---

---

---

"Attention citizens of Pandor-No, shit. Attention citizens of 2Fort! This is your mayor, Handome Jack speaking. I know a lot of you are still getting comfortable. I'm sure everyone is enjoying having no bathrooms and having to drink out of a pond, but try to control yourselves and listen up. I want anyone capable of fighting, of risking their life, of truly offering something to this fledgling town to come down to my office. I'm going to start improving things things around here and to do that I'm going to need some extra hands."

"Oh and it involves loot and valuables, so get your asses down here already."

---

Handsome Jack sat with his feet propped up on his desk, drinking straight out of a coffee pot as he stared intently down the hallways leading to his proclaimed office space. A severe grimace crossed his chiseled face as he held the coffee pot away from himself, the murky coffee-like liquid shifting with a gravy like consistency inside the glass container. He looked at the coffee pot as if considering some alternative before shrugging and taking another swig, grimacing even harder as the barely caffeinated goo slid down this throat.

"Uugh, this coffee tastes like Skagass." Jack muttered, eyes watering in disgust before he knocked back the coffee pot for another gulp.

"Then why are you still drinking it?"

Jack jumped in his seat, nearly spraying caffeinated sludge across his desk as he snapped his head sideways. He met eyes with a smiling teenage girl standing next to an older women who looked down at him with an stony look of displeasure on her face.

"What the fuck! When did you two get in here?" Jack cried after swallowing.

"A-a couple of seconds ago! She's really quiet so I just did what she did and you didn't even notice us coming right up to you." The teenage girl shifted awkwardly in front of Jack as she gestured to the women beside her. Standing at least a full head above the young girl the women wore nearly nothing, just a bikini top, bottom, some stockings, shoes, and what looked like military rigging.

"A-anyway. Since we got so close I was gonna reach out and touch your nose, but then you commented on the coffee and I felt like asking since it's important to ask questions to learn. That and I was afraid that since you're the mayor that you'd have my hand chopped off if I poked your nose. Normally I wouldn't think mayors would do that but the mayor of my old city apparently stuffed a women-"

Handsome Jack's eyes narrowed as the girl's words began to drone into hum of white noise over the migraine pounding inside his skull. Already he was missing his office and the big fat trap door in front of it that lead straight into a series of meat threshers. He reminded himself he was striving for redemption and all that, but the longer the teen spoke the louder his own murderous thoughts seemed to grow.

"Does she ever shut up?" Jack asked the women and she simply wordlessly shook her head, seeming to refuse to make eye contact with the teen even as she looked to her.

"O-oh. Sorry! I can be quiet. Really quiet. Like I was just now. So what do you need from us Mr. Mayor?"

"OK I'll stop you right there kiddo. It's not Mr. Mayor it's Jack. Handsome Jack. You can call me Mr. Mayor when I'm dead or after I put a bullet in my brain to cure the migraine you just made a million times worse from your mere existence."

The girl winced at the comment, grimacing and turning her eyes towards the floor in a way that gave Jack a nostalgic twinge of catharsis. Setting the coffee pot down he dropped his feet to the floor and turned in his swivel chair.

"Is anyone else coming?" Jack asked glancing down the hallways but the two women didn't speak.

"Well I'm sure someone else will be down. In the mean time I might as well get you two out of the way. What are your names?"

"I'm-"

"JUST your names."

"Cedar Birch..." Cedar said, with a chest fallen sigh.

"What about you?" Jack looked to the older women but Cedar shook her head.

"She hasn't spoken since she got into town. I've followed her around and she's been nothing but quiet. Even when the other townsfolk tried to talk to her she didn't speak. I don't think she can."

Jack raised an eyebrow and grit his teeth. "You're kidding me, right? I wasn't expecting much but I didn't think I'd get a mute and a girl with more wood in her name then the freaking Jakobs Corporation puts in their guns. Lucky for you two I'm trying a more positive, less murderous outlook on life right now. So I'll let this slide.

Cedar grimace and Quiet crossed her arms, staring Jack down with a slight glare in her eyes. Jack however just smiled and leaned back in his chair.

"Besides, anyone who can get this close to a man without him noticing has some nasty, really useful experience under their belt. Am I right Ms. Quiet?"

"..." Quiet looked away from Jack but her silence was answer enough.

"You know I'm really starting to like you! No so much you." Jack said pointing to Cedar. "I'd be great if you could just follow Quiet here and, you know, never speak again."

"..."

"There we go! That's more like it. Anyway about why I called you here. I had this big, poignant speech prepared but I have such a migraine right now I'll just give you the abridged version: This place is a DUMP!"

Jack's words echoed off the walls of the red and white underground offices, barely frowned out by the faint hum of reel to reel computers and the clicking of clocks on the walls.

"We're drinking out of a pond. We have no real housing, no proper medical facilities, barely any power generation, and absolutely no defenses. The only reason people came bothered staying here is because it looked safe. And the only reason no bandits have bust in here and killed everyone is because there's nothing to really steal.

Quiet tilted her head. In her mind she knew that Jack was right. This place was safe, but for how long depended entirely on them.

"That's why I need people. People to leave town, explore what this fucked up world has to offer, and start bringing back supplies and materials. You can keep most of what you find for yourselves, but as long as you bring back something we can start to build things here in town. Like bathrooms, a kitchen, hell maybe even a bar. Definitely a bar with a way things are going. So what do you say?"

"..." Quiet looked across the desk at Jack and then briefly looked to Cedar who quickly made eye contact, smiling and looking to her expectantly. Like a puppy waiting to be pet. Exhaling she raised her hand and gave a thumbs up.

"Yeah I'm in this too-er I mean..." Cedar stopped herself and quickly closed her mouth. Holding up her own hand and giving a second thumbs up.

"Perfect! Well not perfect but it's better then nothing I guess." Handsome Jack leaned forward in his chair as he spoke. "God I hope more people come. These two probably aren't gonna cut it..."

Above ground the early morning sun shown and the faint sound of birds could be heard amidst the high rooftops. Today was the day an adventure would begin that would change the fate of 2Fort...and the fate of the new world.

The voice over the announcement made Kerrigan want to grimace, this Jack fellow sounded arrogant in the likes think back to her experiences with Narud and his smug ass impaling her on a blade. Maybe she would fancy impaling Jack, maybe she could try and build up enough energy to blow his head off his shoulders, though she highly doubted she had that much energy in this new world. Previously she'd be able to psiionically strafe entire planets for other consciousnesses, now she could only barely detect all the ones in this town. This place was rather infuriating.

---

Her heels made reverberating clicks in the mostly empty space of the office area as her eyes surveyed the three people already there. Being the only real male there she could tell who Jack was, as far as she could tell the little girl's name was Cedar, she was the only one without a guarded mind. That meant Jack and the Woman were both from places that knew it paid to keep your mind closed off from prying sources, no fun. "Sarah Kerrigan, no I'm not here to eviscerate your flesh and suck out your brains but the idea is tempting."

When she got up to the desk with the growing crowd she drew her wing-shaped claws in to take up less room and brushed her hair-like antennae back behind her ear. She let her wrist gently rest on her hips as her other hand just hung limply down her other side. "I'm here to risk life and limb, offer something to the fledgling town as you say. I can read your mind if you don't guard it so I'd learn how to do that really quick if you aren't already familiar with how." She glanced down at Cedar with a very small smile, only to have it gone from her face in a second.

"You got around 50 people living in the town right from what I can tell, the water will run out soon and the fish won't last much longer than next week, should probably look for food first." She suggested. The Event stripped her of almost all of her energy but she still at least had the same commanding aura about her. If it weren't for the fact she was answering to Jack it wouldn't be too hard to mistake her for the one calling the shots here.

---

John was already awake when the song of birds and the warm peak of the rising sun signaled morning in 2Fort; it had always been a familiar time for him. Handsome Jack's announcement, however, roused John's attention completely. He was initially startled by the sudden appearance of a loud, grating, voice, but as he listened on, John saw an opportunity to gather up a group and explore outside the town.

John found himself navigating the winding hallways and strange architecture of the abandoned structures, in search of the proclaimed mayor's voice. The sound of jingling spurs accompanied the firm thumping of dusty boots, echoing softly throughout the otherwise quiet corridors of waking 2Fort. The familiarity of the rustic colors and wooden foundations could only partially offset John's perplexment at what felt like a labyrinthine facility.

"What possesses a man to build something like this?" John thought to himself.

John's mind was already burdened with a host of questions since his arrival in 2Fort: why the world ended up like this, why he wasn't dead, and above all else, what had happened to his family. However, as he descended the stairs and passed loud, bulky devices capable of unknown purposes, more immediate concerns began to present themselves. Just what kind of people would he be working with here? Just who is this Handsome Jack, and why the hell should he trust him? And what exactly was would he be signing up for? As if to answer his questions, John found himself just outside the office.

John barely took one step into the room before he was stopped dead in his tracks, as he glanced over the women who had already arrived in the office. He continued to approach the desk slowly, subdued awe and surprise betrayed by slightly raised eyebrows on an otherwise stoic face.

John addressed the man behind the desk with rehearsed politeness, wary of any man who finds comfort or authority behind a desk.

