Final -V- IC

Asuras

When God pulls his gun out, he's not running out.
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
  2. One post per week
Online Availability
24/7
Writing Levels
  1. Adept
  2. Advanced
  3. Prestige
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Primarily Prefer Female
Genres
Fantasy, Sci-fi
JXy57e1.png




e6UNYgT.jpg

The headlines were the same all across the world. "Demands for a return to 21st Century energy continue as nuclear plants across the globe suffer catastrophic meltdown." An age of nuclear energy was on the decline by mere chance. The US, China, Russia, India... Prime nuclear energy users all had meltdowns within a single month. A freak accident to some, a conspiracy to others. The public was appropriately angry, and demands for the elimination of nuclear energy plants were flung on every media outlet available. There was little that could be done as fears rose in the hearts of the public. Perhaps one meltdown would have been acceptable, but several so close to one another?

"What's worse, seems like people are getting up in arms about the Leyline developments as well," Mason said, scratching at his chin. The butler sat in a dusty reclining chair, newspaper in hand. Amoix furiously vacuumed the floor around the lounge room, eyes burning as if she could literally see the dust settling where she had just cleaned.

"Two bombings in the last week, and protests are still going on at the Al Haram Leyline," he continued, "Really does seem like people just want coal and oil again." Mason grumbled a bit and stood before picking up his own duties and cleaning around the room as well. Though the place was spacious and standing, it was nevertheless a big cut below the recently-destroyed penthouse. Instead, the temporary headquarters were merely an old condominium in Shanhu's lower districts, able to house just a few people at a time.

Limov's house, apparently.

It was dusty and humid, but it was something. During their stay there, Limov was so thoroughly absent however, that they had come to the conclusion Limov preferred sleeping in an expensive van somewhere, and had kept the house for 'some reason or another'. The penthouse was still under repair -or rather, construction, as John had requisitioned so many upgrades it might as well be a new place entirely. He'd hired, "Top companies," to fix the place up. Everyone expected some sort of automated defense system to be installed.

Though the two servants seemed calm enough, the room was filled with a mild tension. Operation Cerberus was going to commence in but a few minutes, if they had to guess. All that was left was for John to arrive with Limov and give some last-minute details before they were whisked away to the Pacific Heavyware Factory. The mission would be nothing less than an assault upon a megacorporation.

Break into the factory. Locate the offices. Hunt down the Thremont sisters and retrieve the abyssal orb.

The clock's third-hand ticked ominously in the lounge.
 
Iphigenia Courtlandt was not taking the news well. While her holdings company was a private entity, Standard Electric was not. And in light of recent events, its shares were tanking. This was because it was an energy company, and it held a stake in both nuclear energy and the burgeoning leyline segment of the industry. This wasn’t even a fault of the company. Ten nuclear power plants had almost simultaneously suffered meltdowns, some more catastrophic than the others. They did operate nuclear power stations in Europe and Asia, but although they weren’t directly affected, the public, and investors by extension, were losing confidence on the clean energy sources of the future. Standard Electric shares had reflected that. Yesterday it dropped to a 15-year low of -19% after closing.

While she didn’t have the evidence for it, she suspected it was some form of cyber-attack. Being physically well-guarded facilities, the only attack vector that could easily sneak its way through multiple sites was a computer virus, not too unlike ones that plagued Iran’s nuclear reactors many decades ago. An internal review was already being conducted alongside the equipment manufacturer, and she was sure the affected entities were doing similar as well.

“It’s worrisome,” she commented, reclining in a couch with as much comfort as the situation at hand could afford. “Standard Electric could be next. The facilities in here and in the UK aren’t too different from the ones in the US.” Rubbing between her eyes, she let out a sigh.

Those events would have to take a seat while more pressing issues were about to happen. Breathing in a cloud of dust, Iphie started to cough, trying to fan the dust away. Although some of the others had sort of moved in, the purple-haired girl had made it her duty to spend as little time in Limov’s allergy-inducing abode for as much as she could. The only reason she was there was because of the impending commencement of her revenge, also named Operation Cerberus. It was a full-on assault on a megacorporation; former friends, even. With what the Thremonts had done, she would have wished to push all her resources into it and make it a full on war between companies, but for many common-sense reasons that were too many to list, it was stupid to even consider.

The next best thing was to break in, raise hell, destroy (or otherwise capture and torment) the Thremonts, and maybe siphon off some of their proprietary tech while looking for the stolen orb.

