Walpurgisnacht [IC/PG-16/Conditional Acceptance]

[radio414 776]

Battle Royale

Adler met Shields’ tut with a scoff of his own. “You do make googly eyes at it, then. That’s adorable. Give me that.” He reached out through his power and snatched his phone back before Dee could pocket it out of sight. “It doesn’t have to be thirty miles out,” he said. “It could be thirty miles up. I hear not a lot of organic stuff survives terminal velocity either. The calling for help, though, is appreciated. Maybe -” 

A pair of loud crashes and a “Heads up, old timer!” diverted Adler’s attention away from his banter. He turned and saw the robot Sibyl had been fighting now stumbling backwards towards him. It would never reach him, of course, especially now that it had suitably distracted him, but it did give him a chance to process the rest of the noise that he had skipped past. Sibyl had gotten herself thrown into a wall, and the wall was repairing itself, but at least Vi had overcome her Sisyphean task and gotten her hat back, which was nice.

The wall was repairing itself. That was an important detail to focus on. He looked back at Shields. “This you? No, you’re just a tinker with a wall fetish. And it’s not that guy.” Adler pointed over at the guy collapsed in the corner, even using Command Editor to reach over and poke him a few times just to make sure he really was unconscious. He wasn’t, it turned out, but he was really out of it. “So that means you’ve got a shaker too, huh? Don’t suppose you mind telling us where they might be?”

Dee just glared at him.

Adler shrugged. “Thought not, but one can hope,” he said. After a moment’s consideration, he added, “Well, I’ll take those too then.” He snatched Dee’s glasses right off of her face and clocked her unconscious too for good measure.

He focused in on the robot’s arm, gave it a yank, and stuck out a foot for its legs for good measure. The resulting trip sent the robot tumbling to the ground, leaving it without an apparent way to get back up and worse, a cracked “head.” “What’d you say?” he asked Sibyl. “We’re here to break shit? Let’s go break more shit.”

Further down the hallway was a set of two more doors, one straight ahead, and one to the left. Adler strode forward but deliberately slowed himself so that the two more excitable members of the team might get to take the lead. It’d save himself the work in the meantime.

Casino Royale

Gambling had always been a tricky subject among Scarlet City’s general populace. It was legal, yes, always had been, and nobody had the political willpower to change that, but it was hard to ignore that the one casino in all the world was run by its largest organized crime group. The Hell’s Inferno Casino was in Hilltop, a neighborhood out in the west, and served as a dividing line. The Gibbons gang controlled other areas, but everything west of Hell’s Inferno was theirs. This was obfuscated by the petty tag war that had sprung up on the outskirts. “PROPERTY OF GIBBONS GANG” a sticker would read, and someone had tagged over that in barely-legible scrawl, that tag would be covered in more stickers, and so on the process went. It petered out the closer they got to the casino – perhaps things were more patrolled there.

Hell’s Inferno Casino itself was awesome in the most literal sense of the word. “inspire awe” was exactly what it had been designed to do. In the midday autumn sun, one could tell the building was a spectacle unto itself, and there were visible light fixtures for when the evening came and it was time to make Hilltop seem eternally, impossibly bright. The central fixture of it all was a massive slot machine with reels that spun several rotations before stopping on its three-numbered jackpot of 666.

Caesar -- ˈsi zər, ˈkae̯ sar, however you pronounced his name -- was inside. Here is what G3 had to say about him:

Name: Augustine Edwards
Cape Name: Caesar
Active for: 7 years 
Power Classification: Trump
Current leader of Gibbons Gang, overseeing several operations personally along with attendants Legion and Hellhound. Of particular note are the Battle of Graceland and the Chicken Nexus Heist Job (see attached files).

As before, the referenced files had not been attached.

Goals: Caesar ascending to power has caused a paradigm shift with regard to Gibbons Gang as a whole. Previously, Gibbons was comfortable becoming, in their words, “The most influential organization in Scarlet City.” Caesar, however, seems determined to achieve nothing less than domination and rule over the entire city. Various truces and the occasional bout of overconfidence have held him in check so far, but it is clear these are still temporary measures until either the man or the gang he controls become S-class threats.

Hellhound was waiting for the heroes just inside. The most notable feature of their cape costume was an oversized wolf’s head they wore like a pauldron, the rest of the costume was an amber sort of orange. They also had a purse over their other shoulder where a small dog was poking its head out, shivering as it noiselessly observed the world. “Caesar” -- ˈkae̯ sar, they said -- “has been expecting you for a good while now. Come with me, please.”

They turned and went further into the casino, and the dog shifted her position in the purse to keep her eye on the heroes. Hellhound led the two into the pit, past all the slot machines, the bar, the other various games like craps and roulette, all of which followed the Hell’s Inferno’s theme, through a back room where the poker and baccarat tables were, up to an elevator that required a special code to even access. It was still early enough for the casino pit to not have many people in it, and those that were there were engrossed in whatever gambling they had set out to do and paid the capes no mind.

The elevator took the three up to a receptionist area where a secretary was typing away. She didn’t even look up from her screen as they entered. “Please, wait here,” Hellhound said, gesturing to a sofa at the opposite end of the room from the secretary (and, more importantly, the door). “Caesar will be right with you. I’m going to go on ahead and tell him that you’re here.”

One notable feature about the room was that, like the casino, below it, it had no windows or clocks -- there was no way to tell the passage of time. Hellhound had not specified a time either. Aeon and Override were just meant to wait.

---

OOC

Spoiler

Spoiler

Hellhound -- Secretary

Moray Clan: If you want to do wacky things with Adler's power, I guess he's available if you ask. He won't get paged out until the fight is over, but he is going to be hanging back. He did disable Dee and Chad for the moment, though, so all that's left is to find Babs and deal with her too. The other option is to get out since you've accomplished your main mission of "drawing attention to yourselves," but you two don't seem like the type to do that. 

G3: Gambling has a complicated history in Skitty's real-life inspiration. It used to be banned outright, and people were kind of whatever about it, but about twenty years ago they changed the state constitution to allow certain types of gambling at very specific locations where the casinos wanted to build -- one in each major city, if I remember correctly. But then the locations they chose didn't work out so they had to AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE A SECOND TIME to resolve that particular issue, which is a very normal thing to do. I thought about including that piece of history in Walpurgisnacht but it turned into a rant and didn't have a clear perspective it was coming from, so gambling's just always been legal now.

Hellhound's wolf head is inspired by that weird fucking lion head dress that's floating around the internet recently. I don't know what breed of dog they have with them but her name is Poppy and she is currently very smol, so hopefully that helps. I don't really have hard and fast instructions for you two right now. Caesar is making you wait as a power move so do with that what you will. Bother the secretary, bother each other, try and burst through the door anyway, read some vapid magazines, the world is your oyster.