"You must be Handsome Jack. Name's John Marston."

He turned to the three women as well.

"Ladies."

Between the woman who was somehow wearing more revealing clothing than any brothel had ever stocked, and the woman that looked like a scorpion given murderous, female form, John had scarce else to add in his introduction to them without risking, in the best case scenario, slight offense. At the very least, the young girl with black hair, meek and out of place as she seemed, was more approachable, if not relatable. He met her glance with a slight raise of his hat, and then turned back to Handsome Jack.

"I'm responding to the public request you've sent out to this fine community. Now I'm not sure what kind of hands you need for your improvements to this town, and quite frankly, I'm not sure I can quite... compare to the volunteers currently present. I can shoot, I know a bit of farming, I can hunt, and if nothing else, I'm persistent. I reckon some of these things can be helpful."

John didn't know what Handsome Jack was planning, and in his experience, taking orders from well-dressed, big-shot types never ended well for him. But this guy would be his best chance in understanding just what the hell was going on.

Down in one of the generator rooms a young woman passed to and fro, occasionally stopping to inspect some part of the machinery or tighten the occasional bolt. Sitting on its haunches in the center of the room was a large vaguely humanoid robot, numerous cabals leading from the generators all gathering up into a single line and plugging into the back of it.

”You know this isn’t working right? Generators like these might work for those rebel shanty towns, but a masterwork like me needs so much more. You're not even letting me draw everything, just whatever they have to spare after lighting everything”

Shen extracts herself from where she had been inspecting an inactive generator. It had been a harrowing few days getting here, and the calamity was such a massive fuck you from the universe. Barely a month after they had saved the world it had fallen to pieces. Her life’s work, the dream of xcom, torn away from them all almost as soon as it had been achieved by a cruel catastrophe. She was understandably distraught, and Julian was not helping in the slightest as he carefully nudged up against the edges of his restraints to rub salt in the wounds. As a result of her stress, she had risen early in the morning and tried to make herself useful, tinkering with the various machines in the base simply to keep her hands busy and her frustration and anger with the universe in check.

”well it’s all we have” she activates the generator and it hums back to life, sounding a little healthier than the others.

”These machines are older than our father, what kind of imbecile builds two identical underground bases powered by this kind of tech.”

”you mean my father.”

”He had help making you, I on the other hand was a solo project, which makes his parenthood of me purer than yours”

This might have gone on but at that point Jack’s announcement interrupted them.

”There’s a mayor? Did you exclude me from voting?”

If there had been an election she most certainly would have. ”No idea who this guy is, but he has the right idea. Getting a squad together for an excursion could get me the resources I need to upgrade this place. Maybe we can find good enough radio equipment contact the Avenger” Shen was convinced that if she could make it to safety, then xcom with their self sufficient alien cargo hauler could do so to.

”Well then. Have fun out there fending off the freak shows with your spanner”

”Julian, unplug yourself and come with me”

”I only have this one body now, do you really expect me to risk father’s greatest achievement on a glorified grocery run! The insolence of your As you command” Julian's voice rose in a building anger until it suddenly lost all of it’s character for a moment, Shen's alterations kicking in and pacifying the raging AI.

---

Aften a brief delay where they were stalled by Julian’s awkward squeezing through one of the few doorframes in the place they both walked round to the office through the other much more conveniently sized corridors. The loud thunk, thunk, thunk of Julian's motorised limbs echoing through the corridor as they turned the corner and entered the office.

”hey, you must be jack. I’m Lily Shen, head of X-com’s engineering department”

”You’re the new commander? I hope your not a bu- tactical genius -cile like him.”

”And that is Julian, please ignore everything he says out of combat”

Introductions given Lily took a moment to examine the people in the room.

As expected from from someone who had seemingly put himself in charge of the place jack looked and dressed like a smarmy asshole, she was also rather disturbed by the fact that his face appeared to be held on by pins. What was he hiding.

There was a cowboy straight out of one of those pre occupation films. Tec out of the 70s and men from the 19th century. Wonderfull.

There was a rather meek looking goth girl accompanying a woman with the build of a soldier that was highly visable thanks to her being in her underwear. This surprised Lilly less than most, after all she had seen x-com operatives go on missions wearing nothing but skin tight leather booty shorts and a top hat.

Finally there was…

”What the fuck is that alien doing here?” she practically snarled, pointing an accusatory finger and the chitinous winged woman.

For Julian's part he had been analysing how he would kill all these people and it looked like he might get to do just that. The 8 foot tall wall of metal turned to face the alien and lunged towards her with surprising speed for such a large machine. Lily’s restraining programs had never anticipated the existence of aliens that might be considered allies, Julian was taking full advantage of that fact.

Julian's metal arm three fingered hand grabs the alien queen around the neck before hoisting her into the air. The fact that she remains completely calm was disappointing to him. The stoic acceptance of death is so boring after the hundredth time.

”Julian! Don’t!”

It comes to the AI’s attention that he is now floating in the air while holding the woman. Presumably she is psionic. How irritating. As was the fact that Lily had acted fast enough to verbally lock him into inaction.

”Make up your mind Lily”

”I didn’t order you to do that”

”She’s an alien. Isn’t killing aliens what X-com does”

”Just everyone put everyone else down.”

There is a thunk as the two armored beings drop to the floor.

”Julian, heel”

Julian returns to Shen’s side, seething with rage internally. Shen herself watches the alien woman, highly distrustful of her despite having just de-escalated the situation.

”Don’t give me reason to regret calling him off.” she says finally.

The endless scintilla. The stranger in the sports gear had wandered that desolate land for days upon days, and now here he stood.

Through a blizzard white mind he sees the ordinary people, simply Elsen with rounder faces and stranger clothes. The world is even further removed from its true state, and in that chaos they try to eke out an orderly pit, a place to call home.

Watching through eyes wide shut, he sees them milling about, their souls contained and their needs so basic. They are impure, but less so than the Spectres. To purify the world one at a time would be a thankless and eternal task. No, what he needed was something more... permanent. More widespread.

Something to turn the world OFF. But that something would be harder to find than before, of course.

Then the announcement came through the loudspeakers.

The would-be Guardian of this world, nothing more than an upstart Elsen himself. The Batter had seen him from a distance when he had arrived in this town before, the man with the false face. He remembered the salesman between Zones, the false faced Zacharie, and felt a similar sense of distaste... but at least Zacharie had helped him on his mission.

At least Zacharie hadn't been infested with this strange and myriad range of... 'colour', was the word he seemed to hear most for it.

But the world-be Guardian did seem to have a lot of authority in the fortress, so along the path the Batter went...

----

From his crouched position by the door, a single orange eye peering through a crack to see into the office, Abe trembled ever so slightly. This world was full of creatures and machines he'd never seen before, and it neither surprised him nor comforted him to know that of course an intelligent machine and its inventor would be murderous and arrogant. It didn't matter that they looked kind of like Mudokons - or at least closer to a Mudokon than a Slig - they were industrialists and warriors.

While 2Fort had seemed intimidating at first, he had mostly gotten used to it. Sure it wasn't Oddworld and the jungle still called to him, but until he could find a way back to his people, he was going to have to make do. The idea of helping with a scouting mission to improve life for the town had appealed to him, but now...

Would a bunch of weird giant guys even want to help?

"Move aside," spoke a voice from behind him, "I have business here."

Abe gave a loud yelp as he turned around, the tall and well-built figure gazing down at him with total disinterest in his... eyes? Abe wasn't sure if they were or not, but honestly, all humans seemed to have weirdly small eyes to him. It was super unnerving, honestly. This guy in particular, though...

Something didn't sit right with Abe, but he wasn't the sort of person to face things head on - and this guy seemed like the very opposite. So, slave routine kicking in, he just nodded and shuffled to the side.

"Oh, uh... sure thing."

As he stepped out of the way and the white-eyed stranger stepped into the office, he couldn't help but tremble, just a little bit. He was pretty sure their attentions would be focused on the weirdo, but he knew he'd stood out as a little bit of a sore thumb since he'd arrived, and he was pretty sure his neck wouldn't last as long as the lumpy purple thing had if the robot decided to take a lunge at him.

----

"I offer my services," echoed the Batter, his voice shimmering like a pebble dropped into a glassy smooth pond, "So long as there are Spectres to purify. That's all that matters."

The Harold Bat rested in his hands, lightly scuffing the ground, and he watched each of the assembled Elsen. His focus, of course, was clearly and visibly on the would-be with the false face, but the others were all visible to him as well. Everything was visible. It was an endless torrent, unwanted but unyielding.

The degenerate queen. The outcast. The cowering blue. The war machine and its master. The silent soldier and the girl with the empty heart...

---

"Oh thank god."

The words left Handsome Jack's mouth in a near whisper and a sense of relief washed over him as someone besides Quiet and Cedar arrived. The feeling was short lived as a cross between a super model and a cockroach strutted into his office. Whatever sense of relief he might have had was overturned with a strange mix of concern and arousal. Nice face, natural heels, creepy chitinous body, and spooky looking wings left Jack unsure how to feel.

