Art Gallery [Dungeon]

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With the very last burst of attacks, the Demon Painter finally met his match. The Cadets were far too much for him. His body was thrown back to a wall with a solid thump before collapsing motionless like a puppet whose strings were cut. Soon after, the very space around them began to warp. Slowly, but surely, the domain was falling apart. It shifted and twisted before coming back into the form of a remarkably dilapidated area. Gone was the pomp and beautiful artworks and in was the decaying walls, broken ceilings, and the squeaking of rats. This was the true form of the Painter's home and the Cadets would soon realize they were in Suzie Q.


"Good... work," Maria finally spoke. She was slowly getting up to her feet. Her breathing was shallow. It was a hard hit from the previous battle, but she was quickly catching it back. She careened her neck to the sound of confusion, but also of blissful gratefulness behind her. It was the sound of other victims kept in other paintings, presumably they were freed as well. Despite their victory, there was work to do. Maria pulled out her phone to begin calling several ambulances and other related personnel for this situation. "Take off his mask and leave him to Lisa.  I will handle the victims."

Maria nodded and motioned Cecilia to follow her towards the direction of the rest of the victims. She was sure that Cecilia's help would be of some use here. But soon the noise of sirens began to fill the air once the Cadet made her necessary calls. She disappeared into a doorway, leaving the rest of the Cadets to deal with the Demon Painter. If Cecilia followed her, the two would soon find a room where a meandering mass of people lay. Some were struggling to get up, others were in a stupor from the long time they were inside a canvas, and the rest were still unconscious. She nodded at Cecilia to do what she can, but even as she did, the sirens began to get louder before they finally stopped. It wasn't long until numerous personnel began to flood through and Maria was already at work in directing and helping them get a couple onto stretchers. She noticed that many of them were whole and just exhausted from the ordeal. But with this many paramedics helping out with the victims, the Cadet addressed Cecilia, "They'll be alright. Return with everyone else, I can deal with this."


He finally stirred, but his body refused to get up from the floor. The beating was too severe for him to recover completely. The man felt someone rip off his mask. It was his layer of protection from the Queen's influences. His armor that clad him in power to finally act against the injustices of this system. And now they were being shred apart from him. His attire began to dissipate until his unmasked appearance was revealed.

A smug, smarmy tone pierced the air as the Painter lamented his failure. Cecilia grinned ear-to-ear and greedily gobbled up the satisfaction of a job well done as she watched the farce that was the grandiose gallery fade only to be replaced by a run-down, crummy building. The distant sound of singing and the general feel of the area further fueled the pink-haired Cadet's joy in her triumph as she realized that the battle had been waged in her home district; it only added to her conviction and zeal knowing that she'd removed a piece of trash like him from the streets of Suzie Q. In spite of her contempt and the condescending aura surrounding her, however, she'd offer a calm and gentle smile to her former foe. "It isn't as on the nose as it was with Sera, but you're broken too, aren't you? Don't worry though. We're going to save you. Once you've been rehabilitated everything will be alright; we'll make someone useful out of you yet." With innocent amber eyes that somehow blended together malice and benevolence into one, she'd do her best to reassure the Painter while seizing and relishing the feeling of righteousness that washed over her while she stood above him.

Of course, the next step was to remove his mask as Maria instructed. It was tempting to rush in and rip it off herself, but the wails of the freed victims would grab her attention without the need of coercion and immediately take precedence over further bathing herself in glory. This was what she had become a Cadet for: to protect others and ease their suffering. Any emotions she displayed prior subsided in the wake of concern and relief for the captives; with a nod directed toward Shiina and Maria, she confirmed her approval of the plan and would follow without a second thought. "It must have been horrible... I'll make sure to ease their suffering as much as possible. " The mental image of Jacob's prior state flashed through her mind and she shuddered. Looking back over her shoulder at the terrorist and glaring daggers, she'd make her temporary exit content in the knowledge that nothing else would be spilled tonight: no more blood, no more paint, and no more tears. His sickening career was done for once and for all.

