A Different Kind of Whale (Worm/FGO-based Gamer, a FI ft. Nihilo)
- Thread starter Omida
- Start date
- Crossover Mature
Chapter 15: 2-4 [Infested Salvage]
New
- Location
- London
January 16th
"I need an advice on how to deal with some Servants." Outis cut right to the chase as he set down the oldest poisoneur's Card on the coffee table between him, Elizabeth and Moriarty. The sheer irony of aiming that question at these two didn't escape him.
"I'd say the ship has already sailed, given curry Jeanne and baron de Rais." Elizabeth commented dryly, keeping up her sulky pout for pity points and dramatics. Mostly dramatics, given she let Parian go without a fight and only a chaste kiss on the cheek once the cape asked for leave to go back to her workshop out in the city.
"We both know that Bluebeard is one of the few unquestionably unwanted additions to pretty much any heroically adjacent roster, Milady. If I could hear your reasoning for converting Madam Lakshmibai into resources, Master?" Moriarty shook his head, gently chiding Elizabeth.
"The biggest thing was that she is a flight risk through no fault of her own, even poor Chiyome is less doomed than her. We just couldn't afford the way Lady Luck has it out for her when we are in a precarious enough situation as-is, given how we are up against a clairvoyant only a few steps removed from Merlin just for starters." Outis sighed, he wasn't all that happy about sending that girl back to the Throne after she had answered the call, but, "The second is opportunity cost. The system heavily encourages investing deeply into a small team of Servants. From the limited manifestation slots to the bond benefits to Ascension. I have to be picky or else we will be steamrolled the moment the big threats come knocking because I spread our growth too thin."
[Elizabeth Bathory Bond 5 gained]
"A reasoning dictated fully by logic and rationality. Much as it galls me to admit, accounting for such an unaccountable, some would say superstitious, variable in your planning is already wiser than I ever managed in life." Moriarty sighed, politely ignoring Elizabeth doing her best to self combust to their side with a quiet, keen whine and radiantly red face. Outis spared no such mercy and directed a small, earnest smile her way.
He would back the little idol that could to the hilt. He may have initially summoned her for access to the castle and for her veterancy in the Moon Wars, but the dragoness had grown on him.
Moriarty simply huffed, rolled his eyes and continued undaunted. "Considering your argument as well as Da'at's… previous most recent announcement, I assume you wish to know what should be done with Empress Semiramis and that advice will simply then apply to any others you have doubts about?"
"Yes. Raikou, I am more or less resigned to burn solely to acquire Mystery Slayer, even with Da'at sealing her Madness it would be a disaster waiting to happen with Katsumi on the team and her most valuable skill is locked behind the third stage of Ascension. The Empress is a completely different beast, every single part of her kit would be a massive asset." Outis explained, slumping slightly, "However, even if we figure Servants with useful abilities but liable to sabotage team cohesion or just backstab us outright should just be used for Installs without ever being manifested, Semiramis has to be manifested to truly shine. With materials we could gather right now she would be able to spy on all of Brockton Bay effortlessly, but that requires her tending to the doves."
It needn't be said what Moriarty could do with that wealth of data alone, never mind what else the doves could be used for given Semiramis' focuses on toxins and monsters.
"Well, I can certainly say that with this kind of reasoning, you wouldn't need to fear a potentially fatal grudge from her from the start." Moriarty chuckled before sighing again. "The Empress is, unfortunately, a woman as complex as she is passionate. She may look down upon people for it, but she understands pursuit of passions well and greatly mislikes abandoning one's duties, even the unspoken ones. Unfortunately, I have only second and third hand accounts of her conduct as a team player, but from what I've heard, she can work with even conflicting personalities towards a common goal. A bit more aggressively misogynistic than Madam Nightingale, unfortunately, and with an ego befitting a highly successful demigod-empress."
The Master of Cards was silent for a few seconds, grey eyes hard as he thought. "...We focus on growth. Bring you and Miss Nightingale to the first stage of Ascension, up the parameters and skills of my cards, and consolidate our stronghold by unlocking Elizabeth's second Noble Phantasm. Then we summon Miss Avalon, she will take the castle further and be able to see right through the Empress once we welcome her in with the materials for her first Ascension ready to go."
"Fwahahaha! Truly, an answer worthy of a successful politician, Master. Well then, I suppose I'll ring my second most favourite person in the city to negotiate choice locations of the Empire's storehouses so Madam Nightingale is less likely to unshackle her Madness through sheer stubbornness," With that, the man bowed and left Outis with a quietly jittery Elizabeth, who went shock still as the door clicked shut.
For all that she had the lowest possible speed for a Servant, the Countess all but teleported to his lap between eyeblinks, smashing her lips against his as she straddled him. Credit where it was due, Outis wasted no time leaning into the kiss, hands clamping onto the dragoness' cheeks and physically pushing her closer.
Elizabeth's sleeping face scrunched up in pain, something crawling into her dreams and clawing up from the darkest recesses of the dungeons down below. Warm fingers on her scalp and a firm arm squeezing her closer to the bare body underneath her dispelled the nightmare, with only the rattle of the chains echoing through the dark, empty dungeons.
"You… errrr, you sure you wanna come, nurse lady?" Katsumi asked as the night fell, Orange Saber Installed on her… without its helmet. The card tried to put it on automatically, but the parahuman's horns just pierced through the metal and proved irritating enough Da'at walked her through dematerialisation. Instead, the asian cape opted for the black facemask reaching over her nose and sporting a snarling ogre maw.
"I'll know what we're looking for the best, saving valuable time otherwise wasted on identifying the supplies we need." Nightingale explained as she packed her saddlebags with… equipment.
"Gotcha. Just surprised a healer is eager to be in the thick of it." The oni commented.
"While I'm opposed to causing harm, I am more dedicated to saving lives. And the Empire's ideology means preventive measures are an optimal course of action." Nightingale said firmly as she tugged her uniform ruler straight.
"Miss Nightingale here is known as the Nurse of Steel for a reason. She's on par with Red Berserker, easy." Yellow Rider replied. This Class was rather required to cart away all of their loot. Especially after spending the afternoon with Violet Caster putting together a magic wagon for Nearl to pull. "And that's before she gets a good warmup. Hit a Promethean Province sometime tomorrow to get the rust knocked off before the licensing exam, Miss?"
They would need five Bronze Monuments, sixty Embers of Experience and a big ol pile of Quantum Pieces. Doable in a day if they worked a few shifts, especially if Moriarty and Liz were up for joining the party.
"It would be appreciated. I am more worried about medical procedures and tools than my anatomical knowhow being inadequate, so not needing to divide my focus would be of great help." The woman admitted with a grateful nod.
"We'll figure out the exact schedule later, but it'll be nice to cut completely loose." Outis said with a bob of her head, "Everyone ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's get this show on the road, I could use some extra strong stress relief." Victoria saluted from her spot a little bit in the air, hovering above Outis, Nightingale and Katsumi.
[I'd advise looking for a way to bump Miss Kuze's bond a level higher after this operation, at the very least]
[If she is going to be regular at these operations, being a proper part of the party would only benefit her.]
[Especially if she ends up biting off more than she can chew.]
Honestly, just chucking her into the Berserker Province should be enough. Girl wanted to run on the knife's edge but without getting slashed to ribbons. Also, damn, they really needed a different name for Command Seals. Almost as bad as Servants calling her Master.
[The name is inaccurate anyway, considering these don't allow for commanding anyway.]
[For now.]
Oh, shush, even that wasn't really a command. She couldn't make them do anything they didn't want to.
"That's a hospital." Katsumi noted dumbly as she stared at the building looming in front of her. As much as she didn't want to believe it, the place was pretty deep into Downtown.
"Yeaaaah, there's a reason Ames doesn't work out of anywhere but Brocton General." Glory Girl shook her head. "Still, I've gotta agree. Even if the place is an Empire op, just hitting it out of blue is a liiiitle bit complicated, PR wise."
"Do not worry. Knowing James, he already has his ducks in a row. Just focus on disabling the gangsters and grabbing what I tell you to." The Head Nurse countered, gaze never leaving the building. It was honestly impressive just how much the woman could communicate with just a look.
"The man makes Accord's plans look like a preteen's idea of a clever story draft, just follow Miss Nightingale's lead and we'll be fine." Indigo Assassin said with a shake of her head. "You can just hang back in case some eighty-eight capes show up, you haven't worked with the Professor's schemes before so I understand the reservations."
"Nah, I'm in. Just… let's make sure we don't wreck the place? Even if it is an active front, it's still bad optics." Glory Girl waved her hands.
"I'm loaded with paralysis talismans and Violet Caster can repair cracked stone and shattered glass in seconds. Just avoid electronics and we're fine." Today's loadout was Yellow Rider, Indigo Assassin and Violet Caster. She had said offhandedly that normally she would pack Red Berserker or Orange Saber, but this team didn't exactly need more musclepower, did it?
["I would suggest triggering the alarm by going in obviously through one of the emptier areas. Either the parking or just backdoors."] Moriarty offered Outis through their bond. ["If no one shows up to stop you, I'll direct you to where you can find something to cover your operation in a veneer of legitimate hero action."]
"Aight, we just got our marching orders from the big man." Outis chimed up after sending a mental thumbs up back, "Let's go through the parking lot, that'll trigger the alarm and give us an open place to fight without much collateral if they come out in force. If they don't have the stones to do anything about us strolling right in, Prof will point us in the right direction."
"Switch off from stealth, then. You're kinda our only real identifying feature." Glory Girl nodded, cracking her knuckles. Katsumi grinned underneath her mask, palming her bat. Honestly, the whole Orange Saber thing didn't really make her feel notably different, but an extra power was an extra power.
"May as well remind them that the floppy hat always wins." Outis chuckled as indigo swirled to violet. She pushed the brim of the aforementioned symbol of victory up with her wand, throwing them a wink through her mask.
Further discussion, as they approached one of the entrances from the parking lot, had to be put on hold on account of a pair of hospital beds gracefully flying out of the third floor windows and straight at them.
"Alright, so Rune is around!" Glory Girl shouted as she dove out of the way of one of the levitating projectiles. Katsumi was ready to do the same for the other one, if not for Nightingale just grabbing the damn thing one handed. The nurse just planted her feet to the ground and wrestled against the unseen force directing the bed. A quick look around showed that the other bed kept doing sweeps around, mostly keeping Glory Girl off balance.