Happy posting,

-r

 

Edited January 28 by radio414

[Thar 502]

Vi wasn’t sure whether it was adrenaline or exhaustion clouding her thoughts from the fact that their mission was a lot simpler than she assumed based on this new development of a self-repairing building. In fact, she didn’t even think about who was even controlling the drones that she dealt with at the entrance before she came down the hall to meet up with the others. 

"What does it matter? Our job is to break shit and if it fixes itself then we just have more to break!" Vi took a second to process what Sibyl said in response to Vi's question, and she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Ah… yeah, you got a point. The fuck am I worrying about?” Vi laughed as she saw her co-worker lunge into what looked to be a robot projecting a barrier to protect itself from the impact, which didn’t seem to be effective. With the force of it causing the machine to stumble backward, Vi noticed Adler behind it as well as another girl she didn’t recognize. The lab coat and glasses seemed to speak for themselves; she must be a thinker, and also must be the one controlling the drones.

“So that means you’ve got a shaker too, huh? Don’t suppose you mind telling us where they might be?”

Despite Vi no longer caring about the phenomenon with Sibyl’s mentality, the answer to her question was still good to know. Wherever this other figure is that’s healing the building, it would be nice to know if not just to find them and incapacitate them, but as far as their intentions were with the building, it hardly mattered. Sibyl was right. They’re there for one thing and one thing only: to cause a distraction.

“What’d you say?” Alder asked Sibyl after breaking off the robot’s leg and causing it to fall over. “We’re here to break shit? Let’s go break more shit.”

“Shit, if I knew you two had this handled, I’d have already moved on!” With a wide smirk, she took a second to take off her hat and put it in her backpack before she swung her umbrella behind her with another wave of energy emanating from her, widening the doorway into the hallway. With more force accelerating her, she dashed further down towards some more doors, one to the left and one at the end. She barely took any time to ponder on which one to smash, as she was already at the nearest one before she just decided to smash that one before the other. They were both being smashed anyway. Mid-dash, she turned to swing at the door on the left, blasting a wider opening as the shockwave sent more debris scattering throughout the space.

As the dust settled, Vi got a glance of the room ahead. A sofa facing a TV, a foosball table, a treadmill in the corner… just a casual lounge area. Vi huffed in slight disappointment but couldn’t help being slightly amused by how mundane it was for a gang warehouse. Then again, she supposed it wasn’t much different from the Clan’s hideout. Still, what’d be better to come across in a rival gang’s hideout than spicy secrets? She figured that’d be something to find deeper inside, which carried through with her unhesitating advance onto the next doorway at the end of the hall. Just like the one before, this one met the same fate as another blast of sound, debris, and air pressure shook the building.

Vi took this time to settle as she went into a casual walk into the new room. Looking around, it wasn’t hard to recognize it as the place’s kitchen, another mundane and boring thing that made her frown a bit. With another huff, she submitted to the reality that she wasn’t there to discover weird secrets anyway. Hell, she was in a kitchen at least, so there might at least be some snacks to grab and - fuck it - also munch on while she’s there.

[LordCowCow 775]

She'd been here before and she was still amazed how over the top it all was. It went with perhaps a childish version of a dark theme yet it was so much that Thessa couldn't help but be impressed.

She wasn't much of a gambler. Once she figured out how it worked it had sort of lost its luster. But she could still appreciate the idea behind it and felt herself drawn towards the gamblers themselves. What were they here for? What did they hope to do if they somehow managed to strike it rich?

Unfortunately she had a job to do and while it was starting to drag on she intended to see it through to the end.

"Oh hey this one talks." Thessa said as Hellhound met them, comparing them to Cassiopeia in her mind. The whole way there Thessa smiled at the little dog, waving at it as it watched them, and wondered what it was about the animals today.

“Caesar will be right with you. I’m going to go on ahead and tell him that you’re here.”

"Oooh a sofa. Don't mind if I do." Thessa said as she made her way towards it. "Been real busy today haven't really had a moment to really rest. All this diplomacy is hard work!" She declared with a loud laugh. As she got to the sofa, instead of sitting, she threw herself onto it. Sprawled out across on her back and laying down on it she put her hands behind the back of her head. Thessa looked over at her partner in anti-crime and grinned. "If I actually fall asleep lemme know when the Big Cheese finishes his crossword or whatever he's doing."

[Chaos Sonic 415]

Two down...next on the docket was the Gibbons, the one that their boss told Morgan exclusively to avoid. Truth be told, the negotiations...or at least them getting the gangs to sign off went easy enough. However, now he and Aeon had a favor that they'd end up having to cash in with the Fates if and when the time came, as well as pass information towards the Zodiac in regards to the situation they found themselves in. Either way he looked at it, it was them giving something to those they would call their enemies...but in a situation like this...desperate times called for desperate measures.

"P.I.X.E.L., bring up the next individual's stats." Override simply said, soaring overhead once more.

"Aye sir." Just like before, the information began to show up on the side of his HUD...

Name: Augustine Edwards
Cape Name: Caesar
Active for: 7 years 
Power Classification: Trump
Current leader of Gibbons Gang, overseeing several operations personally along with attendants Legion and Hellhound. Of particular note are the Battle of Graceland and the Chicken Nexus Heist Job (see attached files).
Goals: Caesar ascending to power has caused a paradigm shift with regard to Gibbons Gang as a whole. Previously, Gibbons was comfortable becoming, in their words, “The most influential organization in Scarlet City.” Caesar, however, seems determined to achieve nothing less than domination and rule over the entire city. Various truces and the occasional bout of overconfidence have held him in check so far, but it is clear these are still temporary measures until either the man or the gang he controls become S-class threats.

"Ah right...he was the one that led the heist job on the Fried Chicken Nexus..." Override nodded, remembering hearing about some strange and criminal activities occurring at this intersection where three fried chicken establishments at the corners of said intersection. "Continues to boggle my mind at why they even attempted a heist job in the Chicken Nexus..."

"Criminals such as these tend to have motives beyond some's comprehension."

"Be that as it may..." Override sighed. "It's obvious that Augustine here simply wants nothing more than domination...but a chicken establishment."

"Perhaps look at it within the bigger picture, sir." P.I.X.E.L.'s Scottish cadence spoke. "If one controls the Chicken Nexus, that would be a monopoly on that corner and thusly, possibly reduce food services to others aside from his gang."

