In preparation for a grand unveiling, the Sumeragi Conglomerate has opened all ports in their home country. As expected, such a move was causing quite the commotion on the day of the announcement. Among the throngs of emigrants making their ingress, there were quite a few Adepts to be found. In fact, many had received personal invitations in the form of hand-signed form-letters from Sumeragi's president.
But, with such an announcement on the horizon, and with so many emigrants making their ingress, trouble was sure to follow. The crowds milled about restlessly in a packed train station by the coast. Several figures in dark coats drifted near the walls. Out in the bay, unknown to anyone on shore, a cruiser sailed over the water, preparing to dock at the rear of the train station to allow its passengers to land.
At the entrance to the train station, across from which was a small port to accept passengers by water, a series of posters hung. Most were of the Sumeragi Logo, which was a stylized rendition of the titular company's tower headquarters surrounded by a gear like ring. Interspersed between these and several evenly spaced news screens were various small spray paint tags, most of which had already been painted over, with a few odd ones bleeding onto a poster or two. On all the screens simultaneously, a female reporter dictated the planned event proceedings, attempting to incite speculation in the viewers as to what that the event might entail.

---

The relative calm aboard the vessel was shattered, however, as several individuals in green diving suits leapt from the choppy waters and stormed onto the boat. Each had flippers and an air tank on their back, with rebreathers and goggles covering their faces. Their diving suits were layered in a way that almost made them seem armored, and most held harpoon guns out at the crowd.
"Alright, nobody move!" one of the men shouted, "Take it easy, and nobody gets hurt! We're going to be taking this boat for a little ride!"
With that, he gave some muted gestures and hushed commands to several of the divers behind him, who began heading below deck. A water-proof duffle bag was hoisted aboard, as yet more divers climbed onto the boat. Most of the passengers were being corralled into a corner, while the crew was pushed to their knees and spread out. One of the divers who had gone below decks emerged, only to seize the duffle bag for himself, and take it past the bridge.
"Nobody be a hero now!" their apparent leader called out, after having talked to the captain,"We wouldn't want any accidents,"
With that, he cackled madly, and planted a pot-shot into the deck near the captain, causing a harpoon to lodge precariously close to the man's side. The greyed man's heart sank as he eyed the weapon in shock.

---

Below decks, the green suited scuba divers began violently mashing their shoulders and the butts of their harpoons on doors. They weren't even checking if they were locked, leading to shocked screams from the occupants who hadn't thought to lock their doors. When they encountered resistance, they simply continued slamming against the door until something gave way. The rather disorganized clusters of door-smacking divers started mostly at the bow of the ship on the first deck of passengers, working steadily to the aft. It seemed they were ruthless, but not careless. The duffle bag was rushed down the hall and delivered carefully down the stairs by a group of four divers with knives, backed up by two in heavier diving suits with harpoon launchers. This group seemed intent to take the bag to lower decks, while the rest seemed to be taking their time, until they found a helpless passenger to drag, kicking and screaming, to the upper deck.

She started hearing the bangs on the doors closer to the bow of the ship, the sound managing to reach her ears even through the headphones she'd been listening to her music through. The sound became clearer when she moved the headphones to her neck, pausing her music to listen. The bangs, the screams of people being dragged out of their rooms, the sources of which seemed to be gradually moving toward her room located closer to the middle of the ship. Kira couldn't decide whether to grin or scowl; as much as she loved to get into dangerous situations, having learned a martial art (the teacher of which she'd taken a trip to visit, hence her presence on this ship) to help her defend herself specifically because of those urges, she wasn't as gung-ho about other people experiencing them with her, especially against their will. With a sharp breath inward, Kira tossed the magazine she'd been reading onto the floor and sat up, then stood up, out of bed.

She decided to position herself against the wall on the hinge side of the currently locked door to her room. She waited for whoever it was to come and break the lock on her door as it sounded like they'd done to the ones ahead of her. When it swung open, she'd intercept it and swing it back, ideally right into the face of whoever was attempting to assault her.

If that worked, she'd follow up by stepping away from the wall, facing the once-more closed door to her room, lifting her right leg, and thrusting her foot at the door. At the same time, she used Grav Hurl to change the effect of gravity on the door, changing it's direction to be in the same direction her foot was moving, and increasing its magnitude. This would cause the door to fly off its hinges into the hallway when her kick connected, which would hopefully slam into whoever was on the other side, pinning them to the hallway wall if the door stayed intact.

Following that, she'd step out of her room slowly, taking time to look both ways down the hall and assess if there were more aggressors to deal with, and if so, what weapons they were packing.

Kana buried her head in her hands.

For once--for once--she'd finally managed to eke out a night of pleasure time all to herself. She was so used to people staring at her. But everyone was down in their cabins, and so the deck of the boat that she'd managed to finagle her way on to during its stop in Hokkaido was dark and quiet until she'd retired for the night.

Or, well, it had been.

When her cabin had burst open, she was quite asleep. But Kana had always been a light sleeper, and her occupation certainly didn't help. So her instinctual reaction was immediate. She jackknifed to her feet less than a second after waking. Edgedancer erupted out of her and she axed her way forwards, sliding reflexively past a harpoon and clobbering the two invaders into unconsciousness with the black plastic guards that remained on her legs. Her breaths came heavily, nostrils flared.

A moment later, she quirked her mouth. Oh. They were, uh. Not gonna be able to report. Were they. Hmm.

