Oohf. This is messy.

>You wouldn't believe the cosmic damage you could have caused if you'd failed.
Which should be a lesson that we shouldn't consider doing something like this often. It also shows just how insane Marc was attempting this on his own.

>power, ally, or friend
As useful as more power might be, I don't think we can even consider it. Linda is not suddenly about to start putting herself above those she cares for. Besides- it's a power revealed, not given. Information. It's possible we could figure it out ourself.

The tough choice is between ally or friend. Presumably, the lost ally is Cally. Who's death Linda regrets causing terribly. The friend... she would cure Raphael or Cassandra's problems?

Don't make the decision yet- we need to get more information first. We ask for our boon last.

>questions
How did you make that, anyways? That's not a regular avatar... thing. You aren't a regular avatar, either (if there is such a thing). You're not a broken piece of someone's mind, you're... something from outside reality? Who's instructing you to help me? I don't suppose you can explain how any of that works? Because all we have to go by is guesswork.

What about me, anyways? You're the third person to treat me as if I'm more than just a regular breaker. You, Elizabeth, the Demon. What is it about me that's special, here? (Um, and if this involved the "power revealed" choice, could you not answer yet? Still asking questions here, not picking a gift).

Speaking about the Demon... what can you tell me about him? What is he? What does he want?

What about reality? You tell me I could have well and truly fucked it over. But... what about the other stuff we do? The "normal" breaking? Are the fixers right- are we really part of the problem? Is there something that needs to be fixed- that can be fixed? Or is a little cheating just supposed to be part of how the game is played?

Oh, probably the most important question:

The gifts I don't chose- are there other ways to gain them? Are their other ways to restore the lost ally, to discover the hidden power, to heal my broken friend?

Oh, and maybe ask what she wants us to do with her (at least avatar her) once we wake up. Does she want us to find her another breaker?

Either "A friend, once broken, will be healed." or "A power, once hidden, will be revealed.". I genuinely and strongly dislike the concept of reviving characters who died a chapter or more ago whose death had been made peace with. Ends and consequences are part of being human, and I'm personally a little burnt out on the number of quests that remove that from the playing field entirely.

I suspect that either Chris or Cass are the ones to be healed, so it's my first choice unless the power turns out to be something important enough that it's likely to prevent the death of our allies.

We should probably just ask who the friend and ally in question are. For instance, if Raphael still died buying us time in the new timeline, we sure as hell want to reverse that.

"How did you make that, anyways? That's not a regular avatar... thing. You aren't a regular avatar, either, if there is such a thing. You're not a broken piece of someone's mind, you're... something from outside reality? Who's instructing you to help me? I don't suppose you can explain how any of that works? Because all we have to go by is guesswork.

"What about me, anyways? You're the third person to treat me as if I'm more than just a regular breaker. You, Elizabeth, the Demon. What is it about me that's special, here? Um, and if this involved the "power revealed" choice, could you not answer yet? Still asking questions here, not picking a gift.

"Speaking about the Demon... what can you tell me about him? What is he? What does he want?

"What about reality? You tell me I could have well and truly fucked it over. But... what about the other stuff we do? The "normal" breaking? Are the fixers right- are we really part of the problem? Is there something that needs to be fixed- that can be fixed? Or is a little cheating just supposed to be part of how the game is played?"

You point to the raw reality, and the angel suddenly looks very sad. For a moment, she pauses, as if considering things and weighting options, then with a sigh, she set the raw reality floating next to her and looks distressed as she begins to speak.

"I'll start from the easiest answers. No, I am not a normal avatar. I willingly allowed myself to be wrought into an avatar, so as to observe reality from a different perspective. I am... I am not sure how to describe myself. A warden for reality, I suppose. A watchdog. Someone who steps in then necessary to ensure that reality continues. I'm afraid I can't explain further.

"And you are special. Something very special. I cannot say what, I do not know, but I can say that you're have a profound affect on reality. Bringing someone back from the dead, and even more than that, rewriting history, is not something even I can do. Bringing back the dead is one of those things that reality does not accept, and yet... you told reality to ignore deaths, and it did. I cannot say how that is possible.

"This Demon... a tear in reality's fabric. I cannot aid you in this. Merely being near him causes me pain, and thinking of him for too long draws his attention... We must move on.

"As for the Children... I cannot say. It is not my place to say. It is my purview to watch the endless cycles of this universe. When this universe finally collapses, I will go with it, my task done. It is another's task to watch over the Children. You have met him, I think, upon gaining your power. He is unlikely to appear again, though. A very unhappy man."

Finally, the Angel turns to the raw reality, staring at it sadly. For a moment, she seems hesitant, then she shakes her head, as if clearing away a thought, and turns back to you, determination laced with sorrow on her face.

"... I... must apologize, for even being an unwilling participant in the creation of this. It was not my intention for something like this to happen, but I did not think that anyone would be capable of forcing me to do it. This... is the one you call Raphael. His existence in it's entirety. You can think of it as taking his threads from reality and using them to affect something else. He is... nonexistent, in the grand scheme of things. Even your affect on time could not change that, as once removed, the threads do not rejoin the weave. In time, you will be the only one who will even remember he existed, as you own nonexistence offers some protection against such changes. Still, everyone else who knew him will have his memory slowly fade away, until only the vaguest of feelings remain. Once again, I... apologize."

You blink, the words just spoken reaching your ears but refusing to be translated...

What?

>>>Input Command

Oh what the fuck. We finally trust Raphael, give himself the chance to prove himself, to overcome his own darkness, and he gets FRIDGED for it?! I mean... fuck. All he wanted was for someone to be proud of him. And now no one will remember. That is profoundly unfair in the worst kind of way. (We are officially get your love interested killed quest, now).

There's nothing we can do about that? Because that's what I want to fix. We can't bring him back? Or burn Marc to fix Raphael (let the punishment fit the crime). Or, cheat, and make his thread work outside reality the way ours does? Or... remake him? Even less than he was? Even if he comes back as a normal he once was- and no one but us remembers. Or if we can't save him, let people remember. He deserves something, goddamnit.

...and don't take this the wrong way, but when I wake up? I'm breaking your avatar. Sorry if that messes up your observations, but I'm not taking the risk someone could force you to do this again.

...Is the raw reality made from Raphael's thread? That would, I think, adequately explain why the Angel looked at the raw reality with sorrow before explaining that Raphael cannot be revived.

>>486684
I would assume so, yes. But why can't it be rewoven? (Especially if she copies our own cheating in but out thread. Or if we burn Marc's thread to fuel it).

An important distinction as well- is that all that's left of Raphael (we burned a good chunk of him up already) or was the original ball a composite (made up of several of Marc's victims) and this last piece is Raphael?

"There's nothing we can do about that? Because that's what I want to fix. We can't bring him back? Or burn Marc to fix Raphael? Or, cheat, and make his thread work outside reality the way ours does? Or... remake him? Even less than he was? Even if he comes back as a normal he once was- and no one but us remembers. Or if we can't save him, let people remember. He deserves something, goddamnit.

...and don't take this the wrong way, but when I wake up? I'm breaking your avatar. Sorry if that messes up your observations, but I'm not taking the risk someone could force you to do this again."

The Angel is silent, thinking, then she nods hesitantly.

"I understand destroying my avatar form, and that is unnecessary. It is already disposed of. My observations are complete. You are free of me. But... others can learn to draw the threads of other from the weave, and create reality. You yourself could accomplish this, if you set your mind to it, although you'd need a way to view the weave in order to draw out what you need.

"I... I could not restore the old Raphael, his thread is no longer whole. No longer a complete thread. A baby may only have a single strand, but as strands begin to wrap around the single strand, they become part of that person's thread. Raphael is missing too many threads to be safely woven back into his place. And using another's thread... it is forbidden. But I could fashion a new one thread from what remains. He would have... some of his memories, perhaps, he would still be himself, but... there would be no telling what he actually remembers and what he doesn't. More than likely, he would no longer be a breaker. Just a another normal, living in the world. It would use of all of the reality we have here, but... Raphael would be alive, in some fashion."

The Angel gazes at you, awaiting your decision.

>>>Input Command

Sad smile, reach out touch what's left of him for one last goodbye.

Heh. I guess... he finally gets to escape the nightmare.

Do it.

No, use the reality to heal your friends. Keep the horse close, like you do with Cally's memento.

>>486700
We do not trade people's lives like that. We're not Marc.

There will be other chances to help Cass. This is Rachael's last, and only, chance. Linda is not spending the rest of her life watching Cass, and having every moment of the happiness she sees poisoned by the knowledge she chose to kill Raphael for it.

He deserves a life. Give it to him. And we'll continue to fight to give Cass one.

He faced death to give us a chance. Least we can do is use his death to give him one. man, quests are weird

I agree, let him live, let him be remembered. Let him find the happiness as a normal he couldn't as a breaker.

"... Do it."

You make the decision to allow Raphael a chance at living a normal life, and the angel nods in understanding.

"I will do my best. I will even give you a final opportunity to meet him, although he may not remember you. For now, however, our time is up. It was a pleasure speaking with you, Miss McCallahan. To future meetings..."

A bright light suddenly washes over you, and you feel yourself pulled away. The next thing you know, your eyes are opening to the sight of a dark blue sky, the sound of waves crashing nearby and the feel of sand under you. You sit up and stare at the ocean, realizing your back in the normal world. You frown in thought, not seeing any of your friends around you, but your thinking is interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Miss? Miss? Are you alright?"

You turn to see Raphael, red eyes staring back at you. He seems fine, perfectly healthy, as normal as he could possibly be. There's no number floating around him though, and he seems not to recognize you at all.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine."

"That's good. I gotta say though, I don't know what I'm doing here. Hell, for some reason, I don't even know where I am. Or who I am. Except for this wallet here, says my name is Daniel Tanner. So I guess that's who I am. Picture matches anyway. So... Nice to meet you, I'm Daniel."

The man in front of you, once Raphael and now Daniel, presents his hand to you. You stare at it a moment, a wave of depression hitting you as you realize he doesn't remember you at all, then you grasp the offered hand and he helps you up. You both stand there a moment, you feeling depressed and him slightly confused.

"You know, you're pretty cute when your all depressed like that. Makes me want to take you on a date."

Your head shoots up to stare at him in shock, but Raphael/Daniel winks at you, letting you know he's joking. You blink a little in surprise, remembering this sort of thing happening all the time before all this shit, and you start to feel tears welling up, both depressed that he'll be leaving your life and a little relieved that he doesn't seem to have changed much personality wise.

"Ah! Whoa! Uh... shit, I didn't mean to make you... ah crap... um..."

Daniel starts panicking for a moment, but you shake your head.

"It's fine, I'm fine. Just... a little relieved, I guess."

"Relieved? Huh... I guess so."

There's silence after that, the both of you standing awkwardly, not really sure what to say. Then the first rays of sunlight start to break over the horizon, and Daniel blinks in surprise before fumbling in his pockets and pulling out a pair of sunglasses, sliding them over his sensitive eyes.

"Ah... um... sorry... you know... albino's have uh... sensitive-"

"I know. I... used to have a friend, was an albino. He said he was in love with me once... I don't think I ever gave him a proper response."

"Really? What happened to him?"

"Gone now... I guess... I guess that's why I started crying. You... remind me of him, I guess."

"Oh..."

There's more silence, and you descend into your depression again, and then Daniel takes your hand and places an object into it, closing your fingers around it before you can get a good look at it.

"Here. I don't really know why, but I don't think I need it anymore, and for some reason I think you should have it. My mother used to say nightmares brought bad dreams, but she told me about what she called the 'white nightmares who scared away all the scary things'. Heh. I found out years later there was no such thing as white nightmares. You know, those horse things. Only the bad ones. I think she told me to help me get over my albinism... either way, I've always felt that thing has kept away the bad dreams. Maybe it'll help you..."

As he talks, you open up your hand to stare down at the little black statue of a horse. His focus... even now, you can feel a sense of tingling fear coming from it, the haris on the back of your neck rising. A memento of the man you used to know...

"Well... can't spend forever reminiscing about the past. Besides, I've got to go find myself in the world. I hope everything works out for you. Who knows, yeah? Maybe your friend'll come back. I'll see you around!"

Daniel starts off, waving a goodbye over his shoulder, and he strides off down the beach, trying his best to avoid getting sunlight in his eyes. You stare after him a moment, saying your own goodbyes to Raphael. You hope his life turns out for the best. A minute passes, then you suddenly feels yourself get tackled from behind, and you tumble to the floor again.

"LINDA! Your alive! HAHA! I KNEW IT!"

"Cass! Get... offa me!"

"Oh! Right!"

The other woman scrambles to her feet, and as you right yourself again, you find yourself surrounded by your companions. Cass of course, is standing next to you, leaning over you and looking happy as hell to see you. Nicole is standing near the back, a lit cigarrette in her mouth, happily puffing away, although she's got a bandage around her head for some reason. Chris is silent, standing a little of to the side, although she nods at you amiably as your eyes catch hers. Perhaps the happiest thing you see, however, is Elizabeth, who smiles at you happily and waves a little.

"The Angel has returned, and the Nightmare is now just a man."

"Yeah... I hope his life goes well."

"It will. His futures are all bright and filled with life. He will continue on. He will not be forgotten."

"Good..."

"What's this about old Nightmare boy? He around?"

"Not anymore. At least, not like he was. I'll explain later, for now, bring me up to speed."

"Well, first thing to start off with is some crazy lady showing up after you disappeared. She said you'd called her, but we didn't know anything about it. Calls herself Aria or something like that. Anyway, we hightailed it after those D7 fucks started showing up, and then we kinda got back home. No one there seemed to know what was going on, but... well, whatever. Anyway, after awhile, we didn't really know what to do, then Elizabeth sort of took charge a little, and a bunch of stuff happened really fast and-"

"Oh, for fucks sake. Nicole, shut up. Short version, your the boss now, and this Aria chick is waiting for you back at the base. Oh, and you've got yourself your four lieutenants right here."

Cass gestures around her at the others, and then helps you up.

"So, your call Linda. What's the plan?"

>>>Input Command

Experience Gained: 7

New Ability Gained: Nonexistent
As long as you have this trait, anyone who is not a breaker who meets you will inevitably forget you exist. Even Breakers, given enough time, will forget you exist, except for those that spend a considerable amount of time in your presence.

>Nonexistent
Goddamn, that's a depressing ability. Good thing we have lieutenants and an organization to work though. Even if we're forgotten, they won't be.

...I wonder if this applies to the Godkiller? We still never got around to having Twinda look into our celebrity....

>7 XP
Spend 5 XP to get to spirit 6.
Dump the reaming 2 XP into finesse, we've been neglecting it.
>>/questdis/65570
These are still my opinions on how the others should be spending their XP. Well, except for Raphael, since he's out, now.

>questions
Who remembers what happened before we broke everything that night? Is it just those of us who were there?

What happened with Blade's and Jared's group? I'm thinking diplomatic efforts might go better at this point. (Hell, I'm even considering sending her the money Marc owed her, once we break into his accounts).

>lieutenants
Nobody I'd trust more. Consider yourselves confirmed.

What about Marc's old guard? (Rodriguez, Mike, Daniels, George...) Who did we lose? Who stayed?

...what happened to Amelia? (seriously, going to get the doc to melt her down. We cannot let her drive another breaker insane).

>plan
Head back to base, meet with Aria. We can have a talk with her. Trade information about Marc, and the weirder stuff we've seen.

If we still have George working for us, I'd like to meet with him too. Not gonna hold it against him, but if Marc had him put anything nasty in the heads of anyone in our organization, like he did Raphael? We want those taken out.

Be nice to schedule meets with Jared and Blades (if that hasn't already been taken care of).

We also need to schedule time to visit the doctor, see if he'll be more helpful now that we killed Marc. (And get Amelia melted down to slag).

Should also talk to Nic at some point (so... you wanted a reward right? Apparently I now run this place. And I'm probably rich. What did you have in mind?). Also be nice to stop by Michelle and Levi, see their reaction to all this (Leviathin is totally gonna remember).

Manifest Twinda when we get back to base, put her on computer duty again. In addition to the guns and Cass research, we really owe it to ourselves to at least check out the Godkiller phenomenon. And I want her to start going through Marc's money, too.

Holy. Fuck.

We need a face man for sure. Anyway.

>XP
Spirit 6.
1 more finesse.
Marksman of the Void - We've seen siphon like abilities several times, leviathan, the needles, the tubes. It's time to integrate that with ourselves. From now on killing someone with our guns (or just the rifle right now since its 1 xp) steals some BP from our target and adds it to our own.

>Wat Do
Talk to Aria. Explain to her what happened, how Marc basically went insane in the end. How you killed him after he tried to kill most of the group.

If she asks what our plans are it boils down to finishing cleaning up whatever mess Marc made of our people, paying Blades with Marc's money and visiting the good Doctor to spread the news. After that we'll probably have to push the fixers back.

After Aria has decided what she is going to do lets gather the people Marc had trusted for the most part. We need to see what they are going to do and make sure that if they don't want to continue on with us we won't begrudge them that.

Finally after that I think its time to revisit the Doc. We have his test results and some news for him.

Once thats done lets call in those who else Marc had running things for him. See what they want to do now that he is dead and gone.

Finally lets call the Doc.

Wait. Just occurred to me. This isn't likely going to be a problem any time soon with all the emotional fuckery we've gone through losing Cass and then Raphael, but Nonexistent now makes hookups absurdly creepy. Anyone you have a one night stand or temporary fling with will forget you ever existed while you remember everything. Eugh. Lonely for you, and the nagging feeling it's wrong remembering things your partners don't.

>We need a face man for sure. Anyway.
And our choices are... the terse practically android girl, a short tempered maniac, someone who's bad at explanations and likes to punch things... and a girl who speaks in riddles with creeper powers. XD

Well, Elizabeth has sort of already taken that role upon herself. And she's the only one of them that's will based, which is the interpersonal stat. Congratulations on your promotion to face-girl. Can't wait till you get the chance to use fear itself in a tense negotiation.

>Marksman of the Void
What is that, a gun upgrade, or kind of bullet? It kind of looks more like an ability, which we aren't allowed to craft.

It's not a bad idea, but I'm against spending XP on things like that till dreamer has actually vetted them in dis and told us how they'd be allowed to function.

(Same thing might be accomplished by turning the tubes into a manifestation. And then merging them with a gun focus?).

It'd be a gun upgrade if allowed.

Spirit 6, one to BP [we can do finesse next time we get xp], and let's tune another weapon. How about the ball that "makes holes"? It sounds potentially useful.

First we give a formal "I'm the boss now sup guys"-type speech or something to our crew, then we meet with Aria, then we call the Doc and schedule a meeting to talk about the raw reality thing.

>BP
I don't see that we need it- we'll get some from the spirit upgrade.

>let's tune another weapon. How about the ball that "makes holes"?
Meh, we have too many weapons to juggle as is, and as we get stronger, just active breaking is in many cases the simpler and more powerful option. I'd rather improve what we have (and ourselves) rather than get more.

"Makes holes" is incredibly vague anyways. And a lot of the possible interpretations are things we can already do with active breaks, or bullets. Unless we know for sure it does something absurdly awesome like make black hole grenades we can lob around, it's not worth it.

Only weapon I would consider tuning right now is if someone comes up with some kind of awesome scifi / magic gun for the doctor to make out of the shotgun focus. (Dis is open for brainstorming and vetting!).

You know what I'm kinda curious of what it could do as well. Maybe its a portal maker. That would be fun.

If only we could get a better idea on what it does.... oh wait we can. We have another thing to ask the Doc.

Maybe hold off on that last XP for now until we get a few things straightened out.

"There's nobody I'd rather have with me. Consider yourselves official. Now then, let's get back home. I've got things I need to look into."

The other happily lead the way to a car much nicer than what you'd been driving around, a midnight black Mercedes Benz. You whistle a little in appreciation, but you don't get to gaze at it much, as you're hurried inside and driven off.

You spend the car ride asking questions about what's going on. It had been about a week since the explosion of light and your disappearance. Most of the old crew stuck around, just as shocked as the others to find Marc going bat shit crazy. Daniels hightailed it as soon as he could, disappearing before anyone was really aware of it. Amelia, once Marc had been put down, had been stored away in a newly constructed vault, which the members of the group had already taken to simply calling it The Vault. It was already starting to be filled with foci of all shapes and sizes, but no one was allowed near Amelia. Mac had taken over as overseer of the Vault, as well as still continuing to manage his own cluttered business. Both could be found in the basement, guarded by a few of the stronger fighters in the group.

A few minutes later, you're led into the base, and greeted by dozens of faces. Silence reigns over the place for a moment, until you nervously wave at the lot and a cheer breaks out. A few come over to say high, familiar faces like Rodriguez and the school kids. Still, Cass muscles her way through, opening up a pathway for you, and you're led past your old room and past even Marc's old room to the top of the apartments, where you suddenly find a suite, complete with a living room, bedroom, office, and a few other odds and ends. You blink in surprise, but you don't have much time to ask about what's going on when your dumped into the office chair and find yourself facing a distantly remembered face. Aria sits elegantly at one of the chairs, smiling warmly as she regards you, a suit of armor sitting behind her. Elizabeth is the only one that follows you into the room, the others choosing to wait out in the living room.

"A pleasure to see you again, Miss McCallahan. I've heard the general idea of what's happened, so we can skip such things. Ah! Before I forget. This is my avatar, Golem. He's harmless at the moment, although, like most avatar breakers, I'm prone to my outbursts of rage. Still, I doubt we'll have any concern for that here, I came to help out, after all. What plans do you have, now that you're the leader?"

"For now? Cleaning up after Marc. Setting up an actual safe haven for breakers here in the west. Hopefully push that fixers back east and out of... well... our territory, I guess you could call it."

"Hm. An excellent plan, although lacking in specifics. If you don't mind, your venture sounds... interesting, I suppose you could put it. I would be delighted if you'd allow me the pleasure of aiding in your endeavors. Precious little is occurring back home in good old Britannia, and I've had little to occupy my time. Think on it, since I believe you should never rush into any decision. Now if you'll excuse me."

Aria picks herself up and leaves, bowing slightly as she does so, her avatar awakening temporarily to follow along behind its master. You slump down a little, still amazed at her level of strength. She made it all the way from Britannia... in less than a week. No one enters the UNA that quickly... damn, you really are running in some powerful circles now. Elizabeth steps up next to you from somewhere behind you, and leans down a little to speak into your ear.

"Angel, did you require someone else?"

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, um, if you could send George up, the mindhacker guy, if he's still around, and uh... maybe see if you can contact Jared and Blades? That'd be nice. See if you can't find the Doc as well, I want to talk to him to."

"Understood."

Elizabeth leaves for a moment, then returns, George striding in behind her, he looks a little frightened, but sits down and tries a vague smile. Elizabeth bends down to speak in your ear again.

"I've sent the Moon to find the Lovers. The 23rd was sent to find the Maker of Things that Never Were. Is this acceptable?"

"Yes... that's fine." The Moon? Not the time to think about it. Instead, you turn your attention George.

"Relax. I'm not holding any grudges. Not now anyway. Raphael... wouldn't have wanted that, I don't think. Still, I have to know... you with me now?"

"Uh. Yeah. I was just as believing in Marc as everyone else. Betrayal doesn't sit well with me, Miss Linda. I'd like to think I mind fucked the bastard at least once in that fight."

"Then I've only got one question. Is there any other nasty surprises in our head I should know about?"

"Not anymore. I've removed any still in place from Marc's time as leader, and I never got the chance to put anything in you. You were never really in one place long enough and your precog there wouldn't let me anywhere near you when you were defenseless. She's got some strong powers, that one."

He nods at Elizabeth, who doesn't react at all, but you smile in her place. A mother's pride you suppose. You nod your acceptance of his words and send him on his way, then sigh into your seat. Elizabeth doesn't come forward, so you assume that means you have some time to yourself for a little bit. Maybe you should go around and see how things are going. Or maybe something else? You've got too many options for things to do, and you doubt you'll have much time to do them.

>>>Input Command
>Only two actions can be done at this time, before the Doc or Jared and Blades arrive

Right, manifest Twinda (with all our gear of course) if we have the BP for it. Get her on to doing to base work of gettting together all of Marcs old businesses. If she finds anything that needs Breaking to smooth over she should contact us for it.

The other thing we should do is try those experiments we've been meaing to do for a while. armored clothing, xray specs, that sorta thing.

Maybe ask Elizabeth what the fixers have been doing all this time we've given them.

In light of Dreamer giving the no go on Marksman of the Void (too bad) I'll reaffirm my XP votes as spirit 6 and 2 finesse.

>Golem
What did he look like? Not a child Aria? I guess she disguised herself or her avy that time.

...we also didn't discuss any of the weird stuff she was interested with her (and we've seen a lot now). Oh well, maybe later.

>What do
Manifest tank gun + Twinda so she's on standby. Put her back on computer duty (still looking at guns and Cass' condition, review the accounts and money we have from Marc, and just for fun, check out how God Killer is doing on the web. It's been over a week).

Hey, Elizabeth, are we past any of the three dangers you saw coming? Was Marc or that night or anything the hole?

Can't meet with Nic if she's out on errand (she's the Moon, I think).

I'd like to check in with Michelle and Levi, after everything that's happened.

Possibly checking in with Mac and this vault deal is a good idea. We're sitting on a warchest of foci? What are we doing with them? (Or what as Marc?).

Possibly we could institute a new system- instead of only allowing 1 for 1 trades, we could put those to use. Offer certain foci to members appropriate for, or in need of them. Could help some people without forcing them to kill for trade materials (although, we kind of have to be careful not to let our government handouts break the foci economy we have going).

If we still have time, do the leader thing. Check the place out, talk to people, hear concerns, touch base with people we haven't seen in a while (c'mon, where's Mike! Haven't had any laughably inappropriate comments thrown our way in a while).

>Golem
It looked like a suit of armor, standing maybe a little taller than Cass. You didn't really see anything inside of it, so you assume that the suit itself is the avatar, not something inside of it.

You manifest your rifle, then Twinda, and set her up on your laptop again. Guns, Cass, Marc's finances, and the Godkiller. Hopefully that'll yield some interesting things. While you're setting that up, you talk to Elizabeth, asking some questions that have been bugging you.

"Hey Elizabeth? You remember those dangers you were drawing? Any of that Marc? Or that hole?"

"The Wolf remains, as does the Mother. The hole is gone, my fate was reversed."

Elizabeth doesn't offer anything more, but you figure that Leviathan sucking her life away was probably the hole. She couldn't see past that because she was meant to die. With a shrug, you finish setting up Twinda, then you head downstairs, glancing around and trying to look for someone you think needs the talk. You spot her with her brother, cuddling the snake doll in her arms.

"Hey! Michelle. How have you been?"

"Ah! L-Linda. I'm fine. The Marc thing was scary, but Levi kept me safe."

Michelle hugs the doll tighter to her chest, and for a moment you can almost see the doll coil its tail around the girls arm in something resembling a hug. You blink, and the movements gone, but Michelle seem more calm.

"Levi says thank you. He won't tell me why, but he says I should help you out as much as I can, so if you ever need me and Levi, just come find us. Brother's pretty good at fighting as well."

"Heh, leave it to me! I might not be a breaker, but I can hold my own well enough!"

"Really? Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

You get the feeling Leviathan remembers the events from before the time warp, but you decide against bringing it up. Michelle doesn't seem to know what's going on, and you'd rather not bring up her possible death. Before you can really do anything else, Elizabeth appears behind you again, tapping your shoulder.

"Angel. The Maker of Things that Never Were is here."

"Alright. I'll head to the office then."

You make your way up the office and take your seat in your new chair, the Doc getting shown in a few moments later.

