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

[great_king_of_evil]

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])

Comments

[alae]

[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.]

[seekinganswers]

[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.]

[animusnpcs]

[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.]

[attheclocktower]

[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?

[seekinganswers]

[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!

[alae]

[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.]

[attheclocktower]

[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.]

[animusnpcs]

[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.]

[attheclocktower]

[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.]

[animusnpcs]

[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.]

[attheclocktower]

[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]

[seekinganswers]

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...

[alae]

[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?

[attheclocktower]

[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.

[seekinganswers]

[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...

[animusnpcs]

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

[alae]

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.

[seekinganswers]

...yeah.

[Sheba deliberately does not look at Asch's body. It seems wrong that he could have been so full of life only minutes before, and so still now. She takes a deep breath to try and keep herself calm, then slowly attempts to shimmy down the cable. It's a slow and awkward movement, with only one working arm.]

We should keep moving. It looks like these cables go on for a while... [At least, they stretch into the darkness from what she can see - not that she's got a good enough grip to get in the right position to look further.] If they don't grab them up there, we can shout for them to grab them further down. I don't like the idea of staying still...

[animusnpcs]

[Several elevator doors line the walls now, though all of them are closed. One, perhaps three below where Dark Pit is, seems to be shaking a little, however.

They're not too far above where they should be, relatively--though it will still be quite a bit of a climb.]

[attheclocktower]

Yeah, let's keep moving... if nothing else, they'll... they'll need to have room. So they don't hit anyone.

[Like she almost hit Asch... Besides, moving will make her feel better. Dark Pit's right, it's too quiet.

She reaches out for a nearby cable and grabs it instead, her muscles protesting at the movement after being clenched so tightly. After that, little by little, she starts to shimmy down the cable herself. She does her best to keep it controlled, however. It works, though in the end she'll probably have even more rub burns.

Finally she's twists her head a little to look over her shoulder]

There's some doors here. They're all closed though. I think... [She pauses, trying to steady herself and not lose her grip] I think one of them's moving.

[invisible_friendship]

[The scream didn't go unnoticed and not long after Xion had followed after them, but after that there were no noises at all. It was unnerving. Jonouchi clutched Sheba's tunic before turning to Ion.]

Let's not keep them waiting. Ion, climb on.

[His tone more than serious to handle the situation. He honestly didn't know how successful this was going to be but it was too late to back out now. The blonde kneeled down so his friend could mount him.]

Hold on tight, okay?

[The tone slightly softer. He would do his best to protect Ion on the way down.]

[fragileprophet]

[Ion didn't like this--the way everyone was just throwing caution to the wind and jumping. But then he supposed there wasn't much else they logically could do that this point, besides turn tail and leave...and that wasn't something that any of them considered an option.

When cries come from below them, Ion's hands ball into fists against his knees and his shoulders tense. He's afraid--not for himself, but for them. What had happened down there?

But he stops brooding on it the second Jonouchi moves and addresses him. His face twists indecisively.]

Are you sure?

[He hesitates, but then gulps down his feelings and does as he was told. There's no sense in arguing. And he has a feeling that the blonde is determined. Ion locks his arms around the other boy's shoulders and takes a deep breath.]

Thank you. [His voice is quiet, and before they jump, he spares a glance toward the other two--Luke especially--and tries to make as reassuring a smile as he can. A silent promise to meet them at the bottom, for better or for worse.]

[invisible_friendship]

[Jonouchi took in a strong breath. When he felt Ion was securely latched to him, he would exhale.

It was now or never.

The blonde prepped the tunic with hope it would slow their fall, even by a little, before leaping off. He had no powers, so he had nothing to lose when he got there.]

[animusnpcs]

[The cable comes up fairly quickly--they'll have to grab on fast, lest they hit the rest of their team and send everyone crashing down.]

[invisible_friendship]

[Jonouchi didn't hesitate to release the tunic and grappled onto the cable. Once he noticed his hold was as good as it was going to get he crossed his legs around it in attempt to slow their speedy decent.]