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Rating: PG-13 to NC-17 – some parts are more risqué, some have serious language and deal with mature themes and adult concepts like violence, offensive language and naughtiness.
Disclaimer: I'm sure I've covered this in the previous 7 stories I've written in this fandom, but to cover my bases, I'll repeat myself – Not mine. I'm playing with someone else's toys, Nancylee Myatt and others actually. All for fun and if money is being made off what I'm writing, someone should let me know.
Author's Note: The penultimate story in my A.U. Fact is, I'm trying to figure just how far I'm taking the last story in this series. This follows The Why Don't You and I Series, The Game Series and Roll Away Your Stone and Heavy Lies the Crown, picking up a few months after Nikki & Nora come out at work. Please feel read and enjoy. Thank you!
Ch. 1 – Broken Bootstraps
"So, why are we taking this case?" I grump as I shut Frankie's door. "It's our day off, Nik. The only day we've had this whole month. It's not like I don't love my job, but a day off might be nice."
Her reply is an eye roll and waning patience, "Dan didn't really give me much, Nor. I'm just following orders like you. Now, can we please get this over with?"
Nikki pinches the bridge of her nose with one hand and motions me to lead with the other. Taking her demand, I head towards the bank's front doors and feel her tug at the back hem of my t-shirt. We flash our badges at the uniform taking point at the entrance before stepping inside.
It's a bank. I've been in a few. This one isn't that special. In fact, I think the same layout was given to its other branch off Desaix. Teller windows are off to the left, several offices off to the right and directly in front of the waiting area is a secure entrance to the tellers' stations and the vaults. Standard layout, I would think, for most banks.
The emergency response units already cleared most of the witnesses and the two bodies that the perps left behind. The only indications that blood was spilt here are the marks on the floor representing position and the pooled blood waiting to be cleaned.
We'll have to rely on the Uni's doing their job and taking thorough statements. That should be interesting when we get their write ups.
I feel a tug on my sleeve and turn to Nikki who is pointing towards the small sitting area in front of the offices. A rotund, red faced man in a suit that looks about as crisp as a dollar bill fresh from the washing machine sits in one of the chairs talking to another woman in a pressed pants suit.
Techs buzz about while we head over to the two.
"Hello," Nikki takes the introduction, "I'm Det. Beaumont and this is my partner, Det. Delaney." She holds her hand out and the woman takes it first.
"Barbara Weeks, Vice President of Public Relations," the woman with shoulder length blonde hair and murky brown eyes steps up. "This is our branch manager, Dean Chambers." Nikki shakes his hand next and I stand off to the left of my partner more than content to let her handle this.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both, even under the circumstances. Det. Delaney and I will be taking over the investigation," Nikki produces two of her cards and hands one each to the two standing in front of us. "If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us."
Mrs. Weeks nods and asks, "What would you two like to do to start?"
"We'll need to secure surveillance footage and then if Mr. Chambers can walk us through what happened, we can go from there," I finally speak up. "I'll be more than happy to grab the footage and you can take Det. Beaumont on a walk through."
"Of course, detective," Weeks agrees and motions me to follow her. "I'll show where you can find everything. Dean, I'll be back shortly."
Nikki's chin dips as I turn and follow Mrs. Weeks. She leads me through the doors that grant us access to the teller areas and the back of the business while explaining to me the security measures they have in place, "Our firm's security is handled by ADT. The majority of our branches security systems are housed offsite at ADT's local facility."
I scan the areas that we pass through. The teller section is in complete disarray, there are three doors that are closed off to my right and two that are open to my left. We stop short of the vault entrance and I notice a very familiar shiny, brown balled head.
Benton turns away from the dusting he was doing on a shelving unit of the vault and I catch his eyes. "Delaney, well, look at you."
Mrs. Weeks stops short and I hold a finger up asking for a moment as I walk over to the forensic analyst. "Faunce, it's good to see you out of the lab. Where's the interns?" I wonder because usually the ones not being paid are responsible for the grunt work.
He grins. "Don't have any available right now. You're stuck with me. Where's that partner of yours?"
I wink at him. Over the past few months, Nikki and I have tiptoed out of the closet and it hasn't been as horrible as I thought it was going to be. There have been moments, but it's usually overshadowed by shrugs of indifference or the full on support by the good people of our profession.
Benton Faunce is certainly one of the good ones. Although, Nikki insists that he was heartbroken when she broke the news to him. He had asked around about me and wanted to know if I was seeing anyone. Nikki took the bull by the horns there and let him know, much to Charlie's delight that she was my partner in more ways than one.
"Talking to the bank manager. We'll be around in a bit and you can tell us what you've got?" I ask, stuffing my hands in my jeans pockets.
"Sure thing, Nora." He turns and goes back to dusting.
I go back to Mrs. Weeks. "Now, as I was saying, while ADT has most of our security footage housed off site. We have a small feed on a DVR that holds twenty-four hours of footage before it's digitally transferred to ADT's servers." She swipes a card over a panel next to a small door and motions me through. "Everything that you'll need for today can be found here." She hands me a card and explains, "There are logins and passwords for you. Do you have a card that I can pass along to ADT if you should need additional information from them?"
"Of course," I reach in my back pocket and pull the few I stuffed in there on the way over.
She plucks the card from between my fingers, smiling. "If you need anything, they'll be more than helpful. The login information on the back of the card will get you to the system's folders. From there the navigation is fairly simple. Folders will tell you which camera you will be viewing."
"Can we copy the files?" I ask settling into the lone desk's chair and tap the space bar. The system whirs to life and a login box pops up on the screen.
"Yes. The drawer off to your right should have what you need for that," she answers motioning towards a small line of drawers in the metal desk.
I look her way and take in the lines of her face. "I think I'm good. I'm sure Det. Beaumont will have some questions for you if you'd like." I lick my lips and encourage her to leave a little more, "More than likely I'll see the shootings, I don't recommend it for the average viewer."
Her shoulders slump a little and she nods. "Thank you. You won't need any swipe cards to get out, but I'll leave you my badge in case you need to move around back here." She lays a thick, white, plastic card on the left edge of the desk and leaves.
I don't particularly envy her position right now, an unaccounted for amount of cash missing and two dead bodies does not make for good publicity.
"Delaney," Benny ribs me from behind, "order or get out of the way."
"Yeah," Dom chimes in from behind his partner, "hell, woman, my grams is slow, but she's ninety-four. What's your excuse?"
My teeth grind.
Whipping around, my sock to Benny's shoulder is pulled at the last second, but it's still heavy enough to knock him into Dominic. Twin grunts and whimpers are offered in response.
It's almost enough to pull a smile from me.
I turn back to the wide eyed cashier and place the order, "Two cobb salads, no cheese, a hot dog with ketchup and onions, a bottle of water and medium drink."
As I order, I hear, "The hell Beaumont? Who pissed in your partner's Wheaties this morning?"
I hand the woman working the register my debit card and Nikki answers, "Just that time of the month, fellas."
Not even bothering to turn around, I jab my pin into the key pad being held my way and remind my girlfriend, "I wouldn't throw those stones, baby. Glass can cut."
The huff I hear is enough of a response from her.
Really, it wouldn't be this bad.
The cashier hands me my receipt, bottle of water and cup. The card goes to my back pocket and I head to the soda machine.
I mean I wouldn't be nearly as annoyed if Nikki would cut the passive aggressive bullshit and tell me what I did to piss her off. She's been short and uncommunicative all damn day.
The cardboard cup depresses as I jam it against the lever for ice. The cubes tumble down and fill it up. I tune out the three behind me and decide on what to drink. It's the eternal question, Diet Coke or Cherry Coke. I love Cherry Coke, but my jeans aren't as loose as they were last month and with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up…
I blow my fallen bangs out of my eyes and decide that if I'm in for a penny, I'm in for a pound. The cup goes under the Cherry Coke spout and I watch the syrup and carbonated water swirl and fizz, the only grin I've managed today spreading across my lips at it bubbles up.
Nikki seems fine and dandy with her coworkers. So it's not her overall mood.
It's me.
I stop the liquid just below the rim of the cup and head towards the table Nikki's sitting at. Dom's sitting across from her. Nikki pats the hard plastic bench next to her and gives me a smile. My eyebrow quirks, but I take it and hand over her bottle of water before I slide into place next to her.
"So, do you two know why Harney tagged you on your day off?" Dominic asks when Benny slides two trays on to the table. One holds my order and the other theirs. Two double burgers and an order of fries so large they stuffed the order into a large drink cup.
"Nope," I answer and separate out the food, giving Nikki hers and taking my hot dog and salad.
"What about you two?" Nikki asks and hands me off a few napkins and the tomatoes from her salad. "And when did you start eating meat?"
Benny's eyebrows wiggle. "Veggie patties."
"You didn't?" Dom's burger stops half way to his lips.
His partner pops a French fry into his mouth and smirks. "You put so much damn mustard and Tabasco on your food, does it matter what kind of meat you're eating?"
"Oh for fuck's sake, Armstrong, if you're gonna pop off on some bullshit rant about eating sen…scene…" Dom falters at the word.
I help him out, "Sentient."
He jabs a finger at me, "Not helping, Delaney, but yeah, sentient animals, I'm gonna put in for a change of partner."
Benny just smiles around his bite of sandwich. "I've been doing it for the past few months, Dominic."
"I don't give a shit. Look here, you tree hugging, piece of queer bait. I'd eat your ass if it was legal," Dominic spits, but takes a bite of his burger anyhow.
Benny just snorts, but it's Nikki who pipes up, "While usually such language would have me giving you an earful, I can't help but think that was more of a Freudian slip than an attack on your partner's lifestyle."
"Wha…?" Dom manages around a mouthful of food before he reddens.
I snicker. Benny pinches his cheek and coos, "Anytime you wanna eat my ass, Dom, baby, you just let me know. I love getting my old salad tossed."
"You three make me fuckin' sick," Barrett snips. "The double we got in the financial district isn't going anywhere. I've got steaks in the freezer that are warmer than any of the leads we have to work."
