dappledleaves | CICONIA: WHEN THEY CRY

Huh? Oh, okay then--

[Sinclair takes off to the air too, getting set up. He's already going through some ideas that might work. But. Hmmm. How does he make it look real?]

[ Takeoff! Oria and Sinclair fly through the sky and it'll take them a while to get to their destination--near the Glass Sea. There are other nation's Gauntlet Knights there too. Oria and Sinclair aren't the only ones from AOU either. There are entire teams being assembled here.

Except... the opposing teams seem to have brought a lot of newbies. There is no way that they'll get out of this unscathed. Oria can't use attacks that most adept Gauntlet Knights can shrug off when newbies would probably die in one shot. When finding this out, Oria wonders if they caught on already and are already trying to punish them.

Cool.

He hates this and messages Sinclair real quick. ]

i just got wind of how our opponents are basically beginners being shoved out of a nest when they barely know how to fly
got any ideas?

[ That is definitely no good. Sinclair frowns, swooping into formation. There's a pang when he thinks about the thought of hurting anyone for real]

we could try giving them warnings to dodge and do the calculations for them. But I don't know if any of them would be able to apply what we tell them, unless we take over their gauntlets ourselves. We need to focus on the tanks and rockets, right?

i'm getting more msgs that they cant properly deploy their shields

[ This is going to be a pain. Literal war fodder. Fuck this!! ]

they're clinging onto their master keys as if it's their life

[Ugh...since they're not high ranking members of the Public Bath Order, Sinclair isn't surprised that they're getting this response but, it's still worrying. He sends up shields to protect them both from way ward missiles]

Then...where are their communications coming from? If we disrupt those, we can force them to retreat.

i'm actually getting these messages from katja
because she's friends with a lot of cou gks
hold on lemme relay that

[ Oria knows that Katherine can't just dump sort of information in the AOU GK group chat. What if not everyone there is associated with the Public Bath Order? It's like blatantly causing mutiny like in front of people who shouldn't be catching them in the act.

It doesn't take too long, but the government superiors are wondering why they aren't making their move against the enemy right now. ]

apparently they're getting their instructions through selcom directly
they're still holding onto their master keys
bc they heard what happened in aou
the virus thing...

[Sinclair zips around, acting according to orders but when he fires his missiles, it's only towards machinery - rocket launchers, drones and so forth. He tries to keep it clumsy, as if the adrenaline of a real battle was making his aim shakier than usual]

I don't blame them. Only we know Shion was responsible.

[ Not that Sinclair believed for a second Shion was the only one. But he'd leave the investigation to Dante's other team. He knew better than to get directly involved on that front ]

If they can't give up their masterkey, we'll have to work on our timing. Or destroy all the targets to force them to retreat, or fake a virus attack.

[ None of them are hackers, so they can't possibly stage a fake virus attack without it being too obvious, is what Oria thinks as his mind seems to run a million ideas per second. He's trying to rack up a plan, but then--

--something explodes in the midst of the COU Gauntlet Knights.

It's not a missile. It's not any of their weapons. Oria thought he caught a glimpse before it happened, but he thinks he saw one of them trying to pull out a weapon from their Dimension Container. The smoke doesn't even clear when he watches a body fall into the ocean with no movement.

"AOU has claimed their first kill. It's time to go all out. Fight each other with all you got and kill them."

More missiles fire in a frenzy when the COU side releases them in a panic, not wanting to get killed by the AOU soldiers. Luckily, they all put up their shields in time. Oria will leave the missile interception to Sinclair.

This is bad. ]

[ Sinclair thinks he saw it too and he feels sick.

In a battle like this, malfunctions were not unusual. Even so, he wonders why the brass were so eager to send them out with equipment that could backfire and kill them just as easily?

Sinclair doesn't let himself glance back as he calculates the number of targets coming their way. Defend. Intercept. Keep his friends alive. Don't kill.

Shields flash in record time as he intercepts every missile, countering with his own for those too far for him to reach with just his shields]

Oria, are you okay?

i'm fine

[ The message gets sent as he shoots down the targeted structures that COU were supposed to be claiming. If they can't claim that base, no one can. One of the Knights speed at Oria to attack him and he recognizes the expression that they make when they miss him. It's the common side effect of zooming around too much even with 8MS implants--blindness. The blinded Knight sets off more missiles in a panic, but Oria blocks them, even though they were so close range.

He tries to stun the Gauntlet Knight, says in a stern and quiet voice that they should just float in the ocean until the fight is over and punches them down to the waters. He knows that he didn't deliver a fatal blow. Not even close. ]

your end?

I'm fine.

[Sinclair draws up a shield, protecting himself from a fist that would have blown his head up. Irritated, Sinclair swings back and punches the opposing gauntlet knight in the face, breaking their nose and sending them flying back. It had been an opportunity to use his actual gauntlet, he knows. He didn't want to though. He'll be reprimanded for that.

[He goes back for aiming at the structures]

There's a few more structures and then we'll

[Wait...what was that on his radar? Another faction? How? Why?]

[ "We'll--" what? Oria isn't good at scouting out the battlefield like Aria, but even he sees another group that's heading their way. ]

who tf is that
IS THAT ABN
NO ONE INVITED ABN

[ There's a massive alert that blares across the field to every selcom.

ABN seeks to demand the surrender of its people from the AOU. Justice will prevail.

Ah? Ahhh? Sinclair begins ducking and weaving. A lot of those people in white sure were aiming for him]

Have they formed an alliance with the COU?

