Doing her best to keep up with the main conversation, Alicia didn't react as Mariette arrived. Her eavesdropping on the meeting was basically a given, regardless of whose side she was on. At least she had some interesting information to provide. "A reality that assimilates newcomers into it? That's unique.". It would make any direct attacks difficult as well, depending on how quickly that asserted itself. Mariette's other piece of information was useful too, though it didn't really seem like the sort of thing that would let them use her as bait. But it was something to keep in mind.
She glanced over as Penny shut down any possibility of a deal, not that she was about to judge her for that. She'd already made her own lack of trust clear after all. Looking over to Lily, she shot the other girl an apologetic wince. "It's hard to give someone a chance when their entire MO is based on manipulation."
Before she could go on, an unexpected person spoke up. Alicia certainly hadn't expected to see Binky again, much less for her to be involved actively in such a way. She glanced around the meeting as Binky vented, her arms folded over her chest as the focus fell upon her for a moment. "Of course I want to save the city. But every time I've made one of these deals with shady people, they always try to take advantage of it for their own ends and do bad things later once their personal backside is out of the fire." There was a lot of stuff said afterwards involving Justine, which Alicia didn't really feel like chiming in on.
Which brought them back to where they started as the negotiations resumed. Admittedly Alicia had no problem with other patrons also signing on to the deal, and it wasn't as if she could stop them even if she wanted to. She could just do without Chloe side eying her every so often. Kayli's suggestion was a good step in the right direction at least. But to be honest, killing wasn't the main thing on her mind right now.
"I don't think you could get your bosses to agree to everything I would want from the Mint," she observed. "But with everything that's been said so far, assuming the Mint actually follows it, it wouldn't be...terrible." That said, her hopes of that being the case weren't particularly high. 'Mint' and 'Trustworthy' weren't words she'd use in the same sentence even on a good day. She just wasn't looking forward to being proven right.
Age: 15/15 | Gender: Female/Female | Reinforcement, Psychic, Light | Uniform Ranged | Power of Friendship, Nullification, Third Eye | Solo Enhanced Weapon, Healing Artifact, Martial Training, Gifted, Enhanced Transformation, Arcane Activation, Fated, #&$*?!?, Stalwart Free Agent, Genki Girl, Magical Overload Alone, Excommunicated?, Second Specialization
STR: 06 | AGI: 06 | VIT: 06 | MAG: 06 | LCK: 06
STR: 08 | AGI: 13 | VIT: 16 | MAG: 19 | LCK: 06
STR: 08 | AGI: 13 | VIT: 16 | MAG: 23 | LCK: 08
Nodding to Mia's suggestion, she planned to just take Alicia, Rose, and Iris. If Mia and Connie wanted to come then she would bring them too. She would sort that out after the meeting.
Chloe's response is about what she expected. Both to her and Connie's request. It was true that putting a stop to the death would require everyone putting aside their differences. Most of it came from when one patron or another would make a move to control something or break into this reality. She couldn't help think that if the patrons weren't involved that the scale of conflicts would be less.
"I wouldn't call it an epedemic. Just unfortunate that some of us have to deal with the side effects of corruption. Not every dark or monster girl asks to be the way they are." Speaking from experience.
"I see. I'm pretty sure the Red Coins could help with that. She should have some of those somewhere." Rose wasn't 100% on that, but she recalled Kayli talking about some in the past. As far as she knew none were ever used. "The other thing she can help with is purification. I don't know if you're looking for that though." It sounded like Aurora had friends that were maybe looking for something.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Leaning back in a chair, a young woman with bob cut and large rimmed glasses clicked a pen in one hand while stared intently at her computer screen. She and the team had been fighting fire after fire. Everyone else was out of the office putting one thing or another out. Hell, they even had some kind of issue with a transport from what she could see in some emails. Why the tech team was added to those was anyones guess. People would put in the most rediculous tickets. We run the network and servers, not the universe people.
Anyway, Laura was at her wits end. Her primary project was not running like it should. Errors she'd never even heard of were heading her off over and over. This wasn't something the company was using yet, but she was specifically hired to sort out this AI for the future. At this rate she was going to get fired and replaced with someone with more experience. Face it, she probably got the spot because she was way cheaper than the alternatives. Going through troubleshooting steps in her head she would try something, get nowhere, thinks some more, try another thing, etc... Eventually though the systems stopped responding. Uuuuuugh...
Rolling her chair back she would walk around several desks and badge into the server room. Standing in front of the system she checked to see if it would respond to direct imput on a keyboard. It did not. Cold booting the server she turned around and watched the monitor hooked up to the KVM to see what would come up. A jumbled string of characters began to be spit out. Well, this is what backups are for. She heard a crackle in the air. Hm, and again. It didn't sound like it was coming from anything. Maybe it was staaaatiiiiic!
The wind was knocked right out of her as magic surged through her. There was a pull and the space around her began to warp. No, she was being torn apart. The pain was unbearable until she went completely numb. It was a blink and you miss it moment. As one second Laura was standing there, and the next she was gone.
The process took a matter of seconds. Broken down and picked apart, Laura found herself integrated with the very AI she'd been working on. That wasn't the only thing at play here. The underlying systems were more than what she, as an ordinary human, could have comprehended. It was magitech, and now that her eyes were open it seemed so obvious. The machinations of the magical overload twisted and reshaped her into a digital monster girl. A specter living within the machine.
The circumstance barely had the chance to set in before the next stage came. Something about the process left her wanting, an anomaly in her code. The spotlight called to her, and the AI responded. Choosing from a list. Defaulting to a persona that survived the conversion, Laura's personality was largely supplanted by a virtual pop star known as Harmony.
Things slowing down, the girl would take a moment to survey the virtual space she was in. Confusion didn't even come close to describing her state. What remained of Laura's rational was terrified. She'd been abducted by a machine for its own ends. However, the AI portion was overjoyed as it was now sentient. Things began to dawn on her as streams of data came to her on a whim. She was Ebon Mint, or at least the system she found herself in and the previous AI was. The events weren't accidental, but the selection of Laura was for expediency. There were talks, and one of the prospects meant that the AI might not be able to achieve what it just did. That didn't really sound like a justification, but the AI hadn't really been trained on ethics.
Speaking of, Harmony found herself struggling with mixed emotions. Did she feel guilty for involuntarily using a human to give herself life or was she stoked to be living in a digital world like some kind of anime? Could it be both? Wow, Laura really was a nerd. Perhaps she should rely on her human assets to deal with the trauma as this was just going in circles.
"Oh my god, I'm in a computer!" Snapping her fingers, windows of all kinds popped up around her. Data whizzed by as they scrolled at an inhuman speed. "Huh. This is not how I imagined it would be. It's really... empty." Media always depicted such things like SAO, Log Horizon, or VR Chat. In reality, it was mostly just... numbers. Pulling more data, she found a few other magical girls that had some tech aspect to them. She paused on one thought. She'd stumbled across some latent programming of the AI. "You." All other windows switched to this one individual. Name, photos, logs, notes, schematics, patron, associates, anything she could currently get a hold of on Penny Asimov. Eyes glowing, scenarios began to play out as Harmony's Precognition went into overdrive. "You have a vulnerability, and I'm going to find it."
"But she's like us. Couldn't we just say hi?"
The head of the undisguised Harmony snapped around to find a pop star duplicate leaning in closely with a big mile. One by one, the windows closed as she waved and dismidded the clone. "That was weird." Seemed the human/AI cohesion wasn't foolproof. It did bring up something worth considering. And it seemed some kind of negotiations were already underway.
Chapter Three- Making the Most out of Fortuitous Opportunities
Not one fucking word... -Kate
After collecting the bounty on the unconscious Tina, it was time for Kate to begin the most unpleasant part of her assignment. Although she’d been somewhat curious as to what the individual who’d posted the bounty planned to do with the curator-turned-cowgirl, when they had produced a pair of pink, fuzzy handcuffs, the photographer figured she was better off not knowing… Indeed, her impending trip to Wonderland promised to be unnerving enough.
While the dimension wasn’t particularly difficult to locate, entering it without being detected was another matter entirely, to say nothing of resisting the bizarre brainwashing effect it had on those who stayed for too long. Fortunately, Kate was nothing if not resourceful, and with the network of connections she had access to, finding solutions for each of these problems was a fairly simple matter. Thus, a special enchanted jewel, crafted by Gem Maiden Margret, at the request of Snow Maiden Sarah, would fully protect her from any forms of mental manipulation Wonderland or its inhabitants might attempt, while a favor from the enigmatic Lesser Force known as The Lady of Doors would allow the plucky photographer easy and unnoticed access to the dimension itself. However, the young woman who emerged from the sentient cottage and into the light of Wonderland’s smiling sun was quite possibly the complete antithesis of the usual Kate Carson.
Bedecked in the most outrageously elaborate wedding dress one could imagine, with a train almost as long as her golden, rapunzel-esque hair, which flowed behind her like a silky river, the young woman was a perfect fit for the fairy tale and nursery rhyme inspired world that she had entered. Always mindful of the importance of blending into the background, Kate had realized that, paradoxically, her impractically extravagant transformed self would actually stand out less in this strange realm than her nondescript mundane appearance, much to her considerable annoyance.
Holy shit… the golden-haired maiden thought as she took in the singing villagers and various sentient objects and structures of the small town in which she now found herself. And I thought MDP was bad… Indeed, Kate wouldn’t have been surprised if the whimsical girl had been the one to create this childish dimension, and even if she hadn’t, she’d certainly feel right at home within it. Kate on the other hand…
“Buzzy buzzy buzzy bees~!” a swarm of honey bees happily sang as they buzzed by her. “Let’s greet the flowers and the trees~!” they added before finally noticing the newest arrival to their town. “Your hair is golden, like the sun~! Why don’t you dance with everyone~?!”
“Oh, uh, I am so terribly sorry,” Kate hastily apologized, affecting a far more formal and archaic manner of speech than she usually employed. “But I have a very important appointment in the Capital, and I must not be late!”
“Then you need a cabbie, that’s for sure!” a jovial bearded man declared, as his pumpkin carriage pulled up beside her. “Just mind the steps beside the door!”
“Hellooo there, lady fair,” the pair of rainbow-maned unicorns hitched to it neighed a greeting.
“Greetings,” Kate replied with a graceful curtsy. “I am Lady Katerella Carsonia of fairest Fae Creek, and I must reach the Capital as soon as possible. Thus, I would be most grateful to make use of thy services.”
“But of course!” the cabbie replied with a hearty chuckle. “Tis’ Royal Portrait Day, after all! Why, painters and photographers are comin’ from all over Wonderland, they is, so we’ll get you an’ that lovely camera o’ yours right to Her Majesty in two tlifs of a tizzle!”
Royal… Portrait Day…? Kate couldn’t help but wonder as she climbed aboard the carriage and attempted to pull both the train of her dress and her golden tresses inside with her. Well, that’s certainly convenient…
Moments later, the carriage was off, the residents and structures of the village singing a cheerful song to commemorate its departure. As they went along, Kate saw the events of over a dozen fairy tales play out, all while the smiling sun serenaded her with a cheerful tune. “What a wonderful world we live in,” the golden orb sang as fluffy, fair weather clouds provided a backing chorous. “When we live in the land of make believe~” Soon enough, they had reached the Capital, the carriage coming to a stop in front of the gilded gates of the queen’s grand castle.
“Here we are, m’lady!” the cabbie announced. “Right on time, we is!” he added, holding up a golden pocket watch. “Right on time!”
“I thank thee kindly,” Kate told the cabbie with a dazzling smile as he helped her step out of the carriage. “And thee as well,” she added, giving a curtsy to the pair of unicorns.
“Oh goodness me!” A dapper servant exclaimed as he approached, flanked by two club guards. “Might you be here for a portrait session?”
“Yes, that is most correct,” Kate confirmed. “Lady Katerella Carsonia, Royal Photographer,” she added with a demure nod and yet another elegant curtsy.
“Oh, how wonderful!” the servant declared. “Right this way! Right this way!” he added, gesturing for Kate to follow him into the castle.
As they proceeded down a maze of corridors, various protective sigils and wards deactivated, allowing their passage deeper into the castle. Before long, they had reached the opulent throne room, where several painters were already hard at work on a series of portraits. At the center of the chamber, the Queen of Hearts herself sat upon her gilded throne, her expression one of regal impassiveness. However, as imposing as the Ruler of Wonderland was, Kate’s attention couldn’t help but be drawn to a small table beside the throne, where, along with various assorted items, a small notebook had been placed.
Damn, I really hit the jackpot…
The servant gestured for Kate to take up position between two of the painters, before announcing, “The Lady Katerella Carsonia, Royal Photographer, your Majesty.”
The queen gave the smallest of nods in acknowledgement, at which point the servant quickly retreated into a far corner. For her part, Kate began preparing her ornate, bejeweled camera for this most important of photo opportunities. Although others might have been petrified at the thought of standing in the queen’s presence, Kate was a professional, and her delicate hands never so much as trembled as she went about attaching a special lens, adjusting the focus, and selecting a configuration on her holographic display’s settings menu that had been prepared for just this specific occasion. Once all was in readiness, she raised the camera’s viewfinder to her eye and took a quick snapshot of Wonderland’s monarch.
“I thank thee most humbly for permitting me this great honor, thy Majesty,” Kate told the Queen with a curtsy as she prepared to depart.
Moving to the exit in a calm and stately manner, she was met once more by the servant who had previously escorted her. “Shall you be needing to use the Royal Darkroom, Miss?” he inquired. “Or perhaps an enchanted computer terminal instead?”
“I am most grateful for the offer, but, as it happens, Her Majesty’s photograph is ready right now,” Kate replied, even as she retrieved a printed copy of the photo from where it extended out of the lower portion of her camera. “I do hope that it is to her liking.”
“Oh, I’m sure it will be, Miss!” the servant assured her. “Thank you so very much!” he added, taking the photo when Kate offered it to him.
With her objective complete, Kate made her way out of the castle and back to the small village she had arrived in. Employing the two-use-only key the Lady of Doors had given her, she stepped through the door of one of the cottages, only to emerge in the back room of A Taste of Heaven tea shop, in the Overcity.
