ZombiesAnHyenas

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

…Twice as shiny.

[TITANS FALL//THE UNDERCITY//NORTHBRIDGE SLUMS]

---

They were sat under an awning, hidden from the rain. For now. A timer slowly ticked its way down, hovering in the air before her. [59min:28sec]
An hour before the storm started to truly dissipate, of course, Kaeyara could breathe some more clouds, but that was risky to do while IN the “operating area”, as the mil-tech training vids would’ve put it.
“C’mon now you… piece of…”

They were fussing with the slate ‘given’ to them by the JAHANNAM ganger. Its screen flickered with artifacts and interference, persistently glitching out; signs of their less than skilled usage of any sort of “sys-ware”.
“Fuckin’… Computers are so… fuckin’… Dumb!”
They shouted, voice immediately swept away by thunder and rain, before there was a plaintive ‘beep-beep!’
Success. Finally.

Information flashes through her mind— contacts, location pins, texts, call logs, passwords and application histories, photos, videos—
Kaeyara begins transferring the data to her own personal storage.
A wife. She begs him to stay inside during a phone call, this morning. This morning. A bad feeling in her bones. Just this once, she begs him to listen, just believe her this one time, please.

Kaeyara pauses and thinks, playing back a series of vocal messages. The sounds of a… clinic? Maybe? Echo in the background.
The wife cries. She’s panicked. Truly believes in her stomach that something is wrong. Between the headaches, the gang, and other rumors… She claims it feels cold outside, like it might rain soon.

How right she was… Hm. As Kaeyara sifts through more data, she pauses yet again. A phone number. It’s contact reads [LADY BOSS]. There’s two messages. A reminder to pick up the money. A reminder to ‘not be late, or I’ll come grab you. Personally. You owe me.’
A reply. ‘U got it’
Cassia’s Gale stares at the information before her, at the texts… And sighs.
Time to get back to work.

The slate gets dropped into the muck of the street. Cassia’s Gale hauls themself up onto a roof, squints into the pouring rain, and switches her optics.
The world shifts, becoming a Gaussian blur for a half moment, before clarifying into hues of red, blue, orange, yellow, white, and indigo.
[THERMAL IMAGING ENABLED.] flashed in the corner of her vision, before fading.

Another call— his most recent one— gets replayed while Kaeyara begins putting [MANUBALLISTA] back together.
“[ Hey. You’re running late. Did Moreau not cough up or what?”
“N-Well. Yes and No ma’am. We’re walkin’ ‘im right n— OH SHIT”
“Th’ fuck?”
“F’ckin’ Kinley is do— HELL— FUCK”
“Oi. Screen’s showin Kinley and HOUND-5 are flatlining. What’s goin’ on?”
“Gettin’ fuckin’ SNIPED! My fuckin’ LEG… FUCK. Can’t… Oh shit…”
“You've got stims. Use ‘em. Idiot. Tuck around to Ol’Leery’s and I’ll send someone to ‘git you. Check in every two minutes.”
“Fuck. How far out?”
“Give or take ten. Rain’s makin it hard to move around. Summa th’wheels an’ treads are in shop anyhow. Anyways. Bloodmoon out. ]”

And then a new message, arriving as a blip in the corner of Gale’s HUD, from one [BOSS LADY].
[EN ROUTE. YOU MOVED. WHY? BETTER NOT HAVE BLED OUT. YOUR CHROMES EXPENSIVE.]

Kaeyara’s lips pull into a grim line, as she hunkers down on the rooftop. [MANUBALLISTA] gets propped on the edge, and her overcoat gets pulled up. The cloth— hydrophobic and a bland, boring gray— gets spread out. It covers the barrel of the firearm, and most of their upper torso to boot.
Then they proceed to lay in wait. Feeling the rain pelting them, the wind buffeting the whole of Northbridge.
And after moments’ considering… She pulls a canister from her hip. It looks like a mil-tech standard smoke-grenade, although it’s marked in skyblues and storm grays.
Kaeyara chucks it across the street, pulling the pin just before doing so, and watches as another storm cloud billows up and into the sky.

The thunder grows even more intense. The rain pounds harder still. The timer adds another thirty minutes.
Four minutes pass, Northbridge stays locked inside its’ homes, no one on the streets…
Two minutes more, and Cassia’s Gale starts on a meditative exercise. Flexes muscles, adjusts optics. Checks the sighting of her rifle…
The thunder roars once more, makes her think of home. Makes her think of sitting on the porch with grandma and grandpa… Watching the clouds roll in…

And a pair of running figures turn onto the street.
Cassia’s Gale locks her focus in.
[4X MAGNIFICATION ACTIVATED//ENTITIES MARKED/MARKER READS: X1 JAHANNAM, X1 UNKNOWN.]

They stop after the turn, fifteen meters down the road. Interesting… One has an arm that ends in dagger-like claws. It produces nearly more heat than the rest of their figure… The other wields a silhouette in the shape of some sort of long-arm. It looks like a shotgun.
Hm. Delightful.

Roar, scream.

[TITANS FALL//THE UNDERCITY//NORTHBRIDGE SLUMS]

---

[‘STANDARD’ IMAGING ENABLED//2x MAGNIFICATION ENGAGED/TOTAL MAGNIFICATION: 6x]

Cassia’s Gale held their breath. Muscle-memory kicked in, and they made themselves still as stone, braced their shoulder, and stared through the scope of [MANUBALLISTA].
Scarlet chrome arm… Facial chrome as well? The woman’s teeth are exposed, from canines on back… Maybe not chrome, the markings around the teeth seem to be… fleshy. Hm.

Her eyes are shifting, changing color. Hm. Either bioware or some higher end infoware. The woman, almost definitely Katrina Bloodmoon was also wearing some form of corset-bodysuit… thing. Her hips and thighs were mostly exposed, and her modesty was otherwise left intact. She, and the compatriot she was running with, was wearing some sort of raincoat, not unlike Kaeyara’s own.

The woman turned, saying something to her campatriot at her side. Another woman, fairer skinned than Katrina, nodded. A mask was pulled up over her face, one not too dissimilar from a gas mask. The lenses were black, and to Kaeyara’s surprise, ‘smart’. Barely visible boxes of data, lines of mathematics, and outlines, flickered in the mask’s lenses. The shorter woman turned back to Katrina, said something, and darted to the dropped slate.

Good. Make it easier for Cassia’s Gale.
Kaeyara shifted in place, ever so slowly, adjusting her stance as they did. The crosshairs of her scope shifted, barely luminescent teal-lines met in a cross, centering over Katrina’s collarbones. Kaeyara let her breath out slowly, in a near silent sigh.

And then her breath caught when Katrina abruptly whipped her head up in Kaeyara’s direction. The woman’s eyes narrowed, staring for a few moments, before turning to her partner.
She spoke again, and for a moment, Cassia’s Gale regretted not yet having mastered the art of reading lips.
‘Don’t … … … Sure?’
The smaller woman nodded.

Katrina looked over again… And began to raise her chrome arm.
Cassia’s Gale frowned, watched as scarlet-chrome segmented and expanded. Fingers rotated, and curled, becoming bracing struts. The palm split into five sections, spreading apart and revealing hidden machinery. Synthetic muscle and structurals revealed themselves, and before Cassia’s Gale could even think, Katrina attacked.

Sound, when loud enough, when focused enough, was little more than concussive force. Little more than a wall of pressure, shaking the bones, jostling the organs…
It was like being kicked by a bull. Cassia’s Gale was bodily thrown, just barely able to roll to the side. A cone of vibrating force, a ripple of noiseless sound, and it tore the air apart. Concrete and plastic stood no chance.

She had curled around [MANUBALLISTA], and felt the wave slam into her body. It picked her up, threw her off the rooftop and send her tumbling through the air.
The sound stopped, and Cassia’s Gale uncurled herself, twisting around mid-air. Adrenaline kicks, mind starts dropping into cold focus. The world feels… Slow.
Okay. Focus. Time to play.

Thunder rumbles overhead.

