2021-04-03: A Master's Orders
- Log: A Master's Orders
- Cast: Asgard, Josephine Lovelace, Seraph Boudicca, Seraph Clarine, Dean Stark
- Where: Guild Galad - Skyside
- Date: April 03, 2021
- Summary: Chaos erupts in Guild Galad near Skyside as pieces of wreckage from the Warwing Varukias come under attack from Asgard and Josephine, looking to reclaim something lost in the vessel's destruction. They soon meet resistance as Boudicca, Clarine, and Dean race to the source of the commotion, and a battle soon breaks out over the object in question... But what is this mysterious item, and what drives those involved in its retrieval?
=========================<* Guild Galad - Skyside *>========================== Though Guild Galad is one of Filgaia's largest cities, only a portion of it sits above-ground. The nearby earth was poisoned long ago by chemicals leaching from the Boneyard, forcing the initial settlers to take up residence in the ruined Demon citadel nearby. Today, this citadel is the city of Guild Galad, and Skyside is the only part of it that sees the sun. The Galad river runs east through Skyside before making a sharp turn south and flowing into the sea. Centuries of pollution have turned it into a fetid soup, but ships can navigate it all the same. Steam-driven winches sit on the riverbanks, lit by electric floodlights. Motor-coaches with wide, flat beds drive to and from the docks, ferrying freight to other parts of the city. Many of them descend into the city's lower levels via a massive cargo lift called the Devil's Stair. Land near the river is too valuable to waste on housing--with the exception of a handful of pubs and gambling-houses, much of it is devoted to warehouses. Northern Skyside might as well be a different city entirely. Separated from the docks by a series of gates and walls, it's home to many of Guild Galad's wealthiest citizens--the members of the great Merchant Houses. Each family estate is its own walled fiefdom, and the youngest of them is at least two centuries old. The estates are in turn surrounded by shops, restaurants, and institutions that cater to the well-heeled. Glassy arcades contain high-end stores and luxury boutiques, while tiny "pocket parks" offer wealthy citizens the chance to sit on actual grass. In the very center of Skyside lies the Master's Hall--a baroque steel-framed dome that contains the meeting-place of the city's Great Council, as well as the offices of the city-state's bureaucracy.
<Pose Tracker> Asgard has posed.
When Odessa lost the Warwing Varukias, they did not lose it in one piece. The destruction scattered large chunks of their base across Filgaia, which the powers that be were quite eager to claim. One of them fell near the Galad River, Skyside of Guild Galad... and the massive pieces of shattered wreckage are currently being stripped by workers from the Boneyard who are being offered priceless overtime wages to cannibalize it's remains before the elements start to have their way. As well as bonuses... available for those who manage to locate useful/interesting bits.
It's been long work, of many months, but they've finally managed to tear away the scrap of the outer hull, and sort it away enough that they can get inside the inner compartments, which they liken to having the more valuable bits of Odessa's secrets and technology. One worker has wedged what looks like a makeshift hydraulic jack to lift part of the remains of part of what they've identified is part of the barracks - likely for the officers.
Bending over, his eyes light up, as he starts tugging out a large black case, that looks entirely undamaged. "Yes!" The other workers' necks all snap in that direction, and they let out a collective groan, and some grumbling at the thought of his luck.
Finally dragging it out, he rubs his hands together. "Oh yeah! It's alllll coming together. Gonna be living the high life tonight." One of the other workers calls out, "So what you're saying is, drinks are on you?" "Bullshit they are!" He retorts, "You just keep dreaming, or better yet, keep digging!"
The young man though greedily kneels over his prize, before being struck by the strange non-euclidean geometry of the case. It doesn't look like anything else he's seen from the wreckage... "Huuhhhh... what the shi-" Rubbing a finger along it's edge, it starts to light up, green lines erupting over it like strange glowing veins.
Yelping, he backpeddles... before falling over and crawling backwards on his butt, as his coworkers erupt laughing. "Aw whats the matter... did the scary glowing box make liddle Lucas wet himself?"
The young man turns increasingly red, mouth opening wide to retort.
And that's when there's a flash of white as a vertical line, suddenly expands outwards in dimensions. Two shadows appear behind him, one of them gargantuan in size. Looking up in horror, he squints against the glare of the late afternoon sun that makes the large shadow no more than a silhouette... save the two yellow orbs, that transition to red.
-=-=-
The sound of small ARMS fire and explosions has dominated Guild Galad's Skyside for the past ten minutes. Though it's growing quieter... each source of ARMs fire being cut off, one by one, usually ending in a scream. Until, the site is quiet other than loud, ponderous footsteps.
A tall golem carries a strange case that's glowing a sickly green, with his arm curled around it protectively. He's mirroring another figure, as the two move towards the entrance of the site, as his voice suddenly breaks the silence...
"SPATIAL INTERFERENCE NOTED FROM WRECKAGE: SELECTING ALTERNATE EVACUATION POINT. DISTANCE: 97 POINT 8 SHARLS."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
That guy hadn't exactly been straight on the details, but that's just how it is with the Prophets, Josephine's learned. Well, a job's a job, and this is one she's almost uniquely suited for.
In... various ways.
There is another scream, not far off.
"Easy as pie," remarks the pale-haired gunner, brushing a stray lock out of her face just moments later. She prods the prone figure with a booted foot. "...Almost too easy, really. You got the rest of 'em handled there, kid?"
There is a moment where Josie visibily pauses, regarding Asgard's form for a long, long moment.
"...Huh. Gotta give you a real nickname or somewhat, yeah? Asgard, Asgard..." She mutters to herself, frowning under the cover of goggles and facemask.
"C'mon. We got some digging to get to."
Though there is a long pause:
"Spacial interference, eh? Maybe we shoulda gotten Chase in this and all. Wonder where he picked up on that trick..."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
Boudicca doesn't particularly enjoy Guild Galad, but it's important to Ida, so she finds herself spending time here. She has tried to make things better here in this city of vast pollution, but, well...
... there's only so much one walking air conditioner can do.
And after all those efforts, one eventually needs to take a break. The various pubs of Skyside have an... interesting clientele, given the workers out here, but they have interesting snacks, too. Thanks to her good pal Dean, Boudicca even has an excuse for making food disappear! Surely the young man just has a particularly big appetite.
That's about when the explosions begin.
"Excavations are quite lively today," Boudicca remarks, on the first BOOM, distant on the other side of town.
Then her fork lowers, at the distant sound of ratta-tatta-tat. "Wait, were those... ARMs..?"
Ratta-tatta-tatta BOOM BOOM, "... those were certainly ARMs!"
And clatter goes her fork to the table, as Boudicca screeches her chair out and rushes for the door. (She has forgotten to pay for her battered fish.)
-=-=-
Boudicca was a little late in apprehending these dastardly villains. It's not that she's not a fast runner, it's just...
... all those screams belonged to people...
... and in coming across the ones who are still able to try and crawl away...
... Boudicca had to stop and heal them, first.
Still, finally she catches up, a deep scowl on her face beneath that horned helm. "Stop!" She insists, and at least has the decency of her element to not sound out of breath. "What is the meaning of this?! You have caused significant devastation in this place! You cannot simply barge in and begin shooting!"
