Cross Ange Episode 10

Episode 10 of Cross Ange begins sometime after Episode 9, but not too much long afterwards, and begins with a rather horrifying scene of a bound in rags Ange being brutally whipped by her own sister Sylvie, who has apparently swallowed the racist Koolaid completely as well being convinced her sister wanted her crippled (remember, not true, Ange beat herself up over that very fact). As this going on, Julio is watching with a smug look on his face and the NORPs of the series are cheering because, well, she's a Norma, and thus worse than Hitler by default.

Momoka (bound herself and forced to watch) tries to get Sylvie to summon up a conscience, but that goes down in flames as Sylvie just spouts "Racist Talking Points.txt" as her justification for lashing her own sister, and as everyone else wants Ange to grovel for mercy and apologize for being born, Julio drops a drama bomb of his own:

He purposely set the whole thing with Momoka seeing Ange and by proxy the fake distress call from Sylvie, for the purpose of making sure Ange was eliminated, which makes sense, since it was odd Momoka basically got a free pass to visit Ange (remember, Misty only got in because of her security clearance, which Momoka didn't have), and he further reveals part of duping her into it was for the lulz.

Before I continue, even if Julio is an asshole (and he is), good troll on his part.

Anyway, Julio ten plays to crowd a little, then orders Ange's execution, then the opening credits play.

When we get back from the credits, we see Ange being led to the hangman's noose (hanging is appropriate, as that is considered on of the traditional punishments for traitors), and as this is going on, the rest of the NORPs are shouting shit that wouldn't sound out of place in the Jim Crow south if you switched a few words around, and as the cries for blood get louder, what little remaining sympathy Ange had for anyone from her birthplace goes completely out the window, and she decides to do one final fuck you troll in response:

She sings her mother's famous song, which epically pisses EVERYONE off, and as the guards are ordered to silence her, she just calmly walks towards the noose without being forced to, and the guards are like "well, she's making our job easier, so what the hell, let her have her parthian shot". However, this is just making Julio's rage meter go through the ceiling, so Ange has her head shoved into the noose ASAP and the platform is pulled out from under her to kill her.

And that;s when a really bright flare goes off, a Paramail (looks like the one Tusk was flying a few episodes back, hint hint) does a flyby, and a knife severs the noose.

And then, because the running gag just needs to happen again, Tusk's head winds up between Ange's legs. Of course, it's not his fault, she kicks him off her, realizes who it is, and that's when the assholes in the background pull their heads out of their asses, assume Tusk is just a Norma sympathizing terrorist, and prepare to kill him and Ange. Momoka shows up, and Ange weaponizes being a Norma again to free Momoka, who returns the favor, and this makes Julio almost blow a blood vessel.

Momoka throws up a shield against the incoming bullets, and Ange takes them down. Momoka then tosses Ange some of the explosive Tusk had strapped on him (he still groggy from Ange kicking him off her), and she goes all Mad Bomber on them. This buys them time to hop on Tusk's Paramail, drape his body on the seat as Momoka hops on, and as they haul ass, Ange delivers a beautiful parting troll to Julio (telling him he made clear who she was, AKA "Ange"), and then tells Sylvie thanks for confirming how much a fucking asshole the NORPs are, and as she leaves and Julio orders troops to give chase, Ange throws a ninja star at Julio, just barely not killing him (but rips open his face pretty good).

Later, as Ange and co. are safely away on a return trip to apparently Arzenal, Momoka is sorry for all the trouble, and Ange is in a great mood, then turns her attention to Tusk, slaps him away, then gives him a double noogie as she annoyedly asked why his head keeps winding up in her crotch.

Tusk is pleading innocence (he's the poor bastard who is cursed to be part of a Running Gag, after all), and that's when Momoka is like "who is this guy?" Tusk decides play coy and calls it a special relationship, and Momoka is pleased, thinking that's why he did the Knight in Shining Armor thing, and she then immediately assumes the two of them are an item (not too far from the truth, TBH).

Ange is all indignant about that and asks Tusk why he showed up, and he tells her he got a call from Jill, and it turns out he was even nice enough to snag back her ring when he sideswiped Julio. He also reveals he was the one who was originally detailed to watch over the Vilkiss by Jill.

He then changes the subject, says her hair is a beautiful shade of blonde (she's pleased and blushing over this), then like an idiot mentions her below the belt region matches.

