Whoa...Well...
I came here because well, This Tear guy? He's making the party to end all parties. Awesome-sounding right? Except...He's gonna eat that party, and everyone caught in it. I figured well...Remembering the Fallen with you would both amp the party, but also tell him, and everyone else that sooner or later, the music ends,and it's back to normal life...
I'm kind of worried about him trying to eat you though...I don't want to lose you again.

"Uh... Well... There's a tear here. A hole in reality that wants to be a person. And he's got it into his head that he can make himself real through some big party to end all parties. And the best way I have of stopping him before a whole lot of people die for nothing is if we get inside his head, and I wasn't sure you could help me with that unless I understood what was going on in yours. And... I was worried that if I couldn't do that... he might hurt you. And your focus..."

The woman raises in eyebrow in question, clearly not satisfied with just that. There's a long silence before the woman huffs in annoyance and backs off slightly, glaring at you some more.

"Linda. This clearly not it. Well, not ALL of it. You're usually not this awkward when it comes to possible life or death situations. So come on. Spill it. I literally CANNOT tell anyone else."

"......or maybe it's... about me."

That catches Cally's attention.

"Oh?"

"There's... someone else... who might be... faced with your... kind of choice... about... me..."

You glance up, your gaze having steadily dropped to the floor as you forced yourself to admit your thoughts, and find the other woman practically glowing with curiosity. Her face is literally inches from your own, and you find yourself resisting the urge to push her away, just from her proximity and intensity.

"Spill. Now."

"Uh... it's... um... a woman, named Aria. She's uh... been hanging around me, flirting a little, I guess..."

"And you haven't?"

"I... might've... flirted back a little bit... just a little..."

"Right~ Is she hot?"

"Wha- What kind of question is that?"

"IS. SHE. HOT?"

"Yes! Yes, she is hot!"

"1 to 10?"

"What?!"

"1 to 10?"

"Why are we even-"

"You NEED to talk to someone about this. You have to. Unless your little gang has changed a bunch, no one in your little band is really qualified to talk about this sort of thing with. Sometimes, Linda, you just need to let yourself be just a little bit of a naive school girl. Let yourself admire what's placed in front of you."

"You mean be you."

"Yeah!"

"You weren't exactly subtle."

"Fuck subtlety, it's overrated. Now then, back to the issue, 1 to 10?"

You pause, starring at the girl in what can only be described as utter shock. You realize rather suddenly that Cally, at least this one, is partially constructed from your own thoughts about her. So you must be filling in at least some of the blanks with your own assumptions about her. Maybe if you changed some of them-

"Ah! Focus! 1 to 10?"

"... 8... 9 if she wore something with a deeper neckline, she dresses too conservatively..."

"HA! So you do think about it!"

"I'm still alive, damnit!"

"Yes, Linda. Yes you are. And I'm not. And won't be, not unless you tear apart reality to get it done, and we both know by now what that does. I can tell you this much Linda, with absolute surety. I wasn't... unhappy... when I died. Sure, I had some regrets, or have some regrets... or something. But it was my own decision to die, and not your fault... well, okay, mostly not your fault. You were just doing what you do naturally, and didn't even realize it. I'm sure there are others, within your group and without, that are going through the same things, because of actions you perform without second thought. Linda, don't change that part of you. Keeping trying to help people. That's what you do, now. I struggled, and chose myself over being the better person. And maybe that decision wasn't necessarily the wrong one either. I don't know much about this Aria chick, but if she's facing the same dilemma as me, whether to let you help her or face her own past on her own, then I wish her the best in whatever she chooses. Of course, that's not to say I don't think you should try to help her anyway."

"Didn't you just say-"

"It's what you DO, Linda. Sometimes, whether they want you to or not. Still, we're putting off something that sounds fun. A party to end all parties, huh? Like hell I'm letting some upstart tear or whatever the hell show me up on what I do best. Let's go rock a party, and maybe get you laid. And me laid. Us laid?"

You can't help but laugh after that. Cally, at first so serious and sure, has devolved once again into her bubbly, music loving self, and you can tell, at least for now, that this little conversation is over. Still, as you feel yourself pulling back into the world of the living, Cally riding shotgun, you hear one last comment from the woman before you return completely on the subject of Aria.

"You think she'd let me ride shotgun while you were romping?"

-------------

Your eyes flicker open again, taking in a room you've already seen before. This time, however, your ears hear nothing except the thump of hard beats in your ears, interwoven with melodies and more beats. You stand and stretch your body a moment, before producing a hair tie from somewhere and tying back your now purple hair into a pony tail to keep it out of your face. Then, a slight bounce in your step and a half-crazed grin on your face, you slip out into the main room, humming along with the music in your ears, to find the two breakers from before, looking incredibly confused. The Michael guy has left already(you feel a shudder of revulsion pulse through you), but you pause a moment, contemplating what to do. You notice the woman trying to say something you can't catch over your music, and you slide of one earphone to facilitate actual conversation.

"What happened to you?"

"Rave mode."

>>>Input Command

...I have never been more okay with having a murdered ex-girlfriend as a spirit guide and life coach.

Seriously, how did we end up turning our fuckup into something so awesome. I'm kind of in awe here. Or I would be, if I wasn't laughing my ass off.

>You think she'd let me ride shotgun while you were romping?
...oh gods. Aria might even go for that at some point, if just for the experience. The Cally threesome is back on the table.

>I chose myself over being the better person.
That gives me a good idea for parting words, when this transformation is over. (Assuming things go well).

Hey, Cally? Maybe this way you got to be yourself and the better person, after all.

>Rave mode
Right. Holiday's obsession is with parties? Let's give him one that'll get his attention. You're turning this place up to 11.

Do this sun city style. The entertainers use active breaking to put on a good show? Well, none of them ever came close to having Linda's level of juice, or were as good at it as Cally. We can put on one hell of a light show, and then some. (Anyone will cool crazy ideas for the specifics? Throw them out. This is one time where practicality isn't an issue. We can go wild. Spirit 7 active breaking, and it's in-theme while we're Rave-Linda).

Start out on the dance floor amping things up, but make your way to the stage (or make a stage, if you need to). If you really want to get the party going, it's time for DJ Winter to put in an encore performance. ...or does Rave-Linda need her own DJ name? Even if we're learning heavily on Cally's skill, your dual-vibe is going to be unique, distinct from her solo act. (Drawing a blank, at the moment. DJ Angel seems too on the nose. Maybe something that draws on the mecha anime thing?).

>cool crazy ideas
Break out the Rave-Light Angel Wings!
Callinda the Angel of Raves has arrived!!!

And I say that in all seriousness. I don't know if it should be a hologram or just there, in all it's impossibility, but rave-light wings that shine their light across the dance floor should be a thing we either have up throughout the party, or something we do as a finisher. When the Wings hit their expiration point (if they do have that sort of thing), I'm hoping we get to burst them into feathers all over the room.

Oh, we probably should do something sutble with the lights so Beth and her boyfriend get together and she can clear up the mess. I kind of wanna say something like break a message to Beth about using Someone Else on her and what happened during that time so she'll be willing to play along.

Before another question can get asked, you're already out the door and heading for the room you remember the party being in. Sure enough, your memory serves you well, and you find what looks to be a party. Your eyes take in the bland scene before you, and you can't help but feel like this couldn't even be called a party. Thankfully, you know how to fix that. A smile spreads across your face, one that you'd later be told by one of the party goers was a mix between insane and genius rolled into one. You let out a sharp, piercing whistle, the commotion dying instantly, before you raise one hand dramatically in the air and letting your smile devolve into a smirk.

"I'm crashing this party."

The simple statement is followed by a snap of your fingers. The results could hardly be called anything less than insane. The world warps and shifts around you, perhaps made even easier by the lack of reality getting in the way to tell it to stop, and what once was bland walls and bland music are suddenly a dazzling light show and pumping beats that get the heart pumping. A stage that may or may not have been there before is easily accessible, and you already there, fingers working magic as the simple beats are mixed with melodies and harmonies and sheer raw adrenaline. You find Cally leading the way far more than yourself, guiding you through motions your body shouldn't know but does.

That was just the first step though. The room barely contains a fifth of the people here. Definitely not enough. The room wouldn't hold the numbers you needed to entertain though, and one room wasn't the venue you wanted to play anyway. Another snap of your fingers, and with a burst of light a wall is suddenly gone, letting the party and music and the strobing lights spill out into the yard, such as it was. Within moments, more people are attracted to the sudden festivities, and you waste little time in convincing reality to have a good time. The yard, filled with nothing, suddenly IS the dance floor, panels lighting up to strobe with the beat. Tendrils of light(something Cally had seen done once by a street performer) snaked out of thin air, highlighting people's bodies as they moved to the rhythm. Soon, by word of mouth or word of song, the entire place is partying, drinking, dancing, singing, loving. Whatever it is they felt like doing. You were merely a facilitator. For the moment.

Still, with the party in full swing, there was absolutely no reason, at least to your Cally-drunk mind, that you couldn't let yourself have a little fun as well. Within minutes of getting everyone involved in the party, you hop down from you place on the stage, "acquire" something alcoholic and down it within seconds of retrieving it. The cup is tossed unceremoniously to the side and you slide into the dancing crowd, happily joining in. As you reach the center of the crowd, and idea pops into your head, and you hear Cally's ghostly laughter in your ears before you snap your fingers again, and pulsing, iridescent wings explode from your back in a shower of light and color, enveloping the dancers around you. Just like every other source of light in the place now, your wings strobe with the beat, shifting colors seemingly at random, even as get into the songs once again and start dancing. Cally's lack of subtlety in going after what she wants proves itself rather conducive to having a good time, as you spend nearly an hour dancing, drinking and somehow managing to end up with a hot, barely dressed woman hanging off you as you lounge on a nearby couch. Of course, that's when your attention is brought crashing down to what's serious, as the target of all this arrives. Of course, that does nothing to halt the festivities around you, as everyone is too drunk on alcohol or adrenalin to care. He spots you easily however, thanks in part to your wings, and makes his way over to you, flanked on either side by a breaker, 44 and 47 respectively. Still, your mind can't help but not take him seriously at all, even if you can feel how dangerous he is.

"Hello~ Can I help you with something? I'm a bit... preoccupied."

You fingers stroke along the skin of the woman sitting with you, causing her to giggle shamelessly, but Holiday doesn't seem to notice or care. Instead, a chair is found from somewhere and he sits, staring at you intently.

"Was it you who did all this?"

"The party was soooooooo dull. I needed to liven it up a little. You know, make it an actual party. Why, should I be apologizing?"

Cally's mindset distracts you again, mostly because she'd rather be focusing on the woman who's now kissing along your neck, but Holiday demands your attention, although you don't necessarily stop the woman from continuing what she's doing.

"No. I actually came to thank you. It seems you've done me a favor."

"Oh? Hey, whatever makes you happy, I guess. I just wandered in."

"Right. Can I get your name, sexy?"

That causes both of your joined minds to shudder, Cally because he's a man(or pretends he's a man) and you because he's a tear. You were not expecting that. Still, you find yourself mulling things over. The party was in no way going to die down at this rate. You hadn't heard from Jean this entire time, not that you'd expected to. Maybe he was waiting for an opportunity of some sort? It might be useful to distract Holiday and let Jean slip inside...

>>>Input Command

Cally: EW!
Linda: Nooo thank you, if you're asking me out-you kind of rub me the wrong way, especially now.
Cally: I don't do guys.
Cally&Linda: But as for my name? Call me... The Angel of Raves.

Tsk tsk, Linda. After discussing Aria with absolutely everyone, you've already got some other cute little thing hanging off your arm?

...you know, maybe if even complete strangers and ghosts are telling you to go for it, you should. One date, months ago? Maybe you should make another move.

>took an hour
Huh, took him long enough. On the plus side though, we'll have regenerated most the BP we've spent becoming other people and overcharging that party.

>breakers, 44 and 47
So... not Sully or little miss apathetic relationship counselor. The other two.

>what do
This is what we wanted. We need his attention if you're going to get inside his head, and take him off his game by challenging his obsession. We also need to get him alone, separate from his guards- if we get him locked up but they immediately rally to protect him, it doesn't do much. That keeping him distracted gets Jean inside is an added bonus.

...that his attention has a sexual competent is unpleasant, but we can just not let him take things too far. Playing a little coy or hard to get has the advantage of maybe drawing him into saying more, to win us over. To possess, to catch the interest of, someone that so embodies the living vibrancy he idealizes. (And the more hung up he is on your Cally-persona, the better it's going to work when you challenge his ideas).

Play along, try and keep him interested, and talking. It would be real convenient if he says anything that confirms our suspicions he's planning on killing everyone. Also, we need to hear as much as we can get him to say- the better we understand him, the better we'll be able to challenge his ideas and bring his dream world down around him.

We may need to reassure Cally to keep things synced though- we're not going along with anything. We're leading him on, so we can break him.

>>554870
Totally should do the wings exploding into feathers thing if we leave the room or go anymore more secluded with Holiday.

>name
...why I'm the angel, of course. DJ Prismatic Angel. You can call me Linda, though.

(Refractive Angel? ...or is there an adjective that invokes both light and the crystal element of snow so we can tie it to the pulsing light thing and the DJ winter alias? Snow Angel maybe? Sort of symbolically making one of us out of or in the image of the other. And it might tie in if we let the glowing light-feathers 'snow' down, or settle on the ground to be danced through, after.

Names are hard).

"If you're trying to pick me up, no thanks~ At the moment, I don't swing that way."

As if to support that fact, the woman in your arms giggles again, and Cally keeps getting distracted, pulling your combined attention to the girl again and again. Still, the danger hasn't passed yet, thanks to the tear seated in front of you, who doesn't look the least bit put off by your dismissal of his flirting.

"I see. Well, always time to change that. Regardless, I still haven't heard your name."

"I'm the Angel, obviously."

"Angel?"

"Yeah, the Angel of Raves~"

Holiday blinks, then a pleased smile spreads across his face and he begins to laugh happily. Before long, however, his laughter fades away, and he turns in place to regard the party going on around you. He seems to get even more happy as he soaks in the joy that comes off the party goers like like from the sun, and when he turns back to you, he's practically ecstatic.

"You've really made this party quite a bit more lively, you know that?"

"Like I said, the Angel of Raves~"

"Regardless, I think this is the best outcome. With this, my plans can happen so much faster."

"That ni- Wait, what?"

Before you get an answer, Holiday reaches forwards and taps the woman in your arms, who instantly explodes into a shower of threads of varying colors, which quickly disappear into the tear's "body". His smile grows, but this time, you can see a hint of the insanity behind it.

"I didn't expect this much excitement and liveliness to occur so rapidly. And all from the influence of one person. I'll have your thread now, Angel of Raves. It'll make me feel so much more real."

The two breakers with him look utterly confused, like they weren't sure what just happened, but their confusion is short lived, as Holiday stands and seems to push his hands into them, sending them screaming before they explode into threads, once again sucked into Holiday. And after all that, no one else in the crowds around you even notices, their eyes too accustomed to the lights shows you've been putting on, their minds too drunk off the music and alcohol. Well shit. This could be bad.

You throw your weight over the couch as Holiday lunges for you, your wings exploding into a shower of light and "feathers" in order to hopefully confuse the tear, and all he catches with his fingers is the piece of furniture. You land on the other side and slip into the crowd, hoping to buy just a little time to think. Unfortunately, you feel that profoundly wrong feeling flow everywhere, and even the partiers are starting to take notice. One thing echoes through your thoughts as you analyze the feeling and realize something.

Holiday, in order to talk to you, must have gone inactive. This feeling... he's gone active again. And this time, he isn't discriminating in what he consumes. Thankfully, the two breakers you'd encountered before were a little smarter than their fellows, and it seems that the woman at least took what you said a little seriously.

"EVERYONE! GET OUT AND GET DOWNSTAIRS! WE'LL DEAL WITH THIS!"

People start doing what people do best, namely panicking, but you provide a little help by snapping your fingers and making the tendrils of light created earlier start pointing the way out, quickly clearing the dance floor. Unconsciously, you manifest the twin plasma rods, setting them spinning in your hands, as you regard your opponent. Your joined quickly by the two remaining breakers, Sully and his wife, with the man manifesting what looks like a baseball bat and a baseball, and the woman pulls a mirror from thing air, although she looks a little uncertain at what to do exactly. Both glance at you, as if expecting answers, but unfortunately, there's not time to give them what they want.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Even with the party destroyed, even with all that gone, you still shine with life! Vibrant like the sun! I need it! Must have it! Must BE it!"

Well... that was comforting.

>>>Input Command

Shit. How many fucking people have to die just for being attracted to Linda? Poor nameless npc party girl. (The breakers at least chose to get involved with someone incredibly dangerous when they should have known better. She didn't).

Unless killing the tear means we could recover some of the threads he's fed upon? Or, at least the recent ones. Like, we grab those threads when Jean takes him apart, and then reweave them, like we did with Raphael. Only this time there won't be big pieces missing, burnt up breaking time. (We might have to ask Elizabeth to let us 'see' to make that work, though).

...possibly we could even get some raw reality for the doc to study that way, if we don't put those two breakers back together quite as strong as they were before.

At least that removed all doubt and chance of sympathy. He can't be helped. He's mad, and dangerous, and has to be put down.

