny, but otherwise, she didn't seem to bothered, beyond possibly ruining her dinner, by already eating a spicy dinner. "I guess as long as the free meal's good for a while, I can just come back another day if I need to." And with that decision, she was back in high spirits.

"I don't intend to do that again. Spicy food can be nice, but even that has limits." Really, what even was the appeal of putting yourself through that sort of thing on a regular basis? She didn't get it. "Did you see how they reacted to Tian, though?" She elbowed him in the arm all friendly-like. "And he says I'm the one who's inhuman."

The sudden silence and unusual pomp and circumstance turned her head toward the entrance of the three sisters. She had no clue who they were, but they must be important to get that kind of treatment. "I haven't heard of that family," Runa said to Iphigenia. "I'm guessing they must be pretty damn important somehow, to get people to act that way. Though...that did seem a little excessive." She thought for a few moments, and then added an obvious answer to the question of why anyone would be at a restaurant. "Aren't they just here to eat dinner?"
 
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Uwah, was it that surprising? Now that Tian-Gui could properly look around him, he realized that he was probably just imagining all the cheering. One of the Hell's Cutes had fainted, while everyone else was staring at him as if he was some sort of monster. Well then…huh…

"Don't worry about it," Tian-Gui said, thumping his chest, "Something like this is less than a flesh wound. I'm fine. Everything's alright! And yeah, I'm basically sharing it with my friends, so if you may…"

"And Runa, please," he laughed, "Anyone can get used to the Curry Nova with some training. Now Lotte's cooking, that's the sort of poison that I wouldn't expect anyone to withstand! Think that when Black Star tried to analyze it, his OS restarted!"

Before the tickets could be exchanged, though, it appeared that something else was happening in the background. Tian-Gui turned to face the commotion, and, through a combination of his sharp eyes and towering height, the Asian man watched as a trio, one of them strikingly similar to a model that he had seen all too often on billboards, was escorted to a seat in the Hindeburg Buffet. Reserved spots, huh? That was pretty smart of them. He wasn't quite sure what all the hubbub was about, not until Iphie dropped the name of 'Thremont'. So they were the daughters of the CEO of Heavyware Corporations? That weapons giant? Well…Hindenburg Buffet WAS a pretty famous place, so it probably isn't much of a surprise, huh?

"Introduce ourselves why?" Tian-Gui asked, upon Iphie's suggestion, "I can understand that it'd be useful if they got some sort of mecha armor for Ling to sit in, but…huh, actually, Iphie, do you know if they deal with those telepathic communication devices at all? Been thinking, but it might be useful if there was a way for us to communicate without speaking in future missions. Thoughts?"

He received the four tickets from the dragon-girl as he waited for her response. Iphie was pretty smart, after all, and it would be nice to see the thoughts of a newbie on this.

 
Amoix cowered even further behind the doorframe as Ling launched a volley of arcane projectiles at the bike, shattering it to pieces and dispersing a number of sharp metallic objects around Ling's room. Hopefully he wore shoes in his room. The runes on the bike glowed hot for a brief moment, prompting the creature to squeal in pain as the bike burst into flames. The room was intact as the creature was burnt to ash, but Amoix rushed for a fire hydrant as if their lives depended on it. At the time only the bike itself had caught on fire; the carpet was untouched.

She generously applied foam with the hydrant to the bike, drowning it in bubbles and silencing the meager flame. "Well then," she said, looking over her work. She laid the hydrant on the ground beside her before turning to Ling. "Job well done. I'll be having a stern talk with the Russian next time I get my hands on him. It'll be around his throat!" she proclaimed almost joyfully. The French maid mumbled words of annoyance as she stepped out of the room, likely going to fetch a different set of cleaning supplies.

Nary a moment went by before further disruption plagued the penthouse. The sound of breaking glass rang out, and Ling could hear the follow-up of Amoix's groans of despair down the hall. It didn't, however, sound like a mere accident... especially when the sound of the penthouse door being kicked down followed close behind. Amoix yelped then, and ran back to Ling.