Open the eyes, note the rapidly approaching window, orient so that feet slam into glass. Fire [KATYDID] siphons, reduce speed somewhat. Brace for impact.
Slam into glass, break through it without issue. Ignore the startled screaming. Bend the knees, slide across kitchen floor, dig [KATYDID] talons in.
Slam into the front door, note occupants of the apartment. One female, adult. One male, adult. Female is raising firearm—
Note the yellow outline appearing on the rooftop of building across the street. Note the arm raising again.

Throw self to the side, hiss with pain as sound RIPS the wall and kitchen into shrapnel and debris.
Get thrown through a different wall— second time this month, almost the same circumstances— slam into dresser in a bedroom. Roll to feet. Woman screams.
Possible casualty. Shit.
Ignore it, swallow surging guilt, throw yourself out of the room. Siphons activate, sail through a different front door.
Shoulder creaks warningly.
“I c’n SEE you BITCH! Stay down!” Shouts Katrina, voice louder than it has any right to be from over twelve meters away.

Hallway of apartment block. Four doors to the left, two to the right. Window at end of hall, right side. Crumbling wall in front of her, missing door and doorframe, yellow outline visible through a destroyed apartment.
Two blue outlines, one holding the other, blood seeps from shrapnel wounds, but both are breathing and alive
Thunder roars.
Sprint.
[KATYDID] siphons activate again, jump and curl into a ball, kick window. Glass shatters. Freefall.

Kaeyara takes their first breath. Adrenaline kicks in hard. Three stories up, and definitely not enough momentum to make it across the street.
Suck in a quick breath, prepare for pain.
Exhale.

An explosion of air leaps from their lips, whips itself into a short lived tornado that grabs Cassia’s Gale. They exert just barely enough control to SUGGEST a direction, hoping against hope that it works.
And so it does, barely. The twister, in its second and a half life span, throws them further. Gives them just a bit more momentum.

They slam into the rooftop across the street, feet impact first, inertia carries them into a roll, they pop up again. They take a risk, look over their shoulder to see—
Yellow outline, rooftop of the apartment building, arm raised.
Shit. Take a risky shot; raise [MANUBALLISTA] in kind, pull the trigger.

‘THUMP.’ goes the weapon, its’ projectile whips through the air and grazes Katrina’s shoulder. The woman spins, ducking away just enough to avoid a direct hit.
Cassia’s Gale turns and sprints again, feels [KATYDID] hiss one last time— [KATYDID DEPLETED//REFILL: 4 SECONDS.]
Shit. Make it work, jump down into the alley, note the dumpster on the opposite side, kick off the nearby wall and land heavily on it.
Take a second to breathe. Swallow the burning pain of her protesting diaphragm, ignore it.
Get ready to run again.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

A Chance for Rain

[TITANS FALL//THE UNDERCITY//NORTHBRIDGE OUTSKIRTS]

---

Thunder rumbled above Northbridge and its general surroundings. Thick clouds had gathered, fat with the promise of a somewhat rare phenomenon.
Rain. Heavy rain. It had already begun to sprinkle by the time the clouds had really billowed over the settlement. The wind was sharp, cold and ripping. It fluttered in fits, blowing for three, maybe five minutes at a time, before stopping.
And starting again.

The air itself, billowing in great gulps and sighs. The dust it kicked up from the south was sandy brown, obscuring the horizon ever so.
Enough that the additional clouds being quite literally blown into the air were… largely ignored.
For thirty minutes, perhaps more, the sky filled with a rapidly darkening column of thunder and rain.

Meanwhile, panting in the foliage on the outermost outskirts, Cassia’s Gale did their best to catch their breath and note the changes. Their throat and chest burned, and the strangest sensation filled the nerves of their diaphragm. Like someone was trying to tickle the muscles, with feathers made of hot needles.
Yay.

“Weather is… Optimal. Wind… Optimal. Distance… Acceptable. Alright… Let’s get this started. Setting the timer for… two hours.”
Kaeyara nodded, frowning some as they took another shaky breath. The strain from using their power would take another minute or so to fade, maybe more… Definitely more. Oh well. They had started the process already, there was no guarantee the storm wouldn’t fade by the time they were primed up again. They still hadn’t figured out how to make the clouds really stick.

Manuballista was raised to their shoulder, the rifle taking no small amount of effort to heft. Kaeyara shifted some, moving to perch behind the hunched back of her exo-suit. A pupil dilated before blowing wide. The world brightened significantly, colors deepened before having their saturation reduced.

[X8 MAGNIFICATION//RODS ENHANCED//COLOR CORRECTIONS ENGAGED].
[WARNING! “Catch your breath.” PROTOCOL ENGAGED//NEW MARKER ESTABLISHED: 00:30 SECONDS//“Don’t push it further.”]

Kaeyara blinked, wincing somewhat as the words blazed against their HUD, before sighing in relief as they faded. A new record for their Deviancy. Nice.
She shook her head and focused again, staring into Northbridge from her vantage point. They spent time marking civilians, those who were armed and those who weren’t, TFPD, their vehicles, and “enemy combatants.” Civilians glowed a deep [BLUE], while Titan’s Fall’s finest took on a brilliant [GREEN]. Anyone who was clearly associated with JAHANNAM was outlined in glorious [YELLOW].
Her targets moved closer, thankfully. Three outlined in [YELLOW], one in [BLUE]. The deal was going south, if the trickle of black-red fluid from the civvies mouth was anything to go by.

The two humans from JAHANNAM were shoving the … Man. The cyber-animal at their heels was snapping its teeth at the man, and the two clearly didn't care as to whether or not he got nicked.
Hm.
Well then. Kaeyara nodded, slipping once again into Gale’s mindset as Manuballista came up once more. They sighted through the incorporated scope, taking a long, deep, breath as they focused.

One… Two… Flash of lightning, BOOM of thunder to cover up the deep thump of the coil-rifle in her hands. Brace against the mild recoil, switch target, focus, brace against the recoil again.
Repeat an additional time.
Watch the woman drop with an eight inch hole in her sternum, the man drops as one leg finds that it has no support from the shin down.
The cyber-animal, flung against the street at its feet, slammed into the earth by kinetic force unmatched.

And Cassia’s Gale is already moving, sprinting like their life depends on it. From their calves and shins, siphons open, and pressurized air only lends to their speed. They’d not yet outrun a car, but they’d certainly outpace any possible reinforcement for the [YELLOWS].
It’s time to begin.

… Ah. There’s the heavy rain. Even better.

Louder than…

[TITANS FALL//THE UNDERCITY//NORTHBRIDGE SLUMS]

---

It took Kaeyara little more than five minutes to get to the fallen JAHANNAM member. By that point he was clearly able to call for assistance, though, if his panicked expression was anything to go by, it wouldn’t be arriving soon. The weather was god-awful, with an onslaught of rain rendering the streets into lanes of water more akin to shallow rivers. Gutters and drains worked overtime, receiving more water in the past few minutes of the storm than in years, probably.
Research into weather phenomena wasn’t all that high on Kaeyara’s to-do list.

Kaeyara slid to a stop not but twenty feet from the downed man, watching in silence as he did his best to drag himself to a nearby wall. He was casting his gaze about, speaking frantically into a communications array of some sort.
“…No! I don’t know! We were jus’ fine, jus’ gettin’ Moreau to cough up the dough he owed for his monthly— No! I don’t KNOW! I TOLD YOU!”

Hm. He sounded… panicked. Frustrated, even. Desperate, one could say.
“Jus’ get someone over here already! Kinsing is probably fuckin’ flatlined, and I’m gettin drowned by th’fuckin’ sky! … How long will HE take to get out here?! … That’s too long! I’m fuckin’ bleedin’ here!” He exclaimed, throwing a hand out to the side. “I can barely fuckin’ SEE, and the stims’re only gon’do so much! Hurry up! Fuck!”

He slumped down after his tirade, panting and flinching at a crack of thunder. Kaeyara sighed, pulling the half-mask that her undersuit provided up over her nose as she stalked closer.
They looked up and to their left, jogging over to the two story— seemingly a residence— before kicking off its wall. Her legs pushed against one wall, then the other, sharp ‘PSSHT’s of air accompanying each leap.