Cue a cut to outside the Paramail as she beats the crap out of him for being a pervert and it banks and yaws all over the places.

Much later, back at Arzenal, Tusk (sporting a bandage, a black eye, and some visible bruises) bids her farewell, and as he's about to go, Ange thanks him for saving her life, and Tusk tells her the song she was singing was beautiful, tells her he'd like to hear it again, then leaves.

Jill then shows up, Ange decides to ask her about her connection to Tusk, and Jill then cuts her off by gut punching her with her cyber arm, telling her she talk only after Ange does some reflecting.

We cut to the mid episode credits, and before we go on, I can understand why Jill is pissed: Ange just went on a fool's errand, got herself in even more trouble than she was in before, and Jill is not happy her attempts to get Ange to realize how fucked she is didn't take as well as they should have.

Later, a naked, bloodied up Ange (remember, those whip wounds are still kinda new) is lying in a cell, and Salia is telling Ersha to throw a bucket of cold water on her to wake her up, and as Ange realizes where she is, Salia tells her she'll be confined to suspension quarters for a week for her desertion, and all of her property will be consfiscated (Vilkiss included for the duration). Ersha is playing the Good Cop and being somewhat nicer, but reiterates she has to take responsibility.

Ersha then asks why Ange even bothered, since most Norma were sent off since infanthood and know that hardly anyone gives a damn about them, and when Ange can;t answer, Salia goes Bad Cop and assumes it's because Ange isn't trustworthy.

As they leave and Ange covers herself up, she sneezes, realizes how cold she is, and that;s when a familiar voice tells her to shut up. Ange turns around to discover Hilda curled up on the bench behind her, and even though she wants Ange to stay away, she gets up and reveal her face and body had the ever loving shit beaten out of them.

Ange is horrified and wants to know what happened, but Hilda tells Ange to spill first. Ange then goes over all the even worse crap she was put through, and Hilda is impressed. Hilda says she got beat up by fifty guys but managed to kick their asses (despite taking some damage herself), which sounds kinda BS (she probably got saved by Tusk too). Ange asks if Hilda met her mother, Hilda gives her a noncommittal answer, and Ange figures out Hilda got screwed over like she did too.

Some hours later, we cut to Ange getting dressed and Hilda waking up from a nightmare about her mom. Ange asks what happened in full this time, and Hilda reveals her betrayal by her own mother.
We also get a brief cutback to Rosalie and Chris being disappointed Hilda bailed on them, and Hilda basically admitted she saw them as pawns. Chris then reveals to Hilda she bought back all of Zola's stuff and her and Rosalie leave, understandably mad.

We cut back to the present, where Hilda is like "I'm as screwed as you now, Ange". Ange tells her not to give up on life, Hilda assumes Ange is saying that because she's still in royalty mode, and Ange tells her 'you'll stink if you die". Hilda calls her a selfish bitch, but is clearly amused by this statement, and then Ange confirms to Hilda 'yeah, all the stars are out of my eyes, fuck being royalty, I'm still lower than shit and I fully accept that now". Ange then does a little ranting about how naive she was, then her and Hilda start getting all fatalistic and musing about how much damage they could do to all the assholes they hate, and Hilda is like "are you serious?", and while Ange is like "oh, what the hell, we'll figure something out, Hilda is still pointing all out all the flaws in the "let kill all the assholes who rejected us plan"

After this brief bit of levity, Ange goes all Nietzsche for a moment (or maybe Wagnerian tragedian) , and her and Hilda start to bond over their mutual urge to burn the whole bigoted world to ashes.

Later, Ange gives Hilda a good night concert singing her mother's song again, which is being heard all over Arzenal, Vivian and Ersha are pleased, Salia is studiously ignoring it, Rosalie and Chris are having "don't leave me sex", Momoka is all teary eyed, and Jill is all alone in the comm center, smoking a cig and looking all contemplative.

The post credits have scenes from the Imperial palace with Sylvie all quiet, Julio getting some from his purple haired lady in waiting (and he kept the scar from that throwing star it seems) but still looking emo even though he's getting laid. Meanwhile Hilda and Ange are discussing the cliched aspect of them finally becoming friends, the two of them are hurling playful "we're not friends" (bullshit) jabs, and we get more scenes of DRAGON ass kicking.