>you still shine with life! Vibrant like the sun! I need it! Must have it! Must BE it!
Right. Time to break him. Talk to him. Try and keep him focused on your words while you spin your rods, so he's not trying to eat you or the others, just yet. If you have to, use your tempo shifts to protect yourself and the others.

Hit him with exactly what happened to Cally. Fuel your words with every bit of grief you felt over her death, and with every regret she still has. Gloss over her not-unhappiness, or the weird sort of resolution the two of you have managed to reach since. (So mostly honest emotion- but framed in a misleading way).

Yeah, that's me. Vibrant. Full of life. The life of the party, you could say. I loved it. So much so, that when I had to choose between being a better person and giving up the party, I chose to keep on dancing.

And you know what that got got me?

IT GOT ME DEAD!

(Start to let the fusion unravel, her thread to slip back away, as you walk towards him). I lay there on the dance floor, music pounding in my ears, as I bled out in my lover's arms. I expired. And now I don't even EXIST.

(Stand right in front of him, nonexistant, speaking softly). This won't bring you life, Holiday. It can't fill the tear. It's hollow. I'm in a position to know. This won't make you real.

...hopefully that's enough of a shock to his obsession to get him to lock up. And then Jean can walk up and consume him while he's helpless, before he can hurt anyone else. While he's doing that, call up Elizabeth, and ask her to do whatever she's going to do. And if she can let you see. (And then maybe try and snag and save the threads of those people he just killed. Maybe there will be spillover as Jean feeds?).

If this fails, we'll have to fall back to plan shoot him till he can't move.

>Hey, Cally? Maybe this way you got to be yourself and the better person, after all.
And I still want to use this parting line for Cally, especially after using her / framing her experience in a bad way to get to Holiday.

>as if expecting answers
Hopefully we can give them some, after.

If we need more lines in the middle, we could do a sort of I can't -, and I won't get to - (filling in a list of Cally's regrets). And neither will you.

>explain
I sort of hope at the end mirror girl figures out Linda had become the person she lost before, and that's what she was talking about, and comments on it, after the fight is done.

If not, we can explain ourself- you asked the one before? That was her. (One of them, anyways). I can sort of become other people, for a while. These guys though... they aren't people. They want to be. But they can't. And they do a lot of damage trying, trying to fill a hole without a bottom.

You feel it, a swelling jumble of emotions rising from you, and not just you, but Cally as well. For whatever reasons, your intentions seem to have been picked up up on by the ghostly woman, and she begins to channel her thoughts, her regrets, and emotions, using you like an antenna to put that much more weight behind the words you speak.

"Yeah, that's me. Vibrant. Full of life. The life of the party, you could say. I loved it. So much so, that when I had to choose between being a better person and giving up the party, I chose to keep on dancing. And you know what that got got me?

"IT GOT ME DEAD!

"I lay there on the dance floor, music pounding in my ears, heart struggling to keep time as I bled out in my lover's arms. I expired. And now I don't even EXIST. I'll never get to feel that life again. The vibrant pounding in my ears as the music plays. The cheers of the crowds as they gather to hear my song. The rush of adrenaline from stealing that kiss from the angel that walked into my life."

You hear pain in your voice you hadn't meant to be there, that certainly wasn't in your emotions. The sting, however, is, and you quickly notice that the lines between Cally's feelings and your's have blurred further than you intended. Still, by now there is little stopping her, and your attempts to interrupt the connection between the two of you, the let it fade so that you might be able to protect her precious thread, the last remnant of Cally you posses, are rebuffed by her emotions, which continue to rise as she warms to her topic.

"I don't know what it is you think you know, but simply partying till the end of time doesn't make you feel more real. It just fills your head with delusions and fantasies. I thought I could keep living like that. I thought I could keep on going as I was, and remain the same forever. But life doesn't work like that. The party, at some point, has to end. Or how on earth would you be able to have another one after it? How in reality would you ever know if you could top it, and feel the rush again, only better?

"This won't bring you life, Holiday. It can't fill the tear. It's hollow. I'm in a position to know. This won't make you real."

By the time she's done, Cally has somehow guided your combined existence to stand right in front of him, to stare a tear right in the eyes and challenge him to tell her she's wrong. For a moment, you feel his presence seem to rise up, as if he's going to rip her apart, as if he'll consume her essence, destroy that vibrant light she seems to shine over everything. Then just as quickly, it's as if that same horrible feeling is frozen in time, as if you can feel it trying to do what it wants, but somehow meeting a roadblock. You simply stare at him for a moment, as he stares right back, for a few minutes, before your Cally-infused mind decides this is both strange and boring. Your hand comes up to wave in front of his face, your voice conveying an almost mocking sarcasm.

"Hellooooo~ Anybody home?"

"That... Miss McCallahan, what happened to you?"

You turn and spot Jean, his hat in his hands, looking confused and mildly entertained. Cally hisses in annoyance, and you barely stop yourself from mimicking the action. Probably shouldn't be acting hostile towards allies. Still, you can't but express a slight disgust, this time at, to your eyes, outdated style of clothing.

"What the hell are you wearing?"

"Hm? What does that have to do with anything?"

"That's like... from the 1800's or something."

"Miss McCallahan, is that really what we should be focusing on?"

"Ah! You're right... still need a new wardrobe..."

"Later, Miss McCallahan, now to decide what we're going to do with my esteemed brother."

"Um, could someone explain to me what's going on right now?"

The woman, who's name you still don't recognize steps in, not really angry but not quite happy either. You consider for a moment that you should probably explain at least what's going on, but Jean seems entirely uninterested in the pair, instead striding up to his "brother" and examining him like one might examine a piece of art in a museum.

"Uh... well... uh... I'm trying to save everyone here, so... uh... actually, it's a bit long to explain properly. I could try, but it would take awhile... um..."

"Then... sum it up or something!"

"Miss McCallahan, what should we be doing? Do you just want me to consume him? Unless one of these breakers here wants to volunteer..."

"Volunteer? Volunteer for what?"

Oh god...

>>>Input Command

I don't like this...
We explain to that Breaker what we'd need her to volunteer for-no WILL manipulation.
If she says yes then we go ahead, but if she says no then Jean handles it...
Actually? If she agrees to it, Jean eats Holiday, and then we make 'Jean' into an actual person, if not a breaker in his own right.
two tears removed from the weave, and hopefully, a new ally gained.

... I kind of want to have Jean eat him regardless. Sending a message to other Tears that if you mess with us, we'll stop by and make you real is a bad thing to do. A very bad thing. Still, if someone actually cares for him enough or what his goals were before this to want to sacrifice themselves to make it a reality... I think Linda should give it a shot, because that's more in keeping with who she is, even if it's not the smartest thing to do.

>>555472
If she agrees to it, her agreement will likely be to make Holiday, the "person" she knows, real, not a blanket "Sure I'll sacrifice everything I am and ever was for any Tear ever"

Oh, huh. I was thinking to drop the fusion so as the replace the thread Holiday was focused on with Linda's nonexistent one. Shock him by showing rather than telling- equate Linda's not being there with Cally's death. Looks like heartfelt words were enough, though.

>Volunteer for what?
Volunteer to die.

>"Then... sum it up or something!"
Holiday isn't a breaker. He isn't human. He's a tear- a hole in reality that desperately wants to be filled. And he would have eventually eaten everyone and everything here in the desperate attempt to do so.

We'd don't have much time to close the hole before he snaps out of it. And there's only a few ways to do so. We could tie it up with a breaker's thread- at the cost of their life. Or we could let another tear swallow the first.

>what do
I think the only real option we have is to let Jean eat him. If we're going to even think of treating tears like people: Holiday is dangerous and mad. No matter what sympathy we may feel for his desperate, misguided attempt to be real, we can't allow him to lead people to their deaths and recklessly tear reality apart. We can't contain him, or fix him, so we have to end him before he hurts more people. As for Jean, yes, he's a tear. His goal isn't any different, and we know what he's capable of. Letting him grow stronger could potentially backfire. But he took a big risk in trusting us, and so long as his desire to be a person means acting like a person, we have to treat him as one. The same rules we apply to breakers in our territory should apply to him- and so long as he follows our rules, we shouldn't kill him. (Possibly we should have a conversation about this with him before leaving- so long as he follows the same rules as we expect breaker in our territory to, we'll tolerate him).

The question if he breaks the rules just by being, harming reality around him, intentional or no, is a problem to be addressed later.

If either Sully or mirror-girl are dumb enough to offer to sacrifice themselves: Don't be stupid. You have each other, don't you? Don't put him through that pain / don't put her through that again. (Depending on who speaks up).

A possible third option would be to use raw reality. But we don't have any, and we don't know how long it would take to make some, if we can make some in these circumstances, or if it's possible to make without having to take someone's thread apart to do so (in which case it just turns into a riskier version of the volunteer-sacrifice plan).

Have Jean wait a moment. Activate your comm: Elizabeth, whatever you're going to do, it's about to be time. ...can you let me see?

Once we have View the Weave, if there's an obvious and expedient way to grab some of the damaged shreds of reality around you (without unmaking a person) and put an end to Holiday with raw reality, do so (I don't expect that to work, though). Otherwise, turn to Jean and tell him to do it. And watch. If we're going to make a final decision about we treat him (and the other tears) you need to see him as he really is, and at his darkest. Can you still see any humanity or feel sympathy when you see him as Elizabeth does? (We saw past Cass' darkest self and helped her. Is this something we can do with them / him?)

I expect Holiday's death to include some spillage- releasing of threads he consumed. (It's how things were described with Emily, at least). I think we should take the warden's advice- that we would be capable of working with this stuff if we could see it. Snag the (hopefully not yet digested) threads of Holiday's recent victims before they're scattered or Jean eats them, and put them back as they were. Put them back together, like the warden helped us do with Rapeal. (I'd rather not have killed someone else just for coming onto Linda. The two breakers I don't care if they come back normal like Raphael did, or full strength. They should have known what they were getting into). Jean gets the rest of the deeper snarl- the stuff too far gone.

>closing stuff
Parting words for Cally, will need to reach a final decision about / talk with Jean, and possibly help the survivors (we can invite them back to sun city, or offer to find them someplace if they've nowhere else to go).

>>555472
>>555488
Uh, you guys seem to be under the impression we have a way to make tears real. We don't, yet.

Jean didn't explain the process of wrapping a breaker's thread around a tear as making a tear real- just grounding them. It defines them. Gives an outline around the tear- making them real enough to be hurt or killed- to destroy the tear along with the thread. But an outline doesn't fill the hole. The tear still wouldn't get what it was after.

The best proof that this method doesn't make them real: Jean gave us that intel, and he isn't trying to seduce or persuade or force someone into making that sacrifice for him. Instead he's following Linda, believing she's best chance of finding a way to be real.

So the choice is: kill someone to kill the tear (because we don't want to give Jean any more power) or let Jean eat Holiday (preserving lives while risking making a potentially unreliable and dangerous factor stronger). Personally, I'm of the opinion we can trust him so long as we understand him. So long as he believes Linda can and will get him what he wants, we can trust him to play by our rules. If he's given reason to believe otherwise though, he becomes dangerous again.

That, and I really have a hard time asking these people to die for our doubts. We came here to protect them.

"Holiday isn't a breaker. He isn't human. He's a tear- a hole in reality that desperately wants to be filled. And he would have eventually eaten everyone and everything here in the desperate attempt to do so."

"Wha- Can't we do something then?"

"Either Jean there, another tear, eats him, or one of us, er... you or.... Sully, was? One of you two would have to sacrifice themselves to kill the bastard."

That shocks them both to silence, minds trying to process information that they can't quite understand or believe. You take a deep breath before finally letting Cally go dormant once again, but before she's completely gone, in that half-state where both you and she are separate but not, you offer her a gentle smile and words would seem to catch her off guard.

"Hey, Cally? Maybe this way you got to be yourself and the better person, after all."

"... Maybe, Linda. Maybe. Stay beautiful~"

The ghostly Cally departs, leaving you once again your normal self, dressed in normal clothing. You stretch some of the kinks out of your body, some of those dance move Cally loved you were sure involved movements that resulted in your limbs bending in way that didn't seem feasible. Still, you didn't mind the exercise at all. It was certainly interesting. The end results though...

"Hey Elizabeth? You there?"

"Of course, Mother."

"Whatever it is you got planned, I'd suggest getting it ready. Holiday here is about to be dealt with."

"I... see... We will be ready."

"We? You know what, we can talk about that another time. For now, do you think you could give me your sight? I need to test something. Hopefully it'll turn out alright."

"As you wish, Angel... It is done."

A redundant statement, your eyes fill with the sight of those glowing threads, although you can tell that the power is only a piece of your daughter's sight. She's chosen to limit you somewhat once again. Why would she do tha-

You freeze in shock as your gaze moves over the tears. Or rather, where your normal sight can barely make out their physical forms. What you see with Elizabeth's sight, however, is far from what you expected. Instead of there simply being nothing around them, like you, threads weave and vibrate against their existences, but as they move away, the threads appear diminished. Less, somehow, then they were before. Glittering sparkles of reality seem to bleed off each one thread that even passes close to the tears, disappearing into the dark emptiness that the they represent, and just from watching, seeing, understanding, you feel something wrench in your gut.

Wrong. All tears are... wrong. In every sense of the word, they are wrong. They should not be. Should never have been.

You quickly separate the emotion from yourself, and realize just as quickly from feeling similar things recently that the emotions you'd just felt were Elizabeth's. Likely an unintentional bleed through thanks to you using her sight. It was likely why you felt such as sense of security about yourself when you'd viewed yourself in a mirror the first time you'd done this. Still, even by recognizing what's going on and trying to ignore it, some of it bleeds through. Even Jean, who you've chosen to trust, at least for now, feels so wrong every time he passes into your vision.

"Ms. McCallahan? Are you quite prepared?"

"Uh... yes. right. Prepared. Uh... do your thing, I guess..."

You watch, and begin to reach out with your senses, as Jean pulls off a glove in semblance of some aristocrat from the olden days, before his smile widens into something that can only be described as hungry. The view your borrowed sight provides suddenly warps as Jean goes active, threads that were once simply being corroded away suddenly getting pulled into him, the light of reality simply disappearing into a ever growing, ever gaping maw of sheer nothing. Then he lays his hands on his "brother" and it becomes impossible to describe. Nothing meets nothing, black hole meets black hole, and two unstoppable forces collide. And Jean, with his advantage, proves the stronger. Holiday, as if for the first time, begins to shed light, and you quickly reach forwards, intent on grabbing at what you hope are the threads he just consumed. The threads explode outwards before being sucked back in by Jean, but your grasp holds one, a single thread, pulsing once again with life, if a little worn around the edges. The woman who'd simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Part of you remembers her, remember things about her you can't have known. Her life is splayed out before you like a blanket, and you find you can see each event, each choice, each action that touched her existence. And then the pull of Jean's hunger snatches it from your grasp, like a fish that had wiggle free and followed the river's flow. You snarl in defiance, but by then, it's too late to do anything. You can only watch as it disappears into the tear in front of you, his nothing growing larger and more insistent. But something else catches your attention and steals your anger. As Holiday's nothing disintegrates, and more threads pull free, you glimpse something you remember, and feel something you hadn't thought to feel here, of all places.

Raw Reality.

You react faster than you imagined you could, reaching for it, hoping to grab hold, but Jean seems to be targeting it specifically. His hunger grabs hold and doesn't let go, and you find yourself having to release your hold on it or be dragged into the nothing. Still, the amount of Raw Reality inside Holiday was at least four times the amount you used when changing reality to kill off Marc.

Within moments, after that raw reality disappears into Jean's form, he goes inactive, that consuming of threads going with him. Now, he only nibbles at the threads around him once again. You collapse onto your knees after that, feeling suddenly tired, but you force yourself to stay awake. There are things you need to check on.

"Elizabeth?"

"The guests are fine. As are the remaining breakers. They are all being transported somewhere else. Only you and the tear remain... he is stronger, Angel."

"I know... I know..."

Elizabeth's sight leaves you, perhaps by her own choice, to spare you the horror she sees, and you turn you gaze on the tear. Even without her sight, you can feel his wrongness stronger than before as he replaces the glove on his hand, glancing around him as he does.

"And so ends the story of Holiday. Or the not story, as the case may be. Ms McCallahan? Is something wrong?"

You hesitate, questions flitting through your mind faster than you can voice them. You steady yourself with a calm, deep breath before letting your thoughts settle.

>>>Input Command

We shouldn't have told him about the Raw Reality, shouldn't we. Crap.
We've got to practice messing with the Weave more often after this! Maybe we could show Aria this and see how well she takes to it-she's certainly capable of breaking some impressive things into being.

*Sigh* ...no matter how strong you get, you still can't save everyone.

>We?
I assume she persuaded the observers to help. This trap is theirs, after all, and I'm sure they'd prefer to save threads rather than letting them be consumed. Moving 80 77 people herself, at at long range, is well beyond the limits of what she should be able to active break. (I suppose it might be within the limits of a collaborate break? But those are risky in their own way. And I'm somewhat more comfortable with her working with beings we don't quiet trust than risking her life).

>you find yourself having to release your hold on it or be dragged into the nothing.
Interesting question: would that actually harm us? Perhaps that's pushing our luck, but if Linda doesn't have a thread, it would be hard for it to be damaged. Although, even if we could safely enter a tear, there might still be the problem of getting back out.