[ Oria is so flabbergasted that he doesn't send Sinclair a message right away like he usually does. Hello? That's not how citizenship works!! Oria wants to protest so hard. What the fuck!! ]

wtf is going on

[ There seems to be an emergency meeting for the Public Bath Order as well. People are confused and panicking. Why is ABN here? Why are they asking for "its people from the AOU"? What's with COU dishing out trainees who are ill-prepared for battle? Who shot the first shot? Who got the first kill? Why is all of this happening?

Oh boy. It looks really crowded when Oria enters the room dedicated for that Order. Crowded and panicky. So loud too. He's just going to stand in the corner somewhere and wait for some announcement or plan that the Order has.

In the meantime, there are at least some ABN Knights that seem reluctant about attacking AOU. Oria's defensive skills are still not that great, which is why it seems all the more crucial when AOU suddenly orders a ceasefire on the Knights. ]

What?!

[ Become sitting ducks as ABN destroy them?? COU isn't an issue at this point. ]

Edited 2024-12-01 00:14 (UTC)

I think they're tracking me?

[ Why is it every time he goes one direction, a group of them split off and give pursuit. Sinclair enters the Order too just in time to hear that announcement]

They're...what are they planning? Why wont they order a retreat?

[Shield after shield to keep Oria and himself safe]

[ Oh, now he's pissed. Oria sees how they're blatantly tracking Sinclair and in the Bath Order space, he demands to know from the ABN Knights of how Sinclair is being targeted. Surely they must know something. He's so close to going up to Stainslaw and demand some answers. ]

[ The arguments among everyone build and build. Outside, Sinclair keeps trying to get out of range even as the gauntlet knights in white get closer. He's not getting support from the AOU brass, he realises with a chill. What were they waiting for?

He fires a rocket at another tower, sending it crashing down into the glass sea and cutting off his pursuers. He drops down low, skimming across the ocean floor in hopes the interference would protect him.]

I'm low on rockets!

[ And...oddly enough one of those knights look familiar]

[ He's not getting anything out of the Public Bath Order and he watches Sinclair try to avoid his pursuers. He clicks his tongue and goes after him. Oria knows he's not good at defense, but the only defensive maneuver he can reliably pull off is a counter, which is what he does when one of the Knights strike at Sinclair with something like a longsword. He blocks and sends the Knight downward into the ocean.

And stay there, he quietly breathes out before smacking another Knight down into the ocean. He zips to Sinclair's side. ]

How much shield you have left?

[ Yes, Oria is blatantly disobeying orders. He doesn't care about that right now. Sinclair is more important and he's getting a bad feeling that he knows why this is happening. ]

...maybe 30% left.

[ Considering how much Sinclair had been spamming his shield, it was a testament to his ability that he had managed to conserve that much. He looks at the knights, notes the look on their faces]

... maybe I should give myself up.

[ Will Sinclair note the look on Oria's face too, because he heavily disagrees with that suggestion. ]

Don't even think about it. I'll knock some down to the ocean and you can flee to the nearest land.

[ How can he argue when
Oria looks like that? ]

I don't want you getting hurt because of me.

Look, just because you're mostly the Defender of the squad doesn't mean that I can't defend myself.

[ But it's really the "best defense is a good offense" schtick. Kill them before they kill you. Etc. ]

I'm already going against orders by doing this, so I might as well go all out. I don't have any qualms of beating more down into the ocean either.

[His throat feels tight. He swallows and glances over.

Run

That voice keeps haunting his dreams. He's so very tired of running. But what else can they do?]

I know. I know. Just...stay safe, okay? [He reaches over to squeeze Oria's free hand briefly. There's no more time. He darts away, aiming for the glass sea below]

[ Sinclair leaves.

This is something important to Oria, but there's a lot more riding on this because of his actions. They have consequences. One of them tries to zoom towards Sinclair, but he intercepts them and swiftly smacks them down into the ocean. There's a crackle from the gauntlet and the look in Oria's eyes change.

It's the same look as before, whenever Sinclair didn't see.

Truthfully, it doesn't take long for him to wipe out a squad and it snowballs from there. Overpowered versus overpowered. He's making use of his high P3 levels, but it just makes him even faster that it's hard to keep up, even for actual Gauntlet Knights and the battlefield surveyors. Of course there's a drawback to deal with after all that, but that's Oria's problem, not the alternate personality's. It isn't Program K. It was a personality that Oria knew that he had all along--even converses with it in his head from time to time. The "scary one".

The AOU Knights watch, COU flees, and ABN is on standby. They scoop the Knights from the waters and surprisingly, there are no casualties so far, apart from the COU's single knight whose Dimension Container had exploded. Surely, the government will spin stories to fit their narrative later.

No one comes near Oria as he remains in the air, watching if anyone else goes after Sinclair. ]

[Sinclair doesn't look back, even as every instinct screams at him to look. There's a barrage of messages, frantic screaming but no one vanishes. No one is dead. He lands on a nearby island, panting as he disconnects from the Public Bath room, and tries to regain his bearings. There's a passing ship as the knights frantically swim to it - the ones Oria must have knocked down. Sinclair melts back towards a boulder, wishing for some kind of shade. But there was nothing living here for miles. Just the endless glass sea, and the ocean itself.

Don't send me back to them. Let me stay here with Oria and the others

Who was there to hear his prayers? Sinclair didn't believe in god.

Then there's a voice over the loudspeaker of a ship, an obnoxious whistle and a laugh that sends Sinclair straight to his knees.

"Ah~ What a show you put on~! Well done, well done."

Why...who...why is that voice here?]

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