"So what's the plan?" Katsumi asked Nightingale as she leapt to help with… whatever the hell the apparently Brute-rated woman was planning.
"Once our enemy decides they are not getting this back, we can acquisition it." The red eyed woman stated as if that was the most obviously natural response to a telekinetic throwing beds at you. Maybe it was. Katsumi shrugged and grabbed the still struggling bed from the opposite side and pushed down on it.
"GG, get ready to catch the other bed, I'm about to remind Rune she isn't the only ranged cape here." Violet Caster called, weaving her wand in a short pattern before flicking a bolt of pure white light into the broken window. Sounded like a flashbang to Katsumi. Made sense, didn't want to wreck the stuff they were here to loot.
"Gotcha!" Katsumi didn't really get to see all of it, but the thud of the bed falling to the ground told her Glory Girl, at the very least, got her part down flawlessly. A moment later, both of the beds stilled, at the same time as the sound of clapping came from the entrance.
"What a show, what a show! Four ladies, all scrambling to get into beds just for lil' old me~. Flattered, truly." The mocking tone made Katsumi look up. She had to stifle a groan. "Unfortunately, only half of you are of an acceptable breeding for me to even consider."
Even with limited light from the street behind them, Alabaster's marble-white skin made the man stand out in the dark. The pain-in-the-ass regenerator of the Empire, just like Katsumi, didn't really bother with proper costume, for pretty much the same reason too, she guessed. Or maybe he just really liked the attention.
"Now, if you would be so kind as to vacate the premises? We wouldn't want to disturb poor, recovering patients." Without really waiting for an answer, the man pulled a gun from its underarm holster and pointed it at Outis. "It would be a real shame if I had to mar your pretty faces after all."
It was a very good thing Violet Caster's mask covered her whole face, because Katsumi could feel her smile right now and it was the furthest thing from heroic. "Just to make sure, you have resurrective immortality, yes?"
Oh, that was a very nasty question to ask.
For his part, Alabaster just pulled the trigger in lieu of answering. There was a bang and a scream… if in the wrong order.
Shrapnel and stray bullets pinged off of a shimmering barrier, a glowing talisman peeking out from the edge of Violet Caster's trench coat. Pasty Pete, meanwhile, was down a hand and up a whole lot of holes, the red hot pile of scrap by his feet at fault. Outis casually dusted rice paper ash off her right hand, the left a blur as she flicked goddamn lightning bolts at him.
Alabaster spasmed around as the electricity arced over him, multiple times, blood and gore staining the ground around him and his flawless skin a charr- aaaaand here he was, as if nothing happened.
"That was very rude, young la-" Before he could finish, Glory Girl flew from the side and punched him. To her, and Katsumi's surprise, the All White not only caught the fist, but held his ground with only the barest slide. "Really, just because a man doesn't feel it, you think it's fine to interrupt when he's talking?"
"Yes. By the way, 大地吞噬你." Violet Caster chirped, the black talisman that had been sliding across the ground below everyone's notice due to the ballistic blonde glowing together with the concrete underneath Alabaster.
Glory Girl, bless her heart, reacted nigh-instantly by grabbing Alabaster's arm with her other hand and twisting mid-air to slam the man onto the ground, to an indignant yelp. At which point dozens of stony hands fell on him like vipers and dragged him down until only his face peeked out of the concrete by a few inches.
"I hope nobody minds there being a fat hunk of basalt under there now, the concrete only went down so far so I had to improvise." Violet Caster remarked, casual as a summer breeze.
"Just a sec." Glory Girl held up her hand and tore a piece of her cape, before shoving it into Alabaster's mouth. "There, much better. There will be some grumbling about having to replace the spot when Rune springs him out, but we should be good. Buuuut, we should also hurry, because Alabaster isn't a super-strength kind of guy, so Othala is also on the premises and at this point, bets are off who we're facing."
["Miss Nightingale, about how long would you say your Noble Phantasm can last in your current state?"] Outis asked telepathically.
["...twenty seconds. Possibly a few seconds longer, but I cannot be sure. Still, in a fight, even twenty seconds is a long time."] The Nurse of Steel replied.
["We can work with that. If it comes to it, I have three Seals ready to go for either backup or giving you extra uses, even if I'd prefer not to show that trump card unless I absolutely must."] Honestly, that NP was the only reason Outis was remotely willing to head into the hospital with that much parahuman presence in it. Rune and Othala clearly weren't about to step out and manfight them.
["I am no longer under constant Madness Enhancement, Commander. I can prioritise things, if we must."] Nightingale answered warmly.
"Alright, look alive team! You know our wincon so let's get to it!" Violet Caster said to the team, only a second or two having passed since Glory Girl spoke up. Her nod, though, was directed to the Head Nurse and nobody else.
Right. They didn't need to beat up all the capes here, just loot as much as they could, advance whatever schemes old man Adler had in the process and leg it.
"Soooo… feels stupid to ask now, but what, exactly, are we looking for?" Glory asked as she followed them into the hospital proper.
"Quality medical supplies, select medication and equipment. Nothing vital, which means specialist medication." Nightingale explained. "Even if this place caters mostly to the members of the Empire, it should still be a proper medical facility, if only to keep up appearances."
"Only my second collab with you guys and I'm already threading the thin line of criminal life." Glory commented dryly as she shook her head. "If it wasn't Empire, I'd be probably freaking out a little bit more."
"If it was ABB, we wouldn't even be here." Outis said with a shake of her head, "Don't get me wrong, if some new cape Lóng picks up starts rampaging through the Boardwalk, their teeth are going to clatter like chiclets, but the big man runs a tight ship and knows how to keep it clean. I'm not about to make a fuss about some weed and brothels, nazis firebombing businesses every other day meanwhile…"
"Believe me, Epo, I have managed to pick up a thing or two about how ABB operates." Glory snarked. Katsumi, too, had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Boss loved to exposit about the most random shit.
"Hey, I don't get to do villain monologues, lemme do the next best thing." The wannabe witch whined without any heat as they crossed the doors into the hospital. Then it was back to serious business.
cory6574 @c99834l
gunshots and explosions heard at brockton medical center in downtown
Emily15 @emilysv
That was that new violet cape from a recent concert, alongside Collateral Damage, Ogre Maid and… some kind of historical reenactor.
Emily15 @emilysv
[shaky, poor visibility and quality vid of Nightingale wrestling flying bed into submission] Definitely a Brute, tho.
Nr1ClockFan @memetosisofficial
Hey, isn't that Alabaster? What's he doing in a hospital?
MikeySmiley @mike14567
Well, we've definitely got nazi infestation at BMC.
Emily15 @emilysv
[shaky, poor quality vid of Rune getting out of hospital and tearing Alabaster free. Both get back into hospital]
Emily15 @emilysv
Something tells me the Empire doesn't want those four inside thinking emoji
MonsieurM @doylist
Indeed, makes a person wonder.
PaleChampion @goodoldfashionedvalues
Empire always respected hospital grounds, even Alabaster went out to face those four outside when he is at disadvantage
PaleChampion @goodoldfashionedvalues
But God forbid we fault Asians and reckless capes.
Emily15 @emilysv
poor quality vid of a gust of fire blasting out of the window Hey, so hate to agree with almost definitely white supremacist, but the Empire doesn't have pyrokinetics, do they?
Nr1ClockFan @memetosisofficial
Technically. I think Othala can give you pyrokinesis for a hot minute.
MonsieurM @doylist
So much for respecting the sanctity of hospitals, hmmm?
PaleChampion @goodoldfashionedvalues
Or it could be that colour-coded rogue from Bathory's concert.
PaleChampion @goodoldfashionedvalues
Magic stuff should be within Myrddin-like's wheelhouse.
Emily15 @emilysv
She controls earth and water. This is real life, not The Last Firebender.
Emily15 @emilysv
Street capes don't get that kind of bullshit.
Emily15 @emilysv
Speaking of [vid of Glory Girl powerbombing alabaster]
Emily15 @emilysv
I might be slightly gay now.
MikeySmiley @mike14567
Maybe be careful, @emilysv? Cape hunting is risky. Especially with nazis involved.
Emily15 @emilysv
I will be fine, I'm keeping my distance and am hid-
MikeySmiley @mike14567
Well, fuck.
[...]
Emily15 @emilysv
Definitely gay now.
Nr1ClockFan @memetosisofficial
What happened?
Emily15 @emilysv
Okay, new cape? The 'reenactor'? Brute?
Emily15 @emilysv
Trump. 'No hurty field' on demand.
Emily15 @emilysv
Tits like watermelons, but soft like pillows.
Emily15 @emilysv
And those muscles. Woman definitely works out.
Emily15 @emilysv
Shouted something about Nightingale before springing the no hurty field.
Emily15 @emilysv
Yes please, miss nurse.
MonsieurM @doylist
I think we are losing thread.
Nr1ClockFan @memetosisofficial
Sorry, man, but this is now an unofficial Nightingale Debut thread.
Nr1ClockFan @memetosisofficial
I don't make the rules.
cory6574 @c99834l
love how in her gay panic, @emilysv forgot to tell us what actually happened to her
cory6574 @c99834l
truly, only focusing on what is actually important
BlackKnightLady @shadowstalkerofficial
*pic of massive, glowing, pale-blue nurse towering over the cityscape with a sword raised* Hey, hey? What the actual fuck? To borrow from Clockdork, this is fucking bullshit.
Emily15 @emilysv
hbgklfhbkjhadf
"I think you are going to have a quick fandom, Miss Nightingale." Victoria snarked once they were back home. She was currently checking out her twitter feed while Katsumi and Outis were helping the nurse to set up their well-gotten gains. "Definitely the star of tonight's show."
To accentuate her point, she showed the woman the part of the thread where the girl she had rescued was having an intense, intensely thirsty gay awakening. The pink haired woman took a quick glance before grimacing slightly.
"Of course. This is just embarrassing."
"Not a fan of nurse fet–"
"No." Nightingale replied with almost a growl, impressively enough when her face locked into a complete lack of emotion.
"Miss Nightingale has dealt with entirely too many nurses who think the night shift includes sexual relief duties." Outis sighed, shaking his head as he stocked a locking cabinet with pill bottles. "To the point she often ran full night shifts solo just to keep it from happening."
"In the interest of not spoiling the mood, let us dispense with the topic while we are still on the lesser evils of nurses." The woman in question stated as she took deep, slow breaths. "Thank you, at least, for being able to focus on the work, Miss Kuze."