>Is something wrong?
*tired, only half sarcastically* ...you can really ask that with a strait face?

I don't particularly enjoy watching people die, and it being my fault. Let alone twice.

And Holiday's core. That was raw reality. Four times what it took me to break time. Four times what it took to cheat death, screw prophecy, and accidentally change myself. ...four times what it would have taken to fuck everything over if I'd made a mistake.

Forget about your tearing a black hole in the world and eroding threads, reality, just by being. That stuff is... world ending dangerous by itself. And I don't know what it's doing there. Is it what tore the hole in the first place (if we're using the 'black hole' model- you need a core, a superdense mass that supplies the gravitational attraction, something for time and space to collapse around. Is the raw reality playing that role? Too much reality collapses in on itself, tears a hole, and starts pulling more in?), or maybe it's something you make? Eat threads, digest them, get raw reality. But that's way more than you'd need to make one person. And if it keeps accumulating...

They want to be real. And they eat to try and get there. But I'm wondering now if that's what they're intended to do at all, if their desires don't lead to a trap. Holiday hoped once he crossed some critical point he'd be real but... I think something more catastrophic might happen. What happens if a black hole goes nova?

Jean's accomplished one part of his goal, at least. He's motivated us. We don't want to see more people die that way, we don't want to see reality continually worn away like that, and we certainly don't want to find out what happens if a tear builds up a critical level of raw reality.

Which means we need to find a way to give them what they want. Or if it can't be done, or if the price is too high, kill them trying. (If Jean objects or starts: hey, you want to be human? First step. You try for a life worth living, or resign yourself to die trying).

>after all the tear physics talk
...are those barriers still in place? You can't leave?

I'm expecting he'll answer in the affirmative, but now that he's stronger he could eat his way out faster. In which case we try to deal with that.

This prison has a warden, right? So Linda talks to them (through Liz, again?). They don't want to let a tear lose, but they're still ahead, overall. They traded one active tear who was going to consume a lot, for one who's currently restraining himself. Why force him to go active here and eat his way out? And they still need a permanent solution. You're their best bet at finding one. So if they want that, they should let you have him.

Think of it as parole.

>>555713
I think he would have gone for it, regardless.

It sounds almost like tears tear off threads of reality and hold them inside themselves. They can't hold onto them, can't weave them around themselves, they just... collect inside but out of reach.

>>555726
Slight issue with this is although we should be upset at what happened, it's kind of hard to (or we shouldn't) direct all that anger at Jean- it's hard to blame him for being what he is (he can't help it (even though he wants to)). Or for doing exactly as we told him.

Which means any outburst has to be kind of balanced so we're not blowing up directly at him / pushing him away (losing control of the dangerous monster we helped create). Not sure I got the balance right, there.

"... You can really ask that with a straight face?

I don't particularly enjoy watching people die, and it being my fault. Let alone twice.

And Holiday's core. That was raw reality. Four times what it took me to break time. Four times what it took to cheat death, screw prophecy, and accidentally change myself. ...four times what it would have taken to fuck everything over if I'd made a mistake."

"That bad, is it?'

"Yes. It is that bad. Forget about your tearing a black hole in the world and eroding threads, reality, just by being. That stuff is... world ending dangerous by itself. Reality ending dangerous. And I don't know what it's doing there. Is it what tore the hole in the first place, or maybe it's something you make? Eat threads, digest them, get raw reality. But that's way more than you'd need to make one person. And if it keeps accumulating... "

"Ah... I see the issue... and now, I have some of this stuff in me... how fascinating."

"I'd hardly call it fascinating. More like horrifying."

"Well, to each their own, I suppose."

"Yeah. Right. Regardless, tears are a threat. A threat that needs to get dealt with. We either give them what they want, make them real... or we kill the lot of them. No harm meant, Jean."

"None taken, Ms McCallahan. Just be aware that if it comes to that, I will fight for my life. Fake or not, I want to live."

"Fair enough. That barrier still there?"

"Yes. I could easily eat my way out, but something tells me you have other plans."

"Of course. Time to go talk to these Observers. Elizabeth, you there?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Think you can play go between again?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I'm headed for the edge of this place with Jean. Let them know I'm coming."

"Understood."

Experience Gained: 2
Experience Total: 6

You jerk awake for the fifth time tonight, head pounding as the voices come back. Talking. Shouting. Singing. Whispering. You know they are real. Have to be. But everyone else can't hear them. That's normal to. Everything is as it should be. You think. The voices seem to disagree.

I'm hungry, Mother.

Now isn't the time to eat. It's only two in the morning. Breakfast won't be ready until at least six.

But I'm HUNGRY!

Later, Levi. You can eat later... I haven't heard from Moth in awhile. Where is he?

That one is content to be silent until he is ready to kill. Not very intelligent at all, in my opinion. It's good no one asks your opinion then, big brother. Both of you should stop that. Mother will be unhappy with you if you keep it up. You are not wanted here, As. Begone from this place. Just because we don't have bodies doesn't mean we can't have our say in Mother's thoughts. Wouldn't you agree, Bel? Leave me out of your tiresome bickering. Always supportive, aren't you? Still, I'm the first one to notice that Mother could finally hear us. So why is it Levi got to be real first? I'd complain to Mother, but we already know she can't recall why she chose him either. As, for the love of Mother, BE QUIET!

P-Please! Stop fighting!

And just like that, as always, the voices are silent once again, their whispering just at the edge of your conscious. Over the years of hearing them, you'd identified, in total, seven distinct voices within your mind, each prone to different suggestions, thoughts, desires. All, however, seemed to bow to your will. The most vocal were Levi and As, although why that was, you'd never know. Moth had become much more active since gaining a body though. As if in reaction to your own musings, you pull the two dolls you share your bed with closer to your body, feeling an unnatural warmth from both of them. YOu draw comfort for a moment before you stomach growls, and once again, Levi demands that he's hungry. You consider ignoring him and trying to go back to sleep, but your stomach growls in protest again, and you decide instead to slide out of bed and silently make your way through the hotel room you share with your brother and that Aria woman. You didn't really talk with her, she intimidated you quite a bit, which made Levi uncomfortable and Moth irritable. Still, it comes as a surprise to find that very same woman sitting on a couch in the living area, lost in thought. You pause a moment, wondering it you'd intruded, before Levi's hunger drives you forward again.

She doesn't seem to react at all as you scrounge up something to eat, your brother well aware of your tendencies and having already stocked the fridge with snacks of all kinds. It's only as you finish your meager meal and begin heading back towards your room that the voices begin to get insistent again.

You have to talk to her. As! No one wants to hear your perversions! For once, Levi, butt out and keep your mouth shut. I should eat you alive for that! For once, Levi, I agree with the perverted freak. The woman is interesting to us. So many chances to corrupt her pure intentions. Hardly the most pure of goals, Mon. She is irrelevant to our Mother. Leave her be and get some rest. You will need it tomorrow, Mother. Oh? So even the ever silent Beel decides to join his kin? How delightfully unexpected. Stop your pointless prattle, As. Let's just all go back to sleep.... Much as I loathe to agree with our most perverted of siblings, the woman is someone the Angel is interested in. You and your endless desire to repay debts! She saved Mother, you insensitive-

You drown the voices out again, but pause in your journey back to bed, eyes fixing on the silent woman on the couch. She seems a bit... forlorn. Maybe...

>>>Input Command

Hrrm... I guess ask her what's up/ how she's doing?

Okay, we have got to stop by and visit her head the next time we get a chance while dreamwalking. It's probably crazy fascinating.

>Seven
Well, that's a sort of a relief. It's only the seven princes of hell in her head that need letting out, not the whole key of Solomon.

I suppose my concern before that giving her a new avatar might have increased the burden or made it harder on her was ill placed. Because she didn't gain a new presence in her mind at all- they're all already there.

...did making two of them real (or more real) help at all? Do they bicker less, or put less of a burden on you? (Hopefully Mac turns up another avatar to use, eventually).

Does anything else help? (Elizabeth has her video games, when she needs solace from the weave). Do any of them push you into things besides Levi's insistence for food? (Could be much worse).

>repay debts! She saved Mother
Sounds like they slipped up, there. Have they said that kind of thing before? Ever explained what they mean? I got the impression before they've been keeping it from you.

>Aria?
Why should you be intimidated by her? Your friend, Elizabeth, was able to talk to her, and she's not much better with most people than you are. And you sort of have something in common. She has her own 'demon' on her mind, even if you haven't seen much of him. And someone Linda favors can't be that scary. (...or they all can't be that scary).

Forget corruption, or usury, or manipulative interest, or dept repayment, or whatever other reasons the voices are giving you. She's in pain, and not so different from yourself, and what have you to lose by talking to her?

Are you... all right?

You stare a few moments more before taking a hesitant step towards her. The voices in your head are suddenly silent, they usually are when you are actually talking with someone. Still, you can hear them whispering in the background. They are expectant. Other people always interest them the most. It's always been like that.

"Um... E-Excuse me. Uh... Are you... um... Are you alright?"

Your voice is like a knife through the silence, and you flinch at the sound of your own voice. That was a little loud. You hope that didn't wake brother. Not that brother ever woke up, even when you wanted him to. The woman seems to jump slightly in surprise, and half-turns to get a look at you. For another moment, there's silence again, before you see a friendly grin take its place on her face.

"Yes. I'm fine. I just have... a lot on my mind, is all. Many things to think about... Are you prepared for tomorrow?"

"Y-Yes. I think. Levi seems to think so anyway."

"Ah yes, you are an avatar user, like myself."

"Uh... yes."

"Quite impressive, that newest avatar of yours. Behemoth, was it?"

"Um... Moth doesn't usually talk to me much. Unless there are things to hurt."

"I see... Much like my own avatar, it seems."

"Um..."

"Yes?"

"Your avatar... I don't see him around much anymore..."

"Yes. He doesn't like the way my heart is going, I think. Can't say I much like the way it's going either."

"Your... heart?"

"Yes. It doesn't exactly move the way my parents, or my avatar, wishes it to, and I can't say how I... feel... about that. Still, that is hardly a discussion you need to worry about."

Ah, a lovesick heart. How... cliche. Beel, quiet! She's obviously broken up about this, if she's talking with an almost total stranger about it. Or maybe she's not broken up about it at all? Thank you for the lovely insight, As. I'm sure we all understand the situation so much better now. Is this pointless babbling necessary? It's not like we have any advice for her. Let's just get back to sleep and be done with this whole affair. Bel, we're going to be working rather hard, tomorrow. Please, don't remind me. The pointlessness of all that work is simply- Oh, you're just jealous because you've been stuck in here all this time, unable to do anything at all.

Um... what should I...?

Mother, you don't have any experience with that sort of thing. Any advice you give her likely wouldn't be helpful. Except you have me, Mother! I'm an expert at relationships! Dirty ones... Quiet you! I'm just saying that any advice you give would be completely inappropriate for the situation. Well it's still a whole lot better than what you might give her! I never said I was even trying to-

The mortal thinks to much. Not enough killing.

Moth? Moth almost never talked when it didn't have something to do with killing. Although maybe the discussion over Aria had annoyed him enough to garner his input. Of course, you didn't see how killing anything would make her mind up for her.

"Talking with your avatars, are you?"

"Huh? Uh... no, all of them."

"... All of them?"

"Ah! I mean... um... uh..."

Smooth, Mother. Real smooth. Not helping, Mon.

>>>Input Command

Levi's wrong. You have plenty of experience being pulled in disparate ways you don't fully understand. But ultimately
>All, however, seemed to bow to your will
and this doesn't seem to be the case for her. So look at what's different. She only seems to have the one avatar, and seems she's surprised for there to be anything else prepared to become another. Maybe, in a way, that's the source of her struggle. She has a second potential avatar that's been neglected. And that's led to her one running rampant, and ultimately dominating her life.

Huh. So Aria's more torn up over her internal conflict than the fact the time skip meant we didn't advance anything for months, or the fact Linda chose to go elsewhere this mission. That's good, I guess. Or at least, better than what I expected to be wrong.

>>556114
Ooh, that's a really good way of looking at it.

>... All of them?
...the voices have always been there. They haven't all found bodies, but they're all still there.

Maybe it's the same for you? Maybe there's a part of you you aren't used to listening to, or that's just speaking up now. Just because it can't walk around yet doesn't mean it's not there.

"The... uh... the v-voices... in my... um... in my head..."

"You have voices in your head?"

"Y-yes? Levi, and Moth, and... and a few others... I... uh... I c-can't really... um... really hear them right now... though..."

"I see. Well, I'm sure you don't want me prying too much into your personal matters."

"Um... you're... um..."

"It's alright. Take your time. We're in no hurry, it seems."

You pause, taking a deep breath to steady yourself. This was a lot harder than you thought. Maybe some people were just better at it? Still, you felt like you had something important to say, so you decided you were going to say it. The problem, of course, was actually vocalizing it.

"Um... m-maybe... maybe you just... um... m-maybe it's the same... f-for you?"

"What do you mean?"

"M-Maybe... uh... m-maybe you have... a-another voice, like me? Something th-that wants to speak... um... b-but doesn't have a... um... a body? B-but... maybe it... uh... it still wants to be heard?"

Aria seems to stare at you for a long time, simply taking in what you said, before frowning slightly as she tries to fit the pieces together. In the meantime, as if sensing a lull in the conversation, the voices come back, as insistent as ever, if a little less interested in helping the woman opposite you now that they seem to be catching onto your thoughts.

I can't believe it. Believe what? Mother... she wants to give one of those bodies to this woman! What? Ah! He's right! She talking about someone else's voice! That means- What does she need all of us running around for anyway? That'll just put more of us in danger. You're just saying that because you have a body, you cold-blooded glutton! Now shut up and get out of the way! MOTHER! YOU CAN'T GIVE UP BODIES LIKE THAT! WE NEED THE- Be quiet! What Mother does is none of our concern! She'll do as she pleases, and we'll give her our council when it's asked for! No! NONONONONONONONONONONO! I WANT A BODY TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~

That... That was rather unexpected. Before you can reply, however, you find your focus on the voices interrupted by Aria, who seems to finally have put the pieces into place.

"You think... I have another avatar inside of me?"

"Um... yes?"

"You don't sound very sure."

"Um... I'm told... it can be different for... um... other... uh... people..."

"I see. Still, it is a good way to think about it. A voice inside of me, that maybe I'm trying to suppress, even without realizing it... food for thought. Thank you, Michelle, that was very kind of you."


You feel a little glow of satisfaction and warmth blossom in your chest, and you smile pleasantly at the woman. She smiles back with equal warmth, before turning back to stare out a nearby window. You pause for another moment before standing, Levi and Moth dragging across the floor behind you as you head back to bed without further comment.

----------

The next morning finds you nursing a cup of hot chocolate, the three of you(yourself, brother and Aria) sitting inside a quaint little coffee shop located in a more desolate part of town. You'd tracked the ambushes to this area, likely used to avoid having to drag in civilians. Even the fixers didn't want to draw attention to themselves, especially with D7 on the loose.

"Are you ready, Michelle?"

"Hm? Oh! Uh, yes."

"Alright. I'll go over the plan once more. I'll go out in my child form and lure them out while you find a good place to hide. Once I've got them, I'll lure them to wherever you are, and you can unleash Leviathan and Behemoth on them. That should clear that up nicely. The Snake and his followers can then deal with anyone that tries to escape, as well as ward away any civilians."

"R-right!"

"Are you sure you have nothing to add?"

You pause again, the voices in your head silent. This was not the time for chatter. Moth was rumbling in your skull, and you could feel Levi's hunger beginning to grow. Still... was there anything else to add? And where should you go to hide?

>>>Input Command

Where to hide where to hide...
Perferably? Someplace big, where Moth and Levi can move without encum...Actually, ask them. Where would they like to fight? And from there, pick a hiding spot around that.

Haha. Wow. We really pissed them off with that idea.

How far to take the idea is kind of up in the air, though. I mean, Michelle obviously has personalities waiting for bodies, and it's likely there's a part of Aria she hasn't been listening too. If it needs a literal external manifestation for her to deal with it is the real question. And then there's the mater if a new avatar would draw on that impulse at all (or just tie back to the original injury and 'leash'), and if it did, would making it sapient change it significantly?

Michelle has the considerable advantage of knowing in advance who she's going to get if she repeats avatar creation. Anyone else might have to worry about the consequences of further fragmenting their mind, or introducing a new personality to the mix.

Of course, it's all a moot point until Mac finds another avatar to trade for, or we take one in battle.

>plans
If it's an ambush, I think the best tactic would be to open with Moth. Charge right in, and possibly open with flames of hell (blowing up everyone around Aria, leaving her unharmed. Possibly, since the ability specifically only targets enemies (awful discriminating for hell) it could even be used to separate enemies from civilians). Then when they start trying to fall back or regroup Levi suddenly appears on the other side.

Michelle has warped reality, which means the battle should be hidden from normals. Which means it won't draw anyone's attention or cause a panic, although Mike's guys might still have to stop civilians from wandering in.

>>556384
This is probably the best idea, we pick an arena for the fight first, somewhere big enough for them to let loose (and where keeping the sun city civilians out of the way won't be too difficult) and then find a hiding spot.

