Who Is Bench II: The Sitting

"... Feet first... that's... going to be a bit difficult..." Rising, he stroked his chin, or rather the armor over it. "... Though I suppose..." He leaned in, looking at the fear in Mao's eyes and chuckling, "... if anyone would know about vandalism being a joke... meriting a merciful response... it would be you, Miss Scarlet... Would softly lowering him head first... to prevent injury... be acceptable?"

He did, however, regard Melissa a moment.

"... You did not sleep... yesterday either... Are you sure this... is wise?"

"Probably not... Didn't know we had class though..." Melissa replied briefly, having gone back to mumbling lethargically.

Breaking off about half of the chocolate bar she carries on her most of the time, Viola hands it to Melissa before attempting to lead her away a few feet, heading back towards the edge of the fountain where Viola's book is.

"This could get messy... so just try to stay out of the way, OK?"

"Indeed, that is fine. Quickly now. " She takes note of his comment, but apparently decided not to respond to it. Her expression has faded slightly from its typically cheerful appearance. Perhaps that comment got to her a little bit? Hard to say. She opens her mouth as if to speak again, but decides against it and awaits Mao's freedom.

Inhaling the chocolate almost instantly, Melissa immediately jumps to a standing position, her eyes suddenly full of life, "BYEBYEGOTTAGOTOCLASSNOWTHANKSFORTHECANDYWHOEVERYOUARE" she shouted out, all in one breath, as she ran.

"Yes, yes. Quickly would definitely be nice...". Mao's voice trailed off as his vision started getting a tad hazy. Mao knocked on Leo's armor. "Hey, knock-", he started to say before the girl who had once been on the ground now shouted something and ran off. "Never mind. Ground please".

Quickly, she says. I don't have that good of control... Leonius frowned as he gestured downward. It wasn't quite controlled, or gentle, but Leonius was fairly certain he didn't hurt the impudent classmate. Badly. He did note Kirkka's mouth open, and he tilted his head at her. "Is something... the matter... Miss Scarlet? ... Did he deface my... life support system... with dongs or something?"

Leonius turned to try to look at his back, accidentally dragging Mao's head against the grass before realizing his mistake and dismissing the wards... And accidentally conjuring a subtle burst of force to emulate a swift blow somewhere sensitive when he was completely distracted by Melissa's sudden outburst.

The titan was quick to notice his mistake, however, and turned to the student in genuine horror. "Oh DREK," he exclaimed, kneeling down near the student. "Apologies. My pattern providers... are still warming up..."

Viola kind of waves to Melissa before grabbing her book and heading over to Leo, who seems... a little preoccupied.

"I'm gonna go get some sleep myself... my only classes today are ones I would skip anyway." she says to Leo, nodding briefly at the janitor before heading to her room.

Kirkka covers her face with her hand, shaking it slowly for a few moments before lowering her arm and looking toward Mao. "You alright?" Her simple question was followed by a swift, narrow eyed glance at Leo, as she knelt down next to Mao and offered her hand to help him up. As she does, he notices Viola's nod toward her, and briefly looks her way, smiling, but says nothing before returning the event in front of her.

Pain, pain, pain, pain ,pain. Mao repeated this in his head several times over. As it subsided, he thought, Pain...is only temporary. Drawing...totally worth. Mao, still dizzy from being hung upside-down, answered, "I certainly hope so". Mao stared at the sky for a second before reaching for the hand offered by the woman who appeared to be another professor.

Leonius smiled at the impudent student's slightly higher voice, and waved at Viola as she wandered off, his gaze on lower reaches of her back before looking back at the student. And a somewhat displeased Kirkka. "It was... an accident... You know... how finicky dust patterns... can be..."

He turned, trying to glance over his shoulder.

"... Umm... Miss Scarlet? Might I... ask your assistance... in cleaning off this vandal's... defacement of my... life support system...?"