"Ah! Linda! How have you been! You would not believe the things I've managed. I think I can adapt the mech to become teleport to the watch's location, although I'll need a few materials for that. I also heard about Marc dying. About damn time. Deserved it, the ass. Still, Amelia would make a wonderful piece of research material. Maybe if I used her as a catalyst, I could construct a different avatar? Avatars are so difficult to construct, they are heavily based on someone's fractured mind... "

The Doc keeps going on and on, and you listen silently for a moment as you get your thoughts in order.

>>>Input Command

So, Marc mentioned he failed to kill our good 'Maker of Things that Never Were'. Could we get some backstory on that?

>Levi is grateful
Thanks, snake dude. We'll try to see to it you never have to lose her again. Glad to have you aboard.

>teleport- needs materials
I'll see what we can do about getting you what you need. I still have to go through and see what Marc left behind, but we should have a good hunk of cash and a stockpile of foci. If all goes well, maybe we can see what you'd accomplish with something like an actual research budget.

>possible other improvements for the mech
Once the teleport works, I'd still be interested in integrating manifested weaponry, if possible. Or integrating anti-breaking tech, like the tubes (hell, we could use the siphoned "blue potion" as an auxiliary power source).

>Amelia
She's yours. She's too dangerous and too crazy to leave as is. Hell, she claimed to have put Marc up to all of it. So cut her up for research. Build someone new, if you can. Although if you do create a new avatar, I'd prefer it if you let Elizabeth feel it out before you let anyone tune it. I'd prefer to know it won't be driving anyone insane.

>Tubes
We should probably share our finding on the tubes he had us testing. Findings:
-breakers can't break when hit
-although death avoidance still works
-form types lose control of their transformation (they become shifting masses of body horror).
-avatars hit suffer damage (forcing the breaker to spend BP, although it costs less than if the breaker had been hit).
-if an avatar type is hit, his or her avatars freeze up (although they don't demanifest).
-using the second tube on a breaker restores them to normal, but sucks a good chunk of BP out of them.
-The siphoned BP accumulates as a fluid in the second tube. This can be drunk to restore BP (may have other uses as a power source?).
-We have not observed any permanent side effects in test subjects, so far. (...because they've all died or escaped).

>The serious shit
Hey Doc, that raw reality stuff you had me looking for? Do you know what it is? What it's made of? (Wait to see if he knows soylent reality is people).

If he doesn't share the awful truth. And that you have it on pretty good authority that using it has dire consequences. You lost a friend. You damn near destroyed reality. And... you damaged yourself. You don't quite understand how it works, but in some fundamental way, you no longer exist.

Marc wanted to use it to bring back his dead wife, and damn the consequences. I used to undo as much of the damage Marc had caused as I could- because I naively did not know the cost or the risk. What's important enough to you to want to risk using raw reality?

>regular check ins
Set up regular meets with him. It would really suck if he forgot you existed, or why he was building that mech, and started to take it apart to work on something else.

>Amelia

We aren't just giving it away, there has to be an exchange of some kind. Perhaps, now that Mark is gone, we could get the Doc on board to join our group/help with making our territory a safe haven for breakers. The biggest threat to breakers is probably D7 and he-who-apparently-can-not-be-mentioned therein, so anything Doc can think of to deal with that--be it being able to kill the guy or just delay his showing up--would be a nifty line of research to get him working on, maybe?

don't make it seem like the /only/ source of raw reality is people, doc is a mad scientist, he may not mind too terribly much. if we must reveal that raw reality can come from people at all make it seem like it's just one of many ways to get it

>>487366
Fair enough trading Amelia away. (Although, really, it's in our best interest to see her dead. Disassembled. Exorcised. Whatever).

I agree it's a risk telling Doc how the reality is made- that he might be willing to make those compromises. (Although that's kind of one reason why asking him what he needs it for is so important. And hope our disapproval carries some weight). I kind of expect him to already know, though.

Another reason to discuss it: he's one of very few people who might be able to help us with this whole "not existing" thing. Even if he doesn't see a way to cure it, mitigating or even understanding it better could be useful.

Not sure about asking him about the demon. The problem is we don't have anything concrete for the doctor to work with, and if he's he's thinking about the problem... ugh. We can't afford to lead that bastard right to the Doc.

Wiki Updated

Experience Allocated
Finesse: 12
Spirit: 6
BP: 32
Break Generation Obtained

"She's yours. She's too dangerous and too crazy to leave as is. Hell, she claimed to have put Marc up to all of it. So cut her up for research. Build someone new, if you can. Although if you do create a new avatar, I'd prefer it if you let Elizabeth feel it out before you let anyone tune it. I'd prefer to know it won't be driving anyone insane."

The interruption catches the Doc off guard, but he smiles just as quickly, looking delighted.

"This will be soo much fun! Of course, I wouldn't dream of putting anyone at risk. Well, without good reason, I suppose. But an avatar is nothing to simply play with. I'll collect Amelia on the way out. Oh, the fun we'll have..."

You quickly cut in again, sharing your finding of the tubes and giving him a rundown on some ideas you had. He listens attentively, muttering to himself occasionally, and when you finished he's lost in thought.

"Hm... a remarkable device... too unwieldy though. Must make it more user friendly. Perhaps if the casing was made of a lighter material... or a better trigger method perhaps... either way, the issue must be dealt with... Is that all? Are we done? I have soo much work to do..."

"... Doc, you know what raw reality is?"

"Hm? The manifestation of pure reality, I suppose."

"No. It's people. Their lives. Their existence."

"... What?"

"I've seen it. Raphael, the nightmare guy, he's not a breaker anymore, because I had to use his raw reality to reverse the shit Marc caused. Shit Marc caused trying to use the same stuff to bring back his dead wife. Hell, I almost destroyed the fabric of reality myself, when I fixed everything. Still managed to damage myself in the process, ripped myself clean out of reality. I don't even know what that means, but apparently it's bad.

"So tell me, Doc, what's so damn important you have to use people to make it?"

The Doctor is silent, thoughts buzzing in his head, muttering to low to hear, and seeming to draw equations in the air in front of him. Suddenly, he stops, mutters something again, then turns his attention back to you.

"It's not so much something I'm making as this D7 is making. The bastards, in their infinite wisdom, have figured out a way to construct what they are calling Unmaker rounds. It takes this raw reality to make, and I doubt they can get their hands on the stuff easily, but... I know they at least have a single case of the things, about 20 rounds in all. These unmaker rounds, if they do as advertised and they should, given what I could dig up, completely wipe someone's existence from reality. Thankfully, they require a special gun to fire, and there is only one of those. Where it is, I don't know, but, the rounds and the gun travel together. I was hoping to find someway to counter it, but I need some of those rounds to even begin studying them. Still, if what you say is true..."

The Doc lapses into silence again, muttering some more. Finally, he snaps his attention back up to you, eyeing you curiously.

"I'm not saying you should make more of this... raw reality, but if you come across any of it, and are unable to restore whoever it was, please, get it to me. Better yet, if you run across any of these unmaker rounds, see if you can collect them for me. In the meantime, I'd like your permission to move my research here. It seems the world is getting more dangerous, and with Marc gone, I at least know I have one real ally here."

There's a knock at the door, and Jared and Blades walk in, only to halt when they see you're with someone. Blades is looking a lot better, her body no where near the amount of damage it had, although she still seems weak and her BP still hasn't started to restore itself.

"Ah... whoops. Is this a bad time?"

>>>Input Command

"no, we were just finishing up. The good doctor is moving in."

>Wiki updates
Oh my gods, Nicole can go super saiyan. XD That's awesome (she really needs to invest in more BP to power things now, though). Elizabeth's new power will most likely be most useful if combined with Linda (being outside the weave yet able to see it must have some kind of useful application / manipulation besides ripping pieces out to make raw reality) or the Doc (uber-er maker power, or allowing him to research Linda's condition). Michele's build is interesting- apparently you don't need to stack will for avatar control. In fact with avatar(s) and allies to hide behind, her "beloved by avatars" and immunity to mind control, she doesn't have any real reason to raise her base stats! (Just stack on spirit, BP, and avy upgrades). Also, Siphon must have been an upgrade bastard Marc purchased for Levi since it's absent.

I'd also like to note Cass choosing to up fin more, as well as relying on her daggers in the last few updates. She's starting to care more about skill and less pure power. That marks a change in her fighting style- and some progress, I think.

>unmaker rounds
Well... fuck. I wonder if Linda is immune to those by virtue of not existing? At the very least, as a gun that uses that kind of power Linda will know / sense it when she sees it. Priority one: we cannot let that ever hit any of our allies. We kill or active break them out of the line of fire if we have to (remove the floor, knock them flying, whatever).

>Bad time?
No, come in, we're just about done here.

Thanks, Doc. More than happy to have you on board. I'll get some people to help you move your lab and stuff, if you need it.

Looks like we get to talk things out after all, huh?

Make introductions, apologize for the whole goddamn mess with Marc, and make the peace overtures towards Jared's group. We've got enough enemies with the fixers trying to kill everyone who isn't them, and D7 possibly up to worse. So long as they're not up to something awful, or making themselves our enemy, we got no quarrel with them.

If Twinda's gotten you any sense of how much money we have at our disposal yet, it might be a nice gesture to offer Blades what Marc owed her. (Assuming we can afford that, and Marc wasn't bluffing about being having more money than god all this time. ...really hope he wasn't though. If we have a good pile to start with, Linda can just play with the money and make it grow during her downtime. Been a while since she got a chance to put those skills to use).

>her BP still hasn't started to restore itself
Well, that certainly shows a good level of trust if they were willing to show up here. Might want to offer Rodriguez looking her over, or hell, that blue potion we sucked from Marc if we still have it. Breakers with no safety net make me nervous.

>>487538
Ya giving her a booster shot of BP just might help her out. Also ask her plans and whether she and Jared would be willing to work together with you against the fixers. If they're thinking of getting out of dodge we won't blame them though.

Actually, ask if she's regenerated at all, and if not, have the doctor stay for a bit. He might know what's up, and maybe how to fix it.

>>487701
I'm pretty sure she's just been too hurt to regen. The regular 1BP/hr rate only seem to apply under normal conditions. You need to be rested / stable enough to have energy to spare. When Raphael was not sleeping and in death warmed over mode, he went a whole day without regening. Linda and Cass regened at a slower rate the night we left everyone open to Morpheus' nightmares. I would think deathbed recuperation counts as a suitably strained situation.

He's not exactly the treating people kind of doctor, either.

"No, come in, we're just about done here."

You gesture the pair inside, nodding to a few empty chairs. The two newest arrivals make their way over to the offered seats, Jared hovering protectively around Blades. You turn back to the Doc, ushering the conversation to completion so you can move on.

"Thanks, Doc. More than happy to have you on board. I'll get some people to help you move your lab and stuff, if you need it."

"That will be unnecessary. I'll have everything moved and ready within a day. Just need a suitable spot..."

The Doctor strides out of the room, Cass hastening to get out of his way. Once the man is past, the other woman flips the Doc the bird before entering the room herself and taking up a position near the door. It would seem Cass is being a bit more cautious then she normally was.

"Looks like we get to talk things out after all, huh? I'm Linda McCallahan, the new leader of this group, by the looks of it. I apologize for anything Marc might have done, it seems no one in the group really knew what was going on, and I'll try to help alleviate some of the damage."

Blades seems to wave your apology away, having no interest in them. Instead, she smiles at you and begins her reply.

"No worries. No worries. From what I hear, you burnt the bastard good, so we'll call it even. Either way, I'm Sonia, this here's my husband, Jared. I apologize for him in advance, he can be somewhat of a stick in the mud."

"Hey!"

"You are. So up tight about everything. Even wanted to scope this place out for fear of ambush, or something equally ludicrous."

"It was just... being cautious."

"Yeah, whatever."

The two bicker back and forth easily, but at the same time, there's a unmistakable warmth in their voices, both knowing full well that is really nothing more than simple bickering. Still, they stop quickly enough, getting back to the matter at hand.

"Still, I'd like to pay you the amount agreed upon for the avatar, as well as hopefully get you back on your feet. We have this... method, I guess you could say, that let's us transfer breaking power to other people. Their number I guess."

Jared perks up, clearly interested, but Sonia merely shrugs that away as well.

"I'm fine with recovering slowly. Besides, I've been meaning to see about finally having a kid, if this ass would stop being so stuck up."

"I just don't think now's the best time for tha-"

"What better time, when we've got some new friends right here? I hope you don't mind me calling you friends."

"Not at all. I was kinda hoping for a favorable relationship between our two groups."

"No problems here. You guys don't seem like you have a whole lot of training, and more so if your taking in the performer types as well. If you care to, we wouldn't mind hooking up with you guys, help you get situated and trained up and all that, pull security till your lot is ready. For a price, or course, we still gotta eat."

Sonia flashes you a care free smile, clearly about a random in her thought processes and freely trusting of nearly everybody. Jared looks a little less than enthused about the arrangement, but says nothing really, clearly leaving it up to you two to decide what's going to happen.

Which reminds you that you have to get back to Aria as well, although it would be a little stupid to call her up only to tell her no.

>>>Input Command

Welp. Linda's officially on the Alison path now- recruit everyone.

>take deal?
With Division 7 and the Fixers out for blood, seems to me every free and non-crazy group of breakers can use every friend they got.

Plus, training is something we've been meaning to work in for a while. It certainly makes a difference in combat (just lookit Sonia and Christin). There's probably someone in their group who could teach Linda a practical thing or two about guns (there's only so much Twinda can learn by reading). And formal training of some kind could give Cass more self control.

Mental link to Twinda, see how much money she's been able to dig up so far. Use business skills to negotiate a fair deal (Twinda or Linda can use said business skills later to keep the pool of money sustainable, or growing, if possible).

Security is a tough one though. As we saw when we attacked their compound, there's not a lot even prepared and trained breakers can do to stop an enemy force from punching in and engaging where they want. The best defense would seem to be secrecy, good intel, and a good offense (and plans for evacuation of non-coms and resources and a fighting retreat if the home base is hit hard). At the very least, you'd want some kind of a joint operation, drawing on several people's skills, and try to learn from the past mistakes of places you've attacked (and because you don't hand everything over to mercs right off the bat).

>Oh and just because I'm paranoid and she's a merc...
Delicately inquire if there are any outside business interests paying her to be here. If there are, we'll happily buy them out and get her to flip before things get ugly. If Sonia's gonna be working for us, we expect it to be an exclusive contract.

>Cass being protective
>"Fucking bitch... cut my head off. I hope we get to kill her someday."
If Cass complains after they leave, reassure her. Hell, we certainly blew Sonia's head off enough times. If she can look past that... And you're rapidly running out of friends and teammates you haven't shot, yourself (down to Nic, now).

...someone should probably check in with Mike too, make sure he knows she'll be around and there won't be a scene when he sees her.

>Other things on the agenda
(short term)
*talk to Nic at some point. We owe the moon a reward, right? ;)
*talk terms and about weird stuff with Aria.
*make rounds of the base, keep people and acquaintances from forgetting we exist.
*check out this vault of foci we're sitting on (possibly set up a system where some of them are put to use by deserving / appropriate people).

(longer term)
*experimental breaking (not sure what else we might want to make besides super-shades).
*intelligence gathering on opposing factions (we need to take action against the fixers, and D7, before they do against us).
*training and preparedness (individually, and for the whole group).
*investigate non-Existence (work with Elizabeth to see what Linda might be able to do with the weave beside just rip pieces out and make raw reality. Are their other, less reprehensible applications? Or see what the good doctor can make of the condition).
*Keep George working on Chris. Even if she doesn't want to remember her past, it would be nice if the compulsion to obey were removed- let her serve by her free will. (so D7 can't inevitably try to flip her back).
*Conversations with friends and allies. (Can't let Cass grow distant! And I'm curious how Chris will feel about becoming an officer...).

I swear I try to keep this posts small, but by the time I get everything in... D:

>experiments
super shades for indoor battles where we can use the rifle effectively

>armored clothing
as tough as we can get them. diamond \ kevler weave hah

>Twinda \ Linda switching.
We have a higher spirit now.

>basic teleportation
items, and ourselves. If its successful how far can we move things. Considering this is a spirit ability (Blink) I'm not expecting much for self-teleportation though.

>>488605
All of that sounds good. With 6B/hr (1BP every 10 minutes!) we can afford to dick around a little.

>super shades details
*at will toggle-able x-ray vision (the same unrealistic cartoony superman kind we put on the rifle) and night-vision.
*automatic adjustment/compensation to sudden changes in brightness (so we can't be blinded by sudden lights or explosions in night vision mode).

>>488588
>Sonia flashes you a care free smile, clearly about a random in her thought processes and freely trusting of nearly everybody.
With training, offering security services for hire, and surviving this long? No way is she as carefree as she appears. Not that that necessarily makes her untrustworthy, just be careful not to underestimate her.

"You wouldn't happen to have any other... contracts... going at the moment, would you?"

"Hm? Oh, no. Not really. We had to cancel some business, but other than that, nope, got nothing. Nothing to really worry about on our end."

As you listen to her response, you send a quick thought off to Twinda, hoping she's got something on Marc. After mere moments, a thought fires back, alerting you to an offshore bank account containing something in the measures of 20-40 million, depending on certain factors. You blink in surprise, not really expecting quite so much money, but Twinda continues, naming off another 4 similar bank accounts, as well as a ownership of at least 3 different major companies and and at partial ownership in a dozen more. Marc, for being a bastard, did know how to run business.

"Hm... well, what would you suggest for payment then?"

"Eh? Oh, a hundred thousand should be fine. We don't actually do this for the money, more just being able to stick together, keep up the facade of a normal overly militaristic life."

Only a hundred thousand? You resolve to hand over two when the deal if finally finalized, but for now you agree, and Sonia and Jared take their leave, letting you know they'll be showing up in a few days with their gang. Cass seems to visibly relax once they've left, and mutters something to herself. She's the next to take a seat, although it seems likes it's more for the purpose of taking a rest than anything else.

"Damn. Being someone important sucks. Every time I go downstairs, someone's got questions about something."

"Heh. Well, that's the way things go, Cass. Uh... we're not gonna have any issues with Sonia and them being around, right? You did promise to kill her at some point."

"Eh. I'll be fine. Well, maybe not completely, but it's nothing to worry about. Besides, we need the allies, right? Don't worry about me, I'll take care of myself."

Cass pauses a moment, letting out a long sigh, then she levers herself up onto her feet and shoves her hands in her pockets.

"Hard to think it's only been a few months since you became one of us, huh? You certainly don't waste time making waves. Regardless, I'll get out of your hair. Oh yeah, that Aria chick wanted to see you again. Something about a decision or something. Should I send her up?"

"Please."

"On it. Catch you around."

Cass disappears out the door, and as you spin in your chair to stave off boredom a little, you notice Elizabeth frowning slightly.

"What's up?"

"The Queen... she is... an uncertainty. Choices before you, but... they are unclear."

You frown as well at that, something else to add to you thoughts, then there's a polite knock on the door, and you call out that the doors open. Aria slides inside, her avatar not with her, and she finds a seat quickly, a pleasant smile on her face.

"It's been a few hours, and I thought that I might as well check in, see if you've come to any decisions. Ah! I've also wanted to ask about this little one. She's quite interesting. I can feel her staring at me, and yet it's more like she's staring at something beyond me. A very interesting individual."

Aria peers at Elizabeth a moment, no malice in her gaze, only curiosity. Regardless, she moves her eyes once she notices Elizabeth retreating a little, returning her attention to you and waiting for you to speak.

>>>Input Commands

And now that we have access to a LOT of capital, I'm intrigued by the possibility of using future sight to make investments.

Considering how powerful Aria seems to be, we might want to see what we can have her do in regards to Agent Demon.

Cheesus. We are one rich bitch, now.
>>489175
Huge seed money + prescience + "economic genius" probably equals huge profit. I don't think we're gonna have to worry about money again (although we're probably resting comfortably enough that Twinda alone could keep the money growing).

>Hard to think it's only been a few months since you became one of us, huh? You certainly don't waste time making waves.
Honestly, we tried hanging back and not completely taking control of everything, for once. The narrative had other ideas, though.

>Sonia issues
Cass may be cool, but we absolutely have to talk to Mike before she comes back in a few days.

>Aria, Elizabeth
You're not wrong. Sight is her gift... if you want to call what any of us have a gift.

>if you've come to any decisions
What kind of arrangement are we talking here anyways? The original offer was for anything odd, especially concerning Conner. Marc's kind of a moot point now, but I have seen things that qualify as odd, even by our standards. Some of which are still ongoing, and I could probably still use help with.

I mean, I know why I'm here. I have people to protect. A few mysteries to solve, and problems to overcome. Is curiosity really all you're after? (Because if nothing else, we can be sure things are going to stay interesting around Linda).

Let's wait to hear what Aria has to say, and how this works, before we go spilling all the secret crazy info.

Oh by the way, are we still unable to see Aria's number? We're a lot stronger than we were that night. Although her spirit is still probably higher...

"You're not wrong. Sight is her gift... if you want to call what any of us have a gift."

Aria appears thoughtful, but quickly discards whatever it is she's thinking, sitting back in her chair.

"Well. I don't want to go prying into anyone else's problems or talents. Perhaps another time I'll ask the girl herself."

"Which brings us to the next thing. What kind of arrangement are we talking here anyways? The original offer was for anything odd, especially concerning Conner. Marc's kind of a moot point now, but I have seen things that qualify as odd, even by our standards. Some of which are still ongoing, and I could probably still use help with.

I mean, I know why I'm here. I have people to protect. A few mysteries to solve, and problems to overcome. Is curiosity really all you're after?"

"Yes. I have no desire for money, such things are easily obtainable, even more so now that I can break. Interesting things, on the other hand, always seem to be in abundance around us breakers, and the more of us that gather, the higher the chance. All I want is the opportunity to participate. If that's alright with you, Britannia really has nothing interesting in the way of breakers, we're all far to proper. As long as I get to see interesting things, I'm happy, and more than willing to help."

You mull over her reply, settling into silent contemplation. You take the opportunity to stare intently at the other woman, trying to break through whatever is stopping you from spotting her number. Suddenly, you see almost a flickering affect, and you spot a number suddenly spring into existence, floating above Aria's head. A 53. A decent number, although you get the feeling the number itself isn't really all that important. Still, you'd rather not have her as an enemy.

Aria seems to notice your gaze, and she flashes you a smile, a flicker of something else touching her own eyes.

"You wouldn't be thinking of something inappropriate now, would you Miss McCallahan?"

>>>Input Command

Aha! Someone to flirt with. Do so, lightly though. Otherwise accept her offer to hang around. Give her an overview of the strange things you've encountered thus far. The Demon of Section 7. Raw Reality. Even the angel.

>You wouldn't be thinking of something inappropriate now, would you Miss McCallahan?
Oh, come on, the one time we weren't. XD

Flash a smile and laugh, but I'm not sure now is really the time too pursue anything. We're rather busy, and we've lost two people who were interested in us in as many weeks. Raw wounds and all. (...and even if Elizabeth would know anyways, It's a little weird flirting right in front of her).

Not that a hookup wouldn't be nice... but it can't afford to be forefront in our mind right now.

>Deal?
Alright, inform Aria's she's on board. If there's one thing we can promise, it's that interesting things are gonna happen around us. Apparently, you don't even exist anymore, there's a secret agency lead by a tear in reality hunting us that we're not supposed to speak of to avoid drawing his attention, and you just recently met a warden of reality disguised as an avatar. And that's just the really weird stuff.

I'd avoid a big whole thing where we explain everything right now- we've got stuff even our friends don't know about yet, and it would be easier to talk all this stuff out at once rather than confiding everything at once to just the new girl.

>and then
Provided nothing else requires our attention sooner, the following are still on the agenda:

(short term)
*talk to Nic
*make rounds of the base
*check out the vault
*talk to Mike
*breaking experiments

(longer term)
*intelligence gathering on opposing factions
*training and preparedness (individually, and for the whole group. Including defensive plans, evacuation, shit like that).
*investigate non-Existence
*Keep George working on Chris.
*Conversations with friends and allies.

You flash a smile and laugh away the remark.

"Maybe~"

There it is again, a flash of something in the other woman's eyes, and this time it seems to stick, but you move on before the conversation can continue down that path. You have other, more serious things to worry about, and you'd rather let the fresh wound of Raphael's death(sorta) heal over before you try anything with anyone else.

"But regardless, I'd be glad to have you aboard. I'd rather not get into too much detail right now, still have to explain this thing to everyone at once than one at a time, but the generals... Apparently, I don't even exist anymore, there's a secret agency lead by a tear in reality hunting us that we're not supposed to speak of to avoid drawing his attention, and I just recently met a warden of reality disguised as an avatar. And that's just the really weird stuff. I can at least promise interesting things."

Aria eyes seem to glow with barely contained joy. Clearly, you've just made her day. Aria stands quickly and bows, happiness written on her face.

"I thank you very much. I'll do my best to help however I can. Come find me if you ever have anything you require. I'll leave you to yourself now."

Aria makes for the door, but pauses before exiting, glancing back over her shoulder at you, eyes narrowing slightly, as if contemplating something. That flicker of something enters her eyes again, and you stare back at her, then she exits, humming to herself in thought.

You sigh as she finally leaves, relaxing back into your chair. Damn... this is more stressful than you thought. And this was just an easy first day. Still, you've got more to do today, although none of it should be in this office. You leave yourself, Elizabeth following along quietly behind you, and you descend to where everyone else has gathered, the first floor lounging area, people brighten up as you enter the room, and you greet some random people and generally mingle for awhile as you make your way over to Mike. The snake man greets you as you arrive, leering with little attempt to conceal it.

"Well. If it isssn't Msss. Sssexssy. What can this humble sssnake do for you?"

"Sexy? I remember being beautiful before?"

"Thingsss change, Sssexy. You've got to be fluid, with the change in timesss."

"I see. Well, I only dropped by to let you know that the Blades lady, Sonia, is going to be on our side now, so she'll be hanging around here now..."

Mike shrinks back, hissing rather violently, a hood you'd never noticed before suddenly flaring out acros his neck. Clearly, he isn't happy at all.

"You gonna be alright?"

"Ssshe ssstaysss away from me. I have no desssire to be anywhere near her, or anyone who asssocssiatesss with her."

"Alright. Alright. I'll let her know to keep away from you."

You depart, Mike still agitated, but you don't really have time to hang around for to long. You mingle a little more, than find Nicole hanging around near what looks to be a hastily set up ring, other breakers having little bouts to see who's better, while the woman smokes a cigarette. She notices you walking up, and quickly puts the cigarette out before turning to you.

"Hey, Boss. What's up? Want to take a turn in the ring? Thought it would be a good idea, we've got quite a few rather agressive types hanging around, wouldn't want them getting restless."

>>>Input Command

Might as well. Whats the rules?

>dem eye flashes
Whoo boy. Aria's gonna be trouble, isn't she.

Poor Mike. If it's any consolation, I killed her way more times than she killed you. Marc's the one you should be pissed at anyways- he's the one who set them on each other.

>set up our own arena
Not a bad idea at all, Nicole.

>want to take a round?
...and the plot moves away from lots and lots of talking! (though we've still got more to do). Sure, we're game, although we'll have to be careful. It won't look good to see the boss lady curbstomped, or beating down too hard on her own people.

*Grin* Saaay, don't I owe you some kind of reward? I do sort of run this place and have a good chunk of cash to throw around...

We're the boss, we gotta stop fraternizing with enlisted men.

"Saaay, don't I owe you some kind of reward? I do sort of run this place and have a good chunk of cash to throw around..."

You move to get ready to fight, checking your pistols and getting yourself ready. Nicole frowns slightly, then shrugs.

"Didn't really mean that. But hey, if you really want to reward me, let's say you and me go at it. Nice friendly bout, first to five deaths wins."