Then they were up on the roof, striding over to the ledge above the ganger. He was already looking about again, clearly having heard [KATYDID]’s siphons. Oh well. Time to get his attention.
Their voice was sharp, oozing with disgust and malice in equal measure, as they called out to him through the din of rainfall. “Oy, buddy. How’s th’leg? You gonna bleed out soon? Hm?”

The man jerked, flicking his head in their direction as he squinted through the rain. “Oy! Fuck’off, you! I ain’t no easy pickin’! Fuck ‘ith me, and you fuck ‘ith JAHANNAM!” came his responding shout. Kaeyara sighed, shifting and stowing [MANUBALLISTA] away as they instead reached for [PLUMBATAE]. Their thumb pulled the hammer into firing position with a satisfying ‘c-click’, as they called down once more.

“Don’t be uncharitable now, I only have a question for you. Or … More, questions, I suppose! You still got an active link?” They questioned.

“… Maybe! Why? Picked a bad time to join up, if tha’s what you’re ‘ere for. Whatchu want dammit?!” He shouted, squinting up at the vaguely defined shadow above him.

Their voice came again, harder now, colder than the rainfall. “I’m lookin’ for a chick, if you’ve gotta know. Runs with your crew, last I heard. Got a real nasty smile? Katrina. Ringin’ bells?”

“An’ you think I’m jus’ gonna TELL you where she is?! What if I don’even know how t’find her? Hm?!” Cried the wounded man, reaching for the sidearm on his hip.

His question was solid, and fair… Hm.
“If y’know, an’ tell me, I’ll drop you an additional stim for your leg. If y’don’t, I’ll drop you the stim, an take your link. If y’do, but you DON’T tell me… well… They trailed off, abruptly leaning away from the edge of the roof.

The man’s arm had whipped up, holdout pistol in hand.
There was a bark, and the subsequent sizzling-crack of a bullet whizzing through the air made them snort. He had missed.

Well, at least he wasn’t in shock, somehow. … As evidenced by him holding a ‘conversation’ so easily. Those stims must’ve really been something. Hm.

Well. If he wanted to be like that!

“’See that you’ve gone with option three, alright then, you made your choice. They shouted, before seemingly vanishing.
The man, cold, nervous, and hopped up on combat stims as he was, immediately began checking all his possible directions. The rain, the dark from the clouds above, and the intermittent flashes of lightning all set about to make his sight as unreliable as possible.
He may have been surprised by the sudden appearance of a weight on his good leg. And the sudden pain in his gun hand.

Cassia’s Gale dropped from the roof, [PLUMBATAE] barking only once on the way down. [KATYDID] made sure that their descent wouldn’t harm them in the slightest, alongside their nearly perfect crouch. They felt the knee ‘sna-CRACK’ under them. Watched as the ganger’s holdout pistol exploded into plastic and metal scraps, along with his hand.

His scream, agonized as it was, got cut short, as Cassia’s Gale abruptly stood and planted a foot on his throat. They flexed, and [KATYDID] responded. Razor sharp spurs appeared on heel, toe, and knee, while Cassia leaned in.

“N’uh uh. No yellin’ this time. Gimme th’slate phone now. C’mon, be a good boy.” They growled, eyes illuminating in the dark as they hauled a deep breath in.
The man, thankfully, acquiesced after only a moments hesitation. His working hand slid to his right pocket, removing the desired device as he held it out to them.
It was taken unceremoniously, snatched really, and the spurs left.

Then Cassia’s Gale was spinning in place, a perfect 360 kick lashing out. His head jolted sideways, eyes rolled up, and he was out. Finally. They shuffled about in their pockets, deeply lined as they were with this coat, and dropped an ‘advanced’ stim into his unconscious lap.
Hm.

They turned, striding away and deeper into Northbridge. They even took the time to jump up onto the rooftops again, blinking slowly at each crack and boom of thunder.
They tapped the slate in their hands, watching its screen light up, before reaching for the small of their back. A datajack was retrieved, part of the [J0VE] spinal-ports, and slotted into the side of the slate.

It’d take them some time to break past its defenses but, well… Oh well! Time to work.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

Synaptic Static

[TITANS FALL//THE UNDERCITY//FACILITY ICHABOD, “Basement Sector”]

---

Maria Menagerie was not having a good morning. Or, as her mother might have once put it: “ My day is the toilet, and god keeps shitting in it.”

Halcyon was increasing The Hoard’s ‘excursions’ in The Graves, and it was hard enough convincing the woman by the same name to allow them to operate in peace down stairs. The amount of money she was demanding was almost ridiculous. Almost.

Regardless; news of the increased excursions was bad enough, but apparently that was all it took for the floodgates to open.
They had lost contact with a research team of eight, out in the Fungal Forest of Plate 4. Apparently in the middle of a scheduled check in.
Plate 5 was reporting of a sudden burst of paracausal activity. A pair of mana flares, a subsequent mana storm of sorts, and then the actual, literal, storm that formed as a result.
And why was Plate 5 reporting this? Well, because Iridium Dragon and Mythril Giant were both in that area, investigating site Muriel.
And things had gone wrong the moment they stepped foot inside. The telemetry for Iridium’s vitals had noted a significant spike once they had crossed the threshold of the facility.

And then her vitals flatlined. So had a majority of Giant’s, low enough for it in her case anyways.
Maria was steps away from just writing them both off when they both snapped back into full activity.
A relief, if only short lived when she shortly began receiving a mayday call from MG. A medivac.

Well. ID was her most important asset. There would be only the best for her charge.
The most expensive, well, expense in Maria’s life, but it would always be worth it if the plans could move forward. They would all forgive her anyway. It was so close, she could tell. That understanding of all those secrets her father had revealed.

And so she snapped her fingers, had a communications-jack snapped into place on the back of her head and neck, and linked herself to the channel for her DocWagon contact.
Copper Drake. A relative none entity to anyone else, but ID’s best friend within the company.

What else was there to do?

---

[TITANS FALL//THE TOWER//PLATE SECTOR 5]

Lucas Strombriar was having an alright day, if he was honest! His paycheck from M-Technical had just come in, and after this shift with Doc-Wagon, he was going home to get finally unwind. A nice, long, shower; take the kids to see that new animated movie; have the cousins babysit… It was going to be perfect.

His team seemed to agree, and between the five of them, the air of ‘thank god it’s Friday’ was palpable. Nevermind that it probably wasn’t actually Friday. They would be off duty for the next forty eight hours anyways.

The mood quickly shifted into confusion, and in Lucas’ case, dread, as their slates all chirped at once. A call in, being dispatched to plate 5 apparently… From… Menagerie.

“Shit. Alright people, let’s move. Gold call-in, type 5, priority 5, grade 2. Possible deadly contaminants. Telemetry says potential storm.” His face pulled into a frown, before settling on true neutrality, Copper Drake rising to the surface.
“We’re going downstairs, the client has a facility upstairs that we are to return them to, but we should be able to slide through one or two of the gaps. Everyone’s got their hovers?”

He received nods of confirmation, alongside a message notification from Yorrin, the silent ‘woman in the chair’ as it were. She was also the pilot of any craft they took, whether it be terrestrial, aerial, naval, or anything in between. Corporate had seen it fit to outfit her with one of the rarer forms of Sys-ware out there; a Skull Jack and ‘rigger’ deck.

He shuddered to think of getting that implanted, but the results were undeniable. No one could open locked doors quite like Yorrin. Or fly a bird, or ride a bike, or drive a car, or pilot a boat…
Focus.
CD turned, swinging his leg up and over the seat of his hover-bike, waiting in silence as the engines spooled into life. Then, like silent bullets in the morning light, the five shot off towards a gap between the attic and the basement.
They would arrive in no time.