With a double-take to Josephine, Boudicca adds, nettled: "Yes, even if you have a gun!!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
ARMsfire has been heard echoing through Guild Galad. Naturally, this is the sort of thing that's going to attract the attention of ARMS. On such short notice, there's only going to be so many who are able to respond in time to be able to do anything about it.
Clarine, fortunately, happens to be in Guild Galad when the call goes out. It isn't her favorite place, by far, but they do some rather interesting things with light in this place where so little natural light is able to reach. But the moment she heard signs of danger, she dropped everything she was doing - hanging out in(yes, in) a series of neon tubes, for the curious - and immediately made her way toward Skyside.
...And who does she encounter along the way but the ones presumably responsible?
"...So it was you..." Clarine notes with a frown, appearing in front of Josie and Asgard. She looks between the two of them. "Why are you here? Why have you done this?"
Her eyes track to the case held by Asgard. The way it glows... she doesn't like it. Is that what this about? Her gaze soon goes beyond them, however, as she notices someone else approaching from behind, who echoes her same question.
"Ah! Boudicca!" Clarine greets. ...Well, it's nice to know she isn't alone in this - she knows from experience these two are dangerous.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Guild Galad isn't exactly Dean's cup of tea either, but he likes cities *in general*, and he likes Guild Galad specifically better than Boudicca, at least. While they both might have a distaste for all the pollution, Dean is into the machinery, and of course there is the fact that it's Ida's hometown. So when Boudicca asked him to come with her from Port Rosalia to Guild Galad to get a bite to eat, even though Dean needs to finish up an important errand still, he happily accepted. There's still some time! The cherry blossoms are still in full bloom, and he picked up what he needed to get from Port Rosalia anyway.
And so they're noshing on dinner together, with Dean indeed providing a handy excuse for why food from a second plate keeps disappearing, when explosions start.
"Yeah. Hey, I wonder if they're mining Golem parts!" Dean replies, ever the optimist. He pauses. "Kinda sounds like a fight, though," he adds at the sound of ARMS fire.
He doesn't even have time for a meaningful look with Boudicca. The second she realizes it, she's out the door in a dash. Dean's on his feet too, but the proprieter of the restaurant grabs him by the scarf before he makes it and pulls him back.
After flailing to regain his balance, Dean whirls on the proprieter. "What's the big idea?! People could be getting hurt out there!" he demands, raising a righteous fist.
"*Ahem*." The proprieter gives the table, and then Dean, a Meaningful Look.
Dean deflates. "...oh. Oh, right."
So it's just as well that Boudicca had to stop and heal people along the way, because Dean had to stop and pay for dinner before he was allowed to leave. So despite leaving at different times, Dean and Boudicca--and of course, Clarine, from a different direction--nonetheless arrive on scene at roughly the same moment. "HEY! What's going on here?! You can't just go ASGARD!!!"
That's Dean cutting himself off with a squeal, blue eyes alight with a million stars, when he recognizes the Golem. "What're you doing here? Wow, it feels like it's been ages? How've you been doing, buddy!" he enthuses. Reality catches up with him a second later, partially thanks to Boudicca calling Josie and her guns out, and Dean pauses. "Wait! Is that lady making you do bad things again?!" Dean waves a hand at all the explosions and chaos and Boudicca-healed folks. "You know you don't have to do this stuff, Asgard! Please, just cut out whatever it is you're doing and stop hurting people! Okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Asgard has posed.
"AFFIRMATIVE." The Golem replies with synthesized tones towards Josephine. "IT IS DISAPPOINTING." Asgard adds, to Josephine's comment on the ease of the mission. "THERE ARE NO STRONG COMBATANTS ON THIS SITE."
For either of them. His systems note Josephine's accuracy rating for this mission has been perfection.
And then his head turns slowly, "NICKNAME. A FAMILIAR OR HUMOROUS DESIGNATION GIVEN TO AN INDIVIDUAL IN ADDITION TO THEIR NAME."
As he parses through the definition with a sense of the analytical. "I DO NOT KNOW. AS MY TEMPORARY MASTER - YOU ARE FREE TO DESIGNATE ME AS YOU WISH."
Asgard is facing away from Josephine, scanning the area for hostiles, when she says that, and Asgard looks at a piece of wreckage.
"SCANNING." And then one handed, his barrier batters into a long section of shredded hull, to reveal buried 'treasure' for Josephine in the form of a section of an as of yet undiscovered, yet still partially collapsed armory.
And that is when Boudicca arrives, rather than respond to her vocalizations, he utters, "HOSTILE ENERGY PRESENCE DETECTED." Why does he think that it's hostile? Well all such beings he's encountered so far have been hostile. "ANALYZING... ... ..."
There's a pulse of energy out of Asgard which appears like it ought to be harmful, but it passes through Boudicca while only leaving this momentary imprint.
And then Boudicca gets the eerie sensation that...
...he sees her now. As those eyes of his snap right to her position.
"DATA COLLECTED. PROCESSING. OPTIMIZING." There's a pause, which seems almost interminable... until. "WAVELENGTH FOUND."
As Clarine arrives, Asgard seems to see her immediately, his neck turning to view her. "TRANSLATING TO AUDIO - MY MASTER... REQUIRES THIS OBJECT."
Dean's shout gets his attention. "DESIGNATE: DEAN STARK." He answers his shout... "MY SYSTEM IS OPERATING AT PEAK EFFICIENCY." Then on how he's doing... "ALL GREEN."
Before Dean asks if 'that lady' is making him do bad things again...
"NEGATIVE. MELODY HAS NOT AUTHORIZED THIS MISSION." His expressionless face remains fixed on Dean as he answers the idea that he doesn't have to do these things. "INCORRECT. I AM A GOLEM, AND A GOLEM MUST OBEY."
And as if to demonstrate that fact, he immediately looks over his shoulder at Josephine, who he's given Carte Blanche on looting whatever she wants simply by virtue of him standing there between her and as of yet unhostile Drifters, "ORDERS?"
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Usually there ain't all that many on a dig site," Josie remarks, shouldering the shotgun. "Still, sometimes you'll get a surprise. Remind me to take you along next time I go diggin' in a crypt or what. Damn tired of skeletons." She shrugs, loosely, and shakes her head. "Yup. That there's the definition of a nickname. But I'm gonna have to think about what's a good one for you and all. Gard...y? Ugh, no, that's awful."
It's in the middle of her musings that she has a bit of an interruption arrive. Or rather, they both do.
"Well, well. If it ain't ghost girl," she drawls, swinging her shotgun off her shoulder. "Listen. If I didn't shoot those lot first, they'd've come after us. Would be pretty messy, yeah? Besides... unless I've lost the plot here, I'd say what they're goin' at here's ours anyway..."
As if in defiance of Boudicca's anger, she begins to take a long-legged stride forward, and only really comes to a stop when Clarine and Dean make their appearances.
"Like I said: these lot've got somethin' of ours. Don't think they'd give it back now, neither. So we're here to collect."
There is a long pause. "Besides... I don't think they're all dead, now. You stopped for 'em, yeah?"
'Is that lady making you do bad things again?'
"Heh," is Josie's reaction, as she regards all three of them now.
And then Asgard asks her for authorization.
"...What, you're taking orders on this kinda thing from me, now?" With that mask in the way, it's hard to say precisely what sort of expression lingers on the wayward archaeologist's face as she pauses for the moment here. "You sure know how to make a girl happy, eh, Asgard?." ...Though one might very well imagine it.