Iphigenia was prepared. The clock couldn’t tick faster, really.

“Let’s hear the plan one last time.”
 
Sitting in the back of the transport with John, Jin-Sun couldn't help but feel just a little bit nervous. He'd done it. He'd achieved one of his goals and become a member of the Final Five. But that didn't mean he would necessarily be able to get along with the other four. Of course, he already knew Miss Courtright, but that still left three members of whom he had no idea how he'd get along with. The cyborg resisted the urge to sigh. He hadn't participated in operations with a squad ever since he'd just been an ordinary, unaugmented human. He'd gotten to used to being a solo operator. Still, he'd adapt. This was the dream he'd worked towards for two years. He wouldn't screw this up on a whim.

As they landed and John and Limov headed inside, Jin-Sun followed behind as they entered the lounge. He gave a polite nod to whatever members were already in the lounge before taking a seat for himself. Not all of the Final Five were there yet, and Jin-Sun assumed John would handle the introductions after the important business was concluded.
 
Tall and bulky as he was, Tian-Gui found himself less concerned about Operation Cerberus and more concerned with simply finding a place that had enough room for him to stand. The sofas, cheap as they were, were already off-limits for him. Chances were higher that the ‘antique’ furniture would either break underneath him, or he’d simply get springs up his ass. Neither were particularly pleasant. Of course, standing in this dusty, fun-sized condo wasn’t the best thing either, what with Amoix bouncing off the walls with vacuum cleaner at full-power. The raven-haired hero would have offered to help, but the maid seemed to be deaf to his offers.

Frightening concentration, really.

Forcing open another window that had previously been buried under boxes of…something, Tian-Gui sighed at the news that Mason read out. Nuclear plants going into meltdown and dissent about Leyline exploitation, was it? The large man leaned against peeling wallpaper as John, Limov, and the latest member of the Final Five entered the room. Briefing would start soon, and after that, Operation Cerberus would commence. There was no need for unnecessary thoughts. Just justice and objectives.

His fingers rubbed against a black fragment tied around his neck, before he motioned towards the bag of party-size tortilla chips he brought. Two bowls, one of habanero salsa and another of mango salsa, sat beside the bag, relatively untouched. “Sup,” Tian-Gui said, extending a hand out towards the power-suit-wearing individual, “Name's Tian-Gui Jian. This is gonna be rough as far as first missions go, but don’t worry. Eat a bit, chill a bit, and we’ll go kick some ass in a bit, eh? What's your name anyway?”
 
Runa was one of those running late. She had a life outside of fighting evil, at least if she wanted an education. That may not be the actual reason she was late. The girl burst through the door, panting and out of breath. "Sorry I'm late," she apologized as soon as she could actually speak coherently. "Hardly get back to school and then we've got this thing...I don't know how you people do it." A stray lock of her wild mop of dark hair pulled the door shut behind her as she walked further into the room.

She didn't seem to be bothered by the change in headquarters from swanky to very much not. Dust didn't bother her. Damp didn't bother her. Mysterious things possibly crawling out of cracks in the walls didn't bother her. One got the impression Runa would have gone on living in the gutted ruin of the penthouse without a care in the world if she could. One also got the impression she treated clothes as a little too optional at times, living in much closer quarters with the curious girl.

"So, uh, are we really doing this," she asked Tian. "I know it's kind of a revenge thing, but it doesn't feel all that heroic to just go and hit them back because they attacked us first." Maybe there were other reasons for it she didn't know of, but really, who was in the right here?

"Oh! Snacks." And before she could worry too much about complex things like morals, the young woman flopped down onto a couch near the chips. She pretty quickly dug in, favoring the mango salsa over the habanero one, once she had tasted it. Tian got a tearful glare that just said "I should have known."

"So, uh," she mumbled around a mouthful of chips, "who's the new guy?" Her ahoge lazily waved toward Jin-Sun, with he question. "He is our fifth, right?" Not like someone just chilling in a suit of powered armor was likely to be anything else.
 
Running fashionable late was an art. If being a hero, one had to find the right moment - neither too soon nor too late. With Runa was one of those trying, a certain brunette was betting on an even later time for the right moment! "Yooo! Kyouko appears!" Letting herself in into this petty home, the girl didn't even try to give any excuses or apologies. Instead, she quickly sat down besides Runa just to realize she had most likely taken all of the good snacks - much to her disappointment. Yo! Runa-chan! I can't believe you got here before me!" Kyouko kept rambling on before becoming a bit more silent. "Well if you need any help with your homework, let me know!" Since Miku's death, Kyouko had distanced herself more or less from the rest of her class and was ultimately kinda thankful that certain people were pulling some strings to put the weird girl in the same class as hers. Of course, they would have enough time for chitchat later.