Arrive, to a scene out of CD’s worst nightmares. MG looked worse for wear, the already faded swirling light that CD associated with her ‘presence’ was coiling on itself. Sincere distress, alongside no small amount of [Confusion-Horror-Frustration-TAKEHERTAKEHER…]

And so CD moved, barking orders through his mask as his team rapidly spread out. Yorrin and Tulip, the ‘field medic’ of the team, rushed to ID’s side.
And boy did it look rough. He tracked the astral corruption, blinking twice as his eyes watered. Along the skin of her spiritual self, scars bloomed in inky-swathes. He tracked at least two… Well… He wasn’t sure what to call them, honestly. This wasn’t part of ‘The World’ he was versed in.
He was versed in getting both ID and MG back to Ichabod. So he bundled the giant woman onto the back of Tom's hover, strapped her in, regardless of if she was happy about it or not, and did the same for Iridium Dragon. “We’ll be gettin’ y’all home safely now, ma’am.” Rumbled Tom, glancing back at Mithril Giant with a bemused, if determined expression.

Copper nodded his agreement, took a final, anxious glance at one of his closest friends in the Menagerie corporation, and took off on his own hover.

The rest followed.

A Bitter Wind…

[TITANS FALL//THE UNDERCITY//NORTHBRIDGE OUTSKIRTS]

---

“Look, look, you’ve done a lot of good by me, by my wife. But that’s not nearly enough clat to- Well yes. Yes I understand- No- No- Foggy, look. I just don’t have the money to spare on this! I’m barely above the red as it is!”

Kaeyara sighed, frowning down at their communications array. They were stood on a low hilltop, in No Man’s land— Technically. The exo-suit that encased them hissed with hydraulic pressure, venting its’ excess into the broad leaved foliage around them. In the distance, another three or four miles away, stood the settlement of Northbridge.
Metal and plastic, concrete and wire. It stood there, surrounded and filled with flashing lights and sirens.
Titan’s Fall police. Downstairs, even. How… Interesting.

However, this phone call? This was more important. Surprisingly. “Listen, Tawny? You have three cells set aside for me by the time I’m back in town, I don’t stop teaching your kids how to shoot right. You don’t? I do. And I cut your youngests’ hair into buzz. You know she hates how curly it is.”

Kaeyara’s voice was terse, harsh and baleful. Only half of it was playful, the other half was annoyance-bordering-on-anger. They huffed, closing the connection and cutting Tawny’s reply short. He’d been dodging his IOUs for months, and now that it was properly getting in the way of her income and safety? Well. That was beyond the point.

The exo-suit around her hissed as hydraulics re-engaged for a moment. Typhon lowered itself down into a kneel, it’s back opening like a lotus flower, as Kaeyara pulled herself out of it. The spinal jacks they had were sore, as they always were after more than four hours inside of TYPHON.
Oh well.

They took a moment to collect their bearings, blinking in the light of the sunlamps above, before focusing on the settlement ahead of them. Their vision narrowed in, pupils rotating slowly and blowing wide, until there was no iris left. One eye was otherwise normal, the other was a white sphere with a truly massive circle of black within.

Her vision focused on movement, mainly. Snapping from person, to person, to officer, to the half starved gutter punk raising the makeshift club above the head of his sleeping fellow—
No. Focus.

They were looking for… there. In the alley, not quite on the outskirts, but definitely in the poorer area. One of them, at least. Figures. Shapes. JAHANNAM.
There were four of them, two men, a woman, and what looked like some sort of… cyber dog? Kaeyara wasn’t sure what it was. Realistically? It didn’t matter. It didn’t look like it was stolen from Pet Shop, so it didn’t matter.
The man, woman, and dog were wearing the colors of JAHANNAM, and as such, were the focus.
They shifted, reaching into the chest of TYPHON, and retrieving a large Skelter-leather duffelbag. Straight from Shieldtown, not that she’d ever been inside…

From within, they pulled out the disassembled Manuballista. As they built it, assembling each section and piece back together, bit by bit, their mind slid into the mindset for Cassia’s Gale.
First would be the ‘dog’. Then the men. One had a package of some sort, and seemed to be offering it to the woman. He would be scared off. The other man would be receiving a spike to the base of his throat.

The woman would need her legs removed… A twin pair of shots, preferably through her calves— No. The woman didn’t have the communications device. That was the man. Hm.
Fine. Targets acquired. Weather conditions… Not yet nominal. Although there was a storm… coming… from the south-south-west…? Hm. No. Focus.

Gale took a deep breath in, feeling the slow spiraling curl of energy in their throat, their lungs, the skin of their torso… An imaginary muscle, as real as it wasn’t, stretched and stretched as Gale hauled air in. Energy crackled in their chest, and if one were looking, the scars on their throat and mouth began to glow ever so faintly…
Air came in, Cassia pulling in as much as they could…
And held it for a moment.
Before…
Hhhyyssshhhh…
They hissed it out through their teeth. A cloud billowed out and up, bright white at first, before growing dark and stormy. Static sparks crackled within it, growing larger and louder as the cloud grew in size.
And grew. And grew. And grew. Before it settled, not quite the largest one they’d ever breathed into the world, but certainly up there.

They finished their hissing-sigh with a huff, watching in silence as the cloud billowed higher into the air, and towards Northbridge itself. It spun slowly as it moved, rising as high as the heat from the sunlamps would let it. Then they were pulling in another breath, almost as quickly as the first was done.
They’d need at least four more clouds… Hm.

Well. The weather was improving.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

Kaeyara Rigas Lagos-Monterrey

SOLITAIRE SONG (Hail To The Jester Queen & King) || The Inevitable End || The Legend of The Throne || Bottom of The River

---

Kaeyara spent a majority of their life in Volos, Greece. Their mother and father died when they were young, leaving the then nicknamed 'Rigas' with her grandfather and grandmother. For a time, Rigas, their grandmother Cassia, and their grandfather Acacius, stayed in Volos. Throughout this time, Rigas had an obsession with weaponry of all kinds, but firearms drew her attention the most. Her early teenage years were spent in a hideaway-workshop, building with whatever tech she could get her hands on.
The open source incident was a glorious boon.
It was a wonderful time, a long time...
Long enough for Rigas to turn twenty four, get a 'job' selling and making firearms for whoever had the money to pay, and smuggling for those who had even more, before the Lagos/Monterrey family chose to immigrate to America.
According to her grandparents, there was family in the state of Texas.

Which worked out great for her. A 'small forever' of creating, repairing, and trading in firearms and self defense weapons of all types left Rigas aching for a more... Robust market. They got what they wanted, in a way. The Texan market for firearms was varied and vibrant, with far less restrictions on what could be built- and what could be sold. Rigas no longer had to hide their deals under board, no longer had to lie about what they did for work to their grandparents, and finally had space to utilize a workshop.

What she wasn't expecting was the criminal underbelly. Gangs and cartels wanted more arms, and were willing to pay- Or bully- their way into acquiring what they needed. Sometimes 'no' was not an acceptable answer. It only took the one time that Rigas said no too much, that Cassia was used as an example, and cored a hole into the family with her death. "It is okay, it's not your fault." She had said.
Bullshit.

It was at the age of twenty eight, four years into their lives in America, that Rigas would 'trigger' and express the 'Deviant' genes in their blood. The ability to breathe and control four types of 'storm clouds' was... A surprise to say the least. The neighborhood was never quite the same again.

Acacius 'pulled some strings', and managed to get the two of them moved into Titan's Fall. Or at least, the 'basement city' of Titan's Fall.
They took up residence in The Undercity 'Proper', living on the outskirts closest to Lake Denton, where Rigas took up a few new hobbies:

Becoming the masked assassin-rogue named 'Cassia's Gale', managing the incredible grudge she has against gun and drug smugglers, avoiding a lady by the name of Anais who seems to have some religious shit she wants... There's a couple of hobbies.

Likes:|| O Storms || O Guns || O Bikes || O Elk Antlers || O Dancing

Dislikes:|| X Liars || X Boars || X Religious Fanatics || X Drug and Gun Smuggling || X War

Fears:|| V The Dark || V Crowded Public Spaces || V Liars || V Religious Fanatics

Equipment:

MANUBALLISTA

Acting as their main firearm, the 'Manuballista' or 'Hand-Ballista' is Kaeyara's pride and joy. A non-tinker tech coil-gun, the Manuballista utilizes a trio of potential ammunition types. The first is a five inch series of spikes, utilized for the purposes of punching through armor, cover, and other materials that might otherwise impede upon the arrival of ordnance. The second is a proper ferromagnetic series of oval shaped rounds, which are pulled to the center of the barrel of the rifle before being fired, reducing the amount of friction placed upon the structure of the weapon.
The third and most exotic ammunition is what Rigas calls the 'Storm-thrower modification'. By utilizing the magnetic current derived by the integrated coils, the pressurized canister at the underhand of the rifle begins to release its contents, which is funneled down the length of the weapon by a nozzle in the middle of the barrel and under-barrel. This nozzle is capable of being removed for protection of relatively fragile components. The contents of this canister are dependent on Rigas, but are generally comprised of a mixture of metal shavings and condensed storm-clouds. One can see how this impacts a battle. The metal shavings get caught in most armor and clothing, and skin, and lead to a conductive surface that draws the lightning within the clouds to a covered target.