"I-intruders? Did Tian forget the key?" she whispered. Ling could make out the sounds of heavy footsteps at the entrance of the penthouse, and the telltale sign of broken glass being stepped on in the lounge. At least ten individuals, he counted from mere sound alone.
 
If he had eyes Ling might have closed them as he clasped his hands together and offered a prayer for the creature that went up in flames with the destroyed artifact. Why? Probably because of failure with the runes or something along those lines. A pity it had to be destroyed, but Amoix seemed unwilling to accept any other option. He reopened his awareness to the world just to watch the caretaker smother the flames with an extinguisher, and resume her task of cleaning out the dirty room. He himself planned to return to his own and hibernate again with hopefully no interruptions this time around.

Both of their decisions unfortunately were put on hold as sharp cracks, identifiable as breaking glass, filled the penthouse. A grumble of annoyance from Ling and groan of despair from Amoix later and he decided that he was annoyed. While he would have loved to simple float out a window and raze the damn penthouse to deal with these intruders, the others would probably be more than a bit annoyed along with the support staff. Amoix also had no easy method of escape so that idea was right out. "I don't think they cared too much for the lock… Hide as best as you can. Try to call the others," he whispered to her before he let the Coffin pieces fall away to the ground slowly and silently.

Unbound by the physical shackle, he was free to bleed into the ventilation system and race towards the penthouse's entrance. From behind the grates he looked down at those that had decided to invade his "home" for whatever reason. "Wow… how generic," he muttered quietly as he observed the faceless goons that had been tasked with this job. Literally they had the same black suits, sunglasses, ties, and pistols in hand. They didn't look bad, and had he been a normal individual Ling certainly would have given the group a wide berth. As he was though? Not the slightest bit intimidated by the run-of-the-mill criminal organization, evil business corporation, etc. minions.

Like some demonic entity, he surged out from the ventilation system and smothered the five that were below him, obscuring them from view. He could feel them panic, and one exceptionally quick-fingered goon even managed to squeeze off a shot. Not that it did any good and a moment later, azure flashes lit up the inside of the dark cloud, like lightning strikes but without the thunder. He noted the numerous minions that approached from the hall and might have scratched his head if he were in a more humanoid form. As it was though, their rounds simply put small holes in the intangible cloud that was his body as they opened fire. "Could have killed your own buddies there," he chided before he surged upwards and back into the ventilation system and left the five unconscious goons sprawled on the floor.

While he would have loved to simply rush through the hallway and shock every single one of the bastards until they saw stars, the loud noise from the lounge was enough to warrant a bit of caution. He didn't think there was any weaponry that be man-carried and harm him while like this, but there seemed to be something quite larger than a person already in the penthouse. He would have to go investigate that before anything else.
 
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Huh. Iphigenia was surprised that Runa hadn't heard of them at all. Even if they were not the most well-known celebrities, one of them was still a model. It was either that or her own status made her more familiar with other wealthy individuals than a regular educated person. "Sorry, I'll rephrase that. Their family's claim to fame is being behind Heavyware Corporation, just like how I am with Standard Electric and Shanhu Semiconductor. They're way more in the public eye than I am, though." She shrugged, more irritated that they were hogging all the attention of the wait staff and not allowing the four to eat.

"I suppose we should be doing that too, no?"

With a bit of her own effort and a smattering of elbow grease, Iphie and the others had a table shortly after. Finally being able to relax, she answered Tian's questions as she opened up a leather-bound menu, in true turn of the century style. "I was being courteous," she explained. Honestly, it was just a matter of formalities. She didn't particularly want to introduce anybody to anyone right now herself. She was, though, more surprised they didn't want to meet some reasonably influential people. "If you guys don't want to, it's alright. I was just going to say hello."

