[IC] Rise of the Adepts: Septima Strikers (ASG PowerPunk/Futuristic) [Reboot]

[Nikki Moonlight]

Lilith fought the divers that had shot at her, a wild smirk playing her plump, pale lips. She let out an insane giggle. She watched the men fall, either dead or nearly dead. One was incapacitated, looking up at her with fear in his eyes as she ripped off the man's goggles. "Now...Who are you and why are you hijacking this boat?!" she snarled, gripping the man's hair and pulling the motionless man so close they were nearly kissing. Her eyes had turned sclera charcoal with her abilities.

[Ryougu]

As Itachi was finally 'alone' in the tiller house, he sheathed his kusarigama, feeling satisfied, though at the same time slightly disappointed. "You could've just left, you know..." he grumbled at the divers' corpses. "Ah well, can't be helped, now." Heading to the leader's corpse and grabbing the harpoon, Itachi smirked. "This thing doesn't actually look half bad, I might just keep it myself." Strapping the harpoon to his back, Itachi also grabbed the leader's gun. He then went over to the other divers and checked them for guns. He decided to keep an additional gun and all bullets he found, before moving on to their harpoons. Rather than keep them, he slammed one into the ground right in front of the door. That should keep them from coming in. He decided to collect the rest and take them outside with him.

Climbing out through the window he'd smashed for his entree, Itachi looked around to see how the other people on deck were doing. He was surprised to see a couple of divers sent flying backwards as they went down the stairs. Odd. Even stranger was when he saw the young woman 'interrogate' a diver. Itachi tossed the harpoons overboard and jumped down towards the group, using his Tornado Aura to slow him down at the end of his fall. Landing less than gently, the floor creaked ominously. Itachi approached the group, carrying himself casually, though ready for them to attack him without discrimination. As he drew close, he smirked and quipped "Lotsa bugs around, for this time of year, wouldn't ya say? Ship's infested with pests."

[tobiax]

As the Space Walker turned to look around the disheveled cargo room, the divers who were able fired upon him. Four harpoons raced towards his back, as well as a flurry of bullets from three of the disabled divers. A few others began to cough and sputter, going into shock.

The effective execution of the defeated divers went off without a hitch, save for the pale girl snatching up one of the barely-breathing divers. Despite her questioning, he didn't answer, keeping relatively stone faced. Whether this was because of intense training and loyalty, or the man not understanding the language in which she spoke, the young woman was unable to tell.

The rush of divers was so sudden and quick that it would be impossible to catch them all. So, while some were forced back, and others went to continue their mission, another begrudgingly stayed behind, and attempted to punch the German man in the back of the head.

The fighter in pink gripped his shoulder for a moment, then shrugged off the injury. There was a slight burn from where the harpoon line ran against his flesh. He let out a breath, seeing an individual in black slide out of the way of the harpoon, causing the line to go limp. Seizing the opportunity, he gripped the line, and yanked it heavily over his shoulder, drawing the line forward with a mighty heave. As the diver had his harpoon gun clipped to his belt, he was rather rudely jolted forward. Breaking the guard from the ring around the boat's passengers, the fighter in pink turned with keen eyes, landing a powerful kick into the diver who came crashing into his foot. Since he was preoccupied with this, he did not see the dashing young man with light brown hair approach and introduce himself to the other two adepts who had finished their combat.

[Letter Bee]

"Damnit!" Gavin said as he dived into a wormhole that led back to the deck with the last of his power, hopefully evading the harpoons and plopping down to yet another bloodstained floor. Breathing hard and utterly exhausted, Gavin saw that there were more enemies on said deck, guarding the hostages. Considering his wounds and his potential overheat, the young man would choose discretion as the better part of valor, lay down his assault rifle, and shout:

"Don't shoot! I surrender!" Humiliating, but it would guarantee him time to get his Septima running again. Or he could die. That can happen as well.

------

Hiroki Hibiya was used to waiting; he had waited 13 years to become an Adept, after all. In his year of being part of MALTA, this ability to wait had been honed to a fine edge, allowing the boy to stalk and watch the figures in dark coats near the walls from a nearby rooftop; rooftops were the favorite of heroes everywhere. Aside from an Adept zooming towards the cruise yacht heading to the station's dock, Nothing was happening.

