Description: This is the culmination of weeks of exhaustive efforts, for Nagase. Her mission: to enlist the aid of man known for accomplishing the impossible. She has finally managed to isolate the location of one Ryouhara Seishirou, or so she believes. Yet, the fateful meeting turns out to be a trial by fire... one far more severe than she could have ever imagined...
It's taken some time for the shadowy eyes of 'Kagero' to slide open once more.
Such is the way of the ninja--all things that slumber can awaken only with blood. The blood of beaten criminals and unfolded secrets. In truth, there is much misinformation surrounding the genius-turned-terrorist and his many hands in Southtown. Stories abound, those of secret schools and weapons capable of wiping out entire cities. Small bits of paraphernalia circulate the black market--a video of a blurry battle here, a ship at sea there. Most has been lost to the annals of private collections. Most is simply fighting myth. But those amongst the Iga might know a little better. The Ryouhara, the Crows of Nagano, a long disgraced clan. Though crippled and beaten down for generations, there exists still one of their number alive and...arguably...well.
At least, so the story goes.
After some time and many bodies, there is sufficient cause to find doubt in the claims. Ryouhara's bloodline was known to be cursed, none of its members surviving to old age. It would be all too easy for men like him to pass away and never be found. It would be easy for the causes spoken of, idealism and meaning, to be set by the wayside and forgotten, with no one to judge him but the shadows.
At least, one would think, before 1,000 chattering crows flutter past in the night sky.
It's the sort of happenstance that most would find completely peculiar but only the barest cause for concern. The sort of event that is only a curiosity in a world where men can knock down houses with their bare hands. To that, a flock of birds that manage to knock over everything in sight is only enough for an anecdote, or a sound bite in tomorrow's news. The night crows flutter off into the distance, to the south, to a specific warehouse, where they have been trained to roost. An old warehouse, with old seals, marked with an old symbol visible only under a particular tint of the color spectrum.
Three leaves in the wind.
Between the Syndicate and Iga, there was more information to be had than any could ever hope to know. What was not known, could ordinarily be readily obtained with minor effort for those of sufficient rank. Yet, there are secrets which even the eyes and ears of organizations like Shadaloo could not know. These secrets could only be obtained through strenous labor and endless persistence. And in the case of one of these question marks in particular, perhaps only if he so desired to be known.
Nagase had made it no secret to anyone on the ground in Southtown worth telling to: she was hunting for the elusive last ninkougakusha of the Ryouhara. To that end, she had paid off, seduced, or threatened anyone and everyone who looked like they might know anything. The ones she couldn't she spared no beating. And there were many. It was a base tactic, make enough noise at the door of your target and they just might open it. If not, perhaps you might be able to find another way in... or make one. To make the bait a bit more appealing, she even went out of her way make it known that a member of Iga was the interested party. Why was she seeking a known, elusive, dangerous terrorist so feverently?
Because if anyone knew how to stay hidden in plain sight better than she, it would have to be him.
In the end, she ended up with as many lies and half-truths as facts. And none of it was easy to distinguish, in many cases... impossible. In the end, the one possible lead she got had lead her here: to this abandoned warehouse. Was her target here? She was not all together sure. If he was, she figured, she'd find out eventually. This place would doublessly be rigged. That wasn't unique to the last ninkougakusha of the Ryouhara, however, that was a trait all shinobi shared. But the Ryouhara had a history of being particularly excellent at it.
Perched in a limb of a nearby tree, the darkly dressed Nagase stared in quiet contemplation at the warehouse. Dressed in a long black overshirt with wine red sleeves, black stockings, and black platform shoes... she looked entirely conspicuous. She was not making any attempt at hiding. Sanguine eyes scan the lot slowly, her onboard computer projecting the results of various analysis upon the rose-pink lenses of her frames... none of it too useful yet. Gauntleted fingers lift upwards, before wandering into her wild foxtail mane of wine red, white, and black. The caw-cawing of crows comes from somewhere overhead, briefly, and she looks instictively. ... Very peculiar. It's not everyday one sees such a mass of birds... and why were they roosting here of all places..?
That's when he appears.
It seems almost like the world responds to Nagase's passage by spawning him directly. A calf-length hooded coat in shades of "grey snow" drapes about him as he seems to step from a fold in space. His hood is drawn back across his back, so there's no particular aura of mystery surrounding him, save the absolute absence of sound surrounding him. There is no exact point where he appears, no definite location of origin. He simply appears at the corner of your peripheral vision, and creeps into view. He moves slowly, methodically, as if each step were scripted.
He pays the hidden kunoichi no heed at all, her stealth nigh absolute. Though he seems as young as he ever did beneath a mop of dark black hair, Seishirou moves as if the world waits for him. There is a certain ghostlike quality to that way, as if he were a step out of physical sync. Of anyone in particular, of any person passing on the street, he is different. He is positively dripping with chi, the life force of the world shifting as he passes through it, and scans would show that there is a great deal of sealed energy underneath that coat of his.
As he approaches the warehouse, lines of energy (visible only to NESTS' computer scanning) react to his presence. They wrap around the building like a giant girdled by spiderweb. What was once a completely nondescript warehouse in the middle of the district becomes something else entirely. Boards and windows themselves appear as false, facets of giant sealing battens across a large main door. Parts of the network split, and the sealing battens, windows and all, fall to either side. Seishirou is a patient thing, it would seem--he waits until the largest bay door splits across the middle, opening an entrance. An entrance which he strides through, still and apparently completely insensate to Nagase's presence.
But the entryway itself is left conspicuously ajar.
It's almost assured that Nagase's presence is known.
The birds are a curious thing indeed, Nagase thinks to herself. But... perhaps it were merely an anomaly of nature. Crows flocking was not a peculiar thing in itself, not even in large numbers. But a thousand crows choosing such a desolate seeming, far removed, place to roost was a mite odd. Crows tended to congregate where there were people, if there were no more suitable habitats, whenever possible because humans was generous with their waste. Ordinarily, these crows would have taken roost in the nearby city. ... But they roost here. Which may mean someone is feeding them.
A bleeping noise comes, briefly, as Nagase's scanners pick up something far more interesting: a chi signature. Not a small one either. And her head turns in the direction of the source, sanguine eyes locking with the grey snow shaded figure. ... The entrance marks him immediately. T'would seem her tidbit of information were very fruitful after all!