"Yeah, we've got a bunch of Mizaru, Kikazaru, Iwazaru all over the damn place," Benny gives a grump of his own.
"Ah, who?" Nikki asks before I have a chance to.
"Ya know, the three wise monkeys?" Benny supplies and furthers his explanation at three confused looks, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Their names are Mizaru, Kikazaru, Iwazaru. Based on the old Japanese proverb and furthered along by the great philosopher Confucius."
"See this is the shit I'm talking about, Armstrong." Dom shakes his head. "It's bad enough that when me and Rosie come to visit we gotta take off our shoes, but we also gotta deal with those weird smells from your altar."
"Ah, my young samaneras, I will teach you the path yet." Benny takes all of it in stride.
I mean for all the shit Dom tosses his way for being Buddhist, Benny takes it all with a smile.
I think it gets to Dom more that way.
I pass over the tissues and try again, "Ms. Torrain, what was the first thing you noticed about the assailants?"
She sniffles, her eyes red rimmed, her face blotchy and I haven't been able to get her to form a single cohesive sentence since Nikki and I sat down with her forty-five minutes ago.
Benny said that we should join him at his meditation center sometime this week. He said it'd help with the whole patience thing that he knows I lack.
While I don't see myself going 'ohm' for extended periods of time, patience with this woman right now would be amazing.
"Well," she sniffles and I feel Nikki brush my arm, preventing the half-formed sigh from escaping, "It just happened so fast."
"What about any markings?" Nikki asks patting the girl's arm, "Anything you can think of would help us out?"
"I want to help," she says, her brown eyes filling up with tears again, "It's just so hard."
I shoot Nikki a look and try myself, "What about after they came around the back side of the teller station? One stayed out on the main floor the other one, looked a little bigger from the security feed. Did you notice anything then?"
She looks up, not really at the ceiling, but searching her memory for anything to help us. I appreciate that. "It was so quick. Their direction was short. They didn't talk much and we couldn't see their faces. They were covered by this black material."
"Okay," Nikki says and looks at me. I nod and slip a card with my contact information into her hand. "My number is on the back. Det. Delaney's is on the front. If you can think of anything else you give us a call."
Gayle Torrain nods as we say our goodbyes and make our way out to Frankie. I'd bother with my sunglasses if the sun was out at all. The clouds aren't cooperating today though. They haven't been much all week.
The sky is gray. The clouds floating in it are a hue off; otherwise they're a perfect match. I slam Frankie's door, slip the keys in the ignition, but hold off on turning it over. Nikki's door closes and I watch her rest her head on the back of the seat, stretching her neck.
The wince does not go unnoticed. I reach out, threading my fingers through her hair at the nape of her neck and apply a little bit of pressure there to help ease the tension.
"It's not going to help, Nora, but thanks for trying," she says her eyes still closed, her neck still arched back.
"I know, but…" I trail off and worry my lower lip.
"There's an element to this case that makes me think of the robberies Georgia and I were working in August," she cuts off the words on the tip of my tongue.
I'm kind of thankful. I'm sure my pressing her for telling me what's wrong would only annoy her more.
I've learned.
When she gets like this, less is always more and silence is golden.
"There are definite changes, two assailants instead of three and the dead hostages, but…" she trails off and sucks her teeth. "The precision is the same, the outfits."
"There wasn't anything on the tapes that caused the second robber to open fire," I fill in.
"But they did," she fills in.
"We'll take a closer look at the tapes, maybe we missed something on the few views we had." I withdraw my hand. It's best to get a move on. Torrain lived out of the way and if we don't hustle, I'm going to be sitting in some ugly traffic with a cranky partner.
"What happened with the robberies?" I ask a few minutes later, making our way across town.
A look out of the corner of my eye sees Nikki slide over the leather bench seat. I raise my right arm and she snuggles against me resting her head in the crook of my arm. "Luke ran some info for us. Looking at robberies with similar M.O.'s, but what he pulled was too much and we didn't have time to chase anything down. With you out, and the cases we were working, Dan told us to back burner the whole investigation."
She yawns then continues, "We agreed because they were precise. No one was hurt. The amount of money taken was a bit. I think the total put it somewhere around seven-point-four million, but the banks were just as encouraging to let it go."
"Hmm," is all I say to encourage her to continue.
"I know our department's not horribly understaffed…"
I snicker. "Yeah, 'cause our lack of a day off since the end of October says that we've just the right amount of people for our department."
That bit of sarcasm earns me a swat to my thigh, but she doesn't disagree. "Well, when I had lunch with Ron last week, he was telling me that his budgets are being cut. The Brass is asking him to do less with more. I think it's just goin' around."
"So we're stuck busting our ass while the office dwellers get to line their pockets," I grouse, changing lanes to take the off ramp towards the station.
"Now, now, my plebian princess, we members of the bourgeoisie do more than just line our pockets and make merry from the sweat of those beneath us." She reaches up and tweaks my nose. "When we get home remind me and I'll show you the budgets I've been helping my daddy with. It's comin' in at the state level."
"Fine, fine. So," I pause not sure if I really want to do this. It can only make the rest of the day unbearable instead of highly annoying so… "You wanna tell me what's wrong?"
She stiffens under me, her head pops up and her answer is delayed. It takes a half a minute before I hear her speak, "Guess I was just looking forward to a day off."
"Is that why you've been less than talkative since we left this morning?" I ask before I have to think about what I've done.
Nikki pulls away from me and moves back to her side of the car. "'Cause you traipsing around the house, slamming the bathroom door was called for after I got off the phone with Dan?" Her eyes narrow and I know she's expecting an answer.
I'm a little shocked.
That's what this is about?
"Ohh-kay," I sigh and try to salvage this, whatever it is, "Nik, I'm sorry about that, but really, it was unintentional. I didn't think that I pulled that hard." I try giving her a smile and stop at her look.
I suck in my lips and bite down.
"Maybe I…" I start.
"Look, we're both tired. I'm working on a three day old headache. Just save it, please," Nikki interrupts me.
My mouth clamps shut as my tongue gets planted in my cheek. The steering wheel squeaks under my grip. "Whatever."


text: [[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gunnm_2586.jpg]][[caption-width-right:250: BadassAdorable incarnate.]]In the early twenty-sixth century, a wealthy elite live lives of sybaritic luxury in Tiphares (Salem in the original Japanese version), a city that floats in the sky. Below the city, though, is a city-sized scrapyard called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Scrapyard]] (Scrap Iron City in the original Japanese version) to which it constantly contributes its trash; scraping out a living there are all manner of thugs, criminals, scavengers -- and the occasional idealist.One particular idealist is Ido, a cybernetic surgeon and outcast from Tiphares, who offers medical and mechanical repairs to those who have replaced parts of their bodies with machinery. One day, he finds the head and shoulders of a cyborg on the scrap heap. The brain within the head still lives, and he brings her home to rebuild her. Because the face and what little is left of the body appears to be that of a young girl, that's how he rebuilds her. She's a quiet, almost shy thing, practically mute, and he names her Alita (Gally in the original Japanese version).Things get complicated when she discovers that her benefactor is also a bounty hunter... and decides that she, too, will hunt dangerous criminal cyborgs. What no one expects is that somewhere in her lost memory are all the skills needed to do so...The manga series, written by Yukito Kishiro, initially ran from 1991 to 1995, at which point it was ended due to ill health on the part of its creator. In 2000 it was revived, initially for a limited run to provide an epilogue based on the final scenario of the Playstation game ''Gunnm: Memories of Mars'', but the new series, ''Last Order'', has since spiraled into a run longer than the original series, finally concluding with Volume 19, making it more than twice as long as the original. In October of 2014, ''Gunnm: Kasei Senki'' (''Gunnm: Mars Chronicle''), the sequel to ''Last Order'', started.In 1993, an anime OVA was released based on the first two volumes of the manga (it was later released in the United States by ADV Films under the name ''Battle Angel''). There are no plans to continue animated adaptations, but a [[Film/AlitaBattleAngel live action version]] produced by ''Film/TheTerminator'' director Creator/JamesCameron and directed by Creator/RobertRodriguez, which revisits the same first two volumes of the manga as the [=OVAs=],[[note]]Or four, including the Motorball arc, according to the other sources[[/note]] is finally out of DevelopmentHell, with an up-and-coming star Creator/RosaSalazar announced to play the lead in May 2016, and [[https://youtu.be/aNroLlYlklQ a trailer finally released in December 2017.]] It is set for release on July 20, 2018. Thanks to Cameron grabbing the license, the OVA is no longer sold in the United States.When the manga was released in English as ''Battle Angel Alita'' by Creator/VizMedia, the name of the main character was changed from Gally to Alita, which -- along with some other changes -- may cause confusion for some. The creator hung a [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] on this during a LotusEaterMachine sequence near the end of the original series; in the Japanese version Gally is renamed "Alita" in the dream, and vice versa in the English version.There are also two short spin-off mangas. One, ''Ashen Victor'', stars Snev, the Crash King, a once-promising Motorball player who crashes in every race he runs. The other, ''Another Stories'', is a collection of four separate side stories that flesh out the universe a bit.Art-wise, the manga's cyberpunk style is reminiscent of a cross between [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/Moebius Moebius]] and [[http://comicartcommunity.com/gallery/categories.php?cat_id=26 Simon Bisley.]]