"Low ranked?" the Captain asked Emilio, eye twitching for a moment before coughing and clearing his throat. "N-never mind, that was unbecoming of me. Regardless, young man, given the odd circumstances that have occurred tonight, I will likely be the highest person on the military hierarchy that you will be able to speak with tonight. If you have a headache, though, I can get you an aspirin later; you seem familiar enough with modern Japan to know what that is, at least—probably more than the rest of this group."
With a cough, Captain Yamazaki turned towards Alberich, whose rather chaotic outbursts already made him more than wary. Screaming about gods and god-warriors and all manner of other things... Well, given the circumstances, he would half-excuse it, but that sort of mentality was far from conducive to actually getting any meaningful information out. Rather, the rage and the manner with which he spoke almost made it feel like he was trying
not to be believed.
"You, on the other hand, should choose your words more carefully. If you wish to make this nation your enemy, then I will be the first to pull the trigger towards you," he said, shaking his head calmly as a rather plain-looking black car pulled up near the truck. "Well, our ride is here. I do hope this will do for the rest of you. In the meantime, though, I will send a group out to search for this so-called 'teleporting guy'. More details would be appreciated, though that is currently less of a priority."
Tenshi, on the other hand, cocked her head at Emilio's question. She knew that she had said 'Heaven', but... Did that imply some other connotation within the Outside World?
"Erm... No, I'm just a Celestial. An existence... Beyond humans, I guess you could say? We're not oddballs like hermits, though, so don't lump me in with that group," she said, her attention quickly shifting towards the vehicle soon after.
Out of curiosity, Tenshi walked towards the car and tentatively tested the handle to open the back door. She had seen multitudes of these things on her last time out of Gensokyo, but this was the first that she had even actually
ridden in one. With a shrug, the young woman slipped into the back seat and waited for the others to enter.
As soon as the rest of the group had entered (bar Alberich, of course, who was now alone in the back of the armored van), the vehicles took off. Their destination, of course, was the National Diet Building.
Or, more specifically, a building nearby. The ride itself wasn't long, given how the area was now cordoned off, but as short as the ride was the tension in the air didn't seem to fade. Once both vehicles arrived at the scene (along with the entourage surrounding them), the group was calmly escorted out and into the building's interior. As far as it seemed, the room they were all led to was built more like a meeting room than any sort of government office—probably because it was, in fact. There were a few older men in black suits all seated around the table, each staring at the comparatively colorful cast in turn as they were ushered in. Tenshi frowned for a moment and, looking at the others before shrugging, took a seat opposite the suited men before glancing around warily.
"Uwaaah, it feels like father's about to lecture me for some reason..." she complained as one of the men stood up from his seat and began to speak.
"Thank you for cooperating with the JSDF and coming here. My name is Kawamoto Fukuchi, and given the urgency of events that has just transpired, I will be leading the discussion here tonight. All matters will henceforth be kept as confidential as possible unless stated otherwise. With that statement out of the way, let me begin with matters of national security."
With a slight motion of his hands, the old man pointed towards the giant monitor behind himself. On screen showed scenes of anime and games that the group had been featured in. The Celestial, of course, stared at the screen intensely as those colorful images came and went before he continued on.
"Once we were told of your names and places of origin, a cursory data search found that you all appear in some form of... How to say... 'Digital' culture, in a sense? Ironically enough, one of the younger members with us today also happens to be somewhat invested in that field of entertainment, and began to mention something about creators or whatnot. But as of right now, we wish to talk to you about the safety of the nation.
I presume that you are not the first people that have been dropped into this world, and I think you will not be the last. What I want right now is to secure your cooperation in case any threats to national safety come about. Of course, we will provide a place to live, a stipend with which to use for your own services, and any necessary identification you might need if you choose to accept this offer. But I leave it to you to decide whether to not to accept. There will be more formal documentation right now, and I do realize how big a gamble it is to ask this of complete strangers, but given the amount of possible destruction that could be caused unto the city and its people I wish to resolve this with you peacefully, if possible. If there are any questions you wish to ask, we will try our best to answer them."
The Celestial, realizing that she had come to her feet as she was staring at the screen, meekly sat down and began to think quietly to herself. With all of this chaos happening in quick succession, she wasn't particularly inclined to want to get involved with this mess, but at the same time...