For anyone seeking to limit collateral damage, the nearby train station posed a nightmare due to the tight mass of civilians. This, in turn, made sure that Hiroki would not start a fight; he was not going to abuse his leeway as a MALTA Agent. However, that didn't mean that he couldn't do anything, nor had it meant that nothing was done. For while the fight was raging on the boat, Hiroki had called his father, and asked him:

"Hey, can you give an anonymous tip to the police, asking them to come to just in front of my current location, which is [Insert Coordinates Here]?" This was five to ten minutes ago. Either way, though, if the police did not come and there was a threat to the civilians, Hiroki would interfere; he might die in the process, but it didn't matter. One life saved for a cause he believed in - that was enough.

[M127]

Noticing he could not catch all of the divers, Joseph turned his head to the side, such that the majority of what was not in his field of view was a wall on the side of the staircase he was on. He could not afford being surprise attacked from below, now that so many had stormed down there.

This allowed Mr Leidner to spot the diver trying to punch him in the corner of his eye, with his instinctive response being to duck, while attempting to push the fist above his head using gravity slingshot. However, due to the nature of being in the corner of his eyes, quickly guessing the distance was nearly impossible in the short timespan.

Should the diver's punch not connect, Joseph's momentum form pulling himself back into cover should carry him into the diver, essentially tackling them.

[Sho Minazuki]

Gensai the Muramasa
Cruise Ferry - Tiller House > Deck

"Hmph. Dead...", and likely by the one who just leaped out the window. The fancily dressed figure now crumpled in a pathetic mess on the floor was likely the main leader of this pack. Well, that made the job easier for him. What were they looking for here...? As he examined the area, there were an incredible amount of Adepts on board this boat. Were these divers here for a simple Adept wipe...? No that can't be it. They didn't have any specialized anti-Adept gear on them. Was this just a robbery gone wrong? They took hostages, meaning that might've been it. Regardless, whatever it was, it was quickly looking like a waste of his time.

He leaped out the tiller house after the wind Adept, everyone was heading back to deck. He swept past the Adept, catching a glimpse of his face as he passed. It seemed familiar, which was why looked in the first place, but it was of no concern right now as he sprinted straight at the remaining soldiers, awaiting their response. If they did not respond, he'll simply keep sprinting and cut them down with each step, and if they did, he would react accordingly.

[Nikki Moonlight]

Lilith snarled and then she killed the man she had decided to interrogate. She was done playing games. Her wound hurt, and she was tired. She stood, limping around, staying behind cover. She checked to make sure there were no divers around, they annoyed her a lot.

[Ryougu]

"Tch, poor audience." Itachi stated dryly. Meanwhile, a new man had taken the stage, though he immediately surrendered. Turning around and seeing how this man looked, Itachi wasn't too surprised he wanted to surrender. Good thing the man did though, Itachi would almost have forgotten about the flunkies. Casually stepping beside the man Itachi sighed "Yeah, what this guy said..." He took a step in front of the man and flicked his wrists to present his palms empty.

Little would they know Itach had tossed a triplet of storm bombs their way with that same motion. "--I'm afraid I can't quite agree with it." He said, and detonated the storm bombs. He drew the lead diver's harpoon and stepped closer to the divers. He simply rammed the back of the harpoon at the nearest diver's face. "Now, I'm going to give you guys the same choice I gave the dumbasses back in the captain's hut; either you get off, or I'll off you."

[tobiax]

The groups of divers still on deck trained their sights on the figure who appeared from the swirling blue portal. The call for surrender, however, had them relax their aim, if only for a moment. A moment later, and the rather finely dressed young Japanese man seemed to come to advocate for the scrawnier looking individual... only to have a vicious explosion of wind tear up the two nearest divers.

As the wind Adept approached, one diver from each of the five circles of hostages began to open fire. However, as would be expected, they made no impact, as a wispy after image took all the shots. His attempt to bash one of the divers with the harpoon gun, however, didn't go so well, as his inexperience with it caused him to only knick the opponent's forehead, which brought a flurry of harpoons at him, thirteen lines buzzed as they uncoiled towards the wind Adept.