Instead, Kyouko now focused her attention on the stranger in the room, a tin-can she had never seen before. Being a real (wo)man and taking a handful of the habanero ones, Kyouko chewed on them as she simply glared at the new guy. Surely, he had to be the new guy, who else could it be?!
 
Jin-Sun gave Tian-Gui and Runa cursory nods as they mentioned him, standing up to shake the former's hand. Afterwards, he released the hand, turning to give the rest of the assembled Final Five a formal bow. So far, so good, it seemed. At least none of them seemed that bothered by his presence yet. Besides the loud girl. The hell was her problem?

"I'm Jin-Sun Takeda, your newest member. As your junior, please treat me well. In terms of skillset, I'm...basically a cyborg ninja. I cut things up and I can sneak." Was all he said before sitting back down, reaching for the chips. He dipped one in habanero sauce and prepared to disengage his faceplate before frowning. Right. His face. Best not to disturb them with it.

Instead, Jin-Sun engaged his Illusion Drive, creating a hologram of his faceplate still being on as he crunched on a chip. The result looked like the chip literally disappeared once it hit his faceplate.

As it turned out, the habanero dip was far more to his liking than the mango dip, and he dipped a few more chips into the spicy sauce before chowing down.
 
Runa dragged Kyouko ino a warm hug, whether she wanted it or not, at the offer of assistance. "Thank you, Kyou-chan~" She didn't admit to needing all the help she could get, but she did. Even without the missing school time, she was weak in just about every subject that wasn't gym. She nuzzled her cheek against Kyouko's uncomfortably rubbing the metallic decorations across the brunette's face for a moment before she was inevitably pushed away.

That interrupting the otherwise potentially-serious proceedings and introductions with gratuitous displays of affection may have been inappropriate didn't cross her mind, and she continued as if it had never happened. "Nice to meet you, Jin-Sun. Or should I call you Takeda?" She paused for a moment, before making her own scatter-braiend introduction. "I'm Runa Yggdrasil. I'm the team's resident, uh...I'm not really sure, but I can fight pretty good and stuff. Oh, yeah, hope you don't like, freak out over tentacles or anything." She didn't elaborate.
 
John arrived in Limov's condo with a confused sniffing, and then an exasperated sigh. He set some keys down on a counter top by the door and stepped in casually, eyeing the place.

"Just as horrid as ever," he noted quietly to himself. The agent directed his attention to Amoix and sighed again. "Don't hurt yourself trying to fix this," he said. Amoix remained just as hurried.

"How can he live like this?!" she protested, genuinely concerned. John shrugged.

"He doesn't live here. Not really." John turned then to each of the Final Five, save Jin-sun, with a smile. "So then. Who's ready for corporate assaults?" He raised his hand and looked between everyone gathered. The agent unbuttoned an upper portion of his longcoat and slipped a hand inside, pulling out some folded papers and a phone tucked in an unseen pocket. Unfolding it, he muttered a few things to himself and walked closer to the couch where the girls had plopped down upon. Iphigenia looked notably uncomfortable, earning a brief smile from John. Clearing his throat, he began in a much more serious tone.

"At 1300 today you will land outside the private lands making up Heavyware Industries largest factory floor. This is where I have found the sisters to be stationed for the forthcoming two days. They've already been there a day, likely tending to seminars and board meetings. The place is massive, but nothing you guys can't walk on foot once there." John laid down two unfolded papers with blueprints of the facility onto the coffee table.

"Now this is only two floors, but given the lack of accessible printouts of layouts connecting to here, here, and here," John pointed at staircases and elevators at various points on the map, "I'm led to believe there are top secret locations even I couldn't procure that attach to the factory. I have utterly zero clue what could be there, but I'm not entirely confident the sisters are ever going to be in any of them in particular." John stood up straight and crossed his arms, looking down at the maps.

