Persona 5: Daywatch
Saturday, 3 September 2016
After School
Shibuya, Untouchable
Akira scrolled down on his phone as he leaned against the welded grating between the customer side and counter of the airsoft shop with models looking almost indistinguishable from real guns. "That's the problem. Most of the rest of us like a close-in fighter aesthetic," Akira explained to the shop owner. "I'm still not sure how comfortable Hifumi is with the SKS, but she's more of the type to hang back and take her time to look for a critical vulnerability. Ryuji said scopes fit the aesthetic but a reflex sight would work better. I've got no idea."
Iwai swiveled the sucker in his mouth, the plastic stick clacking against his teeth. "Well the SKS isn't bad for that, especially if you want to keep it for the medium-range look. It is classified as a battle rifle and not a sharpshooter's rifle like the Dragunov from the same post-WW2 era. You think of switching it out?"
Akira hissed. "Hifumi knows even less about gun history than I do, and I don't exactly have much money set aside to get her a whole new rifle yet. Hence why I'm trying to figure out what kind of mods could make it more… hers."
Iwai chuckled. "You kids get really caught up in your cosplay. There's some barrel counterweight systems that a lot of trick shot people like for countering recoil, but those are modern developments. They'd definitely look out-of-place on a weapon that came out on the heels of WW2. If you're insistent on not going for the bayonet option, a scope is going to be the next most likely modification. Optical magnifiers are particularly common, especially if you want it to look like a marksman's, but reflex sights were in use even before WW2."
Akira swiped back into the group chat where the runner nerded out about different guns. "Last time Ryuji and I were talking about sights, he was recommending a SUSAT."
That stick swiveled to the other side of Iwai's mouth. "I hope he was talkin' about a different weapon. That's British, the Soviet Union used the PSO. Either way, that's an optical magnifier and not a quick sighting aid. I think I've got a pop-up type, though it's just got painted reflectors when the real ones have collimating lenses."
Nodding, Akira shot his decision to the group chat. The runner babbled on the chat. "Ryuji says the PSO might be the better option."
His phone buzzed. Makoto texted, [How did you know Matsushita's distortion was Hero, Akira?]
[Toranosuke-san was friends with him for years. He said Matsushita wanted to join the JSDF and be a hero when they were younger.]
[Well, it worked,] she replied. [And so did Mishima's location. Matsushita's Palace is definitely the conference hall in Gaien-Mae.]
[Nice find, Mishima!] Ryuji texted. [That's a posh part of town, how'd you find out?]
[It's in perpetual reservation for government meetings and they use that for advertising to draw in appointments by higher ministers,] the class representative replied. [Ohya and I can't nail down whether he was involved in illegal interference of contract bidding for government buildings, but we dug up a LOT of appointments and receipts for events hosted there. Meeting there more than once a week made it a candidate for a place Matsushita Hiroyuki could feel he has ownership of.]
[Make sure you're getting enough rest, okay?] Ann replied.
[And something to eat,] Akira added. [You can't keep skipping lunch.]
[I will. Thanks,] Yuuki texted.
Makoto sent, [Morgana: you're getting a good sense of cognition anchoring in physical locations, Mishima-san.] A beat later she sent, [This is kind of sudden, how is everyone's availability?]
[I am afraid I am detained today,] Yusuke replied. [I have cleaning duty and the painting teacher will be inspecting my work. It has never taken less than several hours.]
[You are… captivated by the journey of art,] Hifumi texted. [It would be unusual if you tried to leave early. We can look out for each other, please make sure you are secure in the real world for now.]
[She's right,] Makoto texted. [It's our first foray into a new Palace, so we'll be careful. You just focus on not making any drastic changes that might be noticed by your school or police. You were the last pupil of Madarame before his change of heart, so you might still be under some scrutiny.]
Akira looked up from the group chat. "How fast could you have the scope attached to her SKS?"
Iwai squinted up at the transfer student. "Twenty to thirty minutes if it's a permanent fix, at least two hours if you want it to be detachable like most of your other stuff. You kids don't seem to realize the work that goes into drilling on a removable mounting bracket."
[Give me thirty minutes and I'll be there with your gun,] Akira texted to the group chat. [Are you sure you're going to be good to go with us? What about your big sister?]
Three dots danced next to Makoto's ID. [Big Sis was invited to a work party. Something about the Kaneshiro group. She put on the perfume in the golden bottle, so she must think it's a big deal.] A beat later, three dots danced next to her ID for quite a few seconds. [Since Hifumi and I are going to be there before you, would you mind if we popped into Mementos to scan for Big Sis? Morgana wanted the rest of the team to have a say in this.]
[I don't see why not,] Akira replied. [You and Morgana are powerhouses in your own right, you don't need me to check on your family. But you might want to pick up Ryuji or Futaba first just to have some back-up.]
Saturday, 3 September 2016
After School
Gaien Mae, Pillars of Truth Event Hall
Akira paced down the road from the bus stop, the event hall on his right and no sign of the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Good, that should mean they separately made their way into Councilman Matsushita's palace. The less they could be seen all together in public, the better. He adjusted his satchel on his shoulder. Despite having changed out of his school uniform to minimize his chances of being recognized in-transit, he couldn't help but think he stuck out. A lot of people in suits or walking around with tablets and wireless headsets wandered the streets, but very few young people joined them and most wore uncomfortable-looking suits.