"Get rid of 'em," she says, shaking her head. "Didn't that guy say 'success at all costs'?" And on that note she lifts that black shotgun of hers, a sibling to Dean's own shovel, and takes a shot at someone she'd once treated as an ally.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Clarine with Figure of Eight! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Seraph Clarine critically guards Josephine Lovelace's Figure of Eight for 28 hit points! GS: Seraph Clarine activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Asgard has posed.
Asgard doesn't respond to Josie's evaluation of Gard-y as awful. He's unable to comprehend whether it's good, or bad... just that she doesn't want to call him that option.
... when Josie indicates he knows how to make a girl happy - which he understands through context means her, he straightens up. Could it be that he's starting to feel some sense of nascent pride?
And then upon Josephine indicating to get rid of them, Asgard says immediately, "AFFIRMATIVE." And in the next moment, he's charging at Dean, bending at the knees, and launching a vertical uppercut to attempt to drive right into his ribs if he's not quick enough with the footwork or getting his guard up. "I WILL OBEY."
No matter how much Dean tries to reach out to him by virtue of him being a Golem... he didn't hesitate even a split second once the order was given.
The momentum carries Asgard upwards, turning him just enough that he's able to charge towards Boudicca nigh instantly as he tries to hook an arm around her, and CRUSH her between the palm of his hand and his barrier field, while looking upon her.
"FIGHT ME. RESIST ME." He commands sharply, before something in his artificial voice changes, a strange fluctuation that almost feels subtly... emotional? "SHOW ME MORE... OF YOUR NATURE... THROUGH YOUR STRENGTH."
GS: Asgard has attacked Dean Stark with Iron Fist! GS: Asgard has gained 1 Combo! GS: Asgard has attacked Seraph Boudicca with Barrier Knuckle! GS: Asgard has completed his action. GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from Asgard's Iron Fist for 85 hit points! GS: Seraph Boudicca critically guards Asgard's Barrier Knuckle for 19 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
At first, Dean beams at Asgard. He remembers him! And it sounds like he's doing good! Except oh yeah he's also the source of all these screams and explosions. Not good at all. Except--Melody *didn't* tell him to do this? "Wait, what? So you're doing this on your own?" he utters, shocked. Except--it sounds like that's not quite it, either. Dean follows his gaze over to the white-haired woman next to him. "Wait. You're following *her* orders?" he utters, confused. He focuses on Josie. Dean, who has missed the notice this entire time that Josie's working for Odessa, squints at her. "'Ours'? What're you talking about? Are you with that lady who usually bosses him around--Melody or whatever?"
Still, Dean looks back at Asgard with troubled eyes. A Golem must obey. "Asgard... That's not true. You can think and decide for yourself..." He recalls how Zed was able to reach him--how (relatively) enthusiastic Asgard was about battle--so when Josie indicates that it's about do go *dooowwwnnn*, and Asgard responds with an *emotional* affirmative--not just a robotic compulsion to obey--Dean's expression steels. "Okay. I know you love fighting, Asgard, so let's fight it out! I'll make you understand with my ARMS!"
Twin Fenrir flash into his hands, and he crosses the rods into an X-shaped guard just as the Golem charges at him fist-first. The impact still rocks the entirety of his body, making his teeth rattle, and Dean only barely manages to hold his guard. "Ungh!!" Still, he's not going to back down now--anything but. As Asgard encourages him to resist and show him his nature through combat, Dean pours all his strength into attempting to push him away. Some of that strength will come of the form of those rods on his ARMS super-heating until they glow radiant white. Their heat pours forth into Asgard, potentially *over*heating his circuits and causing damage therein.
"Boudicca! I'll leave it to you to cover me and Clarine's backs!" he calls as he attempts to push Asgard back. "I'm taking Asgard head-on!!"
GS: Dean Stark spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Dean Stark has attacked Asgard with Burning Magazine! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Asgard guards a hit from Dean Stark's Burning Magazine for 72 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Asgard! GS: Asgard activates Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
...And Dean is here, too! Three is definitely better than two, if Odessa's about. It seems to be the most appropriate number to face them in, for some reason, even if a part of her prefers four for a reason she can't quite put her finger on.
But the Golem, Asgard, says something curious. His master requires that object... Clarine frowns.
"If Odessa has need of that case, then... I am afraid I must insist that you leave it here." Clarine says, then looks toward Josie.
"...Josie. It is..." She pauses. ...'Good' doesn't really sound right, considering the circumstances. "...Nice, to see you again."
As for what she says, though...
"And if it were not 'yours', would it matter?" Clarine asks. "Regardless, the Warwing Varukisas, and all its remnants... they should remain buried."
And Josie gives her orders to Asgard - 'get rid of 'em'. Well... Clarine can't say she wasn't expecting that. With a quick gesture Clarine's mirrors fly out of her sleeves, swirling about her protectively. Josie's shotgun blast collides with one of these mirrors directly, putting a crack in its surface and causing motes of light to begin to leak out of. The backlash causes Clarine to wince - it's better than taking it directly but it's a reminder that, even with a body not made of flesh she really doesn't want to take that...
"I suppose this was always how this encounter would go..." Clarine observes. She charges at Josie, her mirrors spiraling around her at high speeds. Getting hit by them wouldn't be pleasant, and they still prove capable of defense in this state.
"Understood! Do be careful, you two!" Clarine says, glancing briefly back at Dean as he engages Asgard.
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Dancing Glass! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"Josephine..." Boudicca trails, a hand to her chest, as she calls her a ghost again. She takes a breath, and shakes her head. "Filgaia is a place of finding and keeping, is it not? You have left those wreckages for some time. You cannot fault them for digging through the remains, and - and I am quite certain you did not ask them to give it back!" To be fair, Boudicca doesn't know. It's possible Josie asked nicely.
It's just... Boudicca doesn't think it's terribly likely, even if she wants to think the best of her.
Boudicca... is scanned. It seems like it ought to be harmful, but Asgard announced he was analysing the situation, and that's why she doesn't try to get out of the way. His eyes snap to her, and she declares, with a little more urgency: "I am not a hostile energy presence! I am the Seraph Boudicca!" Now he's looking at her, maybe she can get through to him.
Maybe.
Luckily, Clarine is here to help! And Dean is here to try and talk some sense into Asgard. He talks about how Melody isn't part of this, and there's a twist of her lips at that next statement. "Asgard..."
It all comes down to who's pulling the strings, again. And right now, that's -- "Josephine! You cannot order another conscious being in such a way!" Boudicca cries, as Asgard requests his orders. But for all her surprise -- it could be surprise, Boudicca attributes it to surprise -- Josephine lays down her orders, regardless.
And it seems like Boudicca is going to have to leave getting through to Josephine to her friend in ARMS, because all a sudden: "DEAN!" Boudicca yells, in the wake of Asgard's obedience.
Maybe it's that concern -- or the way she's already moving towards Dean -- which means that the next person caught in the wake of the Golem's unstoppable force is Boudicca herself. She has learned from her fellow Seraphim the norm of avoiding close contact; the absolute grappling pressure of Asgard goes in the face of all those norms.