Katsumi just shrugged from where she had set the last of the things they brought. "My previous boss was a big fan of using fetish to boost sales. Got me soured on maids well enough."
"Speaking of improving the mood, Liz whipped the staff into making one hell of a celebratory feast." Outis said, as though they hadn't all seen the hickeys on his neck. It was definitely to celebrate a successful mission, yep. Don't mind the new term of address.
January 17th
"Whoa, freaky." Katsumi muttered, staring at the entrance to the Promethean Paradigm Province of Rage, a glowing, red emblem with a snarling oni mask in the centre, rippling over the wall next to the back alley access of Homerun. "And you say without the boss present, these can't even be seen? Also, real fuckin' original, by the way."
[As it turns out, basing the system on collective popular consciousness throws out a lot of casual racism and stereotypes.]
[Fascinating implications.]
"But hey, it has its perks!" Orange Saber said as she hefted up a little wooden box full of fried beans. It wasn't the most conventional way to rank up a Skill, but a quest was a quest and she was sure Raikou would appreciate Outis' first act after stealing her power being adding insult to injury to some oni. And, y'know, spending an entire day murdering the things.
[Ah, chemical warfare against enemies we don't count as people.]
[Tale old as humanity.]
[I am sure Miss Raikou would approve.]
"Does that actually work?" Katsumi asked, eyeing the box with mock-wariness. Sure, she wasn't actually an oni, but you never knew with fucking Trumps.
"You're fine." Outis said out loud, at the same time that on telepathy she added, ["Unless you get the Oni-Kind Demon Skill on your Card, anyways. Which, hey, Mana Burst, Monstrous Strength, Natural Demon, Intimidating Charisma and some lifesteal tossed on top for good measure."]
"Enough lollygagging." Nightingale commanded as she grabbed both of them by the scruffs of their necks and shoved them into the glowing sigil at the wall.
Katsumi instinctively closed her eyes, so she got startled by the warm (relative to New England in January) wind blowing in her face. Not too hard, but noticeably. Opening her eyes she was greeted by the sight of… forested mountainside? There was a small settlement visible in the distance, down slope, mostly by the rising smoke.
"Da'at?"
[Primary hypothesis places the location of this instance somewhere in Japan.]
[Considering Homerun's theme, it is likely to be Kyushu.]
Katsumi looked around in silence, something in her chest tightening at the sight.
"I know a lot of folks who would pay a fortune for this sight."
"Ancient Japan Kyushu, look at those buildings." Outis grunted as she lifted her visor, orange eyes squinting at the village, "I'd bet a ticket on this being Heian era. Hope you're ready to square up with oni at their worst, because that's too much smoke for some cooking fires or even a festival."
"Well, we are two short for that particular gang war reenactment, if I have my folklore right." Katsumi sighed as she hefted her bat.
"Alas, Vicky decided that Amy was moping and needed some sisterly bonding. And the poor girl is still trying to get a handle on Violet Caster, period. The other Cards give you muscle memory and some knowhow, that one is basically a whole-ass Tinker/Thinker power." Orange Saber explained as she flicked her visor back down and tucked the little bean box on her belt, her hands filled with sword and shield a moment later, "Alright, you already know the rules. Go for the throat, these things are just dumb projections and will not stop until they're dust and loot."
For projections, the oni present in the… instance sure acted exactly like the stories said they did. The grey-skinned, slightly hunched humanoids swung maces and axes around, roaring rambunctiously, drinking and eating meat roasted over the burning buildings. Just like some crazy, real-life murder gang or cult would.
Then, Nightingale reached into her bag and tossed something into the nearest group.
And then it exploded and Katsumi jumped because who resorts to grenades as the immediate first option?!
Also, the corpses did disappear, but only after showcasing what happened to a human (errrr… humanoid?) body when a grenade goes off at its feet. Katsumi shuddered. So, whatever was responsible for these projections really liked their realism.
"Removing them one by one would be too tedious." The crazy nurse stated as she drew her gun and shot the nearest three oni which were charging at them. "Unfortunately, I have only a limited amount of explosives. My abilities do not cover their spontaneous creation after all."
"Maybe save them for a stickier situation than a bunch of up-jumped hooligans?" Katsumi offered while she blocked an overhead axe strike with her bat before sliding it from under the axehead and swinging at the oni. There was a crunch as reinforced wood met its skull and she winced. Maybe she would have thought differently if the place also created… victims of the raid, but that would be…
"It'll be a hot minute until our explosives expert can come over, but I'm sure the good Professor will be all too happy to point us at some eighty-eight weapon depots." Outis chuckled, passing over a stack of rice paper thick as a thumb, pulled from that engraved metal deck she carried around. "Until then, you can supplement with these. A whole lot less flexible than if a Caster were using them, but an explosion is an explosion."
"I will still use them sparingly. You should use the opportunity to get used to lethal force." Nightingale accepted her explosive package before nodding at Katsumi. "We will be clearing as many as possible for a few hours at least, but I don't know how Instances differ from Singularities in this regard."
"The hell is singularity?" Katsumi shouted as she picked an axe with her free hand and swung at another oni. "'cause I doubt we're thinking the same thing!" The weapon, used with a Brute's strength, cleaved through the thing's club and dug into its side. The force broke its handle so she had to actually jump back to escape an enraged oni's swipe. Deceptively long reach.
Outis chopped off the offending arm without a second thought, before finding herself busy blocking another oni's club with her shield.
"Technical term for these kinds of pocket dimensions my previous contractors used." The nurse replied as she put Katsumi's opponent out of misery with another bullet. Probably out of misery, it didn't seem to be inconvenienced by the wound. "Make sure the force is lethal, head trauma is still the most reliable."
"Amen." Outis grunted as she shield bashed an oni's skull concave, breaking off its horn in the process. "Take this as a chance to learn how to modulate the mana boost, too."
"Y'know, for a nurse, you're pretty comfortable with ending lives." At least here. Given how seriously she treated her infirmary back at the castle, Katsumi somehow doubted she was one of those angels. "Look, you try to figure out this shit when everything not bat shaped breaks on you anyway."
"Which is why we fed your bat into the Card, yes. Remind me to use Violet Caster to make it a bit better besides." Outis chuckled as she dismissed her shield to instead ram a gauntleted fistful of beans down a roaring oni's throat. Alongside most of its teeth. Going by the gurgling howl it managed before falling over dead with steam rising from the corpse before it vanished, it seemed soybeans would be on the menu for this Province. "How do you feel about a club made of cursed bones? Hmm, maybe a bit too unruly. Weeping iron, I think, your power would get around its issues. It may even accept a goedendag if we need to stake a bitch something sweet!"
"I have no idea what any of those are but I'd like to remind you…" Katsumi grunted as she took a club on the arm, barely feeling it. She returned the favour by uppercutting the offending oni with her full strength. Still didn't help the reflexive wince at hearing the bones snap. "That it's my power deciding baseball bats should be indestructible, not me!"
Any further casual combat dialogue was interrupted by a bestial howl as a massive, thick oni built like brick shithouse took to the field. Literally black skinned, with white hair and beard, an actually somewhat well kept, long, drill-like horn raising from its skull. It also wielded an actual kanabo, easily the same ten feet long the ogre was tall. The big guy was also surrounded by a whole bunch of, comparatively, comically smaller ones.
"Well, ain't he a big one." Katsumi whispered, feeling just a little inadequate in comparison.
"Hey!" Outis hollered fearlessly, bouncing the wooden box full of beans in her hand. The same hand that was trailing dark orange smoke from the seams in its armour, "THINK FAST, CHUCKLENUTS!"
Her throwing form was atrocious, but damn if Brute strength didn't make up for it as the little carpentry project flew like an arrow at the big bastard. The massive thing was actually fast on the intake as well, and apparently used to the 'soybean bomb' tactics because instead of smashing its massive club into it, it catched the box in its hand, crushing it in its grip. It growled as its skin visibly boiled and steamed.
Then Nightingale threw two grenades at the group of oni, casting transmute oni to hamburger on all the hangers on.
"And this is why I prefer tried and true methods over mystical options." The apparently explosion happy nurse declared. Katsumi hoped she and Oni Lee wouldn't meet because so far, the chances were high they would vibe.
No time to ponder the cape shipping as the big guy charged at them, kanabo raised overhead while it lowered its head to point its horn at them.
["Nurse, up front! We take the flanks!"] Rang out from the boss at thoughtspeed, the tiny girl already moving to follow suit.
And just in time, because the black muscle mountain brough its club down, shattering the ground underneath and causing a small tremor. Katsumi grit her teeth as she tiptoed to rebalance. By the time she was back on track, Nightingale already took advantage of the rampaging giant's bulk to use its weapon as a platform and hung by its horn as she unloaded the rest of her bullets into one of its eyes.
The oni roared in pain but still reached for the nurse with its free hand. Katsumi jumped forward, swinging her bat with full force at the limb. It connected, pushing it down, but this time, there was no crack, just the ogre grunting as it straightened. Still, nurse took the opportunity to jump off of it.
The oni staggered when, in the explosion of dark orange, bosswoman's sword dug into its ankle. Deep cut, but not straight through. The oni swung its club in a wild arc. Still, the air pressure billowed her hair. It did leave the black guy exposed for another swing, and Katsumi decided to check if 'hit it between legs' strategy still worked.
Going by the guttural whine and bowled legs, she was going to guess it did. It also distracted the ogre enough for Nightingale to throw it to the ground and wrap her arms around the thing's neck. They both struggled for a moment before Head Nurse managed a forceful, sharp motion which snapped its neck, stilling the oni.
"Okay, that was intense." Katsumi admitted, eyeing the disappearing oni's vaporising weapon with naked jealousy. Once both were gone, she raised her gaze to look at her party. "So… what now?"
Nightingale just gave her a thin smile. "The same thing that always happens when the grind ends. More grinding."
Okay, there was some kind of inside joke here she was not getting.
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"I need an advice on how to deal with some Servants." Outis cut right to the chase as he set down the oldest poisoneur's Card on the coffee table between him, Elizabeth and Moriarty. The sheer irony of aiming that question at these two didn't escape him.
"I'd say the ship has already sailed, given curry Jeanne and baron de Rais." Elizabeth commented dryly, keeping up her sulky pout for pity points and dramatics. Mostly dramatics, given she let Parian go without a fight and only a chaste kiss on the cheek once the cape asked for leave to go back to her workshop out in the city.
