Ultimate Student Defence Council! [IC 1: Ultimate Firepower]

[Inspector Valin]

OVA: Ultimate Student Defence Council

Episode 1: Ninjas Attack! Arise, Paladin White!


http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m611/Croakamancer/Series_ep02_022_zpsateyqzml.jpg
Motogawa Academy; 4:00 PM

It's a pleasant late afternoon in Motogawa. Leaves are rustling in the trees, and the sun gives everything that gentle warmth of a peaceful day. Looking out across the Academy grounds from the top of the Student Council Tower, you could see students starting to slowly trickle away from the campus, the less serious school activities having wrapped up for the day. Most of the more industrious ones are still hard at work however: the Drama club are running through the third draft of their mysterious current script, the Idol group have some kind of local competition thing they're trying to win, and out on the sports field Motogawa's struggling baseball team are into the third supposedly friendly inning of this training session. The students of Motogawa Academy tend not to make it home until evening when they've got club activities to attend to.

The Student Council, however, are going to be stuck here longer than any of them tonight at this rate. The five members of the group are all high above the grounds, seated around a long table in the old reception room at the top of Student Council Tower. Today has been a... mixed day for their little band. A new threat attacked the school's computer lab during lunch: a pair of android martial artists with strong ki attacks, apparently working for some minor terrorist group called the 'Blue Thread Rebellion'. The duo took several hostages, but a quick response by the council was enough to destroy the robots before anyone was able to come to harm. However, the androids' internal memory was completely destroyed. Even Noriko, the Student Council's technical wizardess, couldn't get anything from the two. It's hard to restore a hard drive from nothing but a few scraps of silicon. This has made it rather difficult to establish what exactly the Blue Thread agents were looking to accomplish here.

Thus, the five are going to be stuck here for a while, until they work out how exactly they're going to deal with this new robotic threat. They need to find a way to work out what the Blue Thread Rebellion were looking for in Motogawa, and how to stop any further attacks. Preferably with a minimum of collateral damage. Regardless of the plan the Student Council decide upon, this conversation is likely to take a while. It's a good thing that all Council members have accommodation in the Tower for when they need to work overnight.

Feel free to improv here. I just want to give you guys a little freeform RP before I kick this off.

Also, can everyone give me a Perceptive roll? Want to see if you notice anything off about the room :smallwink:

[Steel Mirror]

Hitomi Ayase

Hitomi was sitting at her place at the grand Council table, goggles pushed back above her eyes so that they pushed her bangs out away from her face and into a frizzy halo. The ends of the left half of her bangs were shorter than the rest, and burnt black at the tips. On the table in front of her, she had laid out her leather tool case flat on the wooden surface, with all of the various wrenches, pliers, tweezers, and screwdrivers sorted carefully by size and type. Next to them was a small collection of steel and brass gears and springs, the component parts of one of the key valves in her Rocket-Wing, which was hanging on the chair behind her like a clunky steampunk bookbag.

She carefully cleaned one of the little pieces with a bottlebrush and a small bottle of solvent, then shook it in the air a moment to let it dry before placing it back down on the table and reaching for the next gizmo. All of this she could do practically in her sleep, so even as she went about her task with great care and expertise, she was listening to the rest of the Council as they talked about how to deal with these 'android' things.

She didn't have much to offer on the subject of where they came from, or what they might have wanted from the computer club. You wouldn't call computers and electronics a strong point for Hitomi; she only carried a phone because her mother made her, and even then it was one of the old single-piece non-touchscreen models with actual buttons, the kind that had existed even before people started using flip-phones. When one of her club underlings had brought in a computer so that they could model one of the early versions of the Rocket-Wing in 3D, she'd panicked when it started beeping at her and pitched it out the 3rd floor window before it could explode.

So all this talk of 'silicon fragments' and 'hard drive recovery' and 'next generation simulated intelligence android technology' had left her with precious little to add. Finally she decided to just speak up.