"Well. This is a problem, isn't it." She sighed, dragging the two of them into her cabin and closing the door behind her. So. What exactly am I going to do with you two?

And that is what found her with her head in her hands. A moment later, she deactivated Edgedancer, hauling herself to her feet.

Her lips pursed. They had harpoon guns. Not everyone was able to defend herself like she was. She heaved out a heavy breath, preparing herself for some very unpleasant thoughts. But these people deserved it. Then, lips still tight, she shucked the plastic guards off, collapsing them into their portable state and sliding them into her little bag. The tink-tink-tink of her feet was loud against the floor. But not as loud as the bang that exploded through the hallway. She jolted, then ducked awkwardly through the doorway, peering down. Huh. Those were some...invaders pinned by a door. Against a wall. Somehow? And in front of them was a shortish, spiky-haired young woman, who seemed to be responsible. Her head nearly scraping the ceiling, Kana tinked up to her out of the shadows, hoping that she wouldn't look too...well. Monstrous.

"Hey. Any idea what's going on?"

The butt of the harpoon launcher slammed against the handle, jarring it and splintering the frame around it. When the diver stepped forth, and was met with a slam in the face, they staggered. The remainder of the nearby assailants moved to assist, only to be slammed back by the rapid door, which bent back against the hinges, before breaking off, and pressing them against the wall. Said divers were thoroughly roughed up with the one who had been unceremoniously headbutted with the door being incapacitated.

---

Kira- Combo: 1, EP Usage: Light

---

The two at the adjacent door, having been distracted by the door being slammed in their cohort's face, opened the door to step inside. The long prostheses caught them off guard, forcing their heads to turn from the first blow, and cracking their goggles with the second. The third stroke clonked the far one on the head, and crashed into the shoulder of the other, bringing both of them into a heap on the ground.

---

Kana- Combo: 2, EP Usage: Moderate

---

The divers against the wall clambered against each other, equally out of confusion as they were in pain, unable to quite get themselves sorted yet. Whether this was the work of the altered gravitation of the door, or their own incompetence, well, they had no way of knowing.
"Oh crap! Is that an Adept?" one called out in a hoarse voice.

---

A girl bundled in a grey sweatshirt took the driver out of a laptop and slung it back around her neck. Small hands with stubby nails tucked messy black hair into a hood as a scowl took her face. The sounds that had started at the bow of the ship were getting closer. While they weren't yet at the aft of the ship, where her cabin was, the girl began packing her things, stuffing the laptop into a bag, which she slung over her back. She was, however, very adamant on not leaving the room, despite the fact that her heart leapt each time the sounds got closer. She already knew her door was locked, but she still eyed the handle sharply. Her hand clutched on to the upper part of her left arm, which seemed to tremble a moment later.
The last thing she wanted was a fight. Honestly, she didn't even know how to fight. She knew she'd have to run soon, especially if-
_{"Oh crap! Is that an Adept?"}
The shout in the distance made her blood run cold. Were these people rounding up Adepts? Had someone caught wind of an Adept being on the boat? Had she been found out? Her heart pounded in her throat, as her own dark curiosity swirled and gripped at her mind.

Kira, seeing no other assailants in that hallway for the moment, admired her handiwork. Awakening to the ability to alter the effect of gravity on things all those years ago had certainly thrown her for a loop, and it did cause the people who she used to consider friends to avoid her out of fear, but it was also what had helped her pave her path to the future she wanted to build. She could hardly begrudge being abnormal when it was directly responsible for a lot of the good things she currently had going for her, not to mention it was just fun to use.

"Oh crap! Is that an Adept?"

"Did you not expect to run into any?!" Kira shouted, lifting her right leg and stomping on the door pinning the men to the wall. The amount of force her athletic leg would apply was a fraction of the force of increased gravity applied to the door, but it would hurt nonetheless. "Maybe you guys should watch the news more often!"

"Hey. Any idea what's going on?"

Kira leapt off the floor, her flight instinct kicking in and altering the direction of gravity on her body to the same direction gravity was pulling the door. Her full weight was now added onto the door as she crouched on it, inky black eyes widened at the huge woman who had snuck up on her while she was yelling at the goons and, now that she had a good look, also appeared to have blade legs. To some she might have resembled a surprised cat.

"Uhh...No? Even less so now," Kira said, eyes darting down and up the tall, blade-legged woman's figure, her brain processing whether she was a threat, too. Her question, and the answer she'd just given finally registering in her mind, she surmised this unfortunate amputee must be as confused as she herself was. Kira stood up, sticking out sideways atop the door. She turned to smile up to Kana's face, her head level with the woman's stomach. "But, I guess if you're asking me, that means you don' know either. So I guess we're in whatever mess this is together. I'm Kira, nice meetin' ya'."

Kana's mouth quirked into an amused smile as the young woman in front of her latched against the wall, looking for all the world like a bug clinging on to the side of a tree.

"Kana. Likewise. So it looks like I'm not the only Adept on the boat. Comforting for our chances to retake it, if nothing else."

Then, a beat later: "oh dear, they're still conscious. Gimme a sec, 'kay?"

A few liberally applied fists-to-the-temples later, the two invaders pinned to the door were out cold. Kana leaned against the far wall from them, frowning as she thought. "Anyway, now that we don't need to worry about them listening in, we gotta think of a plan. I could probably go at it and deal with them, but I'd really rather not hurt anyone permanently, and my guards aren't meant for violent motion. Don't want to break those."