Kirkka pulls Mao up with surprising strength, helping him stand steadily before dusting him off lightly. "Hmm... I should probably take into account the fact that you basically assaulted this guy as punishment for a minor infraction." She directs her gaze toward Mao as she speaks the next line. "No drawing on people. Or their property. Or the property of the school! And you..."Shifting to Leonius. "While he certainly had it coming, you can't just physically assault people without just cause. And that..."She points to the drawing." is not--" She is unable to formulate words, and begins grinning after seeing the silly drawing. After a moment, she closes her eyes, and her expression returns to normal. "...that is not just cause. But I will clean it off you. Would you prefer a speedy cleaning or shall I go get something to clean the ink off?"

"Hmm... I think I would prefer... to have the impurity... removed as quickly as... possible..." He glared at the defacer. "... Also... the only assault that was... intentional was the suspension... and planned dropping... Apologies... for not having allowed my... pattern suppliers... to go through their full... startup diagnostics..."

"Very well." Kirkka assembles her staff behind Leo while he is speaking. "Regardless, you should be a little more conscious of the fact that you can't fully control your suit apparently. Now, stand still." Upon completion of the staff, Kirkka takes a step or two back and points it at Leo's back. A fiery red sigil appears at the end of her weapon, and after a moment, a large burst of flame erupts from it, engulfing Leo's backside. The flames last only for two seconds, and while it is very, very warm suddenly, it does not burn skin or anything living. The ink mark is completely removed, however.

Fire. He was surrounded by fire. Little tongues of flame licking at his vision.

It was all it took. Leonius was back in his workshop as his father's villa burned around him. He smelled the smoke. Felt the flames tearing at his skin and flesh, and the pieces of the roof that pierced his body and crushed his limbs. The desperation clawed at his mind, as in one horrible moment, he was back in that hell that almost ended his life and took the last of his family from him.

It was that panic, as Leo relived the nightmare, that the tactical computer picked up on.

Sensing his distress, and allowing Leo's terror and agony an outlet, it took the initiative, and Leonius Decimi Regulus took a back seat to the Titan of Steel, even as he struggled to regain control.

Neural link nominal. Target designate Bandit-1 within kinetic pulse range. Kirkka... Dust reactor, full drive. Wait... Executing pulse.

As Leonius, quickly being replaced by the Titan, doubled over and gave a cry of anguish and terror as the fire made him relieve his darkest moment, his reactors surged with power. Power that was released in a massive blastwave, centered on Leonius himself. As the explosive force knocked Kirkka away, and the roar of displaced air drowned out Leo's screaming, barriers formed around the Titan, and the cyborg clutched his head.

Engaging. No. Beginning combat analysis. No, no, no, no... Hostile intent confirmed. She was trying to help. She was not helping. She forced me to relive that. No, she didn't. Kirkka Scarlet, confirmed hostile. I don't... Beginning engagement.

As Leonius- No, the Titan turned, his movements precise and mechanical, his visor burned through the haze of dust kicked up by the explosive burst. He clenched his fist, as the barriers began spinning and moving. It was not Leo's voice that broke through. It sounded the same, but the tone, the inflection, the way he spoke was staccato and entirely too precise.

"Target verified. Commencing hostilities."

Mao shielded his eyes and coughed as a sudden cloud of dust took to the air. What the heck was that? Did I do something wrong again? As the dust settled, a scream filled of agony filled the air that pierced Mao's heart. If I thought he was crazy before, what should I be expecting now? As he began building up his aura, a "Target verified. Commencing hostilities" came out of Leo's suit. Mao quickly shot his left blade into the ground beside him and set the switch to loose. Mao then climbed around Leo's right side, fell to the ground in front of him, and shot his right blade a distance away from Leo's left. He repelled himself over to where the blade landed using the retract switch and locked his left gauntlet. This guy's suit if crazy. If I can't beat him, I can at least slow him down.

Kirkka is blown back from the blast, but her aura protected her from harm, as she tucked into a roll along the ground, recovering in only a split second. Her stance is that of a close quarters combat defensive stance, as she stares at Leonius. "What in the hells was that!?"

"Target verified. Commencing hostilities."