"Wait, you're psychic? Even with half the crazy shit I've seen I'd have a hard time believing that if you didn't look the way you do. But thanks for the heads up about the whole mind reading thing sweetheart. Welcome aboard. And I know, this town is in dire need of- well, everything." Jack smiled a grin but he quickly began concentrating on hiding his thoughts. Were he back on Pandora he probably would of just assumed Kerrigan a liar without proof, but given where he was and how the women's eyes glowed like molten Elerium he wasn't sure he wanted proof.

"Are you really a mind reader, or are you saying that just to scare the suit?" Quiet's mouth remained closed and her eyes locked with Kerrigans, showing suspicion and the guarded concern of a soldier. Her thoughts meanwhile were clear, intentionally made open in the hopes of testing the women. If she even ever was a women.

Cedar meanwhile just looked at Kerrigan, wide eyed and grinning. The suggestion about shielding her thoughts seemed to go right over the girl's head, but in actuality she did make an effort to hide her thoughts. However Kerrigan would know that even with her diminished powers worming past the girl's mental defenses would prove worryingly easy.

As Marston entered the room Cedar only barely suppressed a great exclamation of joy, a girlish squeee at the sight of the cowboy. A full smile exploded across her face as he tipped his hat to her.

"Wow! Are you a real cowboy? Can you lasso bandits, and ride horses, and-"

Cedar turned her head and saw Jack glaring at her from behind his desk. His nonplussed look hiding a subtle, barely contained murderous threat. Cedar quickly fell silent and Jack smiled back at the polite cowboy.

"Mr. Marston persistence and knowing how to shoot people is how I managed to restructure an entire company and nearly bring order to an entire planet. That and strangulation, but that's not important. Those two skills alone make you perfect for what we're likely going to be doing."

Handsome Jack's attention was soon drawn from the spur jangling cattle rustler and to the 7 foot tall robot and the petite women who seemed to have him on a verbal leash. The SPARK reminded Jack a little bit of a Loaderbot, but nowhere near as utilitarian. It seemed older, far more experimental then the robots he was familiar with, but at the same time showed some obvious signs of good design and craftsmanship.

"A lippy robot, fantastic. As long as he doesn't dance I'll take murderous intent and sarcasm any day. Nice to have you aboard Lily, Julian."

Before Jack could continue however he watched the robot grab Kerrigan by the throat only to be lifted into the air himself by some unseen force. Only through the verbal orders of the petite engineer was a bloodbath barely avoided.

"Hey, let's save plotting to kill one another for when we're not sleeping on the ground alright?" Jack stood up from his chair and placed his hands firmly on the desk, staring down Kerrigan, Lily, and then Julian though he naturally assumed the robot wouldn't give a shit.

On edge from the robo-strangling he nearly witnessed Jack was taken back as the colorless Batter walked up to him. Something about the man's appearance, his bat, the very words he spoke and air that came with him made Jack's stomach turn. Quiet took a step away from the man as he drew close to the desk and Cedar's smile wilted into an unsettled grimace.

"Uh, I'm not sure what a Spectre is, but if you're offering your services then I'll gladly take them Mr, uh, Batter."

Handsome Jack looked over the motley collection of individuals before him and only barely held back a sigh.

“So we have a mute assassin, a loud mouth teenager, a psychic alien who is hot in the ‘eat my eyes out while I sleep’ kind of way, a cowboy who looks like he walked off a cigarette advert, a murderous robot, an engineer with a serious hate boner for aliens, a baseball player who looks seriously creepy and uhh” Jack paused as he finally noticed Abe. “Whatever the hell you are.”

"I'll be totally honest and say that frankly, none of you would be my first choice under normal circumstances. Except maybe the killer robot, the cowboy, and the clothes-hating assassin." Jack pointed a finger at Quiet and she rolled her eyes.

"If I was dressed like you the only thing I'd hate is my sense of taste." Quiet thought as Jack continued.

"The reason I've gathered you all here is because things are fucked. It's obvious just from looking around that we're not from the same place, maybe not even from the same times. The world, our worlds, are gone. Bits and pieces of them smacked together to form whatever the hell we're standing on. Maybe this is all just temporary or maybe it's permanent. I don't know. All I know are two things: That I was dead before I ended up here and that this dusty shit hole passing for a town is the only safe place I've come across."

Cedar shuddered at Jack's words and closed her mouth as tightly as she could manage. Memories of the heat and deafening blast that flung her into the darkness of death tore at her. She didn't want to recognize that she'd died, alone and helpless, but she had. And apparently she wasn't the only 'dead person' walking around...

"That's why I want all of you to become a regular group. I know from experience that a group of people can change things, whether you want them to or not. With your help this place, 2Fort, will become an actual town...and without your help it'll just be another graveyard."

Jack's voice grew cold and firm as he swept his eyes over the group before him.

"Since all of you have already made it clear you want to help, save for uh, you." Jack was tempted to use the word 'thing' as he pointed to Abe "I'll just give you your mission now..."

---

MISSION #1: "I Shot an Arrow into the Air..."

Objective: Explore and acquire something of value.

Details: Pick a direction, leave town as a group, and explore. Bringing back any supplies or information will result in mission success and an improvement to 2Fort's well being. Mission Failure will occur if party is wiped out.

Reward for Completion: ???

BONUS OBJECTIVE[ ]:

• The "Waiting Room" in the Underground Offices where Jack's office is located appears to have some junk lying around. Any characters interested in a chance to find items before leaving on the mission should head their and search. Results will be rolled and generated accordingly.

John was satisfied with Handsome Jack’s approval, but his arrogant, bureau-reminiscent personality easily soured the already unfavorable impression John had when he entered the office. Handsome Jack being a loosely hinged, remorseless killer didn’t sit right with John either, but as he had so often been reminded, he had blood on his hands as well, and no amount of romance or justification could change that.

John didn’t like Handsome Jack’s rudeness to the girl, either, but granted, her excitement did feel a little displaced. A real cowboy? That ain’t too strange, is it? John thought to himself. Motorized thumping began to be heard from the office.

As John stepped away from the desk to leave space for incoming volunteers, he caught the rhythmic thumps increasing in volume, approaching the office. What could someone possibly want to herd in here? Turning around, John saw a small Oriental woman, her outfit more modest, yet still unfamiliar to John, approach the desk. Behind her, John finally saw the source of the sound: a lumbering, mechanized contraption, a caricature of a human form, marching behind her. The cowboy could barely make sense of the duo, who introduced themselves as Lily Shen and Julian. There was a level of discomfort in how often John was encountering people where New Austin manners didn’t seem to apply.

John was glad he made space from the desk, and even more thankful for the space when the deathmatch between the purple psychic queen and the automated man went down.

“Calm down! No one has to die today!”

Despite his calls, he maintained his space and elected to let the situation diffuse itself, in the absence of any real way to separate the two demons himself. When the fighting died down, John was relieved, not only because the situation was settled relatively well, but knowing that Julian was strictly under the command of Lily. He would take a strange outfit over a hulking monstrosity any day of the week.

The sudden appearance of the Batter chilled John in the same kind of way that 2Fort confused him. The pure white figure’s outfit and bat bore a strong resemblance to the baseball players in the big cities of the East, but it only rooted his strange hue and piercing, closed eyes in a familiar foundation. It’s always strangers one after another.

John hadn’t even noticed the blue one around the corner until Handsome Jack had pointed him out, and even glancing at him, could barely make anything of him, shrunken around the corner as he was. He seemed harmless enough, though, which was a refreshing change of pace.

With seemingly all the volunteers gathered, John quietly listened to Handsome Jack’s explanations. John was unnerved by Handsome Jack’s mention of his resurrection, lowering his hat.

“A world where the dead can’t rest...I think the good book calls it Hell.”

Being gunned down by the US army was not a memory wanting of recollection, and together with Jack’s speculations about this strange world, spoken in a room filled with fantastic people and beings, cemented just how much this world defied any logical thought John was capable of.

So when Handsome Jack suggested a regular group to be formed for the sake of 2Fort, John raised his eyebrows.

“This is certainly a strange posse we have here. Certainly never worked with anything like this before.”

John grasped his belt, ruminating on his past experiences before remembering the kind of men that helped storm Fort Mercer and forced Bill out to Mexico. Oddities and nuisances. John shrugged and smirked to himself.

“Although, I can’t say working with strange folk’s anything new.”

The world was still dangerous, the people were still unhinged, and his family still needed him. It would have been real amusing for John how parts of his life tend to repeat themselves, if he didn’t remember how these chapters ended each time. In the end, it meant that Handsome Jack’s plan was just as strong as any, and he listened quietly to the remainder of the briefing.

---

John was confident in his pitch to Handsome Jack. Always was pretty good at marketing himself. But the truth was that being good at shooting and riding doesn’t mean anything without a gun or a horse. Even his old Cattleman would have been handy right now, but somehow John’s guns didn’t follow his soul’s example and make their way back to where they belonged. This needed to be remedied as soon as possible.

With the briefing complete, John turned toward the group.

“Uh, hello. My name’s John Marston, for those of you who weren’t here when I introduced myself.”