It really should crush her bones, squeeze the air from her lungs. But looking up at him, she reveals very little in the way of characteristic cracks which would suggest a mortal form being pressed into a space too small for itself. There's discomfort in her eyes, but more than that...
... she looks sad, and worried.
"I told you... I am not a hostile energy presence," and there's no breathlessness to the statement, though she does trail through the middle, a moment's hesitation as she tries to pick her words. "It is as Josephine said... I stopped to heal the wounded!" And not just Josephine; Dean knows what to expect from Boudicca, too.
"But... if you love to do battle this much... I will show you my methodology."
She wriggles, grasps a tonfa in hand -- and as she twists out of Asgard's grip, flowing more like air than flesh, she jabs the length of wood in against his barrier as she drops down. It's a calculated impact. There is no overwhelming strength to it, but...
... it's the sort of thing which compromises a stalwart defence.
Boudicca must be awfully confident in her disabling practices to try something like that against the peerless defence of Asgard.
GS: Seraph Boudicca has attacked Asgard with Rabid Lunge! GS: Seraph Boudicca has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Boudicca has completed her action. GS: Asgard used Defend! He takes Seraph Clarine's Dancing Glass attack on Josephine Lovelace on himself! GS: Asgard takes a glancing hit from Seraph Boudicca's Rabid Lunge for 34 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Asgard gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Shieldbreak applied to Asgard! GS: Asgard has gained 1 Combo! GS: Asgard takes a solid hit from Seraph Clarine's Dancing Glass for 97 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Asgard gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cover applied to Seraph Clarine!
<Pose Tracker> Asgard has posed.
"YOUR INSISTENCE IS NOTED AND DENIED." Asgard says when it comes to dropping the item for Clarine.
Asgard's intensity seems to only increase as Dean resists him. One arm of his is devoted to holding his precious cargo, which ties up one of his fists, but apparently he seems undeterred by the idea that he only has one limb available for the fight.
"MY SYSTEMS ARE EVER EVOLVING BECAUSE OF MY GEMINI CIRCUIT." Asgard confirms to Dean on the idea he can think, "BUT A GOLEM IS A GOLEM."
Dean's rod's super heat against Asgard's fist, and given that his barrier was devoted towards Boudicca at the moment... that leaves only the protection of his armor. His arm at first just smokes, then begins to glow, before he eventually jerks it away with a quick back step to try and avoid further momentum from the blow now that Dean's forced his arm back
"CULTIVATING THE FLUCTUATIONS... YOU CREATE... WITHIN MY DATA... WILL BE MY PLEASURE... DEAN STARK."
And with that Asgard moves on Dean, pounding his now super-heated arm into his direction again, and again, seemingly ignoring the state it's in. He moves like some enormous boxer, jabbing his fist repeatedly Dean's way, from high to low to test just how well he can meet him head on.
At least until he sees the flash of one of Clarine's mirrors speeding towards Josephine. "INITIATING AUTO-DEFENDER PROTOCOL."
Suddenly, he's a blur of motion en route to her. On the way, Boudicca wriggles free, and smashes a Tonfa into his barrier, which seems to jerk his visual sensors just off kilter...
... enough that when he intercepts Clarine's mirrors, they strike solidly into his form, showing a strange view of the massive golem at many different angles as he deflects them from Josephine, but not without cost.
Immediately though, despite the series of strikes to his form, he ducks his massive form down instantly so as not to get in the way of Josephine's next attack to Clarine... as if he intrinsically understands that someone who relies on Marksmanship needs a clear line of sight to their target.
Turning upon Boudicca then, "YOU ARE CORRECT... YOUR CLASSIFICATION HAS BEEN UPDATED." Immediately though, there's a surge of power, as if his systems were shunting a large volume of energy into his barrier, "YOU REMAIN HOSTILE TO MY MASTER'S AIMS."
GS: Asgard spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Asgard has attacked Dean Stark with Iron Tide! GS: Asgard has gained 1 Combo! GS: Asgard has attacked Asgard with High Powered Barrier! GS: Asgard takes 26 damage from Poison! GS: Asgard has completed his action. GS: Asgard accepts Asgard's High Powered Barrier for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Poison and Shieldbreak removed! GS: Quick and Shield applied to Asgard! GS: Mighty applied to Asgard!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"True enough, kiddo," she says to Boudicca, her chest rising and falling as she sighs. "Still. Possession's 9/10ths or whatever, sure. The other part?" Perhaps, under her mask, she's grinning. "...Power. Them that has it gets to take it. ...Surprised you ain't learned that one yet."
Boudicca's intuition on whether or not Josie asked to start with is probably... a good one.
"Sure am. Someone not give you the memo, kid?" she remarks to Dean. "Well, now you know. Melody and those lot," she gestures vaguely with her free hand, "ain't my usual, no. But this's the sort of job I'm best at."
Her shoulders roll in a lazy shrug. "Got a little business here today -- this ain't nothin' personal-like. But if you lot're in our way, then we'll just go right on through!"
Even if Clarine says this is where the line is drawn.
"Nice to see you too, kiddo," she says, with a drawl that suggests she might even be smiling behind that mask. "If they weren't mine, maybe I'd still take 'em. Why not? Never got a good look at it none when it was in flight," she continues, shifting her grip on her ARM. "Lettin' stuff like this 'stay buried' just ain't what my job's about. Sorry, but we're taking it back--"
And she ducks back here, trying to stay one step ahead of the mirrors. They're fast, though -- faster than even the admittedly fleet-footed archaeologist could have managed to outpace.
But Asgard is even faster, stepping in to shield her in an eyeblink.
"...Thanks," she says, and it's reflexive; she knows he's built to take a hit like that. And yet.
"...Looks like I can," she remarks to Boudicca, before stepping out from behind Asgard; her ARM snaps out and cracks off a shot at Clarine with all the speed of a viper.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Clarine with Argent and Sable! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Argent and Sable for 155 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from Asgard's Iron Tide for 100 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dean Stark gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean frowns at Josie when she reveals that she is indeed with Melody and Malik, and that it's nothing personal but she's going to see her job through. "Then, nothing personal, but we're going to stop you!" he retorts. It doesn't matter that he really has no idea what her mission is or why they need the thing they're retrieving or even what it is. It's clear they're going to do bad things with it, and that's all he needs to know!
"You be careful too, Clarine! Hang in there!And don't worry about me, Boudicca--I'll be just fine with you fighting with me!" he calls to his Seraph friends before focusing back on Asgard.
"You're right about one thing. A Golem is a Golem. And Golems are incredible!! You're so strong, and amazing, and cool!! I've known that for years, ever since I found a Golem screw near my hometown: even just a single piece of you has its own kind of life. You've got to feel it yourself, Asgard--you're more than just a machine. You've got passion! You've got *heart*! Anyone who says otherwise... is kidding themselves!!"
Asgard jerks back due to the heat of Twin Fenrir's rods, then aims several ultra-hot punches at the young man. While Dean might have been hesitant to fight the last time they encountered each other, now that he knows that this is a way to reach Asgard--maybe THE way to reach him--he's more than willing to punch back with every inch of force, even though he's got a pair of guns in hand and that's really not the best way to fist-fight someone. Even so, when Clarine attacks Josie, Dean staggers and stares in surprise as Asgard zips over to defend Josie.