"...that's a fair point and assumption." he nodded, touching down in front of the Hell's Inferno Casino. There's more to it, I can feel it... Brushing that aside, he made his way inside once Aeon arrived. Override wasn't a gambling man, but he had to admit, this casino was a happening place for others. The general aesthetic was an impressive one...it was a sort of Hell, in every sense of the word. Regardless, he ended up seeing Hellhound, Augustine's assistant...right-hand person...something along those lines.

“Caesar has been expecting you for a good while now. Come with me, please.”

Override simply followed, his clunky armor making noise with each step he took as he was led into the elevator and into a...receptionists room...with a secretary who seemed to pay them no mind...he wasn't thrilled about this.

“Please, wait here Caesar will be right with you. I’m going to go on ahead and tell him that you’re here.”

And then...they just left. Override grew a tad bit concerned, but thankfully his armor allowed him not to be noticed as being worried. But with no windows or clocks, it seemed they were just going to be waiting here without the knowing of the passage of time. That would be the case, if Override didn't have anything to say about it.

"Been real busy today haven't really had a moment to really rest. All this diplomacy is hard work! If I actually fall asleep lemme know when the Big Cheese finishes his crossword or whatever he's doing."

At least someone's having fun... Override thought, looking around and surveying the area. It was just the normal receptionists area...but he took his chance to do something. Looking at the computer the secretary was on, he began to make a move. Without her knowing, he began to establish a link with it...not with his suit...no...this was his own abilities. He stood there like a sentinel on the outside, while inside, he was communicating with the computer itself. Of all things he could access, ironically was the calendar app. Hmmm, guess it's not willing to allow me to go deeper...no matter...the fact that I can get any information at all is good. he thought, seeing what the app said. The boss of the gang had them down for a meeting fifteen minutes ago...and he hadn't shown up.

Hmmm...so our meeting is all. No tricks, no plots...nothing. Override thought, breathing a small sigh of relief. With this information in hand now, Override casually made his way (or roughly made his way due to armor) towards the secretary. "Sorry to disturb you, miss...?"

She looked up from her screen but kept typing and didn't say anything. She simply acknowledged that she's the one Override was talking to.

This perplexed him, but regardless he cleared his throat and kept going. "Right...Caesar" -- he pronounced it ˈkae̯ sar, -- "was scheduled to meet with us fifteen minutes ago...and yet he nor Hellhound have shown back. Is everything okay?"

The secretary leaned over and pushed a button on her desk. "Sorry to bother you, sir, but one of the heroes out here wants to know if you're okay?"

It took a few moments for the intercom to crackle back to life, and the response was a single word. "Peachy."

"Hmmm, simply peachy? I must say, he seem to be taking this meeting in a different direction than I originally thought." Override sighed, before backing up, his gaze going from the intercom back to the secretary. "Thank you for your assistance..."

"I'm sure he'll be with you in just a few moments."

Hopefully... Override thought, continuing to survey the area to the best of his ability. Was he seriously going to have them wait here the whole time until he saw fit to meet with them? He surely hoped that wasn't the case.

[Skaia 482]

Sibyl had gotten back to her feet, letting out a small whistle as Alder had managed to disable the robot with his weird spacey powers. Giving a whistle at the sight the girl said, "damn, nice work man!" The girl went to give a congratulatory pat on the back with one of her enormous clawed hands. Naturally the hand never actually touched him but the girl didn't seem to mind that. Instead, with the robot and the woman being dealt with and no one else in the immediate area Sibyl's giddiness seemed to calm a bit, the third arm she had growing out of her torso receding back into her. Walking along with the others, they eventually ended up finding both a break room and kitchen. While there was certainly stuff to break in there, nothing looked especially enticing to Sibyl at the moment and so she continued to just look around the base. 

Opening one of the doors in the kitchen she found that it had lead right back to the break room, and now that she was looking at the room properly she saw a bunch more doors leading to who knew where. Walking up to one, Sibyl grabbed the comically undersized knob in her large shadow hand, saying, "alright let's see what's behind door number two!" And forcibly yanked at the knob, easily tearing open the door only to see a large log coming down from the next room over swinging at her. She seemed more happily surprised by this then anything else, letting out an, "ooooh," before bringing up her free hand to catch the log, bracing herself as it impacted into her. Shoving the log back, due to it being tied to the ceiling, physics did its work as it came moving right back towards her. Catching the log again, Sibyl knew enough that if she shoved it back it would just get in her way of going into the next room, and so this time she grabbed it with both hands. Gritting her teeth, the girl tore the log out from its bindings attaching it to the ceiling and tossed it on the ground before proceeding into the next room over. 

It seemed to be some kind of laboratory with a bunch of weird machines and a computer hooked up to all of them. More than that, though, the room seemed incredibly weird. For one, it was only now that Sibyl had realized that what was holding the log trap in place was actually vines that were somehow growing out of the ceiling. There was also a chair spinning up there as well. But most curiously of all was the walls. Sibyl wasn't exactly sure if the wall was real or not, looking as it was if it had some kind of TV static going across it and like it was glitching out of reality, though still obviously there. A work bench in the room shared a similar glitchy look to it. 

Curious about the wall, Sibyl went to start knocking on them, only to find that they were in fact still solid. With this discovery the girl started rap against the wall even more, hearing that it actually sounded more hollow then anything else. Smiling, thinking that there was more to this wall then just its interesting choice of aesthetic, the girl started to punch the wall, cracking it a little. It was clear that her fists were doing damage to it but the girl shook her head, "nah, this is taking too long." The girl stepped away from the wall. 

The wall crumbled and fell apart as a log was sudden tossed into, revealing the closet that it was hiding. Pleased with herself, the girl looked inside and saw that the room was filled with a bunch of doodads and gizmos, some retro looking and some more modern. "These were hidden away so, I guess they must be important." Her grin widened as she started to swing her arms wildly in the room, smashing everything she could. 

[radio414 776]

Emergency Trap

Babs really wished that her power gave her an enhanced ability to multitask. She had so much control over any building she was in, and there were so many ways that control was held in check, the least the universe could give her was the ability to do two things at once. Alas, it seemed like she’d gotten even worse since her powers had manifested. As it stood, even rubbing her stomach and patting her head was almost out of her reach. It wasn’t fair.

Worse still was how this was only her third encounter with invaders coming into her building! The first was how she’d manifested her powers to begin with, and the second was when The Zodiac came looking for protection money she didn’t have, sending her all the way across town to The Gibbons’ welcoming fold. When Caesar had set her up out on the outskirts of Scarlet City, she’d found a bit of companionship between Dee’s always-on-the-clock professionalism and Chad’s weird laid-back never-do-anything-right (except for when he did) nature. Both of their tinker powers benefited from her ability to shape things to their specifications, no matter how strange the request. They’d done combat drills, sure, but that was clearly not the same as the real thing.

