Psyker Landshark

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

Salvator Rasch

The first two shots hit, and Rasch let himself breathe a sigh of relief. Good. That only left the last one. Though given that the other team was being highly secretive about the matter, he didn't quite like where this was going. Hopefully, it wouldn't be what he was dreading-

The final set of coordinates came through. He double checked the status of the target and its current occupants. It was exactly what he was dreading. Firing on their own supposed allies, for whatever forsaken reason. Oh sure, someone in the brass might have some supposed good reason for this. But for the boots on the ground getting the job done? It was cruel and nonsensical.

Not for the first time, Salvator mentally weighed the cost between the amount of genuine good the Intransigence did in defense against the empires it fought and the amount of uncaring collateral damage it caused. Was this worth it? Were they really doing the right thing here?

A second transmission came through, jerking the veteran operator from his thoughts. Damn it all. They didn't have a choice but to execute, then. Caught between an anvil and a hammer, and with a job left to do. He could see a way out of this, but it would take a good amount of finesse. Fortunate that most of the squad was already away from the anvil, then.

"...All units, fall back. This means you, Echo." Salvator murmured over comms, his tone resigned. "Prepare defensive positions. Fire on the new readings as soon as they come into range. Disregard collateral damage. I'll finish the job here." It made sense. With his ability to blink jump, Salvator would be the best able to get out of the immediate danger zone. That, and he was unilaterally making the decision to continue on with the mission as stated. It wouldn't be right to put the knife they were going to use to backstab the locals with in someone else's hands.

He busied himself performing the necessary manual calculations needed in order to fully confirm that they had the right coordinates while keeping an eye on how fast the new signals were coming in. All while the locals were still celebrating. Part of him still disparaged their lack of discipline and gratitude. The other, much larger part of him regretted being so harsh with them in his thoughts. With this act, Rasch would be proving their caution right. And their trust foolish. A few more keystrokes typed in the last manual confirmations, and he prepared to send it.

Salvator kept his finger over the enter key, and queued up a private communication with the local ZRF leader.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry. But I have my orders." He input the command to fire, and immediately started chaining blink jumps back towards the Envenomed squad, uncaring of how much this would exhaust him by the time he reached relative safety. The incoming signals were almost on them, and if he timed this right, the ZRF would be far too busy dealing with that to react quickly enough against the Envenomed.

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

Zhao Jinhai

"Well damn, I was right?" Jinhai grinned, seeming equally as cavalier as his short companion. Of course, that didn't last long as he used the reprieve he had from Sakura being targeted instead of him to examine their new foe quickly. The weapons weren't much to speak of, and the armor definitely wasn't. Damn. Peasant soldiers, then. Still, it was something, even if they weren't fighting actual samurai. Screw it, he'd take it.

"Right, time to get to work." He unsheathed the blade he'd brought along. The blade he'd...already broken earlier. Ah, shit. Jinhai briefly groaned to himself before deciding to just run with it. He lobbed the jagged, half-shattered sword tip at the gunner in the back before breathing deeply, pulling his fists in as he took up a bajiquan stance.

Zhao Jinhai moved. His charge was almost a blur of qi as he slammed a single fist straight into the first ghost ashigaru's chestplate, aiming to smash straight through it. He kept the momentum up after, whirling around his initial victim to ram an elbow into what passed for the next ashigaru's neck.

"C'mon, c'mon! This's the only entertainment I'm getting today, so at least make it a good one!"

@Raineh Daze @PKMNB0Y

Iris Ascendis

Iraleth Kyrios

"Tch!" Iraleth exhaled as she switched to defense, making sure her Personal Barrier stayed up as she wove and parried her way through the mannequin trio's assault. The leg sweep and the dropkick were both evaded in the same diagonal backwards hop, leaving her to defend against the third one's onslaught of punches. Most either didn't make it past her blade or her gauntlets, but the few that did land rocked her Personal Barrier more than she was comfortable with.

Any further strategizing was interrupted by the sudden feeling of sinking beneath her feet. Iraleth chanced a glance down at the ground to confirm what she'd already assumed: quicksand. The source was obvious, too: her elven ears picked up on Otis's incantation. She understood the intent, of course. The Strigdae knew she could extricate herself from this at any time with but an invocation of her Ethos. It didn't make friendly fire any less annoying, though.

"On borrowed wings." Iraleth raised her sword in front of her as she chanted, not being given much of a choice at this point. The Inheritor's armor formed around her, and she flapped its wings of light, easily rising into the air and clearing the quicksand. One backwards incantation later, and rays of light fired from her fingertips to spear through the mannequins struggling in the sand, just to make sure. With that threat out of the way, the Inheritor looked over the field for a brief moment, and...

...Ciara. What was she doing?