The diver's fist swung out towards the right of his target, crashing into the back of his head. However, the man found himself thrown off balance by the follow through for some unknown reason as the meticulously placed gravity slingshot caused the diver to tumble down the stairs.

Being so preoccupied by the man from the blue portal and the interluding wind Adept, most of the divers did not notice the man in black. Those who did had already fired their harpoons, and could only draw short diving knives.

The albino woman would find not a diver around her, but a younger man with pink hair and bright green eyes- in a coat of a similar color to his hair- rushing past holding a spear. There was a mild wound on his shoulder, and a chain with what looked like a dog tag jingled at his neck. He didn't seem to see the woman, however, as he turned the corner and began to silently pursue the large group that had gone below decks.

Despite the call that had been placed, there was no police presence as of yet.

[Letter Bee]

Gavin

Gavin was still in Overheat, and thus can't do anything but gasp as the Divers fired on Itachi. He wasn't going to able to use Septima for a while, as Overheat meant that he needed to rest to regain power. And of course, he didn't trust himself to actually use his assault rifle when there were hostages and an ally on board.

Hiroki

He would continue watching, then. And perhaps take out his smartphone and begin recording a video of these goons, just in case he would have to encounter them again...

[Sho Minazuki]

Gensai the Muramasa
Cruise Ferry - Deck

The soldier divers not noticing him in favor of the newly appearing adept who seemed a little beaten up was a fatal and even as far as rookie mistake. These guys were fearful of any adept it seems without regard for how one could be far more dangerous than another, like him. As their focus was diverted he easily closed the distance without any resistance, cutting down the first one he reached, a one-handed overhead slash, followed by a forward sideways step, spinning and slashing in a wide berth, taking down as many as possible in the second swing. The moment any of them would notice him it'd be too late as he'd have his sidearm out to shoot any of them that were out of his blade's reach.

[Nikki Moonlight]

Lilith saw the young man and she sighed. She decided to sit and nurse her wound for a while. She listened for any divers, still staying behind cover. She closed her eyes using her ears to check her surroundings.

[M127]

Finding himself somehow losing balance, Joseph Leidner reacted by using the flight ability bestowed upon him by his septima to pull himself up the stairs, however making sure his flight path resembled normal gravity close enough to not arouse suspicion.
As the deck came into his view again, he preemptively raised his hands, shouting "I surrender!". He didn't want to endure unnecessary injury.

After he had landed and thus a good view of the deck, Joseph looked for his suitcases, using gravity slingshot to launch them into the closest(to the suitcases) divers that were not paying attention to them.

Additionally, should he find himself losing balance again, Joseph would quickly pull the suitcases towards him, to prevent them from going overboard while he was unable to look.

[Ryougu]

As the harpoons were fired at Itachi, He jumped as high as he could, using his Tornado Aura to send the harpoons into the deck. Itachi slid the harpoon gun back on his back and drew his Kusarigama, using his tornado aura to build up momentum for the flail. As Itachi slowly descended towards the ground, a vicious grin covered his face and he laughed at the divers.

"Hold up one second, I forgot my next line!" With a chuckle, Itachi continued "Oh right, I was to gasp in surprise and be impaled, before falling to my knees in dramatic fashion, wasn't I? Ah well, I guess we can do a bit of improv from here!"

Taking a moment more than he usually would, Itachi launched the flail at a diver, in a way that'd ensure he wouldn't hit any of the hostages. Gods, fighting while having to keep hostages in mind is a pain... With annoyance written plainly across his face, Itachi rushed forward to strike another diver with the kusarigama's blade. After striking, Itachi took a deep breath, causing a short moment of relief, before he rushed off to the next diver. As he ran, Itachi retracted his kusarigama's flail with a short pull, and started spinning it, ready to fire at the first diver with the balls to aim his gun at a civilian.

[tobiax]

There was a tense moment of silence in the air, before the sound of trampling feet came back up from the deck. All at once, a beeping sound resounded from each of the divers' helmets. Without so much as a second thought, they leaped over the edge of the boat into the ocean, passing without a trace. In a thunderous herd, the remaining divers jumped over the port of the ship, while the others had vanished starboard.