Doing his best to look like he was bored but had somewhere to be, Akira passed the event hall done up in the hybrid fusion of western with a very loose interpretation of traditional Japanese architecture and turned onto an alley for delivery trucks. He slipped a hand into his pocket, glanced around to be sure nobody was following him, then activated the Nav.
The blue skies and puffy clouds were replaced by a night sky splashed with a yellow-orange nebula giving the city an ambiance of twilight. Where the event hall should be, a square tower soared up over the city. Instead of hybrid western-Japanese architecture, this one was metal, glass and concrete and could have fit a science-fiction movie. Many colors of lights winked across its surface and spotlights shone down across the maze of a city. Glowing vehicles like helicopters without rotors took off and landed at square platforms jutting from the sides of the tower all the way up its impossible height. Battleship-style turrets jutted out from other points just to add to make sure it lacked any kind of symmetry.
"Hide!" Hifumi's voice commanded as if she stood right next to him.
Akira dove for what cover a circular trimmed hedge could provide moments before a robot about the size of a man came down the road. Treads rolled over the asphalt, two arms ending in clamps waved back and forth for no particular reason from a cylindrical middle, topped by a dome with a swirling red light.
Hifumi's voice sounded in his ears again, "There are patrols of cognitions outside the tower. Stay hidden, we're coming to you."
Taking a knee, Akira assembled his P90, checked the street nearby, waited for another patrolling robot to pass, then put together Ryuji's SKS rifle. Well, Hifumi's now as she bought it a few days ago following his complaints about loaning out his personal collection.
Another robot patrol trundled past just as he finished tightening the last part together.
White-cored rays raked over the robot and it exploded into black dust. The Roman-riding-a-glider swooped into the street, looking more like an alien invader under the backdrop of a starry night sky with a glowing nebula. Rings dropped out of its bottom and it faded as Futaba was deposited, crouched low with her staff-weapon held at the ready.
"Oracle! You sure know how to make an entrance." Akira called out as loud as he dared while keeping their position concealed. He slipped away from the hedge. "Where's everyone else?"
"On the way. I'm the only one who can fly over hedges and fences," Futaba explained. "Hawk said those guns on the tower aren't just for show, so Byakko ordered me not to fly over buildings." Her head tilted up and around in a way that probably coincided with a big eye-roll underneath her goggles. "As if I needed to be told that."
Akira looked around. "Is it just me growing up out of Tokyo, or are the streets and buildings even more of a maze than usual?"
"You're asking a shut-in," she pointed out.
Hugging the shadows of buildings, he followed her the way she came until they rendezvoused with the others in an alley. Akira handed Hifumi her rifle, showing her the optical scope added by Iwai.
She took the rifle with some hesitation and, following the runner's instructions, braced the rifle against her shoulder and peered down the scope. "Oh! I feel like I could shoot through a cinderblock wall!"
From Morgana's bold hop forward, one would think nothing was wrong. "Good news! I think. Rider's sister just moved up in Mementos."
Hifumi slung the rifle strap over her shoulder. "I took the liberty of scanning the tower's exterior. A small contingent of Shadows guard the gate, if we are spotted they will raise an alarm. And I believe the turrets on the tower will fire. I am afraid I was unable to get any data on the interior from here."
"There's a laser fence protecting the grounds." Morgana held up his crossbow. "Fortunately, yours truly is always prepared. All we have to do is get to a vantage point and I can shoot a line across and we zip-line down to the tower. We'll have to get access to a higher balcony to make our way out, but that shouldn't be difficult."
Ann threw a fist in the air. "Just like a spy movie!" She hummed as they slipped to what should have been a four-story office building in the real world. A drain pipe provided them access to the roof.
Looking out over the sprawling facility, Akira thought of the way Madarame's little shack in real life became a huge museum dominating its neighborhood in the Metaverse. A humming, translucent barrier separated the street from grassy, tended grounds. A handful of brawny cyborgs with plated arms and tiny legs stood guard outside an open gate reminding him of a giant airport metal-detector.
A thwip of something cutting through the air later and Morgana double-checked the tie-off of the higher end of the zip-line before he proclaimed, "Okay, everyone. After me," before hopping on.
After School
Matsushita's Tower
Futaba kept her staff weapon clenched in both hands as they advanced through the halls of what could have been the Death Star. It was too clean for how many switch-backs and pointless turns the halls had. A real building was as easy to get around in as possible so people could learn or work. Roving enemies were sporadic, as if the palace was on some middling alert status, which was totally unfair. At least the doors were easy to unlock, between her sci-fi show know-how and Hifumi's scanning capability.
It was mostly their magnificent hacker, though.
Akira and Morgana zipped from metal structural support to metal column with speed and grace borne of practice. However, the hacker couldn't see any enemies so she didn't bother and walked straight down the hallway like Ann and Ryuji. White lights and pristine walls made all the tower's halls look the same, though at least there were screens bearing warnings for vigilance like wartime posters to keep them from being completely boring.
Futaba tapped the cloaked girl with the butt of her staff. "Yo, Hawk. You zonin' out or pickin' something up?"
The red seer dissipated from above Hifumi. "Apologies. I thought I picked up a strange tone nearby, but there's nothing except a patrol of Shadows in the next room. I must need more practice to properly filter out different parts of the palace."
Morgana threw out over his shoulder, "Well I can tell you for sure the Treasure is way up. Probably at the top. The lift's control chip slots above this level are empty."