Warped reality means we might be able to make ourself more secure, since she could walk right past locked doors and security systems, and normality means we can walk right past human obstacles. Meaning we could put Michelle in someplace reasonably secure- not where a fixer couldn't get in, but where brute forcing going through after her would set off alarms and give her warning. (Like a secure office building for a company or law firm overlooking an open space? If the windows are tinted or reflective the right way, the baddies won't even see us watching from a few floors up).

Tricky bit might be finding a place with enough space for this kind of fight in daylight that won't be filled with civilians. (Which might be easier with an indoor space, actually. Although that rules out the overlooking building hiding option. Suppose it depends on what we can find). Can we rely on Michelle's familiarity with the city to pick a good place? She is from here.

Not sure if a dance for two differentiates between breakers and their avatars. In the most generous interpretation, if Aria's applying that boost to Michelle, both Levi and Moth reap the benefits. In the less generous interpretation, Aria could only boost one of Michelle / Golem / Levi / Moth at a time.

You shake your head, already understanding your own part to play, and the three of you head out together, strolling along the streets as your own eyes dart around, looking for a good place for Levi and Moth to fight. Eventually, you find one, an open factory container yard. While the amount of damage to the property is probably going to be quite a bit, you've been assured by Aria that Linda won't mind much. That's enough for you, and you double check with Levi and Moth to find them in agreement. The more space they have, the more damage that can be done. You make your way to a good place to hide yourself away, then pull the two dolls close to you, feeling the warmth they exude. Your brother opts to remain close by, while Aria slips away only to return a few moments later as a much younger girl. She smiles at you with childlike glee, apparently very used to her chosen role.

"You ready?"

"Um... yes."

"Alright. I'll be back later!"

Aria disappears again, and you settle onto a nearby crate, kicking your feet back and forth idly as the voices start to act up in your head again.

This is boring. Hardly our fault. Yes, but unlike you, Levi, I'll still be bored when the enemy gets here. Quiet! You'll get your fun some other time! I'll never have any fun if I never get a body. Is this really the time to be discussing this? When else are we going to talk about it? Oh, I don't know... when Mother isn't in any danger? Like that'll ever happen. She's the Mother of all demons. When will she ever not be in any danger? When we cleanse this world of anything that seeks to harm her. And how will we know who wants to harm Mother? Linda doesn't. Yes, Levi, we know you favor the angel, even if she smells horrid. She's got a smokin body though! And there's another helpful comment from the Prince of Perversion. Lust, thank you very much. Same thing.

The rattle of gunfire distracts you from your inner demons, and you get off your crate to sneak a look out of a window. You spot little Aria darting between down below you, and a moment passes before you catch sight of the first of her pursuers. The man is massive, larger than anyone you'd ever met before, and you can't help but shudder. The thing looked a little like Moth, only less like a wolf and more like a bull. The only reason you could even tell it was a man was the rather large... um... You cut yourself off from those thoughts, instead focusing on something else. Something like Moth being bigger and meaner.

"Moth?"

A rumble of something very angry echoes within your mind, and for a moment, you feel yourself smile. Moth was going to have fun. What a good boy. You toss Moth's doll out the window gently, and watch the doll descend to the streets below. And then, a tug of your will and a moment of time, and something very angry and very destructive was unleashed upon the yard. The rumble you'd felt within yourself was suddenly felt across the entire yard, and the bull-man halted in his charge, nervously glancing around. Bad idea.

The Prince of Wrath bursts through a container just to the right of the bull-man, and the two of them smash through another set of containers before sliding to a halt opposite each other. Moth roars a challenge, and the bull-man, perhaps more human than it's adversary, simply takes a step back, obviously intimidated. Moth will not let his challenge remain unanswered however. Not against an opponent like that. The demon charges once again, and the bull-man can't do anything but meet the charge head on, strength versus strength.

Gunfire once again grabs your attention, and you spot Aria, her child form dropped in exchange for her adult one, avatar guarding her back as she resolutely faces her opponents. The first is the source of the gunfire, a normal-ish looking man with a rifle of some kind in his hands. Further along, you spot another person, holding back from the main area a little, who appears to be dressed in what you think is a dress. At least... it looks like a dress? You can't really tell from here, but you assume it's a dress.

"Hold it right there! We're going to need to you to hand over any foci you have on you!"

"Do you? And why should I?"

"We won't hesitate to harm you, Miss! Just give us the foci, and everyone can go their separate ways!"

"Luke? Warren is missing."

"What do you mean, he's missi-"

The bull-man bursts through a nearby container smashing into the ground heavily. He's bleeding badly, but still manages to pull himself to his feet as his allies circle him protectively. Moth rumbles into the open space as well, shoving aside the remnants of the container, before settling on all fours and glaring at the enemies before him.

"What the hell is THAT!?"

"Don't know."

"That? A friend of mine. See, we've heard about your... activities... and feel the need to make them stop. To be completely honest with you, I could care less what actually happens to you, but as it turns out, a woman I'm rather infatuated with doesn't like that sort of thing, so I think we'll have to settle with simply making you powerless. So, would you like to surrender now, or...?"

Without warning, the man opens fire on Aria, but Golem interposes himself between him and her, and bullets ricochet off his armor. Moth reacts by hurling himself at the group, but the bull-man, while injured, is far from out of the fight, and charges at the demon, pushing him to the side and wrestling him to the ground. The bull-man is quickly aided by the third person, which turns out to be a girl dressed in plain looking clothes. At least, until her arm begins to shift, turning itself into a massive hammer like fist, which she uses to smash into the demon form of Moth. You toss push your will out again, summoning Levi, but you notice quickly that Aria is effectively pinned, Golem unable or unwilling to risk his mistress against the hail of gunfire being unloaded into him. Moth could likely deal with the bull-man by himself, easily, but with the two, they're driving him back.

And you can sense others. The whispers of Levi's voice in your mind call to you, as his body slithers just beneath the surface, waiting. Hungry. Ready to consume. There are other nearby, that have the smell of someone... good. Someone that feels... wrong... to the demon somehow.

You hesitate, unsure of who to help, and how, even as you notice your brother suddenly appear next to your side, drawing a pistol from somewhere and looking uneasy. His attitude is quickly starting to rub off on you, and you shudder slightly. You don't... maybe this... wasn't such a good idea.

>Hammerfist, Minotaur Breakers.
:D!

>Battle plan.
Hrrm. Aria's pinned, but she'll be okay for now if I'm reading this correctly, besides which,
Moth, however, needs help, or he's going down.
Michelle's brother though...He's a normal. Skilled yes, but a normal. I think he and Michelle should stay where they are, hidden and away...
I wonder though...You're the Mother of all Demons right? And your demons are named after the Seven Deadly Sins...Maybe you could break their afflictions/obessions onto the enemy breakers? Distract the gunman by giving him a taste of Levi's endless hunger, or infect the girl with Lust.

>Linda won't mind the property damage
It can be normalized, or fixed with money. We have ample resources to put things right.

>not being in danger / cleansing the world
Not exactly what the demons have in mind, but the whole goal of Linda's organization would make a hell of a lot of people safer if it's successful, Michelle included. (I wonder if that will attract their support? Not just out of Levi's sense of duty / debt owed, but a practical means to an end).

>ambush
Huh. Interesting group of fixers. They seem more determined to disarm than kill, and tried to give Aria the chance to stand down. Very different from the ones you fought before. Possibly more well intentioned. (Meaning there's potentially hope for them, should they survive. Not the immediate concern though).

Alright- tactical situation. One gunner pining Aria and golem, hammer-girl and minotaur keeping Moth busy, and other targets, not yet engaged, that Levi is interested in.

I would note a pinned Aria isn't really pinned. She still has a ton of BP and active limit breaks. That gives a lot of leeway to break the current stalemate. (If anyone has specific ideas, Michelle could relay them via the comm system). If Aria doesn't break it on her own, Moth could always throw a flames of hell- which would kill all three of the enemy while not harming anyone else. That would give Aria and Golem the time they needed to close to engage, and then it's 3 on 3 instead on 1 pinning 2 and 2 on 1. And in strait 3-3 I think the other guys lose. The gunman would certainly be at a disadvantage with a metal fist or sword in his face, and we already know the bull can't keep up with Moth 1 on 1.

Don't forget Mike's sneaky people are out there too. If and when we really need it, there could be an attack from the shadows or a sniper's bullet.

Not sure how Michelle's own spirit powers could contribute directly, unless warped reality kicked in at the right time. If factory equipment came on and got in the way or ran into someone at just the right time. Or, since this is a storage yard, if a cable or chain were to break and drop a load, or for a lock or door latch on a container to fail and the container to spill out, or a forklift or truck to just happen to have the parking brake fail. (Or any of these could be triggered deliberately, via Aria and active break).

Tactically, I'd be more inclined to put Levi on the second front than send him in to help the others, provided other ideas for breaking the stalemate work. (If they don't we'd have to send him in anyways). Although there is one concern- is the presence he's sensing with the people we're fighting? If they're fixers, why aren't they helping their allies? Obviously we can't ignore additional enemies, but if they're not additional enemies, we don't want to be attacking third parties and drawing them in.

>brother protecting you
Just remember, that if it comes to it, you throw yourself in front of him before he does the same for you. It hurts, but you can afford to die. He can't. Don't let his desire to protect you get him killed.

He shouldn't shoot, yet. Giving away your position and making the two of you targets won't help the situation.

>not a good idea
You don't have time for doubt, now. All you can do is try to make the situation in front of you. Not like you can change the past.

>>558076
>affect them with the sins of the demons?
Remember that Michelle doesn't have active break, and she's already uneasy and unsure of herself. That means she would suffer full concentration penalties for a free form break. Plus we've never seen anyone freeform mental stuff like that (mental manipulations have either required dedicated foci, or will fueled conversation / order barking). I suppose it's possible her spirit is high enough she could force some things through anyways... but weird mental stuff without a focus or ability for it, and only 3 will doesn't strike me as something likely to work.

I'd agree the Michelle and her brother should stay put, though.

(Distraction ideas for Aria)
Maybe...Break that a bullet ricochets back at the guy, making him duck for cover, is one solution.
Something like breaking an explosion off in the distance is another.
One REDICULOUS way to do that might just be the old 'tea time!' break somewhere, perhaps matched with some sort of bragging dialouge like: 'Really, I hope this convinces you you're in a fight where you're outmatched. *sips tea* I'm obviously not alone, but there's more to us than what you see here.'
Which actually might distract the two fighting Moth in addition to gunner guy.
Last, but not least, she could break that gun into jamming-granted, she doesn't have the gun focus Linda had, but I figure she's likely more powerful than that gun guy either way...
Come to think of it. Given how Gun Breakers have to break to reload, she could just wait for him to run out of BP, and then clobber him.

The whispers start in your head again, the first time you'd ever heard them while in danger. Usually they left you alone so that you could concentrate. But they were insistent. They may not have bodies, but they were the Princes of Sin, and they would not be denied their fun. One voice above all rang out, demanding a sacrifice to itself, demanding that the woman below you be granted to it.

Mother. Sweet Mother. Grant me the daughter before you... send me to her, that I might whisper the words of lust within her ear, that I might corrupt her body, mind and soul to my sin...

You react as if in a dream. Thoughts whirl in your head, but As, so long held back, cries out with its own unholy desire. It must spread its sin. It must sing to the body, of pleasure and desire. It will not be denied. Not this time. You reach out with your will, eyes locked on the women in front of you, and you feel a smile spread across your face.

"Go, Asmodeus. Grant your gift upon the daughter of man."

"Sis? You alright?"

By then, you've snapped out of it. You shake your head in confusion, but feel it. As is doing something. You can hear his whispers in your thoughts. But this time, they aren't directed at you. No, this time another hears his words, his powers, his gift, and he will give it to her without shame or remorse. The woman below you, intent before on fighting alongside her ally, suddenly breaks off, stumbling back in surprise. Her hammer-hand wavers, then melts away back into normality, even as she collapses against a container. And behind her, like a shadow, is As, mouth next to her ear, whispering words you can't seem to make out. The woman stumbles away, trying desperately to do... something, before she disappears from sight, much to the confusion of her allies.

"Sarah? Sarah! What's wro-"

The bull-man is interrupted by Moth, claws rending flesh as he is freed from his other opponent and allowed to focus on the one. The bull-man is killed, but he revives on the ground, Moth still on top of him and jaws ready to clamp down on his prey. The bull-man gets an arm up just barely to block the attack, but Moth clamps down on the arm and refuses to let go. It seems he has his own opponent well in hand now.

Which brings you back to Aria. While you don't really consider yourself a leader type, you do find it a bit odd Aria hasn't really done anything about the situation herself. You briefly wonder if she's waiting for something, then suddenly remember you have a radio you could call her on. You fumble with your sleeve a moment, trying to remember how to make it work, before you find the switch and bring it to you mouth.

"Um... Aira?"

"Miss Crowley? Did you need something?"

"Um... are you waiting for something?"

"Waiting?"

"Yeah... because you... haven't really done anything."

"Oh! Well, I was planning on trying something eventually, but Golem is being rather protective at the moment, unusually so."

"Well... um... couldn't you... distract him? The guy, I mean..."

"Distract him? I suppose I could... how to do that..."

"Um... maybe... uh... you could...uh... have... tea time?"

The moment the words leave your mouth, you suddenly realize how stupid that sounded. You feel your face flush with embarrassment, even as you hurriedly try to cover up your mistake, but you're met with only silence for a few minutes before Aria gets back onto the radio.

"Miss Crowley, are you... stereotyping me?"

"Um... I'm sorry! I didn't mean-"

"Wrong, for the most part, if quite entertaining. Let's do that, shall we?"

"What?"

Suddenly, the world is fuzzy, and you blink away the TV static to discover Golem has been placed in front of the bullets a little better, and Aria herself is sitting at a small, elegant table. Delicate china is placed upon it with what can only be described as painstaking care, and the woman herself has a gently steaming teacup in her hand, going through practiced motions of refinement and elegance as she takes a sip. She, for all the world, looks the image of a refined young princess, which she quickly breaks as soon as her tea is set back onto the table, and she breaks into laughter.

"Well, this is certainly ridiculous, isn't it? Still, it speaks volumes for their supposed abilities if I'm even able to do this in combat."

The man, Luke, looks irritated, but this is quickly replaced with a confident grin as another man steps into the area. He is covered by what you think could be described as a cloak, and he drops down to one knee as he spots Moth, who pauses in his killing to glare at the newcomer. The man is still, but Luke seems far more talkative.

"About fucking time you got here, Michael! Where's the other two?"

There is no response, the man is simply kneeling. Levi, however, rumbles beneath the earth. This one is what is making him uneasy. It feels... wrong. Even to you.

>>>Input Command

>Micheal
>drops to one knee.
Oh.
Throw the Demon Voices at him! Quickly! All of them!

Interesting. Looks like throwing her demons at people's minds is completely in theme for her, after all. (Which I suppose solidifies her theme as mother of demons- she's all about bringing them into the world, one way or another). And I suppose it must be using the demon's will scores instead of her own.

I wonder why we've never seen that before? (Have you done this before, Michelle? Or is this the first time- a new way you realized you can use your powers, that your children can express themselves?). It's certainly an interesting option for a non-lethal disable. ...although we'll have to see what the consequences of releasing a monster on that girl's mind rather than her body is. She may need a sitdown with George if we don't want to leave her permanently damaged.

>feels wrong
Not the like man from a few months ago, right? You went with Linda and Chris to meet Rise, and he showed up outside? Because if he's a tear that's seriously bad news. (Suddenly missing teammates also make me nervous, after seeing Holiday turn on his own). If that's the case, you need to let Aria know immediately.

...did you feel anything before? That might have meant he did something to his two missing allies?

If he's not a tear, the unease could be coming from theme (archangel Micheal?) and/or he could be another connection to the observers. In any event, he seems to be preparing an attack on Moth. A preemptive strike with Levi seems appropriate.

I don't think he's a tear. I think he's legit got an angelic theme, and probably is going to kick Demon behind if we throw corporeal ones at him.
If anything, we should:
Break to throw another mental demon at him. Maybe the vocal one from before, Envy I think it was? And then from there, have Levi eat the Rifle guy.
I think sending Levi or Moth directly for the Archangel will end badly-we should direct Aria to fight him instead.
(Now if I wanted to go for rule of cool, I'd send all the mental demons at him, have Asmodeus force the girl back to fight on our behalf, have Michelle break up an outfit fitting of her status (Black robe/dress accented with skulls, red trim maybe a pentagram circle for good measure) And ride out there on Moth's back saying something like 'YOU DARE TO FACE ME? MOTHER OF ALL DEMONS!?!' But that'd be foolhardy...I think.)

>>558229
I suspect you're right about what he is, I just wanted to give Michelle the chance to recognize him as a tear on the off chance he is. She met Jean, she should recognize if it's the same kind of wrongness.

The problem I see if if he has some kind of archangel theme, throwing demons of the mind at him aren't going to work. He'll resist or be unaffected, and we'd be directly exposing our disembodied children to harm or counterattack.

Physically attacking him with corporeal demons may not be a flawless plan either if he as means to fight them, but avatars are hard to permanently hurt, and we should be able to physically harm him, even with a type disadvantage.

Although, honestly, if Michelle is fundamentally at a disadvantage, the smart move is to trade partners at the first chance. (Levi takes Luke off of Aria, and then Aria and Golem are free to engage Micheal).