The moment of reprise was shortlived, however, as the boat was rocked powerfully, a great tremor shaking it from behind. And with this mighty disruption, the boat drifted into the shore, running aground against the train station, the shock causing most of the passengers to topple over. A thick, black smoke began pouring from the rear of the boat, faint orange flames licking at the hull from the inside.

[Letter Bee]

Gavin Prince

I must be the most inept Navy Seal ever, Gavin thought as the boat crashed into the train station, the number of casualties unknown. He was impotent, due to Overheat, and so he can only wait, wait for the authorities to come in and perhaps detain him, at least until he recovered enough power to get away.

I should not despair or give up. I must find out who did this - and ensure it doesn't happen again.

Hiroki Hibiya

Hiroki didn't hesitate. Abandoning his watch of the shady men, the boy used his technological tools to fly straight to the scene of the crash, to the very location of the impact of the boat's prow with the train station. Then, the boy would float over the water, before activating a 'Reversal Field' that would erase most of the injured's wounds, healing them.

"MALTA!" he shouted. "I come to heal!" Intent proclaimed.

He would then slowly move forwards to the stern of the boat, hoping to use his Reversal power to repair the damage to the vessel and stop it from breaking down...

[Ryougu]

An explosion. Of course, I don't have enough on my mind yet. Itachi thought, using his maneuverability in the air to prevent slamming face-first into the deck as the boat rocked forward unsteadily. Casually grabbing his phone and calling his speed-dial in mid-air, he had a short conversation after the creaking noise of the boat slamming into the train station subsided. By the time he hung up, a distressed look had taken place on his features. "Couldn't be better." He cynically muttered to himself. He'd had to do something, and he'd better do it fast.

Raising his voice so all could hear, he yelled "Anyone who can move, help those who aren't doing as well as you are! Evacuate to the North-West!" Pointing approximately West-North-West when he said so, he paused before deciding to share his knowledge. "My contacts have confirmed a Sumeragi combat squad is approaching from the North-East, they'll be heavily armed and looking for a fight! Maintain order as you leave the ship!"

As soon as he'd done his "announcement" he tried to locate the young man with the katana. If he was whom Itachi thought he was, then he'd definitely need some nudging. Whilst looking for the young man, he also tried to make an accurate body count, though with the smoke rising from the ship's rear, and the people slowly getting up, this wasn't yet a possibility. Regardless, he could at least buy some time for everyone by putting out the flames, that way they wouldn't have to worry about the ship burning up, at least.

Sauntering over to the fires, Itachi quickly tried to assess the situation. He'd need to either remove oxygen from the flames, but since he was outside, and the fire already covered a large area, this was not an option. Second choice would be to remove the fuel or drop the heat. Removing the wood that served as fuel also wouldn't work, as tearing the boat apart would be too inefficient and cause too much of a mess. In the end, he decided to do what he always did; blow the problem away using his septima. Still at a (relatively) safe distance, Itachi started focusing on applying his Air Cutter to the flames, away from the station, aiming to blow them out like a candle.

[Letter Bee]

Hiroki Hibiya and Gavin Prince

"Understood!" Hiroki said, moving to the northwest of the boat, just beside the train station. He would then shout:

"All right people, prepare to evacuate!" with a surprisingly loud voice. "My field, as you can see, is reversing injuries and mechanical failures all around me, so get close to where I am if you're injured, or if a friend or family of yours' is hurt, get them close to me! My field can even reattach limbs if you have both the body and the limb severed from it!" And yes, this was self-evidently true, as a lot of injured were being restored to full health along with their clothing and gadgets.

"I echo the kid's words!" Gavin said. "I am both an Adept and a US Navy SEAL, and the latter matters more! Evacuate!" He looked at Hiroki in thanks, before saying to the boy:

"Once we get most of these people evacuated, we need to go to the cargo hold, I injured a lot of people who need to live. You don't need to worry about escape afterwards; I can make a portal now that I've recovered from Overheat this moment."

"Sumeragi's forces?" Hiroki said. "Don't they help Adepts?"

