towerofanimus | [Massive Infiltration Plot] || [Semi-Open]

[Massive Infiltration Plot] || [Semi-Open]

Characters: All the characters who signed up for this infiltration, too many to write them all here. Characters who stay behind and do not infiltrate can tag into the mingle thread.
Setting: The Cafeteria, then the Elevator's Shaft and finally the Administrative Floors. The 29th of July, in the morning.
Format: Action most likely.

Summary: A month ago Ganondorf planned an infiltration to go and pay a visit to Riki's floor-- Given what has happened these last weeks, the 'Evil Alliance' has accepted to allow Enoch and the people he gathered to use the infiltration in order to do their own thing. Namely, retrieve scientific instruments from Jason's laboratory, so as to study the Collar Fluid. The infiltration will begin on the 1st floor, the Cafeteria.

The first thread is a traditional mingle thread, happening before the infiltration and briefing begin; anyone can tag into it. The second thread is a quick briefing before the infiltration starts, where Enoch and Ganondorf will explain to everyone what to do and what to expect in case they don't already know. Then there are the seven group threads, one for each individual team infiltrating.

The OOC post is here for more information. If you have signed-up but didn't pick a group yet, please do so here. While the infiltration takes place, the villains who stayed behind are unleashing a distraction on the tower and those who don't go.

Warnings: Administrative floors, danger, death, horror. Anyone tagging here is probably going to die, or at the very least meet with a terrible fate.

Mingle || Briefing || Meanwhile, in the Cafeteria...

Group 00 (Ganondorf, Sephiroth [OU], Veigar, Ocelot and Jin)
Group 01 (Enoch, Lancer [AU3], Patrick Dawn, Tohko, Raven and Ryoji)
Group 02 (Xion, Fon Master Ion, Yu Narukami, Asch, Luke, Jonouchi Katsuya, Dark Pit and Sheba)
Group 03 (Nesir Aeser, Zett Takajo, Kain Highwind, Solas and Minato Arisato)
Group 04 (Kyoko Sakura, Amelia, Shepard, Homura Akemi, Terra, Sephiroth [AU2] and Labrys)
Group 05 (John Egbert, Rose Lalonde, Naoya Toudou, Dave Strider, Riki [AU3], Sora and Riku [OU])
Group 06 (Zelda, Ruler [AU1] and Saber [AU5])

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Just hold on!

[He's upset at losing one, surprised that he's upset - but he's not going to let any more make the drop like that. If Sheba's close enough, Asch will be angrily grabbing her cloak about now.]

Don't be stupid and just drop yourself. We still don't know what's down there.

[Although it probably wasn't the bottom that Dark Pit had caught himself on, considering that he was still conscious enough to call out.]

And he had wings to glide with - you don't.

[First Luke, now Asch? Maybe grabbing her cloak was just a redhead thing. Sheba shoots him a disgruntled look and tries to tug her cloak out of his grasp.]

What are we supposed to do, then? He's down there alone because I wasn't able to keep him up here! And I don't think all of us falling down there at once is going to help anything at all - we'd be falling all over each other!

[He sighs at the others arguing.]

Calm down. [He shakes his head, holding onto his soul's Arcana as they discuss what will be inevitable.] Blaming yourself when we knew the risks of trying to get this far with our powers isn't going to help him. We'll have to go one at a time.

[He crushes the card in his hand, Izanagi-no-Okami appearing in the blue lightshow - of which he'd apologize for briefly blinding someone but right now is not the time for apologies. Because at least the god of creation defies all gravity.]

Did this before with Kohryu in escaping Ruana's area. Climb on.

[As for him, he's grabbing his Persona's hand and being seated on its right shoulder just next to its helmet. As for the creation god, he crosses his legs in a seated position most unfamiliar to him for the sake of more room for the children of man to sit on.]

Just be careful. [The sounds that came from below were anything but comforting. After Ion join Yu on the persona, Jonouchi stepped onto one of the crossed legs.]

[And here's Asch, annoyed, pulling on Sheba's cloak a bit before taking a seat on the edge of Izanagi's leg.]

...Don't go anywhere without me.

[And on that note he's taking a minute to undo his belt and peel off his tunic, shoving it in Luke's direction before strapping his weapons back on.]

Slow your fall with that. If you hear me yelling, don't follow.