John was used to planning heists with his old gang. But the situation now differed from his old ways in two ways: they didn’t know exactly what treasures and dangers they would find out beyond 2Fort, and he didn’t know exactly what these people were capable of. Given these circumstances, he kept his ideas open; it’s not like plans ever stayed together.

“I’m heading to the bridge over the pond once I’ve finished having a look around. I say we all group up there once we’re ready to head out. Y’all can pick which direction we head from there, but exercising my presumably democratic right of voting, I’d like to head north. Thoughts?”

The question hung in the air.

"I don't suppose any of you has a spare gun by the way?"

---

On the way up from the offices, John noticed a room at the base of the stairs heading topside. Peering inside, John beheld a plethora of miscellaneous junk strewn around the room. There was more chaos in this waiting room than the lodgings at Thieves’ Landing; but like the rooms in that back-end swamp, there could be something hidden in just the right places. Maybe there’d be a few dollars lying around in a broken cabinet. Hell, if he's really lucky, maybe even a revolver. [Roll for search]

El Presidente gleamed with a smile as the entire crowd chanted his name. His entire life, longer than any person's life really should be, he served as these people's leader. They loved him as he build only the cheapest housing, provided only the bare necessity of health care and education, and pocketed the island's wealth for himself. After all, nobody notices that they are being robbed and cheated when you do it so brazenly and with a giant smile.

"My fellow Tropicans," El Presidente bombastically decreed, "we stand today at a crossroad. Not even Doubting Thomas could deny our island has grown so much in the past few years. We have built so much new infrastucture for our growing industry, expanded our schools inland, and not to mention, free housing for the most vulnerable of our population!"

El Presidente waved his hands as the crowd ate his words up. Anything can sound good as long as you say it with conviction, and that's exactly what the Carribean dictator knew what to do. Now, he had to do was make up a threat, and that would all but guarantee his relection.

"Generalissimo Santana, on the other hand, hates the progress Tropico has made. He schemes with the CIA on Puerto Gato, waiting for the perfect opportunity to install his wretched dictatorship on us. We can not let that happen! That is why I accept another term to run for Presidente of Tropico, and that every Tropican MUST vote for me!"

El Presidente couldn't even hear himself over the cheering of his subjects. The people adore him so much, that he might not even have to rig the elections this time! Of course, it's not as fun to have elections that "respect the democratic tradition" and are "fair and free", no matter if the pesky EU seems to prefer it being run with some semblance of decency. He'll still order Penultimo to stuff the ballots, but that can-

"Attention citizens of Pandor-No, shit. Attention citizens of 2Fort!"

The blaring voice on the klaxon woke El Presidente from his day dream. There was no crowd of people below El Presidente; just simply some dirty river that the ex-dictator was giving a highly impassioned speech to. And he was nowhere near the safety of his air conditioned palace, but standing at the edge of the battlements. El Presidente blinked behind his sunglasses as reality reoriented around this new reality, one where he didn' have a nation of brainwashed idiots to lead.

"This is your mayor, Handsome Jack speaking. "

Suddenly El Presidente's smile faded into a scowl. If losing his nation was the worst thing that ever happened to him in his life, which has spanned numerous decades, then having to take orders from this idiot was a close second. What right did that slimey asshole have to rule this glorified settlement over him? El Presidente has been in the buisness of effective leadership for decades, that Jack idiot just was simply the first one to wander into this contrived system of dual forts and claimed he owned it all! A lousy homesteader! Comrade Vasquez and Marco Moreno would have a lot of things to say to Jack's face about his ludicrous claim to power back at Tropico.

As the disgraced Tropican leader listened to the rest of Jack's speech, El Presidente's more jovial demeanor returned to him. It seemed the "mayor" was relying on the works of others in order to prop up his ineffective regime. And as El Presidente knew, relying on more competent people was a surefire way to get your underlings to realize they could simply overthrow you and take your spot. That's why El Presidente stuck with Penultimo all these years; he couldn't see that man leading his grandmother across the street, let alone a coup d'etat.

Thus, the Tropican made his way down to office of Handsome Jack's. While doing his bidding may be far below El Presidente's dignity, he knew all he had to do was be a more effective leader on the field than Handsome Jack was at whatever plans he had for 2fort. Then, seizing power would only require demanding an election.... and maybe some stuffed ballots. Could never go wrong with rigging the election.

On his way to the offices, El Presidente noticed a giant heap of what looked like scalvage and trash. Or, as the desperate ex-dictator knew in times of troubles like these, resources. There was bound to be something good in that pile of crap, and El Presidente wanted to make sure it was his hands, and no other, that got whatever the lion's prize was in that trash. [Roll for Search]

Pocketing whatever he found inside his jacket (can't let others see the "reappropriation" that El Presidente was doing!), El Presidente continued down the steps into Handsome Jack's office.

"¡Hola camaradas!" the bearded man said as he walked into the room. It seemed like any meeting between this rogue gallery of imbeciles has already ended, to El Presidente's dismay, as some cowboy-looking yankee seemed all too desperate to leave Handsome Jack's office as the Tropican leader was strolling in. Tardiness would not look good at all!

"Excuse me," the Tropican leader said, "I had some... buisness to attend to. But I am here now, and I accept whatever mission was being handed out here." Accepting orders without even knowing what they were? Classic move. Makes everyone think you're a hard worker and loyal, when El Presidente planned on being the exact opposite on both! No one would suspect a thing, especially not that smug fake mayor.

A place where the dead come back...

The false-faced would-be, a lowly Elsen less valuable than an office drone. The other Elsens seemed to respond to him and follow his lead, but the Batter couldn't help but feel... uneasy was the wrong term. The Batter's emotions were not so simplistic, but the comment of coming back from the dead...

Was this 'Handsome Jack' a Spectre? He certainly didn't look like one, and he was intelligent.

The Batter felt deep within himself, but kept his bat held low. No need for violence just yet; he knew from experience that fighting an opponent on their home turf could often end disastrously when you weren't prepared.

The cattle-rustling Elsen seemed surprisingly eager for the mission, stating his intentions of 'democracy'. These Elsen seemed far more involved and competent than the ones he was used to - Elsen relied on their Guardians for everything because they were so incapable of anything except the most meaningless tasks, like that shriveled blue creature which still lingered by the entrance. On the Zones, the idea of Elsens leading themselves was idiotic, but in this chaotic new world...

"I do not mind which direction we go in; I will simply eliminate the obstacles along the road. A holy path is not defined by the ground you walk on."

And so he followed, not acknowledging the others at all - save for the purple-skinned, bug-limbed Elsen. He kept a cautious distance from her - she reminded him a little too much of the Burnt Elsen from Zone 3, and those were always tricky to purify even when he held greater power and a more powerful bat...





Oh boy, rang his thoughts, I guess it's back to the desert, then...

Honestly, Abe wasn't sure he still wanted to be on this mission - safety was something he had been struggling to get used to over the past few weeks, but every time things started to settle down there was some new horrible crisis or evil corporation trying to enslave his people. Handsome Jack in particular made him shudder - he gave off that same sort of petty greed and short-sightedness as the Glukkons back home.

He even wore a suit a little like a Glukkon's, albeit he seemed to have more than two functioning limbs and didn't look like an angry, half-rotten raisin.

The cowboy - Marston? - soon stepped forwards and suggested they all move out, but something in Abe's heartbeat suggested he linger near the back. As the group slowly filtered out, one by one, he cautiously approached the short human dressed in dark clothes.

Out of everyone there, she seemed to least technologically focused or monstrous. While... Kerrigan? The purple bug creature, she reminded him a little too much of a Paramite or a Scrab. Very dangerous, an enemy of the machines and their creators, and important to the natural order, of course, but again... emphasis on the very dangerous.

"Howdy," his voice popping with a nasally, slightly dopey sort of accent, "Name's Abe. You seen any other guys like me? They'd probably be green, though. Probably fart real bad."

He raised his hand very slowly, his voice suddenly lowering as he whispered.

"You know if anyone's got somethin' to eat? They don't sell nothin' good here."

The alien seemed happy to hold her tongue and so Shen turned her attention to the others again.

It seemed that dress up was the name of the game today, as joining the cowboy where a baseball player and a bearded man who looked like a pre occupation dictator or general of some kind. There was also some kind of bird looking alien which despite its rather meek appearance Shen still didn’t trust. The original invasion’s sectoids had been runty wee things too, but their wrist mounted plasma pistols and psionic powers made them a dangerous foe.

Everyone seemed to take Julian's attempted murder surprisingly well, though Jack’s ‘joke’ about leaving the backstabbing for latter was somewhat concerning. More bizarre was the fact that Jack claimed he had died before coming here and Marston’s comment about it being hell where preposterous.

”The outsides may be a hellscape there’s probably a rational explanation for all this, one we might be able to discern through gathering data. I am 90% sure I didn’t die and the structure and people I was in came with me intact, so I don't think I died in some instantaneous way as that would have left a mark on the surroundings if it also killed everyone else. Is anyone else in Jack’s situation?”

”I’ve been living in an acceptable location since the day you killed me, Lilly.”

Ignoring julian she considered the various out of place outfits of the group for a moment and added.