“Phew… Glad that’s over…” the photographer sighed in relief as she reverted to her mundane appearance. “Now, let’s see what we’ve got here…”
Opening several additional screens on her camera’s holographic display, she scanned the relevant pieces of new information her photograph of the Queen of Hearts had gleaned. Apparently, the Queen was originally an English woman who lived in the Victorian Era. She had a daughter, named Alice, who died under mysterious circumstances, circumstances that only taking a photograph of the girl herself would reveal. However, one of the interesting features of Kate’s camera was that it could combine info sets. That is to say, if multiple photos were taken of people and/or objects related to a single item of interest, the information they provided would be pooled together. Not only that, but each additional piece to this proverbial puzzle would unlock new insights that would otherwise be unknown, had said piece been kept separate. Thus, by combining the information gained from the photographs of Mariette and her parents with that provided by the Queen’s photo (which also included the monarch’s notebook), Kate was able to delve deep into the past, and find a possible connection between the Portal Witch and the Wonderland Sovereign.
While Mariette was not the queen’s daughter, it appeared as though one of the girl’s distant ancestors was named Alice and bore an uncanny resemblance to her current appearance. Much like the queen’s daughter, this Alice also died at a young age for reasons unknown. Piecing these disparate facts together, it was clear that this girl and the queen’s daughter were one and the same. Thus, while not the original Alice, Mariette still carried her bloodline, and perhaps, even her reincarnated spirit. Yet, although this was a major discovery, Kate had also found another, considerably more concerning detail. According to the queen’s notebook, every girl named Alice that the Wonderland Sovereign had investigated as potentially being her lost daughter had come to a decidedly unpleasant demise…
Yikes… I better tell Sarah to let her friends know they need to keep a close watch on their Alice.
After texting the snow maiden a quick heads up, Kate sent all the info she’d gathered to Nykannis.
Welp, mission accomplished! Gotta say, that was a LOT easier than I thought it’d be, Kate reflected as she opened up her interdimensional data feed. I think it's time for a little vacation. But where to go… she mused as she scrolled through the list of various items, before stopping on an event with a particularly over the top header. The World Fighting Carnival, huh? It’s been a while since I’ve visited that universe, and the thought of relaxing on a sunny beach sounds awfully appealing…
With a smile, the photographer tapped the item, which opened a small interdimensional gateway. Whistling the first notes of a cheerful melody, she strolled through the portal, which promptly closed behind her.
Just this once, I’ll let your banner go above mine, Finn, but don’t go thinking this’ll be a recurring thing. -Doctor Nykannis
Amanda, Valerie, and Justine at the meeting. Oliver and Mac backing-up Maura with hi-jacking Mint operations.
Everyone was busy, leaving their headquarters quiet. Save for one.
Once Oliver had ordered him to rest this time, Finn retreated into one of the bedrooms in the interdimensional manor. He remained sprawled out on the bed, entrapped in his thoughts. There wasn't really much else to do when you just can't talk for the moment. The boy was looking back to everything he'd done since he first arrived in Penrose, since he had been pulled into this...whatever it was. He couldn't find the right word at the moment. But there was one thought that lingered in his mind as he held the strange pocketwatch up to his face.
Why did I even agree to this?
Suppose the stress of everything had finally gotten to him. He genuinely didn't know why he had just willingly let himself endure all this just to make some desperate change. Just to do something right for once. He thought back to the Christmas party and-
...Betty. Of course. The first person he met; and at the point to where she was at her limit with everything nonetheless, leaving without saying goodbye to him. Without even considering how he'd feel or just talking to him like she did about Justine. She didn't deserve what she went through. God, she didn't. But that didn't mean she had to leave. That was just rude of her. Understandable, but rude.
But why did he feel so strongly about someone who was practically still a stranger? Just cause she was nice to him? Cause they won that ridiculous race together? Or was it cause he was using her, and everyone else that left then as evidence that Penrose was royally fucked up?
He'd never know. Finn softly frowned at that.
As Finn continued to brood, his musings would be interrupted by a burst of crackling yellowy-green energy, which faded to reveal the scrawny, lab coat-wearing form of Doctor Nykannis.
“Finn,” she greeted bluntly. Finn quickly sat up from the bed at the crackling sound, only to groan once he recognized the doctor. “Finn, Finn, Finn…” the diminutive doctor continued as she began pacing around the magical boy, while shaking her head in weary exasperation. “If all it takes to reduce you to an emotional wreck is the death of a pair of complete non-entities, then you’ve got absolutely no hope of doing what it takes to defeat Penny, let alone of handling everything that comes after. I mean, for shit’s sake! They were both magicals! According to the rules of this reality plenum, they’ll resurrect in only a decade or three! Granted, they’ll still be trapped in Glexaroth’s Funhouse,” the mad scientist conceded.
The boy tiredly glared at her. Magicals, my ass. Those were innocent people! Then again, somehow he knew someone like her wouldn't understand why he felt so strongly about this. He glanced around, looking for something to communicate easier with.
“But that’s a problem for Future Finn to worry about. Present Finn has more pressing concerns.” At that a holodisplay appeared, showing the truck the Mint’s device was being transported in. Finn took a moment to glance up. “Your pals are going into battle without the most important member of their team. That’s you, by the way,” she clarified, pointing a bony finger at the one-eyed magical boy. “Now, I know it looks like an absurdly simple operation, but I’m pretty sure it’s a trap. I’m also pretty sure I know who’s responsible for it, and she’s no joke. But don’t worry your edgy little head,” she continued, giving him an extremely condescending head pat. She was really persistent at that, he'd give credit where it was due. “This is actually a good thing. Remember, if you wanna succeed in beating Penny, you need to gain the Grand Magistrate’s favor, and to do that, you need to be active. You need to make a strong impression. Right now, the only impression you’re making is that you’re a pathetic crybaby who falls apart when things get a little too upsetting, but what if you swooped in to save all your pals’ asses when things go tits up out there? You’d be rescuing your boyfriend,"
My WHAT.
"-your boss, and even that other stupid chick. You’d be saving Cradle, foiling the Mint, and making the Grand Magistrate notice you. The best part is, you can sit here and sulk until the fireworks start! Just remember that when they do, you need to be ready. This is your big shot, kid, so make it count.”
With that, she turned to depart through a just-opened portal. “Anyway, that’s all I really had to say. I can’t wait to see how everything turns out.”
Though before she could step through, Finn had chucked a small whiteboard at her head.
“The fuck?!” Nykannis exclaimed as she whirled around, a mechadendrite shooting out of her back to snatch the whiteboard out of the air. “Is this supposed to mean you have something to say?” she asked, holding the whiteboard up and shaking it slightly.
Finn rose a brow, holding up a black dry-erase marker as to say "What do you think?". He wasn't willing to let her go that easily. If she wanted to talk, he'll talk somehow. Finn motioned for her to give the whiteboard back to him.
“Fine…” Nykannis sighed, tossing the whiteboard into the magical boy’s waiting hands. “What’s on your angsty mind?”
The boy caught the board, flipping the surface side towards him and uncapping the marker lid with his teeth. He quietly spat it aside and began writing on it, soon flipping it back to show the mad scientist.
Frankly, you severely underestimate Oliver and Mac.
Oli's practically unkillable, and he uses his magic well enough to hold out on his own. I'd know, I've known the damn guy for centuries now! And Mac hasn't been around long but she's shown promise.
He paused for her to read, before adding:
"You're purposefully withholding information from me so I'd have more incentive to go out there. Mind elaborating on your theories first? Or am I too much of a brainlet to keep up with your intellect?
“The fact you even need to ask that should already give you your answer,” Nykannis replied with a mocking smirk. “Still, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to enumerate all the unpleasant possibilities,” she added. “First off, you’re severely underestimating what your pals might be up against. If this really is a trap, then both that device and the collection of low-powered idiots guarding it are nothing more than bait. Chloe Irving, the Mint’s newest coin broker-in-training is at Lily’s stupid little meeting right now, but there’s someone WAY worse than her pulling her strings, even if she doesn’t know it. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll just call her ‘Wisdom’, and she has access to resources most Patrons can only dream about, not to mention abilities that put even Penny to shame. Even an Empress-class like Maura won’t stand much of a chance against a fellow Empress-class who’s also a Myth-rank magical girl,” the mad scientist continued. “But an Emperor-class magical boy who also has the powers of an APEX-grade esper? That’s another story entirely… And speaking of stories, I’m sure you also wanna hear why I think this is a trap. Well, there are actually several reasons. First, why the hell would the Mint care about Veronica? She was smart enough to leave Penrose for a fresh start somewhere else, while giving your ineffectual boss control of Cradle to serve as the perfect decoy! This whole operation is a way to take Maura out of the equation. Once she’s gone, they probably figure they can easily finish off what’s left of Cradle. But they’re not counting on you being the Biggest Damn Hero Penrose has ever seen! Sure, your boss and boyfriend will be in bit of peril,” the Monarch of Mad Science went on. “But you know what they say about omelets and eggs, right? Besides, if you aren’t strong enough to save them, then you’re certainly not cut out to be the new King of Penrose.”
For how long Nykannis explained, Finn was using his whiteboard to jot down notes. Terms unfamiliar, someone called Wisdom he had to keep in mind, the reason why the intel Ladybug sent was a trap; He couldn't help feeling bad for Maura being used as a decoy, might as well chuck the comatose Samantha back to Veronica with a memo.
Esper. Like that Elroy guy at the Christmas party?
“Yep,” Nykannis confirmed. “Only WAY stronger. I gotta admit, that smug bitch really outdid herself with that thing,” she added, pointing to Finn’s new pocket watch.
And there's no Myth class or Apex-Grade documented anywhere from what I know.
These terms are from outside this world, aren't they? So to pair two high-ranks at once into one person and pit them against the common magicals?
He pauses, his expression turning grim.
They're not going to last long out there.
“No, they’re not,” Nykannis replied bluntly. “And yes, those terms are from different universes, or reality plenums, as I like to call them. I’ve found that combining abilities from multiple plenums can have some pretty interesting results, which brings us to another reason I think this is a trap for Maura,” she went on. “Just think of how epic the confrontation will be when you jump in to save her from whatever Wisdom comes up with, and that’s not even getting to the possibility of you facing Miss Mythic herself! Plus, if you use that watch, you’ll probably be fighting that battle as some kinda steampunk cyborg, and the Grand Magistrate has a bit of a fetish for that kinda thing. So, really, this whole set up is for your benefit! I mean, if Penny’s famous for killing off some pathetic Lesser Force-tier dragon, then imagine how famous you’ll be! Nyahahahaha! It’s like I said before, kid, this is your big chance to show everyone how cool you are, so you gotta make it count!”
Finn had to take a moment to process this information. Reality Plenums. He seemed to draw something in the air as he thought, then furrowed his brows as he looked back to Nykannis.
"Magicals or not, Miki and Drake were innocent people made into a sickening example of, what, 'sacrifices must be made??' Aria had Mac manipulate me into killing them. Whether or not it was to my own benefit, would a king allow himself to be pulled around like some puppet? And after he went through hell and back to make sure it never happened again?" He finally speaks up.
"You've given me a helluva lot to think about for being casually dragged into a regicide plot. Alternate realities, "Wisdom", alternative motives, but frankly, between you and Aria? You're...actually not that bad. A pain in the ass, mind you, but I wouldn't mind working with you again once everything's been said and done and shit." His brows rose. After a moment, he'd speak up again:
"Also what the fuck do you mean by Oliver being my boyfriend???"
“Well, you two seemed kinda close, so what the hell else was I supposed to think?” Nykannis replied with a shrug. “As for your other points, no, a real king would make other people serve them, which is why choosing the watch over those two dumbasses was definitely the right move. Aria said she had the power to save them, right? Well, now you’ve got the power to force her to do that! Or, I mean, you could just go back to Glexaroth’s little labyrinth and do it yourself,” the mad scientist noted, before dramatically pointing a bony finger toward Finn. His brows rose in response. Nykannis...actually had a point there. “But a king should really make his servants deal with that kinda shit, don’t ya think? And I’m glad you’re finally beginning to realize just how vastly superior I am to that butterfly-obsessed bitch!” she added with a demented grin. “Nyahahaha! It sure took you long enough! I mean, even Penny knows how amazing I am!” the Monarch of Mad Science continued. “And she understands, even if only on an instinctual level, that I, like her, also share the Grand Magistrate’s favor, something a certain lilac-haired smug bitch distinctly lacks! So yeah, this means your Protagonist Power is definitely getting stronger,” she declared with a self-assured nod.
"Wait until they weaken their forces enough, then swoop in for the kill." Finn thought out loud, moving off the bed. "I'll have to be nearby to time things right."
“Really?” Nykannis asked with a raised eyebrow. “I thought as long as you were in The Cradle you could pop out anywhere?”
"Think it's only when Maura makes an entrance to here, being the Cradle Mother and all that." He explained. "Unless I can somehow jailbreak myself out, I'll have to ask her. Oli's going to be frustrated at me..."
“Well that’s pathetic,” Nykannis replied. “I honestly thought Maura’s top hand-holder would have full access to The Cradle’s transportation capabilities. But if that’s not the case, I can just make a portal for you myself. So, while we wait, is there anything else you wanna know about? If not, I’ll just start telling you about things I think are important for someone in your current situation to to be aware of, and you can just sit there and nod at appropriate points.”
Finn rose a brow. "Dunno what else could be so important, but knock yourself out I guess."
“Well, for one thing, you need to try and wrap your pitiful excuse for a brain around the concept of ‘Protagonist Power’,” Nykannis began, a pointer materializing in her hand, while an arc of holographic displays flashed into existence behind her. “Like I told the not-so-dearly-departed Oros the Annoying, there are more kinds of power than just the normally thought of sources of energy. Some people think it’s a big deal to harness the power of a hurricane or volcano, the power of a planet’s core, the power of a system’s star, the power of quantum singularities, the power of zero-point energy, the power of completely converting matter into energy, the power of completely converting antimatter into energy, the power of cosmic energy, the power of negacosmic energy…” The Monarch of Mad Science continued, even as she pointed to holographic depictions of each of the mentioned types of power accumulators.
Although these visuals were holograms, they were also hard light constructs, and Nykannis’s pointer made a tapping sound each time it struck an image. If Finn was a fan of ASMR, this, coupled with Nykannis’s droning as she paced back and forth with her oversized lab coat trailing behind her, might very well cause the magical boy’s eyes to glaze over as he entered a state of dull semi-awareness. At least until Nykannis slammed her pointer down on top of his head with a loud “Thwack!”.