As it was, Iphie wasn't a very spice tolerant person, even if there was a pervasive presence of Indian cuisine in the streets of London. It was for that reason she sat out of the contest, and was thankful she did. Browsing the buffet's selection, she found herself looking over the more mild options, before settling on picking up a healthy plate of barbeque wings and the more tolerable pan-seared Cajun salmon special. Closing the menu, she looked up once again at Tian. "Actually, I was thinking something similar," she agreed, recalling the underground kerfuffle where the hostile being seemed to understand their spoken language. "I'm not intimately familiar with their military offerings, but Shanhu 'Semi does make the telecomm chips," continued Iphie, referring to her business. She made a slight frown before she continued. The tech was nice, but it seriously had a high opportunity cost. "It's not exactly popular though. They're expensive and require a rather invasive brain surgery to install them. I can cover that if you'd be really interested, but I think it's a distasteful procedure. As for me," -Iphie let a spark fly between her fingers- "All I need is to have one in my pocket."

Having finished her lighthearted brag, she stood up, ready to go get her meal for the night. "Shall we, then?"
 
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Her response was understandable, in the end. Tian-Gui didn't have quite as much trouble getting to the table that the waiter assigned them to as the others, and, for a moment, just allowed himself to enjoy the 1930s decor of the restaurant. It wasn't something the young man was particularly interested in, but it did make for a nice, classy atmosphere. Displaying his meal tickets like a duelist playing a TCG, he fanned himself as he scoured the menu. Naturally, he was going to get one of those deluxe menu options, but the question was…which one?

Fat Man's Meal? The Pompeii Party Tray? Or maybe he should just go for the regular buffet, which was what he had planned before such an opportune marketing event popped up…

Tian-Gui decided that he'll see what the others get before deciding, and instead, turned his attention back to Iphie. The talk about the brain implants and all that did make him question it a bit, but at the same time, what other options were there? Would be feasible to use 'normal' methods of communications via cellphones and what not? Should they learn a cipher to speak in? The Final Five's teamwork WAS rather lacking at the moment, so what was the best way to encourage communication between everyone?

He scratched his head, annoyed with thinking so much, and said, "Guess we can discuss it with the others at the support organization. Maybe there's a magical method that doesn't involve brain surgery, eh? Know anything about that, you three? I honestly hadn't though too much about teamwork and communications until Kyouko and Iphie joined."

With that, he too got up, and went off to fill up plates for the buffet. He could always just order the special menu items afterwards.

 
Runa followed the conversation on communications well enough. "Well, I can probably grow a way to communicate on radio or some other frequency broadcast. ...eventually, anyway. All we really need are little commlinks that can be discreet and pick up subvocalizations or something, right? No need to chip everyone's brain." The way she thought of it, there was no need for a really advanced solution when a simpler one could work. "I don't really know anything about magic, but maybe there's a way to do it. There's probably some nice meat-based way to get telepathy, too..."

She scanned the menu carefully, weighing her options and looking for something light on the spices, after her last battle with the Hell's Cutes curry nova. Some nice, basic comfort food would really hit the spot, and preferably something good as leftovers, too. She'd have to mull things over for a while. Oh! They've got steak And she could get one of the really nice cuts free of charge. Well, that decided her order pretty quickly.
 
Well, Kyouko survived somehow. And what didn't kill you only made you stronger, truly, as bad as Kyouko felt, it was like she had learned a valuable lesson and met a fearsome enemy. Apparently, Tian did something amazing, yet frightening, while Kyouko was out cold. Having won four tickets, it suggested he ate four meals. Truly, Kyouko still had to learn a lot from this guy, yet alone beat him.

Regardless, still staggering around the floor there was no way Kyouko could accept the ticket she was given and quickly returned it, helping her to keep the little bit of pride she had left. "I'm paying for myself." Making sure to also give Tian to understand that she would not accept his offer she gave Iphie a quick evil stare. After all, the only people with the privilige of being allowed to pet the small heroine would have been Miku or her father.