"I thought you were above petty sadism!" Iraleth bellowed as she crashed down on the duo Ciara was restraining, if not outright torturing. The weight of her armor combined with the momentum of her flight would ensure that the mannequins would be finished, and the moment they were, Iraleth let her Ethos fade, not willing to expend that much more stamina before their duel this evening. That said, she glared at Ciara nonetheless.

"Next time, finish the job. You do yourself no favors like this."

@Estylwen

Fate/Illuminate Histoire

Rumi Fujou

If one were wholly unoriginal, grim, and expecting the utterly passe, they would likely have expected Rumi to set up shop in a graveyard the moment she arrived in Sako. She did not. Instead, she'd shown up with forged mortician's credentials, hypnotized the supervisor into believing he had six months of PTO and to spend it on a trip to Brazil, and entranced the remaining technicians into being her thralls.

She'd brought the majority of her Mystic Codes along with her, given that they were rather portable and unlikely to trip airport security, but Aulus had to be specially shipped from London. He'd only just arrived, and with the defenses Rumi had set up in the morgue, that resulted in her preparations in the city finally being complete. She had a proper base of operations, magical defenses, and her Servant. Who was out right now, doing god knows what. Hopefully, the sane half was in control. Honestly, when she'd summoned an Assassin, she'd been hoping for one who'd actually take orders. But this was the hand she was dealt. Fortunate that winning the Grail War was secondary to seeing if this one was even legitimate, or it would have bothered her far more.

As it stood, now that all of her preparations were finished, there remained a few choices left to Rumi. She could do the proper thing and announce her presence to the Overseer at the church. Or simply continue to gather information and shore up her defenses. After some deliberation, she'd come to a decision. Better to avoid suspicion for now and play by the rules. Rules that would be broken sooner or later, judging by Lord El Melloi II's recollection of the Grail War he'd taken part in, but it never hurt to at least keep appearances up.

"Assassin." She called through their shared link, rising from her office chair. "To the church. I trust you'll keep an eye on the path there for me?"

___

Rider

Some people would consider this modern world he'd found himself in to be emblematic of humanity's weakness. That the majority of mankind had gone soft. Weak.

Those people were utter fools. What he saw was a species that had overcome every unnatural foe that had come at it, and prevailed to the point where they were the only predator left. Even accounting for the third world, the average quality of life and life expectancy far exceeded that of Rider's own era. Moreover, the average person lived with wonders that far exceeded anything the Middle Kingdom of his time could ever conceive of, even with the sages wielding Magecraft.

So how could he not be taken with the wonders of the current age? Rider couldn't help but let himself have something of a crooked smirk as he strolled down the streets of Sako in a two-piece suit, idly indulging in whatever fancy took him. He wasn't completely unaware, of course. If any opposing Servant actually tried anything, he was entirely capable of responding immediately. But as his Master had no specific orders other than to get the lay of the land, he'd take advantage of the wording of the command.

After all, he fully intended to stay in this world well past the Grail War. Even with the information the Grail had implanted into him, it was better to experience the world first and foremost. China, home, was just across the sea, and he would make his return one way or another.

His musings were cut off when the appealing smell of something foreign wafted across his nostrils. Coffee, his Throne-implanted instincts told him. Why not, then? Rider took a seat at the first cafe he saw, giving the waitress a brief smile.

"The house blend, if you don't mind." He ordered. As the girl scurried off, Rider looked around the outdoor seating area. Something seemed to be off, and-

A man with a presence far greater than any around him seemed to be sitting just a few tables away, smoking and having a coffee of his own. Wasn't this just his luck?

Rider smirked, and stood from his table, grabbing the chair to take with him. He plopped it down at the aforementioned man's table, and sat down with a smarmy grin across from his fellow.

"No, no, don't get up on my account. No need for hostilities just yet, is there? We're just having a drink, is all." The waitress didn't miss a beat, setting Rider's coffee down at his new seat with barely half an eyebrow raised in question.

Iris Ascendis

Gimme like another day or two to get something up for this, sorry.

My backlog is fucked solely because of Palworld.

SPIRITUM

Kalina Kovalic

Kalina was in full combat readiness mode when she'd walked through the door. Alright, so she was in that state at almost every point of time during the day. But it resulted in her easily noticing the disappearing hands on both the angry civilians and the girl behind the counter. Weapons, and a silent alarm. That cut her options significantly. Sure, Kalina wasn't going to have resorted to lethal force on civilians regardless, but local law enforcement showing up soon made it so that throwing the first punch wasn't a viable option. Not if she wanted to get out of this town without a night in the county jail, at least. Of course, if one of these yokels actually did manage to get a shot off against one of the squad, then all bets were off.

She started to open her mouth to respond to the sudden uptick in hostility, but Justice beat her to it. Huh. Was that how they were supposed to deal with civvies? Kalina was fairly certain the few civilian response courses they'd taken hadn't quite suggested this was the optimal method. Still, Justice would know better than her. That said...