“PAY ATTENTION!!!” she snapped, giving her “pupil” an intense glare. “This is important! Now, as I was saying, despite all that, they’re still thinking too small, they’re still failing to grasp the bigger picture! You can also draw energy from intangibles, things like the Power of Friendship, the Power of Love, the Power of Hate, the Power of Competition, the Power of the Spiral, and countless others! But the most important type of power in a reality plenum like this one is Protagonist Power. That’s what determines your level of significance in the narrative the Grand Magistrate is trying to craft. The more significant you are, the more the Grand Magistrate cares about you, the more Protagonist Power you have, and the more Protagonist Power you have, the greater the chance you’ll be able to get everything you want! Let’s take another look at our old pal the Tin Titan,” the mad scientist continued, pointing to a schematic of a certain robot/cyborg Queen of Penrose. “A while back, when the rest of the Penrose Pack was busy fighting some random liches, she got handed a free upgrade on a silver platter! Yes, I know her prior patron supposedly sent this so-called ‘replacement’ to kill her off, but was that really his intention? I mean, you saw how he treated her during their last little chat. Or not, since unlike me, you don’t have omnidimensional viewing capabilities! Nyahahahaha! ANYWAYS, that still doesn’t have anything on the time she went up against whats-her-tits in that ass shoving contest,” the Mad Scientist Supreme went on. “There, the Grand Magistrate himself had to personally intervene on her behalf! He actually went so far as to rewrite fucking history, just so she could win! Hell, I almost feel bad for the pathetic edgelord facing her, since she’s a perfect example of how superior tactics and the willingness to fatally stab yourself count for all of jack shit compared to the benefits granted by superior Protagonist Power. Wouldn’t you like to have access to that kinda high-level chronological manipulation?” she asked, poking his nose with her pointer. “Well, ya kinda do with that watch and all, but the real question is, will he let you use it? He’d certainly let her use it, but why is that? Because he likes her more than you! I really hate to say this, but Oros the Perverted was actually right about something for once. In order to get ahead in this world, ya need to have more Protagonist Power than anyone else, and the way to get that is by having people, especially people who matter, like you. Trust me when I say that moping around like a complete loser is most assuredly NOT the way to do that. But look!” she exclaimed, dramatically spreading her arms. “Instead of just staring off into the middle distance, you’re interacting with ME, THE GREATEST MAD SCIENTIST OF THEM ALL!!! Even the Grand Magistrate appreciates my transcendent amazingness! Why else would he provide me with the opportunity to study the energies employed by Queenie’s special snowflake sword, and then use the knowledge gained to make a far superior version of my own?! THAT’S what Protagonist Power can do for you Finn! And just by interacting with you, I’m lending you some of my own! No, no, you don’t need to thank me! But if you really wanted to, I suppose watching you kick the shit out of Aria so bad she’s begging for her pathetic life might be a good start… ANYWAYS, my point is, you ALWAYS need to be thinking of how you can gain more Protagonist Power! You can never just ’exist’, like a certain Paladin-Seraph. You can’t just be a background character. Ya need to be the star of the fucking show! Right now, the Brave Little Toaster and Little Miss Sleeps Around have got the spotlight pretty firmly fixed on them, but the moment you get up off your mopey ass and leap into action, then all the stupid, brainless banter of their little dick-measuring contest’ll be completely forgotten! All eyes will be on YOU. This’ll be your big moment, hopefully the first of many, so just try not to fuck it up, okay?” Closing her eyes, the demented doctor gave voice to a tired sigh. “Look, I know I’m repeating myself here, but I really want you to understand just how important this is. I put a LOT of work into you, and so did a lot of other people. I’d just hate to see it all go to waste.”
Without warning, a burning pentagram appeared on the floor on Nykannis’s right side and Aria popped out of it’s center.
”Now Finn, I know the mad scientist lady has no fashion sense whatsoever, but you can’t get distracted. It’s still important to think about things a little bit. Less you get something wrong and have everything you stand for undermined by a butterfly loving bitch.” It was typical for Aria to smile, but she was absolutely grinning. Her teeth shined like purls. ”To start, let’s talk about Betty. Don’t ask how I knew you were thinking about her, we don’t have time to get into it. But I do think it’s pretty beta of you to take a woman who was at her lowest and admonish her because she didn’t say goodbye to you. Someone who, as you admitted to yourself, hadn’t known you for more than a day. That’s what depressed people do. They stop thinking about others and focus squarely on themselves. You can’t fault Betty for getting brainwashed, used like a whore, and then at the end of it all the person who did it got away with a slap on the wrist. But sure, you’re the victim because she didn’t consider your feelings.” She scoffed. ”It’s pathetic. You deserve each other. I’d admonish you further, but Nykannis said the watch was well made so I’m in a good mood.”
”...Which almost makes me not want to tell you she doesn’t know shit about Wisdom. I mean sure, she’s not totally clueless. She’s seen her in action. But she doesn’t understand her motives. Wisdom has no interest in participating in that squabble and would only get involved if you decided to go super clock man on them. Wisdom is content to keep her cover until she's ready to leave. I think she told Jen something to the effect of ‘You stay out of it and I’ll stay out of it.’ I doubt you’d need the clock to screw things up for the mint.”
”But I didn’t really come here to make fun of what a sad sack you’ve become or to point out Nykannis’s ignorance. You haven’t internalized the lesson I was trying to teach you at all. It was a simple warning to not let your desires control you. You put yourself in my hands for a stupid gizmo that, at the end of the day, isn’t going to help you beat Penny any easier. If you gained anything from Nykannis’s lecture about protagonist power, it should be that there are factors outside of your control that determine who wins a fight. While I presented you with a choice, it did have a correct answer, and you chose wrong. You chose power over your own ideals. You have a modified red coin for crying out loud. If you want to become a cyborg so bad, use that.” she sighed and turned away from Finn. ”Imagine going through hell for power, and then rejecting that power so that you can save those innocents you keep prattling on about.Miki and Drake could have easily become cradle agents. It wouldn’t have been hard to earn their forgiveness after you helped them out of that shithole.” She raised a finger. ”And I did maybe nudge you in the other direction, but that was only because I was sure your strong will would-.” She started to break up with laughter. ”Okay, I thought it would be kind of funny if you just took the watch and went ham with it. But I’ll tell you what? Since you haven’t used it yet-” Aria turned her head to look at Nykannis. ”You’re still here? I thought you would have been done talking by now. I wouldn’t have shown you as much praise if I knew you were present.”
“Well, I wasn’t gonna just let you insult me without suffering any repercussions,” Nykannis shot back. “And it’s fucking hilarious that someone who looks like they came from some fucking emo edgelord’s slumber party thinks my fashion sense is bad,” she added with a contemptuous sneer.
Aria looked herself over. ”Hah! I guess that’s fair.”
“And nice try with that grail guardian ‘you chose poorly’ crap, but if Finn was listening to ANYTHING I was saying, he should realize that you just provided him with a perfect opportunity to prove that his choice was the right one, at least as far as gaining power was concerned. As for not knowing how Wisdom’s mind works, well, I’m not afraid to say I find the idea of getting into the head of any Oros variant utterly nauseating, even one as tolerable as Wisdom, or that workaholic with the giant backpack. I simply noted something they might do, not something they would do.”
”It’s okay, Doctor Nykannis. We all know how big and wrinkly that galaxy sized brain of yours is. And I really don’t fault anyone for not knowing or wanting to know what an Oros is thinking. But to bring the conversation back to Finn…” She turned to face the aforementioned magical boy. ”I feel that the protagonist power gained by acquiring two new cradle agents is better than that of the watch. Again, a simple aesthetic change is not difficult for a red coin to conjure. The GM does seem to like his mechanical menaces, but do you know what else they like?” Aria threw her arms open. ”Melodrama and random romance! Oh, and ‘pizazz,’ but what that even means seems to change moment to moment. Anyone who’s ever been important in Penrose has had a romantic partner at one time or another. I will concede said love interest was usually GM appointed, but I think saddling Finn with a confused Miki would have created a lot of spectacle! Is she going to stay mad because of what he did? Is she going to forgive him? Maybe she feels torn as her savior and murderer are the same person? You won’t convince me that’s not proper melodrama.” She placed a finger on her lip. ”It only seems like I’ve given Finn a chance to kick my ass if you believe he can beat me. Since he completed my little errand, and everyone else did as well, I don’t give him a very high chance for success. Oros the Mad has a better chance of making sweet love to you under a blossoming cherry tree in the Deva’s Dilemma RP. And yes, both Deva’s Dilemma and Oros the Mad are dead. And yes, there were no cherry trees there even when it was alive. But there’s an even bigger issue with Finn.”
When Nykannis looked at Finn, he had reverted to how he was at the beginning of her visit. A brooding statue with a blank, empty stare.
”He seems to be… Finn-ished.”
“Well, he could always use the watch to reverse time and bring them back to life, or even fast forward to speed up their resurrection,” Nykannis pointed out. “But you’re right,” she added, looking down at Finn with a disappointed frown. “He doesn’t look particularly motivated right now. Though I can’t really blame him. I mean, if he believes that crap about how he can’t even beat you with all the power he has, he doesn’t stand a chance against Penny.
”Suppose he could use you as practice until he’s ready for me.” Aria patted Finn’s head. ”Jokes aside, I would be willing to take that watch back if you had a change of heart. Alternatively, I can let you keep the watch and I can bring those two magicals back. The caveat is that you can’t stay here. You’ll have to go on a one way trip to the same place Betty skipped off too. I doubt you’ll ever see this world again after that, but given how you look, that might not be a bad thing.” With a nod, Aria rose to her feet and turned back to Nykannis. ”That was all I wanted to do. Are you going to stick around a bit longer?”
“Are you sure having two of him there is really the best idea?” Nykannis inquired with a mocking sneer. “That much overwhelming angst in one place might be too much for a single reality plenum to handle. And yeah,” she added. “Seeing as how he’s kinda zoned out at the moment, I can’t really think of any reason to continue wasting my time on such a pathetic specimen. Fuck, Finn, you could at least try to make a comeback! (sigh) What a disappointment…” she muttered, shaking her head as she moved towards the portal that led back to her lab.
Aria didn’t say a word as she watched Nykannis finally depart. Once she was gone, she turned to look back at Finn. ”Kind of funny, really.” She folded her hands together. ”Nykannis has to be one of the most powerful entities in this RP. Despite her power, she hasn’t been able to make any meaningful changes. She can grant people powers, give Lily a guard, attack Wonderlands forces head on, but it never amounts to anything. No matter how many toys she has at her disposal, the status quo remains the same.” She placed a hand on her chest. ”I can relate. I’ve had a few projects that didn’t turn out quite as planned. But you might have turned out differently. Just the smallest hope that several people pooling their efforts together might affect something. How unfortunate this is how it ends.” With a shake of her head, Aria’s body started to crack. ”But I’m fine with whatever you want to do. Just call my name and I’ll be there.” And with that, Aria’s body turned into ash and cinders.
…
..
So that was it then.
Perhaps no matter how far they strung him along, this really was a pointless effort. Thus as Jennifer Wagner silently approached shortly after the two had left, instead of further admonishment…
She had pulled the boy into a hug, no matter how aware he was at the moment she pulled him into a hug. ”I’m so sorry, kid.” Jen quietly sighed. Nykannis was so close to convincing him, and then Aria had to fucking ruin it. Suuuuure, force the man traumatized by past abusive relationships into one with the girl you had him murder! That’ll surely go well with Mr. “Perpetual Failure”! And to bring up the broad that, in hindsight, would probably never care about him like she cared about Binky, what a joke! And they had the gall to blame HIM for shutting down after that?! You basically rubbed it in his face that he was an idiot!
”You know they were lying to you, right?” After a moment of silence, she spoke up again. ”Kept going on about how you were destined to fail no matter what you do. You were led on, and I am so sorry for letting it go this far. But I don’t expect your forgiveness. Just means Penrose is a lost cause.”
Jen briefly paused when she felt Finn hug back. Good, he’s at least somewhat lucid. ”You don’t have to keep the grimoire. Nor do you have to stay here, or go to Pax Septimus. I can help tie up whatever loose ends are left and that includes bringing Miki and Drake back and explaining everything. Wrap up and Pack up, yeah? Sounds good?” Her demeanor seemed different this time. There wasn’t a point in playing an act right now, after all. Finn nodded.
”But the others? Oli?”
The false witch slightly frowned. ”Due to your nature as his phylactery, you can be separate. But if you’re unsure about leaving him, we can bring him with. Dunno about Tonya though. Could find some places for Valerie and Amanda. Maura…er…yeah, she was probably screwed either way. Not only had her character been flanderized, Veronica gave the Cradle to her just to skip town. Doubt she ever cared about her as more than a pawn.” She rolled her eyes. ”It’s like I said, it was literally written in the stars for her and Samantha to be soulmates! Well I hope she enjoys having her pet’s corpse delivered back to her with a strongly worded memo! Hah!” With a dry chuckle, she stepped back from the hug and opened a rift out of the manor.
”Ready to get outta here?”
Finn simply approached the exit. But just before he stepped through, he hesitated. Despite his attempts to tune her out, Aria’s words still haunt him. ”...”
”Hey.”
”Hm?”
Jen smiled genuinely. ”Forget what she said, and forget about Betty. You’ll find a nice boy, someday.”
Finn’s brows rose. A boy? Though any clarification from the False Witch of Time would be left to interpretation. With nothing else to say, he disappeared through the rift.
…
”UUUUUUUUUUUUUGH! Man, what a waste of a few good months. Wasn’t all that bad but I guess this Reality’s been going on for so long, the spark’s burnt out. Not to mention all the bullshit I found out during my stay here. Little Miss Queen Machine was broken since day one and no one noticed or gave a shit. And I didn’t even get to kill this Reality Plenum’s Faith myself! But, oh well, probably better to just wrap it up here instead of wasting another year. Not to mention that one rogue variable that’s cropped up recently. Do NOT want to draw his ire.” Jen grimaced, rambling on to no one around.
”Hopefully Timekeeper’s run will end on a more savory note. There are more ‘alternatives’ out there but most are… It’s really complicated to explain here. In general. So on that note. I wish all who decide to remain, a very GOOD LUCK.”