PLUMBATAE

A heavy-revolver chambered in 12 gauge slugs, Kaeyara's 'Plumbatae' or 'Dart' is a devastating weapon for use in close range combat. The revolver is a custom-made weapon, utilizing a design that Rigas came up with herself. It holds five rounds, with the sixth being reserved for an emergency glass-battery laser. This is a holdout modification made to the firearm, one that Rigas takes pride in making work.

Rigas is in possession of four pieces of cyber-ware, as follows:

'KATYDID'-Legware

The Ferrous-Tech ‘Katydid’ cyber-legs; used by corporate sponsored bodyguard teams the world round. Each leg is capable of sustaining impacts from a height of over 10 meters with a significant reduction in user bodily harm. Each leg also comes with a suite of micro-thrust siphons, capable of compressing air for short bursts to assist with movement and with ‘landing’.
Finally, each leg comes with a trio of ‘spurs’ that rise from the heel, the toes, and the knee. These spurs are rated at a 48 on the BESS Sharpness scale, and will maintain this rating so long as the user maintains the spurs.

Talon 8 Series

Acquired as part of payment for a particularly complex and well built firearm, the custom-built PEREGRINE-Cybereye allows for a multitude of HUD options, including but not limited to: Thermal, Low Light, Electro-Magnetic(for the purposes of tracking electrical currents and magnetic fields), and 'X-ray'(rated to penetrate materials no thicker than four inches. The user will note that this vision mode is presumed to lead to an increased chance of cancer and cellular decay.). This eye is also capable of an independent zoom of up to x20 at a distance of 800 meters. The creator of the PEREGRINE has stated that this was an accidental over-engineering.

'J0VE'-Spinal implant

Designed and built by a Greece based corpo-'prince-ling' for the design and creation of his favored sniper-rifle, the 'J0VE' implant is a series of spinal ports that allow for Rigas to appropriately interface with her final piece of 'cyberware'. This implant is one of the rare 'comp-ware' pieces of cybertech. While its meant to interface with the final piece of Kaeyara's equipment, the TYPON-TMS, it can be used to interface with just about any vehicle, drone, detached cyberware, or dataslate.

'TYPHON - Terrestrial Maneuverability Suit'

This suit, assembled and prepared by a small collective of battle-bot enthusiasts from Indonesia, is a modern feat of cybernetics and robotics. The TMS, or 'Typhon' as Rigas nicknamed it, is a staggeringly large EXO-suit. Capable of fully encasing its user, the Typhon allows for its user to travel at a 'cruising' pace of 24 kph (15 MPH), or at a 'running' pace of 48 kph (30 MPH). It stands at 2.9 meters (9 and a half feet) tall. It weighs a monstrous 275.78 kilograms (608 pounds), with an accompanying blade for cutting through foliage and self defense. The blade weighs an additional 18 kilograms, or 40 pounds. The suit boasts a full neurological interface suite, provided the appropriate neural ports, and acts as a particularly responsive second skin. It is fully capable of lifting a metric tonne, and has a projected operational functionality of 24 total hours between recharge cycles.

DEVIANT POWER: Cyclone's Scream
Shaker 7 // Blaster 6 // Thinker 2
As the first deviant in Kaeyara's family line, they had to figure out their powers on their own. Luckily, both grandparents were more than willing to assist in the experimentation phase Kaeyara went through. Their power is the ability to breathe a gaseous vapor incredibly similar in composition to four distinct forms of weather phenomena. Regardless of form, Rigas' only discovered limit is how long they could draw in their breath for, which seems to impact how long the clouds stay. The current record that they have discovered is a cloud ceiling height of 1.6 kilometers. There appears to be a toll for breathing such a large construct, but Kaeyara has not yet expressed what this toll is.
The four forms of storm that Kaeyara can breathe are as follows: Thunderstorm, Hurricane, Fog, and Blizzard. These exhalations are exactly composed as they sound. These exhalations are also, apparently, capable of being pressurized and stored so long as Kaeyara breathes into the desired container.
Kaeyara is also, somewhat ironically and unsurprisingly, capable of determining the local weather patterns of an area of around 50 miles without difficulty. They seem to be able to predict the weather with up to %92 accuracy. This has been the extent of such senses, that Rigas is aware of.

Physical Description: Kaeyara stands at a solid 5 feet and 8 inches, or 172.72 centimeters. They have what might commonly be referred to as a 'light heavyweight boxer's build', and weighs 168 lbs, or 76.20 kg. She typically wears 'modern combat' style clothing, and sports a stylized skull and crossbones tattoo on the back of her neck. A series of lightning bolt like scars stretch up into their hairline, and stretch down from their throat to their waist, a side-effect of manifesting their deviant powers. Kaeyara's face is described as 'fierce' and 'intense'. From her angular features, and predisposition for scowling, they do not paint the most approachable visage.

Full Name: Kaeyara Rigas Lagos-Monterrey
Aliases: Gun-babe, Cassia's Gale, Foggy
Gender: Female/Non-Binary
Nationality, Ethnicity: Greek-American, Greek/African-American
Hair: Black-brown, pulled into cornrows on the left side, the right-side and back are buzz cut short, with the rest cut 'short' and left wild and curly.
Eyes: Hetero-chromatic; the left eye is a steel-gray, while the other is a muddy brown.
Hometown: Volos, Greece
Affiliations: The Undercity Rogues
Face Claim: (unnamed) - Dawn Carlos

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

Plate Five, Undercity Ceiling

---

Ah. The target approached. Rapidly gaining speed and distance, like a meteor searing through heaven.
Time had passed enough for it to understand itself, call itself 'Anara'. A-9. It watched, silent and thoughtful, as mana poured in from the very air around it, the [SUN-SERPENT] burned her way closer.
She would try to kill it. Try. It had existed longer than her, longer than the thread of [love-confusion-Fear-motherwaskeepingthis?!].

Ah. Time. That silly thing that those with [SAPIENCE] understood better than Anara understood [MIND]. It was slowly coming to understand it, thinking it over and turning it around in thought and experimentation. There was a before that could never change, a 'now' that changed endlessly from one instant to the next, and an after that would never be known until the 'now'.
How interesting.

Heat was starting to enclose on Anara, and it returned its limited focus to the fore. [PERCEPTION] was so slow, incredibly slow. A wonderful benefit of understanding the [MIND] was changing how it [perceived] the world. The astralshape of the sun-serpent was here, looming over Anara as a gout of flame began to rush forth. [HEAT AND FIRE AND DESPERATION] burned on it's surface. Fuel.
Ah. So this is what the drones felt when they absorbed something? Emotions rushing in like water down a drain. Hungry for more.
Time became more concrete, and Anara suffered in the heat, accepted the burning hellfire that blazed towards it. Converted the [DETERMINATION-FOCUS-killkillkillitnow] into fuel.

A new thought sparked, and Anara stared its' death in the face. Looked past a maw of screaming inferno, gazed past the astral miasma that was whipped up in a storm of [hAzE].
Locked eye to eyes with a human, championed by [The Blaze of The Sun]. Across a distance that could only be crossed by those with the learned, built, or intrinsic talent.
Anara felt nothing, but then, a small trickle of personal emotion.
Sadness. Pity. Loathing. Curiosity.