She rolled her shoulders, limbering up for intense physical activity. "Well, first thing's first. Let me get suited up, alright?" Returning to her cabin, she made sure that nobody was creeping up on her, and the two goons from before were still well and truly unconscious before she slipped out of her casual clothing. She smiled to herself: don't get caught with your pants down! Out of her bag, she pulled the closest thing she had to her work clothing: a set of lightweight, flexible, durable armor. It was no replacement for her proper armor—she really, honestly hadn't thought she'd need it tonight—but it might turn a harpoon if it struck in the right spot, and it wasn't as baggy as her shorts. Anything that gave less leverage in a fight was good by her.

She left once more, locking the door from the outside with her keycard just to ensure no escape from the captives within and transferring her back over to Kira's. "Right. Plan. Any bright ideas?"

Kana. Adept. Tall woman with blade legs. Could punch hard enough to knock a person out. Liked to plan before acting. Had a combat-suitable outfit prepared, indicating she had been expecting combat when she got on this ship. Her blade guards weren't made for combat, indicating (disturbingly but perhaps not surprisingly) that despite her reluctance to do so in this current situation, she possibly did use her blade legs to kill. Kira took in the details as they were given to her, formulating an opinion and trying to extrapolate further knowledge. Kira, despite having formal training in a martial art and being a thrill-seeking danger magnet, didn't consider herself a dangerous person necessarily. This Kana, though. She was a dangerous person. Or perhaps, given her lax and amicable demeanour, she was a nice person with a dangerous job. I mean, she has blades for legs. Perfect for working the cash at a convenience store, stupid, Kira berated herself.

"Right. Plan. Any bright ideas?"

"Well, it'd be easier to form one if we had some info on what these guys were up to," Kira said, tilting sideways into a quarter-cartwheel as she shifted her gravity back to normal and planted her feet back on the floor. She then pointed her finger at the door pinning the now unconscious assailants, then pointed behind her with the thumb of the same hand, using the motions to apply her Septima, making the door fly back into her room. She knelt down and began searching the men, now slumped onto the floor, for clues about what they were doing. Maybe they had some written orders or floor plans or something. "Was kinda' hopin' we could interrogate 'em, tee-bee-aech. Sleepin' dudes tell about as many tales as dead ones."

Kana shrugged.

"I get what you're saying, but if we leave them awake, then we risk them figuring out what we're planning and finding a way to report it to whoever's calling the shots. Just wanna be safe. As for a plan..."

She went quiet for a few seconds, clearly thinking, before continuing. "Right, here's what I'm thinking. You look like you've got some kind of force powers, controlling things with your mind, pinning people to walls, stuff like that. My Septima just makes me much more physically competent; faster, stronger, better reflexes, information processing, that kind of thing."

She paced the room back and forth with the unguarded tink of her blades, mind running hot. She really didn't want to think about this stuff tonight, damnit. "If we can find some way to get to the outside of the ship, then you can stick me to the wall and I can run up it to the bridge, find the one responsible for this whole mess—I'd bet on him being up there—and deal with him. Cut the head off the snake, yknow? If I need to hurt people at all, I'd rather hurt as small an amount as possible."

So then, the questions remained...had she misjudged Kira's powers? Would the smaller woman be capable of sticking Kana to the wall for long enough to get up there? Would she even agree to the plan in the first place? As plans went, it certainly wasn't airtight, there were about a billion things that could go wrong, and if any of them did, it spelled disaster for them and everyone on board. Kana sighed as she tied her long dark hair up into a tight bun, pinning it with a needle-sharp hairpin that could be used as a shiv if the situation called for it, then smiled lamely at Kira as her companion searched the pockets of the people that had been sent to flush them out of their rooms.

"At least, that's the best I can come up with on short notice. If you've got any better ideas, I sure would like to hear them."

"Grk!"
The struggling of the green-suited divers came to a halt as their goggles and snorkels clattered from the blows Kana delivered against their heads. Almost the same moment, she would feel the familiar sensation of her EP reserves replenishing. Kira, on the other hand, would have a sensation like her eyes being dry, but spreading over her body- a sign that her own EP was running a bit low.

---

Kira- Combo: 1, EP Usage: Moderate*
Kana- Combo: 4, EP Usage: OK

---

The hall was mostly clear, as marked by the lack of reaction to the sound caused by the unceremonious gravitational plopping of the door back to its former position, held but contorted away from its proper resting position. Most of the clamor and footsteps had moved to lower decks, although the top deck still seemed rather crowded, as passengers were being funneled up and out from their cabins. The only pockets at hip level on the wetsuits were very small and extremely elastic. Each pocket was empty, and only about two inches wide, and around half as much more deep. Three of the divers had straps across their chest, with broad utility knives in hard plastic sheaths fixed tight to them- the kind one could easily see being used to cut ropes and other sub-marine snares. The others had had their harpoon launchers tossed away in the fight.

The faint sound of he engine revving up ebbed from below decks, followed by the sudden lurch as the boat picked up speed. The resulting motion knocked the girl left in her cabin off her feet. She toppled over, hitting against the door, and bringing her luggage with her. Though on the ground, she listened carefully, shocked still. There was no way that sound hadn't been heard out in the hall. She held her breath without realizing it. Her fists balled up, hoping beyond hope that whoever was rounding up Adepts wouldn't still be there, wouldn't find her. Her jaw clenched tight as she waited for what felt dreadfully inevitable.