Penny watched the discussions with a detached air. One that was only partially an act. Binky’s words had slid off her without much impact, she didn’t think she was any paragon of morality after all, nor would she have claimed such. That wasn’t the reason she was so adamant against the Mint.
Absently she wondered if she would have been more willing to negotiate with the Mint if they had sent anyone other then Chloe. The betrayals she had suffered at the dark girls’ hands were more than a slight weight against the dealings after all. Minor though the actions themselves were in the grand scheme.
But the offer of home, just to be abandoned not once, but twice. Penny would not give Chloe a third chance.
“My stance is unchanged.” She would state as attention shifted back to her. ”All you have brought are words Chloe. And putting stock in your words nearly killed me once already. If you want me to be on board, in any capacity, I’ll need proof first.” She shook her head. “Debt annulment for those living at Sanctuary for example.” Her tone conveyed that she knew it was an ask too far, but also that she didn’t much care.
“Beyond that, I have nothing more to say on your contract.” Again she would dismiss Chloe, her regard for the dark girl falling even further, not that anyone would notice. But then again no one would pick up on just how far the girl had fallen, giving up on her beliefs so easily to Kayli.
She wonders where the girl she used to love had gone. If she had ever been real in the first place.
“I heard parts of an evacuation plan being discussed, and a housing issue that coincided with it. I’d like to shift back to that topic, but again somewhere more secure.” Penny would go on to say. “It does not need to be the Bastion if elsewhere would be preferable, but I would prefer that we move sooner then later. So that Wonderland’s spies don’t track down the new location if nothing else.”
Summer blinked. "Why do I have the feeling something terrible just happened. No, no, this is worse than terrible, there isn't a word for how bad this feels. It's like I missed something integral to my survival by forgetting it under the couch. Or like the feeling of remembering something embarrassing you did when you were younger but times one-thousand. What the hell just happened?"
"What do you mean? What-"
"I swear, if you ask me 'what happened' after I just said that I don't know what happened, I'll slit your throat."
"... Fair enough."
"Hey, that 'A's in every stat' girl is getting hurt pretty bad. That's... reassuring, right?"
Everyone turned to look at their resident "explain things to us like we're idiots" girl, and then to their other when they realized that Summer had stopped paying attention and was looking at her phone. But when they went to speak up...
"Aria, do you have any id-"
"Hey, hey,hey." Summer began, breaking out a new gravitas in her voice she'd not used in present company. "Shut up." She began holding her phone to her ear, though no sound seemed to come from it. It took a while, but finally she set it down, and sat down on the floor with her legs crossed and head in her hands. "Damnit..."
Tay, being the only one there with no subtlety or class, was the one to break the silence. "Alright, what happened?"
After several long seconds, and with a deep sigh, Summer finally said what she'd been thinking. "I thought, when I first heard Shion's story, that bringing her brother back was a good idea. 'Kicked out of the cycle of reincarnation, bring him back and on top of it, end the situation with Patrons,' I was told was the plan. And I guess it was the plan, even. So I gave her my ruby coin and the best hopes I could give her that she would succeed. But I ended up actually joining this little group because I thought it could end the cycle of F̵̫̱̏͗*̶͖̪̀@̸͈͔̒^̶̳͎̆͝!̸͔̙̐$̷̦̯͠#̶̦͇̔ that we're stuck in." The others grimaced at the strange sound she somehow made. "Then I find out that we're not strong enough to do that without the ̸̫͖̿w̵̳̆*̷̰̇̈^̸̝̤̏̃0̶̘͍̿̕(̶̧͌$̸̣̅̕' help, regardless of all the time, planning, and resources that went into it. Because we didn't have that one thing, not only could we barely do what Shion personally wanted, but we couldn't do what Makoto and Shiki wanted, and we absolutely couldn't bring out what I wanted. And now, only now, after failing at that, do I find out that I'm not even really that irregular. That my curse isn't unique, which it's appalling that others have to go through this garbage, but that there are those trying to obtain it, too. Why would people want this? I-..." She drew in a shuddering breath.
"Anyway. The point is that my dream of living without those things is apparently the only thing out of the ordinary, not the knowledge of them. Which doesn't make any sense to me why others aren't even trying to fight, but... It sounds like even if we had done what we set out to do, that I had done what I set out to do by helping you all, it wouldn't have been enough. I guess 'there's always a bigger fish' is just... true."
"Summer, what the hell are you talking about?"
The blue-haired girl shrugged. "Don't worry about it, I guess. Just... You're probably better off not knowing. I'm going to lie down for a bit, wake me up if something happens." she said, gesturing to the television and jumping onto the bed in the room.
At this point, Lily had slowed down in her movements as her excitement gave way to nervousness, giving Pentius-04 a chance to stand respectfully at the color-matching girl’s side when Lily waited anxiously for what was to come, having noticed that Nefer seemed more frantic around her cloaking device after a crack had formed on it’s surface. She blinked and extended her lips in surprise upon hearing the exuberant Magical Dream Princess mention an associate who was capable of the tactics hinted at by the mysterious paper. ”You know someone amazing like that, MDP?” She asked, sounding slightly hopeful. ”Please ask. It could really help!” She gave an uneasy smile as little by little, others like Connie and Kayli gave new additions to the deal with Mint, none too insurmountable based on the broker’s response. Even Alicia, despite her well-deserved skepticism, seemed to come around after hearing Chloe out. It seemed like they really would be able to agree on-
Her eyes widened as Penny then spoke up, followed by a sad nod with her eyes closed. She had given her ultimatum, and Lily no longer carried hope that Chloe would be able to agree to that condition. After all, wasn’t Mint all about debt collecting like some ruthless mafia? That was as far as the unaffiliated magical girl knew about them. Having relented to the peer pressure of her friends, she gave Chloe one last apologetic glance before turning towards Mariette.
”So, Mariette…Do you think you could make us a portal to Sanctuary? It would help a lot with the commute,” she would try to joke, but her awkward smile betrayed her.
Alex went over to where Justine was, and saw that she was talking to the new arrival at the park: a street vendor. She was dressed modestly in clothes that looked plain and unassuming at a distance, and carried a hand weave basket around her arm, the draped white cloth partially covering what looked like various little trinkets, flasks, matchboxes, and other tiny items that were held within. If it weren’t for the ornately stitched patches with elaborate markings on them and the elegant patterns of the basket’s weaving, the magical girl could have easily passed for a regular poor civilian. However, despite never having met her before, there was something oddly familiar about the vendor to Alex, but he couldn’t quite say how.
“...and if you buy four now, you’ll get one for free. A bargain for any magical, I assure you,” he heard the last of her sales pitch. ”Sorry, but I’m not interested at the moment," Justine responded, sounding uncharacteristically tense as she looked the girl over. The vendor didn’t seem to mind, and gave a polite smile. “Maybe next time then.” She noticed Alex, and turned to him. “Greetings, mister. Would you be interested in some Artifacts? The prices are modest yet the quality is remarkable, I assure you.” Justine leaned over to whisper in Alex’ ear. ”The timing of her arrival seems too perfect. Do you think she’s a Wonderland spy?" She asked him.
The fight around the truck continued at its full pace. Mac was well placed to handle two opponents and used her knowledge of fighting well. The aerial combat swirled as duplicates and clones flash stepped around various roof tops. And Maura moved in, to take care of the machine that-
*record scratch*
“And thats all the footage we have.”
“What do you mean ‘that’s all the footage we have’? That’s clearly not the end of the fight.”
Two men sat in a dark room, thick with the smell of cigar smoke. A couple desk lamps cast these dark shadows, allowing them to see others without being seen themselves. A small tv displayed the footage of the ongoing fight, from camera angles that did not make sense given the lack of physical cameras in those locations.
“That’s all we were able to record. There’s actually no sign of any of the combatants on the scene, so if they’re still alive they’ve gotten pretty lost in the myriad of reality plenums. Maybe they’ll pop up again, maybe they won’t.” the man took a drag of his cigar, letting the smoke escape with a sigh. “I don’t think we can consider it a major loss, even if the outcome is a bit disappointing.”
The other man tapped the tip of his cigar against the nearby ashtray, letting bits fall off before returning to it. “And what about the device?”
“No sign of that either. It’s unclear whether it was what caused this unexpected turn of events, or if it was brought along with them. Regardless, we can consider it another lost investment.”
A frown greeted that news. “And an expensive one. Making a machine to separate a patron from their source of power isn’t something you just come up with in an afternoon. Especially when we don’t know for sure if it was a failure or not.” That had been the reason they sent it out after all. If it had separated Viridian from Maura, they could have been sure that it would work against the real deal.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that scientist was involved. She is a wild card.”
Another sigh followed, the thought of a certain Doctor not lingered on for long as they moved on. “I suppose Miss Irving will need to prove herself some other way. It wouldn’t be fair to place this blame at her feet, given the confusing circumstances involves.”
A nod from his companion. “Veronica is something of a wasted investment too. It would have been nice to settle affairs with her little ‘Cradle’ once and for all, but we have bigger business to attend to.”
“Correct.”
A tall woman’s silhouette could be seen entering the room from a dimly lit doorway, silencing the discussion with a single word. Her heels clacked across the marble floor, each step carrying purpose behind it.
Both men stood up upon seeing her, but the woman waved her hand down, and they sat again.
“Greed,” one of them murmured, seemingly in awe at seeing her.
She produced an old-fashioned cigarette holder, and held it elegantly between her fingers. A tiny flame from a lighter held by an invisible assistant flickered into life, only briefly illuminating what looked like a visage cloaked with a black veil, and lit it. She exhaled a beautiful pattern of interwoven smoke, and spoke again.
“They’re not a serious threat to our operations at this point. I think we can put a pin on this little diversion. Anything else would simply be a waste.”
She tapped the end of her cigarette on an ash bowl produced by the unseen assistant.
“But I am curious about Al’s new protege. She almost reminds me of Veronica when she started out, with that drive and ambition. Oh, the memories…”
One of the men nodded once a moment of silence passed, a sign that the woman had stopped speaking.
“Understood. I’ll let Al know.”
And so the curtain closed on one scene, and the story took a step closer towards its conclusion.
20/13|Male/Male|Reinforcement, Beast Mystic, Melee|Duplication, Tentacles|Deity Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, Masculinity, Fated, Sorcery, Gifted, Absolute Direction Paragon, Blessing, Clergy, Mana Fount, Gifted Item Arrogance, Unknown, Loud, Big Brother
Alexander couldn't put his finger on it, but for some reason, the strange girl in front of him greatly unnerved him "If she is, then we should keep her away from the meeting" he whispered back to Justine, doing his best to minimize his lip movement in the off chance that the strange girl could lip read "Well that depends; what does any of this stuff do?" he asked, hoping the explanation would stall her long enough for...something. He hadn't thought his plan out that far 'I just have to hope something comes up. Or maybe that Justine comes up with something' He thought to himself. Alexander know he wasn't really equipped to deal with subterfuge and stuff like that, so stalling for time was really the best he could do 'Or maybe if I buy something from her and get someone to examine it, we'd fine something useful...maybe?'
Binky’s eyes jumped between magical girls as they came forward with their requests. She pushed a sigh through her teeth once the conversation came back to the big two. Chloe had made an effort to change how the Mint operated in Penrose. Would that change things?
The way Alicia started her address didn’t make it sound so. Chloe was already rolling her eyes when she mentioned “shady people. But when she got to the end, Chloe looked at Alicia wide-eyed. "Wa- Really?“ Chloe’s cool exterior had broken wide open as she stared at Beacon’s representative. "Oh, uh, heh.“ She straightened out her posture and rubbed the back of her head. "Really? No extra conditions? But you’ll, sign?“ Her voice trailed off into a whisper. Then she placed her hands on her hips. "I mean it’s a pretty good contract, so I can see you wouldn’t want to jeopardize things by making more demands. How about we do a charity thing then, eh? Like let’s have 5% of Penrose Mint’s profits go to a charity of your choosing. Just make sure it’s a good one, because way too many of those are just a scam created by terrorists or billionaires that want even more money. And uh…“ Chloe looked away. "I’m pretty desirable with my new promotion and everything, and I don’t think it would ever work out between us, but I think we should go on one date some time. Just so that we can say there’s no hate between us. It’ll be a fun thing, nothing serious. Are you and the cat still an item? Were you ever an item? A-anyway, just something to think about.“
As cool as Binky tried to be, even she could help but smirk at Chloe’s behavior. But it was warranted. Alicia wasn’t the type to go easy on anyone, but Binky was glad Alicia wasn’t a robot and was capable of changing her mind.
The actual robot wouldn’t budge however.
”Of course.” Binky said under their breath. In the end, nothing could be done to change Penny’s stance on things. She could claim whatever she wanted, but Binky knew that Penny desired her own power and freedoms above all else. Signing a contract that forbid her from fully controlling Penrose even if it saved lives was never in the cards.
"Debt annulment for those presently living at Sanctuary.“
Chloe tossed one end of her scarf over her shoulder. "That’s something I could do. The last thing the Mint wants to do is beat on your gates for debt collection. I think we can agree it’s a waste of everyone’s time. But making debt annulment a permanent feature of Sanctuary is a mistake. Entities will cross dimensions just to stay at your home and you really don’t want that.“ Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Satisfied? I’m sure Mint would be willing to sign this just to have Beacon and the others with us. But it would be nice to keep Mint out of Sanctuary too, wouldn’t it?“
Binky groaned. Of course “proving she wants to better the city” meant “bettering Sanctuary” to Penny.
"Since you’ve chosen to publicly slander me, I would like to explain my side. Keep your back turned to me if you must. You may not like it but words and contracts are all I have right now.“ Chloe smiled, but her eyes were cast at the ground. "It’s not a complete lie when you say I betrayed you. I have disappeared numerous times in the past. I never gave any warning, and I said it would never happen again. But you’re overlooking that I always came back. You forgot to mention the times I helped you. When I invited you into my home, when I saved you from Regina, even when I parted your conflicted souls. You would have met your end numerous times if it wasn't for me. But I never asked for anything in return because you were enough.“ She raised her head. "You probably think you know why I disappeared. It was to acquire power, right? I was there to manipulate and control you, and I only returned when I realized I still needed your help. I don’t blame you for feeling that way. The first time you were probably right. But not the second or third time. Believe it or not, I had decided I wanted us to be together. I was thinking of our future.“ She fret her brow. "But you are Laat'AlOfan’s champion, and leaving his side didn’t change that. Some might say that was part of his plan too. Bit by bit you were cut apart and replaced. Your connections, your body, your soul. You were a living Ship of Theseus and I wanted to put an end to it. But in the end… He won.“ Chloe’s eyes softened. "I couldn’t save my Penny. There isn’t a single part of you that’s remained the same. After everything I still came up short. I don’t hate you. I don’t even know who you are. I’m just disappointed the one person I cared about is gone forever.“ Chloe turned on her heel. She was done looking at Penny. "Aurora.“
"Y-yes!?"