...and yeah, putting Michelle front and center to harm probably isn't worth the theatrics at this point (seems to me she'd be kind of mortified, anyways). Maybe if there comes a point where a distraction would actually turn the tide, though.

You pull back from the window, slightly intimidated by what you are feeling right now. It isn't like the other man, the one that felt wrong to you, and Levi, and Chris. No, this man doesn't seem to invoke the same feelings in others as he does in you. You and your demons. This man feels wrong, but the feeling is much closer to animosity. Thoughts swirl through your skull, some your own and others those of your demons, and eventually, you come to a simple conclusion.

The man had to go. None of your children liked him at all.

You peak out the window again to see the man stand, voicing rising in volume as he draws a glowing blade from thin air and light start to surround him.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me."

Aria seems to blink at that, and pauses in her laughter before glancing at Moth. It takes only moments before she puts the pieces together, even as this Michael starts to advance on the demonic beast. Unfortunately for the man, Moth is not alone.

"Levi!"

You call brings the serpent up out of the ground, an explosion of cement and dirt flying everywhere as he emerges, jaws clamping around his target and rending flesh before hurling him into and through a nearby container. A roar follows, a call of challenge to the man who dares stand before a demon prince, and the call is answered as the man pulls himself from the wrecked container eyes taking in the sight before him.

"God. Grant me the strength to bear my unholy burden, so that I might still wield it in your name."

A burst of power flows outwards, and you watch as angelic wings spring from the man's back. Levi hisses in hatred, and even Moth has tosses aside his earlier prey in favor of this new foe.

"An lo, though I may be burdened, I am not burdened alone. For you have seen fit to send me comrades, brothers and sisters who share their faith in you, if not in word then in action."

You see someone scramble up onto the rooftop of the building opposite you, and who draws something you can't quite make out. Another person emerges next to the angel man, a spear aimed at Levi, and you feel a rising anger start to boil up in your body. Unfortunately, you don't get much chance to act. The one on the roof fires something, hitting Levi in one of his eyes and causing him to roar in pain. This is followed by the one with the spear charging forward, keeping Levi from lashing out with his jaws by poking at him with the spear. The last, Michael, returns his attention to Moth, who charges without restraint at the man. You can't help but describe it somewhat like a bullfight, the angel winged man sidestepping at just the right moment and slashing across with his blade, cutting a gash into the demon's back legs. The accompanying roar of pain cuts into you like a knife, but even that is cut short as the bull man charges in, goring Moth in the back and wrapping his arms around the beast in an effort to keep him in place. The two struggle against one another as Michael moves to the front, glancing only briefly at the Levi, who is still being rendered immobile. Then he turns to the demon in front of him, raises his sword and begins some sort of prayer.

"Oh lord in heaven, I thank you for this chance you have granted me-"

You feel pain shoot through you like a knife as Levi and Moth roar as one, pain and rage in both. Aria has begun moving as well, Golem charging the gun user and forcing him to focus on staying alive. Aria herself snaps her fingers, the rooftop opposite you crumbling underneath the man who sits on top of them. He disappears into the building, freeing Levi from his influence, but that does little in such a short time.

"- for I shall cleanse this world of those touched by the devil. I shall release them from his corrupting influence-"

You feel your heart wrench as Moth roars, to your ears sounding more like a scream, and Levi roars back, lunging at the spear wielder without fear of reprimand. His jaws close around his prey, but he won't make it in time either. Not to save Moth. You start to take a step back, aiming to throw yourself out in some attempt to save your child, to save Moth from the pain, from the agony, from the harm he is about to come to. You can't bear to see him like that. Not like that. But you already know you won't make it in time either. Why? Why were they so able to stop Levi and constrain Moth?

Why were they hurting them so much?

"-You chose me, oh lord, to bear your will. I shall do so without complain, and without mercy to those who dare wield this power-"

As Michael brings his blade up to strike at Moth, you feel that painful tug in your heart again, and you feel a burning need. You have to do something. Anything!

>>>Input Command

Bonus!
If you can name each of the Princes and the sin they are associated with, you'll get a bonus prize.

Waaait a second. They're your children, but they're also the demon princes. But for now...
Stop, think. Spear user Levi's got, and Moth's disadvantage will only last as long as that Micheal is there, praying and doing the bull-fighter trick.
Moth should go back to fighting the minotaur, while Levi focuses on the spear guy-Aria takes on the angel and prevents him from praying...

>Princes and their domains!
All I know is Asmodeus, Prince of Lust, for sure. I can toss out other names that I've heard of.
Mephistoles, Mammon, uhhh... That's about it. With any luck the other suggestors can finish the list for the super-break!

Lets start with what we know.

Leviathan is the Prince of Gluttony. (Though mythologicially he is actually Envy.)
Behemoth is the Prince of Wrath.
Asmodeus is the Prince of Lust.

Possible others:
Beelzebub\Ba'al (Gluttony normally. Maybe switched with Leviathan? So Envy?)
Mammon (Greed)
Aamon\Satan (Wrath normally, Envy would be a good fit for Satan since he is said to covet God's throne.)
Lucifer (Pride)
Belphegor (Sloth)
Another possible answer is Belial, I'm not sure what he would fit though.

Longshot but... your demons are being hunted by angels, right? The reason they can hurt them so badly is because they believe they have the right to. That angels are supposed to hunt demons. That it is their right and place to do so. That your children are wrong, and do not belong here.

Except they're wrong.

Your children are sanctioned by an angel. That's what Elizabeth calls Linda, right? And that's what Levi can see she is. Levi tries to hide the details from you, but you know she saved you at one point- and that she protected them. And she helped you bring 'Moth into this world. And you're here on her orders. Their mission doesn't have any divine mandate that yours lacks.

You're carrying a focus Linda gave you, right? So you'd remember? Take that out now. Draw on it. You can't tap into a weapon's manifestation, but that's not what you need. It's a part of her, her essence. You need that, now. Use the light of one angel to shield your children from these others.

Light cuts through the darkness- but not other light. With that edge canceled out, this becomes a fight of flesh and blood and bone and steel. And your children can win that.

(If these guys lose their elemental advantage, it goes from a angelic curbstomp to a 'fair' fight between weapons and monsters. Much more something we can handle. Plus, if they actually buy into the religious nonsense they're spouting, suddenly losing their divine edge against the unholy beasts is going to be a nasty shock to their systems).

>demon bonus
Okay, this part got way too long, and I don't even reach a definitive answer, so I'm kicking it over to quesdis.
>>/questdis/79176

That's right. This guy feels wrong? That's because he's a false angel. His words are lies. He has no authority over your or your children.

Yes, would real angels rob Breakers like they've been doing?

>>558650
That's a good way of looking at it, really. What's it say when the 'demon' is just trying to protect people and her home, and the 'angels' are the ones hunting people?

Alright. Fallback options in case personal belief / rejection of their power or shielding the demons from holy attacks with angel-essence doesn't work:

Moth could still blow up a flames of hell in that guy's face. Although he may not have time if there's a casting display, and from the powers these guys have shown so far, they might be able to suppress that kind of demonic power from activating, or resist its effects. (It would burn the bull off his back if it works, though).

(Actually, I wonder, is there any interesting way to combine flames of hell and devour? An explosion of fire along a vortex axis. Might even stack multikills- instead of being eaten or burnt once, the enemy would be sucked into / along the column of flame, possibly burning to death more than once before being eaten or the spout shut off. Although there's some kind of potential for a feedback loop ripping the fire of hell through the earth, and then sucking back through the gate to hell in Levi's stomach...)

If all else fails, Michelle's brother could always take in on himself to shoot Micheal. Problem is, that exposes Michelle's position, and worse, his. She'd pretty much have to tackle (or break) him out of the way and take at least one kill for him. Hopefully it would buy enough time for Michelle to throw a repair at Moth, and for him to shake the Minotaur pinning him off.

>Demon bonus attempt (We aren't limited only to 1 right? Built on Redeath& Magey-kun's work)
Lust-Amadeus
Wrath-Behemoth
Envy- Belial
Gluttony-Leviathan
Pride- Beelzebub
Sloth-Belphegor
Greed-Mammon

>>558898
Two of these are wrong. I'll leave you to figure out which two. The rest are correct though. I'll confirm some of them(and the one that probably isn't that obvious) and add a small note/clue.

Behemoth- Wrath
Asmodeus- Lust

Note/Clue- A demon prince doesn't necessarily exhibit the sin it represents itself. For example, Leviathan is hardly envious of anyone. However, it is their job to punish the sinners who enter their domain. Obviously the demon's of BR don't have a domain(other than Michelle's head), and as such, generally depart from what they might "normally" have as a behavior. It doesn't help that, as creations of Michelle, they will generally follow behaviors SHE believes them to have.

I'll leave this open for one more day before posting. Oh, and I'm back again.

>Oh, and I'm back again.
Just in time! No need to prod anyone with a red hot poker.

>>559666
Okay. So... if you're saying Levi really is Envy, that pretty much automatically means Levi is one of the two we got wrong, as is whoever we assigned envy to. So to fix, it should be:

Leviathan, Envy
Belial, Gluttony

Unless you meant there are two wrong in addition to Levi. And assuming Belial is the right name for the seventh demon. (As I mentioned before- we've only seen 6 of the 7 named, even counting fragmentary nicknames).

(If Levi is envy, it might explain why he got picked first. He was hard coded to want what he didn't have more. Or it was to inspire envy in the other demons? As has definately displayed a lot of envy and resentment).

Lust-Asmodeus
Wrath-Behemoth
Envy- Leviathan
Gluttony- Belial
Pride- Beelzebub
Sloth- Belphegor
Greed- Mammon

Hrrrm...I'm not very familiar with Alaster Crowley but I'm guessing he's related to Michelle?

Redeath got it right all the way in the beginning, actually.

You suddenly remember, as if your thoughts were being guided like a moth to flame, and your hand slips into your pocket and wraps around the small object hidden inside. It's influence is subtle, but there, and the comfort it provides is unnaturally potent. You feel your heart rate slow, your mind sharpen, your body relax. A single breath, and then your recall. Leviathan considered Her to be an angel. Considered Her to be someone worthy of his respect and loyalty, such as it was. Even Moth, on the occasions he spoke, gave Her a grudging acceptance. And She was with you, even now. She was always with you. You close your eyes and draw on the power that sleeps within the object in your pocket.

A small bullet.

You open your eyes again, just as Michael finishes his mantra, and two things happen seemingly at once. The first is something shooting out of a nearby container and stabbing the bull-man through the back, an massive spiked hand potruding through the man's body and out the other side, attached to the woman from earlier, Sarah. As still remains with her, whispering words in her ears, but her breathing has calmed and she seems in far more control. If targeting new people. This seems to catch the bull-man by complete surprise, and his grip on Moth loosens.

"Sarah?"

"-So that all foul beasts may be-... Wha-"

Michael's weapons shoots forwards, aiming to stab into Moth, but just as he does so, a flash of light explodes from in front of Moth, and you watch as the angel-man's body jerks to the side as if struck, the sword scraping across Moth's side at the last moment. Painful, but nowhere near deadly. Moth breaks free a moment later, and the look on Michael's face, full of surprise and fear, is satisfying to an unnerving degree. Moth goes to work, brings claws and teeth to bear in an instant, tearing the man into bloody pieces. The other targets fair little better, and with the archer apparently gone without a trace, the rest of the fight becomes simply mop up. You make your way down to the ground floor as soon as your opponents are dealt with, Aria's target having been incapacitated for later interrogation, although the one's your demons are fighting have no such chance. They will be satisfied.

Still, as you arrive in the open area, you are approached by the Sarah woman, her hand reforming into something normal, even as you hear As once again within your thoughts.

Look what I found, Mother! Can we keep her?

The woman bows as she reaches you, looking just a bit fearful.

"I... I'm told you are someone I should respect, and that you are the mother of Lord Asmodeus, and are my mother too."

"... Lord... Asmodeus?"

"Yes... he... uh..."

The woman flushes red, even as the Prince of Lust cackles happily in your mind.

I granted her pleasure beyond anything she has or ever will feel amongst the humans. In exchange for her loyalty, I have promised her more. She is ours now, Mother, in body and soul. I have taught her as much. You disgust me, As. You're just jealous because you don't have any presents to give Mother. Besides, she is ever so much fun. So many perverted dreams left unfulfilled. So many dreams I could make reality. Why, even now she's thinking about a rather lustful fantasy involving Mo- THAT IS ENOUGH, AS! Of course, Levi. Of Course.

"Um..."

The woman interrupts your attention on your children, and you blink away your confusion to focus again.

"Ah... As told me... about... um... what happened... uh..."

"I... see... um... As?"

"His... nickname..."

"Right. Nickname. As. Uh... I think I'll stick with Lord Asmodeus. Uh... do you have... a name I should use... or should I just stick with Mother?"

"Oh! I'm-"

She is Lilith to you, Succubus, or Mother, or Mother Lilith. Her name is for other to us-

"I'm Michelle."

"But Lord Asmodeus just said-"

"You can hear him!?"

"Uh... yes?"

"I wonder if it's because... anyway, you can call me Michelle. It's easier."

"O... k... Then, Michelle, from here on, I'm yours to do with however you want."

"Um... ok... uh..."

"What's going on over here?"

Aria trots over to the group, looking curious, even as Golem follows behind her, clutching the captured and unconcious breaker behind her. She's tossing his focus from one hand to the other, but it seems to hold little of her interest.

"Uh..."

"Are you another servant of Michelle?"

"Serv- Did you just get a servant, Miss Crowley?"

"Um..."

"I don't know if you should be talking to her like that."

"And she's already over-protective of you. It's the beginnings of a full blown cult. How... entertaining."

"Um..."

"Keep being disrespectful and-"

"Oh, hush. I mean no disrespect. I'm equal to her within the organization. I suppose you'd called us comrades. Regardless, who are you wi-"

Aria is interrupted as Golem suddenly drops it's cargo and bullrushes you, arm extended to grab at you. Everyone is taken by surprise, except, it seems, Sarah, who is suddenly in front of you, arm expanding into a hammer-like fist to smash the avatar aside. Moth suddenly descends on the metal foe as well, ready to tear into it, before Aria steps in, eyes blazing with barely contained fury and fear.

"Golem! Halt!"

The avatar freezes, and you call off Moth as well, although the demon, as well as Levi, stick close by, eyeing the offender warily. Even your new disciple keeps herself ready, interposing herself between you and Golem. Your own concern, however, is for Aria.

"Um... what happened?"

"I... do not know. I didn't order him to do that. I... have some idea, but it may be best that I stay away from you for awhile. Or at least keep Golem away from you. I'll leave you to deal with the questioning of our prisoner and your new servant, I need some time to think."

"Um... alright. Just... if you need to talk..."

"I understand. Thank you, Miss Crowley. I'll see you later."

Aria leaves, and you take a moment to watch her before turning to Sarah and the prisoner. You frown a moment, then your brother moves to pick him up and you dismiss your own avatars into their doll forms. This seems to intrigue Sarah, but she keeps her words to herself and falls into step behind you, seeming to you like an overprotective bodyguard or something. It's clear she doesn't know how to act, and neither do you, but maybe your demon's will know what to do.

Experience Gained:
Aria: 4
Aria Total: 6
Michelle: 4
Michelle Total:9

You reach the edge of the barrier a half hour later, and easily step through. Jean, on the other hand, meets resistance, and looks very unhappy about it.

"Well... it seems we've found the edge. Closer than it was last time, they must already be seeing to the damage."

"They're fixing it already?"

"Or at least trying to fill in the hole as best they can."

"Seems like a relatively good idea to me... Alright. Elizabeth, you there?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Time to get their attention for me."

Mere moments, you feel something change in the air around you, and someone seems to step from nothing. The woman glances around, looking a little puzzled, before she calls out softly.

"Um... Hello?"

"Curious how she can't see you at all, isn't it?"

"Mother, speak and I'll translate."

"Alright... Hello, you can't see me, but I need to talk to you.

The woman jumps before glancing upwards at something you can't see, then frowns. A quick whispered conversation with something, then with more volume as she addresses you, or rather, something to the right of you.

"You are the one we can't see, right? I've come for multiple reason's myself. It seems that, um, once our business is concluded, I'm to deliver a message to you."

"Uh... ok... well then... I need you to let the tear that's in there out for me. We've come to an... arrangement, of sorts."

"I'm afraid I can't just let it out. It would go against my duties."

For the love of- Of course they'd pull this shit. It makes you wonder how they get anything done. Of course, you suppose leaving your daughter alone and letting a tear out are two separate issues. You'll have to come up with some better argument then simply "He's with me".

>>>Input Command

Hrrrm. Looks like we're at a stand-off here...Not unlike how you guys are at a stand-off with tears like him. I'm guessing you guys can't actually deal with him.
Basically... I intend to put him... On Parole, so to speak. I'll keep a close eye on him. Right now I don't want to try and take out another tear, assuming I even know what method to use, they all carry a heavy price...
However, I heard something interesting from Jean, about it being possible to fix tears into normal people? I don't fully understand why that shouldn't happen. It's not like they wanted to be born a tear, right?

Oh, neato. The angel-light thing worked.

>Redeath got it right all the way in the beginning, actually.
Pfff. And you let us keep guessing.