"I won't be able to give you directions myself. Most of the factory floor is devoid of any cameras, so I can't follow your steps easily. I have a plan to get you inside, but once there it's up to your guys to find the sisters. The factory is a few hundred miles west of Yokohama on Japan's east coast. The place is incredibly well guarded at its exterior sections. Most everything inside I presume will be avoiding employee's suspicion. To actually reach the main quadrant you'll need to access a monorail transit system to take you from the guest's entrance. Problem is you might be blacklisted, or worse, in danger if they immediately notice you guys. I can't be sure."

John turned to Jin-Sun. "I know for certain you can pull of this break-in well. If you can secure a clearance pass for the mono-rail, I believe you can get close to the quadrant without ever entering through the front gate," he said, turning to Iphie. "Iphie, if you can hack the mono-rail to end its journey early and disembark before it reaches the terminal, you may be able to find a less populated side entrance. Once inside, it's up to you guys how to proceed, but I believe it will first be in your best interest to find a computer terminal and get access, and figure out where the sister's passes were last used in the facility."
 
Runa had some interesting questions about the right or wrong of this whole situation, but Tian-Gui’s own thought process was pretty straightforward. Scooping up a ball of habanero salsa, he tossed it in his mouth, enjoyed the burn, and replied, “They didn’t attack us first, Runa. They attacked our relatively defensive supporters first. Then they stole that Abyssal sphere from us. If their intentions were pure, they could have just asked and collaborated with us, but if they went out of their way to raid our penthouse, well…come on, that sounds like the hallmark of a pretty evil megacorp, doesn’t it?”

Before Tian-Gui could continue on, though, the eldritich monmusu’s attention went on to snacks, and he smiled at her response. After the curry they had at Hell’s Cutes or whatever it was called, habanero should be nothing, right? Kyouko and the newly-introduced cyborg ninja Jin-Sun seemed to be putting up with it pretty well, if nothing else. Now that the absolute destruction that Ling provided was gone, it was good they were getting a member capable of stealthier shenanigans. Nodding in approval of that to-the-point introduction, he stood at a section of the condo that Amoix had given up on cleaning, crossed his arms, and listened to John’s debrief of Operation Cerberus.

Two floors, no maps, and few cameras. A heavily guarded exterior and the possibility that the Thremont’s gigantic battlecruiser was within. A mission in which infiltration skills were essential.

Definitely not Tian-Gui’s thing. Smiling, the man said, “Well, Iphie, Jin-Sun, I’ll put myself in your care then. Can’t say I’ll do much until bullets start flying, really.”

They could, of course, split into two teams, one for an exterior assault that acted as a distraction, and another for a sneaky infiltration taking advantage of said distraction, but that was the problem with the Final Five: even a toddler can count to five.
 
Upon the arrival of the fifth and newest member of the team, Jin-Sun Takeda, Iphigenia was quick to rise to greet him. It was her first time seeing him since he’d been selected and inducted into the Final Five, so it had been some time. Although momentarily distracted by a certain somebody’s public displays of affection, Iphie extended a cordial arm in greeting to the cyborg.

“It’s good to see you again, Mr. Takeda—no, Jin-sun. Welcome to the team.”

Giving him a warm smile, she returned herself to the worn out couch where she finally took notice of the tortillas and salsa that Tian-Gui had brought along. It was good comfort food really; she made good work of the habanero dip as pleasantries and introductions continued between the group of them. Despite her own thoughts elsewhere, she found herself adding to the conversation quite well, and she put in her own opinion regarding the conditions of the entire engagement. “Definitely. It’s not like they didn’t even have an official channel of communications through to us either. It was literally as simple as calling me on my cell and asking for a favor. If they can’t do that, then I don’t know what to say.” She spoke casually, but beneath her words were a subtle hint of vitriol that made it clear she was holding back quite a bit.

The debrief that John provided was not something that Iphie thought had a positive outlook. A lot of the access routes they had depended on ifs and how well the Thremonts had shored up their security protocols. But hell, if they were as publically arrogant as she thought they were, Iphigenia thought there was at least a slim chance of being able to waltz right in.

“I’ll see what I can do, then. With a wee bit of effort, Jin-Sun and I can us in without too much trouble.” She gave a confident nod at the newest member. “If anything, they won’t expect you to be coming.”
 
Jin-Sun listened silently to the briefing, only pausing to nod back when his name was brought up. He frowned behind his faceplate as they all turned to him. The plan was solid in theory, but...well, no plan ever survived first contact. And there'd been some wrenches in it already.