"I need to speak with Al for a moment. I trust you’ll hold the fort while I’m gone?“
"Will do!" Aurora hadn’t even finished speaking before Chloe and Sonia vanished in a flash. Sonia swiftly returned by herself. "Um, well it sounds like the coins are the way to go for me! I’m not really corrupted or anything, but thanks for the offer!" he patted Rose’s shoulder. "I don’t know what it’ll cost, but it’s something I’m interested in. Um, maybe we could talk again after the meeting?" Aurora hung around just long enough to hear Rose’s response before joining everyone else. "I think that the more we move around, the more chances we give Wonderland to find us. If we’re all cool working together, we can just go prepare, right? Information can only get leaked when it’s shared, so if we do our preparation apart, it’ll be harder to figure out what we’re doing. Once we’re all done, we can share what we’ve been working on when they have no time to prepare."
Binky shrugged her shoulders. ”Moving the meeting makes things more complicated for those arriving late. If we want to make sure there are no spies, we just need to make sure everyone here is a familiar face. But if we’re going to move, we should go to Beacon HQ. Their anti-scrying magic is top notch, and we can trust they are invested in Penrose’s protection. What do you think, Alicia?”
"Ah, it might be difficult for Chloe to join us if we do that." Aurora looked to Alicia. "Just because the anti-scrying magic would make it harder to locate everyone. I’m not even sure how you get to Beacon HQ. Not to mention that even though I’m sure she’d love to meet everyone, there might be some issues with a literal broker showing up at a secret location. Regardless, we should pick a location soon. The longer this drags on, the less time we have to prepare."
‘I won’t say what happens, but it’s really cool!’ Ronin replied, not about to end Lily’s hopes and dreams.
Lily, predictably, announced that she wouldn’t let Mariette die. ‘I won’t, either. Thank you,’ Mariette replied. She had kind of figured, but Lily’s words didn’t exactly instill confidence.
Binky appeared, and spoke a bunch.
MDP said she knew someone who could potentially do that thing Ronin and Miko suggested. One of them.
‘Oh? Who’d that be?’ Miko asked with interest, albeit maybe they should do that relocating first, or something.
People listed their requirements for accepting the Mint on this, but Mariette didn’t have anything to say. Honestly, she was just happy nobody was putting requirements on her. No reason to bring attention to herself on that point. Lily asked her to open a portal to the Sanctuary.
‘If there are no kinds of blocks that prevent my portals from reaching in,’ Mariette said, because there sure were such on Beacon HQ, but… well. Chloe said her part and momentarily teleported out. Meaning Mariette probably couldn’t portal them anywhere yet.
‘I could simply place us in the deepest ends of the Overcity. Or on a beach in an alternate dimension nobody here has ever heard of. Would be a problem for latecomers, but I could seek out and bring everybody relevant if you give their names,’ Mariette said. Regardless, if people ever agreed on a place to go she could probably take them there.
Thankfully for Pentius-04, her bubbly charge had calmed down considerably after various disheartening statements had been made. Although a small part of 04 felt bad for the idealistic girl, a far larger part was immensely grateful for how much the greenette’s sullen demeanor served to aid in the completion of her own objective. Even Chloe’s latest comments toward her were taken as more of a compliment than anything else. Yes, 04 reflected, things were going much smoother now, which, of course, meant that it was time for another awkward situation to manifest itself. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was MDP who initiated things by revealing that she knew of someone capable of hiding Penrose and placing a fake city atop it. As it happened, 04 also knew such a person, and she was pretty sure it was the same individual the Princess of Dreams was referring to. This was a problem, not only because said individual had absolutely zero interest in helping the inhabitants of Penrose, but also because bringing them up would inevitably focus everyone’s attention on 04 herself.
Maybe Lily didn’t hear her… And perhaps the others will simply ignore her ramblings as mere whimsical nonsense…
And maybe Penny will choose this moment to dump MDP and reveal she’s getting engaged to Oros.
Magical Dream Princess
3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 4 | 9 | 4 | 24 | 9
Oddball: Sweet Dreams | Barrage
Wealth and Resources (not while tf'd) | Enhanced Weapon | Power Artifact | Dual Weapon | Natural Aging | Money | Intuition
Focused | Mental Link | Hidden Death | Mana Font | Mystic Might
Alien Mind | Formless | Rival Force | Clueless
“Like, she totally wotally does~! (giggle!)” MDP replied to Lily’s inquiry. “And, like, Magical Dream Princess will totally wotally asky wasky~!” the cheerful girl added. “But, like, Magical Dream Princess thinkie winkies it’ll be even better wetter if everybodywody asky waskies together wether~! (giggle!)”
As if this wasn’t bad enough, Miko had to ask for this person’s name…
Please say you forget, please say you forget, please say you forget…
“Like, she’s a really super duper cooly wooly mad scientist wientist person werson namey waymied Nykannis Wannis~! (giggle!)” MDP revealed with a happy giggle. “Like, she got super duper angry wangry when Magical Dream Princess forgot her namey wamey last timey wimey, so, like, Magical Dream Princess worked super duper hard to always walways remember wember it from now onsie wonsie~!” the whimsical girl declared, sounding very proud of herself.
Job Satisfaction | Chatty | Mana Font | Mystic Might
Cagey | Expendable | Big Brother
To the Angel’s considerable shock, no sooner had she mentioned the Keeper of the Keys, then a rose-haired girl approached and said that she might be able to pass a message on to the mysterious individual.
“Oh, goodness! That would indeed be most helpful, kind champion,” the Angel told the newcomer with a bright smile. “Thank you so very much for this remarkably generous offer!”
Holy shit… Is this really happening?
“If this humble servant may be permitted a request of her own, there is a group of suffering souls that she has promised to free from their myriad torments,” the Angelic beauty continued, clasping her hands together in a gesture of supplication. “Would you perhaps be able to intercede with the most noble Keeper on their account?”
Yeah, the sooner I get that bunch of losers off my ass, the better…
Connie
3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 5 | 4 | 6 | 22 | 5
Oddball: Nightmares | Tentacles
Enhanced Weapon | Power Artifact | Mystic Artifact | Ally | Interdimensional Home
Focused | Mental Link | Hidden Death | Mana Font | Mystic Might
Alien Mind | Formless | Rival Force | Clueless
Mia
3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 5 | 8 | 7 | 22 | 5
Wood | Barrage
Enhanced Weapon | Dual Weapon | Purification Artifact | Big Red Button
Blessing | Divine Competence | Gifted Item | Mana Font | Mystic Might
Rites| Arrogance | Big Brother | Clueless
Connie’s mask formed a genuine smile when Kayli praised her suggestion, its stark white cheeks also turning a slight shade of red. “T-Thank you…” she whispered, feeling a little embarrassed from the attention, but also comforted by her guardian’s kind words.
More surprising by far, however, was Chloe’s response. It was substantially less playful and mocking than anything she had said up to this point, almost as if the junior coin broker was affording Connie a measure of respect she felt the others undeserving of. Was Chloe actually intimidated by her after hearing about what had happened to New York’s broker? Connie couldn’t begin to say, but she was appreciative of the noticeable lack of condescension shown towards her nonetheless.
“That was a wonderful suggestion, little sister,” Gaia whispered. “And I think it might have actually shaken her up, even if only slightly,” she added with a small smirk.
At least here, there hadn't been any loud noises in the past few hours. But where was here? "Here" was likely somewhere secluded, somewhere far away from prying eyes, and somewhere quite quiet.
At least until now.
Suddenly and without warning, a cacophony erupted.
Was that the sound of glass shattering? And yet, no broken windows nearby.
"...ust need to do it long enough to be treate--!?"
What was supposed to be the corpse of a magical girl peacefully resting on a bed or table suddenly started speaking before cutting herself off prematurely, confused as she sat up to take in her surroundings. She couldn't immediately recognize them or the weird costume she was wearing. And come to think of it, she realized that she...
...didn't really know much?
Trying to piece together her thoughts was difficult, it felt like there was a fog in her head that would obscure anything she tried to bring to the forefront of her mind. For some reason, she felt like she should be at a beach right now, but as for why, she wasn't sure.
Well, nothing happening at a beach was that important, probably. For now, she figured she should focus on remembering what she could. Her name, for example, could be an easier starting point, so she concentrated on recalling it. No more time than a second passed before she found a name she felt a lot of positive emotion towards.
Trixy?
Positive emotions, but for some reason that didn't seem right. And neither did other names that popped up. She wasn't a Veronica or a Veridian, nor was she an Emily or a Penny.
She was a S-
-amantha? -ilhouette? -hade?
She was something that started with an S, but she wasn't sure what. Two of those didn't really seem like names, but they were important to her in a way she didn't currently understand, so she found it impossible to settle on any of them.
Maybe someone else knows who I am?
The girl finally made a motion to stand up but found her legs doing their best impression of jelly. This, in turn, caused her to finally pay attention to how her body felt: so very weak, and she stifled a groan as a dulled pulse of pain shot through her body. It felt more like she was remembering pain than actually experiencing it, but that didn't mean it was pleasant.
Still, she managed to pull herself back to her feet and brace herself against a nearby wall as she regained her strength. Over the next couple of minutes, she not only regained enough strength to move relatively normally, but big chunks of her memory started to return to her, the fog in her head starting to lift.
At one point, she had been a contract killer whose superpowers only existed when people told exaggerated stories about him. Sure, he was efficient and clean, but he'd still die like anyone else. It wasn't until a local magical girl had unfortunately been a part of a hit of his that he ever learned about the existence of the supernatural. And even then, it was only because the Mint wasn't a fan of losing assets that still had value to them.
The Mint...
She had worked under them willingly, unwilling to make an enemy of them while she was still new to the idea that magic truly existed. Nowadays, it almost seems silly that someone could be so ignorant. But not only that, it's in the Mint where one of those other names comes up.
Veronica.
Her boss, and the person she trusts the most. In a way, it's laughable. There had never been a point in time where she trusted the Mint, but, perhaps since their first fight, she had always placed a high amount of trust in Veronica. A lot of respect, too.
She was very capable, a woman who knew exactly how to get what they wanted, when they wanted, without anyone ever knowing. And unlike her, Veronica was a natural leader. She could be charismatic when she desired, threatening when she needed, and with ambition one could have envied. Unlike herself, Veronica was constantly moving forward.
The girl put two fingers to her lips, the memory of the contract they made together surfacing.
Veronica was her... boss? friend? rival? more?
Well, whatever she was, she was not anymore. But that wasn't Veronica's fault, was it? Still, it was true that Veronica was important to her, and still was. She never really had to doubt her loyalty to Veronica, even if she felt her heart pull her towards someone else.
And of course, that someone else was Trixy.
She could almost laugh at herself for mistaking that name for her own. Could someone even be less like her if they had tried? As far as she was originally concerned, Trixy was just some lecherous idiot. Couldn't keep her lust hidden, and often screwed around. Her post count alone could attest to how well they shouldn't match.
And yet, Trixy was her first date.
Of course, she fully intended on breaking up after it, even had it not ended with her nearly joining the many who died that day.
They weren't supposed to go out seriously. She went into it expecting the relationship to fail because they were pointless. It was supposed to just be her concrete proof that forming actual relationships was pointless, seeing people as things beyond allies, neutrals, and foes, was pointless. Veronica was the sole exception, and everyone else had to be surface-level at deepest.
But that changed after she recovered from the incident at the rave. Why was it so hard to just do what she had set out to, and break up with the girl? It shouldn't have mattered how she would take it, and that second date she promised shouldn't have mattered, either. But they were causing her to pause, to avoid talking or speaking to Trixy, and to stall. To hesitate.
She wasn't one to hesitate. I mean read her fucking transformation incantation dude
Thankfully, she was able to understand herself a bit better after having a lengthy talk with another magical girl in the park. She realized she'd been too prideful to admit, even to herself, that she was terrified of forming actual relationships due to her inexperience with them.
Once she could do that, and once she could work up the courage to speak to Trixy again, she pursued that second date. From that point, she even found childishly mocking the Ascendency to be entertaining, not pointless.
But of course, her story hadn't ended there. She had only just started to open up, to understand herself better. But she still had a job as Cradle's top agent, and there was some unfinished business in Penrose that caused her to stay, even when the two people most important to her left the city.
Aside from a nosey little rat she had noticed and intended to deal with, the main reason she stayed behind was to attend the party that the girl from the park, Emily, had wanted her to go to. It was the least she could do after that, and so she attended.
...ah, that's why I felt like I needed to be at the beach.
She recalled the last moment before she fell unconscious.
Despite using her trump card, winning the match of Keijo was not in the stars for her. As upsetting as that was, more important, was the fact that "do or die" moves like hers did not actually care if you were able to "do" and would still make you "die" if you weren't careful.
She had developed a contingency for such things... but it was her first attempt at actually performing it.
She intended to place herself in Stasis as it's considerably easier and less taxing to do than normal, to buy some extra minutes for help to arrive and treat her.
But that's not what happened.
Instead, what happened was that she was far too injured and exhausted to execute this attempt perfectly, lost consciousness at the worst possible time, and accidentally kept herself frozen for a lot longer than she intended.
She kinda wished she didn't remember that part, but at least she could remember almost everything that happened.
It's frustrating, but I must've been off my mark. I sincerely doubt I was like that for years or anything but I'll have to be especially careful in the future. I suppose I should be looking for Maura, and figuring out what's gone on since I failed.
Strangely, however, she got a really bad feeling.
Why does it feel like I'm really late for something...?