Futaba could almost swear steam hissed out of her ears. "I don't even care if we can take advantage of it, that's not how computers work! Chips are components of integrated circuit boards, not slots to shove in authenticating storage media! It's like this idiot doesn't know the difference between a computer chip and a floppy disk! And especially not while everything is still powered. That's how you get static discharge damage and robots talking in Spanish!"
"Feel better?" Akira snarked from beside her.
"Yes, as a matter of fact," she said despite still keeping a bit of stomp to her step.
They came up to another set of angled doors she was sure was a ripoff of the blast doors on the Death Star. He pried off the maintenance panel below the keypad and Futaba looked into a mess of unshielded fiber-optic cables plugged into a four-by-four grid. "Ugh. Does nobody have any concept of real computer cables?"
Ann sighed. "Just… open it before we get ambushed by another one of those damn flying squirrels."
Futaba set her staff weapon against the corner and crouched down. "Fine. I still wanna force the real-life guy to at least watch a video on cable management. Hawk?" Since Matsushita didn't have video game education on puzzles being labeled so every conductive path could be seen by a five-year-old child, she needed someone with special senses to identify what needed to plug into where or they'd trigger another alarm.
Hifumi knelt down next to the hacker and stared into the bundled forest of fiber-optics. She pointed to one in the lower-right. "That's the master power cable. Aaand… underneath this is the power for the door."
Futaba yanked the cables, unplugged the occupied spot the shogi maestra pointed out, then popped the plug into what resembled a VGA port. The door opened with a hydraulic hiss even though all of the mechanisms looked like it should be magnetic. "I give up." She took her staff weapon in hand and stood to follow the others.
A metal walkway forced them to advance in twos, a bottomless pit below. No safety rails lined the sides. Three columns rose up from the murky dark below and extended up into murky dark above. The walkway wound to each one and split around them, with analog controls studding panels on each column. "Ugh! He's just ripping off the tractor beam control room from the Death Star!"
A tracked robot with a dome for a head rolled around one of the columns. "Villains!" It dropped into a dark puddle which should have slid off the walkway, and gave rise to another emaciated horse demon baring sharp teeth and two shadowy humanoids shrouded in long green cloaks which floated just off the walkway.
Morgana leaped onto Ryuji's shoulder, crossbow at the ready. "Panther, take care of the cannibalistic horse. Everyone else, probing attacks, but be cautious! The narrow space benefits them, and we still haven't secured our way out yet."
Ryuji swiped at one of the green-garbed Shadows, but it floated out of his reach. "I effin' hate flyin' enemies!"
"Let's hit all of 'em," Akira shouted. "Andras!"
His persona formed above him and flapped its wings, sending a frost-glimmered wind at Carmen, who absorbed the cold and swung her free hand, casting a separate ice javelin at each Shadow. The horse crumpled to the walkway with a pained whinny, but the bolts reflected off the floating sorceresses and arced back into Carmen.
Ann stumbled, her left foot off the walkway, and it was only Makoto's quick reflexes which caught her hand.
Futaba backed up. With Akira and Ryuji crowding each other at the front, there was no way she'd get close enough to whack one of the Shadows. But her staff weapon had reach neither Makoto nor Ann could match. She unleashed a burning bolt into one of the floating witches made of darkness and those glowing red eyes winced.
The other lifted a hand, a sickly but colorless shimmering forming around it before it darted forward and laid the hand on Ryuji's chest. He dropped his weapons, his gun falling to its sling and his club tumbling into the abyss, before he fell backwards with his mouth gaping in terror.
Carmen flitted forward, lashing her whip against the floating sorceresses, but the second allowed the whip to wrap around it as it sucked in breath, then opened its mouth to let out an ear-piercing wail.
Ryuji went slack and his chest stopped rising and falling.
Already bouncing with anticipation, Rider surged forward to the place vacated by the runner and shot a burst into the floating Shadow on the right. It punched holes in the long, green cape and drew a flinch, but didn't down the Shadow.
Jumping for a good vantage, Morgana tossed a marked-up black bead which exploded in a small burst of darkness in the shot-up Shadow. If the Shadow noticed, it didn't even flinch.
Akira roared and his owl-man-sorcerer Persona spat another bolt of ice into the emaciated horse demon struggling to its feet, though it dissipated before falling off the edge of the walkway. On a roll, he snarled, "Rakshasa!"
Owl-man dissolved, the motes reforming into a smaller man-sized figure in red. He leaped, plunging one sword into the shot Shadow, and when the Shadow yawned open a mouth and sucked in a breath, his Shadow bashed it across the face with a pommel and reared in to bite straight into the Shadow's throat, allowing it to make nothing but a pained hiss.
Carmen bashed the bound Shadow into the tall column, but it slipped out of the spiked whip after one good smack.
Futaba growled, but she could fly in Marcus. She hit the button and rings dropped around her, light flashed, and when her vision cleared she sat in a cockpit much like a single-seat Death Glider. Marcus swung out and shot the Shadow dodging Carmen's whip.
A moment later, an aura of foxfire rippled over it and bashed the Shadow back into the column. The move made her think of Akira feeding ice power into Carmen. "Joker, can you boost me?"
He glanced up at her. Well, at Marcus. "Makami!"