She could sense them, no matter where they were in the warehouse. That, at least, her power afforded her. She could feel every bit of machinery falling apart against the blows of a single woman, or the other woman pilfering whatever food she could find in the kitchen. The man who was with them was a bit harder, what with how the space around him always seemed to reshape itself. It was cheating when other people did it, Babs thought. But there had to be something. There had to be some way to at least hang on until Caesar could send help or… or maybe they could just leave? No, that was wishful thinking. The invaders had already incapacitated Dee and Chad and were clearly willing to tear down the whole building.

Babs took a deep breath and sunk further into her bed. There was nothing for it. All she could do was her best. She focused her energy on the girl in the kitchen. Each drawer, each cabinet was an opportunity for something to throw at her. Maybe opening this one triggered a dart trap, or checking the fridge made the light fixture overhead fall down on her. It was quick work, nothing complex, but also she had to move on.

Meanwhile, in the workshop, that one was both harder and easier. It was harder without as many nooks and crannies she could hide things in, and easier in that at least she could shut the door again and give herself an enclosed space to work with that way. She could reinforce it too, so it’d be harder to get out, and then, if she tried hard enough, she could shift the walls inwards. The ceiling, too, hopefully ending up giving the woman inside one hell of a squeeze.

Stop Coming To My House

All in all, it took just over an hour for Caesar to finally buzz his secretary back and let Override and Aeon into his office. It was significantly darker in there than in the reception room, lit mostly by a projector casting several images towards the back wall. In one corner, a flier was making their way westward, their arms outstretched in front of them. In another part of the projection, someone was washing their face and hands. The one next to it was completely dark, as was just under half of the rest of the projection.

Caesar was sitting behind his desk, the back of his head blocking some of the projection, not that he seemed to care as he looked up at the other panels. Any actual first impressions, though, were doomed to be severely affected by his aura. Knowledge that it was there helped, of course, but there was still an extra weight on the heroes’ shoulders. “This man is important,” the weight seemed to say. “Listen to him!”

“Look at this,” Caesar said with a voice that similarly demanded attention even if it was otherwise completely unremarkable as he gestured to the collage of images. “How am I supposed to deal with this, hm? I’ve got a failed operation in the middle of town I’ve got to pick up the pieces of, I’ve got whatever the fuck is going on out east, and now some ‘heroes’ are knocking on my door insisting the world’s about to end. Any one of these could hold my attention, and all of a sudden I have to deal with three of them, not to mention everything else Gibbons manages in the city.”

A man someone attentive would identify as Legion was standing by the projector, operating it with his power, saying nothing. Hellhound was nowhere to be seen.

Caesar wheeled around in his chair and put his elbows on his desk. “I’m a bit distracted, you understand. I’m only curious about two things here: How fast I can put this particular encounter out of my mind and what the other two gangs, especially the Moray Clan, have had to say about me.”

---

OOC

Spoiler

Caesar -- Legion

Subtitles are Mogwai songs

Moray Clan: Vi has to contend with a kitchen suddenly made more dangerous, as small booby traps now line every possible place she could check. There's the two mentioned above, but I can think of some others too if you want. Sibyl has to worry about becoming a Sibyl sandwich. I'm giving both of you access to Adler for your posts as well as a sort of wild card, so feel free to use him within reason.

In terms of actually dealing with Babs, well, her morale's already pretty low. You can try and navigate the remaining rooms of the warehouse to try and find wherever her bedroom might be or you can trash the place even more and frustrate her to the point of surrender, or you can leave now that you've trashed the important parts and grabbed some tinker tech that might surely be useful, or all sorts of other options. It's a bit hard to actively communicate with the characters what state their opponent's in when she's not in the same room but I hope that's helpful for you the writers.

G3: This is the first bit of crossing the streams this RP is doing so I guess I should mention time is a little weird in Scarlet City that's just canon now that's part of the 'verse i said it and it just happened. Just a little though, don't worry Aeon. In terms of things that might actually be useful, surprise, Caesar is probably the most amicable to your mission, even if he held you in his reception room for an hour and change and is distracted besides. I imagine there's still a small bit of dialog you might need from me, though, so feel free to ask whenever and I'll get to it when I can.

Thanks for the posts so far, hope everyone's still having fun as we venture into page two proper,

-r

 

Edited February 13 by radio414

[LordCowCow 775]

The wait wasn't nearly as long as Thessa thought it might have been. Aided by the fact she nodded off partway through. As soon as they got the okay to head in she got up and made her way through the door as if she hadn't been laying down for the past hour or so.

The room was...somewhat odd. She didn't really get what the projector was for but honestly it didn't really concern her much. From what the man said it must have been some other business that didn't have to do with what they were here for.

What did concern her was this gross feeling in her head. The urge to listen to this man. She didn't feel good having the thought that anyone was so important that she had to pay attention to them. Knowing it was due to an ability didn't make her feel any less grossed out by the feeling.

“I’m a bit distracted, you understand. I’m only curious about two things here: How fast I can put this particular encounter out of my mind and what the other two gangs, especially the Moray Clan, have had to say about me.”

She didn't really know how quickly this would end, but the second part of his questions sparked a vague memory in her mind. "I think they said something about you being short?"

Caesar frowned. "I should have expected them to lie like that." he said. "Five seven is a perfectly normal height, you know. But no, I meant tactics. Did they give any indication they knew about my operation? The little upstarts have been remarkably prescient lately."

"I dunno, maybe they know but I wasn't trying to figure out if they knew anything about you was I? Don't you guys have spies or something for this sorta thing?"

"They're teenagers." Caesar slammed his fist into his desk. "What are they going to do besides gossip? Here, look at this. Legion?"

Legion pressed a button on the projector and the tapes started to rewind. One by one, the blank spaces came back to life until the grid was entirely full. They told the story of a battle in reverse, Gibbons against the Moray Clan on the outskirts of the fairgrounds. Caesar watched the screens intently. "Here, pause it here," he said. Legion did so.

Caesar pointed to three different screens. One member of The Fates was on each of them. "Look at this," he said again. "Slow-motion, Legion."

Simultaneously, each Fate on each of the screens reached out and grabbed... something from underneath the view of the screen, then the screen shifted to what must have been the Fates' point of view. For a split-second, it looked like each of them was taking a selfie, giving a peace sign into their phones in front of a now-collapsed measure of Gibbons, but then the screens went warped and static-y before going out entirely.

"See? They're stupid, naïve creatures, but that's not supposed to happen to Legion's power. They know something and they're taunting me about it. That cannot be allowed to continue."

