[center][h3]Midgar Zone 09 - Through the Dragnet[/h3]
Level 5 Goldlewis (98/50) Level 4 Sandalphon (10/40)
Karin’s [@Zoey Boey], Blazermate, Roland, and Susie’s [@Archmage MC], Geralt and Zenkichi’s [@Multi_Media_Man]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2181[/center]

[center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgcdFhWRLuc&ab_channel=Loostp][img]https://i.imgur.com/7xgaWUg.png[/img][/url][/center]

Within the span of about five minutes, the Seekers managed to coalesce on roughly the same area of the Sector 08 undercity, where the brink of the troubled but tenacious dystopian sprawl called Detroit overlooked a sequestered cityscape long since given over to isolation and redshift corruption. This unofficial ninth sector went ignored and unacknowledged, a blight on the city’s history and a remnant of its darkest hour, and with its very existence too painful to embrace it lay here, hiding in plain sight like a homeless veteran. This was Quarantine Valley, a realm even lower on the rungs of Midgar’s sociopolitical ladder than the undercities, yet safeguarded against intrusion with the fierceness of the City of Glass. As Goldlewis took it all in from the sidewalk behind the metal railing, he couldn’t help but feel a profound melancholy borne of his sense of responsibility. Even if it wasn’t his call that left this place -these people- desolate, it saddened him to them abandoned to this terrible fate

Guided by an expert at high speed, Goldlewis and Karin seemed to arrive first, and once they turned up the fliers could zero in on the position and join them. Susie, Blazermate, and H’s drone had navigated over the tumultuous streets with little to no issue; even if people down below spotted them, they probably had more pressing matters to worry about. Roland turned up soon after, drifting to a stop on a slick black motorcycle inexplicably come into his possession. He knew he had little to fear from his wanton theft; the law of the Administration seldom lifted a finger to save anyone down here, least of all from itself. Geralt had taken advantage of Detroit’s sky-lines, using them as intended with his sky-hook to make good time weaving around and in some cases through the various buildings. Though Sandalphon used the same means of transportation, her method of sliding atop the sky-lines (while an impressive feat in its own right) took her long enough that Zenkichi joined Geralt, courtesy of a former colleague’s good-natured assistance, before she did. With 2B and 9S still in Sector 07, probably for the best considering the fugitive status of DespoRHado’s android corps in Sector 08, that left only two conspicuous absences: Benedict and Partitio. Goldlewis didn’t know where they’d gotten lost along the way, or even if they’d set out along with the rest at the start, come to think of it. Maybe Partitio had decided to stay behind to help the poor people of the slums, leaving the Seekers right where he first joined them. Benedict, as a former Turk, posed more of a problem. Goldlewis had a hard time imagining that the old tactician would run off and turn his coat now of all times, but who could say what seemed wise to a traitorous mind.

With everyone more or less here, Goldlewis set down his coffin with a [i]thunk[/i] and crossed his arms. “Alrighty then. How do we get in?”

As he hoped, Mr. H had an answer for them. “Well, there’s a couple options, but none of them good. There are cameras positioned all around the valley to catch anyone trying to fly in, whether they’re using vehicles or even parachutes. All official routes in and out have been closed down or blocked off except one, and while it’s closely guarded, it’s probably our best bet. This way.”

H led the team about half a block to the north of the interplate subway station, where the remains of a [url=https://i.imgur.com/CrcgtiG.png]sky-tram station[/url] stood on the edge of the valley. It had been shuttered long ago, and the coiled steel tram lines that once connected it to a matching rooftop station down in the valley, severed. In the vicinity, however, stood an unassuming [url=https://i.imgur.com/V1ygDAm.png]reinforced door[/url] in the yellow glare of a single light, plastered with holographic restriction warnings. A [url=https://i.imgur.com/eer9dOE.png]Dandelion Security CCTV Camera[/url] hung over it, turning the fan of metal petals that surrounded its lens left and right as it scanned for unwelcome visitors. The Seekers stopped up the street a short ways, standing outside a run-down laundromat. “That’s our ticket in,” H told the others. With the recent reduction of personnel, eight wasn’t a huge group, but it was enough to be conspicuous. “I can hack the camera to freeze its intake just long enough to get us inside. The bigger issue…well, I’m sure you’ve already noticed.”