His Persona backflipped off the stabbed Shadow, delivering a kick as one last 'screw you' and dissolved into motes which re-formed on the walkway next to him as a flattened weasel or something. It opened its mouth and howled a sickly ray of cyan light at her. The beam soaked into Marcus and she felt a crackle pass up and down her spine. "Boo yeah, suckers!" Marcus blasted thick rays into the stabbed Shadow and kept up until swinging around to the one tangling with Carmen.
Both Shadows looked like they were flagging until a bolt of fire lanced into the Shadow on the right, dissipating it. A burst of rifle fire cracked the air as Hifumi of all people shot the last remaining Shadow, dissipating that one as well. Before its vestiges were even gone, Hifumi dashed at the fallen runner lying there without breathing. Dihya manifested above her and the shogi maestra called, "Reaper, come back."
Dihya trembled and dissolved. Last time Hifumi used that power, Futaba wasn't in a position to scrutinize it, but it looked more like the red Persona was torn into motes of light which rained onto the runner. Hifumi coughed and hunched, but the runner sucked in a breath and spasmed.
Ann knelt next to them. "You all right?"
Ryuji accepted the longcoated boy's hand up, but looked unsteady on his feet. "Holy shit, I don't wanna do that again."
"I'm just glad you're back with us," Makoto said, slinging her shotgun. "Are you all right, Hawk?"
She rose with shaky motions despite the president's hand to help. "I… I don't think I'll be able to summon Dihya for a while. Despite my most thorough efforts, I couldn't even identify a weakness in the Skadi. I'm sorry, everyone."
Ryuji flashed her a toothy, too-perfect grin. "Dude, you saved my ass. Don't worry 'bout it."
Makoto handed her the coffee thermos. "Here. That looked like it took a lot out of you."
Hifumi gave a small smile. "Thank you, Rider."
The longcoated boy twirled another knife from the sleeve of his coat. "Want a backup?"
Ryuji raised the light machine gun hanging from his shoulder. "Not my style. I'll hang back an' fill 'em full'a lead."
Morgana nodded. "Wise move, Reaper. No better time to look into an upgrade. Your club was effective, but it's had limited effect on some of the hardened Shadows. Rider? Your shotgun is best at close range, take the vanguard. Ann? With me on rear guard."
Ryuji muttered, "You jus' wanna look at her rear," but yielded his spot to the class president. Then looked at her ass.
Akira stowed his over-sized survival knife and they made their way to the door and re-wired it open to an enormous platform big enough to land half a dozen helicopters at the same time, though tarp-wrapped pallets crammed the area near the door. Despite the clear weather when they started, a monsoon-strength rainstorm lashed the landing pad jutting out of the tower.
As the Phantom Thieves pushed their way into the palace's inclement weather, a glowing fighter ripped straight out of Space Battleship Yamato roared down with smoke trailing from the back, pursued by another of identical design shooting laser bolts at it. The first fired its reverse-thrusters and slid behind the other, then shot the previous pursuit, sending a fireball tumbling into the rainy abyss before landing hard on the platform.
The Phantom Thieves readied their guns and took cover against the pallets despite the rain slashing at them. The fighter's canopy slid open with a hydraulic hiss and a dark figure jumped out.
Futaba readied her staff weapon, the rain adding a hiss to the charge-up crackle.
Akira shared a glance with the team leader before drawing his black machete and stepping out from the wrapped pallets near the door. Morgana leapt up and disappeared from sight, so the Phantom Thieves followed Akira, advancing from cover to cover.
He almost walked into a dark figure with faint claw-styled gauntlets and a dark helm which didn't fit the palace's sci-fi aesthetic at all. Akira backed up a step and whipped up his P90, but the dark figure batted aside the close-range burst.
Akira followed suit when the dark knight-like figure whipped out a pistol-style blaster, knocking the barrel aside just enough to cast the red bolt of energy into a wrapped pallet.
Akira tried once more to backstep and shoot the new enemy point-blank, only for his P90 to be batted aside, shots sparking against the smoking fighter.
The helmed guy slid back, one hand slipping his blaster pistol into a holster at his hip as his other reached to his side for what appeared to be a rod less than thirty centimeters long. With a snap-hiss the hacker knew from any Star Wars movie, a yellow light blade almost a meter long extended from the handle.
Akira ducked left, then right before bringing up his machete to block. Futaba thought she was going to have a heart attack and watch his body cleave in two, but his little blade brought the light saber to a full stop. Well, shaking stop, the evil knight pushed closer.
The two fighters' momentary exchange of growls and standstill bought Futaba enough time to catch her breath and remember she could still help. She surged behind a belted-together stack of pipes. Staying low behind it, Futaba brought her staff weapon to bear on the palace's evil knight.
As if he knew the bolt was incoming, the knight kicked Akira away and parried her shot into the floor. Then he took one jedi-esque leap and covered the four meters between him and her.
It was only speed borne of sheer panic that allowed her to parry his lightsaber into the stack of pipes, though his one-handed blow was so powerful it sent her staff weapon tumbling to the ground and severed half a dozen pipes. Evil Knight lifted his saber to finish her off and even though she'd never been inside a church before she prayed for Akira to get here in time. His saber hissed in the pelting rain.
Instead of slicing her in half, Evil Knight bent at the waist with the ease of an acrobat and the scatter of a shotgun passed through the air where his shoulders would have been a heartbeat earlier.
Makoto advanced, pulling the trigger on her shotgun again.
Evil Knight twirled the lightsaber in one hand, casting her shot wide.