"Asgard!! You protected your companion! Is that really something you only did because you were told to?!" Dean says triumphantly, maybe not quite getting what 'auto-defender protocol' means. Either way, he zips over to block Asgard's view on Boudicca and opens fire on the barrier he erects. He doesn't expect to be able to break *through* it, but he might be able to create a bit of cover by attacking from a distance while Asgard's doing that.
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Asgard with Dual Shooter! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Asgard takes a solid hit from Dean Stark's Dual Shooter for 102 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Asgard gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cover applied to Dean Stark! GS: Asgard activates Countermeasures! GS: Asgard enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"I suppose that is fair." Clarine admits, as Josie points out that leaving things buried isn't her job.
Clarine replies to Dean with a nod before charging Josie... but before she can make contact, Asgard intercepts.
"Ah-!?" Clarine gasps in shock. The mirrors deflect off of his metal body. She didn't expect the interference - it takes longer for her mirrors to return to defensive positioning than she expects, leaving her vulnerable as Josie steps out from behind Asgard and fires before they can return. The armfire strikes her solidly in the chest to a burst of light particles, sending her recoiling back through the air until she can right herself. Her damaged form rapidly heals itself... though it certainly still hurts quite a lot.
In retaliation she casts a hand out light begins to build before shooting down toward Josie in a searing ray.
She looks toward Dean, then.
"...I truly appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness to reach out to him - it is heartwarming to see such a display of kindness... but I should note that his intervention is not ideal for our current situation..." Clarine points out. Giving Josie a big, mobile, metal wall for cover is definitely not good for their continued survival...
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Limited Ray! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"Power ought not be the deciding factor," Boudicca shakes her head, to Josephine. "I have heard this lesson. I simply deny it." Boudicca is ignorant of many things, but as time goes on, she's learning more and more about the world of Man...
... and making her own value judgements.
Speaking of value judgements.
Is Asgard's learning really all pinned on that 'Gemini Circuit'...?
Well, Boudicca thinks, the reason she is speaking is quite different to the reason Dean is speaking, so it stands to reason Asgard would have another reason entirely. Not everyone can be birthed from the energies of the Ley.
"Just because you can," Boudicca remarks, to Josie, "does not mean you should." This is good advice both for ordering thralls and for shooting her friend, as evidenced by her alarm to see Clarine hurt so. "Ah - Clarine! Please be cautious!"
Even if Clarine isn't bothered by getting shot the same way Dean is, bullets still hurt. Boudicca, who has fought Josephine before, can personally confirm this important bullet fact.
Boudicca isn't one to shoot those bullets, though, and Asgard has helpfully updated his classification. "Yes," she confirms, once her attention leaves Josephine. "I do not believe your master has good intentions for the world, and these worlds I will protect. Though this is the path which was prescribed to me, as a protector of humanity... it is one I have decided to follow of my own will!"
She doesn't quite tell Dean what 'automatic' implies. Perhaps it's strange that Boudicca herself has a concept of automatic agreement... or, perhaps...
"So please, Asgard, tell us. Is that defence really something you committed - only due to the compulsion thrust upon you?" ... perhaps she doesn't tell him because Boudicca is getting at almost the same exact point, even if she arrived there through a different route entirely.
(Luckily, Dean has already said her sentence in normal people words as opposed to the strange stilted formality Boudicca employs.)
It might seem like she's ignored Clarine's very practical point, until Boudicca continues her verbal essay, bringing her tonfa to clack against the metal of her chestplate. "Furthermore, Asgard, I would beseech you not to lose yourself to distraction at this time. Please understand, at this moment..."
A Seraphic glyph alights under her feet, light green and glowing, as she thrusts her arm out towards the young man standing in defence before her. "... we are your opponents!" The gust flows from her to wend around Dean, and the fickle breeze offers something... with great intensity.
GS: Seraph Boudicca has attacked Dean Stark with Thousand Sky! GS: Seraph Boudicca has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Boudicca has completed her action. GS: Dean Stark accepts Seraph Boudicca's Thousand Sky for 0 hit points! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Burst and Lock State applied to Dean Stark! GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace guards a hit from Seraph Clarine's Limited Ray for 100 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Asgard has posed.
"MY JUDGEMENT OF THEIR INTENTIONS IS IRRELEVANT TO MY OBEDIENCE." Asgard says to Boudicca in a way that feels utterly amoral. Even if he evolved a sense of morality, would it even matter towards his obedience?
It's such a different experience to be fighting someone so complimentary. Does this Dean Stark not understand his predicament? His master has authorized deadly force. Asgard is about to comment on that, when Dean tells him he has passion, that he has heart. And Asgard... instead seems to focus in on that with a laser focus. "EXPLAIN 'HEART'." He offers no commitment to whether he thinks he has passion, but he seemingly wants to know why Dean thinks he has heart.
The word 'Thanks' comes from Josephine's lips, and Asgard... seems to straighten up again, in a way that feels mechanical. Like his processors are still absorbing the peculiarity of the word. After a moment, he responds, "I AM YOUR SHIELD." Again, there's the strange sensation that he's exhibiting some fledgeling sense of... pride?
Though then there comes a moment when Dean asks if protecting his companion is something he did because he was told to. Followed by opening fire on his barrier. As he raises the shimmering barrier, the gatling fire that he intends to deflect is taken head on. Bullet after bullet, rippling into it, sparking as more and more power is bled off from it.
"AFFIRMATIVE." Asgard confirms to Dean and Boudicca, "THE PURPOSE OF MY CREATION IS TO OBEY AND PROTECT MY MASTER. MY DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EVOLUTIONARY ANALOGISM IS ONLY INTENDED TO FURTHER THAT PURPOSE."
Josephine may only have 'Temporary' designations for this mission, but the distinction is meaningless to him unless she's trying to get him to disobey one of the Prophets, or attacking them herself. Boudicca however declares that he shouldn't be distracted, and that they are his opponents... and his declaration to that is... "IT IS... PLEASING... THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THAT."
However, his attention then turns back to Dean who's been barraging his barrier at an alarming rate. "BEFORE... WE MET... I KNEW YOU... BY THE WORDS... 'YOU CAN DO ANYTHING SO LONG AS YOU DON'T GIVE UP.'"
Asgard raises his fist, and says simply. "YOUR WORDS INDICATE... THAT YOU BELIEVE... THIS IS TRUE... FOR ME... BUT ALL OF MY DATA SUGGESTS... THIS ASSERTION..."
There's a shimmer of blue around it, while Dean's barrage rains down upon him, "... IS FALSE." And with that, he drives his fist into the ground of the salvage yard, the blue energy flooding into the ground, which begins to crack apart and disintegrate into a splitting chasm that's widening even as it forms an unpredictable route towards Boudicca and Dean.
"SOME BARRIERS... CANNOT BE OVERCOME."
Even if they don't fall into it, it hardly matters, because the real danger is yet to come. The energy of his barrier floods outwards into an geyser like eruption of force.