"It's a good plan, but there's a few complications." Jin-Sun spoke up, bowing his head. "Most relating to my ability to get through the Thremonts' security. For one, they're the ones who developed my stealth and disguise systems. For all we know, they have ways to detect them." He glanced back up, turning to John. "Besides, I was exposed while we were rescuing Otodete-chan. I took care of any guard that saw me, but they probably got me on camera. They'll likely know I'm coming, now that I've started to actively move against them."

He turned back towards the Final Five at large. "For context, before we came here, John and I breached a classified Heavyware facility to rescue a girl who they were trying to convert into a cyborg like myself." He shook his head. "We got her out safely, though."

Jin-Sun paused, glancing at Iphie. "I'll be relying on you then, Iphigenia. If you can hack into their security systems first, we can probably confirm if they have a way to detect me." He turned back towards the other three members of the team. "If I get exposed, just use me as a very loud distraction. The bitches," He snarled with uncharacteristic venom. "Already know I'm after them for making me like this. If I can distract their security as a Plan B, it should give you enough time to find out where they are and reach them."
 
"Well...when you put it that way..." Runa shrugged. It sounded fair enough to question their motives, particularly with Jin-Sun's revelations regarding cyborg conversions that seemed far from voluntary. "Sounds like they must be up to something shady or none of us would be in this mess." It wasn't like the plan involved killing them anyway. What it did involve, though, was a lot of stealth.

"Sadly, I'm not too good at sneaking around. Changing my face is one of the few things I can't do." Unless she grew a mask of reinforced bone over it, but that was just a little obvious. "So, uh, yeah. Unless I can go slither around in the vents or something, I won't really be able to do too much for really fancy stealth. And, uh, it might be a little hard to explain away a couple of teenagers." She and Kyouko were probably too young to just pretend they worked there, after all. Maybe if there was some other reason to have them around... That gave Runa an idea. "Oh! I know. I could pretend to be a research subject or something. I'm, like totally good at doing that. I can, like, do whatever you need. We can't all be on some diversion team, or we might as well just kick in the door and start shooting or something."

Barring that, she didn't really have anything else to add. She wasn't trained in being sneaky or bullshitting past things, but she was at least apparently harmless, unless one could get a positive ID on her or had some really interesting scanning for biological or genetic anomalies. No cybernetics, no active magic that she knew of. So she could just slip right through without drawing too much undue attention. Never mind that she didn't look quite 100% human under close scrutiny.
 
John nodded to Jin-Sun, giving Iphie a passing glance aside as she spoke. "That's a valid concern. What I propose however requires a bit more street-skills than tricking scanning devices. Simply swiping a clearance card could be as easy as it gets." He clapped his hands together softly before throwing them into his large coat pockets. "That being said, I reiterate again that it's ultimately up to you all how to proceed. My plan is just a suggestion, and while I've done this sort of thing before, it's certainly not my forte. I could stand to learn something from you all myself." John stepped aside, making room for one to reach the front door.

"In any case, you'll have plenty of time to decide on a more concrete plan on the ride there. It'll be awhile. I'll drive you lot to the airport, and Limov can get you guys there. I heard he's using the private VTOL for 'maximum comfort' so he said." With that, he gestured for the Final Five to make their move, and followed them to an SUV parked outside the dingy house.



Shanhu was experiencing torrential Pacific rain. While the foundation struts could withstand and dull the movement of the ocean's waves to near-undetectable levels, the skies above were wide open for water to come falling down. Even among the noise of freeways and chatter, the violent pounding of rain on top of John's car could still be heard. It seemed as if they would put dents in the metal overhead.

Regardless of the weather, the airport at Shanhu's exterior sides maintained its schedule. Jets feared no rain and took off and landed as freely as they would in a bright, clear day. After taking a private route into the port, John stopped the car beside a pure-white VTOL airship. Limov huddled underneath the cabin, clad in a soaked rainjacket. He was poking at something unseen on the tarmac as he knelt. A honk from the car alerted him and he quickly unfurled an umbrella that struggled to maintain its shape.

"Quick quick! Before this rain puts bullet holes in me," Limov shouted over the sound of jet engines and hellish torrents. Escorting the three ladies as best he could under the umbrella, Limov lead the rest to the dropped staircase. Inside the VTOL, it appeared as any ordinary high-end private jet interior. Laminated tables and leather-bound seats with ample room to move one's legs about. There appeared to be a small bedroom at the back, as well as a bathroom. Sounding quite distraught by the weather as he closed the cabin door, Limov rushed to take off the raincoat.