>cult of Michelle / lust disciple Sarah
Holy crap, geeze. Um. Not sure how to feel about that, really. We literally just mind raped someone. Conditioning her to serve with lust (or addicting her to it?) is a lot more morally uncomfortable than just temporarily immobilizing her with it.

Although I suppose she's still mostly in possession of her faculties (does that mean it was a choice?), and if she was on the self-destructive fixer path, maybe we gave her something to live for? ...sure, I'll go with that. Tactically, if Michelle now has a dedicated bodyguard, that does make using her avy's offensively easier.

...I can't help but think this is going to make the next time Elizabeth and Michelle hang out entertainingly awkward. (Liz amused or completely non-pulsed, Michelle still embarrassed or uncertain, and poor Sarah with no clue).

>no such chance. They will be satisfied
Er, after Aria's bit about Linda not wanting us to kill them, we still did? And that's really awkward after Sarah switched sides. She shouldn't have had to watch them die.

>golem
Huh, what set him off. Michelle tapping into the Linda-essence? Her providing Aria with the idea there might be something else inside her to listen to? ...her use of the word comrade, perhaps? (Accepting herself as part of the organization, rather than a temporary hanger-on. Not someone who would leave).

>some better argument
As I understand it, you can't actually hold him here. Your choice is to let him walk out, or watch as he damages reality further ripping his way out. Is your duty to contain him greater than your duty to reality?

And without his help and information, I wouldn't have been able to stop the other one eating an entire compound full of people. That's threads- lives- you had written off and trapped inside that now aren't lost. Call it a win.

(If she responds that they helped get those people out- I know. And I thank you for that. But it still wouldn't have happened without him).

Look, I know you don't have a permanent solution to the tear problem. Let me try to find one. It'll be a lot easier if I have access to one who's cooperating.

>last words
After we've dealt with everything else- I'm coming home, Elizabeth.

"As I understand it, you can't actually hold him here. Your choice is to let him walk out, or watch as he damages reality further ripping his way out. Is your duty to contain him greater than your duty to reality? And without his help and information, I wouldn't have been able to stop the other one eating an entire compound full of people. That's threads- lives- you had written off and trapped inside that now aren't lost. Call it a win.

Regardless, I intend to put him... On Parole, so to speak. I'll keep a close eye on him. He'll be under constant supervision, no need to worry about that."

The woman pauses again, then sighs. For a moment, nothing seems to happen, then Jean gets an odd look on his face before hesitantly stepping through the unseen barrier. He pauses another moment, as if not quite believing what just happened, before nodding to himself and striding over to take up a position behind you.

"The message I am to deliver. You are going down a dangerous path, trusting a tear, especially as you draw closer to the open war with another. Be careful you do not lead the enemy to what it is he desires."

The woman is suddenly gone after that, leaving no room to reply, and Jean snorts in disgust.

"Typical. Vague words that mean little. Regardless, before we go any further, I think I should hand this over to you. A... last resort, so to speak."

The tear removes an object from his pocket, and upon receiving it, you discover it to be another bullet. This one, however, doesn't feel like any foci you've ever felt before. It pulses with reality, a strong pulse. For some reason, you feel like the thing is alive somehow, and you glance at Jean questioningly.

"A remnant. Of... someone else."

He doesn't offer anything else, regardless of how much you try to prod after that. Eventually, you simply give up, and stow the focus away, but you find your thoughts constantly trying to work the problem. Could you use it like Cally's and Raphael's? And if so, who would come out? You shake the thoughts away and focus on the task at hand. Or rather, your own eminent return to Sun City.

"Elizabeth! I'm coming home!"

"Will not meet you there."

"... What?"

"Investigating disappearnace of Risa Muramasa. She missed her report time. Taking a few people and going out."

"Are you- Elizabeth, just leave it to me! I'll take care of it-"

"No. Need to be more useful. You have public address to work on. I'll deal with Risa issue. Also, expect call from Warrior at some point. She's having... relationship issues."

"Uh... okay?"

"Talk to you later, Mother."

The line goes dead, and you frown, uncertain about Elizabeth's decision. While you have faith in her abilities overall, combat is not exactly your daughter's strong area. You make it back to the hotel without incident, and take some time to get yourself cleaned up before laying out everything you might need to spend some time on.

The focus received from Jean(who's currently on your couch watching TV) is now on the table, awaiting your decision to do... whatever with it. Then of course, there's the issue with Elizabeth. You could decide to ignore her recommendation to leave it to her and meet her there. Wouldn't take too long to find out where Risa was last. And of course, there's the all consuming issue of what to do about Jean. While he's fine right now, and will continue to be so, you have to figure out what overall he's going to be doing. You can't just have him hanging around uselessly, and by what it sounds like, he doesn't exactly relish the thought of being idle either.

>>>Input Command

"Lead the enemy to what he desires."...
That would be exactly the sort of sneaky crap I'd expect from the Tear of Paranoia, McCarthy.
As far as Jean goes...
First off, Jean=/=Elizabeth. We should hold the two apart as much as we possibly can.
Secondly, Jean? Would it be REALLY BAD if a Tear made a public speech? Because of Lindy's Nobodiness, she'll be forgotten-we need a face, and we might as well use someone who probably will look the part decently enough.
As for the foci...I can't think of a reason NOT to check it out. It'd be something else if Jean planted a trap that only Someone else, and on top of that, Remember the Fallen, could access.

>a dangerous path, trusting a tear
>Be careful you do not lead the enemy to what it is he desires.
She's damn right that it's dangerous. Don't forget how quickly Holiday turned on those who trusted him. And we still don't know what really McCarthy wants from you. If we misjudge Jean at any point, or play into McCarthy's hand... this could all go very wrong, very fast.

>Typical. Vague words that mean little.
For what it's worth, she was fairly straightforward with her warning. (Unless they actually know something about McCarthy's plans they're withholding?). He's the one being oblique with this remnants and last resort nonsense.

>Could you use it like Cally's and Raphael's? And if so, who would come out?
The big questions that occur to me: would you even be able to do that with the focus of someone you never knew? You... got close to the others. You don't know if it works without that connection. And secondly- Jean described it as a last resort. Would it even be safe to tap into? It might not be something you can use without serious consequences.

Seems to me you might want to try... communing with it before waking it up. (If it's alive, does it dream?). Or maybe seeing what Elizabeth has to say. Not something we should rush into, for now. Whatever, or whoever, is inside there, you don't have a good reason to take that kind of risk, yet.

(I'd be against spending an XP to wake it up right now, that's for sure. We don't know enough, yet. That bullet was created by Guy's death, his final break, and Jean's rebirth. Who's inside? Guy, Jean, Brother? None of them, someone in the middle, some combination? The last thing Guy broke was to make his gun into something that could kill a tear- which that focus still might manifest. But would using it be similarly fatal for Linda?

Traditional tuning also seems a bad idea. As dangerous as what's inside that focus might be, trying to force it out and put a piece or ourself into something that's alive seems worse).

Actually, is there anything written on this bullet? You have your trusty 12.7×99mm of fuck reality, what's this one?

>Risa
*Cough* Rise.

>uncertain about Elizabeth's decision
Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and calm down. Nicole said to trust her- and she's right. You should. As much as you want to protect her, you have to accept you can't fight every battle for her. Trust her. She's not foolish enough to run off into danger alone, and you left Nicole in change- who's not going to let let her leave without an escort. Nic will make sure she's safe, go with her, or make sure other people do. You left good people back in Sun City (Michelle, Aria, Nicole, Rodriquez, Mike...), even if they don't all remember who you are anymore.

If we really wanted to butt in, you could send a message to Nic via Twinda to look out for Elizabeth. (Or if our spirit is finally high enough for perspective swapping to work, you could check yourself that she's going to be okay, and even hug her goodbye, wish her luck).

>You make it back to the hotel without incident
Where we're staying near Holiday's mess, right? We haven't made it back home, yet.

>you have to figure out what overall he's going to be doing
I would start by asking him what he had been expecting to be doing. Had he thought this far ahead? Hell, what does a walking antithesis of everything that's real normally do, anyways?

>You have public address to work on
I've been champing at the bit to actually write our appeal to the normals, to the other breakers, and our response to the government. A good part of how I shape the last part is kind of stuck until I find out what the law-types have to say, though. Waiting on that.

The immediate problem Linda needs to think about is how she's actually going to give this speech. Because it seems important to me (and it should be important to her) that she make this herself. But she needs to be remembered to do that. And I'm not sure we want to be wearing someone else's face, or if we did, who's face we'd wear.

I was hoping the Doc would have a temporary way around it. Maybe Jean will have an idea? You're stuck in the middle, and he kind of looks at reality from the other side, as it were. (Failing that, I may have some ideas of my own, but I'd have to flesh them out. Could we burn a focus maybe? Use everything in one to forge a temporary presence or thread).

>Rise
Speaking of not letting people go off alone. We could do a quick test to check if Rise is still alive, at least. Become her, just for a minute. You can't displace a thread that isn't there. Then let go, putting her back where was, awaiting Elizabeth's help. And maybe, just maybe, a small disruption might help her our of whatever mess she's in.

(And for out of character reasons- we might get a reaction out of Jean. He knows Rise. Or Guy did, anyways. That gives Linda a question to ask- something to follow up on. And he might care if she's gone missing, or have an idea what she may have ran into).

>Rise
>Someone Else
People being kidnapped is exactly the sort of thing Someone Else is for.

We could check up on Aria, see how she is, and if she's free to help Elizabeth.

>>561425
Problem is, Linda doesn't know if she's back from the fixer thing, yet (and do to jumping perspectives, niether do we). In character, I'd be more for trusting Elizabeth, and trusting Nic to see she's taken care of. Out of character- if Golem went off on Michelle, there's a worse chance he might go off on Elizabeth (since she's way closer tied to Linda and Aria's current conflict).

Although talking to Aria should be something we get to, soon. (When even ghosts and strangers are pushing you...). Still, we have to deal with the immediate problems of what we're going to do with Jean and about the speech, first.

A thought pops into your head, that this is the sort of situation that becoming someone else might be useful for. Very useful for. Still, Elizabeth wanted to be the one to take care of it, and as much as it worries you to let her be, and simply trust her judgement... she's proven herself time and again to be trustworthy. More so than you have been, actually, given your record of royally screwing things up. You have to trust her. That won't stop you from checking on the wayward sibling of your friend, and you flicker her out of existence for a moment, taking her place. You hear dull thud as you let her thread go, satisfied that she isn't dead at least, and turn to notice the couch in your temporary home literally gone, eaten completely, as Jean reigns his unexpected outburst in. He mutters something you don't quite catch, and you frown as you stare at the tear.

"You alright?"

"Hm? Oh yes. Just... didn't expect to see her here..."

"Her? Rise?"

"Yea- Ah... I'd rather not get into that. It wouldn't matter anyway, the woman wouldn't recognize me, regardless. From my... uh... days of being 'real'."

"O...k... you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"What can I say? The emotions are, unfortunately, there for me. They aren't for her. Conveniently, my loss of reality forced others to forget I ever was real. And besides, me and Him are two separate people. I think. Mostly. Regardless, I don't think this is something I want to discuss right now. Perhaps another time. I'm sure you have other things you could be doing anyway."

Jean frowns a moment, then huffs as he's forced to sit on the floor to watch TV, and you leave him alone, confident that pushing him will get you nowhere. At least, not without the right questions. And you do have other things you could be doing. You spend the next half-hour getting some of your paper affairs done, the reports and the like that you barely glance at. They don't interest much, not at the moment anyway, most of it is just reports from lawyers who still don't have any definitive answers for you. You take the opportunity to contact Nicole, and tell her to make sure Elizabeth is safe for you, or at the very least isn't going alone to hunt for Rise. Your friend assures you that your daughter is in good hands, or at least trustworthy hands. You sigh in relief, a little of the tension in your body lifted, but you quickly shake it away. There's still more to do before you turn in for the night.

You pause a moment to pull out and examine the newest bullet you've added to your collection, before tucking it away again. While you're certain something is written on it's side, you find yourself feeling a little dizzy staring at it, and you decide it would be best to have others on hand when you do decide to mess with it further. Besides, you have no idea what it does, and would prefer further opinions before jumping the gun... so to speak.

Which just leaves a couple of things before sleep. Jean seems largely uninterested in what he's watching, although that hardly stops him, and it's highly unlikely he'll be going to sleep anytime soon by the looks of it. So, you decide to contact someone else first, and you hesitate a moment before picking up your phone at dialing the number. It rings twice before the other side picks up, voice sounding worn out and devoid of her usual spark.

"Hello, Ms. McCallahan. How can I help you?"

"Hey, Aria... you alright? You're not sounding so hot."

"Yes and no. It's... complicated. Golem is becoming increasingly... independent. And violent. It's just very tiring having to- No. This is hardly your problem, and not something I should trouble you with. But I digress. You have something you want to speak to me about?"

You pause, your original questions sticking at the back of your throat. She seemed a little... preoccupied. Was asking her another favor really something you should do right now? Not to mention she seemed quite ready to brush her own issues under the rug to help you with yours...

>>>Input Command

>>561419

We already know that what we do as metapersonas like the Godslayer can be remembered. Perhaps we could use that, be introduced as the godslayer and speak from behind a screen, so they only see the silhouette. As long as we can abstract our Linda-ness enough, we can expect to have our words remembered, right?

>me and Him are two separate people.
I wonder if that's a problem. Will he still want to become real if that means ceasing to exist and someone else stepping in?

>it's highly unlikely he'll be going to sleep anytime soon by the looks of it
Assuming he chooses to, or remembers to, at all. It's all an act for them, remember.

>Aria
>Was asking her another favor really something you should do right now?
...no, that's not something you should do right now. You've taken her for granted long enough. She's waited a good long time while you tried to sort out your own head. But when even complete strangers and ghosts are telling you to push harder, maybe they have a point. She deserves some of your attention.

Just talk to her. Be there for her. Maybe it will help. She's been someone you've relied on, so let her learn on you. I mean, it sort of is your problem, isn't it? Or at least, you contributed. Hell, even if you can't do much to help sort her issues from here, maybe you just taking an interest and taking the time will cheer her up some.

>>561832
Potentially, yes, hiding our face and using a meta-identity would work. (The Doc mumbled something about shadow or masks way back then).

The biggest problem with that having our face hidden kind of undercuts our message. If we're coming out, stating who we are, what be believe, trying to assert our humanity in the face of those who would demonize us- appearing to be trying to conceal our identity hurts that. And not having a face makes us harder to empathize with. We come across less as the person we're trying to portray, and more as the villain the government has painted us.

Secondly, I'm not sure the godkiller pilot is the meta-identity we would want to use. She has good press, but she's also the reckless giant who fights monsters in densely populated areas and causes massive property damage. Kind of helps D7's case more than ours. And it also politicizes any further use of the bot, as it would be seen by the public, other breaker factions, and D7 as our faction's leader taking direct, highly visible action. I think the godkiller is better left with vague affiliations.

The words spoken by Cally, and the other woman, seem to echo in your ears, before you shake them from your immediate thoughts and focus on trying to actually follow their advice. At least a little.

"Aria, if there's something going on and you need to talk, I'm here for you. You know that, right?"

"I... yes, Ms. McCallahan. I am fully aware. However, you... it would not be good for me to rely on you, not now. Not with... Please, Ms. McCallahan, let me take care of it?"

"I'm not letting you do this on your own if you don't have to. At the very least I consider you a dear friend, Aria, and I don't leave my friends to suffer alone. Regardless of whether they want to or not."

"... If you keep talking like that, Ms. McCallahan, your going to have me falling for you even harder..."

You barely catch her muttered words, and you realize quickly that you weren't meant to hear that. Still, the words manage to make you a bit uncomfortable, still uncertain as to where your feelings lie in regards to her affections, but you easily push them aside thanks to the problem put in your face. Still, a moment passes before Aria speaks up again, a bit more confidently.

"Your words are a comfort, Ms. McCallahan, truly. But in the end, I don't think you helping me would aid in resolving this particular issue. I don't believe anything really will, besides... No. That is something I truly don't want to drag you into. Still, I thank you for your concern."

"But you aren't going to tell me the problem."

"No. No I'm not. Perhaps, in time, when it becomes less of an issue. But for now, I think it best if I dealt with this on my own."

"... I can't force you to tell me. Just remember that I'm here for you."

"How could I forget? Will that be all, Ms. McCallahan?"

"Yeah. For now."

The conversation ends, and you hang up, tossing the phone onto the table. You find yourself slightly annoyed, getting your help turned down wasn't new, but with the insight provided by Cally, you'd discovered that you were rather insistent on helping irregardless. You might have to do some prying of your own into you friends affairs. Still, thoughts for another time. The final issue on your agenda for the night rears its head, and then you can get some sleep. You get up and make your way over to where the tear sits, leaning against a wall a little ways away. As if sensing your attention, Jean turns to face you, looking slightly curious.

"Did you need something?"

"I've been trying to figure out what to do with you, and I figured I might as well get your take on things."

"My take on things? I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're asking."

"I don't know... what is it you expected to do?"

"To be honest, I never thought that far ahead. I mean, I can hardly do what a tear is supposed to do, or not supposed to do, which is eat reality. That seems a bit counterproductive to your goals."

"... Yeah, that would be a bit destructive, wouldn't it?"

"Mm."

"Uh... what did you normally do? Before deciding to help me?"