The sudden outburst was surprising but it served to make the girl more interested. What was shown was...amusing yes but it only gave her more questions. Thessa gave the guy with her a confused look then looked back at Caesar. "So what? Is this something I'm supposed to care about?"

"Do you want to get in my good graces or not?"

"Me? Not really. We just need a..." Thessa thought about it a moment before the reason she was here came back to her, "a signature."

[Chaos Sonic 415]

An hour...a literal hour. Override wasn't too thrilled about having to wait this long, but it was obvious that Caesar had is reasonings, at least he hoped to God that he had some. Regardless, they were finally ushered in...and there he sat, watching a projector. And unfortunately, while he did have prior knowledge of the aura surrounding this man...Override fell victim to it all the same. The urge to listen to him...he honestly hated the feeling.

“Look at this. How am I supposed to deal with this, hm? I’ve got a failed operation in the middle of town I’ve got to pick up the pieces of, I’ve got whatever the fuck is going on out east, and now some ‘heroes’ are knocking on my door insisting the world’s about to end. Any one of these could hold my attention, and all of a sudden I have to deal with three of them, not to mention everything else Gibbons manages in the city.”

A collage of images were what the man was looking at and it seemed they held his attention more than anything else...which could've been either good or bad.

“I’m a bit distracted, you understand. I’m only curious about two things here: How fast I can put this particular encounter out of my mind and what the other two gangs, especially the Moray Clan, have had to say about me.”
"I think they said something about you being short?"

Smooth...very smooth... Override thought, sighing silently as Aeon spoke first. He really needed to learn to anticipate when she was going to speak and make the first move next time. Alas, it happened, so there was no point in trying to live in the past. Still, Aeon and Caesar spoke, though the armored hero kept watching the screen, seeing the Fates from the Moray Clan. It seemed that he was being perturbed by these three young girls...which to an extent, given their power and the fact they were teenagers, did make Override smirk under his helmet.

"See? They're stupid, naïve creatures, but that's not supposed to happen to Legion's power. They know something and they're taunting me about it. That cannot be allowed to continue."
"So what? Is this something I'm supposed to care about?"
"Do you want to get in my good graces or not?"
"Me? Not really. We just need a...a signature."

Override cleared his throat. "What my colleague means is..." he began, taking charge of the conversation. "In regards to the situation last night, we've come on the behalf of G3 to get a signature from you..." he said, sliding the file in front of Caesar. "That said, you are a man of business...seeing as you seem preoccupied with both your casino as well as the operations of the Gibbons...so this would mean you want something in return for all of this."

He stared at the man, his eyes hidden behind his helmet. "So...what would it take to get you to play ball with us...Caesar" -- he pronounced it ˈkae̯ sar, again --.

[Skaia 482]

After having had her fill of destruction and mayhem in the lab, Sibyl was ready to get on to finding another room to destroy. However, as she took a step out of the secret closet, she realized something was off about the room. She wasn't quite sure what it was at first but everything felt...smaller? But it wasn't like anything was out of place nor was it like the objects in the room were any smaller. No, it had to be something else. The girl continued to ponder on it, until she realized that she was in the closet that she just stepped out. Confused by this, the girl took a step out and looked at the closet, blinking curiously as she tried to figure out what was going on here. And then, as she was suddenly in the closet again she figured out what was going on. "Oooooh, I'm going to be crushed." The girl had no idea what was actually going on in this building, but it was clear to her that the building itself was now trying to kill her. Of course, Sibyl wasn't one to just stand around and evaluate the best of course of action and instead decided that if the building was going to try to kill her she just had to kill the building first.

She slammed her shadow fists against the wall a few times to see if it would give way, to be a bit disappointed that it didn't. As it turned out there were no more secret closets behind these walls and that seemed to mean that the walls weren't about to give way to just a few punches. Sibyl thought about what would be the next best thing to punch and looked up to see the vines growing out from the ceiling. That was another weird quirk of this murder building, one that she hadn't paid much mind to before but now was very curious about. She wasn't particularly knowledgeable about plants but she had a rough idea as to how they took root in things, and since it looked like it was growing and not just placed there, she wondered if she couldn't just tear down the ceiling if she could pull out the roots. And so, extending her arms to the base of the plant, she grabbed at it and yanked. While at first it didn't give Sibyl wasn't about to give up, and so she continued to pull harder on the vines until finally the entire plant was torn from the ceiling, with parts of the ceiling coming down with it. 

"Alright! Let's see what's..." The girl trailed off as she saw, from the fruits of her labor, behind the ceiling was in fact more ceiling. While perhaps a normal person would've thought to try the door - be it by opening or breaking it down - at all, Sibyl had already gotten into her head the fascinating idea of breaking through the ceiling and seeing what was above her. And so, if part of the ceiling could be broken, she reasons that more of the ceiling could be broken. Gritting her teeth and clenching her fist, the girl slammed it into the ceiling a few times before instead going to claw at it. Her claws shifted to become more akin to mole paws as she attempted to go from just punching to digging through the ceiling until finally a light could be seen coming from the hole. Elation crossed her face, clearing happy that her one track mind had lead her somewhere and with the walls closing around her and a path opened she decided to get out of the room. Dismissing the shadows around her arms, they instead began to creep across her legs and extended upward propelling the girl into the air. Grabbing at the edges of the hole the girl pulled herself into the new room...which was an old room. 

"What in the hell is going on here?" Looking around, Sibyl had noticed that she was in the rec room. One that was identical to the one that she entered the lab from. Looking through one of the doors in the room and seeing Vi in the kitchen, she figured out that it was in fact, exactly the same rec room. She had gone from the rec room to a lab. And then, despite going up, had ended up in the original room. After being befuddled by this for a moment, the girl then broke out into a raucous laughter. "You have got to be kidding me! This place is amazing! Vi, check this out! This whole building is like some kind of fun house portal puzzle thing! Oh I wonder where this ceiling leads to then?" The girl continued to giggle as the idea of trashing a building that more and more defied common sense appealed to her. 

[radio414 776]

Rubber Bullies

As soon as Sibyl resolved to start tearing up another ceiling of the place, a BANG! erupted from the kitchen, and the door splitting the two rooms flew off its hinges, went all the way across the room, and crashed into the wall on the opposite side. Standing in the now doorless doorway was Vi, her shoulders heaving with every breath, her parasol extended out in front of her like the thrust of a spear. When Vi walked into the room, it was with almost exaggerated stomps, each one punctuating a spoken word. “I. Am. Going. To. FUCKING. Annihilate. Whoever. The. Fuck. Did. That. To. The. Kitchen.” She reached the door and speared it again, this time enveloping it in her increasingly overwhelming aura before wheeling around to launch it back towards a corner where it collided with one of the treadmills, destroying both of them in the process.