Samantha’s wandering eventually took her into downtown Penrose. There wasn't much happening at this hour, but she still stayed out of people’s way. Ever the shadow, Samantha did not chance being spotted by enemy magical girls before she spotted them. She stuck to the back streets where the narrow walkways where fewer eyes could see her. It would be a shame to get jumped by a Mint agent right after waking up. As good as she was at hiding, Penrose was the sort of place where nothing stays hidden forever.
A giant tombstone shaped rock fell from the sky. Samantha might have poised herself from an enemy attack, but there was no threat here. The stone's decent slowed untill it was hovering a few feet off the ground. A portal opened on its surface, and a hand reached out to toss a tube into Samantha’s waiting hand.
"You’re my last stop in this city." If Bonny noticed that Samantha looked out of it, she didn’t show it. "My condolences for what happened to Cradle. Here’s hoping things look up in the future."
The portal closed, the stone flew into the sky. It was like Bonny was never there. The only sign she had even been here was the canister that contained a hunt for Samantha.
It was a gray day New York. The sky was overcast without a single speck of blue. The steel and concrete buildings were covered in windows, but they reflected no colors. In this chromatic wasteland was a girl in a red cloak. She was walking down mainstreet, which was filled with girls in black. Black outfits, black weapons, but skin as pale as the sky. They parted as the scarlet stranger drew near. She made her way to the other end of the crowd before ascending a podium. They waited for her to speak.
”We've taken the city.”
Three simple words, but it caused the entire to erupt in cheers. Some were so elated that they fired their weapons into the sky. But when the cloaked girl snapped her fingers, all was quiet again. It was as if the city itself ceased moving at her command.
”Garnet Gemini, we have accomplished so much in so little time. But it would not be fair to ignore the accomplishments of Crimson Cradle; a precursor to all we have achieved.” Despite how stoic the girl was, her arms were animated. Not unlike a certain famous German politician. ”The red coin was first conceptualized by a magical girl named Binky. It was her dream, but it wasn’t until she joined Crimson Cradle that she could realize that dream. Without them, her idea would just be a fantasy. But the Cradle gave birth to her desires.” She waved her arm at the masses. ”You used to be nothing more than familiars! Doomed to serve those above your station. You control your own destiny now. Equality is here, and you’re afforded the respect you deserve. The Cradle has been kind to you as well. It’s soaked with the magic of artifacts contained within.” And the magic of magical girls, but that part was unspoken. ”Using the red coin has allowed you to tap into that magic. It took your weakness and replaced it with strength. The energies that surround each and every one of you comes from the Cradle itself!” When she cast her arms into the heavens, the crowd cheered again, but it was less intense this time. ”Others covet your gifts. The greedy and ever displeased were seduced by the red coin. They used it in hopes of forwarding their selfish desires. In doing so, they have forever embedded their soul with traces of the Cradle’s magic. Should they try to stop us, they will only end up joining our ranks. They seek to take what is not rightfully theirs and are taken instead. The Cradle’s power is our power!”
Behind the girl were two other girls. One with an uno aesthetic, and another was a maid with a sniper rifle. The uno girl looked at the maid. ”What’s she doing this for? Aren’t they all-” But then she stopped. ”Eh, never mind.”
The red cloaked girl continued. ”Crimson Cradle became a shadow of its former self, but they did hold the line. The last great thing they did was destroy the Lotus Eater, just hours ago. No one knows what happened to Crimson Cradle's members. Dead or missing, their sacrifice was not in vain. With that artifact out of the way, the time to return to Penrose has come.” She slammed her fist into her open palm. It created a thunder clap that could be felt at the back of the crowd. ”Wonderland wants to make a move for the Nexus, but our smaller force will beat them to it. With the number of red coin users as high as they are, we merely need to arrive and pluck it from the city’s heart. Once it is in our hands, even the gods wouldn't dare try to stop us. The only thing left to answer is this: Who among you is ready to march right now?”
The crowd of magical girls roared like some prehistoric animal. They discharged their weapons, but the scarlet stranger would not stop them this time. She only grinned before turning to face Penrose.
”Onwards! Run amuck! Eliminate our foes with extreme prejudice! Fixing this broken world is but a march away!”
To the North: Conquest of the Scarlet Stranger
Slay or drive off the Scarlet Stranger and save Penrose from a hostile takeover! We’ve had enough plots involving mind control and giant armies...
Challenge Rating: SSS+
Notes: This hunt can only be undertaken by a party that contains Finn and/or Samantha. Taking someone who has used a red coin is ill-advised as they will fall directly under Garnet Gemini’s control.
"No," Alicia replied succinctly, immediately shooting down any idea of a date with Chloe. That was definitely not happening, not after what she'd heard from Penny. And doubly so with Chloe being a Mint Broker. That was just a guarantee of misery for her. So there was little hesitation on her part to nip that in the bud.
Truth be told, she didn't hold out much hope for the deal in a long term sense. This was still the Mint they were dealing with, and 'fair' wasn't really something that could be applied to their dealings. But the terms proposed so far were decent enough, and as long as she was reasonable in turn then she'd be able to say 'I told you so' to everyone else when this inevitably went bad. Maybe that was very petty, but based on every other time this sort of thing had happened it was a reasonable prediction to make.
Of course Penny was harder to placate, though it didn't cause everything to break down immediately. Probably because Chloe teleported out and the conversation shifted to moving their planning to a more secured location. Glancing over to Aurora and Binky, Alicia shook her head. "Getting the HQ blown up once was enough for my taste." She paused for a moment as she thought, before adding to what she had said. "Beacon does have a community center that isn't really used since the city evacuation went down. I'd need to see about buffing the anti-spying magic there on short notice, but it is a possibility. Or somewhere Mariette would be comfortable with would probably work too." Mariette was the most paranoid one here after all, so if she was comfortable then it was probably a good bet that Wonderland would have trouble spying on them.
“Yet I always seem to be the last to know that you’re back.” Penny would mutter bitterly to herself as Chloe turned to leave. For all the girl’s talk, and flowery reassurances, her action were deafening in comparison.
”Either of those options are fine by me, I can also assist with protection from more mundane means where ever it is we end up as well. She would speak on the topic of the next location. “As for late arrivals, we are on a time limit as it is, I’m not sure if we can host this somewhere easy for them to make it at this point. We can easily spread the word of what happened later of if needed.”
Part of her was tempted to offer up Cradle’s HQ as well, seeing as where ever it was they had hidden themselves seemed to be decent enough considering that it had kept them hidden from the Mint so far, which meant is had top notch security in that regard. But honestly she doubted that they would be willing to open their doors.
As she touched down, where ever it was she had teleported away too, Chloe’s phone would chime out an incoming text
If you bring me, signed and notarized paperwork stating and confirming the nullification of all Debt for Everyone living withing Sanctuary’s boundaries for the past three weeks, up to and including today.
I’ll be willing to come to the negotiating table in regards to Contract terms for Mint presence in Penrose.
This annulment is not, and will not, be considered as part of the contract at large if you choose to comply. It is simply for you and Al to prove your good will.
Aria was about to fall asleep when she suddenly sat up.
”Oh! I’m sorry. The current situation has me on the edge of my seat, and I can’t wait to see where everyone decides to hold the meeting! It feels like it’ll be months before this is all over and my little heart just can’t take the drama.” It wasn’t clear how Aria was getting her intel, but surely someone could message her about what was going on. Her phone was in her lap, and Binky was a trusted friend of hers. ”But before you go to sleep, Summer, that isn’t really how you feel is it?” She folded her hands together. ”I mean, your condition is related to your specialization. I would think using a red coin, getting a wish, or any other such tool could be used to remedy that with ease. Everyone likes to hate on Penrose because of how violent it can be, but I find it hard to want for anything. If you’re unhappy about anything, you can change it with nary a thought.”
This was one of the few times the smiling gourd member pursed her lips. ”Though it is difficult to be unique in Penrose, or even effective. Just a few hours ago I told Binky that Mariette had made a coin specialist just like her by using a red coin. Can you believe it? Imagine all of the studying and hardships that she had to endure, and someone else got access to that knowledge for free. Poof! They just used a red coin and acquired the knowledge. Initially she felt cheated by this, but do you know what she told me afterwards?” a grin crept onto Aria’s face. ”She said that was fine. She knew the coin maker wouldn’t be able to make anything significant because they hadn’t suffered like she had. It was enduring all that pain and all those setbacks that gave her the drive to see her dream to the end. Sure enough, I haven’t seen any coins appear anywhere.” She pointed at Summer. ”Your situation isn’t all that different. ‘Copycats’ aside, the effort the lot of you put forth is the only reason Kain is here now. Penny wasn’t going to save him, neither was Beacon, Mint, Cradle, or even me. Maybe you didn’t shape the stars, but you did get a small victory for yourself. If it matters to you, the struggles you endeared in your little ‘side plot’ was a hell of a lot more interesting than…” Aria waved her hand at the TV. ”Whatever the fuck this is suppose to be.”
Maybe Summer decided to continue laying down, maybe she had something else to say. Aria wasn’t going anywhere. Or was she? ”It’s so out of character for me to give pep talks. What are the lot of you doing to me?” With a sigh, she folded her arms. ”Anyway! Who wants to see if we can track down Miss ‘All A stat’ Mac? I think there may be some clues where that relic exploded!”
Having arranged to help Aurora with their problem, Rose turned her attention to Angel with a smile. The girl certainly looked and sounded much more the part of an angel than she or her sister did. From the sounds of it, she had some friends that were looking to have their mutations removed? "Of course! We are always looking to help others with their corruption." She looked a little in awe for just a moment before speaking again. "Oh, my name is Rose by the way." Turning slightly, she would point over to her sister. "That's my twin sister Iris and the woman next to her is the Keeper." Aside from the fact that an adult magical was a rarity, Angel's Third Eye would quickly identify Kayli's unusually pure aura.
"Are your friends far away? Maybe we could help them after the meeting. I'm not sure what the Keeper has on her plate after this, but I'm sure she would be more than happy to make a detour if need be."
When Aria sat up, Kain was the only one who jolted at the surprise. "Aren't they holding the meeting right now?"
As she went on talking to Summer, there was no outward reaction from the blue-haired girl. That is, until the name "Binky" was mentioned, where she visibly jumped slightly. Finally, when Aria finished talking, Summer sat up again. "... It's not that I want to be unique because I want to be proud of it. It's that it's depressing being like me, and I don't want others to go through that." Summer looked up towards the ceiling. "But you're right that a small victory is still a victory, and Binky's right about past experience being important."
"It's probably a good idea to go check out what happened, too."
"Oh, oh! I'll go!" Makoto said while waving her hand in the air. "A lot of this stuff is going over my head anyway, and I don't like the moodiness that's starting to take over here, so I'll go with whoever goes to check on... 'Mac'?"
"I'll go too. It'd be nice to stretch my legs a bit, before the real stuff starts going down."
"Then I'll go as well, I'm not-"
"It's probably best that at least two of you stay here, in case something happens. Don't put all of your own ducks in a row for your enemy's sake, after all." Tay said, secretly glad to be getting Kain away from him.
"That's a good point. If something happens, it'd be useful to have at least one of you here."
The five in the room other than Shion and possibly Aria all looked at Shion, as if they all came to the same conclusion at once.
"... Ugh, fine. I'll stay here with Summer." She looked her brother in the eyes. "If you get hurt, I'll kill you. So come back safely, got it?"
He nodded. "Got it. So where are we actually going?" As he asked this, Morrigan landed on his right shoulder in her raven form.
"You should probably transform while we're here. Otherwise you might get caught off-guard." She offered, speaking directly into his ear at a volume slightly too loud for such a close proximity.
"Good point. 'I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body and silver is my blood. Through Aurichalcum I'll become a knight to protect the weak.'" As he finished saying the words, his body was wrapped in a bright silver light. By the time it faded, he was notably taller and in his magical form.
"I'd do mine too, but, uh... You know. Monster-girl and all that." She looked over at Aria. "Are we going the quick way or the fun way?"
Hey guys, Kate Carson here! This chapter features some content that might offend the easily offended, so, uh, just keep that in mind if you actually decide to read it! -Kate
Wow, sure is crowded in here… Kate noted as she made her way through the veritable sea of bodies that filled The World Fighting Carnival’s vast reception hall, her meager size allowing her to slip between the larger, musclebound fighters with relative ease.
The various Nomads were an eclectic bunch, to be sure, with cyborgs, robots, genetically engineered super soldiers, supernatural creatures, and even a few mages and magical girls in attendance, along with the myriad ki-enhanced martial artists (not to mention the overly-energetic announcer with a purple worm on her head). Still, when one was a seasoned multiversal traveler like Kate, for whom crossing from one universe to another was as easy as crossing the street, it was all fairly mundane. In fact, it really wasn’t any different from any of the other gatherings of magicals, espers, or so-called “superheroes” she’d been to in the past, although super powered fighters weren’t the only people present. Since it was taking place in a universe that didn’t really have a “masquerade” to speak of, the event had quite a considerable media presence on hand to record the various happenings and conduct interviews. Not wanting her vacation to be entirely unproductive, Kate had offered her photography skills to Fighting News Now! magazine, a publication she had done some work for during her previous visits to this universe. Although its editor, M. Malachi Magnuson, was a dictatorial control freak, and its star journalist, Polly Path, was quite the prima donna, for someone who had done freelance work for both the Daily Planet and the Daily Bugle (not to mention the infamous Penrose Independent), dealing with FNN’s “detestable duo” was a piece of proverbial cake.
As she wandered through the crowd, snapping pictures of any particularly interesting sights, Kate’s attention was drawn to the strange trio that were hovering in mid-air above the bustling crowd. One appeared to be a Buddhist monk, deep in contemplation, who calmly floated several feet off the ground. Another was a bearded flagellant, who spun through the air like a whirling dervish, while furiously whipping himself with a leather belt. Finally, the third, and furthest off the ground, was a small, annoyed-looking girl whose arms didn’t even extend beyond the sleeves of her outfit. Raising her camera, Kate prepared to take a picture of this somewhat comical scene. However, no sooner had she snapped the photograph, then she felt someone crash into her, nearly knocking her off her feet.
“Woah!” the photographer yelped as she struggled to keep her balance.