[Hopefully his super jumping skills will coming in handy - one deep breath, and off into the black he goes again, once more grabbing onto Sheba's cloak - this time wrapping his hands in one end of it for a more secure hold.]

[Sheba watches carefully to make sure that everyone makes it onto Yu's Persona, waiting until Xion, too, is safely aboard. And then she looks to Asch gratefully, because though she'd been willing to make the fall alone, she hadn't particularly wanted to.

Asch has an idea - her cloak may be enough for them, but the others didn't seem to be wearing the same kind of clothing. Sheba bites her lip before loosening the cloth that makes her belt, readjusting her cloak, and then pulling off her own tunic. It's oversized and fwooshy, and though she doesn't know for sure if it will help, it's better to give them something to try with. She hands it off to Jonouchi.]

Like Asch said... maybe you can use that to slow your fall. [Then she reaches back for her cloak as Asch wraps his hands in one end of it. She knows enough of the wind to know that letting it billow out as a parachute right away won't work - she'll be holding it close for the moment. Her gaze wanders to Asch briefly before she looks away.] ...thank you for doing this with me.

[Then she takes a breath and makes the leap when he does, watching as they fall past the red lights. This isn't her first long fall, and at this rate it wouldn't be her last. She keeps her eyes open and her senses as alert as she can during the fall, and part of the way down she keeps her grip on her end of the cloak firm, but allows the rest of it out to catch the air currents to try and slow her fall.

She hopes this works. Part of her knows that there's a chance - probably a big chance - that it might not, with two people - but she's done her best to release the parachute not too soon and not too late.]

[As soon as they pass the red light, all superhuman abilities are disabled--they'll begin plummeting. They'll fall a long way before the cables return again. Hopefully they don't slam into Dark Pit as they fall.]

[A muffled swear that's lost in the wind whipping past them and the noise of the fabric expanding, half a breath to adjust to the feeling of falling - it's not too terrifying, with all the jumping he's done in the past.

And then the cables. It's his left hand that Asch frees from the cloak to grab on - it's the one closer to the cables as he falls, and if something happens, better that his sword arm still works. There's not enough time for that thought to consciously cross his mind, though - he just grabs. Hopefully the leather of his glove will at least save him from the worst of the rope burn.]

[Dark Pit hears them coming down, and does his best to swing across to the other side to extend the cable for maximum grabbing range.]

[Sheba makes a grab for the cable as Dark Pit swings across - though with the cable across the shaft and the cloak acting as an impromptu parachute, it wouldn't be all too surprising for someone or something to get tangled. She does her best to angle herself so that she doesn't slam directly into him, hoping that her sense of timing isn't that bad, and makes a frantic grab for the cable - her left hand still wrapped in her cloak, her right hand free, but both hands going for it - she doesn't think she has enough upper body strength to support herself with just one hand.]

[Sheba's cloak tangles itself in the swinging cable, which arcs and tangles around her right hand, snapping her elbow as a painful-looking angle.

The swinging elevator cable, meanwhile, loops itself around Asch's neck.

That should bring him to a very abrupt stop, at least.]

[Xion had stood, frozen in panic, as the argued. She'd wanted to say something, but by the time she managed to work past her shock, Yu had already summoned his Persona, and she climbed on board.

After several long moments, she looks at the others, especially Yu]

I can't hear anything. Should we go after them?

[There's just a moment of absolute shock - the moment where Xion says she can't hear anything - and then there's a piercing scream, which echoes back up the considerable distance between the cables and the rest of the team above the red lights. It's distorted from the echo and the distance, but it's distinctly not Asch's voice.

It hurts - her elbow's snapped and there's too much of a shooting pain up her right arm for her to hold onto it with that, so she clings all the more tightly with her left, looking up to see where Dark Pit and Asch are, to see if they've survived -

When she sees Asch, she screams again.] No!

[Dark Pit freezes, and then uses his good arm and knees to pull himself up the cable. When he sees what happened, there's a retching sound as he tries not to vomit.]

[This is his fault.]

N... no! I...

[He slides down the cable a little, before catching himself.]

[Upon hearing the scream, Xion freezes. Something had gone wrong. Very wrong, by the sounds of it. She can't stop herself from thinking, This was such a bad idea.

And yet those are her friends down there. Asch and Sheba - both of them. The idea of leaving them behind is not acceptable. Which means... the only thing to do is to help them. And to do that...]