You pause a moment, then nod your agreement. There's really no reason to say no, and if that's what she wants as a reward, it can't hurt. You feel like you'll be fine, even with just that. After the current match up ends, you take your place at one end of the circular "arena" checking the surrounding one last time. There are numerous boxes and assorted other obstacles and places to hide, so at least that prevents you from simply laying down gunfire like crazy and winning by default. This match is about as fair as it could possibly be. Nicole is on the other end, tugging her gloves tight onto her hands, then, when she's good and ready, she settles into a sort of ready stance, eyes focused entirely on you. For a moment, there's almost complete stillness, like someone had hit pause on a video. Then there's a shout from the sidelines to begin, and you both rocket into motion, Nicole doing an almost baseball slide behind cover, while you plant yourself and draw your weapons, keeping eyes open for your opponent. You're not sure how much she's picked up since being with you, but you doubt she hasn't thought up a few tricks to use.

>>>Input Command

Get on top of the boxes and 'hop' your way to her. She'll either have to join you (And lose cover) or knock over the box stack you are on.) You have super high finesse so you can probably jump off boxes even if they are in midair. If need be switch out to the Cartoon Ice and make your own platforms. Its part of the reason we got the thing afterall.

Oy. I wondered if we'd be fighting one of the main party. Interesting. Nic's got the second lowest XP pool- I'm interested to see how what she's got can be creatively put to use.

Alright. Friendly match. That means battlefield instinct and the anti-breaking tubes are off the table. Back to basics.

>Things to watch for
Weapon environment. She's like Cass- she could use anything here against you. That cover could go from a defensive position to in your face pretty quick. Which, considering she has to get close (and past your gunfire) to land a punch, might very well be a tactic she tries.

She could also potentially knock you out, ending the fight without five kills. So avoid getting hit in the head.

And if she starts glowing or explodes right at you unexpectedly as her number suddenly drops by five... don't even try to shoot her. Dodge, get the fuck out of her way. (Maybe use ice and her momentum against her, if possible).

>Tactics
We might be able to use the tank gun to hit her though cover. But I'm a little leery of going that way, since I expect she's going to close with us, fast and hard. And that weapon is hard to use close in. I'd rather go for ice and the handgun.

Ice on the ground at the right time to trip or slip her up, or as a bonus to increase our own dodges and movement (it's a lot easier to suddenly move/slide one way if there's no friction). Or use cartoon ice to suddenly block her path with an obstacle as she moves away, or between the obstacles. Pistol to shoot at her, obviously.

Not sure what way active breaks might be useful, except for force-push style stuff- knocking her away, or moving around cover.

Hell, if we get a chance to show off, maybe we can try wall running this time. We should have the finesse for it, now.

If we actually win this? There's no need to take the fifth shot. A spoken "bang" once it's clear we've got her should suffice.

And we should be gracious no matter which way this goes. If Nic manages to actually kick our ass, I expect Linda to congratulate her. While laughing.

>>489626
>Cartoon ice platforming.
Hah! Awesome idea.

If we're getting up on the boxes though, be doubly careful of her trying to weapon environment use them against us.

Unless these boxes are made of fairly solid metal (and by 'solid', I mean 'thicker than ~20mm steel'), just fire through them.

Oh, it occurs to me we could use active break to support impossible ice platforming / floating boxes / etc if it can't do that with the ice gun alone. Or I'm pretty sure when we fought him Jake was using active breaks to pull off those impossible multi-hits with his balls- we could try and see if we can cheat with bullets the way (make a miss turn around and come at back at her for a second pass).

I mean, we are trying to win, but this is the first low-pressure chance we've had in a while to try new tricks.

>>489679
Not sure that works too well with the handgun.

You decide to try out something you saw Jake do when you fought him, and fire off a single pistol round, focusing your will on it and pushing it to rebound just the way you want it to. The bullet, however, proves rather difficult to focus on, and refuses to do what you want, disappearing off somewhere. You barely get the chance to frown before a barrel comes flying at you. You duck to the side, the attack you suspect not meant to hit, and you find this confirmed as another comes at you, much faster than the first. You go prone, dropping on your back, then hurl your weight backwards and get back on your feet, Nicole fist slamming into the ground you were laying on and leaving a small crater behind. The both of you go into a flurry of activity, fists and gun shots narrowly missing each other, before your speed overcomes hers and you pump three rounds into your opponent. She manages to slide behind cover before she bleeds out, then she's up again, although she chooses to stay behind cover.

"Damn, Linda... forgot how fast you can be without that big ass cannon of yours weighing you down."

"I'd better be fast, you could pulp my skull with one of your punches."

"Heh. That's assuming I hit. One death for you, let's see if I can try something else..."

Nicole against starts throwing stuff at you, but those are easily dodged, you settling into a comfortable rhythm again. Soon enough, however, Nicole comes out again, going into a straight charge at you. You try firing a couple of rounds at her, but she seems to anticipate your aim and simply angles her body so the bullets slip past her, then she's next to you and slamming her fist not into you, but the ground, sending up a spray of dust and debris. The stuff gets into the air and into your eyes, and you barely get the chance to back up a little before you feel someone grab hold of you and a fist slams into your chest. You feel bones crack, and your fairly sure something just punctured your lungs. Then you a flash of pain in your skull and your waking up on the ground, Nicole already bringing her fist down. You pull you head to the side, and there's another spray of debris as the ground is cratered again. You snap your handgun up, putting a round into her forehead, then you kick the other woman off of yourself, and get away from her, still trying to rub the dirt from your eyes. When you finally do, Nicole is sitting on a nearby crate, smoking a cigarette, looking very unsatisfied.

"Damn. Still can't beat you. Don't have the speed for it, I think. Pretty sure I could beat Cass though. Her weapon is slow as shit. I don't really feel like continuing anymore, boss. Can't really think of anything worth trying out right now either. I need new weapons..."

The woman looks a little dejected, but quickly sighs it away and stands up again, shaking her limbs out.

"Well, I'm done. I thought I'd be able to put up at least somewhat of a fight, but I guess not. Need more power first, I think. More speed... well, just something to think about."

>>>Input Command

Huh, she wants new weapons. Lets go see what Mac has in store for her. If nothing he has strikes her fancy maybe she would like a custom job from the Doc. We do owe her quite a bit for sticking around especially since her original reason for coming is gone.

Death 16 to Nicole, and she's finally lost her distinction as the only teammate we haven't shot. Guess the trophy passes to Aria now that she's signed up.

>Jake trick failed
Hmm. No physics defying flight patterns on bullets, then. Guess it was easier for him because the non-Newtonian fluid ball was his weapon, and they were all about impossible bouncing (in both cases, unlike out bullets). It was his thing. It's not ours.

>Reassuring Nic
*Offer her a hand* Hey, you got me at least. And if there's anyone who's living proof you can overcome someone starting out with an edge on you... *grin*

(yes, we're joking about killing our boss to the girl disappointed in not being able to kill her boss. Not sure who that's in bad taste for. XD)

>I need new weapons...
Well, we do have this foci vault thing Mac's been sitting on I need to check out. Between that and the Doc we should be able to find something that suits you.

Your... thing is a little harder to pin down, though. I mean, I know mine is guns. They come naturally to me. I can sort of sense them. Any kind of breaking related to them is just easier. Elizabeth's is sight. Cass' is cutting things. Yours... I kind of think it's more force than punching things. Makes it a little harder to come up with something that plays to it.

Ask if she wants to go with you to Mac to exchange foci, or if she's interested in any of your unused foci [besides the mementos]. After all, IF we ever tune them it won't be for a while :\

>>491447
>any of Linda's unused foci (besides the mementos)
Hmm. That's... the stone ball (which does who knows what) the small black ball (makes holes, whatever that means), the cane top (she doesn't really need that), and the shotgun shell (which we're saving if and when we need the doc to make us a new gun. Maybe for the next gen of the anti-breaking tech? A shotgun does have two barrels...).

The holes one might fit her, depending on what it actually does. (Although, it sounds to me like some sort of support tool, rather than a direct weapon. Might be useful, but Nic's complaining about a lack of direct power). Other than that, I think the only opportunities she's had for loot is the battles at Blade's place and Jakes (which puts her at 2-3 unspecified spare foci for trades or Doc-work, I think).

"Well, we do apparently have this vault full of foci now. Let's go check it out, see what we can dig up for you."

Nicole looks a bit surprised, but hops off of her seat and follows along after you, nodding towards someone who immediately takes over running the newly constructed arena. You both head downstairs the the basement, and it's here you find Mac, once again filling a room with a mass of what looks like various random objects, as well as a large metal door stored behind him.

"Hm? Ah! The new boss! How ya been doin? Havn't really gottin a chance ta talk ta ya lately, have I? Wha can I help you wit?"

"Nice to see you to, Mac. We're looking to check out this Vault you've got here. Maybe see if there's anything in it Nicole could use."

"Um... let meh think... she a puncher an kicker type, ya? Then I think we got a pair of greaves or something like that, if she wants the-"

"Hand it over! Getting some kicks in always helps!"

Nicole practically jumps down his throat, and within a few minutes Nicole has a pair of boot looking things in her hands. She seems happy with it, and waves at you as she heads off, muttering to herself. Regardless, you stick around, vaguely curious yourself as to what else is inside the vault. It's bare for the most part, but you do get the chance to spot a few bullets by the look of things, and you mention them to Mac.

"Ah! Those! We got that .45 ya turned in awhile back. There's also a .22, a .44 and a .357. Picked them up just before we left Central. Might be able ta get some more modern military type stuff off of the mercs comin in later, if you want ta wait awhile. Trade rule is still in effect too, unless you feel like changin it. Yer the boss now, after all."

>>>Input Command

Oh hey, nightime update and the favicon went in. =D

>kicks
...I guess I was overthinking it with the force angle? With another manifestation she can use at the same time now, she's going to need to stack BP even more now, though.

>We got that .45 ya turned in awhile back.
We didn't turn in the .45. We burned the needle to covert it from a colt magnum to the cold magnum. :V It's now our vial of liquid Nitrogen.

>.22, a .44 and a .357
Okay... so without Elizabeth or the people who recovered those telling us what they were, according to wiki Twinda's in-game and totally legit research as to what those could be:
.22: rifle, pistol, revolver, or smoothbore shotgun
.44: revolver, carbine, or rifle
.357: revolver or handgun

That's... not a lot to go on. But I think we can agree that we don't need a revolver, and we're already covered in the handgun department. And we already have a kickass rifle.

Leading me to conclude that while we could trade the stone-ball or cane-top for any of those, I don't think we really need any of them. Unless someone has a really cool idea for doc-modifying them into a magic and/or science gun, but even then we already don't use the ice gun often enough. I do kind of like saving the shotgun to later upgrade with anti-breaking tech (one barrel for each kind of tube?).

>Trade rule is still in effect too, unless you feel like changing it.
I got mixed feelings, here. On the one side, the trading is a nice, fair, stable means of swapping foci around. On the other, we are kind of at war here, and we've got all this power just sitting here. But how exactly could we do handouts without upsetting balance? (jealousy, accusations of favoritism, why's the weak newbie get shit for free and I don't, ect).

I guess... leave the system in place for now? Maybe consider exceptions or pay-later plans for people without a combat-oriented focus who want to contribute. Or for people Elizabeth says need to get together with certain foci (although, if she's helping us run the place, I'm not sure how much time she has to play with unaffiliated foci).

What was Marc doing with this stockpile, anyways?

>What next
Alright, again, assuming nothing demands our attention... I think the only thing we have left on the short term list was breaking experiments. Super shades for in building wall shooting, cheating armor clothes (test in private, so a failed break don't leave us naked! :V), Twinda switching.

At some point we need to have a meeting with our lieutenants, and talk about all the crazy shit we haven't had a chance to before (although, we can't talk about the demon, much, unfortunately :V). Not just for Aria's benefit- our friends deserve to know what's going on, and you aren't going to hide everything like Marc.

(longer term)
*intelligence gathering on opposing factions
*training and preparedness (individually, and for the whole group. Including defensive plans, evacuation, shit like that).
*investigate non-Existence (use the Doc and/or Elizabeth)
*Keep George working on Chris.
*Conversations with friends and allies.

...when we're done for the day we should check to see if our new office has any rich-person booze hidden around. Boss-lady can't afford to get hammered, but a drink or two might be nice. :V

Whatever happened to the minigun focus Cass picked up way back when?

>>492337
She traded it for the comm set. It wasn't there next time we checked the shop, so presumably it got traded to someone else?

"Just keep trading them for now. Maybe I'll do something with them later."

"Gotcha!"

"By the way, what was Marc doing with all these anyway?"

"Couldn't tell ya. Never knew it was even down here till we killed his ass. Whatever it was, he ain't doin it now."

"Fair enough. I'll catch you later."

"See ya."

You head back upstairs, frowning in thought, but quickly drop the subject. Marc is dead and gone, and soon Amelia will follow suit. Instead, you go back to your more private apartments and decide to test some things. You scrounge up a pair of sunglasses from somewhere and manage to break them into seeing through walls. The lens suddenly go translucent though, making them more like normal glasses than sunglasses, but maybe that could be something you could work on later. For now, these should give you limited x-ray vision through walls, although it doesn't seem to work on walls that are too thick. The amor clothes ends... badly... and you can only be thankful that you didn't try that in the open somewhere. Twinda switching gets rejected as well, although not for lack of trying. You do take the opportunity to check in with Twinda, and find that the Godkiller is becoming somewhat of an internet sensation, at least locally. There's already speculations and conspiracy theories, not to mention various discussion threads about who the pilot might be. Most seem to believe your either an alien or a sexy woman. You agree with the last one, although you might be biased. There's also a few things that Twinda found on Cass' condition, although the papers she found seemed long and wordy, so that's something to figure out at a later date.

With all that done, you send the word out for the lieutenants to gather, as well Aria and the Doc if he's around. The group gathers in your new living room, the Doc showing up last minute as he just moved his entire lab to the basement. You let everyone settle in, then cough to get their attention and ready yourself.

"Alright... um... I guess this would be the first official meeting we've ever had, so... yeah... anyway, I figured I didn't want to be like Marc, keeping secrets and all that, so I'm gonna talk a little about what I've found out recently, and about what's happened to me.

"First off... well... I apparently don't exist anymore. At least, as far as reality is concerned. I don't really know what that means, but I was looking to find out, or at least understand it a bit better. Doc, Elizabeth, I'm hoping you can help me with that."

Both nod, the Doc already muttering things under his breath, maybe experiments to attempt or something. Cass, on the other hand, interrupts with a raised hand.

"Um... what do you mean, don't exist? And when did that happen?"

"Like I said, I'm not really sure what that means. I just... don't exist, I guess. As for when, well, when we did that crazy break with the raw reality, it seems like we fucked some shit up, me being one of the major bits."

"Ah... well damn, that sucks..."

"Which brings us to other stuff... the raw reality we used? Yeah, that was Raphael. Or, rather, Raphael's existence. Apparently, raw reality is literally the stuff that make's up a person's existence. Or something like that, I don't really get it myself."

Now it's Nicole's turn to interrupt, looking even more confused than you feel.

"Wait, wait. Your telling me we used Raphael's... existence to reverse everything Marc did?"

"Yeah, more or less."

"That's... then wouldn't we, like... not remember him or something? He should never have existed right?"

"Well, we didn't use up ALL of his, as it turns out, so I traded the raw reality to... remake him a little. He's not a breaker anymore, and he doesn't remember us or anything that happened, but... he's alive. And seems he'll do fine, according to Elizabeth."

"The Nightmare will have pleasant dreams."

"That brings us up to speed I think... ah! One last thing. You guys know that bastard from D7?"

"The one Elizabeth calls the Demon or whatever? Yeah, what about him?"

"Try to avoid talking or thinking about it too much. Apparently that draws his attention. Or something."

"Oh yeah, thanks. Now I'm gonna want to think about the bastard."

Aria, who'd been silent the entire time, finally speaks, gears in her head seeming to turn as she frown in thought.

"A lot of interesting things to think about, but regardless, all that will take time. For now, we should probably focus on a clear goal, so that we can deal with things more easily. This D7 seems to be an issue, but I doubt going against the government at this time will prove worthwhile. I'd personally suggest working on removing the Fixers from the region. There's presence isn't too strong yet, if we move quickly we could deal quite a bit of damage."

"Yeah, but if we spread ourselves too thin, we aren't gonna be able to defend at all. Not that defending really seems to work too well against breakers..."

"I can deal with that! Given time and resources, I can try to put up a few sort of... anti-breaker machines, the data from the tubes provided a lot of useful options. Regardless, I still have quite a bit to work on right now..."

You quickly cut in before the conversations get completely out of hand, and let everyone go on their way. You have some time now, so you grab a quick bite to eat and a shower before heading back downstairs, glancing about for anyone to talk to. You really haven't done that too much lately. You spot all of your lieutenants hanging around, as well as Aria sitting next to her avatar. You also guess that the Doc is downstairs, given the sounds of machinery and the occasional explosion.

I... think we're going to need to find out what the Fixers are up to. And that means scouting them out. Lets go get Mike and anyone else really good at stealth and send them on a scouting mission. Ony if they feel like they can manage it. If they're capable finding out what their plans are but I'd settle for knowing their current base and general whereabouts.

As for the rest. Lets organize some classes to get them more skilled with their weapons. the Lovers can help with that. We should also see about training people together to work more cohesively. Lets see what we can do with a couple dozen Breakers working together collectively to Break something. Might be a pretty powerful weapon if needed.

>x-ray sunglasses
Sun, non, whatever. Looses some of the cool factor, but good to have the next time we're fighting inside a building. Put em in a case and pocket them till we need 'em.

>Um... what do you mean, don't exist?
Best way I've thought of to think of it is I kind of had to step outside of reality to change what I did. And... I didn't make it completely back.

>That brings us up to speed I think...
We forgot to talk about the angel from outside the universe, or our supposed inexplicable magic specialness, but whatever. We can cover that later.

>clear goal, fixers
I agree with Aria. Taking out the Fixer presence in this city is a good first goal. Their hunting of breakers has been more overt and aggressive than D7's (which has mostly been reactionary, or covert). And once they're out of the way, all (or most) of the breakers in the area will either be working for, allied with, or peaceful with our faction. Puts us in a much better position to deal with he who should not be named.

And yes, of the two factions, they look to be the easiest to take out.

...and if there really is any truth to their philosophy- if the world really is broken, and if it can even be fixed- I'd like to know.

>Not that defending really seems to work too well against breakers...
I think our best defense, at the moment, is a good offense, preparedness, and good intel- so we can't be caught by surprise. Elizabeth is good for part of that, but she doesn't always get to see everything in advance. We must have some people in the organization good at keeping tabs on enemies and finding things out, right? (After all, he somehow knew when Linda and Mathew were going to break).

>talking time
...let's just hang with Cass. It's been ages since we just spent time with our best bud (fights and shop talk don't count). And I'm not quite ready to try striking anything up with Aria.

>>492853
We should make sure our scouts need to come equipped with some kind of panic button or distress call, though. We're not leaving our people hanging.

You briefly consider sending out some scouts to figure out the situation tonight, but decide against it. It's night time, and you'd prefer people be ready. You do grab someone and tell them to start spreading the word that some people will be going out tomorrow, then head over to drop down next to Cass.

"Hey. How have you been, Cass?"

"Hm? Ah... pretty good, I guess. Could be worse. I'm not very good at this whole lieutenant thing. Elizabeth is the ultimate secretary, Nicole's got her ring thing set up, twe-Chris is thinking about starting patrols around our territory, although she doesn't want anyone mentioning that to you till she figures it out better, so you didn't hear that from me. As for me, well... all I'm good for is as a murder machine, and maybe getting drunk with. Which, by the way, I dug up some of Marc's old wine shit. Probably worth my entire savings, but hey, who says we can't indulge a little, yeah?"

"Maybe..."

Cass drags out a bottle of something expensive looking, and expertly uncorks the thing with her bare hand. She takes a drink, than passes it off to you. You swallow some of the liquid yourself, while Cass starts brooding.

"Damn... can't believe old nightmare boy's gone. Felt like having a brother whenever he was around. Us two constantly bickering. Heh, guess that won't be happening anymore... Wonder how many more of us are gonna bite it by the end of this..."

"Come on Cass, don't think like that. We'll be fine. I'm sure everything will work out."

You take another drink of the bitter liquid, then pass it back to Cass, who downs another swallow as well.

"Yeah? I hope so sometimes, but realistically, we're at war. People die during wars, Linda. Usually the one's that can't really defend themselves."

You get the feeling she's talking about herself and her berserker rages, and let that sink in as she takes another swig from the bottle.

"Cass, I don't think wallowing in despair is gonna get you anywhere. I told you, I'd always be there for you, as long as you need me."

Cass grunts, then downs more of the wine. She clearly getting more and more drunk, and she sighs tiredly before seeming to refocus a little. It seems like she's deliberately making herself drunk, like she's trying to find a little courage in her bottle of wine.

"Hey Linda... You ever wonder what broke me? What made me all psychopathic and shit?"

"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't wondered."

>You ever wonder what broke me? What made me all psychopathic and shit?
...can't say my guesses have been pretty, considering some of the things that set you off. I know you were young, at least.

Then let her tell you what she needs to.

If it feels appropriate after she's spoke her peice, reciprocate, and tell her what happened to you.

>we're at war. People die during wars
As a parting shot to try and lift her spirits- Cass, we're at war here. But it's so someday maybe we won't have to be.

"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't wondered. Still, I can't say my guesses have been pretty, considering some of the things that set you off. I know you were young, at least."

"Hm... yeah..."

Cass downs another large helping of wine, then settles herself, looking a little miserable, but determined to push herself a little farther than she had with others.

"So... I never had a great family life. My mom died giving birth to me, I think, and dad died after getting remarried. My step-mom wasn't really bad to me, she just... ignored me. Kept me as far from her thoughts as possible. Treated me more like an annoying animal that kept eating from the kitchen everyday. Still, it was fine, I learned to cope in my own ways. It was probably the best time of my life, back then. Well, not counting recently, hanging around with you guys is probably the most fun I've ever had.

"Anyway... I was about 7, I think, when my step-mom remarried. Everything seemed fine at first, maybe a little better than fine, because he... he seemed nice to me. He actually paid attention to me. Made me feel like I had a father to rely on. That lasted maybe a month. After that, the... 'sessions' started. It was simple stuff at first, didn't even know I was doing anything. He'd hug me, or touch my face, or any other of normal things. Once I'd gotten used to that physical contact, stuff started escalating. He ask me to do... things... and at that age I really didn't think anything of it. Once I started to get older, I started noticing though. And then I refused for the first time..."

Cass shivers suddenly, then down another chug of wine, steadying herself and rubbing a stray tear from her eyes.

"God damnit, that time hurt. Beat me till I couldn't move anymore. He'd planned it that way to. Waited for someone to be out of the house. Took me somewhere nobody would see, then started hitting me. Again and again. Eventually, I couldn't help it. I'd give in to him just to avoid the pain. And my step-mother wouldn't do anything. Pretend it never happened. She didn't care, preferring her own children to me.

"Once I hit 13, I had my first period and... and..."

Cass suddenly breaks down, the wine bottle shattering against the floor as she lets go of it to curl herself into a fetal ball. You take hold of her and press her body to your chest, feeling her whole body shaking with her sobbing. These are obviously old wounds. Very old wounds. Still, Cass calms eventually, taking a shaking breath in before sitting up straight again.

"Ah... Alright... almost done..."

"Cass, if you don't want to-"

"No... you said it yourself, right? No secrets. And I... trust you with this. Probably more than anyone else...

"Where was I? Oh yeah... the uh... sessions... kept going till I was 15. No... just before my fifteenth birthday, I think. Either way, one night, I guess he couldn't contain himself. He caught me in the kitchen, with step-mother and my step-brothers in the living room next to us. He... did it right there. With them in the house. I let him do it to, just to avoid the pain. Part of me hoped step-mom would walk in, finally notice or acknowledge it or something and put a stop to it.... heh... well, she walked in alright. I could even see it in her eyes. She knew what was going on. Bastard didn't even stop when she came in. But she ignored it, trying her hardest to avoid making eye contact with me, to avoid the issue completely.

"And I... couldn't take it anymore. That was... that was the last straw. The man on top of me, the woman who ignored the issue, the brothers who were too ignorant to even care. I remember... grabbing a kitchen knife, I think, and driving into the asshole's forehead. Maybe that's why I get such pleasure from killing people. The warm blood. Killing for the first time like that. All I know, is that I seemed to black out after that, and I remember waking up in police custody the next day, covered in blood... but gods, it felt good. So good... just to be free of that bastard. They let me go, thought it was someone else, especially cause I'd apparently been... used... so I just kinda walked out scot free. Three years, I wandered around, doing shit... killing people, when they pissed me off. Somehow I didn't even notice I was doing it, at least not at first. I'd just... get soo much pleasure out of it. I finally got arrested a few months ago, but then this breaking thing happened, and... well... you can guess the rest."

Cass, over the course of her story, seemed to get more and more sober, regardless of the alcohol she'd consumed, now she seemed positively wired. She goes silent for a moment, thinking, then she sighs and leans back in her chair.

"So... that's it. All of it..."

>>>Input Command

Hug that creepy bitch. your wound isn't even half as bad as hers. Hell, you get to play surrogate mom, she just kills people. hug the FUCK out of her.

(Damn, my guess was right on the money. ...I kind of wish it hadn't been, though).

(And then there's the nagging knowledge we could have fixed this. You could have spared her this pain... if you'd been willing to more than kill Raphael. You shouldn't feel guilty about that but... fuck. That's a choice you wish you'd never had to make.)

>>493071
Seconding hugs.

...It's just not fair at all. Makes my injury seem like a joke, in comparison (unless she asks, we don't need to elaborate. This isn't about us).

And I do think you're slowly getting better. You have some control, and I swear it seems like you're fighting smarter.

Stay with Cass, tonight (if she lets you hang around). Not sure I could bear to leave her alone after all that. (Plus, we can keep anything terrible and/or humiliating from happening to her if she climbs back into that bottle. No Raph to clean up our messes this time round...).

>Parting shot
Hey, you were right that we're at war here. But it's so someday maybe we won't have to be. And... I think I've already proved willing to do some pretty stupid things to keep my friends safe. If I can help it all, we're going to get through this.

>Mental note:
The most dangerous things around, the most likely to be able to kill your friends in this war, is shit that bypasses death avoidance. The Demon touching people, or that fucking gun that erases people. Or a breaker who can burn through a lot of numbers at once, like Marc could, or you can. You will not let this happen to them. You won't stand by and watch them die (or worse) like you did with Elizabeth. You will break whatever the fuck you have to to keep it from happening. Shoot the gun/demon/bullet, snatch the gun away, counterbreak the personal power as you feel it coming into effect, throw up some kind of barrier in the way, shove your friends out of the way, kill them yourself if that's what it takes to avoid a true death. Whatever you have to do. Because there might not be a way to fix things afterwards, next time.

>Also
...we should probably put finding something for Cass to do on our list for tomorrow. She hasn't found her own thing to run yet, she might feel a little better if she did feel she was contributing meaningfully to this whole lieutenant thing.

You pull your chair closer to Cass' and wrap your arms around her in a hug. You feel her tense in your grasp, then she relaxes again, hugging you back and sighing again.

"...It's just not fair at all. Makes my injury seem like a joke, in comparison. And I do think you're slowly getting better. You have some control, and I swear it seems like you're fighting smarter."

"Heh... maybe..."

You stay like that a long time, Cass slowly seeming to drift away into sleep. Just before she leaves the waking world completely, she seems to stir again and mutters almost silently.

"Hey Linda?"

"Yeah?"

"You're still gonna be here when I wake up, right? I'm not dreaming, am I? I'm not really stuck in a loony bin, having weird delusions?"

"No Cass. You're not. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Mm."