As he appears, she makes no movements beyond the turning of her head. She doesn't rush down, she doesn't attempt anything at all - allowing him to make his way to the warehouse as she watches with curious eyes. His methodical manner of movement is not surprising, but is very interesting to her. It confirmed, to her, that the security here was possibly even more exacting than she imagined. She makes mental notes about the lines of chi that react to his presence, storing it away as very useful information. Her computer, too, was logging the spectacle for the chance some of the information gathered by the momentary analysis could be useful. So this was his ninkou...
..devising artifices that utilized chi was an ingenious idea. Most, including Nagase, tended to utilize chi only as rudimentary, explosive, means of dealing with opponents. There was nothing too complicated about lighting someone on fire, after all. This was, admittedly, her second reason for coming here. Nagase fancied herself something of an intellectual, though she was doutlessly beneath the likes of the shinobi engineer. It weren't her job to be, after all. More often than not, she was merely an assassin and a secondary intelligence person. To see the true depths of his skill, and to explore her own weaknesses and strengths thereby was of interest to her.
...As Seishirou wanders into the entrance of the newly revealed building... Nagase is hesitant to follow. All of her instincts told her he was expecting her, and as a ninja she did not like wandering into the traps of others if she could help it.
Yet, Seishirou would apparently not be giving her a choice. She leaps from the tree then, down to the earth below... and slowly makes her way to that entrance, to possibly come face to face with the man she has been seeking for the better part of three weeks...
It fits with his methods of operation. Seishirou, according to the intelligence and rumors, was fond of personal choice. He oftentimes tested fighters mentally almost as rigorously as he tested them physically. There was always some sort of master plan, some sort of internal rubric only he was aware of. The only thing driving his actions, which oftentimes made his actions seem dangerous and unpredictable. In truth, walking into a dark warehouse after him is the bravest thing one could do. Knowing him, you could be walking into your own pyre.
The warehouse is dark in that kind of way that a flashlight can't help. The sole lamp, a powerful spotlight, shines from overhead spilling onto a small pedestal in its center. The feeling around is of expansiveness, and open air. In the distance, the shinobi's ghost-grey coat is visible, and the emblem on its back, heading towards the pedestal as if preacher to his pulpit. As Nagase enters, it takes only moments for the door to quietly seal behind her, the last lines of available light disappearing at her flanks, a grinding sound indicating the expected result: she's locked in.
He somehow didn't trigger the pressure plate himself...
A centimeter or two's worth of height is lost as the floor becomes slightly less sure, a pressure plate triggering the other (electric) lights in the facility. There are no poison arrows, and nothing flies out to kill Nagase. Instead, lights shine on Ryouhara-sigiled banners at the edges of the warehouse--more of a kind of cathedral hall than anything else--and down into the center. The lights focus on a massive iron crate, locked down with multiple bolts and curved strikes, a lock resembling more of a stylized puzzle than anything natural or practical. The crate is positioned directly in front of the pedestal.
All around, the readings are bizarre and strange--though there aren't any large sources of chi here larger than Ryouhara himself, there are trace elements of chi all throughout the area, in dense networks, much like the entrance was only a moment ago. Ninkougakujutsu..
"You've come a long way."
The voice is almost uncharacteristically young for a shinobi of his age. He wears that age only in the dipped-in-ink darkness of his tone, the cold and disconnected nature of his words. Everything else is polished smooth, as if his knowledge was all ill-gained, and beyond his years. It's a little bizarre to hear, but he never actually faces Nagase, instead choosing to talk as he works, smooth-skinned hands touching the carved alabaster-colored stone of the pedestal before him with his fingertips. The pedestal responds, chi welling up in its center, but no other actual measurable response can be seen yet.
The shinobi continues, as if only testing Nagase. "Young proleteriat, from what family do you come? What ideal do you serve to come to this place beyond places... what hand do you serve to reach so far into the dark so as to find this thing that I have made...?"
Eyes narrow, and he peers through raven-black bangs over his shoulder, an impossibly dark eye piercing.
"...Answer quickly, or be lost forever."
As Nagase takes her first, measured, steps into the darkness... her heart rate quickens considerably... and her ears are listening to the abyss her human eyes cannot penetrate. Briefly, her analysis system kicks in and switches over to a system used to track chi. It gives her a modicum of vision... allowing her to see /him/ better as well as the subtle lines of life energy that run through the interior of the warehouse. It's not much comfort, however, she knew well that being on his territory was a potentially lethal risk. This was made even more pronounced by the rumors and tidbits of information she had acquired about him. The stories certainly made him out to be someone to be exceedingly wary of.
...Then, as she crosses the threshold, the door begins to close on its own. It draws her eyes over her left shoulder, and she watches as the last sliver of light from the outside fades away... and with it... her last chance to escape the decision she has made. ... It isn't as if she wanted to, however. It was a calculated risk she was well aware of. By entering this place, she was submitting herself to his mercy potentially. But it was a necessary risk for such an important meeting...
...The floor sinks, triggering momentarily alarm. Nagase's blood-colored eyes go wide and then... the lights come on all around. Her head turned this way and that, eyes and in-built systems scanning all around for potential threats. .. But he was by and far still the largest one.
Then, he speaks. And the color of his words only enhances the mystery surrounding him. Young proleteriat? Weren't he quite young himself...? Perhaps there was more to his age than meets the eye. When the questions come, she is quick to answer... and there is no attempt at deception made...
"Hattori." He may recognize it, a prestigious family belonging to the Iga in its own right. The most reknowned shinobi of which was the mighty Hattori Hanzo. A man whom she inherited her techiques from most directly. "...I was made aware of you through Iga, and it was Iga's intelligence network which helped me to isolate your location to this area... beyond that... finding you was quite a task." A task he may well be aware of. After all, she made every attempt to make herself known to him. "...I'll be frank. I seek the expertises you have, most of all your ability to make your presence unknown even to the likes of the Southtown Syndicate..."
A pregnant pause comes, Nagase lifts a gauntleted hands to press against the bridge of her rose-colored shades as she adjusts their position. She purses her lips, considering her next words... "...for which I work." She eventually decides against lies. He was a known terrorist himself and a highly intelligent shinobi. He'd likely see right through it. "...My employer wishes to reinstate itself. To take the city back from Kain... perhaps there is something we could offer in exchange for your aid...?" As for ideals, she states openly, "...I also have a personal agenda however. I freely admit, I came to meet the last Ryouhara, the rumored genious Ninkougakusa... and to see if perhaps... you were as good as the rumors say. Also, to find out where I stand..."
"...."