From the moment the banging on doors and clamoring started, Rikku knew this was going to be a two-bottle night. Possibly three, depending on the severity of the night’s festivities.

It’s going to be warm sake, too. I rather think I’ll have earned it by night’s end, they groused, thankful that they at least had the mind to pack their equipment, in case Sumeragi customs got handsy. They weren’t that kind of service company, darling. No one could afford what that would cost. Renkon slid from its sheath just as the knocking (to put it gently) began at Rikku’s own door. They sighed.

“How very rude,” they muttered, just as the handle was smashed off of the door and some brute barged into their room with… a harpoon gun. Rikku almost laughed aloud. Was this the Exploration Age, darling? Did he forget his cutlass and tricorn hat?

“Drop the weapon! Hands in the air, get on your—“

His orders were cut off as Rikku’s left hand snapped out, Renkon following in a violet arc, parting the man’s throat in an instant.

“What kind of individual do you take me for? Does the haori throw you off?” They barged past the dying man, knocking the soon-to-be corpse onto the floor. They had bigger fish to filet.

Rikku had the sneaking suspicion that this mission had been some surreptitious initiation into some kind of cause. They frowned at that idea- they cordially disliked causes in all forms. The noble ones couldn’t afford them. And the ones that could pay what they were worth tended more toward the self-righteous than actual. Often worse. Charitable skin on a con man’s bones.

“I’ll be having words with this client once we finish this mess,” they huffed, looking around the hallway. No one. Apparently this fellow had gotten a tad ahead of his peers. Suited Rikku just fine- blood was ever so hard to wash out of silk.

Now, they thought, heading toward the aft of the ship, let’s find this hacker and get the hell off of this boat. Time is money, and I am not fond of wasting either.

There was a loud thumping sound from down the hall, and Kana snapped back into Alert Mode. She sighed, fingering the object that she'd taken from her room and wishing that she hadn't needed to put it on tonight. But it wouldn't do for her to be discovered, now would it? Suzushii wouldn't like that very much. And as much as she wasn't happy with them, she also didn't want them to cut her legs off and leave her to bleed out on the side of the road like they probably would if she caused enough trouble.

And so, on went the mask.

She turned to Kira, mouth pressed into a thin, hard line, though it was impossible to tell now. Her eyes narrowed. "I'm going to go see what that was. Want to avoid loss of life as much as I can." And so she carefully began her walk down the hall, supporting herself with her hand on the wall. She was keenly aware that she could run into a group of invaders at any time. Edgedancer hovered at the very edge of her awareness, desperately clawing to be unleashed, and she was all too ready to listen. She was reasonably certain that she could take three or four of them at a time. Maybe seven if they were initially unaware of her. But without her tech armor, she wanted to avoid conflict as much as possible. And so she winced with each tinking step she took on the hard decking.

After a short, relatively paranoid walk, she turned a corner, then arrived at the cabin that (she thought) the noise had come from. Could always be wrong. She listened for a bit, but heard nothing. Raising her hand, she hesitated for a moment, looking back and forth along the corridor. Her breaths were coming quickly. Her awareness was ratcheted as high as it could go, but she could hear nothing. She hated how vulnerable she felt without Edgedancer, but knew that she was on a high burn, and she only had so much EP to go around. She had the distinct feeling that this was going to be a long night.

Knock knock

"Hey. Anybody in there?"

Having not found anything of interest to her on the knocked out goons' persons, Kira stood to better listen to Kana's proposal.

"If we can find some way to get to the outside of the ship, then you can stick me to the wall and I can run up it to the bridge, find the one responsible for this whole mess—I'd bet on him being up there—and deal with him. Cut the head off the snake, yknow? If I need to hurt people at all, I'd rather hurt as small an amount as possible."

"Yeah, I can prob'ly man--"

Kira's answer was cut off by the ship lurching from the increase in speed, and the subsequent thud from a nearby room. Kira figured it was just another passenger like herself and Kana, or maybe an object falling, so she quirked an eyebrow as Kana proceeded to treat the noise with much more urgency. She watched her slip a mask over the bottom half of her face and begin to stalk toward the sound like a bipedal spider would its prey.

"I'm going to go see what that was. Want to avoid loss of life as much as I can."

Kira wasn't sure if that meant Kana was going to treat the source of the sound as a threat or as a life to avoid the loss of, but she supposed it didn't really matter until she got there. The real question was that of her own next move. In order to pull off Kana's plan, they'd need access to outside the ship, which the rooms that opened into this hallway didn't have, being so deep in the hull.

"I'll come, too. The room that came from might have a porthole."

She fell into step behind Kana, her own footfalls being much quieter than hers, to the point that they might as well have been silent underneath the tinking that rang through the halls. She considered altering her gravity and walking on the ceiling so that she wouldn't be right behind Kana if she got targeted by a surprise attack, but decided against it; she was going to need her EP for Grav Room if they found that porthole.

"Hey. Anybody in there?"

"Knock once for "yes", knock twice for "fuck off, bitches, I have a harpoon"."