Cass falls asleep completely, and her body relaxes into yours, making it somewhat difficult to extract yourself. Not that you really wanted to anyway. You promised you'd be there, you're going to damn well be there. You direct someone to bring you a blanket, and once you have it in hand you settle in yourself, feeling sleep coming quickly. Just before you finally hit dreamland yourself, you decide something yourself.

No one else is going to die in this war as long as you can help it.

You wake the next day, feeling sore from your sleeping position. Cass is still asleep, although she must have repositioned herself at some point, because her head is resting on your shoulder instead of against your chest. You debate whether to wake her or not, but decide against it, choosing instead to think some other things over.

You're going to fix Cass. She's been your friend since the beginning of all this, and you're going to try your hardest to let her live completely free of her trauma. Still, you have no idea how to really deal with this, your not a doctor in any sense of the word. Maybe those papers that Twinda found will help.

Cass suddenly stirs, sitting up blearily and staring at you in confusion, and then she's clutching her head.

"MOTHER OF ALL THAT'S FUCKING-"

You frown in confusion, then realize she'd downed most of that bottle of wine last night on her own, and she'd normally have been smashed after to cans of beer. She must be feeling in this morning.

"How you feeling Cass?"

"Like utter shit. I'm gonna go find me some water or something, maybe try and get Rodriguez to heal this crap for me... god damn..."

Cass lurches to her feet and starts away, then pauses suddenly and turns back to look at you.

"Hey Linda? Thanks for... listening... I guess..."

Then she's gone, heading off to find some way to relieve herself of the painful throbbing in her head. You stand yourself, stretching out your sore limbs, grab a quick bite and a shower, then you have the day ahead of you.

>>>Input Command

Alright. Time to get down to business.

If we're going to take action against the fixers, before they entrench themselves or come after us, we need information. Elizabeth is good for warnings and intel to some extent, but she can't see everything in advance. We need some hard data. Where are enemies are, what they're doing, how many of them there are. So the first thing we need to do is send out the scouts and sneaky types, see what we can find out (this is recon stuff, though. Not infiltration or combat). Make sure they have the ability to cal for backup if things go south.

Actually having Elizabeth work with organizing the information gathering would probably work pretty well. Fill in details on what she can see, check on things she can't, and avoid sending people into known danger.

Second to that is getting the group ready for war. We need organized teams, people prepared to fight, communications. Some preparations for if we're attacked. Not sure how much we can get going with formal training just yet, but there's that too.

That's probably enough to keep us busy for a while. Once we're done organizing all that we'll look for something else to do while waiting for results to come in. Maybe check in with the Doc, or start investigating non-existance?

Most of the day is spent quickly, dealing with sending out scouts and dealing with all the organization details. You've also begun to see the non-existent thing start to work, people asking you who you were, or if you were a newbie. This proves difficult, at least until you find Cass again, who then proceeds to start being the hard-ass for you, ripping her way through anyone who dares disobey. Most of the morning gone, you finally disentangle yourself from the mess, noticing that Cass seem to have things well in hand. Mostly through the constant use of drill sergeant like tactics, but she does seem to be beating all the warriors into groups. You take the opportunity to head downstairs, and find the Doc staring at what looks like a ball of glowing something. With nothing better to do, you head over.

"Hey Doc. What's this?"

"A baby avatar. It seems that new avatar don't actually get made so much as born from the minds of their first wielder. I doubt I can be more specific than that, but suffice it to say this avatar will shape itself depending on who it comes into contact with first. A shame... although at least Amelia no longer exists."

The Doctor looks bored a moment, then suddenly brightens up.

"Ah! That's right! I thought about something I wanted to try! I was wondering if your non-existence give you some immunity to things like Elizabeth's sight! Do you have any idea? And could you possibly think of anything you might like me to test on you... purely for science, of course."

>>>Input Command

>drill sergeant
Well, Cass certainly found her place.

Damn, though. Breakers are supposed to be more resistant to the effects of non-existence, but we've got people on our own side forgetting us already? We did the rounds of the base just yesterday. I was hoping we wouldn't need to do that every day, but even that looks like it might not be enough.

...as a plus though, I wonder what's going to be happening with our enemies. There's a certain someone I'm sure is immune, but D7's records on us might not be. And then there's the fixers...

>A baby avatar
Interesting. Any idea on how it might be different than normal? We get the sort of things the Doc's work can do for weapons, and sort of what he can do for forms, but I've no idea what that means for an avy.

We'll also have to decide who gets / wants it later. Aria or Michelle? Michelle's loyalty is more assured, and her Beloved By Avatars makes her a strong choice. Aria might have more expectations though, and she's stronger too. Either or them might have understandable reservations about getting a new avy, though. It's a lot bigger thing than a weapon is for us.

>non-existant testing
Hmm. Checking in to see how it works with Elizabeth's sight might be interesting (would probably lead to her showing off her new spirit 5 ability, and showing us).

Not sure what we could test more directly though. The first consequence seems to be people forgetting us if we're away from them too long. There's obviously some kind of function dependent on how long we're been away, how much exposure they had previously, and their own power all factoring into how long they can resist... but that's tricky to track experimentally (mostly because we're unwilling to just wait and see how long it takes people to forget- especially strong people, or people close to us).

Maybe we could test what effect we have on normals? (Are we basically just perpetually being normalized? Would they see us at all, or just forget the moment they look away, like the Silent from Doctor Who?).

Everything else seems to work normally. I'm still here (somehow), breaking isn't any different, dying isn't any different.

A little off track, but it did occur to me we found a focus that might be a good place to start for the improved anti-breaking weapons. Double barrel shotgun. So it can accommodate each kind of tube?

People forgetting about us already? It's no surprising but it's still awful news. Odds are how well a person remembers Linda is how much of an effect Linda had on their personal lives as well as the time spent with them (this could all be baloney because it's just a guess). We might as well relay what's happening to the doc. It's the closest thing he probably going to get at observing this at real time.

Just on the off-chance: let's see how well people remember Twinda.

...here's a crazy idea for the baby av.
tune it.

yes, i mean Linda. yes, i know we're a tool type. yes, i agree we should have Elizabeth look at it first.
but seriously, wouldn't it be crazy if our new non-existence let us bend the rules about foci types? we could be ALL the types. that would sure give us a couple surprises for anyone we fight.

ok, yes, it's really unlikely, but we should still try poking it with our breaking senses or something to see if it might be possible, if we can tell that. and, again, ask Elizabeth, if she can tell.


also, more rationally, i support the idea of seeing if the anti-breaking tubes can be integrated into the shotgun. not sure how well they'd combine with a broken weapon, but it's worth asking about.
if they can combine, though, it'll need a more convenient potion dispensing method. maybe vials in the handle, or something?

anyway, that's my ¢ for now.

>>494117
I dunno. Even if we could (we probably can't) I don't see why we'd want to branch into different types. Using an avy doesn't give us any advantage fighting with allies doesn't (doubly so, since 2 of our allies use avys), our stats / build isn't set up to support an avy (unlike Michelle or Aria), and there are potential mental hazards associated with avatars Linda is unprepared for. Doesn't seem like a win to me.

i said it was crazy, didn't i? but it insisted on being posted.
as far as the potential mental problems, that was part of why we'd have Elizabeth look at it, to see if it would give it's user new problems, or if, due to it's unformed state, it would just take a form based on the owner's state of mind, and not add anything new. if it does add new problems, then yeah, definitely no tuning.
you do bring up a good point about our stats/skills not really being set up for using an avatar, though, i hadn't thought of that. i suppose it probably wouldn't be such a good idea. (i did say it was crazy, though, right? :P)
however, even if we don't tune the av, i would still like to know if it would even be possible for us. what with our non-existence and the av's undefined form, both of which are pretty unheard of, we can't be entirely certain what effect they'll have, or how they'd interact.
if we still can't use avs, that's fine, business as usual. if we can, well, that's a potentially useful option that we didn't have before. and even if we don't actually take it, it's always nice to have options, yes?
that's my ¢ for now anyway.

Seeing the Threads Linda McCallahan 2013/02/24(Sun)07:58 No. 495683 ID: 8b4dd1
File 136172150451.jpg - (21.00KB , 400x250 , Green Strand.jpg )

"Hm. That's... interesting... you seem to be able to do quite a bit for form and weapon types... you sure you couldn't do anything with this?"

"I could probably influence what form it takes somewhat, what feelings or memories it associates itself with, but ultimately, the avatar will follow what it wants to. I'll leave it right here, and let you decide who to give it to. Or I could use it as material for something else. Up to you."

"I'll... I'll have to think about that. In the meantime, you think you could work on another project for me?"

"Of course!"

"I need this shotgun changed. Maybe you can use those tubes for the barrels or something like that. It would make it much easier to use than having to drag around those cylinders everywhere."

"Hm... yes... I think... with a little adjustment here and there... add a few... no, no, too finicky. Might need a new trigger... hm... always the interesting requests... I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

You hand over the shotgun shell, then head off, hunting down Elizabeth in your living room, the girl staring at a wall with disinterest. When you come in, however, the girl's eyes snap to you, and she seems expectant.

"Hey... you think you could tell me what I look like to you. Or... don't look like, I guess."

"Can do better. Will show."

"Show? What you do mean sho- Gah!"

You reel backwards as something hits you square in the face, flinching, and when your eyes open you see it. Between you and Elizabeth is a massive cylinder of glowing, moving, pulsing strands. You stare at it in amazement, barely registering that Elizabeth is talking at all.

"This is what I see. Sort of. Not really. I made it simpler for you. Too many strands to view otherwise. Cannot comprehend normally. Still, this includes me, and the chair, and the tv, and the couch... and where you are supposed to be."

Elizabeth points out a spot in the twisting cylinder of threads, and looking carefully, you spot an empty space. Like a hole where a thread is supposed to go. You frown, and notice that as you do so, the threads surrounding it vibrate a little. Not by much, but it's there. You frown again, then grab a chair and tip it over. You see a thread suddenly shift slightly, but it doesn't look like anything touched it or moved it. Elizabeth copies your actions, and you spot one thread suddenly tap another thread, causing the second to vibrate and shift.

"All things influence one another. You are not there, but still play a part. The Angel is changed, but still the Angel. I will still follow her."

"... Thanks..."

"Did you require anything else?"

>>>Input Command

Check out the threads some more!

Does Elizabeth's thread appear differently from the other threads you see? Either as a person (compared to the inanimate objects you're looking at) or as a breaker? (When Angelica was talking about threads and Raphael she made it sound as if breakers had more of whatever threads are made of).

I wonder, does this effect also bestow us with Elizabeth's spirit sight? Is there a mirror in the room? If so- take a look. Maybe Linda gets to meet the Angel. (If this works- I definitely want to try and see what the other party members look like first hand before our hour of sight runs out. Starting with Elizabeth. After all, she's never commented on her own aura).

Try doing a small break of some kind. What does the activity of the threads look like if you use a break to affect something in the room? Does it show up differently than the normal interaction we just tested?

Ask Elizabeth:
If my thread is sort of not there, but still affects things, does that mean you can't see what's going to happen if I'm involved?

As a last test... reach out, and see if you can directly feel or interact with the threads of one of the objects in the room. Ask her about the bad stuff:

The angel, the other one that is, said if I could see the weave, I could learn to tear pieces of it out (may need to make it clear we don't like that idea much at all). Like she did. ...is that why the Fixers want you?

Oh, and I almost forgot, we should probably ask if she has any insight on who to give the baby avy to. After all, avatars are a little more dangerous than normal foci. We won't know what it's going to latch onto- or what it's going to bring out in a person. (As Amelia proved). ...she's probably going to say it's uncertain though.

Personally, I'm leaning Michelle. Partially because her beloved by avatars ability, and partially because Amelia killed her in the alternate timeline. It's kind of fitting that Michelle gives her a rebirth this time around (and that she take instead of being taken from). Only thing holding me back is wondering if that would alienate Aria in any way (although maybe that explanation is interesting enough she might be satisfied with it).

You turn your attention to the threads again first, eyeing them curiously. After watching them for a few minutes, you begin to see slight differences. That one is larger than that one. And that one is more brightly lit than that one. There really is no way to distinguish between the different threads, at least, none that you can see.They all seem somehow distinct from each other in some way.

"Hey Elizabeth?"

"Hm?"

"How can you tell what's matched to which thread?"

"Things do not look like this normally, they look more like-"

The world suddenly lights up, hundreds of threads surrounding you and encasing you. You can move through them easily enough, like they aren't there, without anything happening to them, but you do notice a particularly bright thread seeming to come right out of Elizabeth. It converges with other threads, twisting around and touching this and that, before the view is extinguished and you are once again only staring at a cylinder.

"-that."

You gape for a moment longer, the sight still fresh in your mind. That's what Elizabeth sees, all the time. Never anything else... Wow. No wonder she's so spacy all the time. You would be to, constantly seeing those threads everywhere. Still, she seems to be able to narrow it down when she wants to. Maybe she just doesn't like to?

Regardless, you quickly move on to something else, namely, hunting down a mirror so you can stare at yourself. If this is what Elizabeth sees, then by definition, you should be able to see yourself and this angel thing, right? There you are. Damn, nothing at all. It would have been nice to see what you look like as an ang-

Then you stop. Because your reflection shimmers a little before a pair of white feathered wings sprout from your reflections back and suddenly spread out, encasing the room in feathers. The feeling, even just seeing it, is warm and comforting, and you feel safer than you've ever felt in your life. The image quickly vanishes as you glance behind you at Elizabeth, wondering if this is how she always sees you. You pause a moment, focusing on the girl, but she simply stares back at you. You frown a moment, not understanding, but Elizabeth seems to understand your intent.

"I have nothing. My sight cannot unlock my own soul. It would be... bad."

You're not sure you quite understand, but you leave it at that. You don't really feel like pushing the girl too hard right now. Besides, you're having way too much fun with this. You make your way back over to the threads after taking another look at your angel self, then try tipping over a chair again. The thread for it wobbles a little, and you focus on it before you try throwing a break at the chair, deliberately wanting it to do anything. The break happens, and the chair suddenly falls to pieces, and you notice the thread isn't one thread anymore, but many smaller threads. You try looking further back along those threads to see if they tore apart or something, but it was like those pieces of chair had never been a chair at all. You smile to yourself. Another good discovery.

"Hey Elizabeth, if you can't see my thread, or whatever is going on, but I still affect things, then..."

"That is correct. I can't factor the Angel into my visions anymore. You are an... unknown quantity. There are others that are the same."

You don't even need to ask who that is.

"One more question. Do you have any suggestions for who that avatar should go to? The baby one, down stairs."

Elizabeth blinks for a moment, looking at something you can't see, then she frowns.

"It has no fate, no thread, till it is given a thread. There is no good or bad decision, only a choice. No opinion."

>>>Input Command

Alright then. Thanks for showing me this, by the way. It's kind of incredible.

>What now?
I'd kind of like to take the opportunity to walk around the base and see how Elizabeth sees everyone else (damn Cass, you're scary) before our hour of oracle-high runs out. It'll be interesting, and it doubles as an excuse to keep your face out there (delaying some more people from forgetting). Plus, you know, possible chance to get better insight on people.

If nothing needs our attention after that (Scouts still out and all) maybe we should deal with the avy next?

>It has no fate, no thread, till it is given a thread
Aw, I was afraid she'd say that.

Personally, I'm still leaning towards offering it to Michelle- for the meta-reason of her special skill, for the nice karmic symmetry I explained before, and because I'm more sure we can trust her (Aria's more an unknown). Only real reason I might hesitate is Aria might be offended by not being offered this new, interesting, opportunity, but I don't think Michelle would so much (although I'm reasonably certain if we explained our reasoning she'd be satisfied). It would be a chance to earn some points with Aria, and she's seemingly the stronger of the two as well (although we haven't seen her full stats yet).

Anyone else wanna weigh in on that?

I'm also thinking Aria might already have another avatar--remember the kid-Aria?

Give it to Michelle.

>>495810
I initially assume her mini-me was the avatar. Since meeting golem though, my assumption has now been that she disguised herself with a break. Especially after the way dreamer answered a question about breakers aging (or not) in dis.
>>/questdis/61380

I say it should go to Michelle as she's more trustworthy, and I think we'll learn more from it. We have little idea regarding what Aria's avatar really is or means, or if the one we've seen is her first or one she got from someone else, where-as we know what Levi is and that he's Michelle's original avatar. Whether the avatar she gets is another Demon Prince, tied to hunger, or something else entirely, we have more information to draw on.

Is there any chance we could get it?
Normally breakers are limited to their type but with not being a part of reality anymore and the angel did mention we have a secret ability that can be revealed. (although perhaps that requires raw reality)

Michelle is certainly trustworthy but she manifested her first avatar as a demon and has enough trouble controlling it, could she handle a second demon?

Aura Linda McCallahan 2013/02/25(Mon)11:09 No. 496004 ID: 8b4dd1
File 136181937417.jpg - (49.89KB , 350x250 , Orc_Berserker_Wallpaper_ok60c.jpg )

Well, you suppose that really leaves only one option. You hope it doesn't end up pissing Aria off, although you're quite sure she'll be happy either way, as long as you spin it right. For now though...

You've got spirit sight. Time to go investigate some people. Your first stop is Nicole, who's lazing around next to the arena again. She glances at you curiously as you stare at her intently, but you don't care. You got what you came to see. Behind her, an aura takes form, representing a beautiful moon. You have no idea what that means about her, but you can confirm who the Moon that Elizabeth is talking about is her. You move on after giving a little wave to the other woman, who waves back in confusion. Then it's Chris, who remains passive as you place your gaze on her and will your sight to work. A demon takes shape behind her, the creature chained to the ground, a 23 burned into it's forehead. It roars silently, then disappears as you take off again, wanting to see as many people close to you as you can. This is far too interesting to pass up.

Michelle is next, the girl glancing around shyly and trying to avoid eye contact while you watch her intently. Her aura takes form, and you see a perhaps 13 year old girl sitting on a small throne, Leviathan curled around it protectively. It turns its gaze on you and huffs slightly, and Michelle suddenly starts in surprise before finally staring back at you.

"You... You can see Levi?"

"Huh? What do you mean, see Levi? I see him all the time, right?"

"No, no no! Not just see him, SEE him? When he isn't awake?"

"Uh... yeah, I borrowed some of Elizabeth's power."

"Ah! Levi is happy! He says you should do that more often, although he thinks you smell to much of something nasty. Uh, I mean..."

"It's alright. Apparently, I'm an angel or something like that, so I can understand us not getting along all the time. I'll see you later, alright?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Oh yeah! Before I forget. There's a baby avatar downstairs. Sort of. Anyway, I was wondering if you might like to take it and tune it to yourself."

Michelle goes wide eyed, then starts muttering to seemingly nothing, although you get the feeling it's more like she's having a debate with Leviathan. After a few minutes, Michelle stands and pulls her hat down a little further over her head.

"I'll... I'll go see it first... I.... think that's best..."

She disappears off towards the basement, still muttering, and you frown in concern. Maybe you should check on her later, to see how things went. Still, now's the best time for one last thing before the sight runs out.

Last, but certainly not least, you turn your attention to Cass, whose still shouting insults at a group of breakers she managed to round up and is trying to explain how to fight properly, or at least how not to get killed. You frown a moment, tendrils of black seeming to erupt from her back, and you watch in horror as they take form into a massive hulking form, the thing standing easily 8 feet tall. It's encased in armor, and you can almost feel the murderous intent coming off of it. Still, you notice it has a chain wrapped around its chest and extending out to you, and you glance down to find the chain wrapped securely around your wrist. This must mean...

The sight ends, the auras vanishing from your eyes, but you still stand there, pondering to yourself. Whatever that was... that was much different from what you pictured when Elizabeth had called her a warrior. The murderous rage coming from that aura... it wasn't a pleasant feeling at all.

>>>Input Command

>Cass
Yeah, she's got a dark side. A terrible dark side. And you're what's keeping it in check. You knew that- although perhaps the knowledge wasn't as visceral as the vision.

It's probably healthier to see the warrior as something that's been done to her, or that she's a prisoner of- rather than her true self. You've helped her bind it- next you'll find a way to release her from it. Do not let let this shake your faith in your friend- let it strengthen your resolve instead.

>Maybe you should check on her later, to see how things went.
I'd think you'd want to observe this. She may need the support. And you may need to be there to help if anything goes wrong. (Possibly to remind her it's a choice if it appears to be troubling her too much).

If everything goes smoothly, next order of business is probably checking on the scouts (assuming they're back) and planning what to about the fixers.

>moon
Full or crescent? Waning or waxing? What color? That kind of detail might help in guessing what it means about her.

Definitely go observe the tuning of the baby avatar; even if she doesn't need help and her mind doesn't form it to a second demon it still warrants observation.

Hmm i wonder if the chain implies we don't need to be in physical contact to reign her in when she goes berserk.
And if Nicole's moon has something to do with her powers or her personality cause so far the images tend to lean to one or the other. Also with 23's bound demon it seems like the chains represent her memory blocks and if so we might not want to free them completely until we get it bound more like Cass is to us. From what little we know of her so far she could turn out to be very bad if unbound. But Michele on a throne with Levi wrapped protectively around it sounds amazingly cute lol and makes me feel more trusting of Levi.

>>496293
I'm pretty sure the chain is the obvious metaphor. We set out to help Cass, or bring her to heel, and we've succeeded in the latter. The physical contact is just a stronger way of getting past her rage- words don't carry as much weight in that state.

As for 23... I wouldn't worry about it so much. There was no feeling of terrible darkness like with Cass'. I think it's more a representative of what she's afraid she'll be if she's free, rather than what is, or a premonition on what will be. It would certainly fit with her reluctance to completely cooperate with George. And Elizabeth not passing judgement on her. She's not free to choose her own path- and she's not choosing to work for that freedom.

That said, I think we still want to be working to help her overcome it, and free her from her constraints. Even ignoring the memory loss- she shouldn't be compelled to obey us. Everyone else follows us by choice- she should have that right too. That, and I'm afraid one day D7 will try to flip her back if we leave the control circuits in place.

A New Beast Linda McCallahan 2013/02/26(Tue)11:23 No. 496319 ID: 8b4dd1
File 136190659006.jpg - (27.63KB , 649x394 , Behemoth.jpg )

The moon behind Nicole had been full, shedding it's silver light all over the room. You still can't imagine what that means, but... well, it was something to think on anyway.

Still, you hurry down to the basement, not wanting to miss whatever it was. When you make it down, Michelle is standing in front of the little glowing ball, muttering to herself. The Doc is nearby, watching with interest, and even Elizabeth is hanging around, watching the creation of a new thread, no doubt. You hang back as well, not wanting to interrupt whatever Michelle is doing, especially as she suddenly reaches forward and strokes the nascent avatar.

"A child... a baby... not yet given form... not given life or purpose..."

Michelle is starting to talk loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, and she seems almost trancelike as she drops the snake doll she usually carries around. Before it even hits the ground, Leviathan comes into existence, his body smashing holes in the sides of the room, although his head remains protectively near Michelle.

"A poor, poor lost child. It needs a home. Needs somewhere to be... you can come with me and Leviathan. We'll take care of you... you'll be perfectly safe with us..."

Michelle wraps her arms around the little glowing ball, bring into her own embrace. The balls seems to gel against her chest for a moment, then it disappears into her with a flash of light. For a moment, there is nothing further, the Michelle doubles over as a massive claw seems to rip its way out of her back. You watch in horror as Michelle practically screams in pain, but whatever it is keeps pushing out of her back. A massive snout soon follows the claws, and it lets out a roar of challenge, quickly answered by Leviathan. The room is literally vibrating with the two roaring at each other, and one isn't even fully in the room yet. Still, things continuing to pull out of Michelle, every time the woman screaming in pain, but Leviathan refuses to let anyone go anywhere near the woman. Minutes pass by as the thing pulling itself out of Michelle grows in size, and 30 minutes after the process started, it finally stands on its own. The thing looks like a weird mix between wolf and bull, and just slightly smaller than Leviathan. Still, it makes up for its smaller size with more bulk, you're fairly sure this thing could punch it's way through a bit more than Leviathan could. Probably take a lot more damage as well.

Michelle is the next to get up, and just in time to see Leviathan lunge at the newcomer. She quickly orders him to stop, and the snake backs off, if a little unhappily. Michelle sighs in relief, then begins talking to the newcomer, stroking its snout and trying to get across to it. Eventually she turns to the small crowd that has somehow gathered thanks to all the noise, starting in surprise.

"Ah! Uh... um... err..."

"Hey! Sis, you alright?"

"Um... yeah... Er... Everyone, this... this is my new avatar! He's... Behemoth. He's... he says he's Leviathans brother. Please treat him well, alright?"

Michelle bows awkwardly to the crowd, likes she's asking for permission to keep him or something. You frown in thought, eyeing the massive creature.

>>>Input Command

Very, very nice. Congragulate her and welcome Behemoth to our little family.

Aw. That's certainly not support or defense oriented! Oh well.

Different build, though. More of a tank than a glass cannon? And the predominant opposite gender trend continues. Wonder if his focus will be a plushie too, or something different.

>the room
Doc'll have to waste a point to break in the repairs.

>reaction
Michelle looks like she needs some reassurance. I'd approach and offer it, and greet the newcomer.

Welcome, Behemoth. I'm the Angel, though I hope you won't hold it against me. *Awkward offering of a handshake he can't return, Leviathan huffs at us. :V*

We might want to glance to Elizabeth at some point and see how she took it. Hopefully she's responding positively, and not seeing something bad. She and Michelle are sort of friends- maybe she'll help her work out things between the brothers if they're squabbling.

We'll probably want to talk to Aria afterwards, as I'm sure she showed up for this. (Interesting, right?). We can explain our reasoning for offering Michelle the chance and not her (Amelia killed her and Marc stole her avatar before- it seemed fitting this time she get to be the one to be given something, and to give the avatar a rebirth).

>after all that
If we still have time to kill before the scouts are back with what we need to begin planning against the fixers, Chris is really the only one of our close allies we haven't got much of a chance to chat with since walking up again.

>Another demon
Called it :P. Elizabeth did say that at the moment no true demons exist so such avatars are figments of the mind of the breaker; obviously her break makes her manifest demons.
Well, at least her "demons" are fairly tame and even honorable.

Give her congrats and go commission some silver bullets for your guns so you could manually load them and use them next time you fight the werewolf.

Then ask elizabeth if she knows where we can find a breaker whose power is teleportation which could be use to teleport someone else into outer space. We need to either recruit that person or defeat them and claim their power (probably not for using ourselves but to give an ally).

>>496326
Perhaps adding to the reassurance- there's not terrible odds we'll find another one among the fixers. Or that they took off some poor bastard they killed.

>>496329
Manual silver bullets aren't a terrible idea, but I'm pretty sure the tank gun would work. (Dreamer said we were overrating to the "need silver" impulse before). I think the problem was more we were using insufficient force / too small caliber to get through his hide rather than running into a supernatural resistance.

>breaker specializing in teleportation
...wouldn't that be Chris? Granted, she probably needs more spirit before she unlocks further applications for it.

There aren't many breakers left to recruit in the area though. Everyone is either with the fixers, killed by the fixers, or allied with our group for self protection. And teleporting our enemies into outer space seems like something that would take way more spirit than any of us have yet (and that the game wouldn't allow us to use to remove the demon from the picture. He'd just resist).

>>496333
Chris specializes in sword fighting and has an expensive short range self teleport. It isn't what I am looking for.

I mean someone who specializes in teleporting only like the father specializes in healing. Raphael could teleport 3 or 4 people via dream but he wasn't specialized in it either.