"We both know that Bluebeard is one of the few unquestionably unwanted additions to pretty much any heroically adjacent roster, Milady. If I could hear your reasoning for converting Madam Lakshmibai into resources, Master?" Moriarty shook his head, gently chiding Elizabeth.
"The biggest thing was that she is a flight risk through no fault of her own, even poor Chiyome is less doomed than her. We just couldn't afford the way Lady Luck has it out for her when we are in a precarious enough situation as-is, given how we are up against a clairvoyant only a few steps removed from Merlin just for starters." Outis sighed, he wasn't all that happy about sending that girl back to the Throne after she had answered the call, but, "The second is opportunity cost. The system heavily encourages investing deeply into a small team of Servants. From the limited manifestation slots to the bond benefits to Ascension. I have to be picky or else we will be steamrolled the moment the big threats come knocking because I spread our growth too thin."
[Elizabeth Bathory Bond 5 gained]
"A reasoning dictated fully by logic and rationality. Much as it galls me to admit, accounting for such an unaccountable, some would say superstitious, variable in your planning is already wiser than I ever managed in life." Moriarty sighed, politely ignoring Elizabeth doing her best to self combust to their side with a quiet, keen whine and radiantly red face. Outis spared no such mercy and directed a small, earnest smile her way.
He would back the little idol that could to the hilt. He may have initially summoned her for access to the castle and for her veterancy in the Moon Wars, but the dragoness had grown on him.
Moriarty simply huffed, rolled his eyes and continued undaunted. "Considering your argument as well as Da'at's… previous most recent announcement, I assume you wish to know what should be done with Empress Semiramis and that advice will simply then apply to any others you have doubts about?"
"Yes. Raikou, I am more or less resigned to burn solely to acquire Mystery Slayer, even with Da'at sealing her Madness it would be a disaster waiting to happen with Katsumi on the team and her most valuable skill is locked behind the third stage of Ascension. The Empress is a completely different beast, every single part of her kit would be a massive asset." Outis explained, slumping slightly, "However, even if we figure Servants with useful abilities but liable to sabotage team cohesion or just backstab us outright should just be used for Installs without ever being manifested, Semiramis has to be manifested to truly shine. With materials we could gather right now she would be able to spy on all of Brockton Bay effortlessly, but that requires her tending to the doves."
It needn't be said what Moriarty could do with that wealth of data alone, never mind what else the doves could be used for given Semiramis' focuses on toxins and monsters.
"Well, I can certainly say that with this kind of reasoning, you wouldn't need to fear a potentially fatal grudge from her from the start." Moriarty chuckled before sighing again. "The Empress is, unfortunately, a woman as complex as she is passionate. She may look down upon people for it, but she understands pursuit of passions well and greatly mislikes abandoning one's duties, even the unspoken ones. Unfortunately, I have only second and third hand accounts of her conduct as a team player, but from what I've heard, she can work with even conflicting personalities towards a common goal. A bit more aggressively misogynistic than Madam Nightingale, unfortunately, and with an ego befitting a highly successful demigod-empress."
The Master of Cards was silent for a few seconds, grey eyes hard as he thought. "...We focus on growth. Bring you and Miss Nightingale to the first stage of Ascension, up the parameters and skills of my cards, and consolidate our stronghold by unlocking Elizabeth's second Noble Phantasm. Then we summon Miss Avalon, she will take the castle further and be able to see right through the Empress once we welcome her in with the materials for her first Ascension ready to go."
"Fwahahaha! Truly, an answer worthy of a successful politician, Master. Well then, I suppose I'll ring my second most favourite person in the city to negotiate choice locations of the Empire's storehouses so Madam Nightingale is less likely to unshackle her Madness through sheer stubbornness," With that, the man bowed and left Outis with a quietly jittery Elizabeth, who went shock still as the door clicked shut.
For all that she had the lowest possible speed for a Servant, the Countess all but teleported to his lap between eyeblinks, smashing her lips against his as she straddled him. Credit where it was due, Outis wasted no time leaning into the kiss, hands clamping onto the dragoness' cheeks and physically pushing her closer.
Elizabeth's sleeping face scrunched up in pain, something crawling into her dreams and clawing up from the darkest recesses of the dungeons down below. Warm fingers on her scalp and a firm arm squeezing her closer to the bare body underneath her dispelled the nightmare, with only the rattle of the chains echoing through the dark, empty dungeons.
"You… errrr, you sure you wanna come, nurse lady?" Katsumi asked as the night fell, Orange Saber Installed on her… without its helmet. The card tried to put it on automatically, but the parahuman's horns just pierced through the metal and proved irritating enough Da'at walked her through dematerialisation. Instead, the asian cape opted for the black facemask reaching over her nose and sporting a snarling ogre maw.
"I'll know what we're looking for the best, saving valuable time otherwise wasted on identifying the supplies we need." Nightingale explained as she packed her saddlebags with… equipment.
"Gotcha. Just surprised a healer is eager to be in the thick of it." The oni commented.
"While I'm opposed to causing harm, I am more dedicated to saving lives. And the Empire's ideology means preventive measures are an optimal course of action." Nightingale said firmly as she tugged her uniform ruler straight.
"Miss Nightingale here is known as the Nurse of Steel for a reason. She's on par with Red Berserker, easy." Yellow Rider replied. This Class was rather required to cart away all of their loot. Especially after spending the afternoon with Violet Caster putting together a magic wagon for Nearl to pull. "And that's before she gets a good warmup. Hit a Promethean Province sometime tomorrow to get the rust knocked off before the licensing exam, Miss?"
They would need five Bronze Monuments, sixty Embers of Experience and a big ol pile of Quantum Pieces. Doable in a day if they worked a few shifts, especially if Moriarty and Liz were up for joining the party.
"It would be appreciated. I am more worried about medical procedures and tools than my anatomical knowhow being inadequate, so not needing to divide my focus would be of great help." The woman admitted with a grateful nod.
"We'll figure out the exact schedule later, but it'll be nice to cut completely loose." Outis said with a bob of her head, "Everyone ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's get this show on the road, I could use some extra strong stress relief." Victoria saluted from her spot a little bit in the air, hovering above Outis, Nightingale and Katsumi.
[I'd advise looking for a way to bump Miss Kuze's bond a level higher after this operation, at the very least]
[If she is going to be regular at these operations, being a proper part of the party would only benefit her.]
[Especially if she ends up biting off more than she can chew.]
Honestly, just chucking her into the Berserker Province should be enough. Girl wanted to run on the knife's edge but without getting slashed to ribbons. Also, damn, they really needed a different name for Command Seals. Almost as bad as Servants calling her Master.
[The name is inaccurate anyway, considering these don't allow for commanding anyway.]
[For now.]
Oh, shush, even that wasn't really a command. She couldn't make them do anything they didn't want to.
"That's a hospital." Katsumi noted dumbly as she stared at the building looming in front of her. As much as she didn't want to believe it, the place was pretty deep into Downtown.
"Yeaaaah, there's a reason Ames doesn't work out of anywhere but Brocton General." Glory Girl shook her head. "Still, I've gotta agree. Even if the place is an Empire op, just hitting it out of blue is a liiiitle bit complicated, PR wise."
"Do not worry. Knowing James, he already has his ducks in a row. Just focus on disabling the gangsters and grabbing what I tell you to." The Head Nurse countered, gaze never leaving the building. It was honestly impressive just how much the woman could communicate with just a look.
"The man makes Accord's plans look like a preteen's idea of a clever story draft, just follow Miss Nightingale's lead and we'll be fine." Indigo Assassin said with a shake of her head. "You can just hang back in case some eighty-eight capes show up, you haven't worked with the Professor's schemes before so I understand the reservations."
"Nah, I'm in. Just… let's make sure we don't wreck the place? Even if it is an active front, it's still bad optics." Glory Girl waved her hands.
"I'm loaded with paralysis talismans and Violet Caster can repair cracked stone and shattered glass in seconds. Just avoid electronics and we're fine." Today's loadout was Yellow Rider, Indigo Assassin and Violet Caster. She had said offhandedly that normally she would pack Red Berserker or Orange Saber, but this team didn't exactly need more musclepower, did it?
["I would suggest triggering the alarm by going in obviously through one of the emptier areas. Either the parking or just backdoors."] Moriarty offered Outis through their bond. ["If no one shows up to stop you, I'll direct you to where you can find something to cover your operation in a veneer of legitimate hero action."]
"Aight, we just got our marching orders from the big man." Outis chimed up after sending a mental thumbs up back, "Let's go through the parking lot, that'll trigger the alarm and give us an open place to fight without much collateral if they come out in force. If they don't have the stones to do anything about us strolling right in, Prof will point us in the right direction."
"Switch off from stealth, then. You're kinda our only real identifying feature." Glory Girl nodded, cracking her knuckles. Katsumi grinned underneath her mask, palming her bat. Honestly, the whole Orange Saber thing didn't really make her feel notably different, but an extra power was an extra power.
"May as well remind them that the floppy hat always wins." Outis chuckled as indigo swirled to violet. She pushed the brim of the aforementioned symbol of victory up with her wand, throwing them a wink through her mask.
Further discussion, as they approached one of the entrances from the parking lot, had to be put on hold on account of a pair of hospital beds gracefully flying out of the third floor windows and straight at them.
"Alright, so Rune is around!" Glory Girl shouted as she dove out of the way of one of the levitating projectiles. Katsumi was ready to do the same for the other one, if not for Nightingale just grabbing the damn thing one handed. The nurse just planted her feet to the ground and wrestled against the unseen force directing the bed. A quick look around showed that the other bed kept doing sweeps around, mostly keeping Glory Girl off balance.
"So what's the plan?" Katsumi asked Nightingale as she leapt to help with… whatever the hell the apparently Brute-rated woman was planning.
"Once our enemy decides they are not getting this back, we can acquisition it." The red eyed woman stated as if that was the most obviously natural response to a telekinetic throwing beds at you. Maybe it was. Katsumi shrugged and grabbed the still struggling bed from the opposite side and pushed down on it.
"GG, get ready to catch the other bed, I'm about to remind Rune she isn't the only ranged cape here." Violet Caster called, weaving her wand in a short pattern before flicking a bolt of pure white light into the broken window. Sounded like a flashbang to Katsumi. Made sense, didn't want to wreck the stuff they were here to loot.