It's with that same sense of premeditation that the shinobi lowers his hands. Every movement is thoughtful, as if some puppetmaster tied every movement of his to some internal scheme. From the slow drop of his hands to his sides to the seconds-too-long dip of his lashes, everything about him seems too slow, too deliberate to be anything but planned. He lets her talk, introducing her family foremost even before herself, her group and her goal first. A consummate shinobi--duty before self, drive before life.
But she admits, in a particularly innocent way, a personal ambition of her own.
It would be heart-breaking. If Seishirou was the type to shed tears at all.
By all accounts, Seishirou has not aged past his 20s, and his words are dipped in entirely too much youthful vitality for his age--at least, an apparent one--to be much higher than it is. But again, those words only a few moments ago... they're entirely too certain of everything. It is an incongruity unique only to him. When she admits everything to him, he pauses. And for a moment, it was as if you threw a coin into a wishing well--words lost forever in the dark. At the end of that pause, Ryouhara turns back forward, looking away, to the pedestal again.
"...You've come a long way," he repeats.
For a moment, it's hard to tell what exactly is going on, as Ryouhara repeats exactly what he said only a few moments ago, before Nagase started speaking, going through the motions of everything he did only a few sentences prior. He lifts his hands, setting them on the pedestal again. Until it becomes absolutely clear: he's stuck in a loop. Because it's not actually the real Ryouhara.
It explains the mannerisms--they are methodical because they were created well in advance. They are premeditated simply because they are. The duplicate, a chi devisation so convincing so as to be indistinguishable from the actual, dissipates in a flash of fire. However, the chi held by the duplicate is not lost--it is a measurable quantity thereof. It flows through those hands into the pedestal, unlocking it, causing large bolts to slide free from the base, hip and neck of the pedestal. It causes the tip of the pedestal to split, and reveal... a small puzzle box, glowing with the chi just released. There is a sympathetic signature in the massive crate before the pedestal.
The puzzlebox is finished in brass, and etched into the surface are the words: "Everyone is a proleteriat."
Ryouhara himself--the real Ryouhara, that is--is nowhere to be seen.
Did anyone even hear your words?
The puppet-like movements are not entirely lost on Nagase. It didn't seem natural, almost like an animatronic doll. Or it shouldn't have, but for the time being she was a fool lost to his illusion. The mind can impose reality where there is none. Her mind reasoned the movements were a mere peculiarity of the Ninkougakusha. She's seen stranger things in her time as both a conscript of Iga-ryu and a Syndicate assassin.
The girl awaits his reply, standing at the opposite of the warehouse, even as he seemingly turns away again. A gauntleted hand lifts, tugging gently at a solid black neck scarf that coiled itself about her delicate-looking neck, trailing down her back side to the small of her back. Yellow lips purse again, youthfully curious yet highly analytical almond-shaped eyes watch him quietly. Her breathing is slow, controlled, and nearly silent. The only significant movement she was making was for the time being was that gentle tugging, and a slow batting of her eyelashes. ... Then, the repeated phrase hits her... causing that tugging to pause. Suddenly it all comes together in her mind, and she realizes all too late as his hands touch the pedestal... it wasn't him. This is confirmed a moment later as the duplicate dissolves into fire. ... More Ninkou.
The sudden animation of the pedestal caused by the duplicates dissolution draws her eyes. ... Yet, even as it ceases to move, she waits. She waits for probably the better part of thirty seconds, just to see if anything else happens. But there is silence, and so with no other option... she starts forward toward the pedestal...eyeing the crate as she passes...
"...Everyone is a proletariat...", she reads aloud... as she stares at the puzzlebox from a short distance away. She's kneeled near it, still fingering that scarf... and she's hesitant to touch the box. Given everything she's seen tonight it could possibly be a trap. She even eyes the crate nearby suspiciously. It would be her first guess that something just might come out of there lest she touch the thing. ... She contemplates the meaning though. Everyone worked, sure. But she doubted that was what was meant. That seemed too simple, perhaps it was a philosophical statement about poverty...? Perhaps not monetary poverty, but moral poverty...
...She casts her gaze toward the ceiling of the silent warehouse momentarily, and then all around. ... Nothing was happening. Was she really alone? ... She doubted it very much. It would be quite strange for such an elaborate party to lack a host...
Finally, she eyes the puzzlebox again... deciding against her best judgement to try and reach out and touch it. Maybe even pick it up...
For whatever you might think about the Ryouhara, you certainly seem to be alone. It is in truth something hard to believe--hard to beleive that men said to be as suspicious and masterminding as Seishirou Ryouhara would set something like this to the winds of chance.
Provided, of course, that he believed in the winds of chance at all.
Afterall, would it be so out of place for someone as reclusive and obsessive as Ryouhara to set such a scenario up in the first place? It certainly isn't beyond his abilities--after all, the incident in Taizhou was orchestrated entirely while Ryouhara was said to be dead. An entire civil war perpetrated by manipulations made from beyond the grave. Or so it was said. Still, an element of truth to everything: Though it may take a living hand to set a gear in motion, where legacies of ninja are concerned, it is never clear just whose hand that must be.
Such techniques--to create a persistent duplicate capable of acting to the point where predestination can be mistaken for grace--is the sort of hallmark of the Ryouhara clan. But now, the illusion's purpose is served. Underneath the all-seeing eye of the NESTS analytic techniques, it is clear that the clone of Ryouhara was released from some seal triggered by Nagase's passage, and that seal contained within it enough energy to charge the ninkou at work in this hall. And to be sure, the object that Nagase turns in her hands is absolutely ninkougakujutsu, and was in fact once loosely assembled parts on some table beyond the reach of the light.
There is no lethal response to her trepidations, only the soft tingle of an energetic construct given temporary life. Charged with chi as it now is, the puzzlebox seems alive in the kunoichi's nimble hands. It is an elegant design, made up of the same styles of locks that seals the giant case in front of the pedestal, and if you were willing to look at things a little imaginatively, the massive locks to the hall itself. There seems to be no overt key to the device, merely latching seams where internal tumblers seem almost intended--meant--to be tampered with. Each curving bolt is pressurized, locked shut by some pneumatic devisation, and each lock is built on one another, in a tiered, independent configuration, and each has a distinct measurement attached to it, along with a colored identification. A descriptor of size, and no one bolt is exactly the same size as the other. The heirarchy of construction keeps the bolts segregated by size--smaller ones support ever larger bolts towards the to pend of the device, and it is clear that they are all interconnected somehow.