The fire wrapped Anara whole, coming so close to ending its' existence entirely...
He shifted. Gaze becoming baleful as a [CURSE] lanced through the mana-scape. Seared into the eyes of the astral form in front of it.
"I am Anara, I have lived for two hundred and eighty four human years. I spite thee, o'blazing snake. May the light of your fire wound your eyes. May the warmth of the sun sour upon your flesh. May your sight fail you when you need it most."
Mana shifted with his voice, yanking on the fire around him as Anara wove a spell of gargantuan size with a speed otherwise unexpected.
A curse was a powerful thing, drawing on the very [soul] of the weaver to spite the [soul] of another. The bigger the curse, the stronger a soul had to be.

'Strong'. Hah. Souls were endlessly strong, it was all about 'conviction'. And he was in possession of a soul that fueled him, now. One sacrificed to him in a moment of true desperation.
One shot at this curse, one guarantee that it would be surely settle, seethe, and scour.
Anara felt amusement burn through him, his woven spell becoming complete as his astral and physical form crumbled into dust.
He was dead, dead and gone. Removed from existence forever.

The body that arrived in the depths of a forest filled with mold and fungal growths was definitely dead. There was no now malevolent intelligence hiding within. Assuredly, there was no pillar of salted-marble white, cracked and cracking all throughout, that was immediately supping upon the ambient mana in the area.
Definitely.

Hah.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

Justice Square

---

Felix was expecting to deal with precisely a lot and yet not all that much, today. If he was being honest! But this was certainly something new! The ability for Dawn to just... Zip anywhere she wanted? And in the way that she did? He would've killed for that! And apparently she could do it effortlessly- With some caveats, he was sure.
But still. Beyond the point!

And the way she spoke about it all, complicated sciences through the lens of a woman who was ... Wow was she already kind of sloshed right now? Wild! How much did she have to drink again? Oh jeez. Wait- Would this even be a good idea to do with someone who was ... Eh. It was fine! It'd be fine for sure. Okay, now, focus! She seemed to be suggesting just, what, riding the light to the destination he needed to reach? That would've worked, MAYBE, if his tinker-tech could... Be... Huh. Well, could it be edited to operate that way? He hadn't really considered it, if he was honest. Sounded a lot like some... Magic shit. But, y'know. Magic was just sufficiently advanced technology, right? And his ARMS and LEGS were made of hard-light. Which, y'know! Was IMPOSSIBLE! Hm.

Wait. Focus on the wild array of... Of whatever the fuck, she was putting on the table. And the floor?! What WAS that? He'd never heard of such a complicated or versatile expression of Deviancy! Or ESPER shenanigans. Nothing he'd ever heard of... Huh. Well! There was always something new out there, right?
Oh! She's whispering in his ear now- Kinda hate that! Too close! It's fine, it is totally fine, it's fiiiine. And now they're- Moving-
The world tilted, his limbs... Stopped. Existing. He wasn't sure what this was. The light was everything and everywhere. It was beautiful!
And horrible. In the same way that an explosion could be terrifically horrible. Staring into the sun, letting the disk of blinding white become a circle of prismatic blindness. Numbness settled where he ordinarily felt his 'tech. A cold pressure, a warm suffusion, and an utter calm. And then...
It stopped. It was done! Huh.

Felix blinked, stupefied and utterly unable to cope with the whole experience. He vaguely felt Dawn use him to keep herself stable, only barely. His gaze tracked her as she made her way over to her seated position. Huh. Felix followed her, blinking again as the haptic feedback of his limbs trickled into his awareness like honey and molasses. For a moment, he stood next to her, saying and doing nothing, before blinking again as he made immediate eye contact with someone he wished he couldn't have. There, down in the square, dealing with TFPD and press and civilians besides...
His Boss. Just. Looking at him. Staring directly into his eyes. Oh.

Well he sure was gonna be in trouble, huh. Yeah, there was the shift of her hand, and a raised eyebrow. Uh-oh.
Shit.

---

Black Iron Workshop

---

Jemma watched the proceedings in the room with a sort of... Detached enthusiasm. She had put her workshop uniform back on, and was otherwise just silent and watching it all. She was aware that she had been addressed by [SUSPICION-CONFUSED-Amaze...]. Oh. He slipped out of focus for her. That was a first. Lots of firsts within the past thirty minutes or so.
Temujin's voice was a distant rumble of distrust, one which she responded to with a mild-mannered smile. Exhaustion marred her features, and though she didn't know he could tell, Temujin undoubtedly noticed her lack of a heartbeat once more.
Ink had caked into dried smears on her cheeks, flaking away into flecks of pitch that fluttered through the air. She blinked at Koba, watching as he signed. A distant rush of relief and [FAMILY-LOVE-Thank...]. Oh. That was fading too? Why?
Oh. She was hungry. Huh. Wack. Well that wasn't good. Oh. She was being addressed again. Graham was talking to her this time. Or about her, at least.
He was too kind, with all that affection and softness in his light. Ignore the gnawing, crawling want to break the flesh open and drink that light from the center.

Jemma blinked again, forcing herself to remember where she was, and who she was surrounded by. Umbri, and maybe Temujin, were from Northbridge. Which meant that payment for services was always expected. Which... No. No, she would not make this woman pay for more than she needed to. Something cheap... Something cheap... Oh!
"Well... I won't speak for Al- Er... Aegis. But you owe me nothing more than a... Sandwich. Yeah. I figure that's, er, not equal but its good enough for me. I totally disrespected your privacy, so..." Jemma muttered by way of answer, eyes sliding like a reptile, back and forth between Umbri and Temujin. She tilted her head slowly, moving as if just existing in that spot was a struggle. Which... Well.
"So I don't wanna make you owe me much else. Nor do I want you to feel like, uh, asking for medical help requires... Payment. Y'know? It's... It's fine."

She was struggling to continue talking, by this point. Awkward. It was like the world just kept... Not being. Nothing had words or labels, or reality, associated with it, really. Like she was forgetting what anything really was, what anything really [MEANT]. Her body ached for fuel, and that apathetic half was utterly silent, too weak to really shove any impulses up and out.
The shapeshifter KNEW she needed fuel. But... Not right now. It could wait! It wasn't like Umbri and Temujin could... ...
"Oh. Y'know what? Actually... I know something. I'm about to crash, like, so hard. So... If you could like, just, I dunno, watch my house for me? If it's even still around... Heh. Hah. Anyways. Yeah."

There! That was explanatory, right? It was so hard to focus.
Jemma shifted her stance, staring at nothing, as she walked over to a nearby op-table. She tried to climb up onto it, only to give a frustrated groan when her muscles failed her. "I am... So tired, and hungry. Hah... Aw man. Hey, do any of you know what it's like to faint? Are your ears supposed to ring when you start losing focus? Cuz-"
Oh. Hello ring of enclosing black.

Jemma's head rolled back mid sentence, as ink sluggishly crawled over the whole of her form. Flesh and bone vanished under the slow rolling tide, leaving only a sphere of pitch on the table. It was about as big as a 'normal' human heart, but it dripped with ink, and roiled in place. Slow moving flashes of light rolled throughout the orb, like lightning in a storm from far away.
And Jemma 'slept', in a fashion.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

[ Titan’s Fall, Castle on The Clouds… for now. ]

---

That sure was a face that Dawn was making at him! Hah. Ahhh… Well. She was still agreeing to go with him! “Heh! Look, let’s just… ‘Take a long walk and talk, yeah?’ Sound like fun? I think it does!”
Chirped the chaos-gremlin. In his ear, and in the corner of his HUD, Sovereign let Felix know that the vocal command was received.

His eyes flicked upward, watching as the spinning symbol of Sovereign processed a series of automatic protocols… His location was sent to Sai and Sai alone. Everyone else? They’d see his location as still at Castle on The Clouds. And if they called, well, Felix had a specific message for them!
“Hey! Yeah, sorry! I’m in the middle of something important, and I’ll be heading back to HQ in a bit!”
Simple! It worked at least twice before! Before Yue went missing. But then again… Yue… Hm.
Wait! Focus! Goddamn. Medicine never worked the way they described it, huh? Anyways!

She asked about a plan… silly Dawn! Plans were things that happened to other people! And ruined by him, usually! Lord knows Mom and Dad probably— Whoop! Nope! Bad brain-train! Getting off that wild ride of self loathing…
God he could NOT focus! Adrenaline response, maybe? Wait! Dawn! Plan! Right!