"Gotcha!" Katsumi didn't really get to see all of it, but the thud of the bed falling to the ground told her Glory Girl, at the very least, got her part down flawlessly. A moment later, both of the beds stilled, at the same time as the sound of clapping came from the entrance.
"What a show, what a show! Four ladies, all scrambling to get into beds just for lil' old me~. Flattered, truly." The mocking tone made Katsumi look up. She had to stifle a groan. "Unfortunately, only half of you are of an acceptable breeding for me to even consider."
Even with limited light from the street behind them, Alabaster's marble-white skin made the man stand out in the dark. The pain-in-the-ass regenerator of the Empire, just like Katsumi, didn't really bother with proper costume, for pretty much the same reason too, she guessed. Or maybe he just really liked the attention.
"Now, if you would be so kind as to vacate the premises? We wouldn't want to disturb poor, recovering patients." Without really waiting for an answer, the man pulled a gun from its underarm holster and pointed it at Outis. "It would be a real shame if I had to mar your pretty faces after all."
It was a very good thing Violet Caster's mask covered her whole face, because Katsumi could feel her smile right now and it was the furthest thing from heroic. "Just to make sure, you have resurrective immortality, yes?"
Oh, that was a very nasty question to ask.
For his part, Alabaster just pulled the trigger in lieu of answering. There was a bang and a scream… if in the wrong order.
Shrapnel and stray bullets pinged off of a shimmering barrier, a glowing talisman peeking out from the edge of Violet Caster's trench coat. Pasty Pete, meanwhile, was down a hand and up a whole lot of holes, the red hot pile of scrap by his feet at fault. Outis casually dusted rice paper ash off her right hand, the left a blur as she flicked goddamn lightning bolts at him.
Alabaster spasmed around as the electricity arced over him, multiple times, blood and gore staining the ground around him and his flawless skin a charr- aaaaand here he was, as if nothing happened.
"That was very rude, young la-" Before he could finish, Glory Girl flew from the side and punched him. To her, and Katsumi's surprise, the All White not only caught the fist, but held his ground with only the barest slide. "Really, just because a man doesn't feel it, you think it's fine to interrupt when he's talking?"
"Yes. By the way, 大地吞噬你." Violet Caster chirped, the black talisman that had been sliding across the ground below everyone's notice due to the ballistic blonde glowing together with the concrete underneath Alabaster.
Glory Girl, bless her heart, reacted nigh-instantly by grabbing Alabaster's arm with her other hand and twisting mid-air to slam the man onto the ground, to an indignant yelp. At which point dozens of stony hands fell on him like vipers and dragged him down until only his face peeked out of the concrete by a few inches.
"I hope nobody minds there being a fat hunk of basalt under there now, the concrete only went down so far so I had to improvise." Violet Caster remarked, casual as a summer breeze.
"Just a sec." Glory Girl held up her hand and tore a piece of her cape, before shoving it into Alabaster's mouth. "There, much better. There will be some grumbling about having to replace the spot when Rune springs him out, but we should be good. Buuuut, we should also hurry, because Alabaster isn't a super-strength kind of guy, so Othala is also on the premises and at this point, bets are off who we're facing."
["Miss Nightingale, about how long would you say your Noble Phantasm can last in your current state?"] Outis asked telepathically.
["...twenty seconds. Possibly a few seconds longer, but I cannot be sure. Still, in a fight, even twenty seconds is a long time."] The Nurse of Steel replied.
["We can work with that. If it comes to it, I have three Seals ready to go for either backup or giving you extra uses, even if I'd prefer not to show that trump card unless I absolutely must."] Honestly, that NP was the only reason Outis was remotely willing to head into the hospital with that much parahuman presence in it. Rune and Othala clearly weren't about to step out and manfight them.
["I am no longer under constant Madness Enhancement, Commander. I can prioritise things, if we must."] Nightingale answered warmly.
"Alright, look alive team! You know our wincon so let's get to it!" Violet Caster said to the team, only a second or two having passed since Glory Girl spoke up. Her nod, though, was directed to the Head Nurse and nobody else.
Right. They didn't need to beat up all the capes here, just loot as much as they could, advance whatever schemes old man Adler had in the process and leg it.
"Soooo… feels stupid to ask now, but what, exactly, are we looking for?" Glory asked as she followed them into the hospital proper.
"Quality medical supplies, select medication and equipment. Nothing vital, which means specialist medication." Nightingale explained. "Even if this place caters mostly to the members of the Empire, it should still be a proper medical facility, if only to keep up appearances."
"Only my second collab with you guys and I'm already threading the thin line of criminal life." Glory commented dryly as she shook her head. "If it wasn't Empire, I'd be probably freaking out a little bit more."
"If it was ABB, we wouldn't even be here." Outis said with a shake of her head, "Don't get me wrong, if some new cape Lóng picks up starts rampaging through the Boardwalk, their teeth are going to clatter like chiclets, but the big man runs a tight ship and knows how to keep it clean. I'm not about to make a fuss about some weed and brothels, nazis firebombing businesses every other day meanwhile…"
"Believe me, Epo, I have managed to pick up a thing or two about how ABB operates." Glory snarked. Katsumi, too, had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Boss loved to exposit about the most random shit.
"Hey, I don't get to do villain monologues, lemme do the next best thing." The wannabe witch whined without any heat as they crossed the doors into the hospital. Then it was back to serious business.
cory6574 @c99834l
gunshots and explosions heard at brockton medical center in downtown
Emily15 @emilysv
That was that new violet cape from a recent concert, alongside Collateral Damage, Ogre Maid and… some kind of historical reenactor.
Emily15 @emilysv
[shaky, poor visibility and quality vid of Nightingale wrestling flying bed into submission] Definitely a Brute, tho.
Nr1ClockFan @memetosisofficial
Hey, isn't that Alabaster? What's he doing in a hospital?
MikeySmiley @mike14567
Well, we've definitely got nazi infestation at BMC.
Emily15 @emilysv
[shaky, poor quality vid of Rune getting out of hospital and tearing Alabaster free. Both get back into hospital]
Emily15 @emilysv
Something tells me the Empire doesn't want those four inside thinking emoji
MonsieurM @doylist
Indeed, makes a person wonder.
PaleChampion @goodoldfashionedvalues
Empire always respected hospital grounds, even Alabaster went out to face those four outside when he is at disadvantage
PaleChampion @goodoldfashionedvalues
But God forbid we fault Asians and reckless capes.
Emily15 @emilysv
poor quality vid of a gust of fire blasting out of the window Hey, so hate to agree with almost definitely white supremacist, but the Empire doesn't have pyrokinetics, do they?
Nr1ClockFan @memetosisofficial
Technically. I think Othala can give you pyrokinesis for a hot minute.
MonsieurM @doylist
So much for respecting the sanctity of hospitals, hmmm?
PaleChampion @goodoldfashionedvalues
Or it could be that colour-coded rogue from Bathory's concert.
PaleChampion @goodoldfashionedvalues
Magic stuff should be within Myrddin-like's wheelhouse.
Emily15 @emilysv
She controls earth and water. This is real life, not The Last Firebender.
Emily15 @emilysv
Street capes don't get that kind of bullshit.
Emily15 @emilysv
Speaking of [vid of Glory Girl powerbombing alabaster]
Emily15 @emilysv
I might be slightly gay now.
MikeySmiley @mike14567
Maybe be careful, @emilysv? Cape hunting is risky. Especially with nazis involved.
Emily15 @emilysv
I will be fine, I'm keeping my distance and am hid-
MikeySmiley @mike14567
Well, fuck.
[...]
Emily15 @emilysv
Definitely gay now.
Nr1ClockFan @memetosisofficial
What happened?
Emily15 @emilysv
Okay, new cape? The 'reenactor'? Brute?
Emily15 @emilysv
Trump. 'No hurty field' on demand.
Emily15 @emilysv
Tits like watermelons, but soft like pillows.
Emily15 @emilysv
And those muscles. Woman definitely works out.
Emily15 @emilysv
Shouted something about Nightingale before springing the no hurty field.
Emily15 @emilysv
Yes please, miss nurse.
MonsieurM @doylist
I think we are losing thread.
Nr1ClockFan @memetosisofficial
Sorry, man, but this is now an unofficial Nightingale Debut thread.
Nr1ClockFan @memetosisofficial
I don't make the rules.
cory6574 @c99834l
love how in her gay panic, @emilysv forgot to tell us what actually happened to her
cory6574 @c99834l
truly, only focusing on what is actually important
BlackKnightLady @shadowstalkerofficial
*pic of massive, glowing, pale-blue nurse towering over the cityscape with a sword raised* Hey, hey? What the actual fuck? To borrow from Clockdork, this is fucking bullshit.
Emily15 @emilysv
hbgklfhbkjhadf
"I think you are going to have a quick fandom, Miss Nightingale." Victoria snarked once they were back home. She was currently checking out her twitter feed while Katsumi and Outis were helping the nurse to set up their well-gotten gains. "Definitely the star of tonight's show."
To accentuate her point, she showed the woman the part of the thread where the girl she had rescued was having an intense, intensely thirsty gay awakening. The pink haired woman took a quick glance before grimacing slightly.
"Of course. This is just embarrassing."
"Not a fan of nurse fet–"
"No." Nightingale replied with almost a growl, impressively enough when her face locked into a complete lack of emotion.
"Miss Nightingale has dealt with entirely too many nurses who think the night shift includes sexual relief duties." Outis sighed, shaking his head as he stocked a locking cabinet with pill bottles. "To the point she often ran full night shifts solo just to keep it from happening."
"In the interest of not spoiling the mood, let us dispense with the topic while we are still on the lesser evils of nurses." The woman in question stated as she took deep, slow breaths. "Thank you, at least, for being able to focus on the work, Miss Kuze."
Katsumi just shrugged from where she had set the last of the things they brought. "My previous boss was a big fan of using fetish to boost sales. Got me soured on maids well enough."
"Speaking of improving the mood, Liz whipped the staff into making one hell of a celebratory feast." Outis said, as though they hadn't all seen the hickeys on his neck. It was definitely to celebrate a successful mission, yep. Don't mind the new term of address.