Even more astounding is that as chi resonates in the device, sympathetic chi resonates in the curved bolts of the larger metal crate in front of Nagase, easily three or four times her size. Each bolt on that box has a corresponding color stripe for identification. The smaller box is actually some sort of a key to unlocking the larger, and motion in one axis on the smaller box seems to cause some sort of similar chi reaction to the larger.
It's the sort of maddening puzzle whose premise would be near indecipherable without Nagase's particular suite of abilities.
Almost like someone planned it this way.
Nothing. Nothing expected happens when she takes the box in hand, initially. There is that tingle of foreign chi, but that aside, there is nothing. Nagase smirks a bit, as she eyes the box resting in her right hand. Her delicate fingers clutch it, turning it over to glance at the bottom and sides... before casting a sidelong glance at the crate again... and taking in the stillness and silence.
Finally, she takes a seat with her back to the pedestal and begins to turn the box around in her hands once more. This time she's thoroughly analyzing it. She really should have expected this, she thought to herself. This whole situation bore all of the hallmarks of an eccentric, reclusive, engineer. He was proving to be every bit the interesting character she had imagined him to be.
...and this was a damnable looking lock puzzle. She's had to pick locks countless times before, and had picks on hand, but this... she might be here a while. If he was trying to test her dedication to her employer, he was certainly succeeding!
Deft, delicate, hands dig in the pockets of her overshirt and other places... producing lock picks which she then proceeds to compare with the lock sizes for a match. Occasionally, if she isn't certain, she inserts a pick and attempts to tumble the locks... starting from the bottom most. She goes through her pockets, producing a few picks at least, before finally managing to successfully tumble the locks with a mechanical click and a quiet hiss as gas valves release. Each time she successfully tumbles the locks associated with the bolts, she slides it from one side of the puzzle to the other. Then she moves on to the next layer of locks...
All in all, it probably takes about thirty minutes to an hour - the end result being that she's still seated at the base of the pedestal with a variety of metal picks scattered about her. And she rolls the last pneumatically-secured bolt into place...
As the young kunoichi becomes acquainted with the design of the knot-lock, she'll find a definite heiarchy to the box. It's actually a very well secured key--though it is made to be mechanically 'solved' as opposed to conventionally unlocked, it is a very delicate piece of equipment, and after a bit of examination, it becomes clear that it is almost laughably easy to damage the puzzle beyond recovery, if one doesn't follow the exact sequence of tumblers in the box. A delicate hand reigns in this sort of situation.
As time passes, Nagase will start to notice the smaller details of the hall around her, if she takes a moment or two to come up for air. Namely, that the area seems to be the kind of place that could easily be a church, if it wasn't so practical. Though the pedestal and puzzlebox take up most of the air in the mainspace of the hall, they weren't the only things contained in the area. Rows of cases, racks and crates dominate the back areas of the hall, forming neat and orderly little rows. A weapons dealer could have made a fortune here, if the weapons were really usable by anything other than martial artists--swords, spears, glaives and main-gauches line the racks, among countless other weapons for both shinobi and conventional artists. A few cases are open, and things that couldn't possibly be described as weapons or tools are barely visible in them. It's hard to tell from a distance, but many of the other crates are sealed with locks as well, some at least half as intricate as the one that sits before you now.
It takes some time, yes, to solve the lock without damaging it. It turns out that the heiarchy is hinted at in the brass engraving on the box's nameplate: Everyone is a proleteriat. Thus, the lock must be solved from bottom to top, the smallest and most numerous tumblers (helpfully labelled in size) solved first before the larger tumblers can even be attempted. However, with each curving bolt slid back across each of the box's faces, similar bolts grind to life in the crate just behind Nagase, massive steel bolts each weighing a hundred pounds and some easily the length of Nagase's arm sliding back across the front facing of the crate, each removing an obstacle and each's color code corresponding to the code on a matching bolt on the puzzlebox.
When the last is solved, the puzzlebox splits, each seam clicking open as some internal mechanism spreads the box, revealing its internal mechanisms to cursory inspection. Only, there is nothing inside. The box was just a mechanism. The crate behind it--that massive container--follows suit, top and sides splitting and clamshelling open, invisible seams releasing with visible smoke and steam curling from them, the result of a powerful exothermic-type chi reaction. The crate has very few visible mechanisms, even inside, only pistons to slowly lift it and hold it open, like a cracking egg. Of course, the mechanisms inside the giant container has very little on the mechanism inside the giant container.
It's a panda.
At least, that's the first reaction upon seeing the huge machine entombed in the box, an insensate machine made to resemble adorable Chinese wildlife. It is highly stylized, with massive girth, and rendered from equal parts rubber, iron, wood, brass and mesh. It wears an eyepatch, and a giant iron umbrella is sheathed at its back. Each of its mechanized paws is easily the size of Nagase's torso, and it wears the robes, lacquer-plate armor and double sheathed blades (!) of a samurai. It sits there, insensate to the light shining on it, and it seems to be holding a small glass case in its lap. But as Nagase's system scans it, she will notice that there is a powerful chi source at its core. A chi source that has been awakened by the opening of the case.
Suddenly, with an audible blast of steam at its seams, the machine labors to life.
Automaton P4N-D4 awakens with a groan and a shriek of long-suffering joints, hefting into the air with the slow menace of an awakening dragon. Its eyepatch flickers, seals around the patch trailing green energy. Almost offhand, it sets the glass case to the ground with preternatural delicacy for its massive bulk, a clinking, ratcheting sound accompanying the movement as its claws scrape against the glass. The case seems to hold a single scroll. It stares dead forward, something deep inside its body churning. It's only moments later that it notices that there has been an intruder in the hall.
The green energy trailing from the eyepatch fringes glows red.
It takes a single step forward, its very footfall causing the ground to quake. It growls.
And then the panda samurai roars, a twisting-gear and belt-shrieking contrivance. A titanic sound, it's loud enough to shake the dust from the rafters. You are a worthy opponent. You have unlocked the thunder.
[1;34mSeishirou drops P4N-D4.
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 has started a fight here as a boss!
P4N-D4
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COMBATSYS: Nagase has joined the fight here.