----!!''Battle Angel Alita'' provides examples of:* TheAce: Zekka, Zekka, fucking Zekka. It's like someone put [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]] in a cyborg body and gave him awesome Kung Fu skills, and he's such a LargeHam that his idea of being a true man, and therefore a true warrior, is to be able to destroy an entire planet with nothing but pure skill and HotBlood. Two FacelessGoons in the background promptly [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade]] on this. * ActionGirl: Alita looks like a short teenage girl, but is one of the strongest warriors in the galaxy.* AdjectiveNounFred: The English version.* AfterTheEnd: An asteroid impact wiped out most of the earth's surface, the survivors rebuilt most of their civilisation in space. Currently the world is so devastated it isn't even immediately clear the story takes place on Earth.* AlasPoorVillain: Happens fairly frequently. ** It began with the first big villain Makaku, who up until then had been a body-hijacker who had such a severe addiction to endorphins that he ate other people's brains. During his final fight, he drops hints at a tragic backstory, and when he and Alita are seemingly consumed in a massive explosion, she reveals that she's holding it back with the Berserker body, and asks him why he is the way that he is, and it's heartbreaking.** Zapan gets it, too, complete with a hallucination that his monstrous transformation and the unintentional murder of the woman he loved were both part of a horrible nightmare. ** Den is more of an AntiVillain, but he meets his death with one of the most moving arguments of sentience in a comic that regularly debates what it is that makes someone an individual. ** Rakan's case is even more tragic than Zapan's when we get to know his backstory. While Zapan was at least ''somewhat'' responsible for his fate, everything that happened to Rakan was just sheer bad luck.** Even [[spoiler:Yoko, Alita's former self. Durring an [[DreamSequence internal dialog]] with the current Alita, the solar system's most dangerous assassin and bringer of the ''second'' EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt breaks down crying, revealing that no one ever loved her.]]* AlternativeCalendar: The space colonies count their years as ''Era Sputnik'', dating from the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957.** Spinoffs also use the tongue-in-cheek ''Anno Koyomi'' calendar tied to the birth of Koyomi K. at the very beginning of the story. It was actually the first AlternativeCalendar in the story, as ''Era Sputnik'' was introduced only in ''Last Order'' as a Keiran Farrel's invention, and Farrels weren't mentioned in the series before the Cognates arc. Just for the reference, the tenth Z.O.T.T. finals take place in A.K. 15 or E.S. 591 (or A.D. 2548, for that matter).* AllCrimesAreEqual: ZigZagged in the Scrapyard. Violate any of the Factory's laws and that's it; the sentence is death. You get a bounty on your head - literally - and you become a lottery ticket for any Hunter-Warrior capable of killing you and hauling your head to the Factory for processing. ** Averted in that the severity of your crime determines the size of your bounty, so if you're too hard to kill to be worth the price the Factory will pay for your head, you can just ignore it. A ''lot'' of Alita's enemies fall in this category; superhuman mass murderers who've walked free for ''years'' because no-one could stop them despite their sky-high bounties.** Played straight if you violate either of the two ''big'' laws; possession of aircraft or firearms. Then the Factory will send the equivalent of ''VideoGame/UltimaOnline'' CityGuards after you, and they've ''never'' failed to kill their target within the ''hour.''* AllPowerfulBystander: [[spoiler:Don Fua]], after his come back.* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: The Tuned Elf and Zwölf somehow ended up playing this exactly straight. Thinking like one and acting alike.* AmnesiacDissonance: When people * AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The final chapters of ''Last Order'' revolve around Figure Four setting out to find Alita around and after the final battle of the ZOTT.* AnimatedAdaptation* AnimalMotifs:** For Alita it's cats due to her personality, and to a lesser extent octopuses due to her constant pout. Sechs' appears to be a shark, thanks to [[strike:her]] [[GenderBender his]] sharp teeth and [[SlasherSmile deadly grin]], and Zekka's compound eyes and overall design resembles a wasp.* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:No one is ever safe from the grim reaper in this series. Even our charming lead was very, VERY dead at one point, but Desty Nova just loves to break the rules.]]* AppliedPhlebotinum: Desty Nova's nano machines. They allow him to create just about anything. [[{{ItAmusedMe}} Now if only he would do something constructive with them for once instead of just causing trouble...]]* ApocalypseHow: Class 1; in 2012 (E.S. 55), a solar flare's EMP shut down all technology and a massive meteorite impact on Tokyo tilted Earth's axis, wiping out most of humanity.* ArtEvolution: In series, and, more starkly, between Gunnm and Last Order.* TheAtoner: Alita in the later half of the Last Order, see NiceJobBreakingItHero.** [[spoiler:Averted with Nova X, who turns out to be just as much of a sociopath as the original.]]* AudienceSurrogate: The aforementioned Koyomi K., who was born at the very same day as Ido found Alita's body in the scrap heap in the E.S. 576, launching the whole story.* AuthorAppeal: Kishiro definitely has a thing for women with big lips. Not to mention: Tearing those same ladies to pieces.* AxCrazy: A fair number of characters qualify for this at one point or another.* BadassBoast: There are many, both delivered by Alita and by her antagonists. However, even if it can arguably be fully appreciated only by someone with a discrete knowledge of basic physics, the most epic one of the first series is probably delivered in the second-last chapter by Desty Nova, among all people. It comes after that he has defied Tiphares to the point that they prefer to [[BigBadEnsemble readmit him into their lot instead of fighting him]] and that he has ([[spoiler:apparently]]) trapped Alita into his [[LotusEaterMachine Ouroboros Machine]] to brainwash her. And with this boast he is not only defying one of the most fearsome warriors of Alita's world ([[spoiler:i.e. Kaos in his Den incarnation]]), but the law which governs the fabric of reality itself. You know that he is doomed, but it is still impressive.-->'''Desty Nova''': I spit upon this frail crazed world! I spit upon the second law of thermodynamics!* BadassCrew: ** Alita spends most of the [[{{Bloodsport}} motorball]] arc gathering a band of powerful allies for the final battle against [[{{TheAce}} Jashugan]]. They do a really cool slow motion PowerWalk [[spoiler:but Jashugan still rips them all to shreds in ten seconds!]] It's so awesome it hurts...** Even more pronounced in the Last Order. While they ''are'' a RagtagBunchOfMisfits in a lot of senses, you really ''don't'' want to face the Space Angels in a serious fight. Given that even their IdiotHero of a {{Lancer}} Sechs led them to the semi-finals ''singlehandedly'' and then did most of the work to beat Jupiter's team when all other finals were always Jupiter vs. Venus, and then fought the absolutely over-the-top [[TheAce Ace]] Zekka to a draw in the finals, it's actually quite terrifying to imagine what they are capable of when they're ''all'' giving it in full. * BadassNormal:** Ido's just about the only Hunter-Warrior in town with the body he was born with.** Figure Four. A guy who didn't even grow up in the Scrapyard, who can take on Cyborgs in one on one fights. He also knows how to create a primitive but effective shockwave attack with a human body and survives a building falling on him... by pure luck.** In ''Last Order'', Zazie, while a cyborg, has a body that is barely above the baseline human, while all other Space Angels have a state of the art bodies.[[note]]Alita has an Imaginos 2.1 body -- a nanolevel fusion of Desty Nova's Imaginos 1.0 with Fata Morgana and Jovian Tunguska weapon upgraded later by her subjugating their Zeus computer core while Sechs has a top-of-the-line Fizziroy slightly newer than Zekka's.[[/note]] It doesn't hinder her much.* BattleTops: Motorball second league champion "Caligula" Armblessed has an ability to transform into one.* {{BFG}}: Once the plot leaves the Scrapyard, these show up in various sizes.* {{BFS}}: Dizaster, a stupidly gigantic sword with built-in engines that doubles as a WaveMotionSword. Its OldMaster cyborg wielder Getz, who's definitely of normal height, uses it to fight WARSHIPS, and he's not even a fifth its size.* BenevolentAI: Surprizingly for such a dark story, there's not just one, but actually ''two'' of them: [[spoiler:the Earth Sphere's Melchisedek, in the form and personality of Arthur Farrel, and the Jovian Zeus, both roughly on the level of Literature/TheCulture's Minds]], and in the ''Last Order'' they join forces to guide and guard the humanity [[TheManBehindTheMan from the shadows]], through their agent, [[TitleDrop The Last Order]].[[note]]That is, [[TheHero Alita]].[[/note]]* BerserkButton: Zekka's bike. [[LawOfDisproportionateResponse DO NOT TOUCH ZEKKA'S BIKE]]. [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry Bad things will happen]]. Sechs learns this the hard way, and when (s)he does HilarityEnsues.* BerserkerTears* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Last Order ends with the Scrapyard, Tiphares and Ketheres finally making peace, and Figure finally being reunited with Alita... or at least the one he met. The one we have been following the whole series instead continues her journey to Mars, leaving all of her former comrades behind with the belief that she may not return alive.]]** [[spoiler:"If I had but one wish...it would be that I could be her." The story of Alita continues, in the sequel to Last Order.]]* BloodKnight: Zekka; no doubt quite a number of others over the run.** From the first series there's the Bar Jack soldier Knucklehead, who openly admits he joined not for the cause but just to "Ride my motorcycle and fire my gun".** Alita becomes this over time. * BloodSport: Motorball, Z.O.T.T., and a number of others.* BodyHorror: Many of the cyborgs, and anything/body from Venus. Especially Alduína of Venus's [[TournamentArc Z.O.T.T.]] team. Of course, she very, very quickly gets worse. And in the original series, the victims of [[MadScientist Desty Nova's]] Karma experiments seen in his first and second laboratories also qualify. Also maske tumor, as shown by Baron Muster.* BoisterousBruiser: Zekka, in spades, clubs, and sharp pointy things.* BountyHunter: Ido, Alita, and a number of other characters durring the first arc.* BornLucky: Figure Four is this. While a badass on his own and also capable of getting harmed, he has a long streak of insane luck. Including being on the same train as Alita, surviving a building falling on him because of the way the debris land and comming into a rainstorm filled with sucked up fishes while lost in the desert. Also in his appearance Last Order he so far [[spoiler:managed to escape Sechs when a lightning hits her titan blade and ending up in Ido's clinic after losing his arm in the fight with Sechs.]]