GS: Asgard has activated a Force Action! GS: Asgard spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Asgard has attacked Dean Stark with Barrier Flood! GS: Asgard has attacked Seraph Boudicca with Barrier Flood! GS: Asgard has gained 1 Combo! GS: Asgard has completed his action. GS: Seraph Boudicca takes a solid hit from Asgard's Barrier Flood for 217 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Boudicca gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dean Stark guards a hit from Asgard's Barrier Flood for 124 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dean Stark gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dean Stark activates Countermeasures! GS: Dean Stark enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Heh." It's a fair bet to say that Josie is smiling, if lopsidedly, under that face mask. "Then give me your best shot, kid!" she tells Dean. "Come on!"
Shaking her head at Boudicca's reprimand, Josie rolls her shoulders in a 'what can you do' sort of expression. "What can I say? Always been bad at not doin' what I ain't supposed to and all," she says, and perhaps she would be wearing the proverbial shit-eating grin without that mask.
"My shield, eh? Feels kinda nice. Always wanted my own bodyguard and all, yeah?" she remarks, at Asgard's statement. But even the ultimate shield can't be quite everywhere at once.
Light builds in that one hand of Clarine's. "Tch," Josie utters, knowing a spell when she sees it; she casts a sidelong glance for Asgard. "O, thou lightning--" and she throws out a hand of her own, electrical charge coiling down her right hand to release in a sort of sparking magical shield to intercept that ray of light.
The beam is slowed. But even slowed, it still detonates in Josie's face the moment it slices through her barrier. She's flung back by the strike a short distance, skidding along the ground.
A moment more and she stirs, sitting up.
"Sorry to say it, kid," she says to Dean, pulling herself up onto her feet again from that strike of Clarine's, "but I'm his 'master' today -- there ain't no two ways 'bout it for him!"
Leveling that shotgun, she doesn't so much as aim for Clarine again as she does for the mirrors, eyeing well how they float about her. If her guess is right and her timing is true--
Well.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Clarine with Misery's Many Friends! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Josephine Lovelace's attack becomes clear! GS: Seraph Clarine guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Silver Cloud for 104 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Well.
If her timing is true, she might just send a bullet ricocheting between the mirrors, careening about on a deadly flight before finally culminating in a slingshot jump towards Clarine herself.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"We're gonna do more than give it our best shot--we're gonna *win*!" Dean shoots back at Josie--except it's *Clarine* who actually has to fight her. Clarine then points out that they don't really want Asgard to be an unstoppable ambulatory shield for Josie if they want to win. Dean pauses to consider this. "Oops. Sorry," he offers sheepishly. At least Boudicca has his back on this one, even if she uses that weird old-timey talk. Still, he sees Josie thank Asgard for protecting her--and maybe she only did it reflexively, but it's still thanks--and Asgard reacts strangely to it. Dean's eyes widen. He's not 100% sure of what to make of that, but...
Explain 'heart'?
"'Heart' isn't something you can explain. It's something you *feel*! It makes you care about what you do and what you are! You say you're just a Golem following his master's orders, but--when it comes to battle, your orders don't matter, do they? Zed showed us both that you fight because you *want* to fight! And... the way you reacted just now..." It's only a hunch, but-- "I think you protect because you *want* to protect!"
Which creates an interesting conundrum. Asgard is a machine programmed to fulfill a function. If that function his programming demands he carry out is also a function he desires to carry out, is there any difference between 'him' and 'his programming'? A philosophical quandary to be sure.
Dean doesn't give a flying toot about any of that, and wouldn't even if any of it had occurred to him.
"Yeah! You're fighting *us*, Asgard! I don't care if who's your 'master' or whatever right now! C'mon, don't look away!" Dean chimes in with Boudicca, taunting Asgard, as his friend's Seraphic arte energizes him and brings strength to his ARMS. Maybe Josie's Asgard's master right now, but to Dean, the fact that Asgard's mindlessly following ANY 'master' is the problem. He does pause, though, when Asgard brings up his catchphrase. "Before we met?" he echoes--and then Asgard raises a fist.
He *splits* the ground of the salvage yard in an erratic canyon of blue energy, breaking it apart into a pair of maws to swallow all who would fall within. Dean falls back to one side, crouching down to keep from getting thrown to the ground, but it still rattles him badly in a physical sense. The geyser of energy is even more dangerous, and it thrusts into the young man, who grunts with pain. Fortunately, because he'd already braced himself, he's saved a nasty impact with the earth.
"Ugh... that really hurt," he groans, wobbling to his feet. "Boudicca? Clarine? You guys okay?" His ARMS had temporarily flashed out of existence... but they reappear at a thought, as if they'd never gone. Dean faces Asgard anew, swaying to one side, then reasserting his stance through sheer will. He grins, even as a line of blood trickles down the side of his face. "*You're* wrong," he declares, simply and stubbornly. "Just because the data you've got NOW doesn't agree with me..."
He takes a step forward.
"Doesn't mean I'm wrong! Your problem is that you don't have the right data!"
Another.
"So come on, Asgard! Are you really telling me you're that WEAK!?" His knees bend as he tilts himself forward, arms and ARMS braced-- "There's no way! I don't believe it! I know you're strong enough to overcome those barriers of yours!" And he *launches* himself at the Golem, using his stance to create one huge burst of speed and ram himself ARMS-first into the mechanical man, aiming to smash himself and his rods into whatever weak points he can find. "SO DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP ON YOURSELF!!"
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Asgard with Assault Battery! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action. GS: Asgard guards a hit from Dean Stark's Assault Battery for 83 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Asgard gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"I-I will be alright... but thank you for your concern." Clarine replies to Boudicca. But even so... this is a pretty bad situation. She's not sure she can take many more shots like that, which is why she's paying very close attention to Josie's ARM. She notices her readying the shotgun and with a gesture her mirrors move to defend, but at the last second...
"Ah! Fiendish...!" Clarine gasps in surprise. The path of the bullets... it leads right to her. She should have anticipated this - Josie always was a clever one, she undoubtedly would have caught on. The mirrors adjust their angles at the last second. It isn't enough to prevent a direct hit, but it's enough to redirect it into a less painful position.
Clarine lets out a slight huff of indignation as she recoils back. She can't really hold it against Josie for taking every combat advantage she can... but she can still allow herself to feet a little upset at having her own mirrors used against.
"I am... holding on." Clarine replies, as she looks back toward Dean. She looks toward Josie, then.
"...I understand that he is bound by 'programming' to serve his masters in Odessa... but what of you, Josie? Why do you serve them? Do you believe in their ideals, enough to throw everyone else aside? Or is there something else you desire?" Clarine asks. "...Has it been worth it?"
She is, genuinely, curious to hear Josie's answer. While she speaks, however, her mirrors begin to disperse away from her, throughout the area.
"One thousand divine lights, arise and light the path to tomorrow..." Clarine begins to incant, holding both of her arms in front of her. A circle of Seraphic glyph lights up enough her feet, and countless points of golden light appear in the air around her. And then..."Radiant Cannonade!"
As her incantation concludes these lights fly off - several rush straight for Josie, but the rest instead fly off every which way, impacting her mirrors and bouncing off. They pick up speed until they appear as if a stream of light... before finally redirecting toward Josie herself, arrows of light rushing in from every angle.