Still staggering, Kyouko was rebuilding her slightly broken spirit regardless. Pointing at Tian and Runa she responded. "You are not getting banned anywhere! Otherwise I won't be able to get my rematch!" With her soon to be rematch announced and her teared up eyes finally having attained full freedom again, she threw a quick glance upon the Stars that apparently entered the zeppelin. "Alright, so they are the three sisters from some big-shot family or whatever! And why exactly should I care?" No, really, she never heard those names before, now, if it would have been the six Stardust Rangers instead, that would had been worth her time. After all, their names were nearly as famous as the Final Five.

With her opinion stated on that matter, and apparently the other two agreeing with her, they were finally about to get seated! Even if she declined the free ticket from Tian, skipping the waiting line for the sake of eating with her work colleagues though was a luxury even the brunette wouldn't deny. As for the matter about the brain surgery or similar they were on about Kyouko had a unmovable opinion. "I won't let anybody screw around with this body." A bit louder than usual, the girl tried to sound as serious as she could get. Diffusing herself a bit she looked through the menu. The choice was, as usual, very easy, if she wasn't in a situation where she could just taste everything it would simply be the most expensive one.
 
Swimming through the ventilation system feeding through the penthouse walls, Ling had found his way easily to the grating that looked down upon a corner of the lounge. Even though there was little in the way of intruders within sight from his position, he could immediately tell, through the many months of living there, that the couch being tipped over beneath the grate was definitely not the norm, and something must have thrown it across the room.

Drifting down, it became immediately clear how the furniture had been launched. A quick and short whirring of gears prefaced a large and expensive-looking robot turning its head towards Ling, as if its sensors had picked up his presence the moment one measly particle of his form entered the lounge. In its hands was an equally massive gun of some sort. A cannon seemed more fitting a term. The barrel end glowed orange and hot, and a wealth of tubes hung from various portions of its length, attached on the other end to a backpack the robot carried.

With little hesitation, it turned its body towards Ling's misty shape and pulled the trigger. The air screamed increasingly louder until it finally discharged a bolt of red energy. If his past battles with Abyssals were any indication, then taking a hit from something that spat red beams of death should be avoided. Fortunately the long load time afforded him a split second to prepare a dodge, anticipating something dangerous coming out before it had actually fired.

Amoix had nodded to Ling before he left, darting into Limov's room, keeping well away from the foam-covered bike wreckage as she pulled out a cellphone and began dialing up Tian-Gui. Huddled in the corner, she kept her voice low, but loud enough to be sharp and audible. Upon picking it up, the maid pelted him with requests.

"Tian! Tian We've got a very bad situation over here. Intruders! Eldricht abominations!" the latter portion was of course no longer important, but she figured the gravity of it would prompt Tian and the gang to hurry back home even faster. "We're being attacked by somebody! A group, I'm not sure! Ling is trying to fight them but I don't know if that will be enough! Hurry home please!"
 
The edges of his form spiked in surprise at the dangerous sight that was presented to Ling. His form jerked through the air moments before the projectile howled through the air and detonated against the wall behind him, blasting it completely apart. 'Well… that's not as bad as expected.' Then again, maybe using his own destructive capabilities as a measuring stick wasn't the best idea. Nonetheless as the robot's weapon hissed and steamed from the heat it had generated, he surged forward and surrounded the expensive weapon system. Magic flared within his body once more, but the construct refused to simply short circuit and shut down or detonate.

Instead, it must have been outfitted with some sort of counter-measure. The initial pulse did little but scatter his body somewhat, disorienting him briefly, and mess up the lounge even further. By the time he had coalesced into a single mass once more the robot had disappeared, a small dot in the air replacing it. It disappeared after a moment of observation and he surged towards a console on the wall, displeased. It evidently hadn't been destroyed, and he had lost track of the others that were previously in the lounge. Hopefully everyone had already heard the gunshots and taken appropriate measures, but the the intercom crackled to life as he passed a vaguely formed limb over it. "To anyone still inside, please do lock your doors. Currently uninvited intruders are being dealt with."

