Underground Elevators

After spending so much time in the dark, Jin felt he had to descend down there. His brother might just be there, and their fight was not over yet. As the elevator went down, the false hero heard the sounds of fighting. Metal clashing, walls crumbling under the sheer force of each colliding party, it all felt like Jin had to put his hand in it.
Taking Yukianesa in his left hand (his right hand being kind of invalid), he got ready for battle as the elevator opened him the way to the forbidden lower sections of the Librarium Branch of Kagutsuchi...
... and battles were going on.

... and he heard Kokonoe being her usual self on the other side. Great. Apparently Hakumen had cut the comms jamming somehow. It was time to report: "Hakumen is down. Require assistance to transport him to the labs...", his choice of action was straight and simple. Maybe once Hakumen was restrained could he assist Kageo in his battle. Bang Shishigami was one powerful opponent, he had to be given that much credit. But it would be the end...
... if another silhouette didn't enter the scene. Reporting that was necessary. "... Kokonoe, Jin Kisaragi entered the vicinity. What are we going to do about him?", he said to his phone quickly, but without a hint of panic. The 'Hero of Ikaruga' was wounded, and it was fair to say that he had almost no chance to stand up to a much-less-worn-out Red Devil. How the Ikarugan paragon Bang would react to Jin's presence could change it all.

"Aaggh!"

Bang was sent flying from Kageo's attack, tumbling a bit on the ground before collapsing in a heap. However, he simply refused to give up. The Ikarugan ninja slowly staggered to his feet, breathing heavily as he stared down his two opponents, ready to give them a hell of a fight.

It was then that Jin Kisaragi entered the area, causing Bang's already hot-blood to boil.

"That monster, here?!" he thought with unbridled rage burning in his eyes.

As the kaka realized that another had arrived, it was the low rating that had disturbed him, as his visual record struck him. Stunning the kaka as his systems read him, but all the same he'd heard Tager state who was there, and at 22% damage now, he was still capable of persisting. "The Hero of Ikaruga, Jin Kisaragi..." the level of the threat was surprisingly low, he wouldn't be a match for Tager, it would have been troublesome for him to engage him. He had no idea of what Bang felt, but that fire that burned seemed to be something quite capable of producing a likely chance that he'd get up again.

"Well, talk about a sudden turn of events!"

In the blink of an eye, Kokonoe had warped from her lab and back to the elevators, standing between Kageo and Tager's position and smirking while she executed a bad-ass arm fold "I guess it turns out that the rumors are true. The infamous 'Hero of Ikaruga' deserted his post just to find Ragna the Bloodedge."

As for how she got this information, let's just say she has her ways and leave it at that.

Gauging the situation Under his eyes, Jin saw all as mere nuisances. Sector Seven was in a middle of an apprehension; as to how they even came this far, he didn't want to know. Not so long ago, he would have been bothered and at least try to get them out of the building.
"Sector Seven...", he obviously ignored Bang. He was surely not to hold on so long against that Sector Seven attack force. And now that the rogue soldier came to think of it, he would not win either against that in his situation. Instead, he simply tried the smooth way through the crowd, walking without the slightest hint of care towards the deeper levels of the city. "I'm not here to waste time with the likes of you.", he scoffed while he was about to pass by their side.

Seeing Kokonoe arrive in the blink of an eye didn't even surprise Tager. The knowledge of this ability of hers made everything a lot less surprising than it could be. Hakumen was no longer his matter to deal with if she came herself: she would be taking matters into her own hands.
Though not surprised by the famed Kisaragi's attempt to ignore them, he would still keep track of him, just glancing once at Kokonoe to try and guess her choice of action... Tager didn't have much to do with Jin Kisaragi, but if Kokonoe deemed necessary to take him out of action, that's the way it would be, and the Red Devil would prove the rumors regarding his strength true.

"Professor, you've returned? more to his confusion, which only lasted but a brief moment, the kaka adjusted his grip on his spear, but made no movements to stop Jin Kisaragi. Should the word have been given, he would be assisting Tager in removing the threat of the Hero of Ikaruga by force, while as far as he could tell; he'd managed to at least subdue the brave ninja warrior for now. He had no wish to further harm him, but if he rose; it would mean that he had to stop him once more. The hatred of Ikaruga for Jin Kisaragi was something easily known, for the man who ended their struggles was no hero of theirs.

Hakumen almost scoffed, though he was in no position to make more than a bit of sense at what was going on, he'd looked to the appearance of Kokonoe with nothing but a tasteful irritation. "Your devil fights well...your gear running cat proves nothing meanwhile...what would you have of me now, Grimalkin? You've already contradicted the purpose of my release. But, soon as I am able, the fates to be judged will be carried out. You've merely postponed this." the ancient hero did feel the tug of fate, when Jin Kisaragi had come down, his expression; if it could have been cast would have been disgust. He knew this man was before them by obsession and no other reason than that. To think that this was him at one point, but with a need greater than what he'd possessed during his time, he decided it would be time to test this fiend as well. He was Hakumen, not this weak fool before him.