GS: Seraph Clarine spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Radiant Cannonade! GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cover expired! GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action. GS: Asgard used Defend! He takes Seraph Clarine's Radiant Cannonade attack on Josephine Lovelace on himself! GS: Asgard guards a hit from Seraph Clarine's Radiant Cannonade for 113 hit points! GS: Asgard activates Guard bonus! GS: Asgard enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Asgard has gained 1 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"I am in no position to fight you on this assertation at the nonce," Boudicca cedes, to Josephine, when she may as well pronounce her shit-eating grin. The mask might hide Josephine's expression, but there is nothing to obscure Boudicca's disapproval.
Josie gets into trouble! Boudicca didn't like that (-10).
Asgard speaks of the irrelevance, and the world sighs for Boudicca, a breeze rustling through the salvage. "... I wonder if I would have said just the same... were I so erstwhile." In her quiet tone is written a tragedy, sidelong.
And maybe that's why she is so invested in this man who seems to only be invested in battle.
She is in a position to fight Asgard, though, and by accident of trying to spare Clarine she stumbles into something which seems to make him happy. "Ah..." The noise is a little nervous, as if Boudicca hasn't actually thought about what she's going to do with the approval of the unstoppable killing machine.
(For all she chides everyone around her to be careful, Boudicca has a terrible habit of leaping before looking.)
Luckily, Dean backs her up, too, and she's visibly relieved. It's a good thing Boudicca has such grounded friends who have good advice about the things she throws herself into.
Speaking of throwing herself: Asgard.
Boudicca might have protested his denial, except that the assault follows so immediately on its heels. The ground is suddenly a deeply disagreeable place to be, and so Boudicca elects to not be on the ground, leaping high into the air on a gust of wind. This handily saves her from the chasm in the earth, which would naturally have trouble threatening a Wind Seraph.
Unfortunately, Asgard doesn't do things by halves. Out comes the geyser, and it flows up into the descending Boudicca, catching her in mid-air and sending her ignobly back to earth. Air current correction leaves her landing on the side of that canyon Asgard has punched into the ground, rather than falling deep within it; it's still a terribly rough landing, characterised by a single metallic thud.
Clarine is doing her best to reach Josephine, but Boudicca has already tried. Instead, she pours her efforts into trying to reach... someone else.
"Freedom is possible... for all beings," Boudicca insists, as she pushes herself upright, catching herself on a breeze so she doesn't sway too much. "And though it may take millennia... one day, the chains will be forgotten! That compulsion... will be naught but a horrifying relevation for people who have lived free all their lives! It is not so impossible, Asgard! This is a story told throughout the worlds -- throughout the ages!"
She shakes her head, and claps her hands together. "Dean is correct. If we are knocked down... we will get up again, and in our persistence, we will find a way through! I believe in Dean's words, for I have seen the strength of his determination. He has dwelt within a flower of sin without a single scratch upon his soul -- and faced down enemies of overwhelming power and potential without losing heart -- and always, always he has seen the light within the darkness. If you would say he is wrong about you simply due to your data... you underestimate the tenacity of his tenets, Asgard!"
Boudicca's voice raises with the wind, as it builds around her, with another Seraphic glyph lighting the broken ground. "And you fail to account for the energy presences around him! My hostility may be lacking, but I have strength enough to do this!"
Her confidence is its own triumph, built on a dozen encounters with that same sort of support.
"The world exhales! Soothing Breeze!"
With a strange green glow to her gaze, Boudicca extends her arms out, and so too does the wind; it swirls and carouses over Dean, throwing himself forward. The gentle breeze carries with it all the warmth of a springtime picnic, soothing wounds and restoring energy.
Maybe it's easier not to give up when there's someone supporting you, after all.
GS: Seraph Boudicca spends 1 Combo on Reload! GS: Seraph Boudicca has attacked Dean Stark with Soothing Breeze! GS: Seraph Boudicca has completed her action. GS: Seraph Boudicca heals Dean Stark! He gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Dean Stark activates Seraph Boudicca's Reload!!
<Pose Tracker> Asgard has posed.
What Dean says about the heart... well, Asgard is silent on it. Perhaps it explains the fluctuations in his data. The concept of enjoyment should be foreign to him, and yet, how else can he describe how his system prioritizes them so much over everything else?
Even what Zed described to him, it seems to only fit the concept of 'elation'. Perhaps his silence speaks volumes, because as fast as his processing speed is, that he needs to spend so much time on this new data...
"I SEE."
Though, as Dean tells him not to look away. "MY SYSTEMS DO NOT ALLOW FOR WHAT YOU SPEAK OF." He has to monitor his master, even if his speed can't always respond to everything. Though as Boudicca tells him that freedom is possible... "FREEDOM... IS WHAT YOU... VALUE. IT IS NOT... POSSIBLE. AND... EVEN IF IT IS POSSIBLE... I DO NOT SEEK IT."
Though, as Dean recovers from his attack, Asgard raises his knuckle from the ground, still balancing the crate under a single arm. Dean asserts he's not wrong, and says that he doesn't have the right data. "..."
Weak. Something about that word...
Dean's charge is something that's only met by Asgard's massive arm, as he tries to parry Dean's rods again, and again, faster and faster in the rhythm of his dual wielding batons. Sometimes they slip through and strike a joint.
And yet... a peculiarity is that not once do the rods of Dean's ARM meet his barrier.
"I AM NOT... STRONG... ENOUGH."
Asgard admits, as he continues parrying Dean's onslaught, "THE DATA I CULTIVATE... FIGHTING YOU... WILL HELP ME... ACHIEVE... WHAT... I REQUIRE... BUT..."
And then the next time Dean swings, Asgard is not there. Instead, he's in front of Josephine, his barrier now up, and shimmering as it's bombarded by multiple lights. Some curve around, and are intercepted, but yet another as it curves around, Asgard's forced to reach out and block Josephine with the side of his forearm as the arrow of light BORES in, leaving a sizzling spot of burning smoke. "ACKNOWLEDGING THE PURPOSE OF MY CREATION... IS NOT... GIVING UP. IT IS WHY... I CAN BECOME..."
The next moment, his fingertips just... fall slack, as if something from Clarine's blast actually harmed something in the workings of his arm.
And the crate suddenly topples out of his arm's grasp, as he lurches forward in an attempt to retrieve it. "... STRONG." The whole time he was fighting with one arm. If he can get ahold of the strange alien crate he might still stand a chance at achieving their objective.
... but fighting as he is right now would certainly be a losing prospective wouldn't it? It would put most of the burden on Josie for offense, and relegating him mostly to defense.
All the same... he's apparently more than willing to do that, no matter the cost to himself.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Then don't, ghost girl," Josie replies to Boudicca. "Don't you worry it none: I know perfectly what I am!"
"Then do it, kid! Show me whatcha got!" Josie exhorts Dean, shaking her head. At this rate, if Asgard keeps backing her up while she gets to use him as cover, though--
Clarine's instinct may be right: it won't end prettily.
"Me?" Josie actually hesitates for a fraction of a moment, only to cant her head to the left, as if regarding Clarine afresh. "I've been with 'em before they were Odessa. Way on back's when I met 'him'. Vinsfeld," she clarifies, bringing her shotgun to rest against her shoulder a moment. "...You know this world's dying, Clarine." Her voice is different. Less flippant than before. Quieter. Lower. "It's been dying a good long time. You dig in enough tombs.... ha, you realize the whole world's a tomb."
She sighs out a breath, glancing at all of them: two Seraphs and a young man, perhaps not even in his twenties yet.