”also what is the last date you all remember it being? I am ” ”we are”” from the year 2036 but a lot of you look like you're from pre-occupation time periods”

Shen’s current hypothesis was that she was still on her world but that something had messed up time in some way, the concept of multiple worlds being smushed together was somewhere further down the list as so far everything could be considered something that could have originated on her world, from the elder’s labs, from the future or distant past.

The two of them went after the cowboy and the baseball paladin, Shen presuming that everyone would be happy with a walk and talk situation. Or more specifically a work and talk situation, as she and Julian briefly stopped by the junk filled room and made a sweep of the room’s contents. Hopefully there will be something of value in here, she can't believe she missed this on her first examination of the base.[Roll for search]

”maybe we’ll find a pointed stick, that'd be in keeping with this places tech level.”

"Normally I'd prefer 'never' then late, but beggars can't be choosers when the world ends and the dead walk."

The former ruler of Pandora's eyes narrowed into hawkish slits. He raised his brow, taking in the sharply dressed mustachioed dictator as he entered his office just as everyone else began to leave. Handsome Jack had been in the man's presence for only a few moments, heard just a few handfuls of words, yet he knew almost immediately the type of man that was before him.

He probably didn't use the word 'dictator', after all why would anyone want to call themselves something nasty? At the end of the day it just boiled down to different names for the same thing. CEO, chairman, chieftain, king, duke, head girl scout, president. However one argued the differences they were all just titles for people who were in charge, liked being in charge, and typically intended to stay in charge for as long as they could manage.

In Jack's eyes the man before him wasn't any different. He smelled of overpriced cigars, cheap cash crops, and even cheaper tourism. Something about how he dressed and spoke brought the image of a tropical island to Jack's mind. Not the good kind, with naked women, fruity drinks, and enough sunbathing chairs to build a small city. No the bad kind of tropical island out in the middle of nowhere with 3rd degree sunburns and natives who insisted where they lived was more then a dandruff flake on someone's map.

"If you want to help then by all means, follow the others topside and try to bring something useful back to town. You can help yourself to whatever you can find out there as long as you leave something for the town itself." Jack said in as neutral a tone as he could manage, gesturing towards the hall everyone had begun to leave down.

Jack knew that the moment the El Presidente got a chance to speak it's jeopardize his otherwise unchallenged position of mayor. After all of a fat huckster could monopolize the arms trade on Pandora there was no telling what the sunglasses wearing dough boy in front of him could accomplish...

As Jack waved for El Presidente to leave Quiet walked beside Marston with Cedar following behind her. The girl moved nervously, taking efforts to move in step with Quiet down to the pace of her footsteps and the rhyme her arms swung. Her attempt to copy the silent sniper didn't keep her mouth shut however as the cowboy's question registered in her ears.

"I'm Cedar Birch, M-Mr. Marston! North sounds like a g-good direction. I personally like south but that's only because south is more interesting to say."

Quiet merely nodded her question, giving a thumbs up to the cowboy before frowning. Marston's question regarding a proper firearm led Quiet to take stock of what she had. She tapped the butt of her sheathed CQC knife with a gloved hand, shaking her head in visible frustration at how under equipped everyone appeared to be. "I'm amazed that not a single person here managed to come with a gun. It's like the universe is intent on having us fight with our bare hands. Boss wouldn't have minded that too much, I can't say I feel the same way."

Quiet's thoughts pounded irritably in her head and she looked to Kerrigan as she walked, tracing the strange insectoid features of her 'ally's' body.

"Though that doesn't appear to be an issue for you. Your whole body seems like a weapon."

Hearing Abe's nasally, almost cold ridden voice Quiet looked down at the frog-ish creature that seemed to intentionally hang back hear her. Having to stare down at someon-er something felt oddly reassuring since she wasn't the shortest member of the group for a chance. The spike collared girl smiled at Abe and shook her head.

"I haven't see anything like you until just now. You do kind of remind me of a frog though. I had a pet frog once, but my pet cat Neko ended up eating him after I forgot to feed him. That's why I wasn't allowed to have more then one pet.I'm sure that won't happen to you though, chances are any cats big enough to eat us will probably eat the biggest people first. So you can me are safe." Cedar grinned and nodded her head in a self-assuring manner at her own flawed logic, before frowning as she realized she'd gotten off topic.

"I'll let you know if I see any though. As for food, uh, I think someone was giving out fish near the bridge."

Cedar's thoughts regarding the Arowana being handed out were halted as Lily's question hit her like a bag full of bricks. In an instant her smile faded and a wincing, painful recollection flashed across her face. The brief, blinding, searing moment of hear death in Racoon City hung in the back of her mind like a shirt she couldn't throw out yet always had smack dab in the middle of her closet.

"Um, uh..." Cedar hesitated but slowly rose her hand. "I died once. At least I think I did. There was a big flash, a loud noise, lots of heat, and then everything went dark. The fact everyone was turning into zombies and dying probably meant we got bombed."

The teen tried to speak clearly and simply, but her voice had a not so subtle shake to it as she recalled what she had gone through and the things she had seem crawling and shambling through the streets of Raccoon city.

"L-last year I can remember was 1998, can't remember the month though. I wasn't very good at keeping track of dates."

Quiet's irritable expression softened and she quickly glanced between Cedar and Lily, as if searching for some expression that would prove they were lying. 1998 and 2036 were both dates some ways into the future from the 1980's. Had she not been walking beside a cowboy, a talking robot, and something that looked like an alien Quiet may have been able to hold her skepticism.

Unable to spell it out Quiet simply held up her hands and flashed the numbers 1-9-8-4 when Lily was looking her way. Quiet then pointed to Marston as if asking "When are you from?"

---

---

---

Not to far from Handsome Jack's 'office' was a metal shutter located near the end of the stairwell leading down into the underground offices. As the rustic cowboy, automated death machine, and it'sMEATBAG rightful engineer overseer approached the shutter opened. Sliding up into the wall through either a weight device in the floor or a hidden motion detector. Stepping inside the trio would be greeted with a white tiled room with very little if any furnishings.

There was a cabinet, a bench, a towel rack, and a small row of cubicles resting up against the wall. A light layer of dust and other unpleasant particles lined many traces of the room. The rest of 2Fort seemed fine (if out of date by some people's standards), but the waiting room had an unwarranted feeling of disuse that hung in the air like a lead blanket.

Yet things had seemed to come with the dust itself. Tucked away in orders, left out on the floor, or even stuck up into the piping in the ceiling were strange items. The dust seemed to have been disturbed by a president-like man who searched the room moments ago, but plenty seems untouched...

---

El Presidente's Item Results

Tide Turner: The steering wheel of an old maritime vessel that's seen better days. Lashed onto the arm it's intended use is as a shield. While crude and seemingly ineffectual, the Tide Turner imbues the wearer with a strange sense of eagerness to rush into battle. When worn the wearer can use the Charge maneuver, granting a temporary but instant boost of speed, a boost to melee damage while moving that scales with distance to target, and the ability to shield bash even if untrained.

Even when unarmed charging into normal sized enemies will knock them back and stagger larger enemies. With a melee weapon in hand, even a simple one, charging can easily gore and gib otherwise formidable foes. The Charge maneuver can only be used periodically as it takes time to build up the charge to do it again.

[Semi-Protective Shield. Allows the wearer to perform charges. Charging can knock back enemies and will increase melee damage. Long cool down between uses, limited charging. Not a very good shield given it's a bloody steering wheel.]


EXALT Flag: Made of tattered red clothe and gold embroidering this flag has an unsettling air to it. It bears a strange, threatening symbol and the word EXALT is stitched intently below it. Whatever this flag belonged to it certainly wasn't a nation. Yet it seems like it could easily be raised like a proper flag...

[Misc item. Raising this flag above an areas will cause-???


Sap Plant (Monster Hunter): A small white furn with wide leaves and a fat stalk. It's difficult to hold without getting your hands messy and even harder to keep in your pocket. The plant oozes with a thick adhesive sap. Eating it would be like eating a tube of glue, but if used properly once could stick anything they wanted together.

[Crafting item. Non-edible. A simple medium strength adhesive.]

---

Styptic A medical agent in patch form used to stem the bleeding from cuts and lacerations. Apply it directly to a cut and the blood vessels of the affected area will immediately begin to contract, slowing or outright stopping the flow of blood from the wound.

[Single use consumable. Cures Bleed -Minor-]


Gift Box: A colorful box of fine sweets obviously intended as a gift for someone's sweetheart. Inside the cardboard packaging are a handful of high quality caramels wrapped in browned wax paper. While they might melt in your pockets if you're not careful, you don't have to worry about them spoiling anytime soon and all the sugar in them makes for a great pick me up.

[Single use food item. Limited Hunger satisfaction, high Stamina recovery]


Shotgun Ammo x6: A half empty carton of shotgun shells in a slick, high tech looking box. The box opens up like a carton of matches with the shells carefully laid upright inside. There's only six standard shells inside but they're in good condition and looks like they'll work with any equally working shotgun.