The whole building settled a bit, both in the sense that the only thing heard in the aftermath was Vi’s huffed breathing, with even Adler, who had strolled in just now, standing there in stunned silence, and in the sense that things that probably should have been making noise, like the continued collapsing of the workshop just a room over (or floor, depending on how you looked at it) no longer were. They weren’t making noise because they’d stopped in their tracks.

Two things happened in quick succession: The first was a resounding “Fine!” which seemed to echo from all four walls and even the ceiling and floor of the recreation room. “Fine, you win, okay? I’ll stop. Just please, please don’t mess things up too bad for them.”

The second was a message buzzed in on all three of the Moray Clan members’ phones. Adler took the opportunity to read it aloud in a mocking impression of what the fates actually sounded like. “Heyyyy besties,” he said. “Good job today, they didn’t even kno what hit em. Anyway anyone not licking their wounds too hard might be headed ur way now so get out while the getting’s good, k?” Adler looked up from his phone. “Guess that means you’re in luck, uh, Babs, was it?” Then, to Vi and Sibyl, he said. “Anything else catch your eye that needs doing? And yes, I remembered the shopping trip. I may be lazy, but I’m the honorable sort of lazy.”

Soft Power

Caesar stared at Override as he received the new treaty as though he were trying to wring out all the possible implications of the latter’s pronunciation. “I feel as though I should yell at you,” he said. “I want you to know that, regardless of your intentions, I feel very disrespected right now, not just that, but all these things we have discussed today. However, because I recognize your intentions as misguided at worst, I will not subject you to some of my… darker impulses. I also just want to make things clear: I know the reason your boss sent you to me last.

“He’s a loose cannon. Caesar needs to be held in check.” He said it in falsetto, sounding nothing like Director Sekelsky, though intentionally so. He coughed a few times before his voice was back to normal. “It’s social pressure is what it is. I know what happens when too many lines are crossed. We’ve all heard the stories or seen the remnants of battlefields before the construction crews come in and build everything back up again. If even one of them -- Ophiuchus, who I respect, or The Fates, who I despise -- were not on this list, I probably wouldn’t on principle. But I’m playing by the rules here, you see?” He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a fountain pen.

He didn’t sign it yet, though. He thought better of it. “At the same time, you were the ones proposing payment, weren’t you? How about this: Legion?” He motioned with his free hand and Legion shut down the projector, turned the lights back on, and came over to his side. “You are going to carry some of Legion around, that’s all. Just give me a few extra eyes for a day or so, how does that sound?”

Caesar opened up a different drawer on his desk and replaced the pen with a pocket knife, with which he pricked Legion’s index finger and guided his hand across the remaining dotted line of the signatories section. “I’m offering this to you willingly,” he said. “This is my mark, take it as you will.”

---

OOC

Spoiler

Spoiler

Subtitles are songs by the band Tropical Fuck Storm

Moray Clan: Oh I guess that's just Skaia now. Well, the factions were a failed experiment, but the plot's nothing if not flexible. In any case, I already alluded to the fighting being almost over, so I'm trying to get both halves to an acceptable state of "done-ness." This one is a bit closer to that in that I'm not sure if Team G3 needs an extra debriefing round yet or not, but while I work that out, the last member of Gibbons Gang in the building is surrendering, so get your licks in on the building while you can and clear out. As The Fates said, good job.

G3: I want there to be an implied, "And then the heroes left" at the end of this decision, though Caesar is around if you want to debate the various forms of power (social, political, having a +8 racial bonus to listen skill checks) with him, I suppose. I'm generally available for more lines, of course, though for the same reasons listed above, I would like to return the signatures to the base. At the same time, I don't want to make it seem like there isn't a choice here. If you want to not take the Legion-influenced documents and just tell G3 that Caesar got weird, that's acceptable too.

Thanks for sticking around. Let me know if you have any questions,

-r

 

Edited March 1 by radio414

[Skaia 482]

Sibyl's call out to Vi was answered with a door exploding off of its hinges and the woman frustrated with whatever had happened in there. From the sounds of it, she had something like the building attack her too, which only made the demon girl more curious about this place. As the goth umbrella lady continued to destroy more or the place, it had seemed that their victory was pronounced by a disembodied voice. Sibyl wasn't quite sure who the voice was, it certainly didn't belong to the other two people they had met here before, and so she reasoned that it was either somebody's power to project their voice like this or the building itself was alive. Regardless of which it was, the girl frowned at this declaration of defeat saying, "aww, come on. We're just getting started here right?" It was then that Alder's voiced picked up, directing her to the text message the group had just received. Her disappointment grew as did her frown, looking annoyed at the whole situation. 

As Alder finished his reading of the Fates' message, the girl looked to the side and as if she were a child simply said, "I don't wanna." As he mentioned shopping, the girl then thought more about it. As much as she wanted to keep tearing up the place, now that her opponent had more or less surrendered and everyone seemed ready to leave, she didn't particularly feel like continuing either. But the whole thing left her feeling bitter and frustrated, the frustration seeming to grow more and more noticeable on her face. Then, letting out a yell of anger, the shadows around the girls arm came back, thicker than ever, and she brought her arm down to smash the foosball table, breaking it in half and grabbing one of the halves to then toss at the treadmill. With the brief instance of destruction done, let out a deep breath and said, "alright. Better. You're buying lunch though too," the girl said to Alder. 

Looking up at the ceiling the girl said, "well that was really fun, you've got or are a really cool place Babs! The way that wall looked was super cool, can't wait to see what you got next time." With a sudden smile on her face, innocent joy behind her foreboding words, the girl gave a wave goodbye as she exited the building. 

Edited March 4 by Skaia

[Chaos Sonic 415]

“I feel as though I should yell at you. I want you to know that, regardless of your intentions, I feel very disrespected right now, not just that, but all these things we have discussed today. However, because I recognize your intentions as misguided at worst, I will not subject you to some of my… darker impulses. I also just want to make things clear: I know the reason your boss sent you to me last. It’s social pressure is what it is. I know what happens when too many lines are crossed. We’ve all heard the stories or seen the remnants of battlefields before the construction crews come in and build everything back up again. If even one of them -- Ophiuchus, who I respect, or The Fates, who I despise -- were not on this list, I probably wouldn’t on principle. But I’m playing by the rules here, you see?”

Override was silent, seeming to have already upset Caesar with his pronunciation...least he assumed that was the exact reason he was so uptight there. He found it strange, as someone who used this ancient title, he figured that he'd want it said the correct way and manner. But then again, he did only hear those here say it like he did...everyone else used the normal English pronunciation. There might've been something to that...so he'd have to keep that in mind.