"As far as I'm concerned, the whole lot of them, computer club included, are highly suspicious! They're probably up to all sorts of hacking, and email scamming, and identity thieving. Nothing good ever comes from a computer. We should bring them up here and question them about what they were up to in that lab that was important enough to tempt a couple of kung-fu terminators into trying to take them hostage. A thousand yen says that if we lean on them hard enough, we'll get to the bottom of this in no time."

[Ascension]

Masaki sits facing the nearest window, not for the view out across the Motogawa Academy campus but so that the high back of his chair will conceal the slightness of his form. To most of the room, all that's visible of him is a gesturing hand at the end of a leather-jacketed arm.

"If you get your panties in a twist every time some robots or something attack this school, you'll never walk right," he says, with a dismissive snicker. "Stuff like this is just gonna keep happening... that's why we're the student council, and not some other chumps. Weird stuff shows up on our doorstep, we beat it up, the day is saved; that's how it works. When the rest of these Blue Thread Rebels or whoever get here, they'll meet Muscle Robo's fist. Do we really need more of a plan than that?"

Jones is Perceptive... but Masaki isn't. Base roll.

[roll0]

[Anyr]

Masaki's suggestion had at least one supporter.

"Exactly!"

A very emphatic fist slammed down onto the (thankfully durable) council table. Its owner was currently grinning enthusiastically: Usually a bad sign. Matsuoka Haru nodded in agreement with the council's sole male.

"If any more of these metal morons are stupid enough to show up, they'll get shot to pieces faster than you can say 'spare parts'. Our plan should be the same as usual: I slaughter them, and then you guys mop up the leftovers. That's always worked for us so far."

Haru liked fighting robots. You could go as crazy as you liked against them.

[AmberVael]

Noriko had been hoping she could figure out something from their android assailants despite just how completely they had been disassembled- while a technological solution was a no go, she had thought a more supernatural approach might work out, perhaps utilizing sympathetic linkages- but that kind of magic wasn't her best skillset, and it was understandable that it'd be a lot trickier where androids were concerned. So after some tinkering she gave it up as a lost cause and submitted her technological findings (or lack thereof, more accurately) to the others.

She sat calmly through Hitomi's tirade, unfazed by the accusations, and even took a few moments to consider them before shaking her head in the negative. The gesture was followed up by a quick message typed out on her smartphone which she sent up to the display screen she kept in the council room for presenting files, diagrams, and sometimes just texts like she was doing now. It was easier than messaging everyone individually, and much more efficient and versatile than a white board.

No one in the compsci club has the skill for androids. I suspect an outside source.

What outside source though? Not only had the list of potential suspects grown drastically recently, Noriko was not confident that they had a good grasp of all the potential sources out there. It seemed like strange stuff was just turning up out of nowhere. She could potentially do some research though- making capable androids was a difficult task, and even if the makers of these androids hadn't put them to use, they might have some clues or hints that could help.

Noriko's placid silver eyes roved over Masaki and Haru. They'd want to fight, not really much avoiding that. And honestly, Noriko didn't find much problem with that idea, so long as they were smart about it.

We should take the fight to them. Find them, not wait to be hit first.

And on that note, she opened the browser on her smartphone. No harm in a bit of glancing about, right? With some research, maybe she could get an idea of what this group was up to, or where they were operating from, or something. That's something she'd started learning about researching and investigating- it was often better to keep an open mind and look for something useful rather than getting hung up on a specific fact.

[Steel Mirror]

Hitomi squinted at the screen, mouthing Noriko's words as they appeared on the display for everyone to see. She waved a hand at the silent girl's assertion that her club couldn't be responsible for the androids. "Outside job, inside job, whatever. Wherever those buckets of bolts came from, the point is that there was something in that computer lab they wanted, and my money says that at least one of those hostages knows what it was. Unless we're really just going to wait for them to come after us again, which is fine by me by the way I'd rather be working on my inventions, we should be asking those questions."