Sandalphon narrowed her eyes. While a casual observer might not notice anything, she spotted something curious after a moment. Next to the doorway stood a trash can, and every few moments its lid cracked open to admit a pair of binocular lenses with a slight red glow from within, betraying the presence of Gleaming eyes. Furthermore, at the closed pawn shop across the street, the blinds parted slightly to let red eyes take a peek of the area. “G-men,” she answered. “At least two on stakeout.” When she looked again, however, she noticed a strange abundance of small trash cans on a road where the alleys already featured dumpsters, all concentrated within a hundred feet or so of the entrance. As well as two simultaneous blind-pulls. “Make that six.”

“All of them probably equipped with walkie-talkies,” H added, his voice grim. “We need to take them all out at once if we’re going to get inside. I can’t help since I’ll already be performing the hack.”

Sandalphon thought for a brief moment. “A coordinated strike may do the trick. Even if we’re unable to exploit their disguised forms’ low health in order to kill them instantly, they’ll be forced to transform and fight us once damaged. If we time it right we can end it before it even begins.” Immediately she turned her gaze upward, searching for a vantage point in the vicinity. “I can snipe one of them.”

Goldlewis stroked his whiskers, considering his options. “Hmm…what if the UMA floated a Thunderbird way above one o’ them trash cans, then dropped it? Doggone G-man wouldn’t know what hit it. And if I got close enough somehow, I could smush another one with my coffin, and that’s all she wrote.” That left three hidden G-men to take care of: two more in trash cans, and one in the pawn shop. Luckily, that establishment featured a second story with a balcony, no doubt due to being a living space at some point in the past. While the fire escape was locked up tight, one of the second-story windows had been smashed, and someone could get in.

Everyone quickly made their choices and got into position. Goldlewis strode down the street alone, aware of all the eyes sticking to him like glue, past the pawn shop, and stopped at the small, weed-infested parking lot opposite the sky-tram station with one of the trash cans right behind him. “I’m an undertaker, and this here’s my coffin I put dead folks in,” he declared loudly so that the G-men could hear, trying to get their attention. “Boy, there sure are a whole lotta dandelions ‘round this parkin’ lot. As a coroner, I need flowers for my funerals. Guess I’ll grab some!” He crouched down to pretend to pick dandelions, keeping one hand on the chain of his coffin.

Down the street, Sandalphon used her new power Vault to leap up onto the roof of the laundromat, where she could crouch down behind a noisy AC unit and take aim at the pawn shop’s storefront window. H piloted his drone close enough to connect to the security camera. Once everyone gave the signal that they were ready, Sandalphon spun up her rifle and waited until both G-men in the pawn shop were peeking at the exact same time. “Now.”

As H froze the camera, Sandalphon’s rifle shot blazed down into the street, through the window, and into the head of one of the faceless goons. Goldlewis whirled around and smashed his coffin into the trash can behind him with a mighty Behemoth Typhoon, crushing it and its occupant against the brick wall behind it. A split second later, his Thunderbird grenade dropped down on another can, blowing it up. The three other members of the group did their thing, and the G-men were taken care of. H opened up the door, and everyone hurried inside. Less than thirty seconds after the operation began, the reinforced door slid shut again, and the valley-side street was quiet.

After a moment, a woman standing on a higher rooftop breathed a long, slow sigh, and snapped her notebook shut. Her pale yellow eyes, as sharp as a predator’s fangs, and her long lupine ears had taken in just about everything. First Benedict, then Zenkichi, and now Roland, who’d been by her side as recently as last night. Three disappearances in three days, only to turn up alongside the same strange group across different sectors, from the debate to the Vandelay raid to Detroit. And now a member of DespoRHado, formerly affiliated with the Lateran church. Had all three really betrayed General Affairs? Why? What brought them all together, and what were their goals? It just didn’t make sense. A dozen questions ran through her head. Nevertheless, she had a duty to figure this out. Having been on the trail of these renegades for a little while now, she felt close to a discovery of vital importance. On the cusp of some revelation.