January 17th
"Whoa, freaky." Katsumi muttered, staring at the entrance to the Promethean Paradigm Province of Rage, a glowing, red emblem with a snarling oni mask in the centre, rippling over the wall next to the back alley access of Homerun. "And you say without the boss present, these can't even be seen? Also, real fuckin' original, by the way."
[As it turns out, basing the system on collective popular consciousness throws out a lot of casual racism and stereotypes.]
[Fascinating implications.]
"But hey, it has its perks!" Orange Saber said as she hefted up a little wooden box full of fried beans. It wasn't the most conventional way to rank up a Skill, but a quest was a quest and she was sure Raikou would appreciate Outis' first act after stealing her power being adding insult to injury to some oni. And, y'know, spending an entire day murdering the things.
[Ah, chemical warfare against enemies we don't count as people.]
[Tale old as humanity.]
[I am sure Miss Raikou would approve.]
"Does that actually work?" Katsumi asked, eyeing the box with mock-wariness. Sure, she wasn't actually an oni, but you never knew with fucking Trumps.
"You're fine." Outis said out loud, at the same time that on telepathy she added, ["Unless you get the Oni-Kind Demon Skill on your Card, anyways. Which, hey, Mana Burst, Monstrous Strength, Natural Demon, Intimidating Charisma and some lifesteal tossed on top for good measure."]
"Enough lollygagging." Nightingale commanded as she grabbed both of them by the scruffs of their necks and shoved them into the glowing sigil at the wall.
Katsumi instinctively closed her eyes, so she got startled by the warm (relative to New England in January) wind blowing in her face. Not too hard, but noticeably. Opening her eyes she was greeted by the sight of… forested mountainside? There was a small settlement visible in the distance, down slope, mostly by the rising smoke.
"Da'at?"
[Primary hypothesis places the location of this instance somewhere in Japan.]
[Considering Homerun's theme, it is likely to be Kyushu.]
Katsumi looked around in silence, something in her chest tightening at the sight.
"I know a lot of folks who would pay a fortune for this sight."
"Ancient Japan Kyushu, look at those buildings." Outis grunted as she lifted her visor, orange eyes squinting at the village, "I'd bet a ticket on this being Heian era. Hope you're ready to square up with oni at their worst, because that's too much smoke for some cooking fires or even a festival."
"Well, we are two short for that particular gang war reenactment, if I have my folklore right." Katsumi sighed as she hefted her bat.
"Alas, Vicky decided that Amy was moping and needed some sisterly bonding. And the poor girl is still trying to get a handle on Violet Caster, period. The other Cards give you muscle memory and some knowhow, that one is basically a whole-ass Tinker/Thinker power." Orange Saber explained as she flicked her visor back down and tucked the little bean box on her belt, her hands filled with sword and shield a moment later, "Alright, you already know the rules. Go for the throat, these things are just dumb projections and will not stop until they're dust and loot."
For projections, the oni present in the… instance sure acted exactly like the stories said they did. The grey-skinned, slightly hunched humanoids swung maces and axes around, roaring rambunctiously, drinking and eating meat roasted over the burning buildings. Just like some crazy, real-life murder gang or cult would.
Then, Nightingale reached into her bag and tossed something into the nearest group.
And then it exploded and Katsumi jumped because who resorts to grenades as the immediate first option?!
Also, the corpses did disappear, but only after showcasing what happened to a human (errrr… humanoid?) body when a grenade goes off at its feet. Katsumi shuddered. So, whatever was responsible for these projections really liked their realism.
"Removing them one by one would be too tedious." The crazy nurse stated as she drew her gun and shot the nearest three oni which were charging at them. "Unfortunately, I have only a limited amount of explosives. My abilities do not cover their spontaneous creation after all."
"Maybe save them for a stickier situation than a bunch of up-jumped hooligans?" Katsumi offered while she blocked an overhead axe strike with her bat before sliding it from under the axehead and swinging at the oni. There was a crunch as reinforced wood met its skull and she winced. Maybe she would have thought differently if the place also created… victims of the raid, but that would be…
"It'll be a hot minute until our explosives expert can come over, but I'm sure the good Professor will be all too happy to point us at some eighty-eight weapon depots." Outis chuckled, passing over a stack of rice paper thick as a thumb, pulled from that engraved metal deck she carried around. "Until then, you can supplement with these. A whole lot less flexible than if a Caster were using them, but an explosion is an explosion."
"I will still use them sparingly. You should use the opportunity to get used to lethal force." Nightingale accepted her explosive package before nodding at Katsumi. "We will be clearing as many as possible for a few hours at least, but I don't know how Instances differ from Singularities in this regard."
"The hell is singularity?" Katsumi shouted as she picked an axe with her free hand and swung at another oni. "'cause I doubt we're thinking the same thing!" The weapon, used with a Brute's strength, cleaved through the thing's club and dug into its side. The force broke its handle so she had to actually jump back to escape an enraged oni's swipe. Deceptively long reach.
Outis chopped off the offending arm without a second thought, before finding herself busy blocking another oni's club with her shield.
"Technical term for these kinds of pocket dimensions my previous contractors used." The nurse replied as she put Katsumi's opponent out of misery with another bullet. Probably out of misery, it didn't seem to be inconvenienced by the wound. "Make sure the force is lethal, head trauma is still the most reliable."
"Amen." Outis grunted as she shield bashed an oni's skull concave, breaking off its horn in the process. "Take this as a chance to learn how to modulate the mana boost, too."
"Y'know, for a nurse, you're pretty comfortable with ending lives." At least here. Given how seriously she treated her infirmary back at the castle, Katsumi somehow doubted she was one of those angels. "Look, you try to figure out this shit when everything not bat shaped breaks on you anyway."
"Which is why we fed your bat into the Card, yes. Remind me to use Violet Caster to make it a bit better besides." Outis chuckled as she dismissed her shield to instead ram a gauntleted fistful of beans down a roaring oni's throat. Alongside most of its teeth. Going by the gurgling howl it managed before falling over dead with steam rising from the corpse before it vanished, it seemed soybeans would be on the menu for this Province. "How do you feel about a club made of cursed bones? Hmm, maybe a bit too unruly. Weeping iron, I think, your power would get around its issues. It may even accept a goedendag if we need to stake a bitch something sweet!"
"I have no idea what any of those are but I'd like to remind you…" Katsumi grunted as she took a club on the arm, barely feeling it. She returned the favour by uppercutting the offending oni with her full strength. Still didn't help the reflexive wince at hearing the bones snap. "That it's my power deciding baseball bats should be indestructible, not me!"
Any further casual combat dialogue was interrupted by a bestial howl as a massive, thick oni built like brick shithouse took to the field. Literally black skinned, with white hair and beard, an actually somewhat well kept, long, drill-like horn raising from its skull. It also wielded an actual kanabo, easily the same ten feet long the ogre was tall. The big guy was also surrounded by a whole bunch of, comparatively, comically smaller ones.
"Well, ain't he a big one." Katsumi whispered, feeling just a little inadequate in comparison.
"Hey!" Outis hollered fearlessly, bouncing the wooden box full of beans in her hand. The same hand that was trailing dark orange smoke from the seams in its armour, "THINK FAST, CHUCKLENUTS!"
Her throwing form was atrocious, but damn if Brute strength didn't make up for it as the little carpentry project flew like an arrow at the big bastard. The massive thing was actually fast on the intake as well, and apparently used to the 'soybean bomb' tactics because instead of smashing its massive club into it, it catched the box in its hand, crushing it in its grip. It growled as its skin visibly boiled and steamed.
Then Nightingale threw two grenades at the group of oni, casting transmute oni to hamburger on all the hangers on.
"And this is why I prefer tried and true methods over mystical options." The apparently explosion happy nurse declared. Katsumi hoped she and Oni Lee wouldn't meet because so far, the chances were high they would vibe.
No time to ponder the cape shipping as the big guy charged at them, kanabo raised overhead while it lowered its head to point its horn at them.
["Nurse, up front! We take the flanks!"] Rang out from the boss at thoughtspeed, the tiny girl already moving to follow suit.
And just in time, because the black muscle mountain brough its club down, shattering the ground underneath and causing a small tremor. Katsumi grit her teeth as she tiptoed to rebalance. By the time she was back on track, Nightingale already took advantage of the rampaging giant's bulk to use its weapon as a platform and hung by its horn as she unloaded the rest of her bullets into one of its eyes.
The oni roared in pain but still reached for the nurse with its free hand. Katsumi jumped forward, swinging her bat with full force at the limb. It connected, pushing it down, but this time, there was no crack, just the ogre grunting as it straightened. Still, nurse took the opportunity to jump off of it.
The oni staggered when, in the explosion of dark orange, bosswoman's sword dug into its ankle. Deep cut, but not straight through. The oni swung its club in a wild arc. Still, the air pressure billowed her hair. It did leave the black guy exposed for another swing, and Katsumi decided to check if 'hit it between legs' strategy still worked.
Going by the guttural whine and bowled legs, she was going to guess it did. It also distracted the ogre enough for Nightingale to throw it to the ground and wrap her arms around the thing's neck. They both struggled for a moment before Head Nurse managed a forceful, sharp motion which snapped its neck, stilling the oni.
"Okay, that was intense." Katsumi admitted, eyeing the disappearing oni's vaporising weapon with naked jealousy. Once both were gone, she raised her gaze to look at her party. "So… what now?"
Nightingale just gave her a thin smile. "The same thing that always happens when the grind ends. More grinding."
Okay, there was some kind of inside joke here she was not getting.
As Always, big thanks to Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya, Bowchikabowow. MetaWorld42, nununu, Just Some Guy With A Mustage, Ermast, Helios, Joshua Littlesun, [TEE],PlatiNom, Jose Matos, Soulsmsher, Altaibaatar, Ian DeHart, Brigand, Starfall 20 and ลิงติดเกม จากป่าดิบชื้นแถบอเมริกาใต้, saganatsu, Gabriel, Devan Duncan, Dodge the Lava, Aravir and Alys, who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.
By joining, you, too, can access two chapters ahead.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Never seen Lakshmi referred to this way before, but it's certainly not a bad nickname. Curry did originate from India, iirc.
Oh hey, guess Avatar went a different route with Aang. Was the Air Nomads group the conquering empire in Worm?
I confess I'm missing the implication here of how the rage pocket dimension is racist. Although Daat has a point on collective belief not always giving a great spin on X topic.