---

Kira- Combo: 1, EP Usage: OK
Kana- Combo: 4, EP Usage: OK
Rikku- Combo: 1, EP Usage: OK

---

Hands shot over her head in a defensive flinch. Noriko ducked lower, if that were even possible, as if trying to draw into herself.
"Who are you?" she declared in a panic.
After a moment of though, she began to feel against her head, with a sense of desperation, causing her clothes and belongings to shuffle loudly, checking for any injury.

There was screaming from the top deck and the sounds of splashing water. Waves were crashing against the prow of the ship, the sudden increase in speed churning the water before and beside. From below, the engine roared, echoing from the stairwell, indicating that a door had been left open.

“Bit rude, innit?”

---

“One…two…not even three hundred?” Travis sighed as he thumbed through the loose currency from a pilfered wallet. He stacked it with the rest and tapped out a couple of credit cards. “Who goes on a world-class cruise with less than a grand? Someone who don’t live enough, that’s who.” A handheld scanner copied the cards perfectly, and Travis slipped them back into the wallet just like he found them. Cards could be tracked, he would probably only get one or two purchases off of them before they were canceled or locked, but if the owner thought the thief only took the cash and left everything else, it’d be easy to believe that it was “too troublesome” to bother with the cards–so maybe they wouldn’t call their bank right away. “This was…cabin 103.”

Every passenger’s suite on the ship had a personal safe, which could only be accessed with a single magnetic card obtained by paying a deposit at the room steward’s office. Unless, of course, you had an awesome power to bend space and time. Cruise ships and hotels were some of the easiest for his powers to work with–rooms, safes, everything was almost always an exact carbon copy, all lined up right next to each other. Once he learned the dimensions, he could wait until a room was unoccupied, get in unseen, and transfer the contents of the safe. But keeping track of where you got what was important–some people would go longer without checking their belongings than others, and if those who opened their safes earlier found someone else’s stuff that wasn’t even known to be missing, it would start a domino effect across the whole ship. And that would be a lot of unnecessary attention.

Speaking of unnecessary attention…what the hell was going on outside? Sounded like the whole damn ship was in the hallway–and then someone screamed. Travis grimaced as he put his ear to the door. Then his face paled. Oh, shit. His head turned on a swivel as he backed away. The bathroom, or the closet? Under the bed? No, that one was right out. He yanked open a bedside table drawer, scooped all the stolen belongings into it–Gonna have to sort ‘em all over again, dammit!--and grabbed his 9-mil lying at the back. Then he vaulted over the bed–just as the first impact shook his doorframe. He slammed the bathroom door shut, and turned. The cabin door splintered inward under the butt of a weapon. The thief ran back across his room in a panicked sprint. Travis drew the closet door shut with a silent click, just as two men burst into the room.

The adept’s breath was slow and shallow as he peered through the slats of the closet door’s blind. They each swept the cabin with…a harpoon gun? Were they afraid of bullets ricocheting in the ship’s interior? Then again, maybe their scuba getup didn’t have a waterproof container for a firearm? He did see pockets, with at least one knife. And there were layers…armored plates, maybe? His pistol wouldn’t get through that.

“It’s clear, on to the next one!” said the first.

“Not yet! Check the side rooms!”

“Aw c’mon, if someone was in here they’d have heard us and screamed or somethin’! Let’s just go!” There were several loud crashes outside, and the unmistakable sounds of a struggle. The men didn’t seem too perturbed–which meant they weren’t alone in this heist.

“Screw you, we’re doin’ this right! Check the bathroom, I’ll cover you!”

“Screw you! What if they’re taking a dump in there, huh? That’s just awkward for everybody.” The second scuba-man ground his teeth hard enough Travis could hear them creaking against the rebreather.

“Then check. The. Closet.”

Travis held his breath. The first intruder shrugged, and headed for the closet. The thief backed away from the door. The man’s green, rubber coated hand grasped the handle and threw it open.

“Empty!”

A cyan light flashed around the edges of the bathroom door. Both whirled towards it and jerked their guns to position.

“If that’s what their dumps are like, I don’t wanna see what this fella’s been eating. Get in there!” Despite one giving his companion the order, both moved together to the bathroom. Without even checking to see if it was locked, they both kicked at once to shatter the latch. Less stable than the cabin’s entrance, the door exploded into the room. Both thugs followed, one crouched, both with weapons at the ready. The barrel of each harpoon gun swept the room. Both missed the second flash, back in the closet.

Everything in the restroom was covered in that same eerie cyan light. The tub, the tiled floors, the toilet…

“What the hell?” One of them reached out to touch the mirror, and watched as his hand passed through some kind of intangible wall. He poked his head out next, and saw that the color only applied to the part of the bathroom in which they were standing. All the other fixings of the room were just colored by it as if they were wearing sunglasses, because they were boxed in on all sides.

“This definitely ain’t normal, let’s–” He turned back to his companion, re-entered the glowing area in the process…and saw Travis, across the room. The Englishman looked smug as he stood in the closet, waving at them.

Then there was a flash, and the two found themselves outside Cabin 252’s window, about ten feet away from the body of the ship. They had just enough time to look down before they plummeted into the ocean. As if on cue, the ship lurched with a burst of speed, leaving them behind. The thief steadied himself against the door, then looked out the porthole to watch them struggle.

“Wankers.” Travis sneered.

---

Travis surveyed another empty cabin and another broken door. The whole level had signs of struggle here and there, but very little damage. No blood, either. So the frogmen, corsairs, whatever they were wanted captives alive. Hostage and ransom, then. That meant most folks on board would get away with their lives, so long as they didn’t do anything stupid like try to fight back. This might actually be a lucky break for him–the various stolen articles could easily be blamed on the pirates and keep him out of the spotlight.