"Perform horrible, torturous experiments on defenseless breakers."

"... Uh..."

"Or went on missions for Division 7, in which I captured breakers so that I could subject them to said experiments."

"..."

Well...

>>>Input Command

Not to say that those things aren't horrible but why? Getting ordered around by a bigger Tear?
I can't help but think it'd be all too easy to go active, eat the gaurds, and run like the wind...But I guess the Wardens kind of make that difficult, Tears gotta stick together if they don't want to get captured in barriers and all that...

I feel like trying to tackle the "What can Jean safely do" question alone is silly. I'm sure the Doc would love to figure that question out, as well as invent new answers to it.

Ah- heh. Kind of a literal and forceful interpretation of just being there for someone, but I guess that's how we do things, huh.

>Jean
...really not helping your case here.

What the hell is the connection between Division 7 and tears, anyways? They found a way to control you? Are they making you? I assumed McCarthy just found a way to take over. Or hell, maybe he's been around long enough to have founded it. But if there were more of you, that goes past coincidence.

>>562026
Assuming bringing his back to a base filled with breakers is a good idea. A good deal of them are going to be able to feel the wrongness of him, and there are those who would realize what he is. He wouldn't exactly be a popular addition. In fact, his whole presence would probably work against the whole safe haven thing we're pushing (scaring people away), and probably sour relations pretty fast if and when we're approached by any other breaker factions.

...plus, if we ever lose control of him, the damage will be so much worse than when Marc showed his true colors.

"...really not helping your case here. Why? Because some other tear told you to?"

"No. I felt like doing it. Or faked felt like doing it? No one told me to do it. I just did."

"... Um... that's a little..."

"Disturbing? So I've been told. I can't change the past, however, so what's done is done."

"I suppose you're right. What's the connection between Division 7 and tears, anyway? Do they make you? I mean, it seems a bit more then coincidence that you'd just start popping up."

"I don't know about that. While there are quite a few that have aligned themselves with McCarthy, there are more that are just going about their own business. The only thing Division 7 offers is money and political power. Why McCarthy wanted that is beyond me. And unfortunately, I don't know where tears come from, although I'm fairly certain I could artificially induce the creation of a new one. Maybe."

"You can make tears?"

"Well, I can set up conditions so they have a high likelihood of appearing. Whether they actually will or not is beyond me. So yes, it is possible McCarthy is creating tears. Might have made me, as well. Which is oddly unpleasant."

You frown in annoyance, non of this was making the situation any better for you and your little gang. Still, you have to hope the situation can't get any- No. Better not think that. You might as well just shoot yourself in the head if you completed that thought. Still, it didn't seem like you were going to get very far with this tonight, so you figured it was about time for sleep. As you stand to head towards the bedroom, however, Jean's words stop you, apparent curiosity egging him on.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

"... Doing what?"

"Pretending to sleep."

"What? I don't pretend."

"Really? You're like me though, aren't you? Reality can't define you, and therefore shouldn't be able to apply it's own concepts to you. Like fatigue. Or even aging."

"Uh... well it does."

You slip into the bedroom after that, suddenly aware of the fact that what Jean was saying was getting uncomfortably close to him equating you as equal to a tear. You feel yourself shudder in unease, and as you start to drift off, you can't help but feel like maybe what you are now is proving to be making you less... human.

----------------

The next morning is uneventful at first, although you can't shake the feeling of unease. At least, not until you get a phone call in the middle of breakfast. You glance at the caller, than frown a little before answering.

"Cass?"

"Linda! YougottahelpmeIdon'tknowwhattodoImeanIdon'tevenknowwhatI'mdoinginhereohgodwhatifsomethinghappanedandIwasdrunka
ndIcan'trememberwhathappanedlastnightandI'mfreakingoutandIsaacandthepartyandIcan'tfindChrisandthere'stoomuchan
dIdon'tknowIneedhelpLindaI'msoconfusedrightnowan-"

Cass continues rambling incoherently into the phone as you pull it away from your ear slightly, frowning at it. Clearly, something happened. You take a moment, letting Cass continue to ramble on, as you decide how you're going to calm her down and get her to explain the situation without causing more panic. The usual should do.

"-AndwhatifIscrewsomethingupwithoutmeaningtoan-"

"Cass!"

"-Yes!?"

"Slow down. I'll listen as long as you want me to."

"Oh... right. Slow down. Um... where was I at?"

"I didn't even get the first bit, Cass."

"Right. Right. Calm. Slow down. Stay calm. Um... this could take awhile, Linda. I'm barely holding in the screaming."

"Take your time Cass. I'm here for you. And please, don't scream into the phone."

"Right... well... uh... It started, um... a few hours after we drove off D7-"

>>>Vote: Chris Wayneright(Repel a D7 Counter-Attack)/Isaac Grimm(Deal with Drunken Cass)

>Chris
IT'S NINJA TIME!!!

>Making new tears
Yeah, that's the last thing we need.

>Disturbing
To say the least. A harsh reminder that he is a monster. He's literally incapable of compassion for others, and is only working with us because it serves his goals. And the only reason we're putting up him instead of putting him down is because he may be our only way to stop a whole lot of monsters. And because we feel just a little bit of pity for them.

>like a tear
>reality shouldn't be apply to apply concepts like fatigue or aging to you
>less human
Well, we already know that aging is something breaking messes with. (Maria looked a lot younger than she was, and Aria has no problem breaking herself to a child. And commentary in the dis thread implies that's no illusion). Fatigue, though, so far that's proven to be the great equalizer. No matter how strong a breaker is, they can only go for so long. If we could choose to ignore that, that would be a game changer.

Not that I think we should try. If Linda's making herself human out of habit (something above and beyond the pretending the tears do- actually applying the rules she expects to herself, since reality can't), that's a good thing. We shouldn't try and make ourself less human for a tactical edge.

It had occurred to me though, that Linda's not so much a tear as at a halfway point. She's less real, still human. And if we're halfway, maybe it would be easier to try and make a tear like us than like everyone else.

There's also a flipside to that- if we can figure out how to make a tear all the way real, maybe we can fix what's wrong with ourself too.

Possibly the idea of fixing a tear by using ourself as the template is something we should discuss with the Doc or Jean later. The question of how human we are might be something we save for private and Elizabeth later.

>who follow
So... fight scene or more talking and drunken silliness. Kinda torn, really. On the one hand, getting a peek inside Isaac's head is interesting, but trying to direct how things go between him and Cass from both sides feels almost cheaty. On the other, a nice simple fight is appealing, and there's more we need to understand about Chris' head too. I guess I'm leaning Chris, but I'm not sure if that's selling Cass short, here.

Poor Nic, stuck at base and getting no action while these two are getting a second session.

It had been only a few hours since you'd repelled the attack, and in that time, you'd taken the rooms used by Division 7 and set up a more suitable base of operations within a safer location within a privately owned hotel. The assets provided by the Master had easily secured the locations and, in keeping with the Master's wishes, allowed you to reserve the entire space for your own crew to the exclusion of any others. You had to keep the chances of normals being killed to a minimum. You'd also taken what you could from the D7 "war room", hoping to gain something more from their files, but with little success. They mostly only had plans for causing mayhem and destruction here, preparations really for the true assault to come. Still, it was something, perhaps proof that could be used the Master to bring some credit to her speech later.

And now you find yourself here, standing off to the side as your companions celebrate the victory. You find yourself disinclined to join in, but with little else to do at the moment, you find yourself observing the controlled chaos that seems to engulf the room. Even Cassandra is getting dragged into it, although she is certainly looking suitably uncertain about the whole thing. Still, the other leader here, Isaac you believe he was called, seems to be watching out for her, so you feel comfortable retreating from the area and instead heading outside to check on the guards posted around the building. Nothing is reported as a problem, so you decide to head back towards the party, if to do nothing more than observe silently, but as you reenter the lobby area, you find one of the guards, knocked unconscious. You quickly wake the man, and when he says he doesn't know what happened, you frown in distaste. The way you see it, you have only two options.

You can alert the entire compound to the danger, but with most of them being drunk, you doubt they'll react well to the news. Or you could try to deal with this as quickly and quietly as possible. Keep those who are aware to a minimum.

>>>Input Command

Hrrrm. Tough call but... Not probably isn't going to be made better by alerting the party-goers.

You already broke the initial forward force of the enemy, and from the papers and plans at their base, and your own familiarity with their operations, you should have some estimate as to their number. That means, unless they managed to bring in a large number of reinforcements in a very short time, you should know they do not numbers for frontal attack. This is, instead, a surgical strike. As the disabled guard would support. A precision attack by the surviving agents and their subjects.

Riling up a large group of drunk people and sending them searching in all directions would be counter-productive. The level of confusion and disorganization would only play into the hand of an enemy infiltrator. In their current condition, the others are safer from attack in their current group than if they split up.

Best response is the quiet one. Turn to those who follow your instruction- the ones who are still in control and disciplined. Hunt down the threat.

Also, should it become necessary to warn the entire group, you still have the comm system. And a even without active break, breaking to enact some manner of alarm strikes me as well within a spirit 7's capabilities.

>>562343
>Or you could try to deal with this as quickly and quietly as possible. Keep those who are aware to a minimum.
Inform Cassandra and Isaac, then begin sweeping. They can take care of corralling the rest of the group and will be pre-warned if the infiltration turns out to be a precursor to an all-out assault.

Your mind makes connections quickly and efficiently. This is a surgical strike, not an full assault. They would not have resorted to such quiet and controlled measures otherwise. They don't have the numbers for that. Still, this needs to be dealt with, and you deem it best not to alert the partiers. At least, not all of them.

You quickly get in contact with one of your disciples and instruct him to warn Cassandra and Isaac of the danger, and to inform them that you are dealing with it. Once he is on his way, you grab a couple more and lead them towards the security room. It would be the first place you would take control of, as it limits the enemies ability to find you. As you enter the hallway to the security booth, you spot a suited man standing next to the door, a weapon you subconsciously identify as an MP5 resting in his hands. For your disciples and the man, a second of surprised inaction occurs. For you, that second results in the man's death, his head neatly severed from his shoulders with the flash of a blade. You catch the body before it can fall to the floor and lay it down gently, then silently direct your disciples to either side of the doorway. Once in position, you kick the door in with one solid blow, and your followers dart in, weapons flashing in precise strokes as they cut down the suited men in the room. The bodies thud to the floor, and one man screams, his arm taken off instead of his head. Your followers cringe at the sight, they are still unused to the sight of death. You don't have any such qualms, silencing the man with a merciful swing of Muramasa. Then your attention is turned to the cameras, eyes flickering across them in search of the intruders. It's mere moments before you find them. Two groups, in fact.

The first seems to be heading for you "war room", likely hoping to get their hands on whatever data they can. There's nothing physical there of any importance, except the documents you'd stolen from them, but the laptops contain far more precious information. Lists of numbers and possible plans are already saved onto the devices, not to mention the locations of your security bases throughout the region. It would be vital to keep the enemies hands off of that information, and while there are guards there, they couldn't hope to handle the enemy on their own. The other, however, seems to be heading down, below the ground floors, with heavy bags on a number of them. You frown, uncertain as to what they are attempting to do, but regardless, you resolve to stop them. Whatever it is, it can't be good. A quick count reveals each of the enemy groups to be about 30 persons in size, with perhaps two breakers to each group.

You turn your attention to the pair you have with you and notice that they've multiplied into 10 total. About half of the total number of disciples you'd brought with you. Those here are your best students, although they are far from reaching your level of skill. You'll need to split them up somehow if you hope to stop each group. Or, of course, you could simply deal with one group yourself and leave you students to deal with the other.

>>>Input Command

Heavy bags? Either they already got what they came for, or it's explosives...
I don't know how well explosions work on Breakers, but I feel like while it would seriously suck to get our current base blown up, it's not as bad as letting D7 have the intel to hit ALL of them.
You, and the best student of that bunch, are coming with you, to stop the men going after the laptops-the rest go for the bags.
Christ+1Disciple protects data.
9Disciples on bags.

>war room, data
We can cheat, there. The data doesn't have to be there when the enemy arrives. We can break the documents and laptops out of the room and conceal them elsewhere (calling a nearby object of known location to hand isn't a difficult break, and we have a whole group of people. The concentration penalty won't be big outside of combat, and some of the disciples might have active break. Assuming the papers are in boxes and there are only a few laptops, it would just be several members of the group each sacrificing 1BP to protect our interests). Then, instead of becoming a critical point we have to defend, where we actually stand to lose something, the war room becomes a trap, an ambush point.

>bags, below ground
It's an attack of some kind. They plan on planting explosives, or gas canisters, or something similar. I'm not exactly sure what would be most effective against breakers, but it's some means to kill all the breakers in the building again and again. It's the only tactic that makes sense with inferior numbers and infiltration versus a large group of breakers in one place.

Regrettably, there's no easy solution there. They will simply have to be attacked and dealt with. Granted, if we familiarized ourself with the building when we moved in, we're more prepared to ambush them effectively.

>how divide forces
I would say asymmetrically. The group without Chris gets more students, but Chris doesn't go into combat alone either. (Split the ten 7-3 maybe?). Theoretically, Chris might be able to go solo, but it would be foolish to play into hubris.

As to which group goes where- look at the monitors, again. You see anything about either of the subjects that would demand you personal attention, or make them the bigger threat? (Like if either was Jin). Failing that, the bag team are the bigger immediate threat. You should run that team.

...master might approve if any of the subjects could be taken alive. (George, especially now that he's had a chance to check out Rise's resistance, might be able to free some of them). But their lives are a secondary objective. Neutralizing the current threat is your priority.

You pause, considering options and strategies. The first thing to come to mind, really, is why should you simply leave the data where it is to be stolen. Or rather, why you haven't just moved it with your powers. You consider a moment, then take a calming breath and reach out with, simply telling reality what you want. And, just like that, reality discovers that you are right, the data wasn't in that room. It was in the room with the partiers. Because that's where you'd put it earlier. You smile to yourself as you check the camera feeds again, the enemy now heading for an empty room. Now all that was left was to enact the ambush.

"Two of you, stay with me. The rest of you, get upstairs. If you can, alert the guards their to simply let them enter the room, then ambush them inside. Understood?"

"Yes, Master."

"Go."

The eight remaining students dash off to do your bidding, while you turn back to the cameras to check the progress of the second group. They're already a few floors down, choosing to take the stairs to avoid messing with the elevators, and you frown in annoyance. Either route would be slow going. Unless...

Your certain your mother would claim your new Master as a bad influence.

You unsheathe Muramasa as you leave the room, entering another just as quickly, your two disciples in tow. You pause a moment, considering the ground, and then simply cut the floor from beneath you and drop down a floor, landing with a heavy thud on the floor below. You pause a moment, considering, then repeat the process once more, before pausing again and smiling in satisfaction at the shouts you can hear audibly.

Found them.

Muramasa returns to its resting place, and you poke your head out the door to see the enemy group having paused in the corridor. The lead man spots you instantly and hesitates, not sure what to do when just your head is poking out. You duck back inside the room, hand already resting on the hilt of your blade, a single deep breath readying yourself for the performance to come. Before you can finish, however, you find yourself interrupted.

"Master? What is the plan?"

Ah... you had forgotten those two...

>>>Input Command

>You're certain your mother would claim your new Master as a bad influence.
Haha. Draw inspiration where you can. And she does have a certain style, doesn't she. Almost a flair for practical solutions, if that contradiction makes sense.

Wait. You remember your mother?

>what's the plan?
The bags likely carry some manner of weapon they intend to plant. Your objectives are to secure them, and prevent any of the enemy escaping with them in the confusion.

As for yourself, Chris, you're going to get right inside the enemy formation (blink) and begin causing as much damage and confusion as fast as possible. Attacking the agents from the inside makes it easier for your pupils to close the distance without being slowed down or stopped by enemy fire. A central attacking position also make it hard for the panicked enemy to fire on you without hitting each other.

After the initial bloodbath, your priority shifts to dealing with the two subjects while your students contain and/or finish dealing with the agents and secure the bags.

Neutralizing the threat takes first priority. Taking any of the subjects alive for deprogramming is a luxury we will consider if and when we have the chance.

It IS a ninja move to come from the ceiling. Though traditionally that's done through ceiling panels instead of just cutting through. Still, points for awesomeness.
Anyhow, tell them to charge when they scream, then blink away to the center and make the bad guys howl!

Their job is to cover either end of the corridor, to keep the enemy contained while you relieve them of their cargo (and sundry appendages).

"Follow. Kill."

The two disciples blink in confusion, right before you dart out into the hallway and are suddenly in the middle of the enemy, crouched low to avoid an instinctive gunshot. There's a brief pause, silence, and the only sound you really hear is your own breathing. And then, as if to signal you to begin, one of the agents breaks the calm before the storm.

"Oh shi-"

He never finishes, as your blade leaves its home and you begin your dance, flashes of steel accompanied by the screams of the dead and dying. Within moments, at least six are dead, another three on their way. Without warning, however, a small pellet looking object bounces against the wall next to you, and you glance at it before it explodes in your face, hurling you through the concrete wall and into a room on the other side. You wake and shake confusion from your thoughts. Your blade and sheathe managed to remain in your hands, but as you stand, you watch as a man and woman step through, both looking deadly serious. The Breakers it looks like. Their agent handlers step through after them, shouting directions over their shoulders at the remaining men in the corridor.