Kokonoe sighed for a brief second before teleporting in front of Jin within a fraction of that time, her smirk staying on her face.

"What's the hurry?" the cat beastkin smirked "You won't find Ragna there. I warped that guy outta there a looong time ago."

Her eyes twinkled as she stood her ground, her tone as if she was mocking the 'hero' "I gotta feeling that you wanna know where he is...hmm...I guess you'll want to beat the information out of me then?"

With that, she then addressed her subordinates "Tager, you take Hakumen and head back for base, and take scruffy too. Don't worry, I'll warp you there myself. Kageo, you stay and watch me kick this wanna-be's ass. After all...don't think I've forgotten your stint at the restaurant."

Oh, she remembered what he did; how he lied to her to cover the interloper's escape. Oh, they would have words about that in length...

So what the Red Devil was to do was just carry two corpses by foot? That'd be a bit visible, but it's not like the Red Devil could be stopped at that moment. Any and all threats were out of action.
That thought, he picked up a non-resisting Hakumen up, and then tried to check for himself if the Ikarugan ninja was still able to try and fight. But it's not like Bang had a choice: given his state, he would be either captured fighting, or just captured. Approaching the Ikarugan ninja, he promptly signified without speaking, merely by a glance, that there was no way out.

Following suit on the part of the orders, the kaka bit his lip when she mentioned the restaurant. Yeah...it was a bit of wishful thinking to hope that all of this madness would have helped her to forget about that. While suppressing the urge to gulp, he'd have to settle for watching the Hero of Ikaruga being beaten up. In his shape, Kageo was barely reading him at Threat Level B, borderline C with the damage he'd already sustained. Did he believe that he would defeat the Professor at this point? Let alone stand ground? It was one of the few things he'd managed to note, but given that the Professor held such command over science, he was damned sure that handling someone like this wouldn't take long. "...U-Understood, Professor." letting off a soft sigh, he'd chewed on his lip while his tail curled around his waist. He thought about Es for a moment and hoped she was alright, well anything that he'd be suffering on account of that; it would have to be worth it for his friendship right? He was willing to think so.

Sector Seven was having its way here. Of course, this wasn't to the taste of the hero, especially since Kokonoe was trying to force him to yet another fight, sneering at his face. "Hmph. Wipe that grin off your face: you will tell me where he is. Whoever the hell you think you are, you've brought this to you.", he said as he waved Yukianesa at her, aiming a quick slash through her that would serve as a reminder that he was called the Hero of Ikaruga for a reason. Even his right arm being crippled, he had his left hand free, which meant that he could still slice and dice her to his heart's content was she not careful. Little did he care to know however, of who he was tampering with...

Bang was barely standing on his feet as the Red Devil towered over him, responding to his impassive glance with his own fiery glare. He turned to Jin as he attempted to strike the female beastkin, and sighed in defeat. He'll have to deal with Kisaragi another day.

"Very well." he said in defeat "I feel I must accompany Master Hakumen anyway. I do not feel comfortable knowing that he is under the mercy of you hooligans."

Had Jin been at his full strength, then Kokonoe might have worked up a sweat a little. As he was right now, she believed that he was no match. She did admire his spirit, though.

"You ready to go, Tager?" She asked as she casually leaned to the left to dodge the initial slash, her hands in her pocket as she spun on her heel and aimed to deliver a spinning heel kick on the Hero's chin.

"I am ready, Kokonoe.", Tager answered simply.
Hakumen wasn't so hard to carry for Tager, as the giant didn't show any kind of unbalance carrying the Susanooh with one arm only. "Are you going to bring this man with us..?", he said giving a brief aside glance at Bang, not minding that Kokonoe was indulging in what seemed to be a parody of a brawl.

As his slash was casually dodged, Jin saw the kick headed right to his face, and while it found its mark, the hero's face simply seemed to get pushed by the foot as he slid a distance away due to that attack. The bruise on his face was visible: he had grossly underestimated his opposition this time. He realized now he was in no shape to fight that hard, but he had to if ever he was to find Ragna again: determination kept him standing. "You will tell me where he is!", he grunted. Insanity was taking ahold of him again as he threw a quick blade made of ice at the cat-woman with a wave of his sword.

Kokonoe had to respect that kind of single-minded determination...if it didn't annoy her, that is.

The Chief Scientist saw the ice blade coming, responding in kind by summoning a hammer from her hyperspace arsenal. With a one-handed upward swing, the head of the massive, rocket powered weapon shattered the projectile as if it was made of glass.

"I'm sure he won't be THAT much of a problem." the pink-haired cat sighed "Although you might wanna use some earplugs. Alright, see ya later! Aaaand click!"