He couldn’t hear any more noise on the deck above him–he thought maybe he’d heard someone knocking on a door, and a woman’s voice calling out, but he couldn’t be sure and certainly wasn’t going to go check. He needed to find a place to lay low until either the coast guard cleared this mess up, or the pirates docked the ship somewhere else. But, if the upper passengers and the main deck had already been covered by the frogmen…that meant he needed to go lower.

Unfortunately, the lower decks were not silent. From below, the engine roared, and the deafening echo bounced up the stairwell and down the hall towards Travis. For it to be that loud…had someone left the door to the engine room open? Had the frogs secured that, too–or were they doing something to it? If they wanted to stop the ship before it could reach shore, why not just take over the controls? Travis gulped as he realized the possibility. A bomb?

Then the gnawing fear in his belly turned to an icy bite. Travis slowly turned his gaze. He caught a whiff. It was not a pleasant aroma–but one he knew quite well. One he tried to avoid, at all costs, whenever he could. But in a life like his, that scent was all too common. The smell of blood. And it came, slow, with leisure, down the hall. Toward him.

@EnterTheHeroAnother figure walked through the hall, and in their hand a sword dripped crimson. Nonchalant and smooth, their movements told Travis that this was a professional--the kind of guard or muscle he always made a point to avoid when burgling some rich target’s mansion. On top of the fear factor was also the weird factor. They wore traditional Japanese garb, which matched the sword, and had some crazy two-tone hair. If that don’t scream ‘sod off’ I dunno what does. No thank you, ol’ chap.

He started to duck into one of the cabins–if he crouched low on the floor, he could maximize Trick Room’s distance, and then visualize the spatial dimensions of the ship well enough to move between floors…but that might drop him right in the laps of those frogmen messing with the engine! Was this killer part of their crew? Their outfit certainly didn’t match…but then wouldn’t that be a trend for a leader type in a gang like this?

He had to calm down. They were already too far up the hallway, no way they hadn’t seen him by this point anyway. Dealing with one person–even a dangerous one–beat dealing with who-knew-how-many. Travis swept one hand through his hair, then adjusted his glasses. The other eased into his coat pocket.

Travis, chum, what the hell are you doing? Time to take the gamble. Roll the dice. He stepped further out into view as the robed figure closed in, and put on his most charming smile.

“Don’t suppose you’re with them, then?” he spoke up, wincing as his own voice echoed. “The dodgy gits goin’ round bashing all the doors in, I mean.”

Kana jolted as a response came from within the cabin. She knew that tone of voice very well. There was somebody in there, all right; somebody panicking. Or somebody very much in pain. She knocked on the door again more urgently, keeping her tone friendly, but quickening her speech maybe more than she should have. She didn’t know, she didn’t have too much experience with this kind of thing. “Name’s Kanako. This is Kira. We’re trying to figure out how to get this dealt with. Next to us is probably the safest place on this boat right now.”

There was a moment of hesitation from the other side of the door, before a response finally came, “I… I don’t… are you… who was that out there l-looking for Adepts? A-are you…?”

Kana shot a glance at Kira. It felt off to her to give away someone else’s Adept status, especially when they could so easily be leveraged against people. But on the other hand, she was a performer who used her Septimal powers on stage…still. Better not.

“An Adept? Yeah. Might look a little freaky, but I don’t bite. Or kick.”

“I bite and kick, but that costs extra,” Kira chimed in, a deep, throaty laugh following after the remark. “Ahhh, nah, just kiddin’. Seriously, though, you tellin’ me you don’t recognize Hiko no Kira’s voice? What kinda’ rock you been livin’ under? Ahhahaha!”

Well, she wasn’t that famous- yet- but she was well known enough that she could at least pretend she was full enough of herself to say a line like that. Hopefully the person on the other side of the door wouldn’t think she was being sincere, but even if she did, it’d be worth it if she either recognized her stage name or enjoyed her attempts at levity and calmed down enough to get through a full sentence without stuttering.

Click

Her sleeve slid off her hand as she grasped the handle, unlocking the door. The door opened a crack, her eye peeking through, over her shoulder. Kana breathed out a silent sigh of relief. That had gone much smoother than she’d thought. She’d been ready to kick the bolt off and drag the girl out—the better to keep her safe, because who knew how many invaders were still roaming around—but she had a feeling that wouldn’t have gone over well. Then, with an apprehensive breath, she took hold of the door, the handle far underneath where it would be for a normal person.

“Don’t freak out. I won’t hurt you.” And then she swung the door open and ducked slightly so the mysterious girl could see her beneath the doorframe, legs tinking on the floor.

Slowly, the shorter girl stood, giving a slight nod. “So, you are an Adept. Let’s get out of here,” her voice softly droned, still sounding quite withdrawn.

Once again, better than expected. Kana had anticipated screaming, shaking, some kind of panic response from how the voice had sounded behind the door. But now that she was in plain view, nothing like that at all, more deadpan than anything else. Convenient, if mildly confusing and concerning. She gave a sharp, birdlike nod, standing back up to her full height and moving aside so the girl could pass her blades. If she was that concerned about people being Adepts, she was probably one too. And though she was loath to pry, they needed every advantage they could get. “Didn’t catch your name.” A pause. “Or your Septima.”