* BrainFood: Makaku, Alita's first big bounty, ''got'' that bounty because he's fond of randomly grabbing people in the streets, tearing off the tops of their skulls, and slurping up their brains. Notably, it's not just pure sadism(though he has ''plenty'' of that) - it's because he's a ''junkie''; Nova designed his cyborg body to efficiently extract [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-Endorphin beta-endorphin]] from chordate nerve tissue. A few seconds before he's first seen snacking on people, his underling is offering money for a (living and playing!) dog's brain.* BrainUploading: [[spoiler:All the citizens of Salem have their brains uploaded to and replaced with computer chips when they reach adulthood.]]* BrokenAce: Alita is faster, stronger, more talented (and cuter) than almost any other cyborg. She also has a habit of [[{{NiceJobBreakingItHero}} unintentionally making a huge mess of things]] because of her inherent brashness and lack of foresight.* BrokenAngel* BunnyEarsLawyer: Elf and Zwolf, literally on one occasion.* ButterflyKnife: Alita's Damascus Blade was made into an oversized one after she quit motorball. [[spoiler:Nova recovered the Damascus Blade after killing Alita with a powerful doll bomb but found out that it had sustained extreme fatigue. He decided to use it as a component for Alita's new Imaginos Body, further strengthening the link between blade and bearer.]]* CantCatchUp: Sechs has this problem with Gally. Though not necessarily in terms of fighting style, but simply because Gally keeps getting a better cyborg body than what Sechs can get. Sechs' body always seem to be one step behind. Until their bodies are even it's hard to tell how evenly matched they are.* CallingYourAttacks* CanonDisContinuity: ''Last Order'' continues on from just before the end of the original manga; the last 150 or so pages never happened.** So the original canon basically ends with [[spoiler:Alita being blown into a million pieces and Desty Nova sweeping up her remains.]] It would be sad if that had been [[LeftHanging the definitive ending]]...* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Figure Four, a "straight meat hick", can punch a cyborg [[BoomHeadshot in the head to destroy its brain]]. This is in a universe where an average cyborg can punch through a brick wall.* ChekhovsGun: The [[SpellMyNameWithAnS P/F]] box. First seen on the last page of Chapter 5 of ''Last Order'', and stated by Nova in Chapter 6 to contain, "The most valuable thing in the world," is revealed in Chapter 61 to contain [[spoiler:'''Alita's organic brain.''' Nova created a Tipharean brain chip containing Alita's personality, and the chip-brained Alita is only one to appear in ''Last Order.'']]* {{Chickification}}: Nova tries to defeat Alita with a variation of this trope. [[spoiler:He puts her in a LotusEaterMachine where she can live out her life happily and peacefully with Ido and Nova himself as her father figures. This is supposed to reprogram Alita into a harmless and sweet little girl.]] It doesn't work. In fact, Nova is the one who is (somewhat) [[VillainDecay softened]] by the experience. Unfortunately for humanity, the Desty Nova that next appears is a back-up from BEFORE this softening. * CloningBlues: Often resulting in BetaTestBaddie themes.** Desty Nova deserves a special mention. In ''Last Order'', Alita, having acquired both of Desty Nova's brain chips and using them as [[{{Pun}} Bargaining Chips]], stages a break-in with the help of another Virtual Portable Desty Nova ([[spoiler:"We call it the [=NovaPod=]!"]]). They're all ready to go in when they are interrupted by... Evil FunnyAfro Desty Nova ("Let's call me.. Super-Nova!") , who [[JustBetweenYouAndMe tells them all about how he will be destroying Alita now]], but he's interrupted by a transmission from... Desty Nova, Flan Cook.** And earlier was a somewhat darkly humorous moment in Tiphares, when it's revealed that nanobot pods growing into cloned Desty Novas have actually become a rampant pest, and are only kept under control by teams of exterminators with flamethrowers incinerating all the ones they find. [[spoiler:Nova X even uses his own downgraded clones for experimentation. Hey, don't judge him!]]** Alita's 12 TUNED AR-Series Replicas also qualify, even though by the time ''Last Order'' begins, AR-6 Sechs [[spoiler:ruthlessly hunts down and kills all of the others save for Elf and Zwolf, who managed to kick her ass with their WaifFu WonderTwinPowers]] just to prove to herself that she's not a [[WhatHaveIBecome cheap imitation]] and show that she's as good as or better than Alita. When she tries the same with Alita, even with Elf and Zwolf backing her up she gets [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomped]].** To take this trope to it's limits, when ''Last Order'' reaches it's conclusion you have [[spoiler:two women existing at the same time who can both present a strong case for being the one true Alita, and yet are not quite the cyborg protagonist named Alita who was almost utterly destroyed at the end of the original series. The first being the fully-cybernetic Alita, who shows character continuity with her original self, and the second being the fully-organic body, complete with her restored organic brain (though lacking memories of the events durring ''Last Order'') created to fulfill her promise to Figure Four. The concept of what makes an individual gets taken UpToEleven here.]]* ColonizedSolarSystem: Venus and Jupiter are superpowers while Mars is in pretty bad shape, and there are smaller settlements here and there.* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Motorball player Zafal Takie appears to be based on ''Grace Jones'' as Zula in ''Film/ConanTheDestroyer''.* CrapsackWorld: Entire solar system has been a life of hell after the Terraforming War.** Earth has become a large salvage yard with little to no form of order and opportunities, except for Tiphares that used resources extracted from Earth into manufactured goods sold to enrich themselves.** Venus is populated by [[FatBastard overweight]] [[FrenchJerk French]] [[IAmAHumanitarian cannibals]], who ate cloned non-sentient meats from cloning technology along with various advancements to turn themselves into "humpty-dumpty" forms.** Moons of Jupiter, particularly Jovia and Europa, had inhabitants are inhabited by [[HollywoodCyborg fully cybernetically enhanced]] [[HuskyRusskie Russians]] who chosen this actions just to survive in harsh environment without resorting to large airtight chambers.** Mars is locked in [[ForeverWar centuries-long civil war]] that resulted in proxy wars between the above three factions after the death of their king.** Mercury is populated by an alien race [[GreyGoo developed out of the escaped nanomachines]], which is [[StarfishAliens so incomprehensible]] that their best attempt at contact so far is a 15-meter-tall mostrosity sent to compete in the Solar System's most notorious BloodSport. * CrazyPrepared: In Last Order, Zazie's level of preparedness for the ZOTT probably rivals Batman.** She gets plenty moments of awesome in all her appearance, but it shows the most during the final with Space Karate Team. Let's do a listing here: First, she brought enough weapon and ammo to fill an entire room (but is not allowed to bring most of them in due to the weight restriction). She still looks like a walking armory entering the match. During the match, she effectively use a combination of pistols, grenades and a few exotic weapons: An Assault Rifle / Grenade Launcher / Shotgun [[SwissArmyWeapon combination gun]], and a Metal Storm - like [[MoreDakka stacked projectile machine gun]]. However, the true aces up her sleeves are gradually revealed later. [[spoiler:The pair of arms that she is using since the beginning was just a pair of [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Exo-Arms]]. Her overcoat is actually a DeployableCover. She has three hovering bunker-buster missile hanging in the air from the match's beginning. Last but not least, the two [[HandCannon giant revolvers]] she has been carrying around shoot bullets made from [[DepletedPhlebotinumShells Osmium]], which is the densest naturally occurring element. She ended up using all these to win the fight, with only one round left.]]* CreateYourOwnVillain: [[spoiler:Zapan]] is a case study of this. You should have apologized back in volume one, Alita.* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Knucklehead, to a moderate degree. After being degraded by Colonel Bozzle and his unit, he finally snaps, nearly killing Bozzle, sabotaging the socket-soldiers, and pretty much blowing up the entire mechanized company. Not only that, but he frees Alita and snaps her out of the pit of despair she'd fallen into. It's such a big moment for her that he's featured among the faces of people she sees (during Last Order) who had a profound role in her life. ** There is also Tiegel, "the lamest motorballer ever" who is so bad at motorball everyone simply ignores him. However he is a true {{Determinator}} who uses the {{Metagame}} for maximum effect and [[spoiler:sacrifices himself to save Alita from certain defeat in the final battle.]]* CuteBruiser: Apparently one of the reasons why the [=OVAs=] didn't do too well (and thus never had any sequels) was, reportedly, the fact viewers thought Alita ''wasn't cute enough''.* CyberPunk* DataCrystal: A MacGuffin in ''Last Order''.* DeathIsCheap: As long as the brain is reasonably intact, you can be brought back, but DeaderThanDead still happens frequently.** Desty Nova, meanwhile, thanks to some unique tricks, can survive even IF his brain is destroyed completely. * DefeatMeansFriendship: Alita gains a lot of friends and allies through this.** Jokingly averted in one of the omake strips of volume 14, where one of the Guntroll members cheers for the Karate team to beat the Space Angels.* DesignerBabies : Everyone in Tiphares is one, and born in {{Uterine Replicator}}s. [[spoiler:Desty Nova and Jim Roscoe]] are the result of the Genetic Engineering Nurtured Enhanced-intelligence ([[FunWithAcronyms G.E.N.E.]]) Project: an experiment in breeding superhuman intellect in an isolated environment - [[spoiler:''Tiphares''. 400 were created in Tiphares, no differently from any of its other citizens. 360 went insane in Tiphares itself, if not because they're smart enough to figure out that Tipharean brains are replaced with chips at 18, then because they discover their artificial origins - this is what broke Roscoe. 40 escaped to the surface - and 36 died there. Four of them - among them Desty Nova in Phase 13 of ''Last Order'' - managed to ascend the orbital elevator to Ketheres... where Aga Mbadi killed them, and implanted their brain chips in his own brain to enhance his own intellect. Nova was diabolical enough to resist this assimilation... and joined Mbadi in his experiments]].* DiedStandingUp: Jashugan, along with at least one member of Guntroll.* DownerEnding: The OVA, which ended on what is possibly the most depressing point in the whole manga ([[spoiler:except ''any'' of the references to [[TheWoobie Lou Collins]]]]).* DropTheHammer: Ido's rocket-hammer thing.* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Den gets his own when he not only rampages through Factory security, but does so after Kaos had attempted a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Reason You Suck Speech]] on him. Den completely smashes Kaos' accusations that Den is nothing more than a 'figment', and refuses to leave his body even in the face of death.]]** [[spoiler:And a little bit of fail when his sword breaks. Ba dum ba daa![[http://read.homeunix.com/onlinereading/?image=Battle%20Angel%20Alita%20Complete/Volume%209%20-%20Angel-s%20Ascension/ba09-134-135.jpg&server=nas.html]]]]* {{Dystopia}}* EnforcedTechnologyLevels: Not as extreme as most cases - all kinds of sci-fi staples such as computers, advanced medicine, and of course cybernetics are permitted - but the Factory enforces an ''absolute'' ban on aircraft and firearms. Both are for self-evident reasons; aircraft are forbidden to keep Scrapyarders out of Tiphares, firearms are forbidden to keep Scrapyarders from standing any real chance against Tiphareans in combat. Getting caught with either is an instant death sentence.* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: a lot of techniques and attacks require spinning moves or are enhanced by them. Jashugan's "maschine clash" is a martial art focused on causing harmonic resonance with spinning gears built into your limbs.* EverythingTryingToKillYou: If you are a pure meat human living in the scrapyard, chances are you will not stay that way forever since there are thousands of cyborgs creeping around who may want to mug you with bulldozer-like force or accidentally rip your arm off when they tap you on the shoulder to ask for directions. On the plus side: mechanical replacement limbs are always available IF you have the cash to afford them.* EvilutionaryBiologist: Desty Nova. Utterly amoral in his pursuit of "Karma".* {{Expy}}:** Ido is based on the protagonist of Kishiro's one-shot doujinshi, ''Iron Fist'', itself an [[ShoutOut homage]] to the Music/{{Motorhead}} track of the same name. He also shares an awful lot in common with a certain animated version of [[WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters Dr. Egon Spengler]]... But since the show was [[NoExportForYou never aired in]] Japan, that one may be a coincidence.** In Last Order, Tzykrow is a very obvious expy of Zycrow from ''Manga/AquaKnight''. In retrospect, it's kinda easy to see why so many ZOTT participants were actually of the [[ContestWinnerCameo fan-submitted variety]]; a single author can only come up with so many unique and varied character designs before they start to run a little dry.** Kinuba the champion gladiator, who was murdered by Makaku, is the expy of Slaine the Horned King from {{2000AD}}. He is even wearing Slaine's signature Horned Helm, clan tartans and boar's head belt.** Franchise/{{Predator}} + Lobo + [[StarWars Kit Fisto]] = Zekka** Yani and Derossi, Space Angels' mechanics, are basically ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'''s Sakaki and Shige in cyborg bodies.* EyePatchOfPower: Sechs has one.* FaceFault: A few occasional instances but a special mention goes to the Ladder meeting when the new martian "queen" brought a teddy bear named Konig (German for King) that greeted the council. The Venusians and Jovians began panicking at the idea that the supposedly dead king had survived assassination by hiding a brain chip in the bear. Turns out the new queen has a talent for ventriloquism, which led to this trope.* FacialMarkings: Alita's trademark "antiglare patches" on her cheeks. One of the first indications that she has a back story is when she instinctively reaches down to a pool of oil and paints them onto her cheeks.* FanDisservice: '''RAKAN!''' [[BrainBleach Rakan Rakan Rakan Rakan Rakan!]]** Also planet Mercury's The Anomaly's "''Battering Ram''"... yuck! See Squick below* FantasticDrug: Quite a lot, including one that triggers lycanthropy.* FantasticFightingStyle: Alita's Panzer Kunst for starters, and with the exception of Figure's Anti-Cyborg Style, that's about it for Gunnm. Last Order takes it up a notch with Qu Tuang and her Ahat Mastade, and literally [[UpToEleven thousands]] of Space Karate sects.* FauxAffablyEvil: Desty Nova. He also counts as AffablyEvil, depending on his mood and [[CloningBlues which]] Desty Nova you're talking about..* FictionalSport: Motorball, a deadly race along hazard-filled tracks to carry a heavy ball across the finish line while other players try to take your head off.* FingerInTheMail: When Alita shows up at Desty Nova's lab looking for [[spoiler:her foster father, Ido,]] she demands that Desty tell her where he is, who casually tosses her a head-sized metal box and tells her to take a look for herself.** [[spoiler:He got better.]]* ForeverWar: Mars in Battle Angel Alita has been locked in a civil war for centuries after the death of Great King Elfriede, which many of the vassal nobles began to fight amongst themselves over land and resources. By the time of Gunm along with Mars Chronicle, the conflicts on Mars has escalated into proxy war between four factions: Mars Kingdom Parliament (backed by LADDER), Mars Republik Heer (backed by République Vénus), Mars Front der Befreien (backed by Jupiter System Union)and Neo-Third Reich Division (new and independent faction).* [[ForScience For]] [[strike:[[ForScience Science]]]] [[ForScience KARMATRON DYNAMICS!!!]]: Anything and everything that Desty Nova does. He's VERY big on his pet theory, y'know...* FrenchJerk: The Venusians are descended from French space colonists and all seem to have a very callous attitude toward living things, as expressed by their cavalier use of OrganicTechnology.* FrictionBurn: The reason Ido found Alita in that junk pile was because in her previous life, she was executed by ''atmospheric reentry'', and that was where what was left of her landed.* FriendlyEnemy:** Desty Nova to Alita, except that, as he often [[MrExposition goes to the great lengths to explain]], neither "friend" nor "enemy" has any meaning under Karmatron Dynamics theory.** Caerula Sanguis to Alita at certain moments.* FunnyBackgroundEvent: The "Great Karate War" raging on in the background while Toji and Alita hold a tea ceremony.* FutureMusic: Subverted into hyperspace. Our Earth isn't even recognizable anymore, but somehow Yes and Gram Parsons are still part of the pop culture. Alita performing "Big Generator" like a pro and all the cyborgs knowing the lyrics should tell you something about [[{{ThePowerOfRock}} the durability of progrock]].* GagPenis: Anomaly has a [[WaveMotionGun massive plasma cannon]] for a penis.* GeckoEnding: Inverted, due to health issues the author ended the original manga rather quickly. Last Order started as a ReWrite for a rushed ending of the original manga, and to flesh out a then-released video game. It then spiraled into the epic twice the original's size, finally ending by wrapping up hanging plot threads while noting that Alita's [[AndTheAdventureContinues adventure will continue]], likely on Mars.* GenderBender: [[OreOnna Sechs]], a rare female-to-male example, and even rarer for the genderbending being completely voluntary.* GenreShift: The series turns into a sports series (a futuristic BloodSport, but still) with some fighting elements during the Motorball arc.* GrandTheftMe: Makaku's signature ability is pushing his worm tail into your spine wile simultaniously ripping your head off so he can steal your superpowered body. In the Alita verse you could theoretically survive even this, but Makaku likes to [[BrainFood eat your brain]] too. He isn't exactly the nicest fellow around.* GenkiGirl: Shumira.* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Adult Tiphareans who discover the secret of Tiphares ([[spoiler:[[BrainUploading your brain is replaced with a chip]] when you come of age]]) ''never'' keep their sanity. [[spoiler:Ido hangs on long enough to beg Nova to give him LaserGuidedAmnesia of his life on the surface. The TUNED director sliced open his head to see if it was true, becoming a TalkativeLoon upon discovering it was. ''Alita herself'' lasts only ''minutes'' before the horror of it causes her [[{{Nanomachines}} Imaginos 2.0]] body to self-destruct]]. Nova is actually the exception that proves the rule; this discovery is what drove him so cheerfully insane, which was exacerbated by the ''other'' mind-shattering secret of his origins; [[spoiler:he was a DesignerBaby ''specifically'' designed to be smart enough to discover both secrets. Of the 400 created, 360 went berserk in Tiphares itself and were executed by the Medical Inspection Bureau, 36 escaped and died on Earth's surface, and the first to make it back into space killed ''millions'' of people just to prove to himself that he was capable of disobeying his creators]]. * GratuitousGerman: Most notably the names of Panzerkunst techniques. They appear to be translated [[LostInTranslation from Japanese to English and then further to German.]]** GratuitousFrench: The République Venus.* GrievousHarmWithABody* GroinAttack: A suitably epic one to take out that critter in the Squick example below.* {{Gorn}}: Even with most of the characters being cyborgs, the series can still easily reach ''{{Manga/Gantz}}'' levels of ultra-violence.* GunsAreWorthless: Played straight and subverted. Alita defeats one of her biggest enemies with a small handgun and later uses guns to great effect. Last Order character Zazie, while good in unarmed combat, is at her best with her guns. However guns are also often useless. It seems to depend on the [[{{BFG}} gun]], [[DepletedPhlebotinumShells ammo]], [[ImprobableAimingSkills user]] and ''[[ImmuneToBullets target]]'' - {{Hollywood Cyborg}}s are basically bipedal tanks.* [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe Half The Girl She Used To Be]] Poor Alita ends up like this about once per story arc. Sometimes in one hit, sometimes piece by piece. She always gets rebuilt into something even stronger, though.* HappyRain: The conclusion of volume 6 has Alita and Figure saved from death by dehydration/overheating in the desert by a miraculous rain... [[RainOfSomethingUnusual that also contains ''fish!'']]* HeartDrive: The [[spoiler:Tipharean brain chips]] count as this for Alita, Sechs and the twins. Alita keeps hers in the usual spot. The others stretch the trope a bit by hiding theirs in tethered shoulder pets: a pair of cutsey puffballs for Elf and Zwölf, and a cybernetic Mini Me for Sechs.* HeroAntagonist: Several show up, but team Guntroll is the most straight example, being a group more altruistic than Alita herself, though (aside from Saya, who decides to root for Team Karate) they recognized that there was no need for animosity between them pretty early.* HitSoHardTheCalendarFeltIt: The setting of ''Battle Angel Alita: Last Order'' marks time according to the Era Sputnik, counting from the launch of the Sputnik 1 in 1957. ** Before that there was a half-joking, half-official ''Anno Koyomi'' calendar, tied to the birth of Koyomi K. at the very beginning of the story, which Kishiro still uses to trace the continuity. The fact that [[MeaningfulName her very name means "Calendar"]] in Japanese [[AudienceSurrogate isn't accidental]] in the slightest. * HollywoodCyborg: You know how many people in {{Eagleland}} drive cars? That's approximately the percentage of the Scrapyard which has replaced everything but their heads with prosthetics. The SUV percentage replace everything except their ''brains'' - and often with bodies more than a story high. And sometimes ''wide''. Given the CrapsackWorld they all live in, it's not that surprising.