Instead of backing away or trying to fight the momentum, Makoto let her shotgun clatter to the rain-splattered ground and closed, her hands tightening around brass knuckles as she slammed a powerful swing into Evil Knight's chin.
It connected with his helm's chin-guard with a clank, but snapped his head back and sent him stumbling.
Makoto dashed closer and grabbed the hacker's hand, yanking her to her feet and pulling her to safety.
Righting to his feet, Evil Knight braced to run them down when the runner's ever-confident voice called out his Persona. The ghostly ship soared over the pallets and leaned to swing his sword in a fly-by.
Evil Knight parried without needing to use his other hand.
Ryuji stepped out to apply some direct firepower and sprayed lead.
Evil Knight tumbled backwards in a neat roll for the little cover of a roll of industrial hoses on a spool fit for a factory. He reached for his visor and yanked. "Ravmalakh!"
Expecting a gundam, instead a brawny figure in heavy plates and heavier helmet coalesced. Edged all in silver, it lifted a broad sword in its right hand. Red-and-white feathered wings spread from its back on the otherwise white-and-silver angel. It lifted its sword at Ryuji as if displaying a banner, and an instant later a trio of golden light spears slammed into the runner from the skies.
From yet another pallet and different angle, Ann leaned out and popped several pistol shots at Evil Knight.
Evil Knight crouched down behind his giant, armored angel, which crouched down to provide even more shelter, then braced behind its sword. A ripple passed over the rain falling over the angel.
Futaba didn't need Hawk's special sight to guess it just powered itself up.
Carmen manifested and danced, her steps light and movements in a fluid back-and-forth. The armored angel chopped and Carmen twirled aside, also avoiding the rising reverse swing. The dance would have been beautiful, slicing through the rain, were it not deadly weapons of will in a cognitive space. She paused just long enough for her thorned whip to lash around its neck.
Angel powered a horizontal blow through the agile dancer, shattering her into motes.
Ann's shriek carried over the slashing rain.
"What kind of Shadow is it? Is it a cognition?" Futaba snapped, hands starting to tremble.
"I don't think so," Hifumi responded, a terseness to her own tone. "I can't manifest Dihya, but neither knight nor angel match the idiom of this palace."
A roiling black sphere exploded out from somewhere close to Evil Knight's feet, enveloping him and his armored angel. The angel didn't even seem to notice.
Then Morgana dropped down from somewhere higher in the rain, offering the hacker her staff weapon and the president her shotgun before Futaba even recovered from her cat-boy-induced heart attack. "Panther's bleeding out and Hawk's doing her best without her Persona but it isn't enough. I'd like the swiftness Fox's Persona can lend us, but he's not here so Reaper's going to hit that knight with his Persona as he goes to help her. Try to assist without getting badly hurt, yourselves. You two are the best healers." His eyes stopped on the hacker, a note of desperation as he asked, "Is there anything you can do to boost the Thieves?"
Futaba clutched her staff weapon in lieu of any certainty. She knew she hadn't reached the extent of Marcus Drusus' abilities, but every major leap forward seemed to be when Akira was there and something big happened in front of her. "I…"
Makoto grabbed the shotgun, her other hand clenched and a quiet fury radiating off her. "I'll distract him. Have Akira dig up any Persona that can enhance one of us."
"But you—"
Makoto jumped out, her tank of a bike manifesting in a heavy thud and, its fire hissing against the rain lashing the landing pad as if daring the weather to give her its worst. With a roar of flames, it shot off on a circuitous route spiraling in on Evil Knight.
Morgana cursed, then pointed, "Ann's that way. Heal her, but as soon as I get Joker to throw us a bone, do whatever you can. He may do something as stupid as Rider."
Shotgun blasts rang.
Despite her lack of physical prowess, Futaba put all her strength into booking it over the wet, not-quite-asphalt surface of the landing pad for the pallets with Ann. Her long, dyed hair slapped at her in the palace storm.
The short hacker could just make out Captain Kidd form again from the south edge of the landing pad. His ragged sails billowed with the wind swirling around the Persona when Reaper didn't need it to shoot a Shadow with magic. The rapid clash of giant swords took the place of shotgun blasts.
Motes of light coalesced on the pallets next to her and a white-toga'd woman with bladed hoops formed. The Greek goddess of victory lifted a hand at her and Futaba felt a firmness over her tender skin. She'd have sworn the very air over her hardened into impenetrable plates. She felt the epiphany within and slapped the button to ring up into Marcus. Inside him, the battle felt so much smaller and less chaotic as screens drew square reticles over the Thieves. "Stand fast!" she and her Persona cried out, and the same hardening locked over every single one of the Phantom Thieves.
After School
Matsushita's Tower, First Landing Pad
Makoto clenched her teeth as she drifted in a wide arc around the knight in dark garb. Her shotgun barked in her hand, but the knight danced and wove out of the way like a champion capoeira practitioner. She swung Johanna around, billowing fire, and while the dark knight evaded her armor the fire still caught his legs.
The armored angel chopped that huge, hand-and-a-half sword down at her. Makoto dismissed her persona and threw herself backwards to evade what would have been a bisecting blow. Aikido prepared her for the throws and grapples to take care of stronger humans even if they were twice her size, but the martial art never could have prepared her to take on giant armored cognitions or lightsabers and the dark knight wouldn't let her close.
She tucked into a forward roll to dodge that saber and get closer, but a heavy boot struck her in the chest and knocked her tumbling, breathless. The knight dashed closer while she still had neither breath nor footing.