There was no other way to put this other than 'a giant incident', right? Which meant that this was well beyond the scope of what the shrine maiden usually did, right?
But at the same time, even she had the mind to wait for the others' reactions, though. With everything that was playing on screen, it was a given that people might remember that mess she had caused with the Scarlet Weather incident... But if there was any time to clarify what was to be done, what better a chance was there than this?
"While this offer does seem very interesting, I should ask about what bearing our past deeds... Or, well, misdeeds, have on what we might be given or what freedom we might have," she stated, trying to remember every bit of formal dialogue points her teachers (namely, Iku) had tried to drill into her head. "Will there be issues based on, say, what I have done in the past?"
"That will not be a problem, Miss Hinanawi. We will judge everyone on a case-by-case basis, but as far as I know the only one who is truly at risk of having liberties taken away is the man named... Alberich? In his case, though, he might be in something you might find as a mix of house arrest and parole if he continues to blindly seek power. We will continue to provide, of course, but sufficient caution is necessary when involving... Everyone here, quite honestly. I will be frank, however, and say that this is a mutual relationship; if you show us that we can trust you despite everything you may have done in the past, then the only things that might limit you are the laws that govern us. Is that clear?"
Nodding, Tenshi closed her eyes and began to think. At this point, she was already inclined to accept the offer, come hell or high water, but maybe the others would bring up an issue that she had forgotten.
One of the soldiers near Eva's group, on the other hand, would soon receive a message on his own radio, telling him to quickly bring the others near his position over to the Chiyoda ward as quickly as possible. With a slight grimace, the soldier shrugged his shoulders before responding that one of the newer recruits had already attempted to make casual contact. The amount of screaming that could be heard from the other side of the device was enough to cause a few heads to turn for a moment, but no more than that.
"...Well, that's all the better. If that soldier succeeds in convincing them, then all the better. But don't think that means they'll get off easy. Let them know as soon as you can to bring them over; the higher ups are already negotiating with the first group of contacts," the gruff voice on the other end of the radio responded before it clicked off.
With a nod, the soldier who had taken the message nodded once and broke formation to speak to the female soldier, who seemed to be in thought over Eva's question. Said soldier, of course, seemed to waver for a moment before coughing and speaking up.
"I, personally, do not know who that person is, but as far as I know there is already a group of people in a similar situation to your own who are discussing the issue with my superiors. If you do not mind, could I ask you to come with us? It is very likely that, given the situation until now, they might have the answers that you seek," he said before moving over to whisper into Private Minami's ear.
"Captain said that it's your problem handling with these people now. If you can convince them to come over, then maybe you won't have hell to pay later."
With that, the soldier quickly retreated to let the group decide on their own on what to do.
As soon as he had managed to free the family from their car (which took a surprising amount of effort on both sides), Leo let out a sigh of relief as he collapsed on the ground. By some miracle or another everything had... Kind of turned out all right. He couldn't rest for long, of course—not with the problem that was occurring in front of his eyes—but at the very least there didn't seem to be any injuries.
"Thanks, uh..."
"Leonardo. Leonardo Watch. Don't worry about it," he said, smiling as he looked up and shook hands with the mother and father who were inside. "But, really, you should be thanking that white-haired girl just as much. I'm sorry you had to get mixed up in all of this."
"Well, I'm not going to lie about the fact that I'm quite angry right now about my car, but I'm just happy that we're all alive. If you see her again, please pass on those thanks to her as well, Leonardo."
With a nod, Leo got to his feet and began to chase after the white-haired samurai girl again, only to notice that Sonic was... Missing. Again.
"Ah, he'll find some way to me," he sighed to himself before continuing onward. It wouldn't take long to meet up with that girl again. Hopefully.
Sonic, of course, had decided to follow alongside Youmu, and was only barely able to keep pace with the young woman as it scampered forth. Just as she began to make her own attack, the monkey leaped into action, clutching onto the face of one of the other criminals and causing them to flail around in a panic at the sudden animal on their face.
@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@Dezuel@KoL@Rin@TheFake
Member
Zapdos
Snowdrops
Izurich
Raineh Daze
The Otter
Danyel
DracoLunaris
Enzayne