"Wait! What!?" Kirkka keeps her focus on Leonius. "What are you doing! Stand down!" She shifts her stance slightly, but appears ready to defend herself and potentially her surroundings. Spotting Mao moving in for some quick actions, but with little effect, she shouts. "Get away from him kid! Move!" Kirkka makes some swift hand gestures and a white symbol appears below Mao. You can feel the energy in the symbol is ready to propel you up and away from Leonius. Making use of it would send you quickly away from the immediate area, close to Beacon's main doors.(Like 20 meters or 60 feet away from Leonius. After this action, she awaits Leonius' reaction to her command.

Not too long after she left, Melissa skipped back into the area, completely casually despite the battle beginning. While she noticed it, it didn't seem to mean anything to her. Instead she was grumbling over how the teacher had kicked her out of the class for 'disrupting the class'. Why absurd! She had merely been offering advice on the teachers teaching and helping to bring life to the classroom!

Noticing the three people, including the scary sounding Leo she greeted them, managing to control her voice enough so that her words were understandable, "Hi Mr Bench Murderer, Ms Janitor, Person I don't know. These teachers are ridiculous!"

The giant clutched his head again, and Leo, struggling to use his proper voice, groaned. "No... No no no no no... I will not... burn to death again... I don't want... to fight..."He didn't seem to be speaking to Kirkka, but the barriers lashed out, attempting to swat Mao away if he didn't take advantage of Kirkka's pattern before resuming their shield form.

Falling to one knee, however, Leonius looked back up at Kirkka. He'd done nothing but make this woman's job and life difficult since showing up. He didn't want to fight her. She had tried to incinerate him. He wanted to crush the life from that frail-looking body. She hadn't known, or meant to do harm. He would crush that little eggshell skull that lied within that head. She was innocent. She was the enemy. Back and forth, the two sides of Leo's being weighed the facts and feelings.

Slowly, Leonius looked back up at Kirkka, and even he didn't know if it was the man or the machine that looked at her. He knew exactly which had looked at Melissa, however, and Leonius fought to regain control. Melissa used fire. Melissa was harmless. The people here were not the enemy. These were comrades. Kirkka had tried to help. He had asked her to help. "M-M-M-M-Miss... Scarlet..? Mel..?"

Leonius was very confused. He wanted to kill this person he didn't want to kill. Sterilize the area, and leave no survivors among the people he wanted to call comrades? But the combat computer registered a threat. The trauma had been real.

It thought. It wasn't just a dismissive phrase, Leonius realized with horror that the combat computer had taken initiative. It was that horror that fed back into the system, allowing him to gain precious moments of control. "... I... I'm... I'm sorry... I..." The barriers remained up, but they were also stable and fairly static.

Move? You can't be serious, Mao thought as a white platform appeared below him. This...is this a jumping platform? Though he was practicing it, he was still inept at using it in combat. Mao glanced at the professor. It had to be her. She wants to get away, but if I did and something happened...I don't know what I would do. And now there's the girl from before, he thought as Melissa returned.

Using the white platform, Mao jumped with all his strength. The blades tore away from the grass. As he hit his peak, he took a deep breathe. I just need to crack that barrier. As the Earth began to approach him once more, Mao turned himself horizontally making himself perpendicular to Leo's body. When the time came, Mao activated his aura, and his spin began to accelerate. The world began to blur. I just need to crack it, that's all, Mao thought at he spiraled back to the Earth.

I've seen him fight. I know what he's capable of. We can't have something happen here, I may not be able to control him. He is calming, regaining control. He called another name... Her. Her eyes dart briefly to Melissa, before shifting back to Leonius. I could probably bind him, those barriers seem to deflect physical projectiles and attacks for the most part. But I don't want to provoke him... Kirkka spends a moment assessing the surroundings once more, and she lowers her combat stance. She holds her staff in front of her with both hands, but has taken a less aggressive, passive stance. You can tell she is tense, though and still ready to act at a moment's notice. "Calm down, Leonius. Nobody here is your enemy. We're all your friends and we are just trying to assist you. Even your friend Melissa Stern has come." She nods toward Melissa, making sure to keep her arms still to show as little aggression as possible.