A narrow funnel of shredding winds slammed into the armored archangel. The knight clenched his teeth and dodged backwards. Its weapon free, the angel lifted its sword and another series of light spears plunged into the landing pad, one into Kidd, another into the black top, and the last behind a pallet. The student council president heard Ryuji cuss but had no idea if that meant a hit or near-miss.
Captain Kidd rocketed at the armored archangel, their blades clashing in the pouring rain.
Dark Knight recovered in a heartbeat and came at her with his nimble, one-handed style. That damn weapon give him the reach to force her back, and keep her out from her optimum range where grapples or joint locks could have disabled a limb in moments.
Makoto back-flipped with strength and distance only possible in the Metaverse, giving her room enough to manifest Johanna. If Dark Knight wouldn't let her get close, she'd make him pay at a distance. She fired pulse after pulse of fire bolts at him and backed up but not soon enough to evade one slice through Johanna's front.
She kept shooting, but he jumped and wove past each one to close on her.
Johanna roared back on wheels of fire, still blasting, but almost smashed against the fighter Dark Knight crashed earlier. Makoto dismissed her persona and vaulted off the fighter to leap over the knight and try to close on him from the other side.
He was already on her, that yellow blade swinging up.
She'd seen them cut through walls in movies when she was a little girl, but she'd seen them deflected and stopped by other weapons in previews for the recent movies even if she never had time to sit down and watch them. She brought up her brass knuckles and told herself if she believed in her weapons, they'd save her.
A jolt passed through her, a hardness sweeping over her skin as if the very air formed into hard plates, then returned to flexible a heartbeat later.
She could almost feel her knuckles blister, but the glowing sword deflected off them.
A slight shift in the light on the knight's wild eyes was her only warning. She dove to one side and the armored angel's giant sword chopped a deep gouge into the floor after her.
Captain Kidd scored a slash across its back and the angel returned to battling Kidd.
The lightsaber slashed against her and Makoto fell back with a pained yelp, sure the only thing that kept her arm from being severed was that invisible armor which locked over her a moment ago.
Dark Knight took a quick fencing step at her, but an instant later leaped back almost fast enough to avoid the whole long burst of bullets.
The sound of a P90 roared before bullets pinged against the smoking anime fighter.
Twirling his saber, Dark Knight parried Akira's first machete chop, then the second as if he wielded a knife no bigger than the longcoated boy's.
He wasn't expecting Akira to deliver a kick to the knight's knee. Dark Knight went down with an angry grunt, and Akira powered down his black machete.
Dark Knight tossed down a pellet the size of a his thumb and smoke exploded despite the lashing rain. The president backed up, shotgun ready, but before Akira left the shrouded area, she caught Dark Knight hopping up to a wrapped pallet, then cast out his right hand. A line shot out and latched onto a passing aircraft with a design more like a rotor-less helicopter, disappearing in the direction of the city moments later.
When the longcoated boy went running after the dark knight, Makoto called him and headed for Ann's location. By the time they arrived, Ryuji was already there with Morgana, Ann, and Futaba. The natural and dyed blond leaned against a wrapped pallet for what shelter it could provide from the lashing rain as the hacker chatted with rare excitement.
As soon as the hacker noticed the last additions, she thrust her staff-weapon up in the rain, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm even more awesome than before! Check it out, Joker! When you gave me that defense up, my Persona learned how to do it. I think it even locked onto everyone! Next time we run into that mid-boss, we won't have to worry about him."
Makoto shook her head. "It's great to hear your repertoire has expanded, but that was the most difficult enemy we've ever faced. He was stronger than all of us put together, and did any of you notice he didn't have to stop to change orders of that armored angel?" Her eyes locked onto the natural blonde. "Even you have to pause to change what Carmen's doing, and the only one who's been using a Persona for longer has been Morgana." She glanced to the team leader. "Can your Persona operate with such independence?"
Morgana shook his head, splattering raindrops. "Not quite, but I've been more focused on stealth or tools. When you're in Mementos for weeks at a time, no matter how much stamina you have, you run out. Even before meeting you all, I've known my Persona was meant to work with others. That changes how I developed Zorro's abilities." His eyes fell on the blonde's. "Are you good to move? That was a lot of blood…"
Ann stood up from the pallet and crossed her arms. "I'm not up to charging through more of the Palace, but we only need to get out from here, right?"
Morgana nodded. "Right. Hawk? Any sign of that strange assailant?"
Hifumi reached for that hard shell mask under her hood. She grit her teeth and blood dribbled from her nose, but red coalesced above her for just a beat before dismissing. "I don't think so, but I'm concerned that I didn't detect him before. I wasn't looking for him specifically, but even so…"
Ann waved her down. "You also gave up your Persona to save Reaper, or however exactly that works. It would be unreasonable to expect you to be perfectly prepared. You're still technically our newest member. We're all learning."
Ryuji rotated his shoulder, a small grimace on his face. "That effin' angel smacked Captain Kidd so much I still hurt. Let's get outta here."
The others nodded and followed Morgana to the fueling station midway on the landing platform jutting out the side of the tower. He tied one end of a reel of cord to a handle. "Due to the rain, I'm guessing for the rooftops on the outside. Give me a few minutes after I cross to secure the far side. Hawk?"
The shogi player nodded. "As long as you attempt to communicate with me, I'm sure I'll be able to receive. I haven't had any issue with range yet."