Upon entering the area she'd give it and the people scattered messily across it a keen glance. It was like an entire sea of artists and civilians! How the hell could he equate torturing so many people with justice? At least she could take solace in the fact that he hadn't slaughtered them en masse like Alice had done to the prisoners of her domain. Refusing to dilly-dally any longer, the girl would shake the thoughts from her mind and quietly murmur an invocation of her Persona.


She'd leave the unconscious to their rest and instead of attempting to rouse them would have Svalinn release a green, restorative wave across the room. It'd wash over the souls of all those it touched and would simultaneously ease their pain while healing any supernatural wounds inflicted upon them. At the same time, she'd move in to act directly and would apply a rejuvenative lotion courtesy of Class Zero to the skin of those still in a stupor. While she wasn't sure if it'd work exactly as planned, if nothing else it wouldn't hurt in any sense of the word; the worst possible scenario was that it'd have no effect on them at all.

Once the paramedics arrived she'd proceed to assist those having trouble standing to the best of her abilities and would continue until Maria ordered her to return. "I'll head back then. If you need any further assistance then just call for me, alright?" With a slightly playful yet understandably still solemn salute, Cecilia would vanish from the sight of all those around her. Only the sound of wind zipping would remain as she zoomed forward almost completely obscured by the dimness of the domain's remains. Once the Shadow Accel ceased, however, she'd reappear by the side of her comrades standing there with her arms crossed as if she had never left their presence in the first place. "So this is what he looks like without the mask, huh? It's as underwhelming as I expected it to be."

In lieu of her absence, she'd keep mostly quiet and observe the conversation in the hope of gaining more context. There wasn't much of a point in her intervening in an interrogation anyway... assuming that was what this was anyway.

Action:

OOC Notes:

Athena said as a smug smile blossomed on her face. She had lots of reasons to be happy. Another mission was successful under her leadership, even though she hardly lead the team her report to Julius was going to paint a different picture. "You must, however, understand the people you've been working with never had your best interest at heart.
They probably spoke of ideals of liberty and freedom and how oppressive the current regime is. Those are nothing but pretty lies they tell in order to incite a civil war." Nobody liked to admit they were manipulated unless of course, they could get themselves out of trouble thanks to that. "You have the chance to outplay them. Give us the names of those who aided you and you will receive a far more pleasant treatment. You don't want to go out as a pawn, do you?"

"Spare me your pity and fuck off with the rest of the other pieces of shit plaguing the art community like the little good Cadet bitch you are." the Demon Painter derisively replied back at retreating Cecilia. He lost and that was all that mattered. At this point it was just these bratty Cadets posturing themselves as the winners. In the end, he was just like the rest of the Psyche-Terrorists. Another result of the functioning cogs of this system to keep the Peace. It disgusted him, but this was the reality he lived in. All the effort he made to make an artist's life better crumbled to the ground. Sure, he was using his power for himself, as part of his personal vendetta. It was his power, not the Cadet's, Government's, or the Queen's. But in the end, no matter how much passion he had for anything, it was all for nothing.


He didn't seem at all surprised by how Shiina was caring. It was just more posturing as the moral crusaders of this City, despite the hypocrisy that lies underneath. Maybe Akuma-Eishi was a hypocrite, but he kept his ire solely against his true enemies and the people who ruined him. Maybe there was some just karma involved, but he never pretended to be a hero nor was it his intention. But for these Cadets? There was only a thin veneer of justice obfuscating the Government's lies and society's problems. They can keep trying to convince themselves that they were the good guys, but they were far from being saints as far as he was concerned.

And Lisa was just another example as she gave him a rough prod with the tip of her blade's sheath. She was getting irritated with this fool's antics. Hearing of this criminal take poorly of the work her Mother and her children have done made her begin to lose her temper. What was taking Maria so long to get back here with personnel to escort this guy away? "That's enough from you. You should be glad we're even sparing your worthless life."