“Didn’t throw it,” came the terse response, as Noriko turned her attention down the hall, “And you don’t want to see it. What’s that noise?”

“Engine running, I think…shouldn’t be that loud, though,” Kira remarked, looking in the same direction as Noriko. She turned her attention back to Kana to look for her input. “Think someone left a door open on their way down to it?”

A sense of foreboding filled Kana as she thought it over. If they were just taking control of the boat, then why would they need to interact directly with the engine…? She didn’t know what exactly they were doing, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. “Seems like it. So let’s go find that door.”

Noriko shrank into herself once again, falling in line behind Kana and Kira. Her face seemed more pensive than ever, all scrunched up and downturned. Her arms went stiff at the thought of meeting up with whoever was rounding people up. The thought of the confrontation made her blood run cold.

Kana, on the other hand, had her eyes narrowed and her already fast pace steadily accelerating. She clenched her fists repeatedly to stay focused, and her face under the mask was twisted in a soundless snarl. Enough innocent people had been injured and terrified already. Whatever they were doing to the engine could not be allowed.

No more knockouts tonight.

Well, now... who might you be?

Rikku tilted their head at the frantic-looking chap down the hall. Based on his dress, he couldn’t be with the hijackers, though he could be some sort of specialist… no. The way he was clearly stumbling to get away, rather than unnecessarily waving his member around like the dead terrorist in their cabin, also pointed toward “civilian.”

Of course, this brought its own dilemma. Rikku didn’t like being seen on the job. Particularly after just turning a highjacker into a Pez dispenser. The wrong words in the wrong place could put a face to the name so many had on their lips, and that would be the end of that, as far as their career went. Of course, they couldn’t just gut the poor fool- turning civilians into sashimi was one of those things that was horribly damning to one’s reputation.

As they mulled this over, the man spoke.

“Don’t suppose you’re with them, then? The dodgy gits goin’ round bashing all the doors in, I mean.”

Rikku considered the man for a moment, their options, and finally decided on a course of action.

”Hm. No, I don’t suppose I am. And I don’t suppose you are, either, judging by the cold sweat.”

They walked closer, flicking the blood from their sword.

”I have business with these hijackers, as it turns out. I’d suggest you return to your cabin, but they’ve probably knocked the damn handle off, same as mine. I can’t very well leave you here to be harpooned by some Neanderthal, so… follow me. I’ll see us through this mess, but please, don’t end up underfoot. I can’t guarantee your safety if you’re between me and my enemy.”

@Zeroth

---

Kira- Combo: 1, EP Usage: OK
Kana- Combo: 4, EP Usage: OK
Rikku- Combo: 1, EP Usage: OK
Travis- Combo: 0, EP Usage: Moderate*

---

One of the divers, slightly better equipped than those around him, rested his foot squarely on the back of the captain as his hands held the tiller. The soft crackle of static caused him to raise his shoulder and lower his head.
"Go ahead."
"Sir, we have a problem."
His jaw tightened, heel digging into the captain's back, "What do you mean, problem?"
Another voice crackled over the comm, "We were sweeping the cabins, just like you said, but we ran into an Adept. Tall guy, spoke English. Brown hair, glasses, blue eyes."
The driver gripped the tiller tightly with a gloved hand, before stepping over the captain, gesturing to one of the men beside him, "Keep us on course," he growled, before moving to a group of divers guarding the civilians, "You, sweep deck two. Make sure the boys in the belly of the boat get their job done. Keep an eye out for a foreigner, brown hair, too tall, blue eyes, glasses. He's an Adept, so don't bother detaining him. Go for the kill. Trash anything he has on him when you find him. I don't want anything getting back that could connect this to us. MOVE!"

---

The sound of flippery boots tromped down the stairs towards the cabins. There was a slamming from below, and the echoing sounds of the engine were drowned out. A cluster of ten divers, harpoon launchers on point, flowed down the stairs, beginning to march into range behind Travis. As they approached, one of the more eager of the divers fired.

“Oi, watch the merch!”

---

She--wait, was this person a woman? The pink hair and the robes made him think that way at first, but he...wasn't sure about the voice. And the Japanese style clothes hid a lot of other features that would've been distinguishing. But, whoever they were, they stared at him for several long moments before answering. In his coat pocket, the palm of his hand tensed against his pistol.

”Hm. No, I don’t suppose I am. And I don’t suppose you are, either, judging by the cold sweat.”

Travis let out a shaky breath. They walked closer, flicking the blood from their sword. He wondered just what a pro like this was doing on a passenger cruise. A sword meant getting up close and personal with somebody...an assassin? The thief didn't think there were any bigwigs on the ship...or at least, none of the safes he'd hit so far hinted at that kind of status.

”I have business with these hijackers, as it turns out. I’d suggest you return to your cabin, but they’ve probably knocked the damn handle of, same as mine. I can’t very well leave you here to be harpooned by some Neanderthal, so… follow me. I’ll see us through this mess, but please, don’t end up underfoot. I can’t guarantee your safety if you between me and my enemy.”

"Oh, believe me," Travis said, putting his other hand in his pocket as well, "I keep me head well out of trouble..." But the bloodied figure kept going--and not in the direction Travis wanted. "Oi, uh...shouldn't we be headin' above deck--"

There were two noises, simultaneous, yet easily picked out by their direction and style. Both footsteps. Both groups of more than one person. The first sounded lighter, quieter, except for a distinct, metallic tink tink tink. The latter, heavier, more numerous--by quite a bit. Travis's head whipped back and forth--and the latter group proved to be the most urgent.