- Location
- London
While it's mostly a throwaway line meant to play up our fun of making different dimensions of the same world have subtle cultural differences and despite me never having watched AtLA, I have always enjoyed the thought exercise of making Evil Airbenders being based on Mongols, so it's probably that way in The Last Firebender
I know for certain it is, at least on some level, another way to poke at the fact that Kanabo has been saddled with Berserker designation by default, just on account of being oni-themed. It has been long enough for me to forget if there was deeper intent beyond 'racist Alaya' shitposting.
- Location
- Caribbean
I almost wanted to laughingly call out "Dats Wacist!" when i saw that but then I remebered that i myself am guilty of calling Kriish "Chutney Batman" so I cant relly throw stones here. (Hilariously awesome bollywood movie. Check it out if youre bored)
Nihilo
Authorial parasite
- Location
- Catalonia
It started with me rolling Raikou in the ten roll right after meeting Kanabo. It didn't amount to anything other than "hehe Alaya racist against oni".
Chapter 16: 2-5 [Promotion]
New
- Location
- London
January 17th
"You're one scaredy cat, aren'tcha?" Amy startled out of her funk at the sound of Bathory's voice. The idol was lazing in one of the first floor windows leading to the courtyard where Amy sat with the fucking dragon fang held on her lap. Even with her power calmed down, especially after the spontaneous modification it gave her, it seemed to snap to particular attention when she handled the weird, possibly magic bullshit Outis was surrounded with. There was an itch in Amy's hands, the desperate need to reach out for the material and do more with it. Especially since, thanks to Da'at's presence and Violet Caster's… installation, her power knew some of what could be done with the thing.
"What do you mean?" She glared at the redhead, hands closing around the tooth. Her mind immediately flooded with the ideas and she hurriedly broke contact.
"This." Bathory shook her head, putting the notepad she had been doodling in inside the room before casually jumping out of the window to land outside, a little bit away from Amy. She even struck a pose with her arms held wide to the sides, tail flourishing behind and wings spread out as she bowed. So needlessly extra, despite her only audience being Amy. "You talk big about your power but then you go and act like you are going to… dunno, burn an orphanage if it does something you didn't expect. Or something like that." The dragoness added with a tilt of her head as she loomed over Amy, hands on her hips.
"My power is dangerous." Amy hissed. Did that stupid, vapid woman realise the damage Amy could do if she-
"Blah blah blah." Bathory dismissed Amy's point with a mock-flapping gesture of hand. "Get a grip, girl, every kind of power is dangerous. That's what power is. Y'think my voice isn't dangerous to people? Don't see me keeping my mouth shut all the time."
"You have it under control. I do-"
"You do. When you are healing, definitely. Outis described how you look when you heal. Even with what you claim is your power distracting you." She countered, poking Amy on the forehead with one of those ludicrous nails of hers. "But you are a coward, so any sign of struggle and you shut down and spiral down."
"My power mutated my body all on its own, you stupid bitch!" Amy shot to her feet, teeth grit and hands curled into fists to stop herself from laying hands on that infuriating woman. Least she actually acted on her impulse. "It was way more than 'a little bit of struggle'!"
"Clearly because even your power knows that if it doesn't give you a shove off the cliff you're never gonna try to fly." Bathory countered dryly, completely unimpressed with Amy's self restraint. "Head Nurse and Da'at already told you your problem is that you're throttling yourself. I can understand not using Caster out of the gate, the info must've been overwhelming."
"What if I get hurt? Who is gonna heal brand new extra nervous system injury plus whatever else gets damaged because I fucked up, huh?!"
Bathory shook her head. "You're doing that thing really smart people love to do where you get lost in 'what ifs' and 'maybes'. Too much thinking, not enough doing. You've already seen how it's supposed to look when Darling showed off to you, didn'tcha?"
"I-I mean, yeah…"
"And you said yourself your power tells you automatically what's going on with your body, yes?"
"Y-yes?"
"Have you even tried to turn those circuits on? Not even do anything with them, just turn them on and see if it matches what Darling was doing at all?"
"N-no…" When Bathory laid it out like that, it did sound simple. Embarrassingly so. But if she did it, then would her power be satis- "Ouch!" She yelped when Bathory's tail smacked her backside and she glared again.
"You were getting lost in too much thinking again." The Dragoness pointed out. "Honestly, what does Darling see in you?" W-what? "Useful power, yeah, but that complete lack of confidence is suuuuuch a turn-off~. Seriously, when you bit back right there? That was a very nice preview." W-w-what kind of tangent was that?!
"Act, girl. Honestly, even Sabah managed that instead of spiralling in her own head." Bathory shook her head with a sigh before grabbing Amy's hand. "Here. Either turn your power or your circuits." Then, she pulled Amy closer, forcing her to bow slightly. Amy swallowed nervously at how close they ended up. "Do that or I'm dragging you to my tower until you get all of that uselessness out of your system. Got it?"
"I-I-I-I…"
"Dragon kidnaps the princess it is." Bathory declared as she tackled Amy, wrapping arms around her waist and lifting her over shoulder, securing Amy with a smack on her backside.
"Eeeeep! W-w-waaaait!"
"Too late~!"
Although she lacked the detailed features for it to show, Bernadett frowned as she inspected the dungeons. The phantoms of Csejte didn't really need to go out of their way to keep the Territory in peak shape as they would in life, with the actual castle, but old habits died hard. Lacking means to properly communicate with others, sans inconveniencing their young again lady, it was a way to pass the time too.
Yet, in the dungeons, in the darkest, most hidden reaches with the worst stories to them, the scent of blood lingered, heavy and intoxicating.
Like in the badfalse days.
The atmosphere in the meeting room was on the tense side. Not quite defeatist, nor too enraged, but given the most recent setbacks, they had more to complain about than not. Hookwolf getting driven back twice by the same cape wasn't particularly new, but the demonstrated firepower was. His capture was felt too. Cricket's too, but Cricket was a follower and while Hookwolf didn't mind following, he had some leadership qualities.
Made the wrong sort of people think the Empire was weakening. Lung, thuggish brute that he was, barely controlled his followers who decided to try their hand at taking a bite out of the Empire. They were wrong, of course. A proper American spirit and mindset saw the barbaric horde driven back to the Docks. Lung was now down a cape too and little Rune learned a thing about parahuman fights.
Justin would have considered it a fair trade, if not for this Epopeia deciding to follow up. That she would meet with New Wave wasn't particularly surprising, the old Brigade still held onto delusions of being able to take the city from its rightful owners. He could respect the grit to keep going, if nothing else.
But then, Epopeia hit the hospital Rune was recovering at. A bold move. Daring and risky, given the optics of the scenario.
"She is speedily becoming an insistent thorn." Kaiser mused aloud, summarising everyone's feelings. Fenja and Menja, as always, leaned against his sides, the backdrop of the night time Brockton Bay casting the man in shadows. Personally, Justin thought Kaiser didn't really need to put so much effort into these theatrics, but then, maybe there was a reason Justin was ultimately an enforcer and not a subfaction leader. "A well connected thorn. Even if this time, running into our capes had been a coincidence… no, not a coincidence, but a secondary objective."
"Didn't feel like a secondary objective." Rune muttered from her seat, bowing her head bashfully when Kaiser clicked his tongue. Still, the man kept his smile and his voice remained even.
"Considering the focus on grabbing medical supplies and equipment, I believe the intent was very clearly a supply run aimed at simultaneously exposing us. That facility will be a bust for a while, I'm afraid." Bit of a shame, but they had plenty of places across Downtown and properly cared for parts of the city to not feel it too badly. "Additionally, it forced Epopeia to reveal another resource of hers. Victor?" Kaiser inclined his head, gesturing at the skill thief.
"The woman doesn't seem to bother with concealing her features, but she also doesn't seem to exist on any database I could access on short notice. It is, however, safe to assume she is not native. That Trump power of hers is interesting because it doesn't seem to have any kind of discrimination in its targeting."
"Doesn't stay up for too long, just a couple seconds, but enough to catch people off guard." Othala piped in, and Victor let her speak like a good husband he was. Justin approved. "Definitely unplanned, given the Dallon girl didn't expect it at all. She prioritised civilian safety when Alabaster took a hostage so there's that as a potential psychological weakness to exploit."
"Taken into consideration, but given she is merely misguided, we will not be going for that measure just yet." Kaiser considered, steel creeping into his tone as he focused on Alabaster specifically. The man had the good grace to look ashamed, at least. Really, the whole business with Fleur was just shortsighted. "Continue."
"She applied for a White Card licensing exam, alongside Epopeia, who applied for the Blue Star Card instead." A murmur rippled through the room. That changed calculations of how to deal with the two considerably. They were lucky Othala had White Card. If Panacea thought those two could merit high class licences like that… "She decided to bundle it together with power testing and used the name of Nightingale. A bit cliche, if you ask me, but we should have full details of her soon enough."
"We will do our best not to target Miss Nightingale directly, then." Kaiser nodded. "Of course, if she wades into the battlefield as an active participant, then using force to defend ourselves will be understandable, but unless that actually happens, she, like Panacea, is off limits. Understood?"
They all nodded. Really, what were they going to do? Disobey Kaiser on such an obvious non-issue?
"When?"
"Tomorrow, which is a bit surprising, but White Card applicants always get fast tracked."
"We will be able to account for any surprises by the time we spring Hookwolf and Cricket, then. No sense planning the deviations from the previous plans before we get the full picture, then. Now, as much as it galls me to say this, we will be holding back our response to Lung's inability to control his thugs, understood? I want everyone in top form."
"Never thought I'd see a day when I would be bothered by too much good news." Piggot grumbled as she massaged her temples. "Not even a week and Epopeia is involved in something. Again."
Sophia honestly didn't see the issue. Rainbow Warrior out there was knocking heads and actually making difference, fucking the Empire up and exposing their ops. And here she was, stuffed into a conference room the second she came back from her nice, safe patrol because she was the only one with good footage of the new cape. Personally, she thought they could just check Twitter and be done with it, it had as much info as she had and that way she could catch some shut eye before being back at Winslow.
Huh. Too much of a good thing indeed.
"'Local healer duo robs hospital; exposes nazi op in the process'. I can see Daily's headlines clear as day." Dumbass the Elder made an attempt at humour. "Gotta say, Velocity, I envy you, from the online discourse, the new girl is qui–"
"I would like to remind you that you are a married man, Assault." Fast Guy replied dryly. Yeah. Somefuckinghow. Sometimes, when she was really bored, Sophia wondered what kept the Crime Marriage together. Dumbass the Elder must be incredible in bed for Wind Up Woman to tolerate him.