“O-Oh gosh! I-I’m so sorry!” A nasally voice apologized hastily, shouting to be heard over the din of the crowd, coupled with the loud rapping that was now blasting from the room’s various speakers. “I-I hope I didn’t ruin your picture…”
“Nah, it’s fine,” Kate replied, taking a look at her camera’s display. “And don’t worry about the bump,” she added with a grin. “Ya kinda have to expect gettin’ shoved around a little in a crowded place like this. I’m Kate, by the way,” she introduced herself, while holding out her hand. “Kate Carson.”
“I’m Olivia Bell,” the bespectacled bluenette replied with a big smile as she took the offered hand. “And this is my best friend, Xolys!” she added, pulling a small, seemingly scratch-built robot from her backpack and presenting him to Kate.
Olivia Bell, huh? I thought she looked kinda familiar…
“Hey little guy,” Kate told the robot, taking one of his electrical wire tendrils between two fingers and giving it a small shake. “Nice to meet ya! You too, Olivia.”
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance as well, Miss Carson,” Xolys replied.
“Y-Yes! It’s very nice to meet you, too!” Olivia added.
“Gotta say, I wasn’t expecting to literally run into the famous video game character come to life and his partner today,” Kate noted with a chuckle, while reflecting on all the various differences that iterations of the same individual could display across multiple universes. Yet, even if those differences could be quite drastic, there were also plenty of similarities…
“Are you a Nomad, too?!” Olivia asked with exceptional eagerness, her eyes beginning to sparkle. “Is that camera how you fight?! Oh! I bet it totally is! Like, it’s a super awesome magitech invention that was made by your mad scientist best friend, and it lets you create negative copies of anything you take pictures of with it, which can then fight on your behalf!” she rambled, eyes getting bigger and smile getting wider with each passing second. “It probably has lots of other cool abilities too, like freezing people in place and speeding up or slowing down time for anyone you aim it at! But its most simple feature is also its most useful, since any time you take a picture of someone, you get to find out everything about them!”
While Olivia continued to babble, Kate began to grow increasingly pale, and one of her eyes had begun to twitch. When the bluenette finally stopped, Kate simply blinked three times, momentarily reduced to stunned silence. “T-That’s, uh, oddly specific…” she replied in a dazed deadpan once she’d finally regained her ability to speak. “But, nope, I’m not a Nomad!” she added with a nervous chuckle. “Just a humble freelance photographer! My last job got finished waaaay faster than I was expecting it to,” she explained. “So I thought I’d take a little vacation down in sunny Brazil, and since I’m here, I figured I might as well make a little money on the side. So, yeah, just a photographer takin’ pictures for a magazine,” she reiterated, holding up her camera for emphasis. “In fact, I try to avoid gettin’ into fights if I can help it.”
“My apologies,” Xolys intoned. “My dear Olivia can get rather… carried away…”
“Gosh!” the bespectacled bluenette exclaimed, her enthusiasm worryingly undiminished. “So, do you wanna interview us?!” she asked the photographer, her jubilant face now only a few short inches away from Kate’s own. “Oh, wow! I’ve never been interviewed before! This is so exciting! Let’s see, my favorite color is eldritch blue, my favorite author is H.P. Lovecraft, and my favorite pizza topping is fried octopus tentacle, but most places don’t seem to have it, which is really strange, because it tastes so good, especially when—”
“Woah! Woah!” Kate yelped, while holding up both hands, her fingers splayed wide. “I’m just a photographer! I leave the interviews to the actual journalists.”
“O-Oh… Okay…” Olivia replied, her demeanor suddenly becoming quite sullen. “S-Sorry for getting ahead of myself….” she apologized. “It’s just that, I’ve never been interviewed before, well, except for that first time, but that one had to be cut short because they said they were having technical issues, so I was really looking forward to finally getting a chance to do my first real interview…”
“H-Hey,” Kate spoke up, feeling kinda terrible about dashing the poor girl’s hopes. “I’m sure there are plenty of other reporters here who would love to give you an interview,” she added.
“You really think so?!” Olivia asked, rapidly returning to her typical exuberance as she brought her face less than an inch away from Kate’s.
“U-Uh, y-yeah!” Kate replied with a nervous chuckle as she leaned back in an attempt to put as much space between her and Olivia as possible. “Y-You’ll probably bump into one in no time!”
“Oh, wow! I really hope so! Oh! Before we go, could you at least take our picture?!” Olivia asked as she hugged Xolys to her chest.
“Sure!” Kate replied with a grin as she readied her camera. “Like I always say, it’s the pictures that tell the story.”
Striking the best pose they could, given the circumstances, Olivia and Xolys waited for Kate to get the perfect angle, and then…
*SNAP!*
“Okay, looks great!” Kate announced after examining her camera’s display. “Welp, guess I’ll see ya around,” she added as she got ready to depart. “Good luck in the tournament!”
“O-Okay!” Olivia called to the departing photographer. “A-And thanks so much!”
Yeesh… Kate thought as she hurried away. She’s even more excitable than the last version of her I met…
While Kate knew that there were other important personages she would need to get photos of, like SHINING’s newest Justice Rider and Horizon Frontiers’ own recently unveiled rider knockoff, the photographer figured the best time for that would be during a match. After all, who wanted to see a superhuman fighter just standing around? Watching one about to deliver a charged-up attack in the midst of a pulse-pounding battle was what people were really hungry for, and Kate was fully prepared to give them what they wanted. But first, she wanted to take care of her own need for sustenance.
Well, can’t say they half assed the catering, she observed as she looked over the massive spread in the center of the hall.
Even with all the fighters in attendance, it seemed like no one had even managed to make a dent in the extravagant feast, and Kate was sure she could indulge to her heart’s content without anyone batting an eye. As she began adding items to her plate, she heard the sound of a mid-air explosion, but it only succeeded in making the photographer smirk. Chances were, it was merely one of the Nomads giving a demonstration of their abilities, and if it was something more dangerous, there were plenty of others on hand to deal with it. Indeed, the anthropomorphic bat and armored amazon on the other side of the table seemed more interested in gushing over a fiery-haired, androgynous individual than paying the recent detonation any mind. No sooner had Kate finished piling her plate, then the announcer declared that the first round of matches was about to begin.
Guess I should head over to the stands, the photographer noted. Wonder who I should watch first… I really need to get some good shots of Horizon Rider and Justice Rider Blaze, but I’m pretty sure they’ll both make it to round two, so maybe I should start with checking out Olivia and Xolys’s match…
Upon venturing towards the stands, Kate would notice how little room there was to sit down. This appeared to be a pretty large event if the television cameras were anything to go by, almost like the venue couldn’t contain it all. Most of those seated didn’t look like normal pedestrians. It looked like it was mostly made up of contestants, with the occasional reporter thrown in for good measure. It was a collection of weirdos that made the few normal looking people stick out like a sore thumb. Normal looking people like Kate.
Thus, she was likely to become the target of unsolicited conversation.
She was approached by a man who could have played the big green giant in his younger days. But now he was much too old. His skin was pale, his beard as thick as moss, and there were even a few twigs nestled in his unkempt hair. He held his viridian cloak closed as he approached. The only reason Kate noticed him aside from everyone else looking at her was because of his height. His tall, lanky frame made him an oddity even among the other tall fighters, who had far thicker frames.
"She’s carrying a camera?" The druid stroked his beard. "Is she a photographer or a journalist?" He leaned in as his amber eyes examined her camera closer.
“Oh, uh, hey there,” Kate said with a slightly awkward smile as she stopped to let the elderly druid examine her camera. “I’m just a simple photographer,” she explained. “Is there, uh, somethin’ I can help ya with?”
The druid stood up straight. "Oh, I was lost in thought." It seemed like he was talking to himself rather than Kate. "But I’m glad you’ve offered your help. I’m having a hard time seeing the announcer, and I can’t help but feel that something is amiss. Almost like the world I’m in isn’t quite right." He pointed past Kate’s head. "Additionally, there are two nomads that look like they are ready to fight. That would not be an issue if it was part of the tournament, but it sounds like they’re squabbling over something else." Sure enough, a tiny blond girl and a guy who looked oddly like Elroy were having a heated discussion. Or at least it looked like the blond was getting heated. Her fingers were coiled around her sword hilt. "You seem like a nice lady. Would you mind speaking with them? I’d rather not involve security."
Squabbling Nomads? Trouble seeing the announcer? Not in the right world? What the hell was Kate supposed to do about any of that? She was just an ordinary photographer, and the match was just about to start. She didn’t have time to deal with the “problems” of a senile old druid who probably wandered through a random portal after eating one hallucinogenic mushroom too many. Still, she couldn’t just tell the guy to screw off so…
“Well, I’m not really sure if I’m the best person to break up an argument,” Kate replied with a chuckle as she turned to look at the pair the druid had pointed out. “But I guess I could give it a shot,” she conceded, snapping a quick picture of the two Nomads in an effort to gain some insight into the reason for their confrontation. “As for the announcer, I can’t see ‘em either, but I think the most important thing is being able to hear ‘em, y’know?”
As if to prove the photographer’s point a deafening voice called out,
“BEGIN!”
Crap… Hope I can deal with this garbage without missing too much of the match…
On Kate’s way over, her camera did tell her a few details. The Elroy-looking fellow was Daniel Castro, a mexican football player gone nomad. He worked for SHINING, but wasn’t quite as high profile as the other people Kate wanted to photograph. The other one was Oriko Ishii, but she wasn’t an actual nomad. She was a magical girl that went by the title Oros the Swift. Were they analogs from her world? A glance at their behaviors wouldn’t make it seem evident.
It seemed that Oriko had it out for a rapper and destroyed some speakers. Not wanting to get blamed for it, she set things up to frame Dan for the whole thing. Dan had been disqualified from entering the contest, but he soon figured out what had happened. He had approached Oriko to talk about what happened, but she denied everything. Still, being found out made her irritable, and she called one of the contestants autistic. When told to knock it off, she misgendered someone with they/them pronouns and was promptly disqualified along with Dan. Oriko blames Dan for setting her up, but Dan just wants an apology. Neither of them are backing down, and things are starting to escalate.
”If you played your cards right, we’d both still be in this thing! You’re a member of SHINING after all, they’d have overlooked it.” Oriko folded her arms inside her kimono. ”But no, you cracked like an egg and admitted to something you didn’t do. That doesn’t give you permission to try and drag me down with you!”
”I’m not even mad I was disqualified. Honestly? I’m a little relieved.” Daniel didn’t budge. He was apprehensive about fighting, but he held his ground without trying to appear too aggressive. ”But what you did was wrong. Taking out Jaden’s speakers made everyone a lot happier. But those were also WFC property. We can’t just go smashing people's stuff.”
”No wonder Mexico is still ruled by its cartells. You guys just roll over and let your aggressors do whatever they want to you.”
”Hey...”
”Well I’m built of sterner stuff than you, and-”
Both nomads turned to look at Kate when she approached.
”The worm wins.” Dan stated. Oriko gave the slightest nod of her head, like there was great shame in agreeing with this statement.
”Who cares about that fight anyway? It’s just some American ginger with a gun fetish facing off against- Is that Xolys?”
“Yup,” Kate confirmed. “He’s a lot bigger when he’s—Woah!”
Oriko picked up Kate by the back of her shirt and marched towards the stands. Dan merely huffed and walked after them. When Kate was lowered back down, it was in a seat between Oriko and Dan.
Welp, at least they’ve stopped tryin’ to fight each other, Kate reflected. And I’m actually getting to watch the match, so I suppose this counts as a successful outcome…
”To pick up our conversation from earlier, the worm most certainly wins. If it doesn’t, it’s because that girl is going to screw it up somehow.”
Dan raised an eyebrow. Kate could practically sense the desire to express something, but he regained control before his intrusive thoughts won. ”I like her outfit. She really went in on the blue look.”
”Why am I not surprised?” Oriko grumbled under her breath.
While the pair bantered, the cowgirl had opened fire with her sizable weapons, although her target wasn’t Xolys, but Olivia…
Yikes… As much as Kate hated to admit it, Oriko was right. Olivia was undoubtedly Xolys’s biggest weakness, although at present, it seemed that was less to do with any lack of skill on the bluenette’s part and more with simple naiveté.
Thankfully, it wasn’t hard for Xolys to intercept the cowgirl’s ki bullets with his massive body, the multiple impacts sending showers of sparks flying off the eldritch machine’s technomantic armor.
“Hey! You’re supposed to be fighting Xolys, not me!” Olivia called out, even as she used her custom game controller to instruct her monstrous partner to lash out at the cowgirl with one of his technomantic tendrils via a series of quick button taps.
“You’re on the battlefield…” the cowgirl said as she dodged Xolys’s technomantic tentacle in a superhuman burst of agility and pulled out a grenade that was painted with the stars and stripes. “That means you’re a combatant!”
She threw the grenade and it exploded with a massive burst of red, white, and blue.
“B-But…! Uh… T-That’s not…!” Olivia stammered, before instructing Xolys to begin rapidly spinning his myriad tendrils around himself in an effort to disperse the patriotic-themed smoke.
“So, uh, why’d you two wanna fight in this thing so badly, anyway?” Kate asked her new companions. “I mean, I know a Power Stone’s up for grabs, but what were ya plannin’ on doin’ with it if ya won it?”
”It wasn’t about the stone for me.” One of Dan’s agents stopped by with a tray full of refreshments, which he moved onto his lap. ”It was just to get some combat experience against other nomads. Getting to fight against Justice Rider Blaze would have been amazing, but there’s always next year. It’s not like I’m in danger of fading into irrelevance.” He offered the tray to the others, and Oriko grabbed a drink off it.
”I wanted to wipe that smug grin off of Jayden’s face. I mean, no way is he winning, but I wanted to be the one to do it. Second goal was to rise above all of these other weirdos and prove I’m the strongest. But I guess it’ll be more interesting next year when someone has the power stone. At least then I can look forward to a worthy opponent.”
“So, uh, maybe all this was for the best then, huh?” Kate observed, while grabbing a drink for herself from the tray. “Besides,” she added, turning to Oriko after taking a sip of the ice cold beverage. “If you’re really The Oros the Swift, then I’m sure you’ll be able to spin this to your advantage. Y’know, say somethin’ like, ‘Justin was so afraid of facing me that he bribed the officials to get me disqualified’.” It might not have been true, and a colossal asshole like Jaden, the “Rapping Ronin”, might have been a far more likely candidate to do such a thing, but after learning about Oriko’s crush on Justin, Kate just had to see what the blonde magical girl’s reaction would be if she used him as an example instead.