P4N-D4
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Nagase 0/-------/-------|
The bolt slides across the face of the puzzle, clicking into place, and a pair of quietly analytical eyes lift to stare at the large metallic crate across from her person. The last, matching, bolt on the crate moves into place as well with a far more audible report. From the beginning, the order in which she solved the puzzle amounted to guess work. More, intuition perhaps. Starting with smallest, lowest, locks just seemed to make sense. It hadn't dawned on her that the phrase etched into the puzzle's face was a clue about where to start until well after she started. Thus, it's entirely possible she could have busted the damnable thing! But, hey, she wasn't telling anybody that...!
...And then, the puzzle falls apart in her hands... and the crate begins to open with loud, mechanical-sounding, activity. More and more it was becoming clear to the Syndicate assassin that she had seriously underestimated the extreme to which he took his skillcraft. The complexity of all of these mysterious chi-infused artifices was well-beyond what she could have ever hoped to imagine.
...and inside that crate is the nastiest-looking cute thing she has ever seen! This coming from a girl who ran around with blades strapped to her back, the handles of which resembled panda heads! It doesn't take a genius engineer to figure out what it's made for either, the armor and blades were indication enough!
As her sanguine eyes stare into the lifeless mechanical monstrosity, her onboard computer activates and a readout scrolls across her lenses briefly indicating a detected chi-source. ... But it wasn't the Ryouhara, it was the bear!
This revelation sees her springing to her feet, after placing the puzzle aside, literally about a second before the machine activates and generates an obnoxious amount of noise in the doing! It's then that she notices the case, only as it clinks upon the surface of the ground. A scroll?? Was that something she was supposed to try and beat this thing for? Not that it mattered really... that thing was already lumbering forward. The absolute last thing she was concerned about was that scroll! She was locked in a warehouse with a mechanical assault bear! Of all the things she's ever been made to fight for her employers, this was unarguably the strangest!
The thing roars, or more acurately shrieks at her, and she does just about what any reasonable fighter would do when faced with such a thing... hit it hard. Very Hard. Or attempt to anyway! She leaps down in front of the monstrosity before darting toward it, black scarf aflutter... spinning on her left foot as she enters its territory and throwing a kick with her right suffused with flame chi toward its external hull!
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 blocks Nagase's Medium Kick.
P4N-D4
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Nagase 0/-------/-------|
A pulsing thrum and the sound of actuating ratchets is the only sound that meets Nagase's winning dive kick. The machine's chassis groans audibly, as internal mechanisms twist and flex to some unseen command, causing its upper third shell fragment to rotate independently of its lower half and its head, bringing one massive plate of leather and iron to bear against her powerful flame-imbued kick, smashing hard into its plates and causing a loud, hollow reverberation across its body, much as one might hear from ringing a bell wrapped in a blanket.
Damage is.. negligable.
One does have to wonder at the level of automation that it would require to have this thing operate. While prior sectors of Ryouhara ninkou seem to have been triggered by Nagase's very presence, high level automation--or true reactivity, that is--has been largely absent. Is this machine much more evolved? It certainly seems to recognize Nagase as a threat, even as it quickly outpaces, striding over the glass case and leaving it somewhere behind it, as it draws its umbrella--a massive stereotypically Japanese thing, if the Japanese kasa were made of iron and what must be some form of leather straw--crushing the pedestal that released it in one swipe, before turning to orient on Nagase. Lurching to its full height, its easy to imagine from the perpetually long look in its face that it is frowning at her from this angle. There are certain masks in Noh interpretive dance that allow the wearer to both smile and frown at the audience with the same mask depending on its angle..
The machine opens its umbrella wide, and holds it overhead. The canopy of the parasol casts a long umbra across the hall from its myriad lights. But what's annoying is the flash of symbols across the underside of the envelope. At least a hundred tiny Chinese-style rockets have been tethered to the underside of the machine's umbrella. And at least half of that number have just been activated with Nagase as a target. Trailing colorful contrails of smoke, myriad wings of the rockets come corkscrewing out from underneath the walking panda tank's bumbershoot. Carving out elaborate dancing trails through the hall, they sketch paths towards the perceived intruder. The panda spins the umbrella, twirling the canopy in one hand through some unseen mechanism, causing the rocket paths to scatter, each individually tracking its target with a pop and a fizzing sound..
Each generates an explosion on its own enough to rupture crates and cartons and racks all its own. But interestingly enough, none seem to be mixed strong enough to breach the walls of the cathedral. Is it that they were deliberately checked? Or are the walls of this area that strong?
The machine groans audibly, ominously.
COMBATSYS: Nagase blocks P4N-D4's Karakasa Rocketry Array.
P4N-D4
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br>The chi-suffused kick bounces almost harmlessly off of the bear's armor, it's upper shell rotating with astounding speed to negate her attempt at finding a weak spot. Immediately, she retracts her kicking leg on instinct and begins to move back a step or two. An umbrella is then immediately drawn, with Nagase automatically assuming it is meant to hit her, and darting around the bear again as a result - black scarf aflutter as she does so.
She doesn't get but perhaps two steps, and the sound of that pedestal being utterly rent asunder comes followed by a din of mechanical activity as the bear tracks her suddenly and stands to its full height. The whole time that bear is re-orienting itself to adjust for her changing position, her only thoughts are about how to go about toppling it.
Finally, having near hit the warehouse wall and a series of metallic crates arrayed there, she puts pressure on the soles of her shoes and forces her momentum to a sideways stop. There, she patiently awaits her opponents approach. ... But the bear suddenly pops open its umbrella, and from beneath rows of nasty-looking rockets become visible. Nagase's brows visibly furrow, a downturning of yellow painted lips showing her displeasure before she darts again... attempting to flee the onslaught of explosions that follows and leaves a wide area of destroyed warehouse in its wake!
%She manages to escape being hit directly, either though sheer speed or artful dodging, but a handful of explosions in her proximity on the tail end of the aassault manages to blow her back into a pile of metallic crates that managed to survive the attack.
.And it knocks the air out of her momentarily, as well as burning off portions of her clothing. It's a good thing she usually wears an undershirt, because her black overshirt bearing a white demon on its face has holes burned in it. And her body is already complaining from the damage! "...Ugh!!"
It wouldn't be too long before she's on the move again, and this time it's straight toward the bear! She barrels across charred black, destroyed, concrete flooring before leaping past the bear and richocheting off a half-destroyed stack of crates. She throws a kick with all of her strength this time, but it isn't for damage... it's intended to try and knock the bear off-balance, or at least into a tilt. If she can manage this, she'll attempt to leap onto the ursine monstrsity's backside before leaping again and turning a mid-air flip... ended with a powerful stomp accompanied by an explosion of firey chi from her feet!