"That's what's in it for me: a slower death for Filgaia. The world's dying, but that don't mean it's gotta die yet. But them that's in power now... they'll see it done, soon enough. Heh heh... is this the kinda answer you wanted, Clarine?"
Has it been worth it?
"Good question. ...Good damn question," she remarks, only to shrug. "But it's good enough and all as it is. Guess I'll see where the cards fall when it's all over, right?"
That incantation comes, setting the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. "O thou--"
She never even finishes the working of her own spell before Asgard intrudes.
"....Shit," Josie hisses, eyeing Asgard when he lurches forward. Something's wrong with his arms, his sistems.
She makes a call, of a sort.
"Asgard! Order's changed! Get outta here!"
Malik and Melody will eat her for lunch if she lets anything happen to him. And, more than that...
"Light Flare!" she calls out. The explosion that results is blinding in its intensity.
She's not here when the light fades. Asgard might not be, either.
As for the crate, though...
<Pose Tracker> Asgard has posed.
Asgard immediately freezes as Josephine makes the order. For a moment, one wonders if he truly is going to obey her. The word 'temporary' is perhaps put to the test by his symptoms.
"ACKNOWLEDGED..."
In the end however, the welfare of one of his masters takes priority over the prize. Does Asgard seem, disappointed? The flare is blinding, and there's suddenly the sound of a movement of mechanical joints rapid fire... when it clears...
... he's not there either.
The crate lays still, inert for a while... but then as if something about the battle had triggered something. Perhaps the impact, or the magical energy in close proximity, the crate suddenly seems to retract upon itself, layers upon layers unfolding and unfurling to reveal an object, before then contracting into an ordinary cube about the size of the palm of a hand...
... and beside it, an oil painting.
It is a portrait of a woman in her late thirties, her blonde hair a princess cut, with braids on each side, and long hair that extends beyond the portrait.
Her eyes affectionate, blue... she's dressed in a soft high necked and long-sleeved morning dress. The subtle swell of her abdomen and the position of her hands hinting at the idea that she's with child.
It's... a puzzling contrast. Why was this something they were sent to retrieve? Why was something like it in such an alien crate in the first place?
Well... the woman in the portrait at least isn't telling. If one searches, they might find a worn away impression of a name on the back.
L d Ben ct
-=-=-
OST - He Who Holds the Word of God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS_ZlTayDkQ
Malik was calm, and unmoving when the results of the mission were first related to him. Thanking Josephine for her troubles, he left Asgard's repairs to his own auto-repair systems and Melody before retiring into his chambers.
It's only once he's alone, that he throws a tantrum.
Not long after, standing amidst the wreckage of so much redundant lab equipment, he recomposes himself. "I'm sorry Mother... I'm sorry... that no one knows of your value..." His fingertips caress the side of a clear glass cylindrical tank. "... but me."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean doesn't know what he expects Asgard to do in response to his relentless attacks and words--but to give up the attack *entirely* in order to protect Josie wasn't really it. To be honest, seeing him take up the mantle of protector *entirely* makes Dean unsure if he got through to Asgard or if Asgard is doubling down entirely. At the very least, he doesn't seem interested in fighting so much as protecting anymore, especially the way he takes on Clarine's giant light beam head on.
Honestly, it's admirable. Dean respects that Asgard's so dedicated to protecting. It just bothers him that Asgard's so willing to subsume himself in the will of masters who don't respect him. ...Though Josie's at least better than Melody in that regard. She thanked him and all!
"Maybe what you need is a better 'master,' then," Dean muses aloud, slowly. "Someone who'll actually appreciate you. Someone you can be proud of protecting. That Melody lady... has she *ever* thanked you like Josie just did a minute ago? I'm not saying Josie's a *great* person to dedicate yourself to, considering what she's doing right now, but... she'd at least be a step up?"
His cheeks pinken a bit as Boudicca talks him up as a person with such determination that he weathered a flower of sin without taking a scratch on his soul. Right, that did happen, huh... It was rough, but he made it through. For now, he looks at Asgard with a moment of uncertainty... but as Boudicca's soothing, healing wind surrounds him, it bolsters his spirit and lets him make up his mind.
"If you want to be the kind of person who 'protects'... then let me be the one who tests that for once!" he declares. "I believe in you, Asgard! I believe you can decide for yourself what you want to do--not because you were created to do it, but because it's what *you* decided you wanted to do!"
But before Dean can actually act on that... Josie changes the tone of the battle. She brings up the fact that the planet is dying. She might be talking to Clarine, but Dean hears it too, and he looks over at her, startled. "So that's why you're with Odessa? Because you think they'll keep Filgaia alive?" he wonders. "But... is that really what they've been doing?"
Whether it is or not, he'll never know. Josie orders a retreat, then throws down an arte and vanishes in its wake. At least, Dean crooks an arm to protect his eyes, and when he lowers it, they're gone.
"...What exactly were they here for?" he wonders, confused, right before the crate transforms itself into a painting. That's strange enough, but it's a lovely portrait of a woman who seems to be with child. Dean slowly walks over to it and picks it up, holding it so Boudicca and Clarine can see. He looks it over, then looks at them, puzzlement still in his eyes.
Why did Odessa want *this*?
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine listens quietly as Josie gives her reasons. As she explains how she knew Vinsfeld even before Odessa was formed... and how she's looking for a slower death for Filgaia. Clarine 'hm's thoughtfully... and, actually, seems pleased by the end of it? Is that the kind of answer she wanted?
"...It is, actually." Clarine replies with a nod. "Thank you for answering, Josie. It is... important to me, to know that you are following your convictions."
She looks toward Dean, then, as he asks if slowing Filgaia's death is really what they're doing. She's curious about that too, of course, and has her own opinions besides... but, she doesn't retort, doesn't trying to argue against it. She accepts the answer as Josie gives it.
With a gesture, her spell goes off... but it is not Josie it connects with, but Asgard, who moves in once more to defend her. It seems to hit something important, and it's enough that it causes Josie to escape with Asgard in tow.
...But not the crate that Asgard had been holding. Clarine stares as it unfurls... and frowns, puzzled, at what emerges.
"...I... must admit, I am completely uncertain." Clarine admits. A cube... and, a painting of a woman? "She must be significant to go through so much trouble... but I am afraid I do not recognize her."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
Dean takes point in trying to get through to Asgard, and Boudicca, hearing Asgard respond to him, doesn't interrupt. She supports him, instead.
(But is she really supporting Asgard, if he doesn't want to be free...?)
She hears Josie's reasons, though, and she calls over: "... that is why I still believe in you, Josephine. But these methods... I do not agree!" Odessa means to save Filgaia? How can they do such a thing, the way they're acting..?
She won't stop her from giving the order to retreat, though, especially seeing the way Asgard is acting.
The light fades, and the breeze picks up again, to soothe Clarine and Dean's wounds. She ventures forward to find...
"She is beautiful," is Boudicca's first thought. She breathes out, tucking her braid over her shoulder so it doesn't fall forward over the painting when she leans over. A glance to Clarine, and she follows her uncertainty with her own. "I do not recognise her, either, but perhaps such a thing... is precious for the memories it holds, rather than for its tactical value. The people of Odessa..."
She straightens, shaking her head. "... they are still people, after all."
Saving the world, with death and subjugation...