I want a tool that does nothing but teleporting, both in utility (teleport self AND a strike team anywhere in world) and in offensive manner. (teleport enemy into space, volcano, bottom of sea, center of earth, etc). Obviously that is a LOT to ask but even just being able to teleport someone else across the ocean could give us hours to dismantle D7 in their absence.
Although in retrospect it will probably be expensive as hell to teleport an enemy somewhere fatal without their consent (counter breaking basically) so a physical method of moving ... someone might be more practical.

And I don't want us to limit our search to this city but worldwide, if we need to take a flight across the ocean to find that person/foci so be it (maybe we can fly on the back of levi?). Also perhaps its best to discuss this with the doctor, maybe he can create such a foci or upgrade a lesser teleport item to specialize it in doing nothing but teleporting.

>>496341
I dunno. Dreamer discussed placing restrictions on high spirit characters to prevent them just turning the floor beneath their enemies to lava, or the air to poison, in order to trivially chain-kill them. Using teleportation to move people to hostile environments seems much the same thing, and seems kind of against the spirit of what we're supposed to be doing.

I suspect part of the reason Raphael 'died' might actually be to nerf his get into and out of places powers we were abusing. :p

Not sure I like the idea of taking a trip (leaving our allies here undefended and our enemies unresolved, while punching into some other group's territory) hunting for a focus at all. ...and we've already got the Doc working on half a dozen things.

Although if you want specific types of characters for us to recruit, or foci for us to steal, the best way to go about it would be to make up and post character ideas in the dis thread to show up later. That's how we got Elizabeth and her Oracle eye, after all.

>>496343
You are right I was being stupid, lets move this to questdis.

"No worries, Michelle, he's welcome to stay as long as he wants."

You take the initiative, walking over and giving Michelle a warm smile. You have no intention of taking away her new friend, nor would you really want to try. Him and Leviathan together would probably be extremely difficult to deal with. You turn your attention to the beast and bow a little, not quite sure how to act around the thing.

"Welcome, Behemoth. I'm Linda McCallahan, or the Angel to some. I... uh... I hope you don't hold that against me."

The demon thing huffs at you, then turns its attention elsewhere. You get the feeling it doesn't really mind you either way, and is more interested in finding its surroundings. Still, it's better than nothing. You take the opportunity to glance at Elizabeth, who is staring intently at Behemoth before she simply nods and wanders off. Whatever she saw, it wasn't bad at all.

"Um... Moth says he thanks you for your kindness, and asks that you continue to provide us a safe haven from persecution..."

You blink, then nod, another smiling spreading across your face.

"Of course, Michelle. I wouldn't dream of just kicking you to the curb. Why don't you let... Moth... settle in, and I'll talk to you later sometime, alright?"

Michelle nods, and you make your way back towards the door, eyes scanning for the person you know should be here. It was interesting after all, wasn't it? Sure enough, the woman is standing off to the side, leaning against a wall, a smirk placed on her face and her eyes thoughtful. She notices your approach quickly, however, and straightens up to greet you properly.

"Good afternoon, Miss McCallahan. How can I help you?"

"How are you, Aria? I wanted to know your thoughts on what just happened."

"Oh? Quite interesting. It's not everyday one gets to see a baby avatar take form. I admit, I woke up with mine in my room, and I suspect so did every other avatar user. Regardless, I hope someday I'll get to see what my own mind can produce once given an unborn avatar... Irrelevant now, of course. Perhaps another time. Which reminds me, I had some things I'd like to discuss with you at a later date. Regarding recruitment and utilization of manpower. I'm aware you're rather busy most days, but if you'd be so kind as to grant me a bit of your time somewhere in the next few days, I'd be very grateful."

"Ah... yeah. Sure. I'll come find you when I have the time to spare."

"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me."

Aria heads back upstairs, and after a minute of contemplation, you follow suit, this time hunting for perhaps the least talkative of your companions. Chris is found in a corner, silently standing guard over the main entrance to your little compound. As you walk over the woman pauses a beat before nodding at you politely.

"Master. How may I be of service?"

>>>Input Command

Ask about her brother.

>Moth
Heheh. I wouldn't have thought there was a way to get a cute nickname out of "Behemoth", but there you go.

>what Aria's mind would produce
Well... Michelle is Lilith, right? Mother of demons. So what she got, and how it emerged from her sort of makes sense. Aria's the Queen though. And she's already got one knight. So if she were to produce another, it would probably be along those thematic lines (and maybe more armor forming around her, than pulling itself out of her?).

>recruitment
Oh, that's something we haven't thought about in a while. New breakers are still going to be cropping up, aren't they? They'll need people to show them the ropes, and keep them from being killed or recruited by the fixers, or abducted by D7 (and the really nutso ones might need to be normalized before they do any harm). I wonder how Marc knew where to send recruiters in advance of it happening?

>Chris
How's she doing, and taking all the changes? She's kind of gone from being a slave to an officer, after all.

I'm not sure how to approach it, but we're still kind of uncomfortable if she's still being forced to obey. She should have the choice (if she protests, or makes some kind of excuse about how she's too dangerous or can't be trusted- we can point out everyone else's loyalty is based solely on trust. Or we can use Cass as a counterexample- even she can be controlled). There's also the fear that if we leave the control circuits on long enough... eventually D7 will try to flip her back.

"Just wanted to know how you were doing."

"Fine. Could be better, this position isn't very solid. Need more information. Should start attacking enemies soon, but unlikely to be helpful until the decision to act against Division 7 is made."

"Hm. Well, that won't be for awhile... how are you taking all the changes? You're more of an officer now, so..."

"... It is... different. I'm not a leader. I doubt any will follow any orders I give willingly. I'd prefer to be left on my own, used more like a shocktrooper when necessary."

"I see..."

There's silence for a long time, then you break the awkward pause with a question that had been bugging you for a little.

"Hey, you have a brother right?"

"That is correct, according to my memories."

"You wouldn't happen to remember anything else would you?"

There's a very long pause, Chris seeming to think very hard on the issue before she seems to relax from her constantly ready state and turn to face you.

"I... remember a facility... somewhere east. Near Central. I... grew up there, I think. George has stated that anything else in my head has been locked away by something else, but... if there is anything regarding my past, it will be there. I personally have no interest, but if you like, I can show you where it is."

You take all that in, then nod your head. That doesn't seem like a worthwhile trip right now, but you'll have to head back that way eventually. For now, you'll keep it in mind, and focus on clearing out the area as it is. Still, it is another step closer to releasing Chris from whatever is going on with her. It's about this time that you notice the scouts starting to come in, so looks like it's about time to get back to work.

"Hey Chris, gather all the others together. It's time for another strategy meeting."

"Understood."

20 minutes later, your getting briefed on the locations of a number of fixer bases. There are three altogether in Sun City, and two more along the west coast entirely, which suggests that the fixers don't have a strong presence here at all. The ones in Sun City are small, only one of them poses any clear threat, although there are rumors spreading that the ones in Sun City are lead by some wolf-man. There's a base to the south, which appears to be the main headquarters of the fixers here in the west, but that one seems to be keeping to itself, instead offering support to the city branches. The last is in a small town up north called Havers, it seems like it really doesn't have a purpose there, but it was still a base, so the scouts made sure to report it. You notice rather absentmindedly that when Havers is mentioned, Cass seems to jump a little in surprise, although she settles quickly, her face going blank and her attention returning to the issue at hand. The scouts leave after they've finished they're report, letting the officers begin to deal with the issue.

"Well... this is certainly less than I expected."

"Actually, it's not that unexpected. Fixers aren't anywhere at all in Britannia, instead we have a bunch of old bastards constantly playing power games. My guess is that the UNA D7 is keeping things as contained as possible, and that the fixers are just being mostly kept in the east, although I would expect them to be very strong there. For now, we remain the strongest force in this region, although I personally think we'll need to expand quickly if we want any hope of keeping ourselves from being wiped out by D7."

"Yeah... well, we'll have to wait and see. For now, what's the plan, Linda?"

>>>Input Command

Heh. We're getting details for our ally's quests. Be sure to ask Cass later about what made her jump.

Huh. That's kind of sparse on details. The fixers that are in the city, do we know what they're up to (or have been up to)? Does Elizabeth have any insight to add to what's being reported? (They were looking for her, after all).

We probably do want to ask Cass what Havers meant to her, but privately, not in front of everyone.

So, possible targets:
-3 forward bases in Sun City. Only 1 a real threat, lead by Trevor
-Small outpost of unknown purpose to the north (with a connection to Cass' past?)
-Sun City fixer HQ- currently not taking action
-2 other west coast bases

We can write off the 2 more distant bases for the moment. The outpost in Havers may be worth investigating, but we're in the middle of a war. We gotta deal with pressing threats first.

If we're serious about protecting our people, and establishing our own territory, the obvious target are the 3 bases in town. They're the ones actively hunting us, and killing breakers. We do it like we did in Blade's group- smaller groups to hit the smaller outposts, while we lead the attack on the big place with the boss fight.

Hitting the leadership is tempting, except even if we wiped them, Trevor wouldn't lay down his grudge (so cutting off the head doesn't really stop anything). And I'm reluctant to divide our forces 4 ways (5 ways if you count whoever left on defense) to hit their HQ at the same time as the forward bases. Their strongest people are likely to either be leading the attack, or in leadership positions, after all.

There's also the question of how we split the party. Managing 7 characters in one battle is a little much. You'd think we'd want to have 1 or more of our senior people running the smaller battles (and/or in charge of keeping the base safe?), and I'm not sure we want to bring Elizabeth to the people hunting her, at all (although I desperately wanna get her more XP :V). Do we do a 3/2/2 or a 4/1/1/1 though? (Linda and Cass are obviously on the same team. Nicole seems more than ready to run something. Michelle could probably steamroll a weaker base on her own with minimal support and would be interesting to play as...)

If there's a party split actually, it might be fun to play through the battles in series? Give us a chance to have fun making more characters shine.

If possible it would be nice to capture someone who knows something. Alive. We want to know what the fixers believe and/or know. And we want to know why they're after Elizabeth.

Hmm I agree, taking all the intercity bases at once might work well. However leaving Liz behind is probably a bad idea. We will need her especially if we're splitting up.

Lets see.

Linda, Cass, Chris, Twinda and Liz: Wolfman base. 3/5 of the breakers backing us up. Chris should help organize our breakers. Putting her into leadership roles is good for her. Liz's job will be to support Chris in leadership and use Twinda as a pupper when need-be. Us and Cass will take on wolfy.

Aria, Michelle: Base 2. 1/5th of the breakers supporting them. Michelle is to use Levi and Moth and the breakers to devestate and attract their attention while Aria finds the more powerful opponants to get her thrill.

Nicole, the Lovers: Base 3. These guys are the professionals. Thus their job is different. We want captives. The higher up in the food chain the better. 1/5th of the breakers, primarily the lovers group.

Oh, and it should go without saying that Marc's kill 'em all orders are rescinded. We encourage foci taking instead of killing, but ultimately, the decision is left up to the people in the life and death situation. We know it's not always feasible or safe to take someone down without killing them.

>>496828
Regrettably, I don't think we have the Lovers or their group at our disposal, yet. They said they'd need a few days, and it's only been one. (And we were never informed of their arrival). We might want to consider using some of our B-team non main party breakers to support the non-Linda groups instead (the schoolkids, Mike, Duke, etc).

...and Michelle and Aria together kinda seems like overkill. 3 avatars and Aria's "rebuild the entire environment at a whim" breaks? I might move Aria under Nic (if Golem's got an unarmed fighting style, that might compliment her quite nicely, actually) and use B-team people to support Michelle instead. Although I suppose we could stick to overkill and have the B-team under Nicole instead. :p

Rodriguez and George should probably be on the home defense team (ready to organize, and to deal with wounded and prisoners respectively).

>>496835
I think we can afford to wait a few days to plan the assault and get the Lovers on board.

As far as Aria... I can see that. However I don't want to leave Michelle alone. Maybe give her Liz and Twinda instead?

Any chance at diplomacy before we attack the fixers? I doubt the upper level guys are going to change their stance, but some of the infantry might defect if we hit them with some propaganda about our goal? i.e. trying to create a safe haven for reality breakers.

Well thats why Im pairing Liz with Twinda, if need be she can Assume Direct Control and use Twinda like she did us during the cane fight. Twinda has excellent finesse and that coupled with Liz's predictions could make a devestating combo.

I really wouldn't want to wait, unless we really need the forces. (Hard to say, since we don't even have numbers on the relative sizes of our and our enemy's forces. Although we did successfully pull off a multi-pronged attack under Marc, and that was before we united most of sun-city under our leadership). Giving the enemy time to maneuver and prepare just increases the chances they might hit us first, or that they'll do more damage to others while we wait. And heck, Sonia and the others signed on to defend and train, didn't they? An attack might be outside what we agreed on (I'm not sure). ...we also don't know when she'll actually be combat ready. (Although she's just one person).

Twinda supporting Michelle might work? I mean, she's heavy melee, what she needs is ranged to keep her safe. I don't know if Twinda's good enough to be deployed in a completely different battle and function well, though (and it might mess up running through 3 battles in a row from different perspectives if Linda has access to two of them?). Michelle and Elizabeth together is also rather amusing.

Although it's a fragile setup if anything goes wrong- Twinda can be killed in one shot, and in the wrong situation, neither Michelle or Elizabeth are the most stable individual. Plus, then we lose Liz coordinating forces at the bigger base while Linda and Cass go for the boss.

Gaaah... this is messy to balance. Part of the reason I was so reluctant to deal with Marc for so long, being a squad leader is so much easier than a general.

>>496844
We have to take out the leadership before we can hope to do anything. Trevor is driven by revenge, and Maria by some kind of hate and passion (and she wants Elizabeth). And from Cass' report at the sewer treatment plant, a lot of the rank and file are just as bloodthirsty as she is. We're facing an organization that seems to believe (correctly or not) that breakers are part of the problem, and if they're not helping fix it, they need to be put down. I don't see how we can hope to get past that unless we're negotiating from a position of strength.

...besides, they're the ones who came to this town and started killing and driving refuges into our arms. It's a little late to negotiate when the war has already started.

(...and my stupid editing got the posts out of order!)

>>496846
True, although there's a limitation in that Twinda can't reload or battlefield instinct, and Elizabeth can only run her precog on full unstoppable mode for a short time before she burns out.

Although now I'm wondering if the main group is strong enough for the boss compound with just 3 people and no Elizabeth management. Swap Chris and Aria, maybe?

DO NOT split up. Attack main base first with most of the force and then follow up on secondary bases.

Focusing all together on one base at a time means we waste fewer BP each due to overwhelming force and can go longer, and if we run out of BP after the 1 base even with our full force that means we would have had lost and suffered casualties had we split up; Or worse, if we suffer casualties regardless on where we attack, casualties would be minimized by ganging up on enemies.
It is better to win one base and let the other 2 combine/escape then to lose on 3 bases. It is better to let enemy escape then to win but with heavy casualties (aka as Pyrrhic victory)

I expect that using cell phones they would be able to communicate, so expect reinforcements from secondary bases to arrive, hopefully by the time we would have already beat the main base and set an ambush for them. Followed by tracking down those who are escaping thanks to elizabeth.

I second the notion of prioritizing depowerment via foci claiming over killing. But its ultimately up to their judgement on feasibility.
Accept surrenders with either permanent depowerment or just temporary holding without claiming enemy foci before we decide what to do with them (based on what they say). Heck, we might be able to de-brainwash some of the newer recruits and get them on our side (as per confirmation with elizabethe or mindhacker that they are not lying to us; do not mindhack anyone into our view though, if they cannot be convinced they get depowered, amnesia, and shown the door).

Regardless we should capture depowered enemy leadership for our mind-hacker to find out what they really know; their exact tenents; their sales pitch to new recruits; training methods, etc.

Another advantage with the ganging up on each base with the doctor's device that transfers BP we could be used to recharge us after each base. So not only do we minimize casualties but we actually focus fire and hit the 3 bases one after the other without a break in between, take out main base, recharge BP, go after secondary bases.

As far as BP recharging goes. Ideally the doc could design a disposable container and a device that can manufacture it (maybe by using a small portion of the BP it collects to form the disposable carrying shell? like, make it a gummy candy?). So, willingly drain BP, transfer to main container, transfer to disposable containers (plural), distribute blue potions. That way there is no risk of losing the devices that are used to make the blue potion; and it gives us one heck of a trade good (Say, give 50 BP to get 10BP potion, other 4 to be used as a trade good, which people can buy with foci or trade with each other... extras are given freely to anyone who participate in missions as well as being used as a reward for any mission participation).

I dunno. The problem with series instead of parallel is it gives the enemy more room to maneuver and/or counterattack, and the overall length of fighting will be longer (giving D7 more time to respond and intervene, and tiring our people out more).

Plus, having the heavy hitters spearhead everything means less xp/foci/combat experience for the weaker people. I'd kind of like some of them to be able to cut their teeth.

(Besides, the party always gets split into smaller battles anyways. We might as well divide it into balanced groups of our choosing, if we can).

Not that preventing attrition of our own forces due to losses or Pyrrhic victories isn't important! But it's kind of hard to say how big a concern that is without knowing how small a threat the smaller bases are- and how big our numerical advantage actually is.

...and while rollover abuses of the BP-draining tubes would be nice, they're currently in the shop being upgraded. An easily passed around and separable version of the blue potion would be nice, though.

After mulling over the available information, you split your men up as best you can. With only a minimal idea of what kind of numbers the enemy has, you have to do based on your own thoughts, and really, that's mostly guess work. Still, you think you have something that should work. You inform Cass that she'll be coming with you, which only warrants a nod as the other woman seems lost in thought, and give the others their assignments as well. Chris and Michelle will be assaulting a base, with orders to raise it to the ground. Nicole will be headed out with Aria, attempting to capture someone of importance so that you could have George start digging through his head. The rest of the men are split as best you can figure out amongst the three targets, with another split made to have people defending the base. That should work for now.

Everyone splits off after that, headed their own ways to prepare for the assaults being mounted. You check on Twinda, who's still lazily digging through all the shit Marc left behind, and nod in appreciation as another bank account is found. Resources are always good to have.

You have a little time before it's time to head out, so it might be a good idea to prepare yourself a little bit, or perhaps talk to someone.

>>>Input Command

So... Elizabeth didn't have anything to add? Too bad. And she's not coming with anyone? I suppose that's tactically sound as then we don't have to protect her, or risk bringing her strait to her hunters, and she doesn't like combat, and can serve as an early warning beacon for home base if there's any trouble, but waah- I want to score her some XP! (Maybe we can afford to divert some of our share of the foci loot her way. Do an XP-share that way).

>Twinda
It should go without saying that she's coming. Her backup in the short term is more useful than hunting down resources we can use in the long term. (Hmm. Hopefully a Linda/Cass/Twinda combo is enough to put down Trevor while our backup handles his).

I guess we can think about investing some of those monies after she's done unearthing them all. We may at least have to do something about accounts Marc had in his own name- if his death becomes public knowledge we might lose those funds.

>Chris and Michelle
>raze it to the ground
Oof. Demons-girl and stormtrooper-demon girl? Careful with those orders. Standard "you don't have to kill 'em" rules should apply. Although I hope there's someone with a little less killatude among their support team.

>Prepare
Have someone make sure the new teammembers have comms.

>Talk
I don't think we have time to get into Aria's recruitment plan right now (after the fights, maybe). So maybe ask Cass what Havers means to her (I don't think anyone else noticed).

Masturbate furiously.

>>497033
Wow, text quests don't usually attract that kind of suggestion. We didn't even get one of those when we started off alone in our room with no idea what to do! :V

It's like a milestone or something.

After making some last minute preparations, and ensuring that the newest members of the team have comms on them, you head off in search of Cass, who you eventually find waiting by the entrance impatiently. She still seems distracted, so much so that she doesn't even notice you until you begin talking.

"Hey Cass."

"Hm? Oh. Linda, hey, how's it going?"

"You just seemed a bit distracted is all. I was wondering if there was anything on your mind."

"Not really..."

"... Hm. Alright then. What's Havers mean to you?"

Cass jumps again at the mentioning of the name, and she immediately averts her eyes. She seems to get more uncomfortable as well, fidgeting in place and trying rather hilariously to find a way out of the conversation, and failing because she doesn't really have anyone besides you who could help her.

"Uh... it's... it's nothing, nothing at al-"

"Cass? Don't get so defensive. If you don't want to talk about it, I won't force you. I was just curious is all. I'll wait till you're good and ready."

"... Thanks for that. It's not something I really want to get into right now. Perhaps another time. Uh... you ready to go? It's about time."

"Yeah. Let's go beat down some fixers."

The cars are quickly filled with people, some newcomers with little experience in actual combat, others veterans, ready to lay down the hurt on people who had hurt them or those they cared about. In some way, it was like a gang, ready to defend their turf from an encroaching force. In another, it was a family, defending all of its members from pain and misery. Let's just hope everything goes well...

>>>Select Combatant
>Linda McCallahan
>Chris Wayneright
>Nicole Reed

Please tell me we get to run through all three battles? I don't want to command just one and have the others auto-resolve.

Assuming we're playing through in series my preferred order is:

Nicole, Christin (although I kind of think playing their route from Michele's perspective might be more interesting), Linda (save the boss route for last, obviously).

>Cass' discomfort
It's gotta be something benign and amusing like Linda's own secret mecha anime addiction (although it's become somewhat less of a secret since we got our own mech. And the sheer awesome of that has kind of pushed any guilty shame to the side). I mean really, what serious secrets would she be uncomfortable revealing to Linda after last night?

I have no strong feelings one way or another. Let's do what >>497741 suggests.

>Nicole Reed

You had arrived at your destination a few minutes ago, and were now waiting as the rest of your group got set up. You leaned against your car, smoking away the next few minutes as you regarded your target. The building looked uninteresting, and you guessed that if you hadn't known what it was, you'd have never given it a second look. Still, looking at it now, you could occasionally spot people coming in and out of it, and they didn't all look right in the head. You finish off your smoke break, the stand up straight, hearing someone behind you say it was time. Good. Let's hop to it.

You lead the charge, your fist putting a new entryway in the wall, and soon enough the sounds of combat can be heard all around you. You duck under some random asshole and smash his face in, all the while searching for someone specific to grab. You spot Aria duking it put with someone off to the side, a playful smirk spread across her face, but you quickly lose sight of her as you continue pushing forward. Then you are suddenly in a conference room, people fighting all around you, and you get a look at a few possible targets. There's a man standing on top of a table, firing off orders. There's another that looks important, people surrounding him protectively, although he doesn't seem to register it at all, kinda like little Elizabeth.

>>>Input Command

Hey, how you doing, 'Nic? How you feel about everything that's been happening? (Maybe battle isn't the best time for reflection, but it's not as if we get in your head very often).

You got a chance to tune your cool boots yet, or we doing this all with punches?

>Who target?
A commander, giving orders, might be a good person to take out if you want to shut the battle down quicker. And he's might have tactical information about the other installations.

But tactical layouts change. And if Linda wants to know what the fixers are really up to... the truth behind the message, and the slaughter? A creepy Elizabeth-type seems like the kind of person who would know. And the enemy usually protects things they don't want you getting to.

Although, be careful. If he's anything like her, the spacy guy might have a weird weapon like her wires or something.

So I'd say go for the spacy one, and maybe use weapon:environment to mess up the guy on the table as you go by to temporarily disrupt command (he is vulnerable to being flipped, or having something thrown at the table). You should be knocking out who you can, when you can though- a pulled punch to the head at the right time will take an enemy out of the fight, while they just come back from being killed. It gives your side an advantage, and leaves you a choice of people to loot and/or capture when the dust settles.

You know, you're actually feeling pretty good about all thi-

WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW!?

You quickly push the odd self contemplation out of your mind, focusing instead on the task at hand. Unfortunately, you haven't tuned the boots yet, although you're wearing them to get yourself used to the feeling and weight. Better to start that now than later, although it is slowing your kicks a little bit. Regardless, the boy is your decided target, the commander is just in the way at this point. You can spend a moment to make it easier on your allies, though...

You dart forward in a dead sprint, heading towards the table the leader is on. Instead of trying to take him head on, though, you throw yourself into a baseball slide under the object, building force in your fist until you pass under and jabbing upwards in the far edge, catapulting the would-be leader into the waiting fangs of your buddies. They descend on him with all the relish of people who've been threatened for a little too long, although they make sure to restrain from beating him too thoroughly. You smile to yourself. The arena had done some good, letting people test themselves and grow, while Cass had easily worked in some of the more accepted battle tactics, including avoiding the killing, however much she herself didn't follow that.

You drag your attention away and right yourself with your continued momentum, already angling yourself towards the boy. Before you can react, however, a man darts from the crowds and snatches said child up, disappearing into a doorway. You growl in frustration and start after him. Never get the easy way out...

You quickly discover that the building itself is a maze of walls. You just spot the man disappear around a corner, but you are very much aware you could lose yourself in here if you just take off after him. Maybe it's time to start busting walls? Or maybe you could try that new power you felt welling up inside you, ready and quivering with excitement to use?

>>>Input Command

Rail cannon right through the maze after the guy? Oh hell yes.

We run the risk of losing him running the maze, and even wall-bursting takes time. Punching right through everything is better. And you gotta test this out.

Lead with one fist for punching through, while charging the other to hit the breaker with when you catch up. Also so you're ready in case your rail break runs out of momentum just as you get there.

20BP minus 3 manifest, maybe 1 for the wall, and 5 for the rail cannon puts you at 12-11.

You brace yourself, dropping to one knee as you feel power start to gather in your body. Every muscle in your body seems to tense up to impossible levels, everything pulled tight, expectant, waiting. Mere seconds pass as the process completes, then, in a burst of motion, force, power, you find yourself at the wall, through the wall, the next as well, and the next and the next. You carve a line of destruction straight through the walls in your path, going headfirst through everything, and just as your momentum slows and your body returns to normal, you suddenly collide with someone and smash into the ground.

You groan in pain as your face protests the sudden broken nose you'd given yourself, and you drag yourself back onto you feet and face this new person. Sure enough, the man has the boy in his arms. He glances up at you in surprise, then unceremoniously tosses the boy to the side like a rag doll and stand to face you, stance perfect. A boxer, from what you'd guess. Or something similar. Someone like you, then. Should make this fight a little more interesting. You test a jab and his direction, which he expertly blocks and counters, but you've already dipped out of his reach by the time it comes.

Not bad. Not bad at all. You begin circling each other, each measuring the other. This might actually turn out to be a decent fight...

>>>Input Command

Ouch. You may need to fine tune your technique, using that. Aim for more of a rocket punch than a rocket face. ...although I guess a broken nose slows you down less than a broken hand would.

Hmm. I'd say our immediate advantage is he doesn't know about your force charge up thing. If you build the force up while trading a few regular blows, he won't be expecting it when you slam him. You can fake him out into blocking something he's not blocking without breaking his arms, instead of dodging. Which then gives you a nice easy opening to hit him in the head and knock him out.

Be sure to throw a glance the kid's way, when you can or the circling allows it. He may not be a direct combat type, but he may still have a trick up his sleeves. Elizabeth sure does. It would suck to be caught from behind by some weird thing while engrossed with this guy.

If you do find yourself attacked on two fronts, your immediate focus may shift to dodging the hell out of the way. Or putting some rubble between you and them.

Actually, don't be afraid to use the terrain as a weapon. That last thing you did will have smashed up the area pretty good, and combining weapon:enviroment and the ability to either swing or kick rubble into position could be pretty nasty.

The circling motion continues for a few seconds more, and you take the opportunity to take a peek at the boy. He seems to be just as spacy as your own space cadet, little Elizabeth, but for whatever reason, he's actually starting to get up... that could be bad, couldn't it? It just so happens that there is all this rubble around, so why not just...