The sound of flippery boots tromped down the stairs towards the cabins. There was a slamming from below, and the echoing sounds of the engine were drowned out. A cluster of ten divers, harpoon launchers on point, flowed down the stairs, beginning to march into range behind Travis. As they approached, one of the more eager of the divers fired.

"Right then!" As soon as he saw the rifle come up he'd made a dive for the nearest broken-in cabin door. The harpoon tore right through one of his whipping coat tails as he tumbled to the floor in a roll, then scrambled onto all fours. He looked out at the swordsperson as he straightened his glasses. "There's your enemy, and here's me out the way!"

Now that he was in cover, he grabbed the pistol once more and made sure the safety was off. He popped the magazine out just to check--one in the barrel, thirteen more ready to go--then slammed it back in. The 9mm probably wouldn't do much if those suits had any armor, but it was better than nothing. He tried to calm himself down.

You or them, mate, no choice. They shot first--

He stopped, gulping down fear for just a moment.

I ain't the one holding the bloody sword. Why would they shoot at him first? Just to get rid of the easier target? But why get rid of anyone at all--he'd already seen that there were no bodies, and limited harm done in struggles with other passengers. Why did these new arrivals go for the kill right off the bat? And, again, why him?

"Who the hell even are you knobs!?" he yelled out the doorway, keeping his back to the wall between him and the hallway. No guarantee they'd answer--if tall, pink, and deadly there didn't have them too occupied already--but why not ask? Just to be polite, right? He scoffed at his own joke.

Kana whirled around at the sounds of a scuffle, awareness ratcheted up as high as it could go. A man with an accent yelling. The sound of harpoons striking the walls. And a very, very faint noise that she couldn't quite parse, but reminded her of violence all the same. She closed her eyes tightly.

There are so many better things to worry about right now. There could be something very bad happening down with the engine. You could go up like you planned and deal with the leader. Can you really afford the time to go help whatever's going on?

Before the thought had even finished, she knew the answer. Not a chance she was going to stand there as more people got hurt. Not when she could do something about it. Damn everything else, she'd been 'gifted' with these goddamn legs; might as well use them for good for once. She took a long, calming breath. I didn't want to hurt anyone tonight. I really didn't. But just because they started the fight doesn't mean I can't end it. It's different this time. You're helping people. The breath heaved out. Eyes still closed, "Keep going towards the engine room. I'll catch up with you soon." For just a moment, she was very grateful that she was wearing her mask.

Her eyes snapped open, and she blasted towards the fight, Edgedancer surging out of her at its full strength. In the space between heartbeats, the calm and slightly wobbling tink of her footsteps was replaced with the shrieking sound of metal crashing into metal at high speed as she blazed down the narrow corridor. The world moved in slow motion around her, and the sound of fighting came into clear focus. A distant corner of her brain hissed in dissatisfaction at the British man. You're making too much noise. Just asking to get hurt. Shut up. She wanted to hate him for being in such a place that she needed to do this. She wanted to find a vessel for her pent-up anger and frustration. Someone that she could blame, and blame harmlessly. But she couldn't bring herself to hate him. He was stuck here like everyone else. Nobody was making her do this but her.

A corner in the hallway loomed ahead of her; sounded like whatever was going on was just around it. Even if she wanted to, she didn't have the time or space to slow down. So instead she sped up as much as she could. And jumped.

She struck the wall, and with all the speed and power that her Septima brought her, she kicked it. With one more jagged, metallic screech, she launched herself forward and twisted in midair, whizzing past the Englishman and a...man? Woman?...person in a haori, of all things—and aiming a flying scissor kick at the closest frogman.

And, as all her pent-up frustration boiled over—her quiet time ruined, her guards off, her legs being used against a human being again—she axed downwards at him with a furious scream.

Kira likewise stopped upon hearing the sounds of the skirmish coming from down the hall. Not one to shy away from a fight, and itching to knock some more heads after having her trip back home ruined by these wetsuit-clad jerks, a smirking Kira took a step toward the source of the noises.

"Keep going towards the engine room. I'll catch up with you soon."

The blur that Kana had become whizzed by her before she could fully register what the woman had said, though the pause that sudden movement gave her lasted long enough for her to do so. She...wasn't fully confident she could keep up with that kind of movement in a fight, the wide-eyed Kira decided, at least not without hindering it with gravity, which would be counter-intuitive with them fighting on the same side. It was probably best to stay out of the crossfire of that one.

Plus... Kira looked back at the disheveled rugrat who had yet to throw her name, expression setting as her determination settled on a course of action. I got her to think about.

Kira turned back on course toward the sound of the engine still coming from the open door they hadn't arrived at yet. "You heard the lady. We keep goin' this way. C'mon."

She resumed walking at the same pace they had been before Kana's departure, deciding to use the time it would take to reach the room to get some information flow going. If they were going to run into trouble in the engine room, it might be helpful for them to know what to expect from one another. "My Septima lets me manipulate the magnitude and direction of gravity, either for myself, objects in my line of sight, or for every living thing in an area around myself. I can't target specific living things with the effect. So if I tell you to hold onto me, you hold on tight, okay? And maybe close your eyes if you get motion sick easy."