"Girl behind the counter probably tripped a silent alarm. Expect police soon, boss." Kalina said flatly, but without much sense of urgency. She looked around at the various angry locals again, still not going for her gun just yet.

"I don't know what Tony said to rile you all up, and I honestly don't care. Grow a pair and get over it." Kalina said quietly, looking the leader straight in the eyes with an uncaring gaze.

Digimon: Fallen Knights

Marauder

He didn't have any memories of who he was. Just a single word: marauder. So he'd made it his name. For however long he'd been alive, Marauder had found himself picked up by a pack of fellow Gaossmon, just wandering and scrounging for survival however they could. At first, he'd been glad just to stay alive. But none of the others ever questioned if there was something better. Or even wanted it. So once he knew enough to survive, Marauder struck out on his own. The way he saw it, sticking around with these other Gaossmon was a sure path to nowhere fast.

His wanderings eventually led him to this forest. He hadn't quite known why, but something in his gut told him he'd find some kind of answer here. Or at the very least, a path to power. A scent caught in the air, and he followed it, creeping along the forest floor and keeping to the foilage.

The trail eventually led him to an odd scene. A strange-looking BlackAgumon conversing with...what the hell were those? Marauder listened in on the conversation as he crept forward, frowning all the while. Humans? He'd heard the stories, of course. Power in exchange for companionship. Some would call it servitude. It remained to be seen which. Still, he supposed that he may as well test this out. The BlackAgumon didn't look hostile, at the very least.

"Humans, you say? The stories say you provide a quick path to power. Give me that, and I may join you."

He expected a range of responses from acquiescence to outright denial. What he didn't expect was one of the pink ones expressing sheer exasperation as she rubbed her head with one hand.

"Oh, wow, look at that. Shit that'd be easier if the angels spent five minutes telling us how this actually worked."

Marauder frowned at the response.

"You can't? Then what are you even good for?" He snorted dismissively, to which the pink one seemed to draw ire from.

"I dunno, what good are you?" She challenged back, jabbing a finger in his direction. "You show up and demand shit from us, but don't even promise anything back. Not exactly getting the urge to hand out the juice, even if I knew how to."

Digimon and human stared each other down, matching each other's glares.

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

Zhao Jinhai

Jinhai didn't miss a beat as the statue frozen, channeling qi through the blade of his sword to empower his strike, and swung down with all his might...

...Just in time for the simulation to cancel. And for him to slam a sword into the floor at full force. Understandably, the upper fourth of the blade snapped in twain on impact.

"Oh, crap. Second one this week." He murmured under his breath, retrieving the scabbard and awkwardly sheathing what remained of the blade within. Still, his chagrin at likely getting bitched out by the quartermaster didn't override the fact that there was finally an assignment again. Another chance to get out of this sterile hole for a while. And if he was lucky, maybe stop by a nice restaurant once the job was done. Hot pot'd be especially nice. Still, that was contingent on getting the job done in the first place.

With a sigh, he strode off towards the briefing, broken blade and all.

___

Blah blah blah, deaths that he could've caused in an average day on the job, blah blah blah, accompany portal girl and the archer kid in breaching from the rear. Sure, whatever. He emerged from the portal all the same as the rest, taking the talisman from Ah-ryeon with a bemused smirk.

"Not gonna turn it down, but I did prep my own." He fished a fulu out from his pocket, but did take the woman's offer, tucking both of them into his pants. "Probably not as good as yours, though. Never was much good at this part of the job." That said, he followed after Yakumo and Tachibana, nodding along to the former's brief rant.

"Sheesh, aren't these all just slasher film setups? I could do the same shit the briefing told us on an average night in Pudong." He huffed, shaking his head.

"Honestly, I'm hoping for the haunted spirit of some samurai from your Warring States period. There any battlefields from then nearby?"

@OwO @Raineh Daze

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar Hagen

Perhaps Renar could have gotten a better handle on Parvan and Edwin's poker faces at this point if it weren't for the fact that he knew they knew that their hands were invariably good, every time. Still, he continued shuffling his hand, going over his strategy for this turn. He'd been subtly marking every card he got as best he could, but this deck was so worn that it'd be more worth confusing the brothers than anything else.

The captain's interjection caused Renar to shift his gaze for a moment, shooting a salute off from where he was sitting.

"By all means, there's no harm in joining. Though the entire deck is marked and these two have been cheating their heads off for however long they've been stuck inside here. As it turns out, Merilia prefers to remember Edwin as an idiot."

He feigned a moment of hesitation before calling Edwin's raise. Better to deliberately let them think he was bluffing when his hand really was quite good. If nothing else, creating a fake tell would be helpful later.

"Over to you, Gerard. Are you still in?"

@Octo @HereComesTheSnow @Raineh Daze @VitaVitaAR

Iris Ascendis

Nah keep saying it, I like having lore