[LoP]

Nina had been sitting quietly this entire time, listening to her fellow Student Council members discuss this Blue Thread Rebellion, though her heart was only partly listening. She wasn't one to get distracted easily, normally, so sure, lets say a good 75% of her was focused on the threat at hand, and only 5% was debating on whether to make roasted morel-rubbed chicken tonight or tonkotsu ramen again (the pork soup was winning).

But still, 20% of her was a sure and steady litany of: ...howthehellamiPresidenthowthehellamIPresidenthow thehellamIPresident...

No, seriously, how the hell did she get voted to become President? She didn't even campaign!

But here she was...and she had a duty to do, if only to safeguard the school so she could get back into her chef's whites. In her mind, Chibi Responsible Nina took a baseball bat to Chibi Foodie Nina's head and Chibi Insecure Ranting Nina's gut, knocked them out of her head, and took over.

"You are right, Hitomi-san," Nina finally said, her Slavic accent easy to place. "If we figure out what they are after, we have an edge. So when we find them, which we should definitely also do," this time, Nina smiled at Noriko. "...They'll be on the defensive, instead of us. Deal with them first instead of dealing with the mess they leave behind.

"After all," grinning now at Masaki and Haru. "A good defense is a good offense, yes? We can't let them get away with messing with our school. When we find out who they are, what they want, and where they are hiding, you can smash them. And when you smash them, it will be all the more spectacular."

Having said her piece, Nina sighed inwardly. Thankfully, like a well balanced dish - acidity cutting richness, smoothness accented by texture - her Student Council was a good mix. She might not have what it takes to be President, but she felt good that this group could pick up her slack.

She then grabbed a plain bento box, adorned with a single hand-stenciled letter N, from her bag. Instead of a typical bento lunch, though, inside was ground raw meat... every compartment was filled with it. Sprinkled on top was some sort of micro-greens as garnish.

"Steak tartare, anyone?" she asked in the sort of way you where you know she really hopes you'll decline.

[Anyr]

"Steak tartare, anyone?" she asked in the sort of way you where you know she really hopes you'll decline.

"ITADAKIMASU!"

The voice came from right beside Nina. Far across the room, Haru's empty chair was spinning like a tornado. Two rows of gleaming teeth descended on Nina's helpless bento. The steak tartare never stood a chance.

[AmberVael]

Noriko's fingers tapped in sequence, a rhythmic tic as she thought. It was true that the androids had headed towards the computer lab, but she doubted they would be after amateur code or Starcraft strategies. Two possibilities came to her mind: acquiring hardware (because the club was pretty well funded, especially since she got involved), or Archive. The latter was not a pleasant thought, because she couldn't count the reasons she didn't want her supercomputer in the hands of terrorists, let alone ninja robot terrorists. And of the two... the Academy had been weathering a lot of attacks of late, and there were plenty of other places to get good hardware with much less fuss. Archive seemed like a much more lucrative target.

There was a potential benefit to it being the target though- if they really were after Archive, then Cypher might have some good leads on the Blue Thread that she could pick up. Her fingers tapped a few more times as she thought that over. It was a place to start, but contacting her handlers right now probably wasn't a good idea.

Her text flashed up onto the monitor.

I'll look into what they were after. Might take time.

Not even looking up as Haru descended storm-like on Nina's food, Noriko searched the web for any signs of Blue Thread activity or presence.

[LoP]

Nina's face grows even paler than its already almost deathly palor as she watches Haru inhale her precious meat.

"How is the... uh how's the... uh... how is the seasoning?" is all she can manage.

[Steel Mirror]

Hitomi sat back in her chair as the President spoke. She might not have entirely trusted the computer club (it wasn't personal, but these android things proved that computers were just waiting to stab you in the back), but when the Prez spoke, Anna listened. There was just something about her exotic Slavic accent and measured way of assessing the situation that exuded authority. That, and she could be kind of creepy, in a polite gothic lolita sort of way.

