Collab Post between @Digmata, @DammitVictor, and @Letter BeeDiamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center, The City of Phnom Penh - 11/11/2022 06:30 UTC+8<Snipped quote by Letter Bee>
<Snipped quote by Letter Bee>
"Well, Ren-ren... I can say it's been real, and I can say it's been fun, but I can't say it's been real fun. My superiors have invited me for a little TV watch party, some hors d'oeuvres, some champagne." Berto blew him a kiss and made a beating heart with his fingers. "Just bet your superiors are gonna sit you down to watch the same show. It'll be like we're watching it together before you go away on your new assignment. Toodles!"
Berto faded into the crowd and made some distance before Huo Ren got the news. He took some detours before making his way back to the exfil point-- fewer than usual, due to the time constraints, but hopefully enough to shake any of Huo Ren's comrades.
He signaled, discreetly, to Special Agent Makaraig before approaching. Can't be too cautious. He leaned in and whispered, "What's the good news, Mac? Did I miss something juicy?"
As Myron walked to the balcony where Cristina stood, he gestured to Roberto to talk with him as he walked, then whispered, “We’re being framed and have to leave - All of us.”
But the two would see someone walking towards Cristina, a tall woman who looked to be in her late twenties, wearing a red silken eyepatch that seemed to be an indicator of style and not actual disability, such was the ease of her gait. She wore a crimson-and-gold silken dress whose scandalous (to others) sleeveless-ness was balanced out by a short fur-lined cloak that exposed her shoulders.
This lady was Mei Yuanyuan, a former member of the Disablers, now an Arms Master, and she was sauntering towards Cristina as though she did not fear the ‘little girl’.
Ignore the part of the picture where it says ‘Genshin Impact’, please.Her next words, as she smiled were, “Myron. It seems you don’t keep
your belongings unattended…”
Berto smirked.
”Well, if you knew how much fun we were to play with, you’d want to keep a close eye on us, too.” He winked.
”Don’t want to talk out of turn since Mac is my boss, here, but we’re on a bit of a schedule, Miss… ?”Cristina looked at the phone with shock and alarm, she knew that no side here was acting in good faith but for an actual frame-up to happen here? The world was getting crazy and all she could do was weep.
Unfortunately, she cannot follow the orders that she's given, as felt the heavy steps of a woman who looked like a cosplay of Chinese pirates. Unfortunately, it means that she is definitely an Arms Master like her.
Summoning Sinagtala at her hand she pointed it at the woman.
“If you want to talk with your mouth, then don't take another step.” she commanded as she glared at the taller girl.
“What do you want?”The woman introduced herself as, “Mei Yuanyuan; Myron’s old partner in crime during the days of the
Old Conflict, when the fault lines were about who had Noble Arms and who did not, instead of… This. I’m here to tell you that while the Big Three have replaced the Old Conflict, the ghosts of the latter are still echoing in the shadows.”
She smiled, and then went on, “Your friend, Callie, she’s facing her father, who was Public Enemy #1 in the 2014 war against the Hammer of Masters. But what neither of them knows is that progress has been made towards restarting the
other end of the Old Conflict - There is a way to quell the cries of the soul;
a way to eliminate Noble Arms.”
Myron glared at her, and asked bluntly, “What grift are you peddling now, Mei?”
In response, Mei looked at Cristina, then Roberto, saying, “
Turing has decided that Noble Arms were a bad idea, an accident that he had unleashed upon the world. But he needs someone, with a Noble Arm of exact parameters, to enact his plan to erase them.
One of you three has that Noble Arm.”
Looking upwards, puffing her chest out like a fertility goddess, Mei openly spoke, not knowing that Cristina already knew some of what she was going to say, “Noble Arms were made of an Occult Programming Language that can create new facts and alter existing ones but cannot
destroy anything. But Noble Arms themselves can get around that. By using the
Deletion Key, or so that Noble Arm is called, we can either: Destroy this timeline so Noble Arms never existed, or two, override this timeline with data from the
Base Universe, the Main Timeline most Earths are copied from.”
She then smirked, “The first will kill everyone who exists because this is an alternate timeline, the second will allow those who are alive today to somehow still exist despite the logical impossibilities. But I am prepared to allow the first if you three don’t come with me -
This world is dead to me and I have enjoyed myself with its pleasures enough…”
Cristina stared at Mei and never diverted her eyes nor lowered her sword for a single moment.
“I don't really care who you are or what the hell the Old Conflict is,” she spoke.
“But it is clear to me that you're one crazy birch that must be put down.” she decided as her Noble Arm began covering itself in white flames.
“Because the dead world you're speaking of is the world I’m living in.” Mei’s smirk held as she said, “As you wish. That said, have you ever wondered why no one has been eavesdropping on us, considering the information I’ve just given out? Why don’t you take a look around you?”
For Cristina’s Noble Arm, the sword named Sinagtala, was
manifesting Mirage Space by itself, forcing Cristina, Myron, and Roberto inside the pocket dimension formed by the technique/power.
Berto’s tone and his facial expression softened; there was a hell of a lot of pain behind his goofy facade.
Takes one to know one, he mused.