“Looks like you had the right idea.” Behind her, rather than any fellow official peacekeepers, a [url=https://i.imgur.com/wwYNTCZ.png]young Lupo man[/url] in a dark pinstripe suit and a purple overcoat stood with his arms crossed. “They’re the ones all right,” Vigil remarked. “What d’you suppose they’re up to now?”

As the former judge rose, the pale golden chains of her hammerhead flail jingled softly, their thorns shining softly in the strange day’s halflight. “I intend to find out.”

“What, not gonna call it in?” Vigil put on a mischievous smile. “Going off on your own with a schmuck like me instead of your police squad? You’re a bad cop, [i]Lavinia[/i].”

The woman gave her old friend a withering glance, then frowned at the street below. “If that’s the case, [i]Leontuzzo[/i], it’s because I care about one thing only.” She stepped to the edge, pausing to utter one more word before she jumped down to pick up the trail. “Justice.” Hoping to close this bizarre case for once and all, [url=https://i.imgur.com/OzBWCTo.png]Penance[/url] was on the hunt once more.

[hr]

After climbing down a ladder, H and the Seekers reached a large enclosed area. Ahead of them lay a maze of corrugated metal walkways and platforms suspended over a deep, dark intersected by large pipes and other such Detroit utilities, spanning multiple levels connected by stairs. They appeared to be anchored around the huge concrete supports littered the open space, and the ladders that rose up into the higher reaches of the [url=https://i.imgur.com/yZc9rIk.png]restricted area[/url] alongside them granted access to a dangerous alternate path along unsecured, elevated struts. On the other side of the [url=https://i.imgur.com/TbwKDYm.png]labyrinth[/url], lower down, lay another door like the one the Seekers just came through: the point at which Sector 08 stopped and Zone 09 began.

“That door back there is the only way to the exclusion zone,” H explained. Between the team and their goal patrolled a handful of guards, not G-men this time, but [url=https://i.imgur.com/NIvwbQR.png]armed troopers[/url]. “As you can see, we’ll have to sneak past a few guards to get to it. And the door itself won’t open without a security keycard. The guard captain should have one on him we can use.” In front of the door stood a [url=https://i.imgur.com/PztDWac.png]mustached soldier[/url] in camo fatigues and a gray longcoat, his manner impatient and bored but his eyes alert. “Of course, we can’t just ask him to lend it to us. We’ll have to take it from him somehow.”

Sandalphon queried her internal database, searching through her memory for the familiar face. “I know of him. He predated my time in DespoRHado, one of the few to ever actually leave the organization. His name is Charles, but most know him as the Closer. An expert fighter.” Her eyes drifted upward. “That high ground doesn’t grant much access, but I can vault up there and provide overwatch, directing everyone from above.”

“Sounds good. We gotta be fast, and we gotta be careful. This could get real hairy real fast if you guys don’t take the stealthy approach, so if you end up going loud, make sure you’re good and ready.” H’s drone transmitted a deep, somewhat shake breath. “Alright! Nothing to it but to do it!”

[center][h3]Suoh - Beacon Mental Hospital Medical Ward[/h3]
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Sakura’s [@Zoey Boey], Gemma[/center]

Unfortunately for Midna, it turned out that Sandalphon had terminated their magical connection when the previous mission came to a close. Anyone who knew the value of information also knew the value of privacy, and since the archangel had no further need nor desire to perceive or listen to everything the Twilight Princess encountered, she hung up to better focus on the handful of perspectives she’d be directly working with in Midgar’s undercities. Furthermore, while Sandalphon -as the source of the power- could reach out to anyone she’d previously connected to, that didn’t work in reverse. Midna was on her own, and the fate of the still-breathing patient was in her hands.