Hitomi nodded in agreement when Nina was done laying out her orders, and shook her head politely to decline the offer of raw meat. When the . . . was that Haru? When whatever it was began devouring the meal, Hitomi started turning a bit green. She carefully pushed her seat back away from the table, taking her pile of gizmos and gear with her and shielding them from any flying bits of meat. She reached up one hand to flip her goggles down over her eyes and tried not to look at the one-woman feeding frenzy.

"You know there was a time in my life when I would have found that sort of thing odd," she said aloud, though not to anyone in particular. "Today though this is like the fifth weirdest thing I've seen."

[Anyr]

Nina's face grows even paler than its already almost deathly palor as she watches Haru inhale her precious meat.

"How is the... uh how's the... uh... how is the seasoning?" is all she can manage.

A few garbled words managed to escape from the apparition's mouth, in between mouthfuls.

"Gud! Ish reelie (*gulp*) gud!"

It had been mere seconds since this travesty of a meal had begun; And yet it was almost over. The last few scraps of meat were even now meeting their final fate. If Nina wasn't careful, the rest of her beloved bento would be next.

[Ascension]

Masaki deigns to half-turn his chair in order to witness the spectacle of Haru's assault on the president's food. He can't keep a look of disgust off his face. Sushi is all well and good, as much a cultural institution as a culinary treat, but beef is meant to be cooked (carefully, at very expensive restaurants). Of course, he expects the president, as head of the cooking club and as a foreigner, to have unusual eating habits, but Haru has no such excuse, either for her decision to eat the steak tartare or for her poor manners in doing so. Shameful. (And unladylike!)

"Davidovna-san," he asks, semi-seriously, "are you in need of protection from Haru's appetite?"

[Steel Mirror]

"I think the person who needs protection right now is Haru, from food poisoning." Hitomi tore her eyes away from the spectacle to look at President Nina. "Prez, do you want me to grab some of the witnesses? I could go downstairs and get them. You know, while you guys prepare and . . . have dinner."

[LoP]

After secretly making a note to keep her raw meat to herself (or at least away from Haru) in the future, Nina nods absently to Hitomi.

"Yes, good thinking Hitomi-san. Keep it quiet, in case those robot things are observing us."

She turned to Masaki with a smile. "Arigato, Masaki-san, though I do not think Haru will be eating me next. But what do you think of the school's over-all level of preparation? Maybe you and Haru can ready, I don't know, our weapons and defenses. Maybe train up a defense force you can lead? I do not know the ways of fighting like you and Haru do."

Ignoring her growing hunger for a bit longer,NIna rises from her seat and comes to stand behind Noriko as she did her research (trying, of course, to ignore her beautiful neck). "What do you think, Noriko-san, have you found something? Are they thieves, trying to steal something?"

[Anyr]

The slaughter was over. There were no survivors. The Great Devourer, finally sated, returned to human form once more. All that remained was a very satisfied high schooler, who sat rubbing her belly.

"Ahhhh, that really hit the spot. Thanks for the meal!"

The question about defence preparations was met with a shrug. Haru had never been much of a planner.

"We're just fine already. I've left a shadow clone near the computer lab, just in case. The rest are patrolling as usual. If anything comes up, the five of me will be enough to handle it. You guys can just sit back and take notes."

[AmberVael]

Noriko glanced at Hitomi, wondering if 'grabbing witnesses' translated to 'intimidating young compsci members until they came to the council room.' She said nothing though, deciding to give Hitomi the benefit of the doubt for now. Instead she turned her attention back to her smartphone and gently shook her head in response to Nina's question, entirely unaware of how that motion made her long black hair swish over and away from slender neck.

Nothing yet. Thieving a strong possibility. Probably my inventions if so; they're the highest value target.

Her eyes finally flicked over to Nina's ravaged bento and Haru.