* HorrorHunger: Part of Homme de Feu's backstory involves him and his caretaker, Olympe, with Homme de Feu realizing as he grows older that he wants to ''eat her.'' [[spoiler:When he finally does, though, he realizes that she was a RobotGirl all along.]]* HumiliationConga: Alita's [[{{EstablishingCharacterMoment}} first encounter with Trinidad]] gets pretty painfull pretty fast. [[spoiler:First he casually pats her on the head like she's a first grader. Then he easily overpowers her, makes her KISS HIS FEET, snaps her in half, puts her into a block of plastic and finally flushes her out of the airlock like a piece of trash. Desty Nova also gets outwitted completely for the first time ever.]] So basically: Don't mess with this guy!** Ironically, [[spoiler:Trinidad gets his own Conga after some meddling by The Weasel until the end the finals of the ZOTT tournament, to the point that everyone but Caerula (who dices his head to pieces in the end) just stops paying attention to him]].* IAmNotLeftHanded: [[spoiler:Zazie has her arm cut off, then reveals that she was hiding her real arms under her coat, and what her opponent got was a [[MultiArmedAndDangerous "servo arm"]].]]* IconicOutfit: Alita's sleeveless black jumpsuit with baggy boots and metal knee-guards (sometimes with a duster coat as well) is Alita's first outfit, and the one people remember her in most.* ImmortalityImmorality: A hundred years before the events of Last Order, nanotechnological immortality was controlled by a powerful elite that ruled the solar system with an iron fist. Unfortunately, [[PlayfulHacker Weasel's]] attempt to break their monopoly [[NiceJobBreakingItHero only made things WORSE]]. Thanks to him, everyone in space became functionally immortal, causing populations to skyrocket. Children became illegal, and the lucky ones are kidnapped by the government and forced to fight wars for sport. The Republique of Venus ''[[ImAHumanitarian eats]]'' the unlucky ones.* ImprobableWeaponUser: Morse, a member of the Cognate, prefers to use a length of mooring rebar and whatever chunk of building it was attached to as his main weapon. ** Springfoot Jack, a cybernetic monster clown, used a hynpotized young girl as club and did the same with Elf using her as boomerang. * IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Jovians. For all their scientific, engineering and [[TheEmpire jingoistic-totalitarian-evil-empire]] cred, their main ''raison d'etre'' in the series seems to be to [[ButtMonkey fail amusingly]] and let the main character subvert their achievements to her good. They are also kind of cute.** The fact that they also act very human despite their cold and machine-like appearance helps. Especially when compared to their rivals the Venusians.* KickTheDog: Played straight in the OVA. [[spoiler:More than kicked. Sliced into slices]].* KillSat: The Sword of Damocles is a series of them.* KnightTemplar: He might think that [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans his ideal justifies his means]], but everyone and their dog agree that [[BigBad Aga Mbadi]] is a [[JerkAss colossal dick]] with a [[ManipulativeBastard control mania]].** The factory authority is this to the extreme. So you just defeated the unstoppable monster that our strongest troops couldn't even scratch? Nice work doing our job for us, but you still used a gun, and those are a grade one violation of factory law. [[spoiler:To the incinerator with you!]]* KungFuSonicBoom: A lot in Last Order, and justified by the fact that almost everyone is a superhuman cyborg. Sechs and Zekka take it up to eleven by causing injuries to bystanders and collateral damage this way; By ''thumb wrestling''* LadyOfWar: Caerula Sanguis, full stop. Alita would've qualified too, but her style of WaifFu is just too direct.* LaResistance: What many saw the Barjack Army as.* LargeAndInCharge: Den; seen to some extent with various other characters.* LastMinuteHookup: [[spoiler:Kaos and Lou get together in the original ending with only a tiny hint of a crush preceding it.]] It doesn't exist at all in Last order.* LikeCannotCutLike: Monofilament wires.* LiteralSplitPersonality: [[spoiler:Den and Kaos]].* LiveActionAdaptation: Film/AlitaBattleAngel* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Half of them get killed off quickly, but the majority is quite memorable because of their impact on Alita or their insane design/fighting style.* LoopholeAbuse: Both Jupiter and Venus' respective seeded teams in the ZOTT engage in this. Hardly surprising, since they were designed specifically for the tournament.** The Jupiterean team's first fighter, the Übernaut, is exactly 50 meters in diameter and weighs exactly 500 tons, placing it just at the size and weight limit. However, it has the abiliy to cover itself in a shell made of the ground it stands on. Because the size rules only apply ''upon entry'', it can grow as large as it needs to without breaking the rules.** The Übernaut also fires a kind of gas that instantly crystalizes into a polymer cube. While the rules only allow for a certain volume of ammo to be brought into the arena, the polymer cubes can be recycled and fired again and can therefore be used as much as required.** The Venusian team has a member called Arduinna, [[spoiler:who is only 50 cm long when entering the arena, but grows big enough to cover the arena in minutes, allowing it to grow that big without violating size regulations]].** Another Venusian member, Bigorne, is able to quickly spawn and "fire" small, fish-like creatures that fly and explode very much like missiles. While the tournament only allows up to five sentient members per team, that rule doesn't apply to members spawned ''inside'' the arena.* LostSuperweapon: Last Order [[http://www.mangareader.net/1047-39633-25/battle-angel-alita-last-order/chapter-67.html mentions]] the [[EvilWeapon "Five Demonic Inventions of Humankind"]], which include:** The Berserker cells (like those used in the body that Ido gives Alita)** A parasitic weapon called a PIPT (Parasitic Intention Plant Trooper, likely a Venusian invention)** [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo The atomic bomb]]** [[Film/ReturnOfTheLivingDead 2-4-5]] [[http://zombie.wikia.com/wiki/Trioxin Trioxin]]** The antimatter bomb* LotusEaterMachine* MadeOfPlasticine* MadScientist[=/=]MadDoctor: Desty Nova, with emphasis on the "mad".* MagicalParticleAccelerator: Jupiter Empire's Wormhole Reactor uses it as one of its parts.* MarketBasedTitle: ''GUNNM''[=/=]''Battle Angel Alita''* MarshmallowHell: [[spoiler:A perverted Space Karate assassin is smothered and ''crushed to bits'' under a pile of boobs, courtesy of the Venusians.]] He gets better though, since cyborg bodies are all but [[BuiltWithLego made out of LEGO blocks]].* MeaningfulName: Alita/Gally may be an abbreviation of [[PygmalionPlot Galatea, the statue-turned-lover of Pygmalion.]] She and Ido share a similar relationship at first: Ido reconstructs Alita with the intention of giving her a sweet, peaceful life as his pseudo-daughter. Alita certainly puts a kibosh on THAT idea. %%* MechaMooks* MechanicalLifeforms: The Berserker and [[TheSameButMore Imaginos]] bodies are comprised of advanced nanotechnological "machine cells". Anomaly in ''Last Order'' is a HumanoidAbomination theorized to have evolved from GreyGoo on the planet Mercury.* MidseasonUpgrade: Happens to Alita and Sechs. For Alita, her Imaginos body is advanced to 2.0 and 2.1 respectively in a quick and sudden fashion with the acquiring of Fata Morgana and the wormhole reactor. In retrospect, Sechs had to go through it the hard way where hir Fizziroy body is manually upgraded to the heavier gel so that it can withstand more pressure which by extension, increases the number of things he can do with it.* MsFanservice: Parodied with [[{{TheVamp}} Eelai]] who even has an arrow on her forehead that points down. In the unlikely case you [[{{AbsoluteCleavage}} missed it]]...* MostWritersAreWriters: In Last Order, [[http://www.mangareader.net/1047-39624-4/battle-angel-alita-last-order/chapter-58.html Ping Wu says that the net is like a manga artist without a deadline.]]* MoodWhiplash: Anything with [[TheWoobie Lou Collins]]. Every time the girl is mentioned in Last Order is to let us know [[spoiler:of ''another'' terrible misfortune she suffered.]]* TheMovie: Creator/JamesCameron's next project after ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. Though with Avatar's runaway success it seems to be put on the back burner ''again''.* MultiArmedAndDangerous* MundaneMadeAwesome: Sechs and Zekka get in the world's most hardcore thumb-wrestling match.** Supersonic knitting.* MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours: Damn near every volume, almost.* {{Nanomachines}}* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The main heroine. [[spoiler:It was Yoko who caused the ''last'' [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt End Of The World As We Know It]], but Alita didn't know of it until Volume 9, which doubles as ''one'' of her TomatoInTheMirror moments.]]* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Poor Lou...* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: When Alita runs into [[spoiler:AR-2]] she rapidly loses her confidence when she fails to find a weakness in her opponent. And then [[spoiler:AR-2]] starts to tear her apart... piece by piece. It's very scary since [[spoiler:it's Alita's own mirror image thats laying the smackdown on her.]]* OmniscientMoralityLicense: Not that Desty Nova has [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate ever been really big on morals]] from the start, but he's became utterly convinced that his knowledge of Karmatron Dynamics justifies just about everything he (in any of his incarnations, even ''Super Nova'') does.%%* OpeningACanOfClones* NoodleIncident: Alita's adventures on Venus between the end of ''Last Order'' and ''Mars Chronicles'' have yet to be shown.* OppositeSexClone: Sechs eventually starts to think of him/her... err, whatever as male, and eventually gets a full male cyborg body to back it up. He basically DECIDES he's male, even if he started as a supposedly superior clone to Alita, down to being female as well. Interesting to notice, even his facial features, which are NEVER actually changed, are still much more masculine than Alita's, [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/16g9zle_6679.jpg even though they're supposed to have the same face.]]** Even body type was somehow more masculine at the start.* OriginalVideoAnimation* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The "cognates".* [[PerpetualFrowner Perpetual Frown]]: More like Perpetual Pout, which seems to be Alita's default facial expression. {{Lampshaded}} by Jim Roscoe in the first volume of the Last Order, where he asked Nova while they were rebuilding Alita's body, whether her lips are too thick? Lampshaded again by the twins posing as Alita in Vol. 6, with one of them noting that it's difficult to make "octopus lips" all the time, and the other that she has to look sullen and it isn't fun.