“At the same time, you were the ones proposing payment, weren’t you? How about this: Legion? You are going to carry some of Legion around, that’s all. Just give me a few extra eyes for a day or so, how does that sound? I’m offering this to you willingly. This is my mark, take it as you will.”

Now the armored hero was a bit hesitant on this, to which P.I.X.E.L. noticed this and took initiative for his user. A direct line was sent from him to the Director back at the G3 Organization Headquarters. Luckily, both P.I.X.E.L. and Override were smart...they made sure to only have it audio only, no visual...along being the only two to hear this. The line went as followed: "Director, we've successfully made contact with Caesar of the Gibbons, however they insist on us taking Legion with them. What would you have us do?"

It was a few moments of silence, then there was an audible sigh, then, "Yeah, he does this every so often because he thinks nobody has figured out Legion's superpower. There are quarantines we can set up. I'll set things in motion for when you get back."

"Very well." Override spoke up finally, in regards to both the Director as well as towards Caesar. "We'll parley on this and accept. And on a second note, namely for you..." he said, putting his hands on the signed paperwork, his gaze and head directed towards Caesar. "I simply used the Latin pronunciation rather than those who use the English pronunciation. It's more authentic when referring to someone as yourself, isn't it?"

"Is that so?" Caesar said. "A little advice, then: don't push your luck with that. You don't want people thinking you're something you're not."

Yeah...it was definitely the pronunciation that pissed him off before. he thought, nodding as he got up. "If that's what you wish." Override shrugged, taking the signed paperwork. "If that's all, I believe we should be on our way back to G3. We'll be in touch, Caesar" -- he pronounced it ˈsi zər this time --.

[radio414 776]

A Return to Normalcy

When Override returned to G3’s headquarters, he was met at the front door by Director Sekelsky, Bard, and a third person who, unless Override had been poking around in G3’s employee database, he probably wouldn’t recognize. That person’s name was Chet, a new paralegal hire, and he looked exceedingly uncomfortable standing around next to G3’s highest position and one of its premier heroes.

The first thing Director Sekelsky said was, “Where’s Aeon?” At some point, she had run off, leaving Override to complete the task they had been assigned alone.

“She wanted to go get food,” Bard said, already cringing at the director’s inevitable response.

“She wanted to go get food,” Director Sekelsky repeated in a mocking tone, the kind that probably could have been represented with some good old-fashioned camel case. “Sweet Zorro. Okay. First thing’s first: quarantine.” He leaned in and spoke directly into the side of Override’s ear. “You hear that? Stop mutilating your henchman trying to be sneaky and or creepy. You’re not.”

“It’d probably be best not to antagonize him,” Bard said. “You are going to be seeing him in a week now.”

“Probably,” the director said, straightening himself back up and readjusting his suit. “But I wouldn’t be able to say that to his face even if I wanted to.” He turned to Chet, who straightened up as well but in a stiffening sort of way. “You understand the nature of what you are accepting here? Who you’re going to be sharing your senses with?”

“I do,” Chet said.

Director Sekelsky motioned for him to take the signed papers -- all three of them, not just the one with Legion’s blood on it -- and Chet did so before scampering off. The quarantine was simple. G3 had a pretty good, though still imperfect, idea of how long Legion’s power lasted. Chet already had a minimal security clearance inside the building, and would likely be accompanied by guards even if he did encounter something he shouldn’t. In the meantime, he could do busywork or read or just listen to music.

Bard and Sekelsky watched to make sure he made it through the doors to be collected by his chaperone, before returning their attention to Override. “We’re going in too,” Sekelsky said. “Debriefing and all that. Caesar being snooty can’t be the only thing that happened to you. You’re going to tell me everything. This was your first time meeting Scarlet City’s three gang leaders, right? What are your first impressions? Do you think a longer truce is feasible?”

Where Money Flows Like Water

Scarlet City’s biggest mall, Easton, was actually not far from the warehouse Sibyl and the others had just attacked (though with Adler’s help, the physical distance didn’t really matter, did it?). It had a hybrid indoor-outdoor layout. There was a massive building in the center of it all, called “Easton Town Center” where most of the food options resided, though there were some outlets in there as well as one of those movie theaters with an actual kitchen and an actual service staff that would bring you actual food in the middle of a movie if you ordered it. Most of the outlets were outside the building, though, sprawling outwards offering any sort of mundane ware one might want.

Perhaps the most important feature of the mall was its status as a neutral ground despite its distance from the rest of the city. That was a big thing Easton’s management had pushed for prior to the foundation being laid however many countless years ago that was. Even capes registered as heroes or villains could see each other without issue here.

Adler and Vi hadn’t been hungry just yet, so Adler tossed Sibyl a couple of crumpled bills so she could buy an overpriced burger or rice bowl or whatever else her heart might have desired before they went to the Hot Topic on the Town Center’s second floor. “You can gouge yourself on cookies and ice cream for all I care,” Adler said. “Toodles.”

So Sibyl was alone. She wasn’t alone for long, though. As Adler and Vi disappeared into the Hot Topic never to be seen again, Sibyl got a text on her phone: Behind you lmao.

It was Lachesis, a singular Fate without her sisters, though she didn’t seem too concerned by their absence. “Just wanted to catch up eye-arr-ell after all that mess,” she said. She looked Sibyl up and down. “You didn’t get too hurt, right? Just gonna be sore tomorrow or even better than that or- Oh, I know this person hang on. Hey! Hey Aeon!”

Lachesis tried to wave the immortal hero over, and if that didn’t work she jogged over to Thessa, who had also entered the Town Center. “How’s tricks? Told you Caesar’s shorter in person than all those descriptions about him, right? You wanna hang out? Of course you do, come on.” She didn’t guide Thessa by the wrist again, but she did make sure the hero followed her back to where Sibyl was still standing.

“Sibyl, this is Aeon, Aeon, Sibyl,” Lachesis said. “You’ve probably heard of each other? Or you’ve seen Sibyl’s art around town and Aeon, well, she speaks for herself. But we’re going to probably be officially working together soon so might as well get cordial now.”

---

OOC

Spoiler

Spoiler

Easton Town Center -- Easton Fountain

Subtitles are songs from the Skullgirls OST. I guess G3 and Moray as section distinctions are breaking down with only three people in the RP, and I moved a hero over to hang out with some villains by request, so I guess I'll go by location now.

G3 (wait...): A more official denouement for the day as opposed to what's going on on the other end. This is your chance to give any specific reactions you might want and also progress any sidequests. Pretty self-explanatory besides that. Obviously, I'll be available for lines if you deem it necessary.