I could order something for us all.

[Inspector Valin]

Noriko's net-trawling produces many hits, but little substance. The Blue Thread Rebellion are proudly taking responsibility for the attack, but on their private forums, most members just seem pretty confused about the whole thing. It's hard to find testimony of anyone from Blue Thread who was directly involved in the attack, and many of them seem to be speculating in turn about what their group would want with the sleepy little port of Motogawa. Still, Noriko's data correlation established a clearer picture of the Blue Thread Rebellion. Primarily composed of androids and sympathetic scientists, their stated objective is to insert androids into spiritual communities worldwide. They reject the conventional notion of robots as detatched, unemotional beings, and want to show the scientific and arcane worlds alike that android magic wielders and spiritualists are a very real possibility.

Most scientific and magical sources write them off as cranks. Cypher has investigated them in the past, but don't judge the Blue Threat Rebellion to be a serious threat.

Meanwhile, the Student Council en masse are working to familiar patterns. Most turned their eyes towards Haru and her wolfish devouring of Nina's cooking. However, just as the young princess of the underworld is coming to a close, there is a strange sound from above the gathering. Masaki doesn't quite catch it, but Nina can make out the smell, Haru and Hitomi catch a swoosh of air, and Noriko notices a strange little ping on her smartphone: notification of a sensor ap detecting something unusual in the vicinity. Looking up, the students see a rather strange collection of figures perched in the rafters above them, looking down upon the gathering like bats roosting in the tower roof.

Ninjas.

At least, they were presumably ninjas. They were all wearing black face masks, and brandishing shiny, pointy tonfas. The point of confusion was the rest of their outfits. These ninjas seemed to have largely chosen to eschew the traditional black shōzoku in favour of a more modern look: leather jackets and trousers. There were two dressed in orange, two in red, two in white of all things, and two in sky blue. Only the final duo had kept with the basics of popular shinobi mythology: their leather was black, and their face masks were more complete than the simpler half-masks sported by their supposed subordinates.

At a signal from one of the black duo, the flock of shinobi descended from the rafters, rolling through the air with the grace of circus acrobats, each pair linking hands as they went. They had obviously rehearsed this attack; they would-be assassins were moving with choreographed precision, jumping across the room from wall to wall. However, it was taking long enough that the observant Student Council now were the ones with the advantage of surprise.

This battle would not go kindly for the shinobi

Ok, firstly, apologies for the delay on this. I think Haru's meal gave me food poisoning, I've been laid up with an aching stomach for the last few days. Less than fun, and my apologies for the pace slowing down. :smallfrown:

Everyone except Masaki, you have a free attack against the overly flashy ninjas! If you have a ranged attack, you can take them out of the air, or you can hit them on the ground if you prefer. Either way, one attack from everyone who saw them, and then we'll compare initiative.

[roll0] Initiative for the Ninja followers
[roll1] Initiative for the Lead Ninjas.

[Steel Mirror]

Hitomi was already on the way to the door when she noticed the ninjas leaping down from the ceiling. At the sight of the synchronized color-coordinated duos, she had only one immediate thought.

"Hey!" she shouted. "This room is for members of the Student Council only!" To punctuate her challenge, she pulled the largest wrench from its loop in the back of her tool belt and swung it toward the closest ninja with all her might.

"Trespassers get the WRENCH!"

Initiative roll: [roll0] > 6

Attack roll: [roll1] > 5

I'm rolling her as though she doesn't have the jetpack on; I had mentioned she was cleaning it, and never said that she put it back together before heading downstairs. Maybe I can take an action during the fight if it drags on, to put it back on?