* PlayfulHacker: Weasel. In chapter 109 it's revealed that he [[spoiler:not only hacked Mbadi's cameras but also uploaded a virus that disabled Mbadi's mind control that coincidentally activated when Mbadi was caught on camera ordering his minister to fire Damocles and destroy the Space Angels.]]* PoweredByAForsakenChild* PowerUp: several, for Alita and other characters.* TheProphecy: ''Mars Chronicle'' reveals that Alita and Erika are at the centre of a prophecy called the 13th Oracle.* {{Psychometry}}: Kaos perceives the world mostly this way (for some reason his ordinary senses are scrambled) His power is so great that he can use the items with the full skill of their previous owners, which is quite a surprise for a bunch of assassins who invade his truck. * PuttingOnTheReich: Col. Payne has shades of a Nazi soldier. Mars was colonized by Germans and plagued by neo-Nazis.* PutOnABus: A lot of characters from the original series in ''Last Order'', notably [[BadassNormal Figure Four]].* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: When Ido Daisuke saves Shumira from being raped in the begining of "Battle Angel Alita" #3 (Through nearly killing one of the would-be-rapists and actually (most likely) killing the other).* RazorWire: Zwolf and Elf's weapon of choice.** Frau X manages to use a ''shoelace'' like this.* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: This time, it's no exaggeration. That's the extent of what Aga Mbadi knows, and he might ''underestimate'' it.* RemoteBody: Desty Nova cures his son's [[EnemyWithout split personality]] by building a remotely controlled robot body to channel the other mind. * RobotGirl* SatelliteLoveInterest: Subverted, as Alita is none too happy to find out that this is what Ido was expecting her to be when he revived her.* ScavengerWorld* SceneryGorn: Countless detailed scenes of the Scrapyard and the surrounding desert wastes.* SchematizedProp: Each manga volume features mechanical details of an element featured in the story.* ScienceFiction* SelfDestructiveCharge: [[spoiler:How Den chooses to go out, charging headlong into the fire of an entire division of the Factory's armoured forces.]]* SendInTheClones: Alita after having fought 10 years for a shady organization, said organization uses records of said fights to create [[ThePsychoRangers 12 duplicates of her]], with all her skills (especially the deadly Panzer Kunst) and a copy of her high tech body.** With the proliferation of Novas in Last Order, it comes close to RefugeInAudacity.* SequelHook: ''Last Order'' ends with [[spoiler:Alita on Mars, hunting down Super Nova and the mysterious Frau X]].* SerialEscalation: Last Order seems to be an experiment in how batshit insane the series can get. Supersonic knitting? Epic thumb-wrestling matches? A HumongousMecha with a comically oversized GagPenis that shoots [[WaveMotionGun Wave Motion Beams?]] Last Order's got it all!* ShesAManInJapan: The German translations of Last Order continue for a while to refer to Sechs as a female after he gains the Fizziroy body.* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:"Sadly the Space Angels were obliterated in a mysterious explosion just as they became the first independent team to win the ZOTT." At least, that's what Mbadi thinks will happen...]]* ShoutOut: [[spoiler:[[Manga/{{Claymore}} If you can hit me just once]][[http://www.mangareader.net/battle-angel-alita-last-order/107/13 ... cue sword to the face]]]]** [[http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/1594/340642nbfgglastorder071.png Aspects of Sechs as a character appear to be inspired by Luffy from One Piece.]]** There are several references to Fred Saberhagen's ''Berserker'' shared-universe series.** Zapan's forehead symbol is that of the Blue Oyster Cult. Sechs' boots twice refer to classic heavy metal songs on their underside. Blood Red Skies by Judas Priest and Aces High by Iron Maiden.** Olympe and Homme du Feu are so obviously Beauty and the Beast.** There's also a lot to various classic rock and metal bands.** Iron Maiden's mascot Eddie appears at one point.** One character owns an antique synthesizer with the name [[AC:alan parsons]] Dymotaped on the side.** One really badass scene in Volume 5 is further enhanced by the imprints on the soles of Sechs' boots, which are "Blood Red Skies" and "You won't break me". A shout-out to a little known Judas Priest song from the "Ram It Down" album.** Desty Nova's name and the name of the "Imaginos" armor are also BOC shout-outs, which makes a lot of sense considering that "Desty Nova" as said in [[Music/BlueOysterCult Imaginos]] means 'Eternal Light' and Desty Nova is pretty much unkillable... at least permanently.** The fighter champion Kinuba from volume one is Slaine from ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' with cyborg arms. ** Some of the Space Karate fighters are shout-outs to ''Radon/Rodan, Franchise/KamenRider'', The Chupacabra, and Robby the Robot.*** A Robby the Robot lookalike also appears as part of Ido's collection of scrap early in the manga.** The first great cataclysm of their universe happened in E.S. 55 -- which translates to AD [[MayanDoomsday 2012]]. Well, most probably not to the movie itself, but to all those [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt crackpot theories]] it was based on.** There's also a character [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed identical to]] GraceJones.** Space Angels' engineers are basically Sakaki and Shige, Anime/{{Patlabor}} resident gearheads, in cyborg form.** The Kudos! List has an extensive archive here: [[http://www.nick15.com/kudos.html]]** And then there's the third iteration of the series: ''[[Literature/TheMartianChronicles Martian Chronicle]]''.** The bio-chipping procedure undergone by the Salemites/Tipharians is based on a RealLife (if you can call it that) UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory dreamed up by famous paranoid schizophrenic Creator/FrancisEDec.* SiblingTeam: Subverted somewhat in that while Sechs, Elf, and Zwolf are android copies of Alita created from over a decade of data gathered on her brain patterns, behavior and fighting style, they all indeed tend to act like siblings. Especially between Alita and [[MiddleChildSyndrome Sechs]], with a healthy portion of SiblingYinYang thrown in for good measure, while the twins Elf and Zwolf both neatly fill the role of AnnoyingYoungerSibling with a healthy sprinkling of GenkiGirl.** A meta example: in recent chapters Yukito Kishiro started to credit his brother Tsutomu, a longtime supporter and assistant, who also maintains their website, in a second billing on the manga covers. * SimSimSalabim: Indians, or rather their descendants having become the dominant culture in Jeru/Ketheres, there's plenty of goofy Indian mysticism to go along with the rest of the goofy Eastern mysticism sprinkled thoughout the series. Prominent examples include Aga Mbadi and his cosmic yoga, as well as one of the members of the Starship Cult team, who is a cyborg or robot designed to look like an old-timey racist caricature of a fakir (although this has less to do with India and more with the snake charmer acts in old circuses, the Starship Cult being [[CircusOfFear circus]]-themed).* SpaceElevator: Salem is at the bottom of one.* SubordinateExcuse: The reason Kayna worked for Ido.* TitleDrop: In Gunnm, Chapter 49 is called "Gun Dreams". There are also ones in Last Order (obviously spoilers if you click).-->'''???''': ''[[TrustPassword Spirit.]]''\\'''Alita''': ''Freedom.''\\'''???''': ''Sword.''\\'''Alita''': ''Scabbard.''\\'''???''': '''''[[http://www.mangareader.net/1047-39603-21/battle-angel-alita-last-order/chapter-37.html Gun.]]'''''\\'''Alita''': '''''Dream!'''''([[http://www.mangareader.net/1047-39603-22/battle-angel-alita-last-order/chapter-37.html The Panzer Kunst code!]])-->'''???''': ''[[http://www.mangareader.net/1047-39621-33/battle-angel-alita-last-order/chapter-55.html Carry out the Last Order!]]''** It later turns out that the '''Last Order''' is a codename that [[BenevolentAI Melchisedec]] [[spoiler:and later Zeus, as it joins him on the bandwagon,]] assigns to its agents designated guardians of Humanity. [[spoiler:So far we know of two of them — Caerula and Alita.]]* ThemeNaming:** The sister city of Salem, at the top of the SpaceElevator, is called "Jeru" in Japanese.** The other competitors in the Motorball story are all named for weapons (Scramasax, Flamberge, Arbelest etc.., (apparently taken from the Tunnels & Trolls Rulebook). This is less obvious than you'd think because the translator [[SpellMyNameWithAnS directly transcribed the katakana]]. * TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Sechs to Alita, Zekka to [[spoiler:Don Fua]] are two examples.* ThePowerOfFriendship: [[spoiler:The enormous lotus flower Alita creates in the first ending. The lotus flower is a symbol of friendship in budhism.]] It's really sweet and poetic but unfortunately for Alita [[spoiler:not canon anymore.]]* TheyWereHoldingYouBack* ThirdPersonPerson: Shumira* ThisMeansWarpaint: Alita runs streaks of tar under her eyes before her confrontation with Makaku. The streaks become an iconic part of her look in later volumes of the manga, to the point that they are added as permanent marks on her face from her Motor Ball body onwards.* ThoseWackyNazis Whom We Haven't Seen Yet: "Why are there neo-nazis [[InSpace on Mars]]?!"** Newer chapters revealed, it's a group of martian extremists who thought the concept of national socialism appealing and created a hoax about having found the remains of a Nazi UFO on Mars to claim the right of owning it.* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:Homme de Feu and Olympe.]]* TomatoInTheMirror:** Several. Most of them involve the main character.** [[spoiler:Tiphares[=/=]Salem is an entire '''''city''''' of these.]]* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Played mercilessly straight with Sara, probably the nicest character in the entire series.** Later brought up again with the soul hurting death of [[spoiler:Haruka]], an event so pointlessly tragic it ends up tainting the very future of the world and [[spoiler:forcing Vilma to reject her own husband]].* TookALevelInBadAss: Alita and others, multiple times. When you're a cyborg, increasing your power is as simple as upgrading your body.* TournamentArc: Begins officially in series 2 volume 5; ends in volume '''17'''. Series 1 only ran for nine volumes. . .* TrademarkFavoriteFood: "Flan is revolution!" - Desty Nova* UpgradeVsPrototypeFight: The GR series Tuneds are the upgrades to Tuned Gally and GR-2 would have killed her if not for Lou interfering. Subverted with Gally's fight against Sechs 1 year later since Gally was given a brand new Imaginous body while Sechs only had a heavily damaged Tuned body. * UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The main motivation of Aga Mbadi, although what he considers a "utopia" might squick many.