You kick a piece of rock up into your own grasp, then deck the kid with it, the rubble slamming into the side of his head with just enough force to knock him out. This leaves you a little exposed to your opponent, who wastes no time in surging forward, quickly placing you on the defensive. Blows are traded, blocked, and countered, but you find the man to be better at the technique of it then you are. Kicks aren't going to help much either, you're too slow at the moment, with the added weight of these boots. A trump card easily presents itself however. You've been steadily building force in your gloves, and with amount you have right now...

You send a light jab his way, the man predictably blocking it with his forearm, even as you release your weapon's fury on him. The shatter of bone is quickly followed by the man getting hurled into and through the wall behind him, and you quickly move to make sure he's down for the count. You quickly find this confirmed, even more so when your allies come to join you. You set about directing them, telling them to tie up those still alive(most of them, as it turns out, only one fought till death), and to grab the boy above all others. He was to be handled with... caution. You'd seen what Elizabeth could do when she felt spurred into action, and you didn't want to chance things with this one. Only thing left to do now was to call it in. Loot for everyone. You hoped you'd get a good share out of it at least.

>>>Select Next Target
>Chris Wayenright
>Linda McCallahan

Well, you can always disarm the kid, Nic. Just hold onto his focus and the space cadet can't do much. Plus, if he isn't feeling talkative, Elizabeth can always take a look at it and see what he does.

>Who next
Chris! Swordgirl. Twenty-third demon and those other demons. Linda and Cass are almost certainly gonna have the boss fight with Trevor- save them for last.

indeed.
Linda's prolly FINAL DESTINATION, so let's make sure samurai agent girl is ok.

>10 Minutes into the Past

You stand perfectly rigid and yet oddly relaxed, the expectation of combat doing more to calm your nerves than to excite you. For the past ten minutes, counted out to the second since before you could even notice you were doing so, you have been in the pseudo-meditation. Your breathing is calm. Relaxed. Ready. You know that there are a few around you, fellow agents of the Master, that are expecting you to lead them. You know you will have to disappoint. You are not a leader. You are a follower. And an agent of death when it comes to battle.

Suddenly, you feel the shift. The young one, Michelle, if you remember correctly, has manifested not her serpent, but the wolf-bull. Behemoth. The Creature roars in rage and barely hidden excitement, then begins its charge, smashing through the walls and into the complex, Michelle herself hanging back with a few guards. You note a few routes you could take quickly. Many of your own allies are splitting off to hunt for other targets to deal with through out the compound. The idea has some appeal to you, you are used to working more or less alone. Still, Master has always emphasized teamwork, and while you doubt the monster of an avatar would be easily defeated, you suppose you could choose to support the creature as well.

You can already hear the cry of battle and the song of death beginning. You have little time to make your decision.

>>>Input Command

You are not the sledgehammer. You are the sword, the scalpel. A honed instrument of speed, precision, accuracy. Your master's tool and blade.

You cannot lead these people, but your master has made it clear in her own actions that she considers it a leader's responsibility to protect. She turned on her one time leader, the collector of avatars, when he turned his back on this responsibility. You can fulfill that responsibility. You can stay with the group and cut down those that would divert the sledgehammer. You can keep the resolve of the lesser fighters strong when they see they have your blade to depend upon.

Remember your own experiences- for all an avatar's strength, it is nothing if its master can be brought down. And teamwork was what brought about the collector's defeat, and your own (your rescue?). You will not allow your enemies to rally, or to apply these tactics, today.

Yes. You are a precise instrument of death, a scalpel to cut away that which seeks to harm, not a sledgehammer to unreservedly destroy all around you. Your purpose is clear. Your allies require your attention more than any personal feelings. The master will be pleased.

A quick glance at the young Michelle sees her other avatar, Leviathan, wrapped securely around her, keeping her from any immediate harm. That leaves one problem taken care of. The other is the possible rallying of the enemy. You follow along quickly behind Behemoth, his destructive tendencies leaving an easy trail to follow, and eventually come upon some sort of balcony. Behemoth rages below, some of your allies alongside him keeping the enemy off of the beast's back. Still, you notice a group forming among the enemy, composed mostly of those wielding guns, and you smile slightly to yourself.

Yes. This path was good to take.

You step across the balcony till you are above this group, then drop off the side, landing crouched among them. You feel the surprise from those around you, people beginning to scatter again, but they are too slow. Much too slow.

Muramasa slides from its resting place, the beautiful blade seeming to sparkle and the soft hiss as it leaves its sheathe like music. And then only the deadly dance of your craft is left. You dance among your foes, Muramasa biting into flesh and bone, cutting them away, leaving those behind you unable to fight. You remembered your master's words. Disable instead of kill. Defeat, but do not end. As your dance ends, all those who had once been able were missing limbs, some arms, some hands, others legs. All will survive. None will be continuing to offer resistance.

Still, one escaped your dance. Another wielder of guns, the woman much like the master. A revolver spins in her hand, and a crazy grin spreads along her face.

"HAHAHAHAH! I thought I'd have to go hunting for you fuckers, and instead you all come to me! Yes! YES! Come then, let's do this!"

She is... loud. Obnoxious...

>>>Input Command

She's the leader. Disable her and be sure to take all her foci.

Holy fuck. Maria? I expected her to be at breaker HQ, and the boss the whole party had to deal with.

...well, all in all, it's not a bad match-up. Of our three groups, this is probably the strongest pair, with two avatars and our melee speed demon. Chris is possibly the best match for Maria, maybe even more than Linda. She's even more finessed up, and we'd seen before with devastating effect how gun users are at a disadvantage and pressed by her build. And unless Maria's upgraded, she doesn't have the firepower to deal directly with the demons (though if Chris were out of the picture, she might be able to dance around them while killing Michelle).

Immediately: we're going to need to focus on her. Leave the remaining enemy to your allies and the demons to mop up. This one is strong, and requires your full attention.

Our first problem is Maria's personal power that allows her to power through a fatal injury and keep moving. That's going to be very dangerous at melee range, as it exposes us to otherwise impossible counter-attacks, and death-for-death trading. It will also prevent us from being able to disable and/or cheap-shot her, ending the fight while she still has BP. This also means Maria can lock Chris into a chain kill, but we can't lock her into one.

The second problem is the disparity in BP. Maria had a pool of 37 a two months ago, has been killing non-stop since then, and Chris can only cut through those points one of those at a time. We don't have Linda's bullet burst, or the Doc's tubes to burn though her reserves. We do have Leviathin, but I'm not sure if he still knows Siphon after we broke time. There's also the problem neither of Michelle's demons has the finesse to target her easily. Although if Levi were to use Siphon, Chris could always imitate the tactic she saw the stone angel used before- and use her speed to feed Maria too him.

Speaking of the bullet burst, this is Linda's opposite, and we know she's offense focused. There's a serious risk she knows battlefield instinct. The only way I can think to counter that is if we can get one of the avatars to tank the hit, or if we used Chris' Instant Movement to blink past the attack and counter from behind. (Both parties lose 5BP, but we avoid being killed and Maria loses a life).

Maria's evasion, power through death, and the BP gap can be somewhat countered by altering our mode of attack. Instead of targeting her, target her weapon. Muramasa should cut right through her gun like butter. She'll spend more BP on remanifestation than she would on respawn, and it makes her automatic power through recovery irrelevant. Alternatively- if you miss the gun, feel free to disarm her. Literally. She'll still have to respawn, and her ability will still kick in, but she'll still have to spend BP either breaking her weapon back to her hand (if she's got active break) or manifesting.

...this also hinges on our knowledge of her abilities and past performance. Which Chris won't know unless she's heard the story from someone else in the group.

This is a leader among the enemy. A powerful foe. The woman who almost killed your master. Who hunts her daughter. Who seeks to undo her work. You will defeat her, claim her weapon for your master, and drag the unworthy churl before her.

[Damn, your rolls are good...]

The leader of the enemy, it would seem. Skilled as well. Regardless, your course is set. An opponent of skill has been found, and you must test yourself. Muramasa disappears into its resting place again, while you crouch down, one knee against the ground to balance yourself, body relaxed and tense all at once. You feel rather than know the techniques you use, and try as you might, you can't feel yourself place names to things, but you feel your actions easily. For a moment, the world stills, and you feel this woman suddenly seem to notice you in particular, instead of just everyone in general.

"Eh? What the hell is tha-"

Step Forward. Blink. Draw. Cut. Sheathe. Step Back. Crouch.

The woman, maybe by luck, maybe by skill, or maybe by broken reality, seems to evade your strike, but just barely, Muramasa leaving a thing cut along your opponents stomach that you can tell is quite painful. She'll be distracted from her tasks for sure, now.

"Wha- THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

The woman suddenly manifests another revolver, the pair gleaming, and just as suddenly, you notice the firing hammers start to slide forward. She attacks, even at this close range. Blinking won't be necessary. Just strike.

Step Forward. Draw. Cu-

The woman learns quickly, dragging her body backwards even as she keeps her revolvers trained on their prey, the bullets coming out of them almost too quickly to catch. Almost. You turn a strike into a parry, even against bullets, and Muramasa gleams twice before resting once again, the bullets aimed at you neatly bisected and flicked to the sides. You admit yourself a little surprised, not aware you had the skill to perform the task, but quickly surmise that you probably could not do such at long ranges. The close proximity allowed you to observe her firing her weapons, adding a precious second to react.

The woman snarls in annoyance, seeing you clearly matching her stride for stride, and backpedals a little to provide herself room to manuever. I briefly contemplate following her, only to have two of the enemy block my path. They are incapacitated with ease, but have left her the time necessary to gain some ground. Incapacitating this one will be... difficult.

"DAMNIT! DAMNITDAMNITDAMNIT! I'M NOT EVEN HERE FOR YOU! WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE IS SHE!?"

The woman seems intent on hunting someone else. Although she stills faces you warily. You don't relish your chances of surprising her again, not with your previous tricks, but still, you must close the distance to kill. Unless, perhaps, you can somehow call upon Little Michelle.

>>>Input Command

She has skill, but seems to lack mental discipline.
Perhaps a defense she cannot penetrate, facilitated by your speed, combined with some taunting would provoke her into making a careless mistake, one that you could capitalize on?

Down a blink. That puts us down to 21BP. Maria's down a manifestation cost (of course, we don't know how high that is, or how big her pool is). I can't believe no one died, though. That's amazing.

...we'll have to be careful with blinks, though. Those burn through BP fast, and Maria has a bigger pool than Chris. Unless we got lucky and caught her not at full power. (Really would make her Linda's opposite, wouldn't it? :V).

>I'M NOT EVEN HERE FOR YOU! WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE IS SHE!?
She is... the one who swore an oath against your master? The woman the seer child sees hunting her in her visions?

Perhaps, should she be survive, you will drag her before them.

>tactics review
...well, cutting her guns probably isn't going to work. She's fast enough to dodge Chris out of a blink with only a scratch. And the guns are a small target, and likely the fasting moving part of her.

Tag teaming her with an avatar, or counting a possible battlefield instinct with an avy tanking it, or blinking past the attack, might still work.

>Unless, perhaps, you can somehow call upon Little Michelle.
Not a bad idea. Master emphasizes teamwork, and after fighting Conner, you have seen how avatars can work together. Only this time you fight besides them, filling the doll's speed and blink role, rather than against them. And the three of you will not be so careless as to leave Michelle as exposed as he was.

Use communicator your master left you with. (...we gave one to Michelle, right?). This one is strong- she matches me speed for speed. I request your assistance.

If Behemoth presses her- she'll be forced to use her finesse to dodge and avoid. Which opens an opportunity for you to strike- she can only dodge so much at once. And her weapons will be ineffective against such a beast. If she changes to a larger, more powerful weapon to face the beast, as your master could, this also presents an opportunity. It will slow her down, and make it much harder for her to track you, or avoid your attacks.

The real, unknown danger, is what additional powers she may have. She seems strong enough to have one, and you have seen firsthand what happens when your master releases a hail of bullets in an instant.

>[Damn, your rolls are good...]
I have noticed the dice being pretty forgiving since we came out of hiatus. Guy hasn't suffered any significant failures yet, and Nicole prettymuch had a flawless run.

...making the roll to cut bullets out of the air is insanely impressive though, I'll admit.

>taunting
Not exactly Chris' strong suit. Maria seems obviously agitated she can't find who she's looking for though (Linda or Elizabeth, presumably). It wouldn't take much to exploit that. "We are not fools enough to bring your prey to you. You will not find her here."

"We are not fools enough to bring your prey to you. You will not find her here."

The woman reacts to you finally talking, looking slightly pleased. She seems to focus around her a moment, then smiles a little more to herself before turning back to you.

"She isn't here then? Damn. Still, just means I can go wild without having to lose anything out of it. Don't really know who you are, but you're in my way. Lay down and die, or fight and die, either one is fine with me."

She starts firing again, rounds headed my way, but expecting the attacks makes dodging much easier, and I'm behind some cover before she really manages to focus on me. Regardless, some aid against this one would be much appreciated. Little Michelle will help.

"This one is strong- she matches me speed for speed. I request your assistance."

"Wha- Huh? Oh. Oh! Yeah. The... the comm thingy... um... uh... here... ah! Yes. Um. Moth says he'll help. Levi wants to guard me, in case I''m attacked."

"This is acceptable."

The gun fire continues, although you are certain she's reloaded twice already, when the far wall bursts open, sending rubble everywhere, and Behemoth comes through, roaring a challenge. With his aid, this should be much easier than fighting the woman alone.

"What the HELL!?"

Behemoth wastes little time in charging his prey, the woman firing off a couple of rounds that do little before she begins focusing on weaving in and out of his strikes, just barely managing to avoid getting pummeled. Still, she seems to be doing alrigh, almost jovial in her emotions.

"HAHA! This thing? What the hell is this thing supposed to do? NOT hit me?"

"No. To distract."

The woman barely gets a glance at you before Muramasa bites into her flesh, cleaving one of her arms clean off. The woman does manage to dance away, however, gaining much needed ground. You stand with Behemoth, who rumbles a little in annoyance, observing her. She starts cursing loudly, before wrapping her arm in some cloth she drags from somewhere and glaring at you.

"That's not nice. You gonna fight me, you might as well do it fairly and kill me at least."

>>>Input Command

>>523784
She said to disable. So I shall disable.

Huh. You're slipping into first person narration in a few places. Kind of jarring against the established use of second person.

>you might as well do it fairly and kill me
You see no reason to honor her request. Against a powerful opponent, injury holds more value than death. An injured opponent is slowed and weakened, left exposed to being rendered unconscious and ending the fight. A dead opponent will simply come back to life at full strength.

...and it's out of character knowledge, but with Maria's spirit ability, fatal injuries really don't slow her down much. She can power right through those.

And besides, you are following your master's wishes.

Continue the fight. Do not underestimate her, even injured.

Nice to see Maria's burning BP a good rate, though. And without even landing a kill so far. Chris is proving to be as much a problem for her as she did for Linda.

>just means I can go wild without having to lose anything out of it
Hmm. That language implies she was looking for someone she wanted alive- Elizabeth, not Linda. ...I wonder if she even remembers Linda? Their only encounter was two months ago- the nonexistence might have kicked in.

Oh lovely. It's also possible that when Linda got away, Maria pretty much considered Linda her own personal DULUUUUUUUU!!!!
And that rage just powered through the non-existance thing, so she'll remember Linda. This means enemies will remember Linda if they dislike her enough, so it's something to be wary of.

Oh, right. We might need some actual tactics in there.

Do the tag team thing with 'Moth. If she's dodging his strikes- she's open to your sword. If she's dodging your sword- it's into his fangs and claws.

You could even ride his initial charge- put his power behind your speed for your initial attack.

"She said to disable. I will disable."

Behemoth charges forwards again, ready to rip and tear, but suddenly he's shoved backwards, the crack of something far stronger than a revolver echoing inside the room. As Behemoth falls back a little, you spot something new in your adversaries arsenal, what looks to be a shotgun, possibly causing the new hole in Behemoth's face.

"Wait... you said she... you know! YOU KNOW! WHERE IS SHE!?"

The woman cocks the shotgun in an almost Hollywood fashion and fires into Behemoth again, then simply drops the thing and draws a revolver, this aimed at you. You've pushed forward though, trying to close the distance, and as you see the her finger squeeze the trigger, you try for a second attempt at parrying bullets.

All six rounds from the gun fire. Not a one touches you, Muramasa intercepting each and sending them skittering away. At the same time, you close again, again, Muramasa sliding into its resting place as you crouch literally right in front of her, eyes focused on the woman.

Breath in. Cut. Breath out. Sheathe.

She doesn't dodge this in time, not to fully escape Muramasa, but she does manage to dance away enough to leave only a deep gash in her other arm. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Behemoth retreating, Little Michelle likely too emotionally attached to let him, young as he is, get too injured. Some sort of maternal thing, you think. Instead, you feel a rumble from the earth, and Leviathan rips it's way out of the ground, looking to consume its prey. The woman bounces away from this, using the force of Leviathan's entry to propel herself to the top of the balcony recently vacated, the woman snarling in anger. Then static happens, and you see the woman pick herself back up again, shotgun pumping with her one good arm, the other neatly dressed and bleeding stopped. It seems she has some skill at healing herself.

"Seriously?! Two god damned monster things, and the crazy sword chick? What the fuck? How is this even remotely fucking fair?"

Leviathan lunges, only to have its eye torn into by a shotgun burst to the face, the beast roaring in pain and challenge. You attempt your own rush as Leviathan is moving, only to have to retreat behind cover, pistol rounds keeping you at bay. Still, there's no way she could have switched weapons that quickly unless...

>>>Input Command

She's either got a power that lets her change her arsenal (Did we see something like that as a possibility for Linda?) Or she's breaking like crazy to make it happen. Either way, she's probably burning BP like mad to do that.
To continue the taunting: 'You're so focused on vengance, you recall her when others do not. when you share your tale of vengance, others see you as mad.'
I doubt Chris will say that, but if my hunch is right, she will lose it in one way or another. Too berzerk to think straight, or just plain old roll over and join the defeated boss crew.

>...you know! YOU KNOW! WHERE IS SHE!?
If she wants to know so badly, you'll show her. Should she survive, you'll drag her before her.

>Then static happens, healing herself
Huh. Looks like she has active break now. But why heal her arm broken, instead of healing it back...

>there's no way she could have switched weapons that quickly unless...
The severed arm. The god damn severed arm is armed and firing at us. She's responded to multiple attackers by converting her severed limb to a drone to keep us busy!

Disarm the arm. Feed it to one of the beasts, if you have to.

>Seriously?! Two god damned monster things, and the crazy sword chick? What the fuck? How is this even remotely fucking fair?
Pff. Oh god, her reaction was exactly what I thought. Suck it, bitch.

An arm. You are not sure whether to be confused or to applaud the woman for her ingenuity. If she could not have her arm back, she would simply use it another way. Regardless, it is becoming troublesome. A quick glance around shows where the offending appendage is, and rather fortuitously, Leviathan notices it as well. The beast roars a challenge, getting shot in the face again for it, before it lunges after the thing, it's snake like body creating coils and twists in itself as the snake chases the arm around the room in something that would most likely be comical to anyone but you. Since it is you, however, you ignore the event in exchange for using the newly acquired walkways of Leviathan's body to reach the balcony and start your own assault. The shotgun proves a powerful weapon, especially against you, who can only move so quickly against so many pellets, so you do the logical thing. You cut the shotgun in two, destroying any use it might have. The woman easily drops the weapon in favor of her pistol, drawing it amazingly quickly and firing again, this time at near point blank. Still, your increasing skill and experience with cutting bullets from the air aids you, and the bullet is just an inconvenience. So are the next five rounds, each merely neatly parried, even as the woman proves just as capable at dodging your own lightning fast sword, seemingly keeping just a hair's breadth away from having her arm cut clean off. The two of you begin a deadly dance, bullets flying and sword flashing as death blows are traded and evaded, yet neither can effectively gain the upper hand.

Finally, you both find purchase on the ground again, both facing off against each other, and both nearly breathless with the physical exertion. Exhaustion is starting to set in, and you doubt this can continue without one of you making a mistake.

The woman evidently comes to the same conclusion, taking a deep breath before speaking again.

"This is getting us nowhere. How about we have ourselves a little duel, yeah? Easy like. You do your little vanishing, sword drawing thing at me, and I see if I can hit you before you make it to me. Whichever of us wins walks away the victor. Agreed?"

... She does not seem to be lying.

>>>Input Command

Can I just say that if Linda saw that last fight her inner fangirl would probably be squealing in glee? Cause that looked awesome when I saw it in my mind's eye.
Either way...I'm thinking let's play that game. This fight's definately stalled with Levi chasing the arm around, and I don't know if re spawn breaking fixes little things like you being out of stamina. I'd think it would? But let's not test it out...

Instead of going straight at her with a blink I think we should do it to the side she is lacking an arm. Or if possible behind her.

Exhaustion works more to our advantage than hers. If she's tired, she can't outrun Michelle's monsters, who likely tire slower than either of you.

>this so anime
>Linda inner fangirl squealing
Pff. Probably.

>duel
Goddamnit, this would be the perfect time for the dice to fail us. We can't afford to have Chris die or be taken prisoner. ...although a Maria victory could just mean Chris lets her walk away, or that she drops out of the fight. Not that she allows herself to be taken or killed. And there's no guarantee the demons will honor the deal. If Maria has to run from them, Chris is safe. And neither does defeat mean we have to surrender the information she wants. Your first obligation is to your master, not a code of honor between combatants. You will not betray her.

That said, if Chris wins, we are so taking her in.

Fuck, do it anyways. Bust out all the tricks. Normality the enviroment- full on Samurai duel with illusionary cherry blossoms blowing in the wind that isn't there. Appear where-ever she is most vulnerable. Violate conservation of momentum if you have to- appear wall running (or wall crouching) to get yourself the surprise you need if you have to.

>I don't know if re spawn breaking fixes little things like you being out of stamina
I'm pretty sure previous fights have established it doesn't. Death avoidance cures physical injuries that haven't been healed to 'permanency', but that's it. Breakers still run down even when dying. Linda v Jake is a good example.

"Accepted."

The woman takes a place directly opposite you, the revolver reloading and then being placed in a holster at her hip. She looks almost like the typical gunslinger of the west, and you swear you can see the sun setting behind her for dramatic effect. You choose your own stance, knees only slightly bent, one hand holding Muramasa, the other grasping and steadying the sheathe. At this point, it is all or nothing. You notice, oddly, that sakura petals seem to be blowing around you, swirling in impossible ways, but you quickly ignore them, focusing entirely upon your enemy. Both of you remain tensed, expectant, waiting...


Then tension becomes action, and both of you move impossibly fast. Six bullets are in the air within seconds, buy you're not where they were aimed, instead blinking to the ceiling, using that instant movement's worth of momentum to keep you there for a mere second. The woman proves equal to the challange, however, manually reloading faster than you can follow and firing off another volley. Again, you are simply not there, instead appearing right in front of the woman, stance unbroken, perfectly placed to do what you do best. Even as you complete the action, the name for it finally comes to you. The art of drawing and striking as one movement.

Iai.

For a moment, there is nothing. Only silence. Then the woman falls back, her arm dropping to the floor, blood pouring out of the newly opened wound. You replace Muramasa in its resting place, staring down at the woman.

"Yeah... damn... fast as shit, you little fucker. I'll hold up my end. Do what you want... fuck. Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"Twenty- thr-" You pause, remembering. That's right. The master gave you a... name. "Chris. Chris Wayneright."

"Ha... that's... that's good. Maria. Just Maria. Well... can't do much now, can I? Foci are in the left pocket, by the way. I don't need to get felt up or anything, like everyone else seems to want to do... damn... losing a lot of blood here..."

You bandage this... Maria's... arm, then step back, wondering if there is anything else to do here before reporting in and returning home.

>>>Switch to Linda or Input Command

Holy fuck. Maria's down. ...and Chris didn't take a hit the whole time. Another flawless takedown, just like with Linda. And she didn't even have railroading on her side!

>what do
Take her foci.

Ask her a simple question. Who was she looking for? If she describes Linda (she was looking for her rematch) inform Maria that she is your master- that she bested you, and leads your group. If she describes Elizabeth, ask Maria why the child with the visions is so important to her. Why did she hunt her, what were her plans? (You overhead the girl tell your master of her visions that day, and your master will want to know). Actually, ask that as a follow up, even if she wasn't looking for Elizabeth.

If she complies, honor her skill and cooperation by taking a moment to break her arms back (outside of a battle all it should take is concentration, no active break required). You may leave her normal, but it would be a shame to leave her crippled.

"Who were you looking for?"

You ask the question as you collect Maria's foci, leaving her without breaking anymore. She frowns for a moment, then shrugs a little, clearly just having a mental debate with herself.

"Some girl, sees visions or something. The boss wanted her for something. I don't know. I'm just an Assault Captain, I kill things. Or rather, killed things."

You nod to yourself. This is good information. Perhaps more could be extracted. You will drag her before the master. She will have more questions you think. Still, this one was a worthy opponent. She should not be left crippled. You ,however, will not be attempting a healing. You know how that could turn out badly. Instead, the one called Rodriguez shall perform the action required.

>>>Swtich to Linda or Input Command

>>524117
To LINDA!

Lets see how we fair against someone who can block our bullets.

All right. You did well. (Fantastically awesome, actually). Collect your prisoner, supervise the mop up and extraction. Get your people out clean before your former masters arrive. Thank Michelle for her assistance at some point.

We don't need to supervise that, though. Perspective swap- Linda. Linda, Twinda, Cass v Trevor. Callback boss fight number two is a go.

>I don't know.
Hmm. Rules out my crazy theories that Maria might have been the one who shot her in the face. Or that she might have been her mother.

You sit idly in your ride over, Cass in the seat next to you. Niether of you are particularly talkative at the moment, although maybe it's only because you haven't really though up anything to say. Cass seems lost in her thoughts, and you don't really know if you should interrupt those thoughts or not. Regardless, the silence is broken when someone raps on the window.

"Hey! Time to get the party started."

You get out and head take another look at your target. The building is clearly being used for something illegal, but you doubt the local authorities would have been able to do anything anyway. The entire building is surrounded by a wall, topped with barbed wire. The fixers are well prepared for conventional assault. Too bad, you aren't conventional. Twinda sends you a thought message, stating she is in place. Good. Everyone here is as ready as they're gonna get as well. Time to hunt down this wolf bastard. You know he's here. He has to be.

The revving of a chainsaw next to you signals Cass' state of mind, and you give the signal, even as you start forward yourself. Moments later, the outer wall of this compound is breached, and the telltale sound of a rifle shot tells you Twinda's set to work as well. There are people everywhere, and Cass happily rushes into combat, chainsaw singing as she proceeds to start cleaving through people. That leaves you as the only really sane one of the two to search for Trevor. Or you suppose, you could just cause so much damage to his people that he's gotta come looking for you. A couple of guys come at you, but a pair of well placed shots to the face drop them, leaving them open to one of your men to knock them out.

Still, planning time. You always seem to plan best when your getting threatened with eminent death...

>>>Input Command

All right, Cass had to manifest her chainsaw, which starts he out at 28 BP. But we had Twinda, her rifle, and our handguns all out in advance. Which means Linda should be starting with a full tank.

>What do?
Depends on how the main battle looks. If you think your allies have things in hand, we can go ahead and try something while Cass and the troops deal with the people outside. But if you're at all concerned for your people, we drop into a support role. Do it like we did with the ballroom fight- dropping shots into enemies to cover for allies or give them opportunities.

If you do think Cass and co have thing in hand, I'd kind of like to dart ahead, and get into the building. Use the handguns to deal with any immediate scrubs, and then get your new specs on. With the wall-seeing we can infiltrate, find Trevor, and try shooting him through the walls with our rifle.

If you don't find him first though, he is going to find the two of you. The only thing slowing him down now is if he's in charge, he's organizing and giving orders before going to wolf form and engaging.