Easton: Mostly set dressing and writing the two characters away from the story, but the two characters meeting up is hopefully interesting? You're both welcome to get lunch and explore the mall at your leisure. If you do need something specific to do, let me know and I can seed a few ideas.

Thanks for sticking around. If you have any other questions, you know where to find me.

-r

 

Edited March 15 by radio414

[LordCowCow 775]

Thessa didn't know what it was she wanted to eat. Just that it felt like time to get some food. Her first thought, due to her encounter with the Fates, was to get ice cream but ultimately the only thing she really had in mind was "something unhealthy".

Thus it was she found herself at the mall. Surely something would catch her eye, or her nose, and she'd know what it was she wanted.

“How’s tricks? Told you Caesar’s shorter in person than all those descriptions about him, right? You wanna hang out? Of course you do, come on.”

"Figured he'd be even shorter honestly, but yeah he's a real life Napoleon ain't he?" Thessa wasn't thrown off by the sudden shift in plans. She just followed along behind Lachesis, though she kept her eyes on the girl they were heading for.

She looked familiar, and not just because she stood out by towering over Thessa, and Lachesis's introduction brought the spark of recognition in her mind. "Oh yeah, graffiti's pretty nifty ya know? Shame people don't like to keep it up it's pretty fun seeing how different things look whenever I pass em by. Keep up the good work!"

A wide smile crossed Sibyls face as she said, “damn a hero who gets it! Well I enjoy my art as much as I enjoy my other hobbies so be on the look out.”

Thessa grinned back then looked over at Lachesis. She pointed at Sibyl and said, "she's adorable, I like this one."

"She's a keeper, all right," Lachesis agreed. "Creation and destruction in one package, but also, you know, a cool person besides that. We saw her art and just had to talk to her."

"Good way of choosing, lot less dull than other people I could mention." She looked to Sibyl. "Creation and destruction huh. Makes me wonder what'll be next for ya."

[Chaos Sonic 415]

The mission was successful...for the most part. And Override ended up finding himself returning to headquarters alone...Aeon wanted food...not like there wasn't a cafeteria here at G3, but he digressed. He decided to use the front door this time, to which he was met by the director, Bard and... He paused for a moment, seeing the third individual, not at first knowing who this was, but thankfully the facial recognition software he had that was connected to the employee database said it was: Chet, the paralegal. And surprisingly, he was okay with accepting the paperwork and sharing his senses with Legion...must have the workings of a Cape in him deep down.

Nevertheless, he watched Chet go off, as now he remained with the director and Bard. ...and of course Aeon would leave me here with these two...I wouldn't be surprised if she did it just to keep from having to give a full debriefing. he thought, sighing slightly.

“We’re going in too. Debriefing and all that. Caesar being snooty can’t be the only thing that happened to you. You’re going to tell me everything."

"Understood sir." Override nodded, deciding to remain in his suit until he was for certain Legion's influence and powers were null and void. He preferred to keep his identity a secret from individuals like that if he could absolutely help it.

"This was your first time meeting Scarlet City’s three gang leaders, right? What are your first impressions? Do you think a longer truce is feasible?”

Override crossed his arms slightly. "It was my first time officially meeting them, yes. Hearing about them and the endeavors they've done is a different thing all together. At the same time, it helped me get a feel and a read on these leaders of theirs." he began. "That said, my first initial impressions are as follows: each one takes their roles a bit...literal...with the Fates being the biggest example. They truly go into the fullness of the mythos of them, with both feet, finishing each other's sentences and everything. Luckily, you get them alone, you can at least have them converse like a normal human being. Aside from that, the facade they have is a terrifying one...I understand now why you all put 'don't fuck with them' as a caution."

He paused, going towards the idea of Zodiac and then the Gibbons. "Zodiac, they've done things differently and have always done things differently due to the ever changing factor of the Ophiuchus. From my viewpoint, while each one will adhere to the rules and regulations set in motion with the past leaders, each one tries to add to it...example being that they used to be about power and expansion but overtime, most likely due to the influence of the newer Ophiuchus, they've simply gone to maintain the status quo...and prefer to have knowledge above everything else. Myself and the current Ophiuchus actually are a lot alike in that regard."

"As for the Gibbons...if I'm honest...at first glance, it seems that Caesar simply has a hard time focusing on everything..." he said, minding his tongue...after all...his senses were still being shared. "Almost too much on his metaphorical plate if I'm honest. But, aside from that, he's about what I expected. Though the mutilation of his own just to keep tabs on people is a shock."

Once finished, Override pondered the director's last question. "If I may speak freely, director..."

"Not like you aren't already, sir."

"...thank you, P.I.X.E.L." he sighed. "In any case...if I'm honest, whether it's feasible or not, we have to attempt to make this work. After all, everyone is at risk here. If this was simply an issue where one party wasn't going to be screwed in the end, then this wouldn't be something that would need to be drawn attention to in order to have all hands on deck. Unfortunately, it's not the case...all hands have to be on deck for this...in order for us all to survive. They've agreed to play ball...so naturally, we have to believe them and put some level of trust in them, along with their terms."

[Skaia 482]

Sibyl found herself in a great mood. Sure, she was a disappointed with how the day at the warehouse ended and would've wanted to level the whole building and sure, her teammates that she were never to see again were a bit sticks in the mud. But at least the muddiest stick was convenient transportation and even gave her lunch money! So she could forgive him for not going for food. And in spite of that, she ended up finding good company anyway. 

Once the colorful hero gave her compliments to Sibyl, the girl let out a hearty laugh. "Hahaha, I like to think I blend the two together well too. Take a look at any news channel later and you might see what came earlier." Even if it were prematurely ended for her, she was still proud in the work she ended up doing today. Sibyl then looked towards the hero girl. She had definitely heard the name, "Aeon" before. In fact Sibyl had known that name from her childhood, even if only passingly and didn't even know much about the her to begin with. Even then she couldn't help but think that something wasn't matching up with her memory. After a bit of walking around, the girl then mumbled to herself, "Aeon...Aeon..." Then, looking at the hero with some degree of scrutiny as if trying to intensely remember something, squinted her eyes saying, "didn't you use to look different?"

"Probably! The color changed a few weeks ago." She grabbed her hair and lifted it, "been growing it out too."

"Ooooooh!" The girl's eyes lit up, cheerily saying, "so you're kind of an artist too. Looks good on you." Sibyl looked over to Lachesis and said, "I don't know where you met her, but I think I like your friend already Lock. Oh!" The girl then reached into her pocket and pulled out the money she had just got saying, "wanna join me for a bite? Alder's paying."