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 fails to interrupt Nagase Stomp from Nagase with Rolling Shield Capture.
P4N-D4
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The problem with fighting a machine like this is simply a matter of physics. While a fighter can use skill and dexterity to defeat an opponent, the massive collection of parts, steam and rage arranged into a samurai-shaped mass before Nagase doesn't respond to dexterity or skill. It relentlessly chases Nagase through the hall after it expends the apportioning of rockets it committed from its array to roasting Nagase over an open fire. Those steps, while movements are individually slow, are in huge increments--it can get across the battlefield of the cathedral in a few short steps, and as Nagase is blown to tatters by its rocketry, it is already advancing for the next blow.
Its body sections rotate independently as Nagase whips around it, flanking it, but its ponderous weight lurches with a groan that may have been generated independently by the machine for by the squealing of its gears as it seeks to right itself. Its head twists, the one thing that doesn't seem to be able to turn 360 degrees on the machine for a massive rubberized 'throat' underneath it. Soulless marbles at one point considered eyes wobble comically as they track Nagase's movement. The machine removes its anchoring by thrusting its umbrella straight up, but Nagase hammers into it with a cataclysmic landing, punching the machine down with cracked armor plates into the floor with a massive crash and an impact that rocks the machine's frame.
It shifts for a moment, as if attempting to right itself.
...Apparently, it thinks better of it, because it's just slowly rolling towards Nagase, limbs and weapons clanging as it turns chaotic revolutions towards the kunoichi. 'Rolling the squid' is a good term to think of here..
-KER-THUNK- ... -BANG- ... -BANG!!!-
Nagase's feet make solid contact with the ursine monstrosity's back side, bright orange flames fanning out from her feet and scorching pretty much anything they can before she bounds off again.
Her platform shoes make solid contact with charred concrete with an audible clicking, the girl turning back to look over her left shoulder as the obnoxiously loud crashing of natural and un-natural components hitting the floor comes. So far, she's managed to get by with merely some burnt clothes, a few light burns, and having the breath knocked out of her. She wondered how long that would last, however.
She didn't have all too long to think though as, after failing in its attempt to rise up off the floor, the mechanical monstrosity instead comes rolling across the floor at her like a slow, persistent, Japanese tidal wave. If there was a downside to fighting a non-living entity she could name, it had to be persistence. A machine generally did not care for its own welfare or integrity beyond what was necessary to accomplish its goals. And it would likewise employ any means available to it to accomplish its ends.
...And its persistence really annoyed her right now! "...Stupid hunk of junk... you should know when to quit!", she shouts angrily at the rolling samurai panda before drawing back her right leg for yet another chi-powered kick. She then hurls it at whatever exposed components happen to be in her path as it rolls toward her, attempting to knock it back the way it came!
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 endures Nagase's Strong Kick.
P4N-D4
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It takes no insignificant amount of strength to overturn a landslide.
As the avalanche of parts and priceless historical recreations threatens to overtake Nagase, her blow impacts with it perfectly, a hull-buckling surge of incendiary power that causes the entire mass of steel and leather to smoulder--and after a few revolutions, catch fire. The reaction of a machine to chi is a little different than the reaction of a normal human being--because of native aura, a human can natively extinguish chi after a few moments, depending on the relative strength of the attack. On the other hand, a machine, even one powered by chi, has much less pronounced defenses against such incursion.
Unfortunately, it doesn't care.
It slows, almost teetering backwards from the force of that empowered kick.
...And then it keeps going, heedless of damage.
Now there's a flaming samurai panda after you.
The machine barrels through rows of racks and cases, scattering all manner of arms and armor across the place, and leaving a burning trail in its wake. But being outpaced by the kunoichi is a little too much for it, and the burning machine uncoils, unsheathing its umbrella quickly and slamming it point first into the ground, driving the iron seven inches into bare concrete. Striding past the karakasa in purposeful, methodical steps, the machine latches onto the massive case which held it, groaning ominously as it glares after Nagase. Then it hisses, steam blasting out of its lower quadrants, extinguishing the fire beneath it with the force and moisture of the blast. It redistributes its weight, sinking low to the ground as anchors unfold from its hindpaws, driving mini-piles deep into the floor. It latches onto the massive case, and lurches angrily. The sound of grinding gears can be heard, as well as pulleys charging. It makes one last shift, and rips the entire crate out of its moorings, lifting the entire mass of smouldering iron--easily the size of a truck--over its head, almost trivially.
Then, with blasts of heated gas underneath it, the machine throws the entire opened case at Nagase, crushing just about everything in a twenty foot radius of the impact site.
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 successfully hits Nagase with Epic Thrown Object.
Glancing Blow
P4N-D4
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The kick impacts solidly, and a crunching of components is felt yet again by the Syndicate assassin just before her opponent... bursts into flames. This is cause for great concern, because... yes... once unliving things caught on fire they tended to stay on fire. It's the same trick mshe used to hurl burning shuriken at her opponents, a handful of leaves or paper will do! ... But that thought wasn't her most pressing one, in fact the recognition of a basic concept of chi manipulation is fleeting... what's really and truly weighing on her mind is...
"SHIT!" ... If being trapped in a warehouse with a persistent mechanical assault bear wasn't bad enough, being trapped with a persistent mechanical assault bear that was ON FIRE was so much worse. And she had only herslf to blame for her overealousness! "FUCKFUCKFUCK...", she exclaims as she attempts to run away from the dauntless, twisted, mechanical golem Seishirou had made for her as a welcoming present! You know, she /almost/ thought she could like the guy when he handed her a puzzle but now...?!
...Now she almost wanted to kick his ass. BUT, the bear would have to suffice for now! ... Nagase finally skids to a stop as the lumbering monstrosity practically chases her into a corner. It was still a ways back, but she didn't know for how long. ... The sound of the massive iron crate being ripped from the floor does not escape her, blood red eyes whirl past her left shoulder and the rest of her body follows shortly. Those deep, almond-shaped, angular pools go wide with alarm... painted lips spreading slowly as she stares almost in horror. After a moment or so, what comes out is, "...OHFUCKNO! Don't you even...!", and the crate is sent sailing... with Nagase quickly whipping her head around to try and figure out how escape becoming a pancake!
And in the end, she attempts to do what a ninja does best... use the environment to her advantage and dodge! Darting up the wall like a squirrel with a run, she then launches off of it and tries to escape. ... But even though the box misses her, it catches her scarf mid-flight and pins it against the wall... yanking her back down with violent force and strangling her before settling with a resounding clang. The force slams her back first into the crate top and knocks the breath out of her yet again!