[EnterTheHero]

Tadashi Moritomi//the_C0rsair
Boardwalk

~~

To anyone else, the slim Japanese man standing near the docks of the Boardwalk District would have seemed like a particularly-intense tourist, or possibly homeless man. He was neither of these, of course, but that was rather the point; it generally behooved a highly-skilled mercenary to not look like a highly-skilled mercenary. His fingers twitched as his eyes darted back and forth across his vision, glancing quickly at screens only he could see. Aside from his roving eyes and twitching fingers, he seemed utterly impassive. In reality, however, he was, to put it bluntly, quite nettled.

Tadashi suppressed an irritated growl as he witnessed the ferry crash. Incompetents. He knew he should have been on that damn ship- if he had been, this wouldn't have happened. Hell, he might have even been able to stop the hijacking attempt before it even began- that was one of the many perks of being able to intercept signals with his brain. By the time the signal to attack was even sent out, his Legion would have had the hijackers surrounded, a bead on each of their squishy little heads. He'd have had the situation cleared and have his client to the safe house by teatime. But no. He was to... "wait." He hated waiting. It always ruined everything. Case in point.

His drones were surreptitiously surveying the impact site, attempting to locate the little guttersnipe he was supposed to be "escorting." Hopefully he hadn't been killed in the crash. His father might take issue with that. And by issue, he meant, "attempt to follow through on my threat to kill you should my son be hurt." And he really didn't want that- he'd hate to have to go to ground just because of some... mundane. Or worse, have to kill the fellow. He may not have many moral scruples, but killing an innocent man because he was acting moronic out of grief definitely violated at least one of them.

Regardless, he had to act quickly- this was a Sumeragi city, which meant any second now, their "police," or whatever they called them, would be on their way to investigate. At the very least, emergency services would be on approach, for sure. Maybe scoop up a few new "recruits," while they were at it. It was impossible to know when they'd be dispatched, or how long it would take them to get there- he was good, but no one was that good- but he knew enough about the company's MO to know what they were going to do next about this... situation. He had to act fast.

An alert from one of his drones caught his attention. One of them had pinged on an individual that matched the picture he'd been given of his target. Thankfully, he seemed okay. Roughed up slightly, maybe, but alive. Good enough. He concentrated through the drone that was closest to his client, trying to find anything he could attach his Septima to and get his attention. Two things caught his attention, though it was difficult at this range- a personal smartphone, and a private comms device. Tadashi almost growled. As much as he'd like to hack the private device, and thus ensure his own privacy, he was on the clock, such as it was, and using his power to decrypt, as well as transmitting at this range, would take too long. He would just have to relay through his drones and hope Sumeragi wouldn't be able to pick up the call.

He concentrated, tweaking a few things here or there, placing a call with his powers. It was a bit strenuous at this range, especially given he was already controlling at least six drones, but it was worth it- he'd have plenty enough power to pull it off in time. The call connected, and Tadashi waited for the kid to answer.

@Letter Bee

[Sho Minazuki]

Gensai the Muramasa
Cruise Ferry - Deck

"Gensai? Do you read?", things were getting a bit heated, what divers there were left that his blade did not reach leapt overboard to evacuate, leaving him with some corpses and scared hostages, and a bunch of adepts from the looks of it.

"I copy. Confirm this may have just been a huge waste of my time. These weren't mere thieves or pirates though, their gear and coordination was enough to warrant military training, they were definitely here for something but it looks like their mission was a failure too", Itou walked slowly around as the situation unfolded. Looks like there were a lot of adepts here, some with the intent to help, or rather, most of them. He had no more business here though.

"Oh, I see... Anyways, we'll talk about that later. Sumeragi forces are converging on the area", Itou reached down to one of the dead divers and pulled the snorkel off of them.

"Even if they're not anti-Adept-"

"They'll target me anyways, gotcha", he is on the hit lists for most dangerous terrorists after all. With little ceremony he leapt overboard as well. Wherever the enemy divers had gone, they were already out of his sight. His objective now was simple, evacuate, and finally get home like he was supposed to. He wasn't sure how much Sumeragi was throwing at this situation, but maybe he can escape somewhere a ways off to get some info. This trip being a waste of time put a sour taste on his mouth, so he wanted to make the killing he'd done worth it.