* VillainousBreakdown:** Nova suffered one at the end of the original manga after seeing Alita's world tree. [[spoiler:What burned his britches was one of his creations choosing to sacrifice itself to save him.]] He is later found with a flower growing out of his head and playing with a "Martian King" toy.** [[SmugSnake Bigott Eisenburg]] got an utterly devastating one [[spoiler:upon finding out the "secret of Salem".]] It almost made you feel bad for the [[BigBadWannabe asshole]] due to sheer shock value.** Aga Mbadi has been suffering one of these when [[spoiler:Alita in her Imaginos 2.0 body fuses with the Fata Morgana, manages to overpower his hacking, crushes his hand, humiliates him when he believes he was able to hold back one of her punches and tells him she let Mbadi live because he was needed alive in order to continue The [[TournamentArc Z.O.T.T.]].]] After this, he breaks out into a rage during his meditations, gives [[MadScientist Super Nova]] free rein on Mars and has lobbied for the use of a super weapon called [[{{WaveMotionGun}} The Sword Of Damocles]] from LADDER against the participants of The [[TournamentArc Z.O.T.T.]]* WaifFu* WeNamedTheMonkeyJack: Inverted. Alita was named after Ido's recently deceased cat. When she learns this she's not too happy about it, especially since [[GenderBlenderName the cat was male]].* WellIntentionedExtremist: Aga Mbadi, though he very quickly establishes himself as the most {{Knight Templar}}ish variation of such, and his good intentions are ''extremely'' [[ValuesDissonance YMMV]].* WhamEpisode: Volume 5 of the original manga: Alita finally has found balance, and is living a life as happy as she could in the Scrapyard. Oh, Zapan came back, even more twisted? No problem, and gets dealt with... Hey, we finally get to know the guy who got that much foreshadowing! Heh, insanely amusing... [[spoiler:What? He has resurrected Zapan's brain? And he is giving him the Berserker body? HE IS GIVING HIM A STRONGER VERSION OF THAT BODY? '''HE KILLED IDO?''' Then he gets to the scrapyard, and many of the characters you'd grown to know and love get killed like files, the survivors blame it on Alita, EVERY landmark of the early series gets blown to bits, and Alita has to take Zapan on with just a civilian body, an (illegal) gun, and nanomachines. And for all her troubles, the Factory wants her dead for firing a gun. Then Tiphares shows an interest for her, and HAS to work for them. Cue timeskip.]]* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman - Mind that this is a universe where the definition of "human" is rather subjective.** You have fully organic humans without an ounce of a soul, completely artificial machines with deep personalities, racing vehicles controlled by a human brain and [[spoiler:seemingly standard humans with chips for brains.]] The real question ultimately is about what a person is and being "human" isn't what really matters in the end.* WhereItAllBegan: ''Martian Chronicles'' has Alita returning to Mars, with the starting chapter implying it'll be the final storyline of the series.* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits Space Angels]] have nowhere near the budget that'd be realistically required to maintain a competitive Z.O.T.T. team. Justified in that Alita and the twins are basically Desty Nova's guinea pigs, and the guy can apparently ''create'' whatever he needs; he built Deckman 100 specifically to maintain Alita's body indefinitely, needing nothing save electricity(although enough to cause the occasional BigBlackout). Sechs on his part effectively hired Yani on credit, and the latter agreed mainly for the same reason as Nova — he needed someone to test his newest iteration of a Fizziroy body - but is on board hoping for expat citizenship in the Space Angels' new polity, which will enable him to actually ''[[DigitalPiracyIsOkay market]]'' Fizziroy technology, as [[ScrewedByTheLawyers LADDER controls the copyright]] despite it being his design. Still, they mainly plodder through on credit, donations and Holy Ghost, with only the promise of a prize to back it. At least Zazie is officially "on the loan" from the Martian Kingdom army, which makes them a kind of semi-official Mars entrant, but given that the kingdom is [[PerpetualPoverty just as poor]], it doesn't help much.* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Two volumes of ''Last Order'' detail the {{Backstory}} of one Caerula Sanguis, which also serves as a HowWeGotHere.* WhoWantsToLiveForever?: Several characters show up who have extremely long lifespans. Their way to handle this varies. Some stay very proactive and try to make a difference, others lose their will to accomplish anything at all. Some develop absurdly large ego's, others go suicidal.* {{World Half Empty}}: The GUNNM world really isn't a nice place to live...* WorldHalfFull: ...but sometimes Alita and others manage to make a difference, [[{{EarnYourHappyEnding}} with a lot of effort.]][[spoiler:See the first ending.]]* WorldOfBadass: Last Order. Then again, most of it's taken place during a TournamentArc.* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Zapan]].** [[spoiler:Also Yoko, Alita's pre-amnesia persona]].*** To be fair though, while she was a ruthless killer, she did not intentionally [[spoiler:- or at least ''knowingly'' - start the system-wide war that literally destroyed the world ''a second time''. She just went where Guntoll sent her, stuck the card they gave her into the slot they told her to, then pushed a BigRedButton... and everything exploded]].* WorldsStrongestMan: Zekka - "The Fist that extinguishes the light".* WouldHurtAChild: Let's just say that.... Mars Chronicle is sad and leave it [[KillEmAll at that...]]* WretchedHive: The Scrapyard.* WritingForTheTrade: Last Order. The TournamentArc is much more exciting when you can see how it weaves in and out of Alita's [[spoiler:infiltration of Ketheres]].* {{Yonkoma}}: Various {{Omake}} parodying the events in the manga.* YouAreNumberSix: When Alita is recruited by GIB she is only called A/G-1; her copies are called AR/GR-1 to 12. By Last Order only three are left and they renamed themselves Sechs, Elf and Zwölf, which are their numbers in German.** Figure Four as well.* YouAreAlreadyDead: How Verschlag works* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Lou Collins in Last Order. Every time Alita seems to be on a fast track to [[spoiler:finally save her]], she learns that [[spoiler:everything is worse than it seems]], and she has to continue.----

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Whitbread Novel of the Year, read by the winner of the Sony Radio Award. A sophisticated look at the passions and intrigues, hopes and fears of the doomed souls who boarded the Titanic for her final, fateful voyage.
©1996 Beryl Bainbridge (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
"Kerry Shale, surely one of the most versatile of voices, brings all the pensive wit of the text to the fore." (Irish Times)
"This is one of those rare literary events that can be unequivocally recommended with confidence to any reader or listener. Kerry Shale reads brilliantly, adding another to his growing list of audiobook triumphs." (Oxford Times)
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text:
For an upcoming feature on Group Doueh's show at Mississippi Studios next Thursday, I interviewed Sublime Frequencies co-owner Hisham Mayet. It was a great conversation and I'll post it next week. Aside from psyching me out even more for the show, I learned a lot about Mayet and his taste-making world-music label.
First of all, when he's not on the road—that's about four or five months a year—Mayet calls Portland home.
Second, Sublime Frequencies began as a field-recording project with an emphasis on video. Alongside audio, Mayet and co-owner Alan Bishop have been gathering loads of footage on all their travels. As such, film is a integral component to the label. They do everything from feature-length travel and music documentaries to performance pieces. Alongside their small-run LP printings Sublime Frequencies have released 11 DVDs.
In fact, it was a well-received screening in Seattle back in 2002 that spurred the label's creation. Sure would love to see them throw some film-related events here in Grumptown...
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. The piece and interview will be out next Thursday, just in time for the show. Get tickets here.


text:
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Butthead Covers- Turning Golf Upside Down!
We've just added the award winning ButtHead headcovers to our line. They were recognized at last year's 2005 PGA Golf Show as the # 1 new golf accessory of the year. Excellent quality and sure to get a laugh. Your favorite animal will keep diving into your bag to pull out only the good shots!
The headcover's beautiful body is covered and made of durable materials.
The legs have embedded PVC coated wiring for fun and flexible positioning.
All materials are non toxic and flame retardant. Double stitching with top quality thread ensures product strength for a long life.
The lining and padding provide head protection. Durable inner elastic secures a tight fit over the neck so that the cover will not fall off in the fairway or end up in the garage.
It fits all clubs from your 460cc driver on down to your fairway woods.
The matching sock, made of yarn materials, provides maximum protection to the graphite metal golf club shaft. This product is surface washable with a damp cloth.


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The Mondavi Legacy Continues With Continuum
The name Mondavi still has the power to generate excitement in the wine world.
The latest Mondavi release comes from Tim Mondavi. Continuum is produced by Tim and his sister Marcia, with 94-year-old patriarch Robert and his wife Margrit and continuing the Mondavi tradition of making wine producing a family affair, Tim's five children are also playing a role in the production.
Tim Mondavi has some high aspirations for his wine, he told Decanter, his goal is to have to have the wine be a little like the pricey Opus One. For the first release just over 1,000 cases have been produced. The 2005 vintge is a blend of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It sells for $130 and will be released next month.
By Deidre Woollard. Source: Luxist


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{ jamie + greg // beach wedding }Sunday, May 31st, 2015
Let me tell you something about the kinds of couples I work with. They're the kind that pick lovely venues that so perfectly fit their personalities, like a little historic library by the sea. They're the kind that when it's chilly and ridiculously windy out, choose to still walk down to the sand to do more portraits, laughing and smiling every step of the way. They're the kind that at the end of the night, when all the guests are packed on the dance floor, take a moment to dance quietly in each other arms, looking at one another like it's the first time they've ever met eyes, and are the only ones in the room. They're like Jamie and Greg, and to work with couples like them is seriously a blessing.
Special thanks to Tealight Weddings for coordinating the day perfectly. Hope you enjoy this peek into this intimate seaside wedding!