That said, he surged into the ventilation system and this time raced outside of the penthouse towards the end of the hall. From inside the grate near the floor he peered out and saw that the goons had finally begun to actually move into the penthouse. He didn't see anything else that stood out amongst them for the moment and figured it wouldn't be much trouble to actually rush through their ranks and knock them all out in a single go.
 
A meat-based way to get telepathy? Like, eating meat in order to communicate telepathically? Well, Runa's words had got his attention, but now? It's got his interest. The sub-vocalization thing and whatever else the eldritch girl talked about was interesting as well, and Tian-Gui was actually curious as to how she even knew any of this. As far as he knew, the red-head wasn't exactly the science-y type…but then again, she was also literally made by science, so…

Before he could respond, or even get to actually eating his food, however, calamity struck in the form of a call from Amoix. In the background, he could hear death beams and whatever else, as the maid rattled on about a whole bunch of stupid things that were interfering with the free dinner buffet. Well then…Saturday definitely turned out to be more exciting than expected. Interdimensional psychic monster from under the sea to intruders of the penthouse? Tian-Gui couldn't help but grin at all this madness, as he stood up from his seat.

"Got it," he said, before ending the call. "We've got trouble at the penthouse. Guess all this chatting will have to be left for later, you three. For now, let's go!"

With that, he marched off, three plates of food balanced on one hand. He tossed the four tickets at a waiter as he passed, before reaching the exterior of the Hindenburg Buffet. Hopping into the helicopter whilst balancing those three plates on his arm, he said, "Limov, get back to the penthouse ASAP. Amoix said that there were….intruders, eldricht abominations, somebody, and a group. Gotta get back before Ling goes 'fuck it' and blows up the whole building."
 
"Eh?! Trouble? But..." Runa took a long, disappointed look at her food. "We can't just pretend we didn't get that call, can we." It wasn't a question. She didn't immediately rush out, instead taking the time to get her food properly packed up to go, first. It'll last until tomorrow. She exited the Hindenburg at a trot, to catch up with the others at the helicopter.

"Okay, so what's the plan? And who the hell would attack our penthouse anyway? Or...well, do they even know it's us they're attacking?" She climbed into the helicopter cabin without waiting for an answer. "Let's show these guys they picked the wrong people to mess with. I hope Ling and the others can hold out on their own until we get back." She probably couldn't outrun the helicopter, but she wouldn't wait for it to land before she moved in. "I can fly someone in with me, if you want to bypass whatever might be waiting at the helipad."
 
Well, so much for that. That was like what? The third kind-of-mission thing in just one day? Or was Kyouko supposed to count it as the second one? After all, their first fight together was only ther to lead them towards that research complex. Nonetheless the fact remained that the girl didn't even get a chance to eat. Just great. "Is every day THAT busy?" Not like she minded that, if anything it stopped her from any other silly plans she could pursue in her free time.

As Runa then suggested to fly someone with her it was pretty much instantaneous as Kyouko raised her hand like an excited schoolgirl. "Me me me! I totally wanna fly!" That was probably not the best of ideas considering how strange the monster girl was, but right now the brunette was simply imagining it as something akin to flying some sort of fantasy gaming mount that would give her the super awesome feeling of, well, feeling the wind and all that stuff when one was flying without being surrounded by a bunch of metal.
 
Iphie was only barely into her nice, medium rare piece of salmon when Tian hurried over to their table, with a worried face and phone in hand. There was trouble, apparently. The purple-haired refrained from groaning, but an eye twitched slightly before she got up, plate in hand. Was there no meal today that wouldn't be interrupted by ridiculous nonsense?