[Lethal Shot Ammunition. Usable in any Shotgun-type weapon]

---

Red plate [Fallout New Vegas]: A red ceramic plate that looks exactly like something out of the 1950s. It's chipped and worn, almost like it survived a nuclear apocalypse or something. Doesn't seem like it has much use outside of eating off of. However the ceramic material is pretty sturdy and highly heat resistant. Cutting down the plate to use as a ceramic insert for a bullet proof vest wouldn't be hard and neither would breaking it into smaller insulators for something. Throwing it at someone's face or playing frisbee is also an equally appealing idea, for whatever reason.

[Misc crafting item. Heat resistant properties. Fragile, but able to block damage at cost of breaking.]

Covenant Special Operations Harness: A strange suit of armor with matching helmet obviously designed to be worn by something other than a human being. It’s alien in origin but it’s sure as hell not ADVENT. Even at a glance it’s obvious that whatever this is it’s more advanced than even the heavy hitting stuff ADVENT deployed.

The harness suit features a self-motivated recharging Energy Shield able to absorb damage from physical impacts, landings, explosions, and energy emissions. After receiving a certain amount of damage the shield will drop or ‘break’ leaving the wearer vulnerable. If they don’t take damage for a while the shield will recharge on it’s own, renewing it’s protection until broken again.

This particular harness allows the wearer to cloak. Allowing them to turn invisible through optical camouflage. However it only works when the shields are up, if the shields are not active or dropped then the cloaking function will not work.

In its current state the harness/armor is simply unusable by humans or any other race besides the one it was designed after. With the proper tools and some materials it could be resized.

However it’d be much easier to gut the cloaking and shielding system and put them on something else. Either another piece of armor, a machine, or a robot...

[Highly Advanced Armor. Currently unusable by humans. Low-strength Recharging Energy Shield and Cloaking Device salvageable. Info identified from the pretense of an Engineer and Robot.]


Cup of Lifenoodles [Mother]: A cup of proper noodles with spices, vegetables, and other unrecognizable but unusually appetizing ingredients. Kept in a small plastic bowl with plastic wrap over the top the noodles appear to be perfectly fine. It's difficult to tell when they were cooked but they appear to be fresh.

Julian-Sensors show nothing out of the ordinary and visually it looks as appealing as all the banal organic nutrients humans shovel into their head orifices.

Lily-Lifting the edge of the plastic wrap off the bowl, every hair on your body stands on end and you feel a rush of energy as you simply sniff the noodles. Without taking a bite you know that this isn't simply a bowl of noodles. Whatever this stuff is it has some amazing rejuvenating properties properties. If you ate it you're sure your ills would go away, hell it'd probably wake you up from unconsciousness even!

[Single use food item. Maximum Hunger satisfaction, Maximum Stamina recovery. Cures all regular status ailments and can revive incapacitated organic teammates if force fed to them. ]

---

Cedar


Fine Pistol (Ambassador): A large barreled 6-shot revolver chambered for high caliber handgun rounds. This particular gun appears to be heavily customized with a large barrel, meticulously engraved on both sides with the visage of what appears to be a reclining women in a dress. Chromed with a rosewood grip it’s hardly the weapon of an overly practical military man.

While it’s engravings give it no tactical advantage, the revolver itself has been perfectly sighted. It can nail precision shots, especially those to the head, extremely well.

However due to the finer nature of the firing mechanism and the hammer, the revolver’s rate of fire is slower then one might effect. The heavy barrel makes the gun difficult to aim if fired in rapid succession. Accuracy is maintained by well placed shots in appropriately timed succession. Shots fired in rapid succession will have greatly reduced accuracy and increased spread, while shots fired calmly and slowly will have near pin point accuracy.

[6-round chamber. Uses lethal Revolver and High Caliber Handgun Ammunition. *Increased damage to heads. Guaranteed critical damage on headshot. *Reduced damage to any other part of the target. *Reduced firing speed, shots made in rapid succession suffer greatly decreased accuracy. 1/6 bullets currently loaded]


Pentazemin: Five pills in plastic bubble tabs. An anxiety medication in tablet form. When ingested Pentazemin has potent psychotropic and muscle relaxant effects. It's packaging states it's meant for use in treating depression, O.C.D, and high degrees of anxiety. The drug also helps suppress convulsions, leaving the user's hands incredibly steady even in heated situations. Taking the drug is a perfect way to eliminate hand shaking, allowing for more accurate shots using firearms. It's marked as being highly addictive however...

[Five use consumable. Cures stress and shaking related ailments. Taking it ensures steady hands and more accurate attacks with firearms and other ranged weapons for a few posts. Highly addictive and habit forming. A 1d6 will be rolled if used more then once a day by a character. If the number is 5 or above the use gains the 'Addiction: Pentazemin' Flaw. For every use past afterwards an additional 1d6 will be added to the roll. 5/5 uses left.]

Quiet


Mega Potion (Monster Hunter): A crude tonic kept in a corked jar. It's aroma is potent, smelling of strange herbs and lots of honey. While archaic in nature this 'Mega Potion' is still a proper medicinal remedy. By drinking the potion it will trigger the rapid, almost instantaneous recovery of injuries. It's by no means a cure all, but it is great for dangerous battles and hunts.

[Single use consumable. Instantly eliminates Large to Severe injuries from user, but is not a full heal. Cannot be drank if someone has a full stomach, is nauseous, or doesn't have a digestive system.]


Ballistic Shield: A small, lightweight buckler style arm shield made of a bullet resistant glass/plastic material. While the protective coverage it offers is limited the shield is light enough that it doesn't effect mobility and doesn't make stealth or sneaking difficult. The shield can easily be used alongside one handed weapons, pistols, sub-machine guns, est.

[Protective Shield. Protective against ballistics and impacts. Limited coverage. Will wear down and break quickly under sustained attack. Difficult to repair.]

---

Handsome Jack's announcement caught me sleeping in a quiet corner underground. Not the worst place I've slept, and cooler than the surface. After walking for the better part of a day, anything vaguely soft was a welcome bed. My back cracked as I got off the pile of broken down cardboard boxes. The residents had been surprisingly generous given the situation. I took a moment to collect my belongings, as well as anything that might be useful for the town. It didn't seem like every nook and cranny had been searched, and I took a moment to collect what I could before heading out. I didn't really look closely at what I grabbed, just threw it into a box. [ROLL FOR LOOT]

My headache drummed out a marching beat as I made my way over to the RED side of town. The mirrored nature of all the major features made navigation surreal, like crossing over to an alternate reality. I slouched into the office of the Mayor, only to bump into the others that had answered the call. Clearly I was late, an excellent first impression. Thankfully it seemed that the group was introducing itself.

"I'm Cedar Birch, M-Mr. Marston! North sounds like a g-good direction. I personally like south but that's only because south is more interesting to say."

I quietly listened to Cedar go on, reflecting on the others before something she said caught my attention.

"Um, uh..." Cedar hesitated but slowly rose her hand. "I died once. At least I think I did. There was a big flash, a loud noise, lots of heat, and then everything went dark. The fact everyone was turning into zombies and dying probably meant we got bombed."

The teen tried to speak clearly and simply, but her voice had a not so subtle shake to it as she recalled what she had gone through and the things she had seem crawling and shambling through the streets of Raccoon city.

"L-last year I can remember was 1998, can't remember the month though. I wasn't very good at keeping track of dates."

Now, it takes a lot to surprise me, especially after waking up in this patchwork world, but that did it. "Excuse me? You died in 1998? It was 2004 for me." I then noticed that I'd interrupted the cowboy, and the silent woman waving her hands around. "Sorry, I'm Max Payne, NYPD Detective." I waved my hand towards the others. "Go on."

@agentnumalol

Kerrigan kept her boiling rage inside of her as the robot asshole put her down. In any other world she'd rip him to shreds for even attempting to go near her with ill intention. She could puncture goddamn steel with her pinky finger and could put enough force in it to shatter whatever head-like hunk of metal was on his shoulders. "You'd be good to never do that again." she whispered to herself, scoffing at herself for how reserved she had to be in this world. She looked to Quiet right afterwards and smiled. "Imbeciles don't know I could kill them in half a second" Kerrigan projected to her, so that only she could hear, confirming that thoughts could be heard, and projected. She'd look back to where Lily and Julian ran off to and send another thought, just to shock Lily, being unable to communicate with Julian. "I used to be human, I'm not the monster you two think I am. I was used by alien xenomorphs and transformed into this. I made the best out of it and made them my bitch. Don't make all my work for survival be for naught."

Several more consciousnesseses entered the room one by one. The little weird thing known as Abe, nervous and anxiety ridden so much so that Kerrigan wanted to reassure him he was safe for some reason; then there was the Batter figure, monochrome and alien to even her, his conscious was nothing like she'd ever encountered, and she couldn't get a solid read on anything but eerie white noise; there was a short fat man who's arrogance was the first thing she noticed, without missing a beat she could determine that he wanted to beat Jack out for leader and use everyone here for his own benefit (it would suck for him that this reminded her far too much of an Emperor Mengsk, she wanted to play with this man and make him cry before everything was over); lastly there was a detective pop up, a certain Max Payne who seemed all too uninteresting for her."I can hear, detect, and transmit thoughts. I'm trying to be amicable in warning you so that you can learn how to block me from doing so. Do not betray this trust, cause I will kill you if you pose a threat to this settlement, and I won't care if I die doing it." she relayed to each of them in the area, and the others that hadn't heard it already.