As she finishes her miniature speech, she sees Kaliot leaping high into the air. But he is going directly up instead of away from Leonius. That's not how you run away! This kid... Kirkka spins her staff rapidly, and in a blur of motion, the staff separates, and recombines in a new order. Pointing it at Mao, she triggers the dust at the end of it, and five patterns appear. One pattern binds each of Mao's wrists and ankles, with the final pattern appearing in front of him and it slows his fall, ending with him hovering just a foot or two above Leonius' barriers. With a quick flick of her wrist, Mao is released, with all of his falling energy redirected completely to the left. He is now flying parallel to the ground, toward the school wall. Of course, Gravity is a thing, so the ground closes in on him and Kirkka hopes he's able to tuck and roll. Once he is out of the way, she diverts her attention back to Leonius, once again awaiting his reaction. Perhaps he didn't notice?

Almost there, Mao thought as he approached the Earth. Suddenly, he felt a force appear around his ankles and wrists. He was now stopped in mid-air. What is this nonsense? Mao, confused, glanced over to the professor who was waving her staff around. Don't tell me it was her..., Mao thought. In the next instant, a pattern appeared in front of him and he was sent flying towards the school. Retract, retract, retract! Soon he had sheathed the blade, but it had taken too much time and he braced for impact as he tumbled along the ground. Luckily, due to the fact that it was mostly horizontal velocity, Mao was, for the most part, uninjured. As he came to a stop, he dizzily stared up at the sky. I've been staring at the sky on far too many occasions lately...

Despite the extremely serious (And dangerous) moment going on right now (Bad enough to make a Beacon Graduate worried!), Melissa still didn't even seem to care, continuing her carefree rant.

"So I walked into the classroom and I was a bit late but I think I made up for that by helping to cheer up the class you know everyone in the class seemed really bored and tired even though it's only the second class we've had so I started making jokes and people started laughing and the professor seemed annoyed for some reason I'm not sure why but he just told me to sit down so I sat down and started listening but then I decided that-" She said, even as the battle raged on around her. She noticed it, but in her mind it was just a friendly spar or competitive display of power - nothing dangerous at all!

OOC: Lan from Beacon Workshop

IC:

The sound of humming energy alerted me to something happening. Well, something was probably happening anyway but the energy alerted me of aggressive things happening.

"Calm down, Leonius. Nobody here is your enemy. We're all your friends and we are just trying to assist you. Even your friend Melissa Stern has come." I hear as I approach. I recognize the voice as Kirkka's, but I was still walking from behind the corner of the wall. If Melissa was there too....huh. As for Leonius, I had no idea who he was.

I continued walking, relaxed but ready, past the corner, and my eyes instantly darted to begin assessing the situation.

Bogey-2 is attacking. Re-designating Bandit-2. Crush it.

He noticed. He very much noticed, and Leonius's arm raised as a massive barrier formed over top of where he projected Mao would stop skidding. With almost sadistic satisfaction, the Titan of Steel lowered his arm, and the barrier slammed down with bone shattering force...

... Only to have Leonius grab his arm and try to re-direct the energy, trying to keep from killing the vandal. "NO!!" He shouted, holding his arm and trembling as he slowly looked at Kirkka. "... Apologies... Miss Scarlet... I am trying... to regain control... of the system... But it is... interpreting threats... at a rapid rate..." His breathing was more rapid than normal, and labored, tinged with pain. But above all, his voice was... apologetic. She shouldn't have to deal with this drek...

Slowly, Leonius tilted his head, listening intently to Melissa rattle on about class.

IC:

System. Computer. Electricity. The three things came in my mind instantly, almost like second nature, and in a deft movement I raised my sword, firing a zap of electricity towards the suit of armor. While it might hurt Leo, shutting down the system was more important for me - and plus, if it was interpreting threats, I would be the biggest one. At least the dude scuttling on the floor wouldn't be hit, I guess.