[Game Opening, Part 4 : Mission 3 - Scale the Building to the Top]

[stringmods]

Who: Naoya, Ahri, Mahiro, Sig, Elizabeth (Persona), Nanami, Yukimura, Yoshino, Torahime, Johnny, Eiji & Kanaya
Where: Sector G5 in Libra; Coin Office Tower
Summary: Libra Bank Heist
Warnings: None (yet)


Aside from the police vehicles outside, and there are fewer than there should be, it doesn't look like much is happening in the tower from the outside. However, that is little comfort to the officers waiting outside for backup. Everyone is spread too thin, so the more help they can get with this, the better.

When you arrive, they look relieved.

"We're sorry interrupting your arrival but there's just too many of them everywhere."

Men and women in high-class clothing talk in hushed tones. You can hear a few of them.

"...large group..."

"...think I saw some demons..."

"...I'm glad I got out cause my wife's not supposed to know I'm here!.."

"...I hope this gets reported in the news! I've always wanted to be on TV...."

The teams are gathered below, awaiting the man's orders. He looks at all of you first.

"Here's what's going to happen. Unfortunately, the building's protective barrier makes it impossible to just attack from the top floor. We have to climb all of them, elevator's out. That's..."

"Fifty seven floors, sir."

"Right. There's a large group of Anoli and their Persona on the way there. They're already expecting us, but they won't be expecting you. As soon as everyone's ready, we're shutting down the main power and casting spells to stop them from communicating with each other. Problem is you won't be able to hear us either until the middle floor where there's a beacon. So make sure you're all armed and ready."

Comments

[zero_to_herooo]

Eiji craned his head back, peered up the stairwell, then whistled appreciatively. Long way up. Good thing he had his medals with him! He slapped three of them into the Driver belt and scanned them all in one deft, practiced motion.

"Taka! Kujaku! Condor!" it announced as flames roared briefly to life in the air about him. Armor covered his body; vermillion wings formed at his back. Then:

"♪ TaJaDor~! ♪" Was that the roar of a lion in the middle of that jingle? And the screech of a hawk?

Shhh, it was a singing belt. A fancy singing belt.

"I can take someone with up with me," Eiji said, motioning upward towards the empty space in the middle of the stairwell.

[serpent_ruin]

"Impressive," Nanami spoke aloud, stepping forward as Eiji transformed in a burst of flames. Indeed, she was impressed, and while this was normally a bad thing under most circumstances, at the very least it gave her an idea.

"My thought though is - if you can fly, why bother with the stairwell?" she asked, and peered in the direction of the elevators. "The elevator shaft may still be a viable option. It might only get a couple of us up, but..."

She peered back at Eiji with a smirk. "It would get at least that couple in undetected, yes? They assuredly won't be expecting anyone from that area."

[isnottheworst]

Yoshino walked over, a distinct frown on her face. Nevertheless, she had to admit Nanami had a point.

"That's... actually a good idea. But we should coordinate a two pronged assault for those of us going up the stairs, right?"

[zero_to_herooo]

"Depends on where the elevator's stopped," Eiji said, somehow managing to look thoughtful despite being fully masked. "If it's stuck in the middle somewhere, well... I'd rather not have to destroy it on the way up. I mean, it's really not safe flying people through burning metal slag. I can carry one person easy, but I've only got two arms."

Someone could possibly grab onto his feet, but that seemed a little dicey, especially if they drew any gunfire.

[serpent_ruin]

"Certainly, if it's stopped too low, that could be a problem," Nanami said, all but ignoring Yoshino. Both out of being a bitch, and out of trying to deduce the possibilities of her own suggestion.

She tapped a gloved finger to her chin. "If it's high enough, or even midway through, that could still give us the drop."

She tilted her head towards the elevator once again. "Still, I do suppose it is up to you."

[isnottheworst]

Yoshino just glared at Nanami, having caught on to the fact that she was being ignored.

[zero_to_herooo]

Awwwwkward.

"Uh, well, normally I'd agree with you on the double assault thing, but... well, there are hostages up there. And I don't wanna leave them in the hands of a bunch of terrorists for any longer than I have to. If you guys are pretty light, I can try lifting both of you at once. But either way, I'm heading up."

He fanned out his wings, holding out both hands. "Coming?"

[serpent_ruin]

Oh, right. Hostages. For just a moment, Nanami had forgotten she was dealing with people who would care about such things.

And really, letting them all die in a horrible crossfire would probably botch things from the get go here, and that wouldn't be good.

Flipping her hair back, Nanami went over to him. "Well, okay then. I suppose that is a good point."

[isnottheworst]

Yoshino moved to stand near Eiji too. "I'm coming along as well... at the very least, we'll make a strong first impression."

And someone had to keep an eye on Nanami...

[zero_to_herooo]

Eiji grabbed onto both of their hands, then began to rise up rapidly through the air. "Hold on tight! We might be in for a rough landing."

While many of the floors were empty, it wasn't long before Eiji felt the first bullet whistle past. There was a terrified looking pair of civilians on the landing just above them, as well as a tight cluster of Anoli shouting in alarm.