[Ascension]

Men are, on occasion, called upon to think deep thoughts. Poetry, philosophy, these things are integral to the spirit of any refined gentleman. It is, therefore, understandable that Masaki remained completely oblivious to the threat of ninjas descending from above, even as shouts of alarm began to rise in the room. How could he not, when he had just been posed with questions both strategic ("But what do you think of the school's over-all level of preparation?") and existential ("Does the statement 'I do not know the ways of fighting like you do,' give me too much credit?")? Self-reflection is a rare and precious thing in Masaki's mind, clearly deserving of careful preservation through solipsistic focus.

[AmberVael]

As the tiny notification popped up on her phone, Noriko idly lifted it up from the desk as if taking a closer look at something, and then aimed it right at one of the oncoming black ninja as she activated a custom made app she had labeled 'Lag Spike.' A soft, crackling hum sounded around her target, and they might for a split second see a flash of something like circuitry as her magical invention attempted to invade and overwhelm the mind with erroneous sensory data. Maybe if she was lucky the ninja would not so much gracefully descend as collapse face first, taking its partner down with it given their linked hands.

Initiative: [roll0] Result of six.

Attack (Lag Spike): [roll1] Also a result of six.
Lag spike is a ranged will attack that automatically Stuns rather than deals damage.

[Anyr]

Haru rolled her eyes. Ninjas? Must be thursday. This latest batch of clowns looked even more pathetic than usual. It was almost embarrassing to fight enemies with such bad fashion sense. Plus, they'd made the novice mistake of attacking all from the same direction, with no cover: Leaving Haru free to blow away the whole damn lot of them at once. With a flick of the wrist, a gun of ridiculous proportions materialised in her hands. She proceeded to unleash an equally ridiculous spray of stinging pellets, wide enough to hit all nine of the descending foes.

"In case you hadn't noticed, this is Matsuoka territory! Find your own turf!"

Haru attacks all nine ninjas with Swarm Swatter (Area Effect 3 [+30], Ranged [+0], Feather Blow [-5], Low Penetration 4 [-20]; Roll: 5, DX: 4, End: 5)

Attack roll: [roll0] {Enemies have -3 to Defence rolls}
Initiative: [roll1]

[LoP]

Something smelled... off. Nina wasn't as quick reflexed as friends, so her glance upward and sharp gasp at the sight of all the, er, "ninjas" happened at about the same time that the others began their pre-emptive strike.

Instinctively, Nina fell back on her greatest weapon - her mind. She, among all of the Bathaway clan vampires, had honed her mental abilities into a fine tool - mostly so she could figure out people's culinary tastes and then feed off their psychic pleasure.

So while the Student Council did what they did best, Nina did what she did best - she projected her senses out toward one of the black-clad ninja leaders, trying to determine what the heck was going on.


Nina is going to try to read one of the leader ninja's minds, to see what's what. From what I understand, using Psychic to Read Deep Thoughts has no Bonus or Penalty, and therefore requires an Action; but since its not a Penalty, I don't lower my defenses to do so.

So rolling 2 + Psychic 2 + Iron-Willed 3 to find out the Ninja's agenda.
[roll0] > 18

Initiative is going to be just the standard 2.
[roll1] > 2

[Inspector Valin]

The poor shinobi. Regardless of their choice of fashion or sense of style, they had trained hard in preparation for this moment. They had rehearsed their entrance, each member of the band had flown down from that celing a thousand times in their mind, drilling the movements over and over again to be ready for this day that they could show their skill and claim this place as their own. These young ninjas had struggled hard, night after night, to perfect the ideal ambush attack against the student council. They'd thought they were ready for this.

They had not been ready for Matsuoka Haru.

The Ninjas fell like stones at the pellet barrage: Orange, Red and White are on the floor and out cold within seconds, the duos still clasping each others arms even in unconsciousness. One member of the Sky Blue team is wrenched out of the others arms, crashing against one of the council chairs and falling limply on the stone floor below. The second blue ninja against all odds however, manages to make it to the ground. Blinking, seemingly unsure of their own luck, the Shinobi hastily backsteps to evade Hitomi's fast flying wrench, bringing up a tonfa to catch it with a quivvering grip. This was not a prestigious start for the Shinobi.