Before either Tager or Bang could respond, she already activated the warp drive that should take them to her lab with a mere snap of her fingers.

The kaka had tensed slightly, wanting to do something, even though he could see that the Professor was in cruise control. Her combat skills had her easily prepared to deal with the Hero's attacks, it did not make him want to do anything less, though of course the kaka had remained still in his tracks; having imagined that once she was finished with Jin here that he'd be accompanying her likely to the lab or wherever she'd take him to discipline him. He was already resigned to that fact and had stood back, still with his weapon gripped gently; his body already hastily repairing the damage he'd sustained from the battles he'd had twice now. It was easy to do when at a near relaxed, but ready state.

The commotion coming from down below was enough to light up a few sensors, and Kagura followed them. He was curious what could be going on...the last time he explored underneath Kagutsuchi, he'd discovered something very interesting...and something that he'd gotten no explanation from the higher-ups on. The trip down was uneventful...but his discovery of what happened was far from it.

"Jin-jin? You alright?" He calls out, hurrying out to the side of his old...well, he'd call him a friend, but he doesn't think Jin would return the sentiment. Turning to the beastkin pair, he frowns. "Mind explaining what's going on to me? And...wait..." He knows who the woman is. "Holy shit, are you Kokonoe? I've been needing to talk to you..."

This was bothersome. On the one hand, getting in contact with Sector Seven was a really high priority for him. On the other...Jinny needed help. "I'm sure we can all resolve things nice and easy, no need to be violent anymore, eh?"

Tager simply held the Knight in place and paid a last glance at the surroundings. Surely Kokonoe would be able to handle the mess. They still had control over the place, and he had things to do at the labs.
-----------------------------------(Back to the Sector)--------------------------------->

Jin growled. He was almost incapable of combat in his current shape but he needed to force answers out of that catty witch. Hearing quite a ridiculous nickname for him - one that he didn't hear in a reasonably long time at that - instantly caused him to turn his head to see who could've said it and forfeit - momentarily - his assault.
Good thing was it wasn't Taro. Bad thing was it was still an annoyance to have to deal with any supplementary presence. So anyone would've just gotten a growl from him: "Do I look alright to you?", he said scowling. Though, of course Mutsuki needed to try and cheese a way out of the battle. Jin's sole answer was to turn to Kokonoe and try to strike at her again, but the moment he moved his right arm, the pain reminded him that his intended choice of action wouldn't work. "And resolve things nice and easy, my ass! She has my brother hostage! I'll kill her for being in the way!", he grunted despite being incapable of carrying out his clame. Fury blinded his reasoning: he held his sword still, but that was the only thing he could do...

"Ragna the Bloodedge is this runt's brother?" Kokonoe raised a brow at Jin's statement "How interesting..."

Deciding that she'd ask the goddamned rabbit about this later, she momentarily ignored Jin and turned to see an unexpected face.

"Hmm...Kagura Mutsuki, am I correct?" the pink-haired beastkin raised a brow at the new arrival "What does the Black Knight of the NOL want with lil' ol' me?"

She kept up her guard around the man; while Jin at his current state was just sparring practice to her, this man was a whole other matter...

Kageo had all but prepared for battle, though he wasn't sure if it was necessary, the kaka's spear had been squeezed at the center and twisted once before him. He adjusted his stance in slight, taking one of his favorite stances in preparation for anything. 'Fisherman holds the world', his eyes had been on the fight, this slight relaxed movement would allow him a smooth response if he were taking place in anything. Much like he'd said, he was in stand-by, eager to take a motivation to get involved.

Kagura blinks at Jin's hostile reaction...normally he was testy, but this was much more than normal. "Well, you always looked like an ugly mug, but yeah, can see you're not at your best." he joked, but stood in front of him. His statement catches him off guard. "Your brother? One of the Kisaragis? Who was taken? I'll get him back, just stand down, Jin."

He turns to Kokonoe. "Hey, you have one of the Kisaragis hostage? That's a bit extreme...I'm sure that's something else that can be resolved." He undoes the bindings that hold his ridiculous sword to his back, then kicks it out to the front. "Yeah, that's me. Glad I made myself interesting enough for you to take notice." He tosses her a smile, for a near-century old beastkin, she wasn't half bad looking. "As for what I want with you...well, let's just say we have a few common interests, and think that we could try working together a bit." His own rebellion against the Librarium would be greatly bolstered with Sector Seven assistance...but he'd have to convince Kokonoe to hear him out, first.

He shakes his head, though. "But I'm going to ask you return my little buddy's brother first...sorry, but I just can't stand to see my friend like this." Little does he know that he's actually talking about Ragna the Bloodedge, but that little relation wasn't anywhere close to common knowledge, even at his level. "So c'mon, why can't everyone just leave here happy, eh?"