Felix abruptly stood, smiling bright and gleeful at Dawn as she followed suit. “It’ll be fine! Besides, if you’re there, your boss’ll have a reason to understand why you might’ve played hooky today, yeah? Or at least why you’re suuuuuper late! Or… somethin’? I dunno, I was NEVER a great liar— Oh! That reminds me.”

He turned his head, looking down at his hard-light limbs with an expression often seen on a cat.
Pupils blown wide. Hair standing on end. Utter focus.
Affectionately referred to as ‘his dumbass mode’.
Which was rude! Thank you very much! He was only using optic controls to edit the parameters of his tinker-tech!
The emitters that took place for his shoulders and thighs hummed, brightening some before dimming almost immediately after.

His limbs, connected as they were, became disjointed things. His arms, from the bicep down, at least, disconnected from the emitters. His legs followed in the same manner. Yue had once said it reminded her of a Final Odyssey character— One whose forearms and shins floated away from the main body. Nevermind that that character also had a penchant for meteor hammers and kusarigama or… whatever. Beyond the point!
Felix’ limbs were floating now, somewhat. That was the point.

He continued to stare off into space, adjusting a few more parameters as one arm rotated a full one hundred and eighty degrees. On autopilot, his fingers closed around a surprisingly small stick of plastic, and yanked it from his back pocket.
Couldn’t wait for the cyberware to run its’ self-repair protocols. Had to move now.
He shifted in place, using his newly extremely mobile arms to slot the stick of plastic into a slot along his exposed spinal ‘ware ports.
Let that run its diagnostics, make sure Sai knows he had to use ANOTHER stick of tinker tech [4UT0R3P41R].

When Felix got his hands on that man… They were gonna talk about his naming conventions. Who the hell used L337speak?! It’s 2045 man, come ON.
Wait! Dawn’s staring— He had forgotten to reply! Focus!
He really hoped his medicine would kick in soon, god.

Felix snapped his eyes to Dawn, letting his focus settle back on her as he toned the manic smiling down. “Right! Sorry. Got distracted with— anyways. Uh. Do you wanna ride, or do you wanna just… ‘Walk’ there, hm? Oh! Also! How good are you at disguises? Or can your uh, light… brain… stuff! Can it affect the entire spectrum of ‘light’ or just visible light? Oh! Is it actually like, light? Or just radiation?”

Fuck. Rambling. Focus! Ugh.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

Shield Town, Black Iron Workshop

---

A neural network, a spider's web of neurons and synapses and chemical receptors and nerves, branching out into infinity. A face.
The [patient], pressing a face, unbidden, against the flesh. Changing it beyond will.
Fear. Confusion. Mind trying to break, being held together by tape and sheer willpower. Determination beyond the likes of which it had ever seen.
The [patient] spoke, overriding it’s control, a sensation not unfamiliar, but not felt in years either.
Time. A concept so abstract, so… unsustainably unusual. It became familiar, understandable, comprehensible. A small eternity, the agonizing trickle-tickle-tick-tock leaning from one second, to the next second, to the next second…

The [surgeon] never wavered. Let the [patient] speak through it, give the [patient] an outlet. There was work to do. Another face arose, younger, but no less different from the first.

A memory. Played out like it was happening again. [TRAUMA], like a pheromone trail, dragging the overwhelmed Umbri, and the apathetic J-3, down a lane of recollection.
‘Memory lane’, if the street was cracked and torn, if the houses were muddy, foggy, and filled with vines and ink and bone and steel and-

She was too young for this. Standing beside a dumpster, baby in arms, staring at a billboard that danced. Exhaustion laid in her bones, pulling at her everything-
It skipped.
Trapped! She couldn’t get away! [HER-NOTSAFE-WHY-WHY-WHY?!] had her by the hair, kept pulling her around! The bruise on her face ached like a broken bone, a broken heart-
It skipped.
”NO! Fuck off! Stop!” As her arms, her hands, barely able to hold back a blade, grew weaker by the moment. The gravel of the alley bit into skin, into the back of her head. She almost had enough air to scream-!
It stopped.

Anger bloomed.

Stop! Hey! Back off-
Another memory rose.
The thresher. Beaten, being butchered right before her eyes. [GUILT] swallowed everything in her, oppressive in its weight around her throat, in the turn of her stomach. She was responsible! She did this. All of these memories? She was-
It. Better. Stop!

In the space outside the memory, outside the dream, in the realm of the [BODY] and not the [MINDS], ink pulsed. It streamed over two bodies, as one shrank, and shrank, and shrank. J-3 became more human, allowing more of the tentacles that held it up to fuse together into two legs.
Eyes melded back into the body.
Wings vanished.
Horns rose, shifted, and then sank away.
Claws and talons and fangs, returned to humanities normalcy.

It’s mouth opened, as if to opine something… Before it all changed.

Ink swarmed over Umbri’s body, pulsing along with the rhythm of two hearts beating in perfect sync. Venom was annihilated, an anti venom pouring through veins and chasing the necrotic death back into nothing.
Internal damages were mended, stitched back together by ink and focus.
A third face, Umbri’s true face, was exposed, as Jemma well and truly grew angry. Again. Wow.
The maw that had contained Umbri’s head, arm, and shoulders, shifted. It instead became a scorpion's tail of the largest degree, with its stinger-tip just barely sank into the back of Umbri’s neck.
Her arm was no longer enveloped, instead, it came to rest on the top of Jemma’s bowed head. Hypersensitive nerves in her scalp and her hair noted every twitch and change.

You absolute fucking idiot! How dare you! Where is your kindness? She’s freaking out! We don’t scare for no reason! Protect these people! Idiot! Idiot idiot idiot!
A pair of minds, tangled together by [INK] and [MAGIC], were yanked out of a shattered and crumbling memory scape.
Fury raged in her veins, at the sheer unfairness of it all. Who the hell did this to her? To this poor girl? She didn’t deserve it! Didn’t deserve to have all this fear and hurt and pain and scarring! What the fuck?! What gave them the right?!

Jemma’s voice, in the ‘dream’ and out of it, rumbled and roared into the air. Distorted by ink, warped by wrath.
“I fucking [PROMISED] no harm to her! What the HELL ARE YOU DOING?! I will destroy you! She needs rest! How dare you! How dare you harm her! She deserves none of it! What right do you have?! May my fang and claw sunder your flesh! Ruined so much for her for what?! FILTHY FUCKING STREET-SAMURAI! LOCKDOWN?! LOCKDOWN! I’ll ruin you! Ruin everything you ARE. FAILURE OF MOTHERHOOD! RIP YOUR MIND INTO MINE! SUFFER AS SHE HAS AT YOUR HAND!”

Jemma distantly heard a voice, someone outside of this joined space, away from this protective fury, yelp.
Koba? No. Graham? No… Names and faces were fading again. Time was becoming a slippery nothing. Again.
She WANTED to keep her hold, but… No. Not at the expense of another. Never at the expense of another.

The woman knew she sounded crazy, she knew she was shouting without preamble or warning. But… the Anger of it all. It was so stupid! It was unfair! This girl didn’t deserve that! And she didn’t deserve to see that! Have it torn from a mind unprepared! This should’ve been a conversation!

In the ‘dream’, one of two minds raged. [MIND-SIEVE-COMMUNE] bloomed in the astral, weaving a shaky spell. Nerves and Aetherial [connections] spun a dream-catchers shape, laying intent and purpose down as easy as cards on a table.
Jemma forced herself past the uneasy feeling of ‘haven’t done this before’ and focused instead on ‘must do this now.’
She spoke again, through Umbri’s throat, as the spell slowly worked its way. Her voice, audible within the dream and without.
“Hey! Hey no! You’re okay! You’re not gonna die. It’s okay. You have yourself, now, and I’m out. It’s just muscles and nerves now, no minds. You’re okay. Breathe. Slow. I can’t and won’t do it for you. But you have to breathe. I know you can. C’mon.”
Jemma’s voice was alive now. Lacking that clinical apathy. She laid out a rabbit-crumb trail. Led the little bit of Umbri’s psyche that she was willing to touch back to stability. ‘Come along, this way to calm again, this way to you disconnecting from me, disconnecting from you’, but with neurological action.