"Amoix, ranted to me about dirty house, so I think of using nice private jet for change!" Limov proclaimed, throwing his hands into the air as if celebrating. "What do you think? Nice, eh?" The pilot removed his gloves and simply tossed them onto the floor with a wet slap as he moved into the pilot's seat at the forefront of the vessel.

"No need to sit or buckle up or whatever! This thing will fly smooth even in storm. Enojy the ride!" he said as he quickly went to work prepping the ship for takeoff. There was some chatter between the control tower and Limov went silent for some time, apparently focused. John took a seat at one of the many seating arrangements, appreciating the plane's features.

"I know a few vigilante folks. Only one or two get to have something like this at their disposal," he smiled. The VTOL lifted off rather quietly, directed thrusters emitting a sharp, purplish stream towards the ground. Shanhu's broadside came into view as a wall of lights stretching across the ocean, and they lifted higher till its expanse could be seen from the top. They headed west, to the east of the world.
 
As heavy as the rain was, Tian-Gui still enjoyed it as if it was merely a springtime shower. Raindrops bounced off his windbreaker as he walked behind the gentlemanly Limov, who somehow managed to fit three girls underneath that umbrella at the same time, before marvelling at their driver’s latest acquisition. Quite a fancy ride indeed. Almost made Tian-Gui feel bad about getting the carpeted floor wet…but then again, something fancy like this probably had a fleet of roombas hiding in the closet. Running one hand over his dripping hair and smoothing it back, he located the refrigerator with ease and cracked it open.

“Oh, wow, what a collection,” he said. Fancy fizzy drinks, cold cuts of expensive meat, cans of caviar, and even cups of instant noodles! Looked like they were set for pre-mission snacks at least. Pulling out a couple of cup noodles, the rain-drenched giant started up an electric kettle next, before asking, “So anyone else want anything to eat? Looks like there’s a hell lotta food in here, and it’d be a waste just to eat it alone, eh?”

The kettle hissed a few moments later, and Tian-Gui pulled back the tab, pouring the boiling water in. The surface of the water didn't even tremble, despite how they were inside an aircraft, travelling through the air at supersonic speeds. Dang, pretty impressive, Limov's new toy.
 
Runa wouldn't have minded the torrential downpour, but she certainly didn't mind the effort to keep herself and the other two girls dry. It was still a bit of a tight fit with a fair bit of jostling to keep unwanted water to a minimum. And, in such a powerful downpour, the umbrella was a courtesy at best, to begin with. Once inside the cabin of the aircraft, she wasted no time in shaking herself dry, like some sort of large dog. While quite effective in ridding herself from at least some superficial wetness, it was also just as effective at spraying water over anything in the vicinity.

"Hey, get me one of those cup noodles," Runa puts in her own food request for Tian. As long as he's at it, he might as well make a third helping. The monstrous girl plopped onto a nearby, still damp seat and started idly kicking her legs as the VTOL took off. Such a smooth ride, it was incredible. And such a plush interior. This wasn't the sort of luxury just anyone could afford. As the aircraft rose and Shanhu spread out below, Runa rushed to the window to watch, her face almost pressed against the glass.
 
Unlike some of her fellow members, Iphigenia did mind the rain a bit more. While being ferried by an umbrella holding chauffeur was something that she almost took for granted, she still found appreciation from her clothes being shielded from the torrential downpour, taking the more prominent spot under the umbrella for the duration of their short hop to the aircraft’s drop staircase.

Inside the luxury jet, Iphie was unabashedly quick to find red paper napkins likely meant for cocktails, wiping off the raindrops from her face while turned away from the group. In this environment, it was clear that she felt quite comfortable, soon finding herself alongside Tian-Gui in inspecting the aircraft’s store of soft drinks and unhealthy snack foods.

“I’ve never had much of a taste for caviar,” commented Iphie, pushing aside a tower of stacked caviar tins as she shot a glance at Runa’s actions. “Isn’t it about time for lunch, anyway?” She was quick to find a can of Mitsuya cider from the mini-fridge. Having a moment’s deliberation at making some sort of sandwich from the surprisingly well-stocked variety of cold cuts, her laziness prevailed and she decided against it, instead reaching for one of the cup noodle packages as well. “Still have some water in the kettle, Tian?”