The Demon Painter simply gave a nonchalant shrug at Lisa who glared back at him. At this point, it was just reinforcing his thoughts of the Cadets anyway. But he provided a sneer at Athena, "Who said anything about being a hero? I just did what I wanted. Exercised my right to use my power until you idiots came in. And you must be a bigger idiot to think I'd work with any other inartistic troglodytes. Christ, they let in any moron into the Cadets these days, huh?"

The sound of footsteps can be heard. If the Cadets turned around, they saw Maria approaching them with a team of police officers around her. She gave a cold glance at the Demon Painter who smirked back at her. Maria drew out a pair of cuffs and moved to secure them around his wrists before pulling him up on his feet. She was rough at this, forcing the Psyche-Terrorist to grunt in discomfort. "I will send him back to Class Zero and report to Julius. Everyone here is dismissed."

The nun began to move the criminal towards the exit with the motley crew of officers. Before they could exit, the Painter stopped to turn to the Cadets, but addressed the Wild Card.


With that, they left the area, leaving the rest of the Cadets on their own. Lisa finally heaved a sigh, but she gave a curt nod towards Shiina and the Cadets before leaving as well.

If it depended on Albrecht this man would have been killed right there right then, rehabilitating him would just cause trouble later on. However, he had orders to capture him alive, and he'd do as such as it was his duty as an Angel of Vengeance and he did not want to get in trouble with his higher ups and the other cadets.

"A man who can't even defend his own actions, as much as he tries to appear tough his resolve is weak. Leave him to be festered by the maggots, he deserves no sympathy only but the burning hatred of Law." Although he wouldn't do it, Albrecht still felt like stating his opinions on the Terrorist, he had the right to be heard at least "Furthermore, he consorted with demons for his own amusement. Heresy such as this one should not be tolerated."

It hardly mattered what Albrecht thought, yet it didn't stop his prejudice and anger for the pompous heretic. Purge, kill, burn... Yet within his mind, Lamina Sanctus would provide soothing words to calm the Knight. The last thing the Angel wanted was the Lion rampaging at that moment. Seeing as the situation had been resolved, Albrecht would return, he'd need some rest after this.

Thought the man had tried to offend her Athena couldn't help but find his attempts pitiful. Still, she hoped the re-education failed and turn him into a vegetable, that seemed like a fitting punishment, not because he moved against the Queen as the model hardly considered loyalty a virtue. He should be punished for aiming higher and failing, the top was a place that didn't accept losers.

-exit-

Despite the vitriol seething from every syllable, the Demon Painter's barbs would fail to elicit even the slightest change in reaction from Cecilia. There was no reason to pay any heed to them no matter what he said next; they were nothing but the whinings of an infant, the last tantrum a child threw before being punished for their mischief by their wiser parent. He reveled in his strength and saw it as the key to a chaos that would make his dreams possible, but if they were the peons he thought them to be then such a world would've mercilessly reduced him to cinders in the same way that a flame treated an approaching moth. No matter how high he held his head up, he was nothing as was; he should have been thanking them, ardently crying out and praising the heavens above for the blessing that was bestowed upon him, though his refusal to do so was far from unsurprising. If he had the sense to see life as it really was then he never would have blamed society for what went wrong in the first place.

"Don't get me wrong Albrecht, I completely get where you're coming from. People like him don't deserve a second chance; it's a privilege, not a right. But let's not spill any human blood today if we can help it. Besides, the prince prefers that terrorists be brought in alive when possible."

As for Shiina, that was a different matter. Interesting? She wouldn't interject, but the comment made her raise her brow. Shin was just one of many deluded rebels and his reasons for lashing out against the government were lackluster to say the least; he was a walking pile of failures and foolhardy mistakes that could have easily secured a peaceful life for itself had it not been so set on a path that had been wrong from the start. He was, after all, the Demon Painter. Nevertheless, she wouldn't think any further on the subject for now. Whatever it was the Wild Card found intriguing about this man, Cecilia had a feeling she could search for an eternity and never find it for herself.


Waving to Maria, she'd see herself out the door and disperse with the others as ordered. Even now she was brimming with energy, but perhaps she should still rest early. They had all earned a good night's sleep.