..And that bear was still coming. "...Oh my god...", she groans as she uncoils the scarf from her neck and rubs gingerly at the reddened flesh there. Make her question her fashion sense, why don't you! That hit by itself felt like it nearly broke her ribs, and maybe it did fracture. They were certainly filing complaints with the upstairs now! "Ugh..."
..The ursine golem has all of a few seconds before Nagase leaps off the crate again, and charges it once more with furious speed. She leaps at a nearby piles of crates again, kicking off, making it look as though she might try to kick it again. ... But instead, she grabs a much smaller crate than the one that nearly squashed her, and attempts to leap into the air above the samuai panda with it... and then she inverts... spiraling downwards intent to try and slam the crate into the golem anywhere she can!
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 blocks Nagase's Fierce Punch.
P4N-D4
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The machine, inexorable, lumbers on. There is a fluid cast to its jangled and chaotic movement, in the same way a spider moves so bizarrely yet so gracefully. Though its individual movements are unpredictable and alien, the whole appears unnaturally coordinated. Even moreso in the next few moments, when its movements take on a decidedly and recognizably human imitation and feel.
As Nagase narrowly avoids being crushed by the machine, the panda unit trudges forward, indicidually disengaging itself from the anchoring pilings it drove into the ground, clamps releasing with an audible hiss as it leaves the short protrusions sticking out of the concrete. For a moment it seems intent on crushing Nagase in one flaming claw as it lumbers forward--she can't escape her current predicament, after all. But when Nagase escapes, it renders the attempt moot--in a short match, she can easily outpace the machine. Or so it would seem.
When she slams a crate powerfully into the machine, it lurches noticeably beneath the weight of the shield it flips foward, shoulderplate spinning around to block the majority of the superficial damage in the impact, but the force of the blow and the weight of its bearer is enough to buckle its stance, dropping the machine to one knee mightily. Bowing its head for a moment, the ninkou seems to labor.
And then its hand goes to the sword tucked into its obi.
The flash of light is enough to blind, and the rush of wind is enough to extinguish the flames around it. The machine slings this blade, large enough to cut down horses and dragons alike with little effort, like a true warrior wields a blade on the battlefield. Battledata confirms it--it is almost a perfect draw cut, as if captured from a master itself. That ogre's blade twists, andstrokes a second time, as it steps forward into the motion, a loud cataclysmic thundersnap echhoing off from somewhere inside the machine's armor plate. It's almost like a kiai.
Seconds later, cases and crates fall to pieces at the floor all around it, bisected. It continues to mow through the area, like a farmer through a field of wheat, seeking Nagase out amongst the heap..
COMBATSYS: Nagase counters Ninkou Samurai from P4N-D4 with Punishment Mode Assault.
P4N-D4
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The inescapable tug of gravity pulls Nagase and her passenger, that heavy metal crate, straight down towards the formidable machine with furious force and speed. Yet, despite the momentum she had gained from bringing along that crate for the ride, the machine still manages to muster a defense... and in the end Nagase slams into that hardy shoulder plate. The majority of the damage is abated, the machine collapsing to one knee as its structure buckles under the force of her augmented momentum. And then, Nagase is quick to turn loose of the crate and flip off of the monstrosity toward its right side.
-Clack- -Clack-
Her heels click against the pavement, inaudible in comparison to the crash that accompanied the golem being brought low again. The momentary pause in the action the machine gives her is a treasured one, delicate fingers clutching at the neck of her over shirt and tugging at it violently to fan her sweat soaked body. Her neck rolls back mometarily as an exhale escapes her soft, painted, lips. She knew it weren't over, that thing was still trying to get up after all. But, at least she was able to rest for the mo-...
...then the ominous creaking of damaged components comes as the flaming golem's arm goes for its blade. And Nagase stops mid-tug... her wide, asian, eyes locking with the monstrosity again. Then, her analysis system kicks in... giving her a readout on its chi output... and it was climbing. And it wasn't because of the damage either, it was likely preparing for a rather nasty assault. ... WHEN WASN'T IT PREPARING FOR A NASTY ASSAULT?!
"Oh, will you PLEASE...?!", she shouts in annoyance as it completely ignores her and draws that behemoth sword from its resting place. An enormous gust seems to come as the sword is drawn from its sheath, snuffing out the flames that coated the golem, and the glare of the overhead lights off of the polished blade threatens to blind with dramatic flare. Nagase struggles to hold her fur skirt down and salvage her maidenly dignity in the wake of that wind. And her eyes go even wider as she simultaneously geeks out and fears for her life. She recognized this move!!! This was the dramatic, final, one hit kill technique of the esper Odin... it was Zantetsu...
"...Shit!", she doesn't finish her train of thought... having been forced to take to the air in response to the blade's edge nearing her person. She immediately attempts to take advantage of the blade's presence, however, by bounding off of it and flying through the air at the sword bearer! "...I'll show you how that fucking move works!!!" Drawing her tanto blades from her backside, the kunoichi channels her flaming chi into each and then swings them through the air at the bear's awkward little neck. But the blades themselves are not what slices through... no, the chi energy coating her tantos extend into MASSIVE ethereal blades that cleave through the air as she attempts to sever the golem's head right from its body...
The machine samurai's blade lowers, still smoking with shear heat stress.
In the unit's wake, multiple cases and machines have been reduced to slices of their former selves, laying on the ground in pieces whose frayed edges still glow red from the friction of the massive blade's cataclysmic passing. The machine hunkers down low, both hands on the impossibly large daito, its body motionless and silent perhaps for the first time since the battle's begun. A few moments later, the kunoichi will likely land.
Then, mesh distending and rubber falling away, the ninkou samurai's head falls off at the shoulders, rolling away comically with the motion. It comes to a stop some ways away, the energy seething around its eyepatch finally smouldering to a dim glow. Something deep within the panda's main fuselage groans.
For the moment, one would think that would be the end of it, the samurai shuddering and spewing motor oil from the grievous wound. If not the calculating seat of the machine, the head was surely an important factor in the panda's sensory functions, right? One would think. And, somewhat annoyingly, one would be wrong.