Morgana nodded, then shot a crossbow out into the rain. He let a couple seconds pass, then tested the line. It tugged but didn't fall slack, so he hopped on and slid down. Long minutes passed before the line wavered.
Hifumi adjusted her hood, staying sheltered under the hood-and-cloak combo. "He's done. Reaper-san? You should go next."
The runner slipped his gun above the line and gripped it from above the stock and barrel, then jumped down and slid out of sight. The other Phantom Thieves followed suit, sliding down to the top of a nondescript two-story building with a small extension for an inner-stairwell roof access. Makoto slid down with her shotgun and the rain faded as she neared the rooftop, the tower as imposing and weather as clear as when they entered. Once her feet were on solid ground again, the Thieves gathered in a circle to discuss the day.
"We've successfully gained entry and secured an exit point," Morgana briefed. "The interior doesn't seem too difficult to navigate, but we shouldn't let our guard down. We still aren't sure how far the Treasure is and there's still a strong possibility of running across the Palace Ruler along the way. His distortion is 'hero' so we should expect him to be a little more pro-active about patrolling his Palace than ones like Madarame who were content to leave everything to Shadows."
Ryuji blew air through his nose. "All that's super ordinary. What I wanna know is what the eff was up with that knight… angel guy."
"Right?" Futaba blurted. "He didn't fit the palace theme at all. Even with that lightsaber and DL-44 blaster."
"And what?" Akira tilted his head.
"You didn't…? Right. Of course you wouldn't recognize Han Solo's heavy blaster pistol." The hacker shook her head. "You need to watch Star Wars."
Makoto cleared her throat. "I'm inclined to agree with Hawk's analysis, that enemy did not seem like part of the Palace. Without a scan from her Persona, we can't be sure." Her eyes locked onto the cloaked girl. "How exactly do you differentiate the Shadows you scan? Can you see them through the shell the palace ruler encapsulates them in?"
Hifumi held a hand to her chin for a beat. "Each Shadow, particularly the ones encapsulated in the palace ruler's will, have a similar… how do I put it in terms everyone else could understand… a similar underlying melody. Like different characters in an anime whose music is a variation on the show's main theme. I'm not sure if I should hope we run into that black knight again so I can scan him and confirm whether he has an independent ego… or hope we never run into him again. He was winded when we fought him."
Ryuji sucked in a sudden but deep breath. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
Ann shrugged. "I think so, Brain, but where are we going to find a duck and a hose at this hour?"
Somehow, the runner blew her off and held onto his original idea with a grin. "We may'a just beat off Black Mask!"
Makoto rubbed her forehead. "Reaper, could you please be more mindful of what you say? We can't even be positive that was the black mask. Assuming that's not a cognition, he had a helm."
Futaba slumped. "Ugh. Can't we just catch a break?" She clenched her fists and her jaw. "We need to train and get stronger so next time… next time I'll avenge Mom."
Something about that worried Makoto as much as the smile and spark in the longcoated boy's eyes. The class president patted the hacker on the shoulder. "We'll find the truth and right the wrongs together, Oracle-chan." She handed a packet of medicine to Ann, and scrutinized her experimental stretching after downing it, but the model seemed back to normal. "Hawk? I can tell you're tired. Go home and get some rest." She reached out for the coffee thermos, her eyes flicking to the runner holding his left arm. "I'll do what I can, but we'll still have to stop by the doctor's."
Saturday, 3 September 2016
Early Evening
Gaien Mae, Pillars of Truth Event Hall
Futaba stuck as close to Ryuji as she could without clutching his arm. The transfer student might let her get away with that, but she didn't want to risk yanking on the runner's bruised arms. While most of them were heading to the doctor's clinic, both team leaders were operating on heightened paranoia and ordered them to disperse separately. Akira of course offered to escort Hifumi home first, but those nieces and nephews wouldn't make themselves. Well, might as well take advantage of the escort. Once the pair of teens reached a point with nobody else on the sidewalk, she bounded next to him. "So, uh… Ryuji. You ever think about what might've happened if you all hadn't met Morgana?"
Ryuji winced. "Yeah. Had a lotta that late at night before Kamoshida's heart changed." He stuffed his hands in his plaid Shujin pants. He swallowed and his eyes stared out, though she couldn't be sure if he was looking at the road. "Akira'd have been expelled, prolly tossed back in juvie. Or maybe have killed 'Shida like he definitely wanted to back in the office, an' gotten himself locked up for life. There'd be nobody to back up Ann, and 'Shida'd definitely have gone after her again." He kicked at a small pebble on the sidewalk. "Hey, 'Taba?"
This wasn't what she expected from the boisterous runner who spent a lot of time browsing fake nudes of idols. As long as he wasn't looking up Hifumi's lately. "Hm?"
He rubbed his neck as if trying to dislodge an angry badger. "Cap'n Ikeda said 'you got more fire in you'n anyone I ever run with, but when you get mad you're like a monster.' I didn't understand it 'til that day in 'Shida's office. Akira was there an' he'd'a given all he had to kill Kamoshida on the spot for makin' Shiho jump. For makin' fun of us for not bein' able to save her, or even do nothin' 'bout it." The runner's eyes stared out at something more distant than the next building. "His eyes were red, teeth bared, veins standin' out. I realized that was what Ikeda-senpai meant. Like… there's somethin' animal in all of us, but I ain't been doin' nothing 'bout mine. An' I didn' wanna be that no more." His brown gaze fell to the pavement. "I ain't… I mean, I try an' go all in when we need it, but I ain't a monster, am I?"