”Listen, lady. Mei. I don’t know what kind of mistakes you’re running from, but this is not the way. If there’s one thing I learned all those years buried under the hospital for the magically insane, recoding my brain by hand with a plastic fork, when you shit the bed, you don’t get to unshit the bed. There are no do-overs. You have to clean up the mess you made and go on with your life. There’s no erasing your mistakes, and there’s no reliving your wasted years. This is the world we live in, and if we’re goddamned lucky, we get to save it every once in a while.””You want to wash your hands, you’re gonna have to do it the same way everyone else does. One hand washes the other, and then you keep ‘em clean and you pretend you don’t still hear the angry ghosts of your fuckups.””This… this kind of hubris, this isn’t how you get out of the hole. It’s how you got into the hole. The ‘greater good’ ain’t nothing but the accumulated mass of a whole lot of little goods. Man… you people still get offended when someone reminds you the Dalai Lama exists? The Dalai Lama said one time, ‘everyone wants to go out and save the world, but noone wants to stay at home and help Mama do the dishes.’””We’ve all got powers, and maybe we shouldn’t… but we do, and we have to use our powers to make things better, or else we’re inevitably gonna make them worse.”Mei sighed and said, “Perhaps, but those beliefs must always be tested, shouldn’t they?”
They and Myron were still in Cristina’s involuntarily activated Mirage Space; what exactly did Mei do?
This question was answered when she said, “A gift from Turing; let’s just say that when I find the people that I am looking for, I can activate their Noble Arms on their own…”
Cristina took a step as she realized where they are, this is her Mirage Space but she hasn't used it yet. Subsequently, Berto’s speech had simply emboldened her that the woman in front of her needs to be put down, not that she needs more motivation.
Although that gives her a thought, if she can involuntarily activate Noble Arms then she likely could do the opposite as well.
So there is no declaration, Cristina immediately warped her way to the woman's back and tried to slash Mei with her still-burning sword. Whatever trigger she had, she needed to outdraw it.
Only for the ground to suddenly rise up, ramming Cristina’s feet and legs with enough force to break them. But it wasn’t really the ground,
it was the deck of a ship, a wooden Sloop-of-War whose planks were strengthened to be stronger than concrete.
Mei Yuanyuan’s Noble Arm was an
entire flying vessel, replete with banks of cannons ready to fire at the other targets within the mirage space.
Its Captain drew a sword, a Chinese
Jian Longsword that was no Noble Arm but had been modified by Occult Programming Language.
“Turing’s Gift,” Mei said as she turned around to face Cristina. “This ought to be enough to counter you.”
Cristina struggled to keep her balance at the suddenly rising ship forcing her to temporarily use her Noble Arm as a crutch to keep herself stable. The freelancer raised her sword against the modified weapon, after her lessons with Qingshe she could easily recognize the traces of OPL on the item.
She decided to attack first, swinging directly at her to get a measure of how she fights.
Mei parried the swing with breezy ease, then followed up with a thrust aimed at Cristina’s collarbone, before saying, “I have my ship’s cannons aimed at your comrades. Would you like to see them die? Also, give this a thought; if this timeline was overridden by data from the Main Timeline, your sister won’t be serving the Downward Descent, right?”
Cristina easily evaded the thrust with the slightest of margins before aiming her own, in her mind are ideas on how she’ll get the upperhand in this spontaneous duel. Only for her body and mind to suddenly stop at the woman's words. She did need to keep her allies alive as much as she could. And her sister being safe was too tempting to just ignore.
“Speak.” she ordered, her sword an inch away from her neck.
Mei smiled, then said, “Right now, I am not planning on abducting you or using your comrades as hostages. Rather, all I want is for you to think my offer over; come over to us and much suffering will be averted. After all, for all your friend’s optimism… Your trip here is on the verge of failure, is it not? So when your darkest hour comes, think of me and call me - I’ll even give you a phone.”
She then pulled a burner phone out of her pocket and threw it at Cristina to catch, saying, “Take it, and I’ll leave you alone for today. Then, when the
darkest hour proves your friend’s words wrong… I’ll be waiting.”
Mei caused the ship to vanish. She and Cristina began to fall.
Then Mirage Space was deactivated, and Cristina, Myron, and Roberto were back in Phnom Penh… But Mei was gone, the last that could be seen of her was the hem of her dress vanishing into a corner.
Cristina looked at the phone in her hand, logically she knew that she shouldn't use it; she knew that she should destroy it now to prevent any temptations. Emotionally, this is a path to saving her. There is no world where she would let this go. So she kept the phone in her jacket and faced her friends at Obsidian.
“Let's get out of here,” she spoke as she dematerialized her Sinagtala. Meanwhile, the phone felt like a recovering alcoholic’s bottle for her.
Just one call and her wish would be granted, it felt so fake.
”Look… you heard the speech I gave Mei. You ought to think about it, too. You ever try to put the toothpaste back in the tube, when you were a kid? All it does is waste a whole lot of toothpaste. And get your hands sticky. And ruins your Mom’s–” He shook his head.
”You’re a grownup, so that’s the last thing I’m going to say about it. To you–” he looked at the rest of the team, rushing to check on them,
”-- or anybody else. You’ll make the right call.”He waved at the approaching Obsidian team.
”Man, you guys are not going to believe the day we are having…””END 
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