"Get those charges in place now! We'll hold her off!"

"Hey, Em. You know who that is?"

"Uh, no? I'm new, in case you'd forgotten."

"That's 23... I don't know if we can win."

"23? The fugitive? THAT 23?"

You tense as the two handlers continue their conversation, the subjects under their control waiting for the order to kill. You remember these two. 58 and 59. Siblings. You'd helped catch them. Hadn't heard much of them afterwards. One had pellets he'd chucked around, could do all sorts of things with them. The most annoying were the adhesive ones. Destroyed your speed. Others were used for killing of course, but that one was the worst. The other preferred combat up close and personal. A mace, if you recall correctly. A mace with spikes on it. She'd been easy. When her brother wasn't helping her. Regardless, you had to finish this quickly. Your disciples weren't going to last long on their own. You hadn't taken out nearly as many agents as you'd hoped.

>>>Input Command

>>562839
Our targets are the agents. Take them out, and we can deal with the breakers at leisure. Either call in your disciples, or go for Instant Movement to arrive behind them, seeing as they've sent both their captive breakers forward through a choke point without any rear guard.

Blink, kill handlers, declare them captured.
Alternatively, if that ends with you receiving a pellet or mace to the face, We adjust our plans...Hrrm.
Actually, with just how SHARP Muramasa is, couldn't you just go for blocking Mace's attacks so the force of the swings ends up cutting through Mace's weapon?
As for pellet boy...We want to keep him in close range to you as much as possible-it'll limit his ability to use his pellets on you without getting caught in them.
In short-
Mace Girl's Mace is as much an option as the girl herself, stay close to Pellets to negate his abilities, and you should be able to win this fight. Cowardly? Maybe, but it's 2 on 1. Not actually much of a fair fight to begin with...If not a bit familiar.

Okay, that's one blink, and one free-form break. Assuming Chris started at full BP, that brings her down to 41. Could be lower though, if it hasn't been long enough since the previous D7 attack for her to fully regen.

>two word instructions
>Get those charges in place now!
Dangit, Chris. This is why I wanted you to tell your students to focus on those.

>Your disciples weren't going to last long on their own.
Which means you unfortunately have two secondary priorities. If your students find themselves in dire straits, you may be forced to blink to their defense. You may also be forced to blink to the agents setting the charges to kill them / disrupt their work, if they get too close to completion.

>couldn't you just go for blocking Mace's attacks so the force of the swings ends up cutting through Mace's weapon?
Easily. So far, I don't think we've seen anything that Muramasa doesn't cut right through, even with negligible force. Possibly her sibling's weapons, if they're similarly enhanced, and potentially Aegis might allow Cass to block (it worked on Jin, but we don't know for sure his blades have the same crazy cutting edge Chris' does).

>What do
You captured these two? That means they may still see you as a subject. Agents are briefed on who traitors are- subjects are given orders on a need-to-know basis.

Best plan- terminate the handlers, and normalize. Make yourself appear, in the sibling's eyes, to have never surrendered your position as subject 23. (Shouldn't be too hard- presumably they're lower spirit than us, you still dress and move like a subject, and they remember you in that role. Only out is if one has really good will- but the brainwashing should have hurt their ability to think for themselves and get though this kind of deception. They're conditioned to accept the truth that they're told- and this one isn't far off). Then, order them to slaughter the agent 'traitors' (that way their mission profile even stays the same- you've just switched who's who) on your master's authority.

Best part, if this works, you can even order them to surrender their foci when the fight is over.

>tactics (whether or not the gambit to control the siblings works).
Fighting in the middle of the agents, when possible, is preferable. Crossfire becomes an issue for the enemy- agents risk getting hit both by you and the siblings (really a problem for his area of effect pellets), the agents will have difficulties firing on you without hitting each other or the siblings, and difficulty focusing on your students or setting up their explosives.

If you do have to fight the siblings, rendering one unconscious as soon as possible is probably the best way to deal with them. Since that will be hard when they're working together, you may need to work with your disciples to separate them.

You tense, and the two breakers tense as well, with the two agents behind them barely starting to react before you blink forward and are standing next to them, blade already sliding out with a hiss of steel. Unfortunately, before you can complete the action, you feel something snap against your right shoulder and suddenly your arm freezes in place, covered in an almost plaster like substance. You frown in annoyance, eyes narrowing, before you tumble through the hole in the wall and back into the corridor, a mace missing your skull by easily. A quick check reveals your students, at least for the moment, have everything well in hand, the agents trying to get past them finding nothing but the biting steel of swords in their path. Still, they're starting to wise up that someone's obstructing them. You try a second to wrest your hand free of the odd prison its found itself in, but you aren't strong enough to break the stuff. You frown again, not happy at all, but simply flip the sheath and draw Muramasa as the whole assembly passes you by on the way down, cutting a man in two while your at it. That makes 10 dead, at least. Meanwhile, the handlers are hardly staying quiet.

"HOLY SHIT! DID YOU-"

"SHUT UP AND DON'T PANIC! 58, bring the boom!"

Pellets get tossed through the hole, but you're already heading further down the corridor, killing as you move. The explosion that follows is bigger than you'd expected, however, and your hurled into one of the agents, sending you both sprawling. You're dazed for a moment, and someone manages to get it through their head to shoot you in the back, unloading what sounds like another MP5 into your back. Your spine takes a solid beating, and you know you're going to be sore, but unfortunately for them, the armor you're wearing, stolen from the Division themselves, can easily handle the small caliber rounds the gun uses. The attackers legs, however, can't withstand getting cut off. You leap to your feet, ready to go again, only to have a mace nearly smash you in the face. You cut the weapon, and the offending limb behind it, clean in two, but unfortunately, the pellets that come behind it are not so dodge-able. They explode in your face, sending you and 59 hurtling in opposite direction down the corridor, with you colliding with the same agent who'd just gotten up. You put him out of his misery as you rise to your feet, eyes glaring down the corridor.

"Holy hell! She's STILL not down?"

"She was McCarthy's personal bodyguard. You think he'd have picked someone that would go down easy?"

"Hey... she's still wearing our armor. You think she might...?"

"Don't bother. We have our orders. 58 and 59 seem to be doing alright against her anyway. I don't know what's going on behind us though. I'm gonna check that out. You stay put, make sure these two keep her occupied."

"Yeah, yeah... Still... I wonder... Hey! 23! It's ok! We're... uh... friends! Remember? Division 7? McCarthy? We just came to get you back."

>>>Input Command

...Oh man. I just had such a hilarious idea. I just hope Chris goes through with it.
Just say "Password". They'll probably go NUTS trying to figure out what you're talking about, and the distraction's sure to give you time to kick some butt and take names.

>kill the handlers
Hmm. Well that didn't work. Sucks about the arm-plaster thing, but apparently Chris can get away working left handed.

I suppose we could try breaking the stuff away, but she'd need an opening or lull to try it without getting killed. And we'd suffer the full concentration penalties, although our spirit is probably high enough to overcome.

>fight siblings in the middle of enemy agents
Well, that worked, at least. 58 Probably did as much damage to the agents as we did.

>Holy hell! She's STILL not down?
...that was kind of an amazing amount of abuse without a death. (Although, minus a blink, we're now down to 36 BP or less). And that D7 body armor is crazy impressive if someone can unload a clip in your back at close range and only leave bruising. (Even if the bullets aren't getting through, you're tanking the hits. I'd expect a risk of internal bleeding or ruptures, especially from sustained, close fire).

A death might have freed your arm. Although, then again, facing multiple enemies, tow of them breakers, we don't really have good respawn conditions. We could very easily end up pinned or chain killed if we did die.

>Hey! 23! It's ok! We're... uh... friends! Remember? Division 7?
...I almost feel sorry for this handler. Poor Em.

This one is a lot less experienced and more gullible than the other, and she's currently alone. Pretending to play along probably has a tactical advantage. If you can get her to lower her guard (and/or the subject's) you can exploit the opening. (Either of the siblings unconscious would be useful. Or dying slowly, so they can't contribute to the fight for a few minutes, allowing you to deal with the others).

If there's anyway we could combine that with a normalize we might actually be able to get the siblings thinking they're on the same side as you. Problem is, we'd have to remove the handlers if you wanted to control them, and in a manner that doesn't set them off. ...I'm probably reaching, here.

"Password?"

That single word seems to throw the enemy into confusion. You hear her mumbling things to herself for a moment, then suddenly, with more volume, she addresses her comrades.

"Hey so, uh... anyone know any passwords?"

Silence reigns, no one willing to say the wrong thing as you simply stand there, acting as if you are waiting quietly. Instead, you analyze, watching for the moment you can strike. It comes quickly, the two breakers reacting with confusion towards the handlers actions. You understood the feeling as well, if only because you'd lived it. Why weren't they ordering the attack again? Why the sudden questions? Why does it matter?

"Shit... uh... Hey, Robert? You know anything about a pass-"

The words are cut short in an instant as the freezes up in shock at the sudden burst of movement coming from in front of her. Your blade becomes a steel blur, and your enemies, so much slower than you, lose limbs and tumble to the ground, flailing helplessly. A moment later, you are in front of the handler herself, and her head is separated from her shoulders. You step past her as her body falls forward, and you take the moment of stunned silence to try breaking this cast off your arm. You almost feel your concentration slip, but then your arm is free, and you switch Muramasa over to your dominant hand. The other handler, is far more experienced than his now deceased comrade, and at least knows a few tricks. Like killing his Subjects to bring them back into play.

"Don't just stand there! Kill the Subjects! Get them back in the fight!"

The remaining men behind you move to obey, but you dart back into their midst, settling once again into your deadly dance, even as gunfire erupts around you. Within moments, all those that remain near you are dead. That just leaves the handler and those your disciples are fighting. You turn to go back that way, only to instinctively block as a mace comes hurtling towards your skull. Unfortunately, you'd blocked with the bladed end, and with such a fine blade, instead of deflecting the blow you merely cut a slit down the middle. You head caves as metal meets bone, and you black out before waking again, forced to your knees with the force of the blow. Pellets roll and land at your feet, and you are suddenly blown backwards down the corridor, the force of the explosion twisting your body violently and causing you to die again, this time waking on your stomach. You pull yourself to your feet again, glaring down the corridor to see 59 glaring right back, even as pellets coming shooting out from behind her. You cut them out of the air, with disdain. But it seems, that they were meant merely as distractions. The handler and two breakers disappear into the room through the hole you'd made, while your two disciples finish up their task and appear from behind them, looking out of breath and physically tasked.

"Master? The bombs are destroyed."

That was one task complete, at least. You rush forward to the hole and dart through to find the three already disappearing into the actual door entrance. It seems escape was his plan now. A wise one, all things considered. However, you had no intentions of letting him escape.

>>>Input Command

Hrm.
"Deal with the girl with the mace."
So that mace girl is tied up, while you fight pellets boy.

1 break, 2 deaths, brings us down to 33 BP or less. It was definitely worth taking those hits in order to eliminate the other agents, though. That simplifies things a lot.

>newbie-girl decapitated
Yup. Definitely feeling a little sorry for her. Not really sure how to read D7 putting inexperienced or unprepared people in the field. Should we be encouraged that they're getting desperate, or discouraged that they can afford to just throw bodies at problems? Does this mean they're succeeded at large scale recruitment, or that they're drafting warm bodies and putting them out there to die?

I do hope our PR campaign will make staffing harder for them.

>"Master? The bombs are destroyed."
Excellent. That's what I brought them along for.

...I know there's not much time for it in the heat of battle, but spare a word or two of encouragement for your students when this is over. Your approval means a lot to them, and they did their jobs well.

>Escape
Yeah, you shouldn't let that happen. The last thing we need is for D7 to retrain experienced handlers, or to be able to reuse subjects.

Blink in front of the retreating enemy to cut them off. Then they're pinned between you and your students, and it's 3 on 3, and one of them is normal. That's a fight you can win. Instead of 58 and 59 having an advantage working together against you, you'll have the advantage if you coordinate your attacks with your students. You can divide and overwhelm the enemy. (Try and capture the subjects alive, if you can).

Be alert, though. If you're cutting off the enemy's escape at the door, that means you're exposed to whatever may be outside. It's possible the enemy left forces to cover their retreat or escape. Say, another subject (Muramasa family boss fight yet?), or a sniper covering the door.

If you have a radio, or if the building has a PA system, now would be the time to announce the attempted incursion.

>>563627
Well, hacking the PA, if there is one, would take concentrating on a freeform break, which Chris can't do effectively while trying to stop the enemy from escaping. Cass is the only person on our comm network in range, but she's kind of drunk right now, making her reaction unpredictable. I kind of think sounding an alarm or filing up the party goers isn't a good idea, though. Confusion and chaos wouldn't help unless we needed to rally or move the whole group.

>>563650
>hacking the PA
I was thinking more 'grab the handset off the wall and hit the "all zones" button'.

"After them!"

You take off after the enemy even as you shout the command, and your students fall in behind you quickly, although they swiftly lose ground to your sheer speed. Regardless, you round a corner to find the enemy halfway down the hall, and for you, the task of cutting off their escape becomes simple. You blink forward, suddenly among the group, and Muramasa sings as it cuts flesh and bone. Then you blink again, this time appearing on the other side of them. You smile in satisfaction, the brother of the two subjects is not missing his leg and is clutching at the wound in obvious pain. His sibling barely notices, the girl charging you at her handler's command, the man clearly willing to sacrifice the girl to save himself. You end her resistance by severing her arms from her torso before Muramasa returns to its sheathe. The agent, clearly spooked, turns to flee back the way he'd come, only to encounter your two students, blades drawn and eyes challenging. The man glances between the two paths, clearly trying to decide something, before he throws up his hands in defeat and sighs.

"I surrender!"

Your two students begin to lower their blades, but you remain tense. Expectant. Confused. From what you can remember, Agents rarely surrender, preferring to die for their cause before give anything up. Then again, your only experience with other Agents were those your... handler... had loaned you to, and you couldn't be sure this was one of those.

Still, it was a matter of accepting his surrender or simply ending his life now. While you are certain your master would prefer the humane option.. Sometimes, your master could be too trusting, and it was part of your duties to protect her from all threats. Including her own bad decisions.

... What to do?

>>>Input Command

Hrrrm...
Honor your Master's Wishes. He will be under your personal surveillance-your students can return to the party and continue watching over them.

Pff. I would have preferred taking naive-handler alive over competent-handler.

>protect her from all threats, including her own bad decisions
Haha, wow. I think we've successfully taught Chris to think for herself, again. She's playing directives against each other to get the interpretation she wants. (And I think I detect a rebuke over the way Linda handled the Maria situation).

>what do
Order your subjects to stand down, and surrender their foci.

If he complies, once you're holding their foci, render him unconscious and take him alive. If he tries anything, kill him.

Now, what are the real risks of taking a surrendered prisoner? Well, if the enemy is familiar with your master, it could be a trap. An enemy who knows how you behave can use that against you. This whole attack could have been a move of desperation, or a poor tactical decision, or severely underestimating your forces, or it could have been a deliberate sacrifice to put a piece in position.

Obviously he will need to be extensively vetted by those who are skilled in such things. Searched for anything concealed on (or in) his person (tracker, transmitter, anti-breaker tech, a 'break object' like Aria's gem, a concealed weapon of any kind, etc etc). Then and only then can he be moved to another location, or passed on to interrogators.

58 and 59 will be held until they can be handed over to George. Your master would be interested in their freedom. (Odd feeling, there).

>Your two students begin to lower their blades
Flash a look at them telling to remain vigilant. Combat isn't over until it's over. This could still be a trick to stall for time. (Our back is to the exit they were feeling towards, right? If that's open, we could still be attacked from that direction).

Once the situation and prisoners are secure, spare a few moments to give your students encouragement / assessment, then arrange to have the area swept again to make sure no threat remains and report back to the others. Be sure to check up on what happened with the other group. (And once we've double checked security, cleaners will have to deal with the mess).

The one thing we don't do is take him further into the building or bring him to everyone else. He gave up a little too easily (didn't even try of shooting the breakers to allow them to revive).

>>565070
He's surrounded by three swordsmen, his subjects are disabled, and we know how fast Chris is. If he tried a shoot-revive, he'd very likely be dead before they respawned (probably before the second shot), and 58 and 59 wouldn't win the 2 v 3 fight. If he's doing cold hard math, surrender is a better option for survival.

Of course it could be a trick, too. Confusing or distracting the enemy long enough to try something is a better strategy than just shooting, as well.

>don't want to bring him to everyone else
We would want to keep him isolated, yes, but regrettably, we will have to get someone else involved at some point, too. Chris can only search for a certain level of concealed threat. Anything on his person, sure. Anything hidden with surgery, or an innocuous object that might have a hidden break trigger (like Aria's gem) she might not be able to locate. (D7 does have access to superscience, breakers, and tears, after all). He'd need to be checked by an Elizabeth-alike. (Even without the precog, there's gotta be other people in the organization who are more geared at scanning and examination than combat).

Shipping him home for interrogation (or moving him to a new location) is definitely out until we're sure he's clean.

One last thing for Chris to consider: her students are watching. It may be your duty to protect your master from possible mistakes, but you can't afford to teach them disobedience, or to disregard mercy. Long term, that would cause problems too.