Yep, this would be the rough landing part. Eiji buzzed past them in a rush of wind, setting his two passengers quickly down before dive-bombing the crowd of assailants. He wasn't sure what Yoshino and Nanami could do, so it was the least he could do to grant them some cover before the fighting started in earnest.

[serpent_ruin]

Oh, Nanami could handle herself just fine. She wasn't sure about their other companion, but as soon as she hit the ground, she was off, running in an exceedingly fast dash towards their targets.

She couldn't transform in here, of course, or else she'd have already done so. That was fine - her augmented body, fused with the data of a Digimon, granted her heightened speed, strength, and agility. More than enough to handle some people with guns.

Thus, with that heightened speed, she was upon them about as quickly as Eiji probably was. Her knee flew up into gut of the first person she saw, her folded up umbrella spinning around in her hand and jabbing towards the head of the next one over.

[isnottheworst]

Okay, that wasn't good. What Nanami was doing was beyond the ken of mortal men, and beyond what she personally could do with Digi-Soul.

But she couldn't dwell on that now. Yoshino flew into battle, swinging her own digi-soul empowered fist at the nearest enemy, before moving to strike another one with her taser.

[zero_to_herooo]

When a thunderbolt crackled through the air, bringing the thick smell of ozone with it, Eiji had to change tactics. Was this the power of Persona those other guys had been talking about? Well, either way, he had a small swarm of fairy-like creatures after him, trying to shoot him down.

Backing off a little from the others, he took an instant to focus. A brilliant fan of feathers appeared at his back, shimmering like a mirage in the midst of the smoke around him. With a gesture, he set them arcing through the air toward the winged monsters. The barrage caught most of them unawares, but he had to deflect a stray ice bolt with his buckler.

Sheesh, that was cold stuff.

[therooms]

And then out of nowhere, a spray of hot lead pressed down on the trio, raining down from a giant, ten-foot tall robot painted like the Anoli design, only with green accents.

Flanking behind it were two, seven-foot tall robots were shooting some sort of beam at the massive 'bot, coating it in blue light.

[isnottheworst]

Yoshino's eyes widened, and she ran out of the way as fast as she could, lest she be riddled with bullet holes. She narrowly dodged it, only to end up tripping and falling on her knees.

"What... what are those things?!" she exclaimed.

[zero_to_herooo]

The bullets sparked as they hit Eiji, but left him intact. Sheesh! He fired several bolts of fire from the Taja Spinner, targeting the robots to buy himself a little time.

...Time to scan the medals in his belt, of course!

"SCANNING CHARGE!" the belt announced, as three fiery rings appeared in the air, leading like flight beacons straight from Eiji's current position to the nearest of the smaller robots. He dove swiftly through the rings, pulling his feet forward as they transformed into glowing, meter-long talons. When he impacted the robot, it would be in the midst of a fiery explosion.

(Because for some reason whenever Kamen Riders kicked something, that something exploded.)

YEAH, TAKE YOUR MEDICINE, EVIL ROBOT.

[serpent_ruin]

Nanami was already falling back from the projectiles that had been flying at them before the robots appeared. While she was more durable than a normal human, thunderbolts and blasts of ice were things she wasn't yet certain how well she could take outside of Digimon form.

Luckily she had made it to a corner just as the robots appeared, though she had to duck as their shots chewed through the wall between her and them.

She spat something unladylike, and snapped over in Yoshino's direction. "I don't suppose your partner is of any notability now?"

The blonde woman clamped a hand down over the device strapped to her wrist. BioLotusmon would collapse several floors above and possibly below... She'd still leave it as a last resort, but like hell she was just going to sit there and die, as well.

Her eyes flashed back around the corner as she heard the shout from Eiji's belt. He certainly seemed powerful, and that could be useful. Especially right then. If anything he could buy them a few spare moments. If not dismantle them entirely.

The only question was, if he DIDN'T destroy them, what would they be buying time towards?

The thought of that "Persona" power nagged at the back of her head, but the means of taking hold of it... That was another matter.

[therooms]

Sure, the robot crumpled from the force of the Scanning Charge. But that still left the largest robot to unload harshly directly on Eiji, ignoring the others completely. And the crumpled, smaller robot's spare scrap seemed to shimmer and fade after a few minutes...

[zero_to_herooo]

Eiji was thrown backward by the force of the explosions (because Kamen Riders also exploded whenever things hit them -- it was in their contract), staggering against the far wall.

In a word: ouch. He was going to be feeling that tomorrow.

Still, he couldn't just leave these robots to rampage wherever they liked. And fire seemed to be working against these guys, so obviously he just needed to keep at it! He launched himself back into the air and slipped several medals into the Taja Spinner. Flame erupted in the air around him once more, taking the shape of an immense firebird with wings spread wide as he made his second dive toward the robots.

"TAKA! KUJAKU! CONDOR! GI-GI-GI-GIGA SCAN!"

WERE THEIR BODIES READY

[isnottheworst]

"Are you alri-" Yoshino started to say.

Then, she realized what he was doing.

Yeah, she wasn't going to get in the middle of that. She backed up, giving Eiji room for whatever he was about to do.