The two leaders of this gang weren't faring much better. The first had moved forward, trying to shield his compatriot as the Matsuoka heiress' cannon filled the air around them. Unforunately, this led to the poor ninja taking hit after hit after hit, pellets seemingly wracking his body. The other lieutenant cried out at that, trying to shift his friend out of the crossfire, but winced and spasmed, clawing at his eyes as Noriko's strange technomancy overloaded his senses. The two black clad Ninjas fell atop the Council table, clutching their bruises, aching and still. For a moment, the room was almost silent.

But then the two rose to their feet. And begun to move.

The first shinobi descended upon Haru with a vengeful fury, Tonfa raised high. His strikes came thick, fast, and seemed almost unending. A slash straight down led into a sideswipe towards her arm, pulling back from that into a lunge with his hilt towards the heiresses forehead. Whilst he kept the gun-princess busy, the second ninja darted across the room, rolling across the table and between the members of the Student Council that'd decimated their group. One moment he darted towards Noriko, tonfa aimed straight at her precious smartphone, next he's charging towards Hitomi with an elbow aimed squarely at the back of her head and then he's throwing some kind of bolt of shadow energy straight at Nina, though this makes the shinobi groan and slow slightly. That was a hard move

Whilst the dark missile is still streaking through the air, Haru's ninja withdraws a shuriken and tosses it towards his compatriot. The second ninja, recovered from his bout with shadow, twirls his Tonfa through the air before raising it above his head and swatting the metal missile out of the air, redirecting it straight at Nina with enough force that the air seemed to shimmer as it went. The wood of the council table splinters slightly as the shuriken speeds straight towards the president, hot on the heels of the shadowbolt.

It's easy to read the black clad duo's thoughts. They are keeping little to themselves. They're annoyed at the Council, at the fame these captains have gotten, the resources, the cushy tower... This was their change to sweep in and take the glory. Today was the day that the Council was supposed to go down, after all. If they struck first, they could be the ones to become Motogawa's primary defenders, rather than the current group of weirdoes.

Both Ninjas are stunned, one from Haru's attack hitting for more than half health, the other from Noriko's Lag Spike. However, both have multiple actions so that just narrows them down to four actions each this turn instead. :smallwink: Also, apologies Anyr, but Haru just made herself look like a maaajor threat. She's going to take some serious fire here.

Action 1: Both Ninjas are pulling their Tonfas (Defensive, Weapon) Black #1 is going for Haru, Black #2 is going for Noriko.
[roll0] Black #1 [roll1] Black #2. DX4
Action 2: Black #1 tries a Chi Blocking Strike (Accurate 2, Impairing, Low Penetration 2) on Haru. Black #2 pulls a less risky Sweeping Kick on Hitomi (Stunning, Low Penetration 2)
[roll2] Black #1 (Endurance 10) [roll3] Black #2 DX4
Action 3: Black #1 goes for a Hilt Strike (Weapon, Ineffective, Accurate 2) on Haru. Black #2 uses a Shadow Serve (Effective 2, Backlash 2) on Nina
[roll4] Black #1, DX3 [roll5] Black #2 DX6
Action 4: The two ninjas combine for an Ultimate Topspin. (Assisted, Weapon, Overwhelming, Effective 2) on Nina. LoP, you have to dedicate your next action either to defence or a counter, otherwise this resolves against a Defence of 0
[roll6] Attack roll, DX6. (Endurance 5, paid by Black #2)

Sky Blue: Goes for Hitomi with a Tonfa (Defensive, Weapon)
[roll7] DX2

Totals
Black #1: Health 4/60: Endurance 30/40
Black #2: Health 36/60: Endurance 35/40

Sky Blue: Health 10

[AmberVael]

Noriko didn't even shift positions as the ninja struck at her, but instead queued up another app. The tonfa met resistance in the air between them, and the sudden fuzzy crackle of static sounded as the blow was softened, then completely repulsed with a surge of electricity that arced right back along the shinobi's weapon. Noriko noted the attack was more swift and fierce than she had expected, and had substantially drained the charge she could spare for her field- but for now she was untouched. Still, it wouldn't do for them to continue this. Figuring that Haru was well trained at protecting herself, she instead decided to concentrate on the other main target of the attacking shinobi, Nina. With a soft hum, a second field flickered up around the council president while Noriko set the application to active mode, allowing for on the fly adjustments for the most efficient use of her force field.