Back by the operating room, Gemma was beginning to get antsy. He knew he wasn’t well-suited to subtlety and didn’t want to jeopardize anyone or anything due to impatience, but as a senior Psych-OSF member he couldn’t help but worry for his companions. After a few more tense moments, listening to the Doctor at work, Gemma reached out to Sakura via Brain Talk. [i]”Hey. Everything alright?”[/i]

At that moment though, Sakura was in the midst of another conversation. Brain Drain stared at the girl, unblinking, as she tried to steady herself and work her way through a response. She ended up babbling somewhat, repeating herself a couple times, all the while quailing under the psionic’s mental pressure. Brain Drain let her go on, his nerves of steel as calm and collected as ever. It was only natural that an inferior mind -let alone one trapped in a prison of fleshy impotence- would shrivel in his presence, caught as she was in the headlights of his sheer intellect and metal majesty. Though Sakura wore the colors of Psych-OSF, meaning she had to possess at least a modicum of combat ability, Brain Drain wasn’t flustered in the slightest even by the sudden, unannounced appearance of such a suspect individual. After all, what had he to fear?

[i]“Peach, yes, I get the picture,”[/i] he responded at length, when the girl was quite finished. [i]”I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. I don’t know of anyone by that name, and I haven’t dealt with any transfigured unfortunates. We do keep some monsters on the premises to help deter intruders…[/i] As he floated over the floor toward a clipboard to double-check, he gave Sakura the side-eye. [i]...But evidently they’re all old hat. I trust you’re at least passingly familiar with my colleague, the Doctor? I’d wager you’re too composed to have run into Anima, though.”[/i] He glanced over at a [url=https://i.imgur.com/LumBZgH.png]dark-haired man[/url] in a faded green vest and red tie, lying unconscious in a tub previously obscured to Sakura’s point of view, muttering hopelessly as he slept. [i]”A little fickle, that one, but quite unstoppable so long as the host remains.”[/i]

Realizing he was rambling, Brain Drain snapped his attention back to Sakura. [i]”Regardless, while what we do here is of utmost importance and demands privacy, I assure you this is no ‘evil hospital’. This is where people come to be fixed.”[/i] He crossed his arms. [i]”Oh, don’t bother asking. I don't have to read your mind to know what you're thinking: what does he mean, ‘fixed’? Well, I don’t see the harm in telling you. We’re not open to the public, but our clientele is guided here through certain channels. When they have nowhere else to turn. When they are broken beyond repair, or hate what they see in the mirror, and yearn to be made whole. When they need a medical solution to an ailment without a cure, be that boredom, depression, who they are, or even death itself. I tend to their minds, and the Doctor, their bodies. It is far too complicated for a layman like you to possibly grasp, but if you’re still curious, I invite you to ponder the paradox of the Grandfather’s Axe.”[/i]

Brain Drain turned to gaze up at the giant, glowing tank. [i]“Yes, we have quite the collection here. ‘Donated’, yes…you could say that. Surrendered. To the Brainframe, for scientific study and experimentation, to learn more about the mysteries of the mind. They are networked, not just with one another, but to psynet. Extra servers to bolster the psychic pool of the populace. A rising tide raises all ships, as they say.”[/i]

He ran his hand along the side of the apparatus, almost lovingly.[i]”Of course, I…could not do this without Psych-OSF. We have something of an arrangement, you see. They help keep the lights on, and in return I provide some services to them. The rehabilitation of certain criminal elements, who would otherwise be subject to execution. They’re brought here, and I help make them better. But that is the extent of our affiliation. My true allegiance is, as ever, to the Greater Good. And that requires that I bend all my efforts to the eradication of the single greatest threat to mankind: not the Ever Crisis, but the Skullgirls.”[/i] He huffed, his mental tone irate. [i]”And I would be all the closer if not for the rash of recent thefts. Someone has been stealing brains. MY brains. The sheer nerve it takes to steal from ME…it’s enough to make a man sick.”[/i]

Brain Drain turned to glare at Sakura. [i]”You, my uninvited guest, wouldn’t happen to know anything…would you?”[/i]