[X] In which Chris attempts negotiations, and it goes mostly ok.
Five on one with your back to the wall and no room to maneuver, not exactly the best situation to be in but thankfully you have something they want back. You can work with this.
"Everybody stay right where they are or your friend gets it." You shout at the group. It's not even an empty threat, if you are going down you will be taking out as many of them as you can with a Swan Song express trip to hell. Thankfully for you none of them move giving the initiative to you.
You grin widely as you walk boldly into the center of the alley with the Saki girl in tow held like the physical shield that she is, not showing an ounce of the fear that comes from imagining being locked up and experimented on once again. "So who the hell are you girls?"
"What did you do to Saki!" The short Pink haired one screams at you in rage and appears to be wanting to jump down right away but it thankfully held in place by one wearing the nun like armor.
She's the one that answers your question while holding onto the struggling girl. "We're the Pleiades Saints and you are holding onto a friend of ours." She tactfully sidesteps the state you are currently holding said friend in as you notice the strange cat like creature jump out of the still struggling girls arms, it's tail waving back and forth as it creepily stares at you like it is peering straight into soul.
"Yeah, I was just explaining to our mutual friend here the problems I have with a group of people kidnapping and experimenting on little girls." The stone cold stares you receive and lack of response to you revealing their dirty little secret is telling in it's own way. Military Girl had the decency to flinch from your rage and Black Witch over there responded with the sort of naivety you would expect from the Gungnir Girl. Which probably meant that she had little understanding of what the situation really was and only went along with it because they were friendly to her.
These other girls though, they are completely committed to whatever agenda they are pursuing and that just terrifies you. In the end the Nun breaks the standoff with the expected demands. "Drop Saki and surrender your soul gem and we promise to make this as painless as possible."
You internally scoff at their demand to give yourself up, no scratch that you openly sneer at their demands to give yourself up to their tender mercies. Still if you are going to get out of this alive you will have to give them something. "No, I have a better idea me, the Wicked Witch over there," at this point the girl takes offense to her nickname and informs you in a huff that her name is Kazumi.
"Like I was saying me, the Wicked Witch, and your friend Saki here are going to take a nice little rooftop stroll to the end of the block while you lot on the roof gather together in one spot and sit there till Witchy returns with your friend otherwise," you gesture to their still tied up friend. "Well, let's just say someone will be missing their head long before you can take me down. So which is it, let me go or lose a friend trying to take me down."
As you watch the girls stare at each other in what appears to be a silent conversation a part of you hopes they attempt something stupid just so you could let off a little steam. Though it seems that your secret wish will not be happening because, after a few tense moments of apparent silent communications and apparently some arguing based on a few hand gestures strangely focused at the Kazumi girl, the four share a quick nod as the pilot and Hoodie jump across the alleyway and stand next to Pinky, The Nun, and their cat like mascot. The first still attempting to light you on fire with her gaze while the last continues it's way too creepy soul piercing stare.
The nun, their apparent spokesperson hands down their decision. "Alright, we will let you go. But in return you will leave the city and never come back." As if she was granting a stay of execution or something, you just sneer at them in response.
You hop up to the rooftop they just vacated with your passenger in tow and motion for the Kazumi girl to join you. As she leaps up to your location you give them your parting shot. "Nope, I don't think so. As long as you girls are attacking the weak and experimenting on them I will be there to stop you. This right now is just a reprieve for now and don't you forget it."
Keeping one eye on the assembly of girls you start to make your departure only to be stopped short when an cute but seemingly inhuman voice fills the air. "You are not a magical girl, in fact I have never seen anything like you."
Five sets of eyes snap towards the source of the voice drawing yours to the cat like creature and it takes all of your willpower to not show your surprise to the fact that a cat can apparently speak. Still even if you have no facts to prove it, that one little sentence pretty much confirms something the voice in the back of your mind has been telling you for a while now. "Yeah, I figured that out, as to what I am maybe you should check the news or something. What the hell are you?" I mean Symphogears existence is pretty common knowledge these days, even if who they are is a closely kept secret.
The cat seems to be unruffled at your disrespect and presses on, "My name is Jubey the fairy. So how is it that your armor can produce the dimensional stabilization effect, after all only magic is supposed to be able to fight the Witches."
"Yeah, I'm not about to explain how my armor works to a group that kidnaps among their own, sorry." You trust this group about as far as you can throw them at this point. "So you're trying to tell me that magic is real?" In retrospect this explains the super-powers, strange non-armor getup's, and the few other powers you had experienced recently all done without a hint of a song, not to mention the talking cat/fairy thing kinda help prove this point.
"Yes, these girls made contracts and now use magic to take on the Witches." Yeah that doesn't sound suspicious at all, but on the other hand you are well aware of just what lengths people will do for personal power and magic would be one hell an advantage. Though it didn't escape you that the cat's explanation is a bit scarce on details but it's probably similar to you not wanting to explain how your gear works so you don't press him on it at this time. Fine will probably be able to figure it all out anyway. Though you still find it a bit funny that they call the Noise Witches, but small details were never one of the things you quibbled over.
With that little back and forth out of the way you turn your attention back to the others and note that they are staring at you like you had just announced that the sky was purple or something. The silence is so think a pin being dropped could have been heard. You take the break to consider the entirety of the situation. You might be able to press for more information and maybe could end up revealing a bit more about this rabbit hole you've stumbled into but really at the moment your first priority is to get out of this alive. It has become vitally important for you to report your findings to Fine and see how this might effect her plans. And hey, it might even be interesting enough that she will forget to punish you for failing to capture the Gungnir Girl... Well one can always hope.
So while they're off balance with this 'revelation' you make your escape before they think you're more valuable then their friend is, after all it's what you would be considering in the same situation.. One of them calls out for you to wait but you just throw your hostage at them in response. While they're busy dealing with that out you press the Nehushtan Armor's speed to it's limit while not really caring where you end up as long as it's away from them.
You allow yourself to become lost in the city depths as you focus on the fact you've picked up tonight. Magic is real and being kept in the shadows, not really all that different from the Symphogear programs now that you think about it, except for the fact that the public knows it exists nobody except their leaders have a grasp on who or what they are. A group is kidnapping for some still unknown reason, also something you are well acquainted with happening. Finally they fight the Noise and seem to be just as effective at it as the governments are, IE not at all.
You yawn as the late night coupled with all your activities catch up to you and stop on a short office building while you decide what to do next. As you de-transform and pull out your cellphone to call Fine you note sourly that the battery is dead, well she gets prissy about you calling her anyway what with her double life and all. That just means you'll have to report to her mansion personally... You can already picture the shock table... Joy.
Well Chris it's been a long night what do you plan to do next.
[X] Find a spot to sleep for the night and catch the early morning train back to Tokyo, Fine needs to be informed.
-[X] Fine gives you enough money for a night in a hotel, but you'll have to deal with her getting mad for spending it.
-[X] Abandoned offices or apartment buildings are child's play to break into when you can jump 10 stories, you'll just have to rough it for the night. Thankfully it's not all that cold outside with it being so far south.
[X] Wait, with everything else that was going on didn't you forget something?