Noriko got a 6 on her defensive roll, leaving 14 damage from the attack. Rather than getting hit, she'll spend 14 endurance to absorb the blow.

Firewall is the default version of Noriko's barrier since it is self targeting and costs no endurance. Because of this, Black 2 gets hit by Noriko's barrier dice when he goes to attack her.
This resolves as an attack vs. Defense 0. [roll0] DX1. (9 damage)

On Noriko's turn though, she switches over to the Buffer version of her barrier and targets Nina with it, allowing her to protect herself and Nina. She then uses her turn to maintain the barrier, doubling her defensive dice.

Health: 30/30
Endurance: 26/40

[Anyr]

Haru's assailant might as well have been attacking thin air. No matter where he swung that tonfa, his target was always somewhere else. The blurred figure of Haru gave an exaggerated yawn, as she danced away from yet another strike. At some point, she'd replaced the giant hand cannon with an insultingly small pistol.

"Bored now. Bye bye."

*Bang*

Haru attacks (Accurate 3 [+15], Ranged [+0], Feather Blow [-5], Low Penetration 2 [-10]; Roll: 8; DX: 4; End: 0)
Attack roll: [roll0] {8}

[Ascension]

Ninjas from the ceiling. Good god. This is a perfect example of a reason why introspection like "Am I really that great at fighting?" is so vital to the warrior philosopher. A small-minded fool would be blind to all his limitations, would shout "Yes! I am best at fighting!" and would throw himself at the most deadly opponent in the vicinity. The warrior philosopher, secure in his manhood, can say "I am best at fighting... on my terms," and that added qualifier does not undermine his baddassery, no, it only reinforces it.

As an enlightened gentlemen, Masaki first shouts, "Jones! Could you please bring the car up to the student council room?" into his wrist-radio, and only then throws his frail body at the weakest-looking ninja. Sky-Blue becomes the target of a MANLY PUUUUNCH!

If I keep rolling this attack die, eventually it's going to hit *something,* and I will laugh.

[roll0]

Also, I fully admit I don't know that there's actually any plausible way to get Muscle Robo up to the student council room, it just seems like Masaki would ask Jones to do it even if it's impossible.

[LoP]

Barely able to react in time, Nina's body goes poofy, as if her body were an image projected onto billowing, roiling clouds of vapor. The ninja's shadowbolt and volleyed shuriken streak directly through Nina, trailing smoke as they passed completely through her, though a completely surprised and ever so slightly cross look passed over her face.

"Stop this! Give up! Before someone gets hurt, and you KNOW how weird the nurse is here!"

[Steel Mirror]

Hitomi ducked as quickly as she could as the ninja aimed a blow at the back of her head, cursing under her breath as she went. "Frell!" Fortunately the rest of the Council was already putting their collective weirdness to good use. She really wished that she'd had the foresight to grab her rocket pack-without the added speed she felt like a sitting duck while her allies were quickly turning the Council room into a scene from an Avengers movie.

She stumbled as she recovered from the momentum of her sudden dodge, and pushed off towards her chair at the table. Her rocket pack was hanging by a strap from the back of that chair. If she could get to it and put it on, she'd be a lot more use in this situation. That is, if her allies didn't clean up the mess first.rolling for defense
[roll0]>3
So that's 3 damage, if I'm reading it right. Hitomi is at 37/40 health.