Shaking her head in mild irritation, she wished a fiery demise to whomever or whatever dared interrupt what was appearing to be a promising meal. Again, she practiced the same ritual as in the diner, briefly invading the food prep section for a plastic container which she hastily dumped her meal into before rejoining the group at the waiting helicopter just in time to catch Runa's offer.

It was an offer that she wasn't a large fan of, but in the end it was Kyouko that wanted to fly with her. Iphigenia was content with simply sitting in the safe, comfortable helicopter that they'd arrived in. She did have one question, though.

"So, how often does your secret hangout get assaulted?"
 
The exterior of the Hindenburg buffet was a encircling series of platforms, tinted a pleasant orange by the mid-20th century lighting. One of the platforms, reserved for helos, carried the Final Five's (or rather, Limov's) military blackhawk. A relic of the past, but still more than flight-worthy and able. He had at least two other helicopters, namely a news helicopter and a purely aesthetic first-generation helicopter that could barely carry a domesticated cat.

Limov rested on the steps of the blackhawk, smoking a large cigar and seemingly enjoying the city skyline from above. When Tian motioned for him to get them back to the penthouse ASAP, a swung open the doors and trotted off to the cockpit, eyes suddenly awash with worry. His gait was, however, comedic. The Russian made a phew silly noises as he moved about, probably trying to lighten up the situation.

Their flight was relatively short as Limov punched the throttle and sped back home. Within minutes they were already landing atop the complex's helipad. Limov's eyes were directed skyward as they exited, and he paused. There were an abnormally numerous number of airships in the sky that night, seemingly bunched together on their side of the city. A spotlight from one of them suddenly cast upon the roof, blinding them in brightness. Limov covered his sight with a hand and started towards the stairs to the interior.

"If penthouse under attack, should probably use secret entrance no?" Limov posited. To their knowledge, there was at least four different ways to get inside the penthouse besides the front door, usually involving shifting some loose panels and ventilation covers around. As they entered the building, Limov rushed for a nearby wall. The service hall they were in seemed unfinished. Plastic film hung from various portions, and paint buckets both opened and sealed lied about the place, along with numerous other construction items.

The complex owners had been paid off to refrain from finishing this portion of the building, leaving quite a bit of room for the Final Five supporter's to mess with it as they saw fit. Limov pried at a portion of some wood wall, opening up a space to get into the space between their penthouse and the hall. He paused before proceeding further, pushing a cut-out of walling at the bottom of the penthouse exterior wall. It led into a closet attached to the laundry room. It was almost too small for Tian-Gui, but he managed to squeeze through.

He allowed the four heroes to enter first before bidding farewell. "I must check on other things. Keep safe!" he said as he stuck his hand through the crawlspace and waved from below at the Final Four. The sound of his footsteps running off into the construction area were followed by unfamiliar voices on the other side of the laundry room door. At least four of them, all male, interspersed with the crackling of an electronic and faint voice.
 
For that special occasion, Limov had brought out his Blackhawk for use, and Tian-Gui was glad for it. While he never cared too much about airplanes and all that jazz, the Blackhawk simply looked cool, in the same way that the Millenium Falcon was cool. During the few minutes of travel time that preceded their arrival to the penthouse, the Chinese man spent all his time chowing down on delicious food, intent on finishing his dinner before going into battle once more. Despite his speed, he finished rather tidily, and only then began to answer some questions as the Blackhawk landed.

"This is a pretty active day, really," he stated as he hopped out of the vehicle, "And it's definitely the first time that someone tried attacking the penthouse…"

Whether or not it was a random attack though, that was…not a question at all. What sort of penthouse burglar would pack enough heat to not shit themselves when they witness Ling's firepower? The airships floating around too gave him much to think about, and as the quintet made their way through one of the secret entrances of the building, Tian-Gui said, "Runa, Iphie, might be good if the two of you could get onto one of those airships later for some investigation and all. Don't know what they're for, but I doubt they're benign."