She began to think about what they could do for this mission for Jack. The more obvious option for her would be to pick the highest point at 2fort and try to psiionically detect any mass gatherings of life. If she could find a herd of animals somewhere they could feed the settlement for weeks. The second option would be to get a poll on the direction the party wanted to travel in, travel it, and hope the stumbled upon something. She kept thinking and began walking to where the group was headed through. Everyone else looked for treasure in the trash, Kerrigan knew nothing here would benefit her, only get in the way. No, what would benefit her would be local flora and fauna to collect essence from and adapt to whatever enemies awaited her here. She may still think like a human, but she was far more Zerg now, and she'd be damned if a zerg wielded a weapon over becoming one themselves.

As John started to make his way topside, he noticed the rest of the party had opted to travel together as well. It seemed like everyone had their own ideas on how this group was going to play out, evidenced no more strongly than by Kerrigan, who introduced her psionic ability to everyone under a trust whose betrayal was punishable by evisceration. Yet in spite of this threat disguised as an olive branch, John could at least understand the sentiment and motivation.

"You sure got a peculiar way of showing trust"

He appreciated that there seemed to be some semblance of cohesiveness among the group. John learned a lot about people by talking and riding with them; this was as good a start as any.

His moment of peace was immediately pierced by an enthusiastic "¡Hola camaradas!" Oh lord. John turned towards the portly dictator, beholding a man that brought to mind the best and the worst (but mostly the latter) of the Mexican leaders and rebels that made names for themselves in the revolution of Nuevo Paraiso. One glance between him and Handsome Jack, and the cowboy was aware of just what kind of trouble was rearing, and simultaneously resigned to just letting it play itself out.

“Well, it’s good to have you so excited to be a part of this, but it seems we’re just about to roll out. So shall we head up, amigo?”

The entrance of another man, refreshingly regular in appearance, caught John’s eye. The man seemed capable enough, and the pistol sitting in his holster suggested that he and John had similar approaches to solving problems. John was surprised to find Mr. Payne a lawman, as his slightly sunken expression and unkempt hair was something John had seen more often in drunks than marshalls.

John was growing more and more disconcerted as the group discussed their backgrounds. He felt pity for Cedar’s undeserved and untimely end, as well as confusion at the mismatching timelines shared by Ms. Shen, Mr. Payne, and Quiet.

“The last year I found myself in was 1911. I was at my farm in Beecher’s Hope in New Austin, just north of the Mexican border.”

John paused, dredging his unpleasant ending before the Event.

“ I had died, too. I watched my family ride away before I was gunned down by the Army. And one federal bastard.”

John clenched his fists and his body tensed at the memory, but he made an effort to compose himself in the presence of his newfound accomplices.

"Maybe you can make more sense of this than I can, Ms. Shen, but right now, all I can do is focus on trying to help our settlement here survive and finding my family."

---

John assessed his pickings from the disused waiting room. John gladly put the styptic and shotgun shells into his satchel bag. The styptic would certainly come in handy if hunting goes south, and the shotgun shells were a familiar, welcome addition, though the lack of a shotgun itself was lamentable.

However, John was at a loss with the gift box of caramels. He certainly wasn’t one for sweets.

“Maybe I’ll save these for Abigail.”

As he was about to leave, John took notice of the assorted items that found their way into the possessions of the others, but none caught his eye like the oversized and overdecorated revolver that found itself in the hands of the underwhelming girl. The piece, ridiculous in its proportions as it was, would definitely help John feel more prepared.

He approached Cedar.

“You know how to use that thing, Cedar? I reckon you should probably let me handle that thing before you hurt yourself.”

John knew he was in the right here. He was the better gunslinger and was confident he could use the revolver better. In all likelihood, she would probably even hurt herself if she tried to use that thing without any experience. Yet somehow, he felt a slight twinge of guilt at essentially shaking down this girl for what might be the most valuable thing she had. He thought about the caramels.

“Hm. Would you be willing to make a trade?”

He shook the idea of saving the gift box for Abigail from his mind. Right now, John needed that gun, and unlike the hundreds of smarmy, rich city-types, it didn’t sit right to take it by force from Cedar. At the very least, she needed something to brighten her life a little after her death. Plus, Abigail couldn’t afford the extra weight, pray she didn’t hear that.

---

With his business done around 2Fort, John headed to the bridge by the pond and waited for the rest of the exploration group to appear to head out. John had thrown out the idea of heading north, and based on Quiet, Cedar, and the Batter, they seemed fine heading that direction, or at least weren't against it. The decision of the rest of the party remained, however, and maybe a better direction could come up. John leaned against the pole on the bridge. In the chaos, he had nearly forgotten about cigarettes until he reached for one that wasn't there.

To the voice that echoed in his mind, the monstrous Elsen, the Batter said and thought nothing. She suddenly seemed more like the Queen than a lowly Elsen, however, and that did intrigue him. She too had spoken through the whispers of the mind, after all, and had proclaimed herself a Guardian and Goddess of the Zones - the manner in which this creature walked reminded him of her. But for now, it was better to keep his distance. The man in the wide-brimmed hat had stood out the most as the leader of this particular expedition, and so the Batter remained close by him.

But for the most part, he simply followed, silent, and carefully listened and watched as they rummaged through the garbage. While he wasn't adverse to it, most of it seemed unusable to him, and so he simply waited for the others patiently. Once they had started to leave the heap and made their decisions, he slowly approached the appointed leader of their expedition, the gunslinger with the wide hat.

He gently tapped the side of the bat.

"Be careful what you imply about your existence. Specters are an unholy apparition that distort the world."

The more he thought about it, the more questions it raised. Specters were not intelligent. They were not capable of organization or purpose - they simply meandered, whispered, hunted and rendered the world around them impure. They were the embodiment of the black and white becoming grey, of colour in the storm, of the blending of realities.

"But for now," his voice still echoing and warping like the rim of a half-filled wine glass, "We will remain allies. I am not certain of your true nature just yet, and it would be unwise to start a fight unnecessarily."








Abe slowly nodded along to the human's rambling about... frogs? Cats? He guessed they were probably animals, though he couldn't help but wince and scowl a little at the thought of 'pets', especially being mistreated. It was a term he'd only heard Glukkons use, and it reminded him of their basic attitude towards...

Well, everything, come to think of it.

That said, fish did sound pretty good right now. He felt his stomach growling loudly, and nodded.

It was then that he felt something peeling into his mind, and physically shuddered. He glanced at the purple bug human, gulping a little at the voice that whispered those threats. Not that he had been planning anything violent - 2Fort was certainly no Rupture Farms - but it reminded him once again of the strength some of these people possessed... more so, however, it was the fact that she could read his thoughts which worried him most. In his efforts against Rupture Farms and the other Glukkon industries, his main advantage had been his skill at staying out of sight and using his powers to turn their own soldiers against each other. But around someone else with some sort of psychic power...

I'll be really careful, then. Thanks for the heads up.

She'd probably notice that his 'mental voice' was just as prone to that nasally, lip-smacking intonation that cropped up in his actual speech, too.

....

The group settled to rummage through the trash, and he kept a careful distance. He was still most wary of that huge robot - it reminded him a little of the Greeters or Snoozers, though worse. A Greeter couldn't see you if you stood still and couldn't move anywhere near as quickly as that thing had. It also couldn't think, though thankfully this... 'Julian' seemed to be obedient to the human who always stood nearby it.

He found himself glancing at it just a little too much, though. To a pretty obvious degree, honestly.

----

At the bridge, he carefully watched the river flow.

"I don't mind heading north, if that's where everyone's going. Mudokons could be north as much as anywhere else."

His eyes focused, he waited, watched...

And then suddenly stamped his foot into the water with surprising speed and heavy thud, hoping to stun one of the fish that lurked beneath for long enough to grab it and take a bite. [Roll for Fishing Attempt, I guess?]

The bug queen finally spoke up, and surprisingly she claimed not to be an alien after all, that she had been transformed into one by...

”Xenomorphs? Like from the movie Aliens?”

Shen was briefly dumbfounded by this comment.

”You watch movies?”

”I spent 20 years in that facility, there was very little to do. So I watched a film where an alien killed a load of humans. Just like what happen outside really.”

”And in both the humans won in the end”

”not in the film they didn’t”

”... yes they do, Ripley, the kid, the android and a bunch of the marines shoot the crap out of the aliens, escape and nuke the site from orbit.”

”Not in the one I had. She falls into a reactor and the aliens live happily ever after. I’m… not sure about the kid and the android. The editing at the end is kind of sloppy but presumably the kid gets eaten and the android escapes”

”I. What? Why would they? Wait. The editing at the end of the one I saw was crap in comparison to the rest of it too...”

They should probably just move on at this point and leave the topic behind.

”Anyway, um.”