The war machine turns, first at the waist 180 degrees, then following with the lower portion. Jangling automated steps are taken towards Nagase, the machine continuing to screech and growl hollow troubles, grousing at the world as it unceremoniously walks after Nagase, even headless, sheathing its blade as it rounds on her, an unstoppable war beast of seemingly inexhaustible power. It has no trouble tracking her. Leaping forward with sudden speed and indiscretion. It lifts one massive clawed stabilizer pad, paw stretching out wide. It groans ominously as it faces off against Nagase, and seems to fully intend to just stomp her flat beneath its entire weight. Weight enough to smash even a trained fighter into pieces. It leans back, finding equilibrium, locks its remaining claw to prevent destabilization, pitches forward and--
...Grinds, snaps, and shrieks to an overheated stop, inches from a murdering attack.
Small, quiet machines inside the panda are still running, not dissimilar to the clicking sound of a tickertape. But it doesn't move anymore, about as useful as a panda samurai-shaped statue. It is completely immobile.
COMBATSYS: P4N-D4 can no longer fight.
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Nagase 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Nagase dodges P4N-D4's Crippling Stomp.
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Nagase 0/-------/----===|
The crackling sound of flame chi quietens, as Nagase wills the chi to disperse from her tanto blades. Momentary whisps of smoke are the only visible reminders that the flames ever existed, gone in an instant like a candle blown out. This happens litterally just an instant before her feet hit the ground, arms swung wide and bearing blades still glowing white hot from the prior heat they were encased in. The groaning death wail of the Ninkou panda's internal neck structure comes as the head strains to stay put, before finally rolling off its shoulders somewhere behind her. Then the body begins to shutter, a cacophony of mechanical sounds comes as it systems reach the brink of failure. The wet sound of motor oil gushing out from the wound surely indicates its demise draws near. Her eyes betray a sense of relief at the sound. She automatically assumes it is over. After all, even if it /is/ a machine... it surely could not persist after such damage, ... right?
...But then, it comes to life again... frame rotating and body lurching forward as its headless frame persists tracking the girl. Her eyes slowly turn, as the worriesome sound it is emitting draws near along with the thunder of its footfalls. Her mind is blank from sheer shock. HOW could it STILL be moving?! "...Oh bend me over a knee and..."
...the rest of her possibly risque sentence is drowned out by another thunderous footfall. She literally just stands there, as it approaches, staring over her left shoulder as it rears up with an ominous din of mechanical dysfunction. It's shadow swallows her whole. And whilst she tries to figure out how exactly to counter this attack...
%It stops.
...It takes her a good minute or so of watching to be convinced of its immobility... especially as it is -still- emitting sound. ... But, eventually, she returns her tanto blades, still white hot, to their specially made heat-resistant sheaths... and she sighs long and hard. "...Ohhhhh my gooooooddddd..." Never in a million years did she imagine she would have to suffer this much for one job! Okay, fighting that demonic cultist whilst trying to steal a boat last week was /pretty/ bad but...
This took the cake. At worst, she expected to have to fight somebody tonight... possibly the Ryouhara... BUT A GOD DAMN PANDA?!
..Then it dawns on her. "...Oh, that's right... wasn't there a scroll in glass case?" And she looks around at the chaos of the destroyed warehouse. How in the /hell/ could a scroll have survived /this/...? "...Better look around anyway...", she grouses, as she turns to walk back in the direction she remembers it being in... careful to avoid touching the evil Ninkou Panda. If she could find the thing, she'd read it... but knowing this twisted engineer he's probably written something akin to 'I am not here right now.' on it. Wouldn't that be GRAND?!
COMBATSYS: Nagase has ended the fight here.
The glass case is still in more or less pristine condition underneath a pile of rubble that used to be the area about where the case containing the panda samurai was looted. It's not for want of damage--there are multiple cracks all along the casing, and it was positively buried underneath several pieces of machine and weapon that look as if they weighed at least a hundred pounds. There was something a little different to that glass.
Luckily, when manipulated, the box has no particular components that keep it from being otherwise impregnable from assault. No keys, no locks. No (more) killer panda robots. Instead, there's just the scroll, easily enough removed, and even more easily opened and read. The message is simple, a penned and recent missive, obviously forced no more than a few days ago, based on the brand new chi signature in the sigil.
"So you survived." Or so it reads.
"Only a true idealist can successfully withstand my attentions. The fire burns without care as to ally or enemy, and so you will be consecrated in that fire. Every part of you will be tested. And there will be no limits to my attendance. Your words are already known to me. Your heart is already known. When you are ready, seek us out, in the space without light."
In the center of the Ryouhara sigil marking the scroll, instead of the characteristic whirlwind, there is a short disagram, delineating another location in Southtown. Nagase has precious few moments to retain the information, before the seal activates--the chi within--and the entire scrol burn into a crisp.
There is no easy way to the center of the labyrinth.
Nagase wanders about the area where the glass case had been for quite a few minutes, before managing to spot it beneath the rubble of the warehouse's contents. It takes some doing to get it out, of course, with the Syndicate assassin spending the better part of five minutes pushing, lifting, or pulling debris around. In her exhausted state, it's a bit of labor.
But then, she takes a seat on the floor before it and picks it up... examining it. Given everything she's seen tonight, she's not at all surprised about the durability of the glass. As there seems to be no mechanism to open it, not even a puzzle this time, she is forced to use brute strength to solve the problem. And given its durability, it takes at least two well placed strikes with a gauntleted hand to free it. It could have been done in a single strike with chi, but she didn't want to chance damaging the scroll too much...
A shattering of glass echoes throughout the warehouse briefly, and then the sanguine-eyed kunoichi takes the scroll in hand... reading it. She doesn't bother making a snap shot of it with her onboard computer, she could retain the information easily enough with her mnemonic skills. No need for the Syndicate or anyone else to be able to potentially access it. Honor as it were, though after all of this hell she wonders if she really owed him any!
"...This guy...', she sighs softly, "...is a real fruit!" Most intellectuals tended to be, after all, lofty ideals and philosophy were their bread. Nagase wasn't too accustomed to that type of thinking, however smart she may be. Being a dedicated assassin often meant throwing such things to the wind for practically. The only real ideal you were expected to live up to were loyalty nd effectiveness.
But... the appeal of higher thinking wasn't entirely lost on her.
When the scroll bursts into flames of its own volition, she is understandably surprised... dropping it immediately. But it never gets to the floor, burning up mid-fall and turning to ash. There's a momentary pause from Nagase, followed by another soft sigh. "...This guy..."
Log created on 21:03:24 06/08/2013 by Nagase, and last modified on 19:17:50 06/10/2013.