Best possible outcome really would be if we could get to him fast, actually. Remember Raphael and Maria- he couldn't do much as long as she kept killing him before he was fully into form. Ambushing his human form would make this a lot easier.

Remember that your handguns don't work on him (unless we can nail an eye or something). That means we need to use heavy ordinance for the wolf. The ice gun probably won't help much either- wolves are built to handle cold, and he looks strong enough to break out if you froze him.

Crap, too slow. ETA on Maria offing herself to regenerate, and having a handy last Foci somewhere on/in her person...

>>524249
Hmm. Unlikely. She can't easily suicide without her arms, and under Chris' supervision. And she'll be outnumbered and guarded when she gets back and is healed.

There might be the risk one of the prisoners has a tracking device on them, but interrogations / interviews are almost certainly going to involve Elizabeth and George (precog and mindreader for truthsense. Will and future seeing and fear itself for getting answers if they won't cooperate. Mind control if we can't get the answers another way). You'd think having an escape plan or gambit like that would be a thought close to the surface or an obvious future, if it was there. If she has a holdout, they'd know. Fast.

A bigger risk is the enemy might have ways of finding them we can't disable. We could kill an electronic bug- we can't stop someone with a powerset like Elizabeth or Raphael from hunting down their missing people. (Which means we're going to have to force the rest of the fixers to come to terms with us, or finish them off).

It couldn't hurt to ask Elizabeth the obvious question if she sees a counterattack or rescuing coming after we regroup.

>>524264
Bitten tongue, and an element of surprise (unless Chris keeps her under constant personal supervision).

>>524272
Her arms are broken 'permanently' gone, though. If if she does suicide, death avoidance doesn't fix that on respawn. Someone has to actually break her arms back.

And really, I don't think Maria has anything like that planned. She seems pretty straightforward in her methods.

You take a quick look around, trying to determine the flow of the battle. It doesn't necessarily look like your side is losing. If anything, Cass is kinda ripping apart the enemy with an almost brutal efficiency, which just serves to cause more havoc. You definitely could go off on your own to find Trevor safely, confident that Cass can hold down the fort here.

You take off, taking out a few people just for good measure, and you hit the compound proper, busting in with a combat roll and taking out another guy guarding the door. Sucks to be him. You hardly slow in your pace, sliding your x-ray glasses onto you face, already scanning around yourself to find the ass. It takes a few minutes of searching, and not a few run ins with some more guards, easily dispatched, before you finally spot the asshole. He's two floors up, and snarling orders at people from the looks of it. You manifest the rifle, smiling a little to yourself, before taking aim and pumping a round in his direction, adjusting your aim a little to compensate for there being two floor of concrete in between the two of you. Still, you peg him dead in the face, and he collapses backwards. You quickly follow with another shot, but instead of hitting him, his wolf thing foci comes out of nowhere, blocking the round with it's body, even as it begins to fade and Trevor shifts to his full bestial ferocity. You take aim again and fire, putting another round into him, but his hide seems tough enough to prevent any real damage. You prepare to take aim again, this time to aim for the eyes or through the mouth, only to have Trevor do something you probably would have thought of doing on your own.

Instead of trying to go for the stair, the monster literally smashes it's way straight through the floor, dropping down to the second level, then does the same again, dropping down to the first. It lets out a roar, then begins hunting for you, clearly catching on to your presence near immediately. Fucking, hell, the bastard is-

You fire off another round just as he rounds the corner, trying to aim for his eye, and peg him dead center on target, his skull exploding in a shower of gore. Regardless, you're up and moving, hoping to build some distance before he regens, only to have him barrel down after you, the sound of claws meeting floor distinctive and way too loud for him to be anywhere but right behind yo-

Just as you start to react, you feel a clawed hand rip into your torso, tearing out vital organs and sending you hurtling into the courtyard. You're back up and running before you even touch the ground, righting yourself and hefting your rifle, prepared for the inevitable follow on. He's right on you again, arm coming down on your fa-

A screaming chainsaw suddenly intercepts the arm, sending the wolf-man hurtling backwards through sheer force of strength. What quickly follows it is what you can only guess is a very, very insane Cass.

"COME HERE YOU LITTLE FUCKED UP BASTARD! I'M GONNA RIP OUT YOUR SPLEEN AND FUCKING CHOKE YOU WITH IT!"

Cass intercepts Trevor again, bloodlust written on her face, this time, she goes for a straight thrust to the man's face, the chainsaw cutting into his open jaw and pulping his skull again. His death avoidance occurs, only to have the chainsaw still in his face thanks to where it put him. And then his head is on fire and he's howling in pain and rage.

"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU YOU LITTE MANGY BASTARD! I'M I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU BLEED ENOUGH YET! COME HERE!"

Well... Cass certainly seems enthused, to say the least...

Linda BP: 29
Pistol Rounds: 48
Rifle Rounds: 6

Cass BP: 26

Trevor BP: 22

>>>Input Command

Good old Cass to the rescue. Linda- probably the only person in the world comforted by a chainsaw swung close by her face.

Hmm. Damn. Death number 17. And after we made it through the other two battles completely clean.

...well, at least we drew him out, got a free hit, and deprived the others leadership. And our death will have triggered bloody massacre for Cass, and I think she needs that strength boost against him. He was managing to out-strength her at the arena.

Kind of disappointed wolf-boy's hide stops the frigging tank gun. That's gonna slow this down. And his astral wolf thing can too! I wonder if covering for him like that takes a spirit ability?

>tactics
If you didn't lose or break your x-ray shades in the confusion (if you did, that's fine. You can spend a BP repairing or replacing them later) snatch them off- they're only going to distract you now.

Our primary advantage is you can back Cass up, turning the fight in her advantage. Don't let any of Trevor's allies try to turn that around, by helping him or attacking Cass. If anyone tries you can blast them (tank gun, or draw a pistol with your off hand, and holster when done) or Twinda can snipe them.

I don't know if he can manifest the wolf while he's in werewolf form, but that might try to get in the way, same as a breaker ally. As it's ethereal, I don't think physical damage will work on it. The ice gun might, though.

I would have thought we could have gotten away without using homing rounds, but if we're aiming for the eyes, we may need them.

We can take shots at his head when we can, but with Cass face to face with him, we may not get many of those shots. A better use might be making opportunities for Cass- our bullets may not penetrate Trevor's hide, but he can't resist the momentum of the blow. With correctly timed shots we could block a blow by blasting him in the paw or wrist, or knock him off balance with a slam to his ankle or knee. (Joint shots may have the additional bonus of breaking something, even if it doesn't put a hole in him. If that happens, we could always try breaking the injury 'permanent' to hinder him further). We can also one-two strike him from multiple angles with Twinda (although she only has so many shots). We could also try strategically placed ice shots- fire at the ground below Trevor just as he lunges or something to get him to slip (wolves should be somewhat good at ice, but he's big, and a lot of weight hitting a lot less friction than it expects will have an effect). I doubt cartoon ice could make a wall he couldn't break though, but it could potentially be used to support Cass at the right moment- give her solid ground to stand on if it's smashed under her, or the immovable object she needs to push off against.

Battlefield instinct will be expensive to try, and we'd need to use the tank gun exactly when we had an open shot at the head (every shot into it, or down through the exploded head into the body). That's 9BP (5 for the ability, and a homing reload before and after) for 10 deaths, if it works. Not the safest bet, or something I really favor. ...if we get pressed by lesser fixers though, you could draw both pistols and take advantage of the ability letting you split your shots- we could take down an entire attacking group at once- using break sight to drop just as many bullets as required into each.

You resolve to let Cass handle the big wolf-man, opting instead to act as support. Twinda should be running fairly low on ammo, but that doesn't mean you ever will. An asshole with a gun tries to take a shot at Cass, but it's kinda difficult to aim without your eyes. And the most of the rest of your head.

You quickly find yourself a nice point with which to keep an eye on Cass while still watching over the rest of the courtyard, occasionally shooting someone getting a little too close to the fight. Still, you can't imagine Cass being any more insane than she was, only to get proven wrong as she seems to delve deeper into her own madness to draw out even more strength

"YOUR BLOOD IS SOOOOO WARM~ MORE! MORE! MORE! GIVE ME MORE!"

Even Trevor's looking a little off balance with all this shit going on, although he's still putting up a hell of a fight. Chainsaw and claws meet again, Trevor just barely managing to push the spinning blades to the side, getting his paws cut up in the process. He snarls something too low for you to hear, but whatever it is, it sets Cass giggling like a schoolgirl. Then her chainsaw is whipped around impossibly fast to bury itself in Trevor's furry chest, the blades spinning across the tender flesh within and spilling his guts onto the floor. Static and he's back, only for Cass to suddenly smash a piece of debris over his head, sending him reeling. She backs off only long enough to grab what looks like a downed telephone pole, which is then used as a club to repeatedly smash the wolf-man into the concrete. Well... points for style, you suppose.

Your attention is suddenly grabbed when you notice a group of your followers duking it out with a group of fixers. They don't seem to be in too much trouble, but still, it could hurt to help. You direct Twinda to the issue, then notice Trevor's number drop again before he rolls up and away, snarling again. Hey look, his face is nice and unguarded... You fire, and only just miss his exposed eye, although the round still sends him reeling in surprise, and then Cass smashes him into the ground one more time before discarding her now useless telephone pole in favor of taking up her chainsaw again. The giggling starts up again, this time because Cass apparently has a splendid idea. She darts towards her prey, who for once seems more like he just wants away from the crazy bitch, and slams the chainsaw into his shoulder, dragging him down and pinning him to the ground by driving the other side into the ground. She straddles the monster-man, that smile growing almost sexual in nature as she slide her fingers along the man's stomach.

"Ah... so strong, aren't you? So ready and willing to kill... Your kind are always the best to kill."

Cass gives her wicked smile, then drives her fist into Trevor's stomach. The first punch just seems to bounce off, but the one that follows breaks through his hide and into his stomach area, pushed through with sheer insane strength. Trevor screams in pain, and Cass just starts laughing along with him, slowly pulling out his intestines in front of his eyes.

"FUNFUNFUNFUNFUNFUNFUNFUN! SOOOOOOO MUCH FUUUUUUUN!"

Trevor dies, mercifully saving him from further torment, and then it's Cass who gets launched into a wall, a clearly surprised look on her face. Death comes much quicker for her, but now Trevor seems even more feral in nature than before.

"I'm gonna KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING INSANE BITCH! AS MANY GOD DAMNED TIMES AS IT TAKES!"

Trevor starts to stalk forwards, but you drive him back with a few well placed shots, and he glares in anger at you. Still, checking Cass' BP, whatever she's doing is draining her fast. She doesn't have a lot of time left.

Linda BP: 29
Rifle Rounds: 1
Pistol Rounds: 48

Cass BP: 12

Trevor BP: 14

Geeze. This can't be healthy for her. We'll have to set aside some Cass hangout/therapy time for later.

Alright. This would be working, except bloody massacre's drain is too steep. In the time it's taken her to kill him 8 times, she's only gone down once, but she's bled off another 13 points. That ain't sustainable. At this rate, she dies first.

Support isn't enough. We got step this up and take a more active role.

Our only real option to do enough damage quick enough is Battlefield Instinct. But since he can shrug off blows, and since we have less ammo with the rifle, we need to set this up so every shot counts. Each round right through the eye, or down the mouth, or down past the bloody pulp that was his head into his body cavity. (We can't just shoot from the side so the first round pulps his head, and then the remaining 9 have nowhere to go).

We duped Twinda in full gear, right? So she should have an ice gun. Have her draw and empty it into Trevor (not sure if regular cold or cartoon ice would work better, actually?). We just need him distracted / immobilized in one spot long enough for you to get into position, line up your shot, and empty a full mag 50 caliber rounds into his face. Ten rounds rapid. If that works, and he's down to 4BP.

Then... we either reload and keep pressing him while Cass shreds through what he has left, or we swap and manifest our own ice gun. Get in there and harry him- use our finnese and evasion to dodge and distract while trying to immobilize or disable or slow him down with icing while Cass closes to finish the job. At the rate Cass is losing BP- we can afford to take a hit or two protecting her. She can't, as much.

No idea if we can end this without killing him. Normally Linda has pretty good control over Cass, but she's really far gone this time. Not sure we could call her off (though we'll damn well try. We got her into this fight, and she doesn't need anything else on her conscience). And even at zero, Trevor will still be a wolf monster, and his wolf-focus will be kind of hard to take away from him. ...maybe we can knock him out by using an active break? (Slam something into his head?). There's also the problem Cass will hit 0BP and collapse- leaving her vulnerable. We can't leave her exposed and at risk trying not to kill him.

You decide quickly that Cass, insane and strong as she is, isn't going to be able to last much longer. You send a quick request to Twina, and suddenly, as if from nowhere, a beam of ice slams home, coating the area in the stuff. Trevor miscalculates a jump, most because of the sudden ice in his path, and slams onto his face, the crunch of his breaking nose quite satisfying, all things considered. You put the last round in your clip into his eye again, dropping his number by one and giving Cass a chance to get back up again. Then you drop the rifle. You don't have time to reload it again, not without putting Cass in more danger. Besides, if you can get him to open his jaw, a use of your one shot kill ability would-

As you pull out the twin pistols, Cass is already lunging at her target, and you quickly dart in, emptying a few round into Trevor's face to get his attention. He turns on you faster than you expected, claw darting out in an attempt to rip into your chest. You, unfortunately, don't make it in time to dodge completely, and a nasty gash spring up across you chest. Not immediately life threatening, but it's still very painful. Cass comes barreling in right after that, jumping on top of the wolf-man and jamming her two knives into the bastards eyes, sending him dying insantly and then hurling her off of him as he roars in anger. Oh hey look... his mouth is exposed.

Die.

You focus a second, then both pistols empty every round you have in them into the bastard gaping maw. You notice some still don't penetrate as well, but others punch through his skull, and others do, but not enough to kill him outright. Instead, he tumbles backwards, roaring in pain, before he's back up again and snapping at you with another claw. You attempt a roll to the side, only to have the other claw snatch you from the ground and hold you in the air.

"STOP SHOOTING ME!"

Trevor grabs hold of you with his other claw and quite literally rips you in two, and you can't say you enjoy the feeling very much. Still, you come back to life on the ground underneath him, without the chest injury this time, and you notice your in a position to hit something very sensitive. A swift kick straight up leaves Trevor almost sqeaking, and you chuckle a little to yourself as you get out from under him and get some distance. Second later, Trevor is hounding you again, refusing to give you a chance to do anything creative, although he seems especially wary of where your feet are. You reload your pistols, looking for another chance to hit the man hard, only to have Trevor seem to actually act smartly, keeping his head moving to create a difficult target and avoiding the roaring bit. You two continue your little dance around each other, both trying to avoid slipping on the ice, before the singing of a chainsaw stars up again and Trevor suddenly ducks backwards, avoiding Cass' chainsaw that was hurled at him from across the courtyard.

It quickly turns into a sort of Mexican standoff, although Cass seems like she's just taking the chance to ready her knives again.

>>>Input Command

Linda BP: 22

Cass BP: 5

Trevor BP: 3

And death 18. At least we chose that one- we can afford to burn BP right now, Cass can't. Dang her for manifesting her knives, though. That pulled her down another 2BP, and shaves our margins to complete this even narrower. Even with our bullet spam, her points are still dropping almost as fast as his. We gotta end this fast. If she hits 0 while he's still alive and/or conscious, I don't know how we keep her alive.

...hopefully 'readying her knives' doesn't mean manifesting them again.

No sure if we can end this without killing him. No way he yields, wolf-form is going to be extremely tough to knock out, he's probably strong enough to break out of a cartoon ice sealing (unless we hurt him a lot first), and if we faff around Cass dies.

All right. Options. Cass' chainsaw is in the wind. It's laying wherever it landed after that throw (or still flying?). That gives us a third angle of attack if and when we need it- use an active break to launch it back at him, or turn it around mid-air (that would be a great surprise to use right now, actually). If Twinda has any rifle rounds left, that's an emergency fourth angle of attack, too.

I'd swap one pistol for the ice gun. Throw some more bullets in his face, trip him up and kill him again if you can, and then empty a load of cartoon ice into him. I'm sure he can break free- but we just need him immobilized long enough to get the clean shot we need at his head, or for Cass to strike. His only chance at survival, I think, is if we can get Cass to use that opportunity to knock him out- hit him in the head, hard- instead of cutting him up.

Cass comes first, though. We'll try and spare Trevor from his brother's fate, but we won't risk Cass to do it. If all else fails, we can always use another bullet burst. We don't even need a good shot at his head- only 3 out of 30 need make it home.

We've still got our icemaker, right? Freeze him to the spot. If we can force him to use a break just to move, and then hit him afterwards, then he's down to his final BP. Better do it fast, if Cass closes and keeps burning BP, she's also in danger of going down for good.

(Did we ever get those tubes back from Doc?)

>Did we ever get those tubes back from Doc?
Nope. They're still in the shop, being combined with the shotgun focus.

Arguably they might have worked in this battle, but they were kind of dangerous and unreliable as they were. Marc took them away from us, and it's only luck he or Amelia didn't think to use them against us. In theory, Trevor could have disarmed us just as easily, or he could have damaged or broken them when he killed us.

>>524991
Can't we just use BI to finish this asshole off?

You hiss in fustration. Why won't the bastard just stay dead? You manifest the freeze gun, holstering the pistol it's replacing, only to have Cass beat you to the punch, her knives digging into his face, dropping him another 1. His response to grab the woman by her own face and dig his claws into her in response, dropping her again. Then it's back against the wall with her. You fire off the freeze gun a second later, coating the wolf in the ice. You can see his movements visibly slowing, but he doesn't seem to mind overly much, choosing instead to grab at a nearby piece of rubble and hurl it at you. You start to duck out of the way, but the cement block clips you along the forehead, sending a burst of pain through you and screwing with your focus. By the time your back on your feet, ready to face his expected attack, you suddenly realize you're not who he's after.

Cass, having finally run out of juice in her frenzy, is being held suspended in the air like some sort of sick trophy, her body limp. You can just see her breathing, shallow and labored, as Trevor's claws slowly begin to squeeze her torse. He looks thrilled to finally, after all this time, kill the person who dared harm his brother. You start to bring your weapon's to bear, yet still, you know you aren't going to be able to make it-

Suddenly, as if some great being from on high is rewarding you for something, a man, a fellow breaker you only vaguely recognize, comes screaming out from behind cover, wielding what looks to be a red hot fire iron. The random comrade of yours leaps onto the wolf from behind, jamming his weapon into the beasts eye, forcing Trevor to drop Cass to the floor as he roars in pain and agony. The attack was obviously too shallow to kill, but it was enough. Cass is alive. The man is grabbed from on top of the wolf's back and hurled through a nearby window, disappearing from sight, although his number was still relatively high. He should be fine. Thanks to him though, Cass was saved, and perhaps an even better opportunity had presented itself.

Trevor had his mouth hanging open.

Eat it, you asshole.

Another 30 round get pumped into Trevor, perhaps a little overkill maybe, but you take no chances. That done, the bastard is finally brought down, and with him dead, you quickly move to check on Cass. She seems fine, if unconscious, and you have no doubt she'll likely have a nasty headache when she comes to. All that remains is cleanup, which your followers are achieving with ease. It seems without a leading force, this particular group is almost useless. Still, it takes another ten minutes to finally clear the place out, and your group quickly scatters as police sirens are heard in the distance. No one wants to hang around with D7 on the loose.

Your return to greeted by Elizabeth, who reports that the other groups also completed their tasks, and have captured two people of some importance. The first is Maria, who is being held in a room in the basement, under close guard, Chris among them. The second is someone Elizabeth feels... uncomfortable around. She doesn't seem to want to go into details regarding the matter, although you're certain if you pressed her you'd be able to get her to talk. You check up on Cass as well, who by now has woken up nursing a painful headache. When asked how she is, she waves away the issue, although after a moments consideration, she mumbles something about needing to talk to you once you were done with everything that needed to get handled.

The foci harvest from the assaults is also tallied and divided among the participants, and you receive your share with a little surprise. You find in your hands various foci, none looking all that unique or of interest. Still, the total amount, some 6 in total, really does surprise you. Although... you remember considering giving some to Elizabeth.

>>>Input Command

Experience Gained: 8?

I'm kinda tempted to spend 6 get us Spirit 7 and give Elizabeth the remaining 2 xp to get her will up to 8.

>>525220
This.

Don't press Elizabeth, she has her reasons. Go on down to see the captives.

>Trevor
Alas, poor wolf-boy. If things had gone differently, we might have been on your side. Kind of surprised he hit us again, though, getting past all that finesse and Evasion. Either we botched the dodge roll or he must have have been allowed to put his str roll towards his to-hit too.

>red hot iron guy poker saves Cass
...Jeeze, I just became a Mary Sue!

>XP
Give four to Elizabeth. I want her will up to 10, dangit. You want her to be strong, and safe (and if we plan on bringing her to the questioning of the prisoners, her will is about to come directly into play). Of the remaining 4 points:

-Save 1XP to tune the shotgun / antibreaking tubes when we get 'em back from the doc.
-2XP finesse (We missed shots and failed dodges versus a strength build, even with homing ammo and evasion).
-1XP alternate ammo ethereal bullets for the pistols. The next time we run into something weird bullets don't work on (Trevor's wolf focus, or the windy thing Guy ran into) I want Linda to be ready.

>What do
Check with Elizabeth that we're good for the moment, and that she doesn't see a counter-attacking coming.

Interrogations- obviously you want to be around, to ask questions. George is good too, for mind reading, and outright digging info out of people if we have to resort to that. Elizabeth, if she'll cooperate, would be a big help too- precog is just as useful as getting info out of someone as mind reading, and we might finally get to see a moment of awesome with fear itself.

But Geeze, Maria? You remember that fight. You're pretty amazed Chris took her down as neatly and decisively as she did.

We may not need to push Elizabeth if we can get the information we need out of the prisoner himself. But... the fixers wanted her. Specifically. Is he part of the reason why?

Oh, and because we're the leader now, we're making the the life and death decisions, and it behooves us to ask-

How did the fight go for our side? Any casualties?

>>525250
>Wolf catching us
I have a feeling Wolf-Boy added an ability to his wolf-form that said 'make me as fast as I'm strong' so we were dealing with someone who probably had both higher strength and speed.

>XP
I'd agree if it wasn't so dificult for us to save up XP for spirit. We have a bad habit of spending everything once we get it. And upping spirit is pretty damn important. If we really need more XP we can go for more fixer bases outside the city this time. Or raid a D7 base for their cache of focii.

>Wat do
Sounds good.

>>525286
Yeah, I agree Trevor must have had an ability or upgrade acting like that.

Assuming we don't get significant new information from either Cass or the prisoners to follow up on, the next mission would probably be dealing with the fixer HQ, one way or another (can't leave it sitting there). D7 can wait.

We upgraded spirit the very last time we had XP (Which was a day or two ago in universe, or at the begging of this thread for us, which I'll admit, feels like a while ago due to the hiatus). And chances to upgrade spirit seem a lot more common than chances to improve our weaker allies. We've been getting bigger chunks of XP in recent battles, and it's not always transferable.

I think keeping Elizabeth competent and competitive is a lot more important than a new spirit ability for Linda.

But thinking about spirit abilities, though, if we go that way; if there's nothing new, and ignoring basic abilities, the choice would really be Forceful Break and Someone Else. Both potentially useful, I'll admit. FB is a nice edge and good insurance, but I think SE would be more valuable. It would allow emergency saves of allies (Cass wouldn't have needed a deus ex machina to survive Trevor if Linda could have saved her by stepping into her place in reality temporarily), and maybe offer the option of an infiltration mission (get the information we need out of Maria, and then become her to walk right into the fixer base) and probably unlock further options in the nonexistent tree later on.

...although I'm not sure if investing in nonexistence instead of trying to fight it is the right approach. Hopefully if we ever corrected it, we'd be allowed to reassign those spirit slots, at least. (I'd expect some of Cass' abilities to change too, if we ever help her find peace and real self-control).

OK, we have our sitrep from Elizabeth. Tasks:
- Red-hot tire-iron guy: promote that man!
- Debrief Maria as to what (beyond REVENGE) she is doing here
- Clear schedule for 24/7 emergency Cass Hugs.

You decide against pushing Elizabeth for information right now. Maybe later, in a more personal setting, but you don't feel like causing her any worry. Besides, you have other things you could be doing. You tell Elizabeth to meet you down stairs in an hour, then head off to find the more leader type breakers in the groups, inquiring about a number of things. The first is the number of casualties. Of the some 30 in each group, some 4 died on average, and they have twice that with injuries that need to get looked at. Rodriguez is already handling the latter, while the former are already being prepared for a sort of burial service. You immediately decide to show up, although it won't be anything really grand or cerimonial.

Then it's on to other things. You head downstairs to the basement, grabbing a confused George as you do, and find Elizabeth already waiting patiently for you. In your experience, that means she probably just came down here earlier and sat down to wait, but you don't have the time to ponder it too much. First stop. Maria. Chris and two others are guarding the door, and the woman leads the way inside, bowing slightly to Maria as she let you in. Maria sort of head nods back, then her eyes fix on Elizabeth.

"Well, shit. Didn't expect you to just walk into the same room as me. Not that I can do much. Fuck. Who're you?"

"I'm Linda McCallahan... not that it'll matter in a few hours."

"What?"

"Ignore that. Anyway, let's have a chat."

"Sure. What do'you want to know?"

"Huh?"

"Confused? Yeah, look, I may hate breakers and the idea of breaking, but I'm not a complete asshole. Well, not unless I get a gun in my hand. Regardless, Chris over there beat me fair and square, and judging by how she's acting, you're this master she kept going on about. So what do you want to know?"

"Um... uh... honestly I thought this would be harder. Why are the fixers here?"

"Uh, there's breakers here? Duh. Why else would we be here? I mean, sure, D7 kinda sucks back at Central, fucking getting in the way of everything, but there's really no other reason. I'M here because she's here. The half blind girl."

"Which reminds me, why is she so important?"

"She's my daughter?"

... What?

>>>Input Command

Hah! Called it!

We gotta be very careful here. Elizabeth is very important to Linda, and we're very protective of her. Vengeful angel territory. Not to mention, this skirts dangerously close to Linda's injury (she's our adoptive child- the one we'd never have, otherwise). Together that puts us at serious risk of blowing up or breaking down.

Deep breath Linda. Keep your cool. Don't let it get to you. You know Elizabeth can't tell you everything, but dangit, you wish you'd known this going in.

>a woman holding a child.
>This one is one who hunts me, but not to have me. To hurt me. To hunt me. To blind my visions and cripple the Angel.
Remember what Elizabeth said before, though. The third of the visions. If this is her, mother or no, she's not exactly looking for her for good reasons. Time to be hard.

>what say
...that's something else we have in common, then.

You mind telling me how she ended up in that orphanage then, without any record of her parents? Or why she's never saw fit to mention you, even with all she sees? Or what your intentions are for her?

Or who put that bullet through her head?

>>525350
I'd like to finally find out what the fixers even want. Currently they seem to be the same as breakers only they want to kill everyone not part of their group.

You feel it almost as soon as Maria's words register. THIS bitch is Elizabeth's mother? THIS BITCH? Fuck no. Just... fuck no. This is not how a mother treats their kid. This is not how this work-

You catch yourself doing something you hadn't done since you'd arrived in Sun City. You were idly rubbing at the scar across your abdomen. You quickly pull your hand away, but the break in your thought process helps to calm you down. A few deep breaths later, and you're back to some semblance of calm, although you still feel it bubbling underneath the surface. You really hope Maria doesn't say anything really offensive to you. You might just end up shooting her in the face.

"...that's something else we have in common, then."

"Hm? I don't get it."