Where had she been. Ah. yes. The suspicious humanoid that claimed to be human. Most of the Elders troopers had been part human and she sure as hell wouldn’t trust them, so even if she spoke truth she wasn’t magically in Lilly’s good books now. The fact that Kerrigan followed up with a threat on their lives if they endangered the town was neither for nor against her humanity really, but Lilly was pretty sure that no matter what Kerrigan was, Shen didn’t like her attitude one bit.

”I’ll keep that in mind.”

Lily took note to make a mind shield as soon as possible on her PDA for future reference, along with the various dates the others, including one from a man straight out of a noir film who had just joined them, gave her. The mention of zombies in 1998 was certainly an anomaly, but that might have been an event that either nobody had brought up or had been covered up at the time. There was a president for cover ups after all, XCOM itself was originally a covert operation and there were some indications that something XCOM related had gone done in 1962 as well.

”Thank you all for that information, and it's nice to meet you mr Payne, I’m Lily Shen. Yours seems to be the highest date so far, baring my own of 2036.”

As for the rather dusty room it looked to be filled with junk, non perishable food, complete with a dinner plate and some unidentifiable drugs found by the others.

It was Julian's advanced sensors that eventually picked up on the anomaly in the room ( he noted that Abe was watching him in fear and took it as a compliment). While Shen was marveling at probably the most delicious smelling meal she had ever witnessed he carefully(as careful as a giant robot can be anyway) edged his way towards the odd shimmer that was sitting on one of the benches.

”The hell is with this noodle bowl? It smells amazing and laced is with… stimulants and medical spray?”

She muttered to herself. It was the best she could find to describe what she smelled, unable to even think of the existence of magically infused food.

”Can’t hide from me!”

Julian suddenly roared, his metal fist slamming into the invisible thing and then bouncing harmlessly off of the energy shield. This did cause the suit to de-cloak and fall from its perch on the bench however.

”Julian what are you doing? And When did that get here?!”

She was startled first by the attack and then by the appearance of the collapsed inhuman figure

”Just showing off my superior eyesight and protecting you”

After an inspection of the fallen foe she announced

”well, good job from saving me from an empty suit. Still, this is entirely out of place, it’s way too advanced”

It was incredibly advanced just in general and while the aliens had exhibited instances of shield tech on shieldbreakers and invisibility on the seekers from the original invasion this was, on first inspection, a sublime combination of the two that didn’t seem to fit any previously encountered alien life form. The sophistication of the tech was promptly demonstrated as the suits shields recharged and it dropped from sight again. It was a shame it didn’t fit anyone, but she was definitely going to see if she could dismantle it later and retrieve the generator and hopefully salvage the unusual metal the suit was made from too.

The suit itself was carefully placed back on the seat and the plate placed on its lap to denote it’s position. She would work on those once they returned.

---

She and Julian joined the others at their embankment point, ready to head the north. It was as good a direction as any, she honestly couldn’t remember which direction her little group had come in from in the first place anyway.

@redbaron1234

Ruby

A stunning blood red jewel roughly the size of a golf ball. Unmistakably a ruby, beautifully cut and polished by what could only be a master jeweler. It's far, far too big to put on a regular sized ring but it'd work well with a large necklace or some kind of headpiece. Acceptable as currency by nearly everyone and everything. Trading it has the potential for a lot of bartering power or cash in return if it's sold. However there could be other uses for it...

[Highly valuable miscellaneous item. Reflects light. Very hard. Acceptable nearly everywhere]

Scamp Skin



A wide patch of what appears to be some kind of skin. It's brown in color with thin, singed hair sticking out in certain areas. The skin holds a strange, almost brimstone like smell to it but doesn't appear to be cooked or prepared in anyway. Despite being raw the skin is rather leathery and dry. You're unsure just what this came from but you can safely assume that it wasn't human.

[Single use consumable. Alchemical ingredient. Effects currently unknown. Edible, but will have random effects if eaten.]

---

@Eventua

Arowana

Ripples shot out across the water as Abe's foot struck the pond. For a moment there was nothing but silence but a dark shadow appeared beneath the water and slowly rose until a wide bodied fish bobbed to the surface. Snatching it out of the water and biting into fish Abe would find the fish to be very tasty! . Despite having a lot of bones and having a strange, almost ancient appearance the meat of the fish is very supple and plentiful given the girth of the fish itself.

>Abe has eaten!
>Abe has gained a moderate about of +Stamina! Due to not being tired or exerted this excess of stamina will benefit his next major action.

---

"I can hear, detect, and transmit thoughts. I'm trying to be amicable in warning you so that you can learn how to block me from doing so. Do not betray this trust, cause I will kill you if you pose a threat to this settlement, and I won't care if I die doing it." she relayed to each of them in the area, and the others that hadn't heard it already.

"Good," I thought to her, "Now you get to hear my internal ramblings." I followed the others out of the room, trying to play this off as some sort of comic book convention. The fact that I knew that someone could talk to me mentally made that a tall task. The cowboy, Marston, also claimed to have come back from the dead. His mention of his family made me think of my own loved ones. I might have to talk to him later. If nothing else, being family men might be points of bonding.

As the others searched the room, I finally had a moment to look at what I'd grabbed. Mostly small empty boxes, labels indicating that they used to hold spare parts for machines; vacuum tubes, nuts, and other hardware. However in one of them I found a foul smelling skin. I couldn't tell if the smell was natural to the skin, but at the very least the coarse wiry fur made it clear it wasn't human. It was wrapped around something much more interesting. A large, almost golf-ball sized red gem rolled into my hand. Part of me instantly thought it was a ruby, but I quickly realized that it was more likely colored glass. If it was a real ruby, it was easily the largest one I have ever seen.

Wrapping the gem in the skin again, I put them both in an inside pocket. Out of habit I double checked that my sidearm was in the holster, and waited patiently for the others to finish. A few minutes later, the rest of the group was waiting outside, ready to head out. I couldn't help but smirk, realizing that this would be the first time in years that I've gone into a dangerous situation with backup, such as it was.

---

“I’d prefer if you kept the killing for a more convenient time.” Quiet thought back to Kerrigan with a frown. “Someone with your strength should have equally powerful patience.”

It wasn’t difficult for Quiet to sympathize with Kerrigan. Her time spent on Mother Base, caged up, feared and misunderstood by the Diamond Dog soldiers came to mind. Because of her abilities and her refusal to speak many of the men were convinced she wasn’t human, some kind of alien or worse. Lily’s ire and suspicion seemed mostly focused on the more overtly exotic individuals of the group.

“The engineer and her robot don’t seem to have paid much attention to me so far. Besides my attire I look somewhat normal. I wonder if their attitude will remain the same when they see what I can do?”

“Hm. Would you be willing to make a trade?”

Cedar jumped slightly at Marston’s voice. However polite and even toned it was having anything directed specifically at her seemed to put her on edge. For a moment the teen stayed silent, looking down at the outstretched box of caramels and then down at the highly decorated revolver she held. Part of her wanted to reject the offer. Holding the gun made her feel safe and a little more confident.

However Marston’s face, and the sincerity of his offering made it difficult to refute even if Cedar had the strength of will to object in the first place.

“O-OK.” Cedar stuttered with a shaky nod of the head, reaching out and taking the caramels before slipping the Ambassador into Marston’s hand (having good sense enough not to point the barrel at him while doing so.) “A-a c-cowboy needs a revolver, right?” She asked, seemingly to no one.

(Trading between Marston and Cedar has been confirmed.
(Marston is now in the possession of the AMBASSADOR)
(Cedar is now in the possession of a Box of Caramels)

---

After gathering what they could from the room, stripping it clean of all it’s meaningful contents, the group made their way up the stairs and out of the underground offices. They were greeted by the dusty sunshine of the Courtyard located just outside the door to the stairs. It didn’t take long for them to mozy their way over to the bridge where Abe had already caught (and heartily eaten) an Arowana.

Standing on the roofed bridge overlooking the pond they were able to properly see the entirety of the town. Two near identical buildings overlooking one another with nothing but a rickety bridge and a glorified puddle separating the two. It was less than impressive but there was a strange sense of sincerity to the place and the smell of the dusty fields and fresh water was actually rather pleasant.

Other townsfolk wandered about getting their bearings, occasionally looking over to the group. Some were scared, others dismissive, other still intrigued. But all of them kept their distance and generally avoided them.

They were out of the underground offices, had picked up some things to use on their journey, and were ready to head out. All that remained was picking a direction to leave the town from. A cursory glance of the land around 2Fort made it difficult to see any real difference from North, South, East, and West. Flat, patchy land stretched out in all directions with no real landmarks or anything to denote importance.

Yet if 2Fort could sit in the middle of such an unremarkable area, there was no telling what else could be out there...

"Someone said something about picking a direction, right?" Cedar said, finally speaking up as they arrived outside. "A few people said north, but there are some people I don't remember saying anything. Do we all want to go North?"

A vote was essentially put forward and the group consensus would decide where their first journey would be headed...

Current Decisions on Direction
Marston- North
Cedar- North
Abe- North
Julian & Lily- North
El Presidente- ???
Batter- ???
Max Payne-???
Kerrigan- ???
The Batter- ???

>Players may take whatever actions they want before the group decision is made.
>Fish may be gotten from the Arowana Pond. Remaining Fish Left: ???