After a little more effort, the large man managed to squeeze himself into the laundry room, and, from there, his ears could pick the words of four men behind the door. The raven-haired man clenched his fist, as he listened in. A bunch of organizational jargon, as well as generic statements of locations and observations. He was losing his dinner because of this shit? A grimace was on his face, before he promptly asked, "Ladies, if you could please turn away?"

He gave them five seconds, before stripping off his denim shirt, pulling down his trousers, and, finally, removing his shoes and his socks, until all that was left was his underwear, boxer briefs that were almost too small for a man of his girth. After that, like a good person, he threw it into the laundry bin, and ran at the door.

"Ilu-yang arz Svallin…ZIZZL"

Clenching his fist, he drove it into the door as a golden light burst from the Flamestone gem embedded in his chest. The powerful blow sent the door off its hinges, smashing into the opposing wall as his armor manifested itself in a glorious storm of dust and light. With one heavy step, he stomped out of the doorway, his mane of white hair blowing eerily in the windless room. He looked down on the four men, blue eyes becoming resplendent stars.

"Evildoers beware! For I. AM. HERE!"

His fists smashed together, a ringing sound resounding as sparks flew off from the Flamestone gauntlets.

"FINAL RED HAS ARRIVED!"
 
He managed to catch some, probably around half, as he swept through the hall. Those further away seemed to brace themselves for his attack, and refused to do more than just stumble. Even the ones that had been affected were merely on their knees, stunned rather than completely unconscious like the first five. Annoyed at the result, he rushed back into the penthouse and then towards the unmistakeable voice.

Well, he could safely say that he was responsible for less damage done to the penthouse than Tian now during this incident. Granted someone might hold him responsible for the fact that the robot had blown out one of the walls, but that was hardly his fault. Nonetheless as the door crashed against a wall and his teammate stepped out, fully clad in armor, Ling lingered for a moment, but it seemed that the situation was in capable hands here. For the moment he decided to make sure the pieces of his Coffin were still safe.
 
Iphie also had to admit that Limov's helicopter was a pretty sweet looking ride, and it definitely looked the part of a well-maintained vintage aircraft, complete with period accurate interior upholstery and the like. Had she not been so irritated and had the time been more opportune, she would have chatted up its pilot for some small talk about it. But this was not the case, and she finished her meal in silence alongside Tian.

While she agreed that the day was definitely unusually active, she found herself almost skeptical that the penthouse had been randomly attacked. It was not like the base was not well-equipped against one, though, as Iphigenia observed the unfinished and hidden passageways that Limov led the four through before disappearing. Hopefully he'd come rushing back with gunship air support or something that was equally useful and intimidating. But speaking of gunships, Tian was right; there was an abnormal amount of air traffic this night. "I'll look into it right after we deal with this. I'll see if the local air traffic control towers don't have anything useful to yield," she replied, referring to the radar transponder information and flight plan data available to them.

Finally reaching the penthouse's laundry room, Iphie could hear unfamiliar voices on the other side of the wall, in addition to something electronic sounding. Jumping to the conclusion that they were some low-tier goons, she clenched her fists, feeling quite pissed at such a trivial interruption. Tian's exhibitionist stripping unfazed her; she was mildly amused at his tidiness in throwing his clothes into the laundry bin. She did see this as a reasonable idea, though, and removed her jacket and tie which were then neatly hung up in a nearby closet. This complete, she waited for the others to prepare themselves. As soon as Tian was done bursting through the door like the Kool-Aid man and introducing himself like a chuuni, she popped up behind him and unceremoniously sizzled the four suits to death, with electricity and prejudice. She was kind enough to not cook them thoroughly though, because that would mean the apartment would smell of awful burnt flesh for the next few months, and she wouldn't have any of that.

If Tian shot her a look or made a comment at this interruption, she would have apologized with a shrug.
 
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