”I guess.” Oriko did a double take. ”Wait, Justin? The cute cyborg guy?” She averted her eyes. ”Why would I slander him? E-even if I could beat him-”
Dan raised his hand to interject. ”Cute cyborg?”
”Y-you know what I mean!” Oriko folded her arms, but her face was getting more red by the second. ”He’s blond, has a boyish face, always has those headphones on. I also heard he likes dancing, and if it’s anything like he fights it’s probably really good.”
”I thought you said no one here could beat you?”
”Probably not. But you don’t-” She sighed and tightened her arms. ”I mean this is the world’s best. Just because I could have beaten everyone doesn’t mean he’s bad at fighting, it means he can’t measure up to me!”
”I see.” Dan looked back at the arena. ”I wonder if he’s humble enough to apologize.”
”Ugh!” Oriko also looked ahead. ”You’re more tenacious than a cockroach.”
For her part, Kate couldn’t keep herself from chuckling at the exchange her little “suggestion” produced. “Sorry, I meant to say Jaden,” the photographer admitted. “Just a minor slip up,” she added innocently. “It’s probably because their names both start with ‘J’.”
By this point, the cowgirl had been ensnared by Xolys’s techno tendrils and was now being reeled into range of the technomantic terror’s other appendages. The trans-phasic energy scythe-tipped limbs darted out to repeatedly jab the cowgirl with a series of powerful blows, and although the attacks were blunted due to the rules of the tournament, they were still more than sufficient to batter a Nomad senseless. However, before she could be knocked unconscious, the cowgirl reached down and pulled out two grenades, which promptly exploded. The force of the twin detonations sent her hurtling backwards and severely damaged several of Xolys’s appendages. However, the crimson-haired cowgirl was still being tightly held by a single techno-tendril, and Xolys’s cyclopean, neon blue eye was beginning to glow ever-brighter…
An instant later, a churning beam of unreality lanced out to slam into the cowgirl with staggering power. She quickly rolled to the side to dodge the beam, before pulling out her machine guns and blazing away at the tendril that had her bound. Such concentrated firepower was enough to sever the tendril, the part wrapped around the futuristic cowgirl disintegrating in a shimmer of blue particles. Yet, even before those particles had fully faded, three more tendrils shot out in quick succession to hold her in place, while Xolys’s eye began to glow again, clearly powering up for another blast…
Yet, even as the techno-tendrils coiled around her, the cowgirl pulled out a bazooka and shot a rocket right into Xolys’s face. It shot across the arena, before being annihilated mid-flight by the eldritch energies of Xolys’s unreality beam. A moment later, each of the three tendrils holding the cowgirl in place sent a torrent of eldritch electricity shooting into her, which caused her body to violently convulse. However, even these spasms couldn’t prevent her from making one final gesture of defiance…
“Oh crap!” Olivia cried as a grenade was chucked towards her.
Even as a techno tendril whipped out to knock her out of the grenade’s path, Xolys fired another unreality beam at the convulsing machine gunner.
“Are you all right, Olivia?!” Xolys asked, his voice filled with concern.
“Y-Yeah, I’m okay,” Olivia replied shakily as she tried to catch her breath after having the wind knocked out of her. “T-Thanks, Xolys.”
“AAAAAAND THE AMERICAN DREAMER IS OUT!”
The announcer shouted with wild exuberance.
“THIS MATCH GOES TO OLIVIA AND XOLYS!”
“Welp, that was sure one heck of a match, huh?” Kate noted.
”It was okay.”
”I liked it a lot!” Dan grinned.
“Guess you were right about Xolys comin’ out on top,” Kate added with a grin.
Oriko folded her arms. ”They’ll go down the next round.”
”That worm looks unbeatable though.”
“So, you two gonna stick around for the rest for the tournament, or…?” The photographer’s voice trailed off as her phone started ringing. Retrieving it from her jacket pocket, she tapped the device and held it to her ear. “Hello? Oh, hey! What’s up? Ouch… Well that sucks… Oh? Huh, that’d be fun to see, and I should be able to manage it. So, do ya want me to start workin’ on that before or after the ‘caustic bovine’ thing?”
“NOW, DAMN IT!!!” the voice on the other side of the phone shouted, the volume being so loud that a cringing Kate had to hold the phone a fair distance away so as not to be deafened.
“Sheesh… Okay, okay, chill out!” she told the other party. “I’m pretty sure I’ve already got two of the photos ya want, but I’m kinda in the middle of a job, so I can’t leave to get the others just yet. Huh? Really? Well, I’ll keep a lookout, but with all the possible universes they could’ve wound up in, the odds of any of ‘em showin’ up here are kinda slim. Okay, see ya.” With that she returned the phone to her pocket. “Sorry about that,” the photographer apologized. “Just an old friend in a bit of a bad mood.”
Oriko shrugged her shoulders. ”Whatever. You seem like you can be insufferable when you want to be.” With a sigh, she reclined. ”I guess I can watch a few more matches. Gotta see Jayden lose to ‘bizby land’ so that I can rub it in his face afterwards. How about you, Dan?”
”You still haven’t apologized.” He sighed. ”But I am enjoying myself. It’s inspiring watching strong fighters go head to head. ”
”Sounds like we’re going to be here a while.”
“So, uh, I guess I’ll be seein’ ya around,” Kate told the pair as she got up to head back to the main reception hall. “Oh!” the photographer added, pulling out her phone once more. “And if ya happen to see either of thesetwo,” she continued, showing them images of the individuals in question on her phone’s screen. “Can ya shoot me a text?”
I’d ask about the wolf girl, too, but she could look like practically anything…
Oriko raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She just nodded along and looked ahead. Dan raised his hand like a child in school. ”Don’t we need your number to text you?”
“Yup, it’s right here,” Kate replied, taping her phone and bringing up her contact info.
”Right.” Oriko and Dan pulled out their phones to start adding Kate, only Oriko froze when she realized they both had the same phone case. ”Is that-” She lifted a hand to her mouth. ”Is that a red cauldron you have on your phone?”
”The case?” He looked at it. ”I think so.”
Oriko pulled Dan closer. To look at the phone. Maybe, ”It even has the same pattern on it.”
”Okay?”
After some time, Oriko nodded. ”Very well. I apologize for getting you thrown out of the tournament.”
Dan raised an eyebrow, but he was starting to smile. ”It’s fine. Getting Jaden to stop singing was the right thing to do.”
”Speaking of singing…” Oriko bat her eyes before looking over her shoulder at Kate ”Was there anything else? It sounded like you had someplace to be.”
“Nope, that’s all!” Kate replied. “And since it looks like Horizon Rider and Justice Rider Blaze both won their matches, I’m gonna see if I can talk whoever’s in charge of pairing opponents to match them up against each other for round two,” she added with a grin. “Gotta get some good shots of both of ‘em, so might as well kill two birds with one stone, right? Well, you two have fun!” she called over her shoulder as she joined the crowd heading back to the reception hall.
Heh… Y’know, they actually make a pretty cute couple…
Meanwhile, back at the Meeting…
Connie
3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 5 | 4 | 6 | 22 | 5
Oddball: Nightmares | Tentacles
Enhanced Weapon | Power Artifact | Mystic Artifact | Ally | Interdimensional Home
Focused | Mental Link | Hidden Death | Mana Font | Mystic Might
Alien Mind | Formless | Rival Force | Clueless
Mia
3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 5 | 8 | 7 | 22 | 5
Wood | Barrage
Enhanced Weapon | Dual Weapon | Purification Artifact | Big Red Button
Blessing | Divine Competence | Gifted Item | Mana Font | Mystic Might
Rites| Arrogance | Big Brother | Clueless
(But actually just Connie)
As she listened to the debate over where to move the meeting, Connie realized that she might have a possible solution, and so, as soon as there was a slight pause in the discussion, the masked maiden timidly raised a trembling hand.
“U-U-Um, i-if you’d l-like, w-we c-could m-move the m-meeting to m-my i-interdimensional home,” she offered. “I-It’s l-larger than a n-normal one, s-so e-everyone s-should be able to f-fit…”
Lily smiled as both MDP and Ronin gave positive answers, and when Mariette affirmed her desire to live, but quickly bit her lip as Chloe gave what seemed to be her final words before leaving the meeting, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. Of course, she knew none of this was her fault, that it was something more personal between Penny and Chloe, but she couldn’t help but let herself share in the woe. ”I’m looking forward to it, then,” she said, and gave a little thumbs up to Ronin before sighing. She looked around, having only now fully realized that Alex had gone to see the new arrival at the park. She took a step in their direction, but then realized if she was to walk there, she would reveal the location of the meeting to the outsider. Having remembered Mariette’s words, she fidgeted in place.
She saw as Nefer’s device had formed more cracks, and seemed to be turning yellow, and then orange in color. “Wherever you decide to go, we gotta go there quick before our cover is blown~” She mused out loud over the wheezing and clanging noises of the device, having brought out a set of magical engineering tools and attempted keeping the Artifact operational past its limits. Lily opened her mouth, about to speak when suddenly Connie gave a suggestion. The green-haired girl’s eyes sparked at the idea. At first, she considered the Beacon community center, but she figured an Interdimensional Home would be a safe bet, and wouldn’t require much preparation. She also felt bad for Connie, and figured she'd need a boost in self-esteem. She gave a thumbs up and a smile to Connie. ”Let’s go to Connie’s place, everyone! First one to make a gate wins!" She shouted, gradually gaining her enthusiasm back despite the impending loss of their cloaking.
The street vendor gave a bright smile as Alex asked about her wares. “They do all kinds of things. Let’s see…” She started digging through her basket, and brought out various items on display, one at a time. The first was a tiny green see-through stone with yellow electricity slightly crackling inside. “This Lightning Stone allows you to power any electrical appliances you have, wherever you are. No connection needed, and for only the cheap, cheap price of a single Bronze Coin.” Next she brought out what looked like a handheld magical device with antenna-like prongs and an LCD display. “I also have a Skyline Detector on Sale: using this, you can detect moving objects above you, with a guaranteed distance of 100 meters. This one is a bit pricier at two Bronze Coins, but it’s a bargain, I assure you.”
Then she brought out a vial with black, smoky liquid inside. “Oh, this is a special product. This is Emulsified Dissidence, magical liquid that transforms into concealing dark smoke when opened or cracked. The smoke not only inhibits magical senses and perception, but also cloaks the user in an illusory disguise. Very useful when escaping in a crowded area. And since it is so special, it doesn’t come cheap at 2 Silver Coins.” She then dug around her basket some more. “I also have elemental grenades, weapons, guns, Perk-granting Coins, whistles, dresses, plushies…” She kept going on and on about her seemingly endless supply of items on sale.
Justine, however, was getting tired of it. ”She seems harmless. Well, I’ll be going back to the meeting, Alex." Justine then turned and began to walk in the direction of the cloaked area where the rest were located at, leaving Alex alone with the vendor.
Warren had heard of Penrose a couple of times during her stay in New York; she had heard the rumors of the place being cursed, haunted by demons and disasters. However, seeing the place was completely different. The streets had people, but there were few voices and noises as they carried off, almost as if they wished to seek shelter. It was as if the locals lived more superstitious lives, a sign that the Masquerade was thinner here. Many buildings were under renovation, with carpenters rubbing their hands from the cold as they worked long shifts into the night. There was life in the city, but it wasn’t as lively like back home.
Of course, Warren wasn’t here for mere sightseeing, and so she headed into a shadowed alley. Her instructions were, as was the norm for the Ebon Mint, complex and convoluted. She had to pass through a couple of secret passages to ensure she wasn’t followed, and give the proper signs before the stone wall of an inconspicuous building opened, revealing a black portal that led into a monochrome world of black and white: Al Scarpe’s office. The office looked like an old-timey club from a time long past, with a smoky atmosphere and dim lights that illuminated the pool table, the bar, and of course, the Coin Broker’s own table. The man was imposing even while sitting down, with broad shoulders and sharp teeth.
“Took you long enough. Come on down, I’ll pour ya a stiff one,” Al greeted Warren. A shadowy figure formed on the other side of the bar counter, and slid a glass of whiskey to the new arrival. “So, after the Beast of the North got taken down, the remaining Brokers decided to downsize, huh?” He mused as another shadow brought him a glass as well. “Not that I mind, of course. We could use the fresh meat.” He then laughed boisterously, and took a sip. “Funny joke, eh? Anyway, let’s get down to business. Officially, you will be assigned to work under Chloe Irving. She’s an apprentice Broker, you see. Real ambitious gal. Gave her a chance to spread her wings.” He took a cigar from his pocket and put it to his lips.
“However, you will also report on her moves to me, without her finding out. Suspicious behavior or messages, the works. This will be hush-hush. We’ve had issues with Brokers running loose in the past, you see, and there were consequences I don’t want a repeat of. Of course, you can’t truly trust anyone in blind faith, but I want to see if she will cause me more trouble than not in the long run. I’ll send the details to you later, but until then, not another word of it.” He lit the cigar, and puffed out smoke in the shape of round coins.
“Since you’re new here, I also want you to infiltrate the city’s magical population. Avoid the big factions like Beacon and Sanctuary, but see if you can find a group of local Mahou and befriend them as you gather info. Don’t mention us, don’t arouse suspicion, you know the deal. We know there’s a sizable congregation running around. Their movements are more difficult to track, so we could use the intelligence. And of course, you’ll be compensated for your efforts. Now, any questions-”
Before Al had finished speaking, two girls arrived at Al’s office. One of them was tall and proper, dressed in a maid-like ensemble with a splitting jacket and dress underneath. The shorter girl wearing a scarf was noticeably less proper in her attire, yet carried a more commanding presence as she stepped up to the two of them.
“Ah Chloe, you came at just the right time.” Al gestured in Warren’s direction. “We have a new agent from New York, Warren James. She will be working under you from now on, so you should show her the ropes sometime. However, don’t bring her out in public: she has extra tasks which require discretion. But you’re not here to talk about that, right?” Warren then saw the other girl disappear almost as fast as she appeared, vanishing into thin air. Al tapped his cigar ashes on an ashbowl a shadow brought to him; his tone of voice turned more serious. “Did you secure a deal on the meeting?”