Futaba tilted her head. She knew Ryuji was one of the Phantom Thieves who took down Kamoshida, but didn't know they'd been badass enough to charge him straight in his real-world office. "'Course not. So Akira tried to take out Kamoshida IRL?"
Ryuji slipped his hands back in his pockets. "Yeah, actually. I stopped him, but it was so weird. I mean, I wanted to take a swing at him, but Akira was the one losin' it, so he needed someone to hold 'im back." They went quiet as a gaggle of salarymen passed them going the other way on the sidewalk.
Futaba clasped her staff weapon behind her back. Her original question had been a what-if, but now she wanted to know what the Phantom Thieves were like before she cruised in to save their butts like the amazing computer wiz she was. She thought back to Mishima's Shadow. "Wait, so Akira and Shiho were an item? What about Hifumi?"
The runner squinted. "I mean… I don't think so, but I also had no idea Shiho was goin' steady with anyone, an' she was in my class. She'd text during class sometimes and have a dumb grin, but I always figured it was somethin' with Ann. Granted, with Kamoshida bein' the king o' Shujin, everybody was keepin' stuff on the DL."
With a little prodding from her, he went on to explain the start of the Phantom Thieves and taking down of a pervert teacher with his sights on Ann. Like Elfen Lied-level disturbing. The hacker decided she knew more than she wanted about what Kamoshida would have done to Ann if they never found the Metaverse, and at best Akira'd have been at the bottom of a hole for the rest of his life. "But wait, this whole thing started because I asked you what would've happened if the Phantom Thieves never got started."
Ryuji slowed down as they closed on the train station, his eyes on the pavement. "Well, I'd'a gotten expelled jus' like Akira. He didn' have any family to help him out, but he also didn't have no one to disappoint. Ma's been slavin' away for years tryin' to give me a better life than she got. If I got kicked outta Shujin… it woulda been too much for her." When he hacker fidgeted with her staff weapon behind her back, he stopped next to her with as much sympathy in his eyes as he could conjure. "Don't worry 'bout it. We ain't there, things worked out."
"But what if they didn't?" she snapped, not so much anxious for herself as her mind buzzing about all the others. "Ann prolly would'a gone the same way as Shiho. And if you guys had just made one more slip, Makoto'd have gotten picked up by the yakuza and you'd have been sent swimming with concrete shoes."
Ryuji huffed and rolled his shoulders under the black school satchel straps. "You're focusin' on all the wrong stuff. Yeah, things're hard, but so're tests! You can't look back an' think 'bout all the crap that might'a happened. You get just enough to pass an' you cruise on to the next thing." He bumped her with his elbow. "I know things look bleak when it's three-quarters the way through the track, but you're lookin' at it all the wrong way by only thinkin' about that one place. At the start of a race, everyone's rarin' to go. An' at the end… you get your second wind and the ground flies underneath. Even though you're gaspin' for breath all you can hear are the cheers around." His eyes locked with hers, a seriousness she never would have expected from the crude but jovial boy. "Like at the end in your Palace, you remember?"
She blinked, wondering where he was going. She never won a race in her life.
"C'mon, you know what it feels like even if you ain't a runner. We've been on the race the whole time so us finishin' is like getting to the finish line from ten meters back," he said with a grin and nostalgic gleam in his eyes. "But you goin' all the way from not knowin' if you wanted to live to grabbin' your own Shadow an' talkin' back to that fake of your Ma? That's like sprintin' all the way from the beginning of the track. Fu—effin' badass."
Futaba preened. "I guess I was pretty awesome. I shouldn't have doubted that we'd save Hifumi too."
They paced in quiet for a few moments longer, but his steps shortened. "You say that like you know what was gonna happen."
"Hifumi was gonna down every pill in her parents' medicine cabinet," she said, her voice hushed as they hung back from the train station proper.
"How do you know that?"
"Phone bug," Futaba said, before she remembered how the others acted when she let slip she'd bugged most of their phones. "She was texting with Akira one night. Before we changed her mom's heart, she said her mom was forcing her to give up everything she hoped and loved, so she'd rather have a choice in whether her mom sold her off. Looked at it for a couple minutes and deleted it instead of hitting send."
Silence passed for long moments before a rush of air preceded the train pulling into the station. He shook his head. "You're scary, 'Taba."
AN: I will not apologize for making references to Red Versus Blue, before the series suffered from Cerberus Syndrome it was FUNNY. It didn't exactly become bad after they tried to tell a serious story, but I went for the comedy and they lost that when they went serious.
The ending of this chapter wound up more serious than I tend to like with Ryuji, who is almost hyper-aware of how other people are feeling and goes to great lengths to cheer the others up, but there are a lot of sides to both Ryuji and Futaba and it was a moment to show another side of his emotional awareness and her terrifying ability.
Ravmalakh is an apocryphal archangel with little clear detail remaining about its position or responsibilities within the angelic hierarchy, just a couple allusions to purity and power. But since the SMT series in general and Persona in specific draw on gnostic folklore, which I consider to be bad fanfiction of early Christian symbology, I figure it's a fair addition. Its brawny bulk is an allusion to what little references are made to Ravmalakh's power, though otherwise its appearance draws from the Persona archangel which has already appeared in P5 and Daywatch as a midboss in Kamoshida's castle.