With a simmering cup of noodles in one hand and a fizzy lime drink in another, she sat down across from Runa, placing her food on the lacquered table in front of her. Popping the can of soda, she sent a light pulse of energy to turn on the TV towards the front of the cabin before crossing her legs with a satisfied gulp of fizzy drink.

“Really, I’m surprised,” she admitted, watching the surface of her cup noodles along with Tian, “The planes I take tend to go faster, but I didn’t know the turbulence on these things are dampened this much.”
 
Being encased in metal as he was, Jin-Sun wasn't exactly bothered by the rain. He trailed behind Limov and the girls alongside Tian-Gui, glancing appreciatively at their ride. This VTOL made the last transport Limov used look like a damn cargo plane. Stepping onto the plane, he took a moment to wipe his boots and behind off before taking a seat.

As Tian-Gui heated up water, Jin-Sun grabbed a cup of instant ramen for himself, pouring water in before taking several slices of cold cuts as well, dunking them into the soup with the ramen. Still keeping up the hologram over his face, he disengaged his faceplate and started to chow down. When that was done, the cyborg ninja took a can of energy drink out from the fridge and popped it open, taking several swigs.

"Need to load up on calories." He explained as he drank, reaching for another package of cold cuts. "If I don't get enough electricity to power my augmentations, they start running on caloric energy. A lot of it. And by a lot, I mean I could probably eat three MREs and still be hungry."
 
Despite all the relocating between transport vehicles that the group did, the conversation about their plans - especially the Tin Can's Spy equipment that the sisters were probably using to peek on them - and the questionable motives about how just their cause was didn't make Kyouko say much at all. Rather unusual for her, she simply stood silent, thinking only to herself, while still reacting enough to the outside world to get wherever she needed to be and also realize the plan they wanted to execute.

It was a simply matter for her, yet rather painful. Still not rather clear about her own powers and mostly reliant on the protection of others, their newest member, too, was at least worth 10 times what she could do. With doubts crawling through her mind, it took her a good 10 minutes of the flight before she simply shook her head. If she really felt herself to be so much out of place here, she could have just left, but Kyouko did not. No, she simply had to become stronger, just like she wanted to before. After all, she did knew there was at least something she could do, having it just discovered, she simply had to continue going forward.

Her mind wandering to the others, her eyes immediately fell onto the food some of her friends were consuming, just to deny it herself about how silly she was, yet again, for simply easing up like that. Sure, the other four members were strong enough to idle around like that, but not the Brunette. Taking out an empty, through brute-force compressed juice can, Kyouko actually started to do some work out! Using her power to restore it to an earlier point where the can was actually unbroken - except the content - just to crush it again and repeat doing son.
 
Smiling at Runa’s request, Tian-Gui emptied the remaining hot water in the kettle once Iphie and Jin-Sun prepared their cup noodles as well. Soon, the cabin was filled with the fleeting fragrance of soup base and noodles, and the large youth sighed, content. It was moments like this that people could call the ‘calm before the storm’, but he enjoyed it regardless. As his own two cup noodles cooked on the counter, he turned to Iphie and said, “Perhaps most of the dampening is due to Limov’s skill? I don’t know how these things work, but piloting skill most likely has something to do with it. I mean, all the turbulence absorbers in the world wouldn’t be enough to make this a comfortable ride if I was flying it, right?”

The cyborg ninja looked like he was enjoying a pre-battle meal as well. Cocking an eyebrow at his explanation for why he was eating so much, Tian-Gui motioned towards Iphie, before saying, “Right…pretty sure you won’t be running out of electricity now that you’re with us. I mean, if you want to pig out at a buffet before every battle, sure, bring me and Runa along, but Iphie’s our super electrician girl. It’s literally free magical electricity, yah know?”

The sound of a can being crushed and uncrushed, however, brought Tian-Gui’s eyes towards Kyouko. There was definitely a tense atmosphere around her, an almost desperate attempt to improve as quickly as possible. He recognized the expression on her face as she clenched her fist over and over again. It was an expression he wore in the past as well. Looking at the two cups that he had initially cooked for himself, Tian-Gui picked one up by the rim and walked over. He placed a hand on the shorter girl’s shoulder and said, “Yo, Kyouko, have something to eat. It’s a terrible idea to go into battle with an empty stomach, after all. And hey, if you’re going to do some sort of strength training, you gotta be like Jin-Sun. Stock up on calories before and after you burn through them!”

“And relax. Your shoulders are too tense and you’re too quiet to be a hero of justice right now.”