"Nothing you need to worry about... Mind telling me how she ended up in that orphanage then, without any record of her parents? Or why she's never saw fit to mention you, even with all she sees? Or what your intentions are for her?

Or who put that bullet through her head?"

Maria laughs suddenly, giggling like a schoolgirl at prom. For a moment, that's all that fills the silence, and you contemplate punching her in the face to snap her out of it. She stops within a few seconds though, and quiets before refocusing.

"Heh. Can't blame you I guess. Guessing ages can be kinda difficult with all this breaking of reality. Elizabeth would be what, 16 now? 17 at most? I'm barely reaching 30. I had her when I was 13."

The news sends you reeling. You... what? Maria, however, doesn't seem to be bothered by it, pressing on with her answers as if she's talking about the weather.

"God, that was a crappy time in my life. I was an idiot then, too. Not that it really matters now. Still, Having Elizabeth was far from planned. Even worse when her father up and left when he found out about it. Can't really blame him though. As for the orphanage thing, my father suggested that. Leave her on the doorstep of a police station and vanish. Can only guess they were the ones who took her to the orphanage. All I left was the name. Elizabeth Baker. I can't really speak for the girl. What she tells and doesn't tell is up to her. Not like I can really claim to have any control over her. As for the bullet thing... I don't know. Don't care. Not my problem. I can here to end the poor girl, let her out of this fucked up existen-"

Before you can even remember reacting, you have Maria shoved into a wall and a pistol in her mouth. You're breathing heavily, anger clear on your face, and about the only reason you haven't ended her yet is Chris' hand on your shoulder.

"Master. Calm yourself."

You take ragged breaths before pulling the gun from your adversaries mouth and retreating back to the other side of the room. You didn't realize you were this protective... definitely need to do something about this. Regardless, you only have one more thing to ask anyway.

"What do the fixers want? Over all."

"To... to make this world, this universe, normal again. It was bad enough with normal people populating it, it doesn't need people who can completely ignore the rules of reality."

You take that in, then leave, ignoring the woman as best you can. You don't want to make a decision as to her fate right now. You doubt you'd make an unbiased one. After cooling off outside for a little bit, you notice Elizabeth standing next to you. You take a deep breath, then turn to the girl, offering her a strained smile.

"Heh. I can't be a very good mother either, it seems."

"Done more than her."

"... Maybe."

To your surprise, it's Elizabeth who initiates the hug, wrapping her arms around your waist and calmly holding you. You hug her back, tentatively, and you both stay like that for a few minutes, just holding each other. Then Elizabeth pulls away, going back to being spacey. Almost.

"Elizabeth Baker is not my name."

"Hm? Isn't it?"

"No. Adopted. Elizabeth McCallahan. Says on paper. You are my mother. Will always be."

Elizabeth disappears back upstairs, while you stare after her dumbly. Some part of you can't help but melt at that, and you stumble over to a wall and collapse against it, feeling tears already sliding down your face.

Mother.

You're a... Mother.

>>>Input Command

Goddamn that was heart-wrenching. And way to fucking go, Elizabeth.

>You didn't realize you were this protective... definitely need to do something about this.
You found your weak spot. You reacted the way Marc did when someone pushed on the doll- or the way Cass does when someone pushes her. You'll protect her... but you can't let yourself lose control. You know how dangerous that is.

>to make this world, this universe, normal again
Critically, we're still missing important information. Namely- we don't know that the universe ever was normal to begin with, or if there have been breakers in the background throughout all of history (if the fixers have proof one way or the other, that would be nice). We also don't know if the fixers have a viable plan that will actually do this. They can kill breakers all day long, but if they don't have a way to stop new ones from appearing, it will never end.

(Not that you're going in there again to face... that... again and ask right now. Let someone else ask the follow up questions, and pump her for information about what's left of the fixer forces here).

Whatever their plans, it doesn't involve 'curing' or normalizing existing breakers. Maria really believes it's better putting her- your- daughter down (she's lost the right to call her that). If that way of thinking extends to themselves... then the fixer endgame is a suicide run. That only makes them more dangerous.

Maybe they're right. Would the world be better off without breakers? You don't know. Breaking is certainly dangerous, but you don't know if that makes it wrong. Doesn't help that all that power ends up in the hands of some very messed up people. But their way of thinking isn't any better than D7's. These fucked up people don't deserve to be killed off, dehumanized, or locked in cages. They deserve a chance, damnit, and help. To be treated as people.

...screw saving the universe. You don't want any part of a universe that casts aside its children to survive. *laugh* Not that you are anymore, come to think of it. (Nonexistent joke).

>what do
Take a few minutes to let the tears run dry, compose yourself, and calm down. Leave orders for someone else to see if they can get any other useful information out of her- you're too close to get back in there.

If you're up to it, we move on to the next prisoner. See what he knows, and why he makes Elizabeth nervous. How's he fit into this fix the world scheme?

That was sweet.

-regardless, I need to bring something up. The fixers are deeply and critically wrong in their entire philosophy. Reality is not a question of consent. If all the breakers were dead, that wouldn't make reality "okay" again, it wouldn't make it impossible for breakers to exist - it'd just look that way. Whatever the laws of our reality look like, at the bottom, they have to necessarily allow for breakers, and in fact the existence of breakers offers us a view on what reality is _actually_ like. Killing all the breakers won't make that true, underlying reality work one single iota differently; it's the philosophical equivalent of sticking your head in the sand. Organized denial.

Let's take a break before the next prisoner. That's an emotional bombshell that just got dropped on you [in a good way] and you don't want to interrogate a prisoner when you're off-balance.

Maybe check in with some of your rank and file you haven't seen for a while? After all, this "not existing" thing means you're gonna have to work a bit harder to keep your own people aware that you exist...

>>525570
You're overlooking what breaking is, though. For all intents and purposes, it's altering reality to suit your will. From what we know, in theory, there's no reason someone powerful enough, or a group of people powerful enough, couldn't alter reality in such a way to lock out further changes. Using the exploit to deny further access to the exploit, as it were. It might be possible. Logically, killing off other breakers is just a stopgap measure to limit the damage in the meantime, or a step in getting strong enough for their endgame.

I mean, if we look at reality as Elizabeth seems it- everything is strings, and physical interactions between those strings. Except for breaking- which shows up as action at a distance- affecting a string remotely. To disallow breaking, all the fixers would have to do is set something up something self sustaining that blocks that action at a distance.

...of course, most breaking is changing reality in small ways. Saying that something that does not exist now does, changing the qualities or position of something that does exist, ect. Breaking time even just a few hours back actually ran the risk of destroying reality. Breaking reality so as to change to change fundamental base code or laws... probably even more dangerous.

To 'fix' is to maintain, to "repair to status quo".
Their mission should only be to police the continuity of reality.

Continuity is what defines reality as opposed to a dream.

>>525593
Well, you can't expect their mission statement to line up perfectly with the name we gave them. :V

>>525580
No what I mean is, we once thought that reality didn't allow superpowers that, essentially, amount to magic. But now that we know better, it has to be the case that reality _always_ allowed for Breakers; or rather, whatever allows Breakers to exist _is_ reality. If "reality" was changed to allow Breakers, then whatever system governs how "reality" can be changed _is_ reality. What the Fixers are trying to do is like saying "we once thought heavier-than-air flight was impossible, so now if we destroy all planes we can go back to that time." But heavier-than-air flight was always possible, we just didn't know about it. It's quixotic. Likewise, locking out all further Breaks doesn't "save" reality, it's a deliberate choice to constrain our reality to an impoverished subset of what it, evidently, could be.

You allow yourself some time to calm down, then pull yourself completely together before pulling yourself to your feet and wiping the tears from your face as best you can. You have no doubt you probably still look pretty bad, but you still have things to do today. Not least among them is this other prisoner you have. George comes out of Maria's room and moves up to you, looking concerned.

"Um... are you alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go talk to this other one."

You lead the way into the room, and fine the boy sitting against a corner, staring at the door without comment. Reminds you a little of Elizabeth, if only just. Unlike Elizabeth, who seems spacey all the time, completely uninterested in what happens around her, this boy seems almost too attentive, noting everything going on. His eyes snap to you momentarily, then he's once again staring at the door.

You grab a chair and sit down a little ways away from the boy, expecting this to go a little better than it did with Maria. You start by trying to talk as if you're talking with Elizabeth, hoping the softer, gentler tone will work better in getting him to open up. Almost as an afterthought, you check him, and find his BP to be at 5. Oddly weak.

"Hey. Mind if I ask your name?"

"Name. Voices. A woman. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Tanned skin. First sight. First sounds. Later, would find out is mother. Much later. Jacob, she says. My beautiful baby Jacob."

You blink. The boy had hardly moved his gaze, but you could see it in his eyes. They had glazed over, almost like he was remembering something.

"Um. Okay, Jacob. I have some questions. About what you were doing with the fixers."

"A man. Tall, no hair. Dark skin. Hates himself. Hates me. Hates everyone. Has questions also. About things."

Suddenly, the boy's voice changes to match someone else. A much deeper voice, a much angrier voice.

"There was someone who took the future sight girl! I know there was! Who was she? Who!?"

"I answered. Linda. McCallahan. 23. Long hair, brown. Brown eyes. Beautiful, by most standards. Weapon type. Gun use specifically. Powerful. Can change things. Many things. Funny. Others don't remember. Very odd. Has many allies. Face with caution."

You stare at the boy. He... knows you? How could he... you're nonexistent, right? How could he...?

>>>Input Command

Ask him how he Sees things. We know Elizabeth sees strands.

...it's not just Maria's personal vendetta, then. Another leader among the fixers knows what Elizabeth can do, and wants her sight.

And hating himself, the boy, and everything is worryingly consistent with the picture of the fixer mindset we got from Maria. It's not about repair. It's a self destructive purge.

>you're nonexistent, right? How could he...?
Elizabeth sees reality, and since you stopped existing, you disappeared from her sight. But you know there's more than that. You don't exist, but you are. And you've met two beings from outside reality. From that vantage point... he'd see you.

I'm guessing he's either another outsider (like the man in the room, or the angel), or he's just someone with their perspective.

>What ask
...how come you don't forget her, though? She doesn't exist.

And more critically: What other things did you tell them? ...did you give them a way to fix things?

"You... you're seeing things, right?"

"No."

The boy's voice had returned to normal, but he wasn't saying anything more. Maybe he needed to be prodded a little bit...

"If you're not seeing things, then what are you doing?"

"Remembering."

"What?"

"Ah... um. I can explain that." George cuts into the conversation, looking a little exasperated. "It's called eidetic memory. More commonly photographic memory. It's actually something thought impossible, as most scientific studies into it find the results... skeptical at best."

"So... what? He can recall his memories perfectly?"

"Hypothetically. You'd have to run tests to be sure, but if he does have it, he'd be the first I've ever seen. Almost like reality broke around him, no?"

You turn your attention back to the boy, who has remained largely silent the entire time. That still doesn't explain how he can remember you, since you don't exist...

"Everyone else seems to have forgotten me. Why haven't you?"

"Memories are mine. I do not allow them to be taken."

"O... k... Did... uh... what did you tell the fixers? Anything else about Elizabeth or maybe about 'fixing' reality?"

"Cannot give an answer to fixing reality. Do not recall a method ever being given. Elizabeth... black man asked-"

The boys voice begins flipping, between various voices as he seems to have a conversation with himself.

"You say she's in Sun City?"

"D7 databanks. Printed on known location. Doubtful of trickery."

"Haha! Maria, you better make sure you get her for us, you understand? We'll kill her when it's our time to go as well."

"Understood. I'll be taking Trevor with me, if you don't mind."

"Not at all. Get going, alright?"

The sound of a door closing is heard, a surprisingly accurate sound, considering it came from the boys mouth.

"Now then... you tell me all you know about this Linda McCallahan."

"Have already given all known information. D7 had no records."

"I see..."

The boy stops talking, going back to catching everything perfectly. He seems to be constantly paying attention for that express purpose, even more so to you, now that he seems to have realized who he's talking to specifically. Information on you must be hard to come by, given who you are.

>>>Input Command

That confirms it then. The fixers are definitely on a suicide mission. Which makes them all the more dangerous- as they have nothing to lose. It absolves us from some of our guilt over stopping them, though.

>Perfect memory, D7 records
...now that might be useful.

You remember D7 records? Do you remember anything about a subject 23? Or about where they're getting raw reality? Or where the Unmaker rounds, or the weapon that fires them is? (Don't ask about McCarthy. We don't want the demon's attention on us).

>focused on you
...you know what the fixers goals are. And that they were using you for information. That I'm using you for information. What is it you're after, though? What is it you want?

"You remember D7 records? Do you remember anything about a subject 23? Or about where they're getting raw reality? Or where the Unmaker rounds, or the weapon that fires them is?"

"A screen. Glows with electronic light. Numbers flash across its surface. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Original Name, Makoto Muramasa. Female. Two parents, Jin Muramasa and Sakura Muramasa. Two siblings, Junichi and Rise. Genius in her families traditional sword style, an unnamed form of swordsmanship that follows the basic teachings of Itto-Ryu. Currently assigned to Special Agent James McCarthy. Correction. Captured by enemy breaker gang. Status: unknown. Correction. Status: Traitor. Orders: Recover upon contact. Correction. Orders: Terminate."

Jacob suddenly goes into a very long, very detailed description of health records, training records and various details about her development, but you quickly stop him, not wanting to sit all day listening to him speak. Instead, you tell him to move on to your next question, and it takes a minute for him to apparently shift gears into something else.

"Raw reality. Development. Classified. Unmaker Rounds. Development. Classified. Unmaker Rounds. Deployment. Classified."

The room goes silent, and you contemplate everything you have learned for a second before turning to one last issue before letting the boy get some rest.

"...you know what the fixers goals are. And that they were using you for information. That I'm using you for information. What is it you're after, though? What is it you want?"

"To know. To remember. Everything."

You nod a little to yourself, then exit the room, George behind you. You sigh a little. All that, and you can't really see why Elizabeth would so loathe to be near him. Maybe she just doesn't like him. You frown a little, still unsure, when George taps you on the shoulder.

"So, uh... not that I really know who you are, or why you're interrogating everybody, but... you want I should dig around in their heads a little?"

... Damn. You'd forgotten people would be forgetting you.

>>>Input Command

I feel like the Doctor might want to take a look at this kid.
I mean, he can resist Reality trying to tell him that you're nonexistant. That's fairly impressive! I wonder if the Doctor can find out anything about how he does that, and maybe learn more about how Breakers are different from Normals...
As for George? I kinda wanna say yes to Maria rooting, but IDK really what that'd give us...

>Chris
...well we know her real name, at least. Pass that and the information on her family along to Twinda, and see what she can look up on her (later once we're up to full BP again, we need to dismiss and remanifest Twinda with full gear. She's down to just the pistols, right now).

Terminate means they aren't looking for a way to flip the loyalty switch back, at least. Not that her death would be much better, but we know how to fight that easier.

We'll talk to Chris later. She says she isn't interested, but she has a right to know. Her call what name she wants to use.

>To know. To remember. Everything.
>you can't really see why Elizabeth would so loathe to be near him
...I might. Elizabeth can see, well, almost anything, right? But she can only think about or process so much of it at a time. She still has to look at things, as it were. Constrained omniscience.

So what do you think would happen if her sight we to be combined with his recall? If she showed him what she sees, the way she did for you. For one moment he would perceive everything... and without any of her constraints. That would be actual omniscience. I have no idea what that would do to a person. Could the human mind even handle that? Would it kill the boy or drive him to insanity? Would it make him a god? It seems dangerous, both in general, and to the child.

...whatever it would do, he wants it. And Elizabeth knows. Hence the discomfort.

>George
Sorry George, I'm broken in the opposite way he is. He remembers- I get forgotten. Don't worry about it.

I don't think you need to dig around in the boy. He seems perfectly willing to recite anything he knows. And... it might be dangerous ducking inside a head like his. Feel free to try and get what useful information you can out of the two of them. If she stops cooperating, yes, dig around a little. But leave her intact. (You still don't feel like you're in a position to decide her fate).

>>525731
The Doc might be interested, yes, but he's a tad busy right now. We left him with like 3 projects and it hasn't even been a day yet. We'll discuss Jacob with him when next we visit.

>What do
It's getting late, and you're emotionally wearing out, here. I think it's time to wrap things up.

If Elizabeth is around, you could ask her a simple question to confirm your suspicions about why Jacob makes her uncomfortable. He wants to see it, doesn't he? How she does? Everything.

If she isn't, no reason to push it. Let's find Cass.

"Sorry George, I'm broken in the opposite way he is. He remembers- I get forgotten. Don't worry about it.

"I don't think you need to dig around in the boy. He seems perfectly willing to recite anything he knows. And... it might be dangerous ducking inside a head like his. Feel free to try and get what useful information you can out of the two of them. If she stops cooperating, yes, dig around a little. But leave her intact."

George nods his understanding, then disappears again. You take a moment to collect yourself, finding all the emotional baggage you're starting to carry around weighing on you a little bit, before you head back upstairs to the main area, spotting clumps of people around. It's barely getting to the point where the sun is starting to set, yet you already feel so tired. You really should try to get some sleep. Regardless, you have one more stop on your list before turning in for what is hopefully a very long sleep.

As you search for your friend, you send Twinda a message via your connection, telling her to look into someone named Makoto Muramasa. You don't hope for much, but it's something, and maybe there'll be something floating around the internet somewhere. Eventually, you find who you were looking for, Cass is seated by herself, or rather, she looks like she wants to be by herself, but is getting practically fan-girled over by a few other breakers. The minute she spots you however, she says something likely sharp and scathing, and all her fans seem to lock up before scurrying away in confusion.

"Hey, Cass. You said you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah... this... is gonna get a little... touchy. You alright with that?"

"I told you. No matter what, I'm always here for you."

"That's... good to hear. You remember the scouts reporting something about Havers?"

"Yeah, some town up north. Why? It important?"

"To me it is... It's home. Where... yeah."

"Ah..."

Silence for a long moment, and you find yourself trying to work out what to say without making yourself seem likely a pushy bitch, or worse, unconcerned about the entire issue altogether. Thankfully, Cass speaks up before the pause in conversation gets too awkward.

"So... I was thinking... it's home and all. And... I figured, since the group wasn't that big up there, apparently... I wanted... to... uh... check it out... on my own... or something... I feel like... it's important... to me... And, well... I was... uh... kinda hoping you'd... um... you'd... come along... uh... damn it... this is harder than I thought..."

Cass is looking a little awkward, trying to convey her feeling on the matter, something she clearly isn't completely used to. Regardless, she seems rather serious about it. Probably a chance to rid herself of some old ghosts, you suppose. You'd relish the chance to help her deal with whatever it is she needs to face. At the same time though, this place kinda needs you, doesn't it? You can't just leave this place alone...

>>>Input Command

Hrm...On the one hand, Cass, one of our closest friends...On the other hand...If we leave, we might be forgotten by everyone here, and loose our leadership status...Then again, that's kinda already fading out a bit as it is isn't it?
I kinda think we should leave, and let the whole 'forgotten' thing come to the full. It's going to be a pity to lose being in charge but...At the same time, it was only a matter of time. We might have to settle for leaving Chris- Makoto! Elizabeth, and and anyone else who remembers us in charge here in our stead.
On the flipside...We COULD let Cass go alone, but I see that as all to likely to end up with reuniting with her as Number 24, instead, which could be deveastating. I don't see that ending without massive loss of life for all involved.

>Cass, fan-girled over
Pff. That brings a smile to your face.

>Go or not to go?
Part of me wants to push on against the fixers, but the group probably needs a day to regroup, recharge (anyone without break generation and spent 20 BP or more...), and get used to any new powers and foci they've picked up. And maybe gather more intel and process what we've learned- the fixers won't necessarily stand still. Besides, if I remember the timeline right, Sonia's mercenaries are going to be showing up either tomorrow or the next day, and we'll need the time to integrate them before another big event.

And besides, this is Cass. She needs you- you can't let her go alone. And you've got a lot of capable friends you trust. They can keep this place and each other safe for a day. And it's not as if half the people here can even remember you. We'll go with her. It'll be like old times, right? Just you and me, before we got a whole team, and then stuck running the place.

Tomorrow, I think we'd want to check in with the doc before leaving (just to see if he's got anything for us yet, and to keep him from forgetting. Although, he's strong- with 100BP you'd think he's got more of a margin than certain other people), and maybe check to see if Elizabeth sees anything new on the horizon. Maybe say hi to the mercs that's the day they show. (Still wondering if we'll have to say something else to Mike. Not sure that's going to go well. Did anyone ever explain Marc's double game to him? That he pitted mercenaries against his own people, and that fight only happened because of it?).

>>525776
No matter how much of the rank and file forgets us (which is unavoidable, and already happening) we're still in charge. Everyone else sees our lieutenants as running the place, and they still follow us. I mean, heck, they accepted Elizabeth as our front-girl while we were unconscious!

It's a weird inversion on the play where a faction's lieutenants make up a figurehead leader. We're not an empty suit or armor- we're the real leader, in an invisibility cloak.

>Twinda!
Oh... and I just realized we can sort of be in two places at once. We just upped spirit again- if we leave Twinda behind on research duty, we can probably switch perspectives to her if anyone really needs our insight. Or at least use her as a communication relay if we still can't swap.

...actually, having her move throughout the base while we're gone might be a good experiment. Can she reinforce our memory on people when we're not around?

Spirit Ability Chosen
Someone Else Acquired
??? Acquired

"Cass. Of course I'll go with you. You ARE my best friend, after all."

"Oh... uh... yeah, of course. Um... you know Havers is like... a week away, right? Maybe a week and a half, if we take it slow, but I doubt we'll be doing that."

You blink in surprise. A week? That's a little longer than you expected. Still, you don't have any intention of backing out now. Twinda is here as well, she can inform you of anything crazy going on. And the others will be here. No problems there at all. Still, a week...

"The Angel should go. Will be... better. Or worse."

Elizabeth surprises the hell out of both you and Cass, but you soon calm down. You smile at the girl, letting a bit of your own quickly growing maternal instinct to take over a bit, and you hug the girl almost on reflex, the mother thing still fresh in your mind.

"Hey, Elizabeth. Hate to ask this of you, but..."

"Something will change. Someone will come. New, and yet not. When, I cannot say. The ones who fix... not active. Most bases in west, gone. Eastern branches in war with the slayers. Busy. Not going to come here. We can work on returning life to... normalcy. The Angel not needed, will make things... not normal."

You flinch a little, but you know she's right. Weird seems to follow you like a plague. Regardless, you agree to meet up with Cass just after breakfast, then head off too get to bed early. You have things to do early in the morning, after all...

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

Waking proves difficult, if only because you felt so tired yesterday. As you finally get up and get moving, you feel something... different, about yourself. Almost but not quite... something. As you place your foci bag around your neck again, you feel something akin to a heartbeat pulse from inside the bag, but upon inspection, nothing seems changed about the foci within at all. Huh... odd. The same happens when you placed Cally's foci around your neck, the glowstick like object pulsing like a heartbeat before going dormant again. Your frown in confusion, but suddenly notice the time and push thoughts about the occurrence from your mind. You have things to do.

First of which is to visit the Doc. His lab is already a cluttered mess, but he already seems to be awake, and he's busy messing with what looks like your mech. You find yourself smiling involuntarily at the sight of the thing, even half taken apart, but the Doc glances over his shoulder and interrupts your happy thoughts entirely too early.

"Ah! Hello, Linda. I was wondering when you'd come around. I was starting to lose thoughts about you. I think I've found a way to mitigate that somewhat, actually. Foci tuned to you seem to bear your... presence, I suppose, and seems to reinforce immunity too it. Elizabeth was actually the one who pointed it out. Smart girl, if a bit out of her mind. Wonder if she'd consider a path in meta-physics. Bah, pointless, she'd already know all the answers. Regardless, I have a little gift for you."

The Doc pulls out a double barreled shotgun, the tubes mounted in place of barrels looking significantly slimmer and shorter than previous.

"I managed to lighten up the tubes a bit, and merge them with the shotgun foci you gave me. It works as well, I've tested it. A few issues, however. The range is reduced heavily, you'll have to get into close combat for them to be effective at all, perhaps withing five, ten feet at most. Also, the tubes seem to use... ah... shells. I suppose. Meaning after you fire, you'll have to reload them, as this particular configuration has them working like a double barreled shotgun. Hm. An issue, but I've found no way to correct them myself. Ah! But they otherwise function exactly the same. Fire one tube with this trigger here, causing breakers to become disrupted. Fire this other one with this one here, and you should be able to absorb break energy from a disrupted target. Ah! I've almost forgotten! I'll need to keep your watch with me! I've been experimenting, and I think I can tune the mech to your watch, allowing it to become something like an upgrade to the watch. I think. Maybe... I might need to check with Elizabeth first. Ah, regardless, here you go. And I'll just take that. Have fun on your trip!"

You suddenly find yourself booted from the office, a small capsule foci in your hands and your wrist watch suit thing confiscated. Huh. Hopefully everything goes well. Well... to move on to the next thing you suppose. You head upstairs, where a number of your closer allies have gathered. Nicole gives a simple see ya, while Elizabeth hugs you before departing to go downstairs and see the Doc, saying something about needing to help. It's Chris you actually intend to talk to the most, however, wanting to report what you've found to her. After taking her to a convenient corner, you report everything you discovered from Jacob, and once you're done watch as Chris goes silent. For a long time, there's no response then Chris simply shrugs.

"I have to think. Am not this Makoto however. She was before. Now I am Chris. Such is the way of things."

She nods to herself in finality, then wishes you well on your journey and says she'll keep the place safe for you. You smile at the woman, then head off, grabbing a quick breakfast before leaving instructions for the lietenants staying here to do what they can and to talk to Twinda if they need to get into contact with you badly. Then it's time to meet Cass out front, who's tapping on the car roof impatiently, her nervousness from yesterday gone in her zeal to get there and be done with it.

"You ready? Got everything you need? Done everything you have to? It'll be two weeks before we get back, you know. At least."

>>>Input Command

hmmm, leave our Twinda focus with Elizabeth. We aren't going to use it while out and it'll be a good reminder.

Otherwise lets head on out with Cass.

Oh as an experiment try to use Someone Else in conjuntion with a focus we looted. Who knows we might be able to become that Breaker for a while.

>leave watch with Doc
All right, mech upgrading capacity! And good that the focus will keep him forgetting. He's one we can't afford to lose.

>check on anything before we're gone for two weeks
Hmm. I might want to check in with Michelle before we leave. Make sure she's adjusting to having two demons okay. Make sure she knows she can turn to others if she's feeling overwhelmed- she's got Elizabeth, and she can reach you through Twinda if she needs to. (We've seen too many avatar users crack to just leave that hanging).

Not that you'd ever take Moth away from her or anything, but maybe there's ways the rest of us could help if she needs it. She doesn't need to be alone or overwhelemed.

We should really test if the Twinda perspective-swapping works. Which I think is a reason we'd need to hold onto the focus rather than leaving it with Elizabeth. (I think she and the other lieutenants are immune to short-term degradation anyways. And if they check in with Twinda, or the watch, they should be fine).

...might want to check in with Mike again too. I don't want there to be a problem between him and the mercs, and I think he's blaming Sonia for things that were very much Marc's fault. We never made that clear.

>Oh as an experiment try to use Someone Else in conjuntion with a focus we looted.
Back when we first discussed the ability in the dis thread, Dreamer made it pretty clear that becoming someone else doesn't give us access to their foci.

I'm just wondering about the heartbeat thing we felt. Maybe we can become dead Breakers.

>>525846
Oh! That's an interesting idea. We'll have to experiment with that, later. Testing someone else will give Cass and Linda something to do at the hotel, at least.

I had assumed the heartbeat had something to do with Raphael. That he's waking back up, or breaking again, or something along those lines. Someone new, and yet not new.