“We have to walk ourselves away from eachother. Okay? What’s happening right now, is I’ve disconnected the, um, memories. You won’t get dragged into yours anymore. Okay? It’s okay. I can’t just cut our connection, I don’t want to hurt you. So you have to calm down, and breathe, and ‘walk’ away with me. It’ll be easy! I [PROMISE]. Listen! Like this! You can do it.”

Her own body abruptly hitched a breath, sucking air deep into her lung for a count of four. Holding it for a count of seven. Letting it go for a count of eight.
Repeat.
In for four. Feel nerves of your own tingle, muscles of your own shift under your control.
Hold for seven. Let it ground and burn. Focus on the act. Bring it to yourself.
Out for eight. Let the fear and anger go, remember where you actually are. Unlatch your claws.

Oh. They were both crying. Ink. … Well shit.

Procedure complete.
What a shit show.
And only in four minutes! That could’ve… gone so much better.
She needed to puke…

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

Shield Town, Black Iron Workshop, Main Lobby

---

The shapeshifter was in awe. Her mind lost its tenuous grasp on focus as she instead took a few moments to stare at the blooming lattice of [POWER-FUEL-MIND-STRUCTURE-BLOCK] that had formed over herself and Umbri. An immediate burst of hunger seated through her core.

It wanted to hold this power, consume it like a succulent fruit hanging from a tree. Turn it into nuclear fuel to keep the meat going for years and years and-
No! Focus! That was a friend! Is! A friend
Jemma shook her head, turning her gaze back to Umbri as she took in the ‘smaller’ woman’s requests.
“Huh. Y’know I think she’s actually technically taller than me…” Jemma muttered thoughtfully, seemingly unaware that she was speaking aloud. Welp! Time to begin.
She focused, truly, and felt… Odd. Like she was both falling asleep and waking up. Astral eyes bloomed, and filled the mind with information. The trickle of [LIFE], the wrap of [VENOM-DEATH-Necrotise], and the pulse of [FEAR-DISGUST-DETERMINED-hopehopeHOPE].

Right.

“Administering pain relieving agent now.” Spoke the swiftly disassociating Body. Apathy and clinical intelligence swelled in place of emotional reasoning and empathy.
The [patient] would prefer this done quick, smooth, and without complication. Best to move swiftly then.

One of J-3’s tentacles whipped upwards, coming to a rest against the small of Umbri’s back, before straightening out and following along the muscles of her spine. Ink pulsed once along the length of prehensile muscle and fur, but showed no changes otherwise.
J-3 stood still, motionless like a statue, almost unnatural in its lack of motion, before it spoke again. “Anesthetic administered. Noting for patient: agent will integrate with patient body in one minute, thirty five seconds.” The body froze again, shifting focus and tasks in silence before once more speaking.
“Applying maw to patient now. Patient will note that movement is highly unrecommended. Patient will note that procedure will not be halted entirely, but can be paused by gripping, scratching, pinching, pressing, or holding the cilia within the ‘Maw’ organ. Patient will note that ‘surgeon’ will then halt. Patient will note that proceeding to pat, squeeze, or tap thrice will re-engage the procedure.”
And with that, the aforementioned maw shifted. Umbri’s entire arm disappeared into a throat that led to nowhere, filled with sensitive cilia, like millions of tiny hairs. If the [patient] squeezed or flinched, any movement that prompted readjustment, J-3 would stop. It had [PROMISED]. J-3 halted the maw after a moment, the very end of it pressing against the [patient]’s throat as the fangs laid to rest against the exposed skin.
The shapeshifter waited a moment.

“Note: Pain relieving agent in effect. Patient shall move her left leg to demonstrate that movement is unaffected. Patient will note that pain is dulled. Approximately 84.37 percent reduction in pain reciever activation. Patient will note that agent has been replicated a total of eight hundred and forty three times prior to administration in this procedure.”
Another pause, before the J-3 continued.

“Beginning procedure.”

It bit down, and began its work.
The site of entry and thresher-venom injection was the back of the neck, above the beginnings of a cybernetic spine. So the ink dripping fang bit through the skin there, just enough to sink a centimeter or so in.
Veins of ink rapidly spread through the blood vessels, damaging, consuming, and repairing as swiftly as they went. From its recollections, this process was best described as ‘a horrific internal tattoo that was cold and excruciating. Like nerves dying while paper thin slugs of mucus and frost crawled through you.’
With the venom it had given? Umbri would likely only feel as though she was receiving a deeply uncomfortable tattoo, and even only barely as much.
Finally, the veins reached where J3 needed them to reach.

The muscles of the spine, base of the brain-stem, the nerves still surrounding the spinal-cybernetic, and the veins and arteries of the heart. Ink pooled and waited by the heart, as the other tendrils worked their way through blood vessel and cyber-ports.
“Note: Patient and Surgeon will experience temporary nervous system synchronization. Surgeon requires synchronous communication between Ink and Patient Nervous system to coordinate proper antivenin distribution and acclimation.
Patient may speak through Surgeon, Surgeon may speak through patient. Surgeon apologizes. Sincerely unforeseen requirement. [PROMISE] remains unbroken.”

J-3 felt information begin trickling in, blinking once as the [MIND] and Mind of Umbri clicked in with theirs.
They blinked again, both bodies moving simultaneously, once, and broadcasted to the woman on the other end of the connection a sensation of gentle calm. As if to say ‘Stay calm. Do not panic. You are safe. This will be fine. Everything is okay. You are doing great.’

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

[ Titan’s Fall, Castle on The Clouds ]

---

Felix… Listened. For a bit. He did! Truly and seriously and really, and all that! But… Well.
She didn’t get it. Not really, and how could she! No one else had the itch like he did. The overwhelming press and crush of fear. That paranoia against the inevitability of it happening again. He couldn’t afford it, couldn’t relax, couldn’t slack off! Failure wasn’t an option. Stress testing at all times was the only way! If it failed him once, then it would fail him again! She was SO close to getting it!
So close to getting that overwhelming fear of a man out of control, a force of nature nearly ending his short story—
But it was fine. She… Was right. In a way, yes. He couldn’t sprint back to the lab every time something failed. Even if he really wanted to.

Felix shook himself some, ignoring the vague burning pain of his implants continuing to express their overstress. “No, yeah, yeah. You’re right—”
Or not.

Ion had arrived, and while Felix genuinely loved the giant oaf, he… Well actually, no this time he was severely appreciated! A quick break from the extremely taxing mental conversation!
Not that Dawn was even being taxing or anything like that, just that he really, really, didn’t want to think about his (definitely) maybe being wrong. In how he was approaching this friendship. And his tinkering. Hm.
Anyways! Ignore that! That whole… thinking about himself, thing. Yup! Forgotten! For now!
Felix shifted a bit in his seat, offering the requisite ‘oh yeah no kidding…’ to Ion, while letting his gaze slide to Dawn’s.

He stared at her, not thinking twice about trying to tell her with all the telepathy available to a chaos gremlin: ‘guess where I wanna go next!’
“My thing DID do the thing! Thanks for noticing, Tol King! I… Kinda hope that I did beat her time? If only so I can take over the ‘long distance’ travel part of the job, when I can, y’know?”
He flashed Ion a smile, before turning away and frowning, clearly thinking pretty hard.
“Hey thanks for the heads up though! I’ll make sure to avoid that area, and I’m pretty sure we’re gonna eat here for a bit anyways. My cyber needs a hot minute to cool down and perform their automatic repairs anyways.” He mumbled, flashing sheepish smile for the two at the table with him.

He raised a hand after a moment, looking appropriately sheepish. “Get some rest when you can, yeah man?” Felix murmured, sliding his eyes to the side conspiratorially. “If you don’t catch some sleep when you can… I’ll be the most eligible bachelor, and your- ah- fans will see you slippin’…”

There. That should serve as distraction AND dismissal! And he’d focus on doing his job too well to focus on where Felix would be… Not that that couldn’t be solved with a simple dummy tracker left where he wasn’t.
Hah!