We have to help them. I'm... [She steels herself] I'm going down too.

[She's terrified, and it shows on her face, but she doesn't give anybody time to talk her out of it before she swings herself off of the Persona's back. She catches herself with Float for a moment, but just as with Sheba's wind and such as soon as she passes the red ring of light, her speed picks up.

Her arms splayed wide against the rushing wind, she lets out a whimper that she can barely hear. She was no stranger to jumping off tall buildings and such - had actually done so fairly often in places like Agrabah - but even now this seemed different.]

[The fall goes quickly, and soon the cables are coming up back, along with Xion's assorted teammates and their corpses. If she doesn't grab on quickly, she's sure to slam right into them.]

[Thankfully, things are moving too fast for Xion to pick out any details, or really acknowledge her teammates at all besides the fact that they're there. Instead, with a jolt of panic, she sees the cables. She doesn't trust herself to do a precise grab, and instead she swings her arms forward, trying, not just to grab, but to wrap them around the nearest cable.]

[Xion's clothes are torn up as she slides and her chest takes the brunt of the friction burns, but between that and her team below her on the cable she gets away with minor injuries, though she might be in danger of kicking someone beneath her.]

[Xion yells a little in pain at the friction burns, though truth be told compared to some of the pain she's gone through in the Tower, it's bearable.

By the time she comes to a halt, her legs are hunched up a little, and she straightens them out, muttering a word she's heard Asch use and looking around at the other two]

Is everybody- [And then her foot hits somebody's face] Oh, sorry-

[And then she looks down to see Asch. Her eyes widen, horrified. Her breath catches, and she can't do anything but stare]

Xion--...

[Sheba looks up, gritting her teeth and trying to block out the pain radiating from her arm, trying to keep her grip on the cable steady. It wouldn't do any good now if she fell but for a moment she's tempted to, because dying will mean that for a few blissful hours - maybe even longer, if Jason has a lot of work to do - she won't feel anything at all.

But that be giving up... She tightens her hold on the cable with her good hand and wraps her legs around it as well, so if it comes to it, she may be able to shimmy down.] Are - you alright, and -

[She glances to Dark Pit, concern somewhere behind her pained expression.]

Are you...

[Dark Pit growls, gripping the cable as much as he can.]

Sheba. Shut up. Okay? It's not good. But we need to get back up there. So what are our options?

Edited 2013-07-31 02:41 (UTC)

[Xion's forcing back tears. She's about to reply to Sheba when Dark Pit cuts her off. It's all she can do not to glare at him, though thankfully focusing on holding on makes it a waste of time and energy to attempt]

I don't think we can get back up. None of us have powers down here and you said earlier you can't fly.

[She looks down the shaft, trying to avoid looking at Asch just beneath her. It's hard.]

The best we can do is go down and find a way back up from there.

[She looks back up again]

What about the others? They... they don't know what's happened.

[Shut up, he says, and then he asks about their options. Sheba just doesn't have the energy to make a biting remark, and besides - she understands that they'll all be pretty testy right now. They're in an awful situation. So she holds her tongue and tries to take stock of their surroundings.

No way up - Xion was right. To keep going forward would mean going down.]

They're too far away for us to be able to just yell up to them. The echo... [She glances at Dark Pit.] We weren't able to make out what you were saying. All we knew was that you were saying something.

[Asch had said, Don't jump if I yell. But he wasn't around to yell anymore.]

They'll probably be jumping down. I don't think we can stop them - the best we can hope for is to make the fall as easy for them as we can, and then like you said, Xion... go to the bottom and look for a way out. [She shifts and winces as pain shoots up her arm.] I don't think my cloak is big enough to spread across the whole shaft, though... or sturdy enough to break their fall. They'll be falling too fast for that.

[She bites her lip, mulling over options - but each idea seems more ridiculous and improbable than the last. A moment later a small sound of frustration comes from the back of her throat.]

Should we try and get further down now, to see what's down there? Maybe there will be something we can use to help them...

[An eerie silence, aside from noises the group makes, settles on the half of the group below the red light.]

Ugh, okay. I was trying to do that with the cable, but... yeah. You saw how that ended.

One of my arms is out of its socket and the other wrist hurts a lot.

... It's too quiet, though.

morning everyone

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handwaving Ion does this before Jou

and bonus handwaved redheads

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