"To stay on topic. Nightingale, backed by Panacea, applied for a White Card licence this morning." Piggot steered the duo back on topic. "Which Epopeia used to slide her own application for Blue Star Card into the same general time slot. So that's two more healer capes on the radar. Neither of which are directly affiliated with PRT." She spat out.
'Has PRT considered a less shit package' was unlikely to be an accepted argument, so Sophia stayed silent.
"We have a Blue Star rating? I thought it went Red-Yellow-Blue-White?" Dumbass the Elder was genuinely confused.
The local heroes, ladies and gentlemen.
"As good as White but automatic, so no control over the process." Fast Guy explained, exasperation clear in his voice. Dumbass the Elder was just lucky Armsy was still in the time-out corner, being the happiest Tinker. "And considering how soon they are applying, Nightingale probably has a preexisting background in medicine."
"Can I go? I don't see what I'm contributing to this conversation?" Sophia had decided to stick her neck out a little because she really needed her beauty sleep before going back to Winslow.
"Once you finish explaining properly why you thought running in the direction of a giant projection instead of keeping to your patrol route was a good decision, thus ignoring Triumph's orders." Piggot proved immediately she sustained herself purely on parahuman suffering and spite.
"Love you too, boss lady." She spat. Well, seemed like she would be sleeping over the more boring classes and breaks instead. Rejoice, gangs of Winslow, your skulls will go uncracked for once.
"Are Embers supposed to have the mouthfeel of jelly beans?" Red Berserker asked after swallowing a big bite of one of the leftover Embers of Rage, bit off like it was an apple. Damn things were the size of a fist, not that she was complaining. It tasting like blood had been a bit disconcerting, but it was a nice flavour. Managed to work really well with the jelly, although that was partly due to it having a consistency closer to really rare beef. The coat was closer to a steak's crust, too, now that she was paying attention.
"Is that how it is for you?" Nightingale asked as she slowly chewed her own with all the dignity of a professional, simply eating her meal with a fork and a knife. "Back in Chaldea, everyone confessed to a different feel or taste of them."
"Huh. Tastes like blood on a seared steak to me, you?" The temporary Berserker asked with an arched red eyebrow.
"Beef steak, potatoes and vegetables, generous serving of gravy. Filling, warm and healthy." The nurse smiled thinly. "Which is also why I elect to consume them the way I do."
"...Yeah, I have no idea how that even begins to work for balancing all those flavours and mouthfeels. I'll keep munching on my blood jelly beans." Outis chuckled, shaking her head from her slouch on her usual seat at the main hall. She was sure someone like Da Vinci or Sherlock could drop ten thousand words on the topic, with a solid third being in magic mushroom quotes of conceptual inespecificity. "Glad you enjoy them, though. I hear they could be very hit or miss back in Chaldea."
"I suppose I am lucky in that regard."
"Jeez, it looks weird, seeing the two of you munch on a bunch of pearls you ripped from metallic hands like they are snacks." Katsumi muttered from where she sprawled over the table. A couple hours of smacking inhuman monsters with lethal force took its toll on anyone. "Kinda makes me curious."
"Don't bother." Elizabeth shook her head from her throne. Her tail was wrapped around heavily blushing Amy who nonetheless kept one of her bare hands on the dragoness' appendage while the other kept inspecting the tooth. "If you try off-class Ember, it's guaranteed to taste horribly. Still randomised precisely what it tastes like, but you won't like the taste."
"Next in line is Caster to restock on quanta bits since it's got the best payouts, then Archer for Prof to get up to speed, after that we can hit Saber." Outis chimed up after swallowing another bite. It'd get really old really fast if she had to eat dozens of these in one sitting, but since this was just the leftovers it was fine. Plenty enough to upgrade her AGL to D rank. It felt like measuring a hot drink filling a container by how it warmed your hand, working towards ranking up a parameter, it was just her ribcage instead of a mug.
Although how the Head Nurse managed to tuck away sixty repetitions of the same meal in one go was beyond her. The woman was already on her twentieth Ember.
"This power of yours is just damn insane." Katsumi shook her head. "So, what about those?" She asked, pointing at the considerably smaller pile of circular blue gems with the horned Berserker symbol emblazoned on them.
"Skill Gems. Embers increase our parameters, these work towards ranking up our Skills. At least for Card Holders like us, people like Miss Nightingale work on the Ascension system instead." Red Berserker explained, idly chucking the remaining half of the ember into that beartrap of a mouth and swallowing it not a second later. "She's gotta glut on Embers then we chuck a small mountain of materials in a funny glowing circle she stands in and presto, massive growth."
Katsumi glared at her with suspicion. "...this is just a fucking gacha game based power, isn't it?"
"The only difference is that Da'at doesn't shut down every other day for maintenance." Outis chuckled.
[What do you think happens when you sleep?]
"..."
"..."
Outis just shoved a Skill Gem in her beartrap of a mouth and pretended she had heard nothing. "Aaaaaand Skill Gems are like soft merengue, not that I'm complaining." She muttered. Even better, it was still sweet and wonderful, just underlined by a coppery and meaty taste like someone had replaced half the eggs with blood. She was damn well taking her sugary goop, it'd been nigh on two years since she had any good merengue.
Mad Enhancement D, here she came.
January 18th
"Heeey Amy~" Outis crooned, smiling like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.
Elizabeth shook her head, barely containing her grin as she observed her Darling toy with Amelia. The mousy healer was, of course, looking completely suspicious of the crimson phial dangling from a bit of thread from Darling's hand, but then, Darling didn't hide he loved fishing for people's reaction, did he?
Not that she disliked that about him. If not for Darling's love of speaking his mind she wouldn't have made that final step and that… well. She actually let a giggle out, even if she kept some decorum by putting her hand over her mouth. So, so enthusiastic~! And attentive! A-aand–
Elizabeth shook her head. Later! Later, for now, she had to make sure Amelia didn't slide back. They made… decent progress, in the evening, but one session an idol didn't make, after all.
Focusing back on the two, she didn't seem to miss much. Amelia was still looking uncertain about touching the phial Darling was presenting her with, so Elizabeth took the initiative to reach out under he table with her tail and poke the healer with the tip of her fin in the butt. The girl squeaked out and twisted in her seat to shoot Elizabeth a nasty glare, one which she answered with a grin. She had to be a good manager and encourage showings of spine in her comrades after all.
Amelia's sister, the unfortunately completely straight beauty Elizabeth really wouldn't have minded visit– Nonono, focus, Liz, focus. The blonde bombshell gave her semi-discrete thumbs up, for perhaps the third or fourth time this morning. Amelia was lucky to have such a supportive sister.
Amelia sighed and turned back to Darling, muttering things under her nose which Elizabeth magnanimously decided to interpret as acknowledgement of Elizabeth's wisdom and reached out for the phial with her fingers, her body kinda locking up in that funny way it did that told Elizabeth the healer was using her power to get a read on something and was having her worldview shaken.
"Alright… alright. So, this thing, if I am reading it properly, can temporarily give anyone Circuits? Kind of similar to Installing one of your cards." The healer muttered as she slowly dipped her fingers in the red liquid. "Well, it's injectable so it lasts until the body processes it. Quality of the liquid determines both how long it lingers in the organism and the quality of circuitry…" She shook her head. "Power granting tinker-tech drug. I… considering this is spinal fluid–"
"What the fuck." Amelia's hot sister whispered as she suddenly leaned closer, eyes wide.
"My thoughts exactly." Amelia answered absentmindedly. Elizabeth poked her in the back just to make sure the girl would keep focusing on how she could play around with her power with the information given. "I… think I could replicate the effect? I would need a guinea pig to observe the effects of it after injection. Would need a lot of practice, especially to make it permanent, but I already have a permanent version on hand to study."
"As your older sister, I'd like to remind you it would effectively make you a Trump able to churn out various grades of Brute rating and at that point, PRT is back knocking on your door, Ames." The blonde shook her head. "This is a little riskier than just diversifying how you use your power."
"Let's not kid ourselves, the PRT already has her listed as a Striker-Trump. Anyone with biokinesis like her would have to be considered one where threat ratings are concerned." Darling chuckled as he finally chimed in, shaking his head softly, "It isn't about what you will do, it is about what you could do. Even before I showed up, she could've given a Brute rating to anyone by improving their ligaments, bone density, switching muscle types to something better, slapping on cartilaginous subdermal plating like a boar, toss in a few fun mutations like erythropoietin hypersensitivity and alpha-actinin-3 overgeneration, hell the human body can be tweaked to autonomously incorporate metal into the bones."
What followed from Amelia was a small rant full of medical and, likely, biological jargon which fled completely over Elizabeth's head. But Darling also mentioned boars and that was enough to inform Elizabeth of the potential Amelia could give even before the option of further magical enhancement was on the table. Thankfully, Amelia's hot sister looked equally lost, so Elizabeth chalked it up to scholars being scholars and not any particular indictment against her intelligence.
[Regenerating boars with metal bones which can regrow half their brain and only need four hours of sleep a day, to be precise.]
Absolutely bloody terrifying.
"Yes, yes, very impressive, both the potential and how much you know, Darling." Oh, that flush and gooey grin were delicious. Truly, almost as great as painting the cheeks of pretty girls with shades of red~. "Still, Amelia needs to practise, so I would grab her and… Katsumi, plus the fluid and get to testing?"
"What if–"
"Ah-ah-ah." She wagged her finger at Amelia, even as she wrapped her tail around the girl's ankle and squeezed lightly. Speaking of painting girls with pretty reds~. "No overthinking. You will see how it forms and fades, you have the baseline template for both with and without it. Believe in yourself, and if you can't, then in me who believes in you."
"That's ripped from that one Aleph cartoon." Amelia's more attractive sibling objected. Elizabeth just shrugged.
"Doesn't make it any less applicable. Meanwhile, Darling and Miss Nightingale can go attend their exam." And even if she didn't remind Darling of it, Miss Nightingale, observing them from the entrance to the Hall would. Elizabeth still wondered at just how much more personable the woman was now, with her Madness sealed. Like night and day.
Probably would still break every bone in her body if she tried to suggest alternative ways of stress relief. Rest in pieces, Ferghus.
[Lancer: Dauntless]
[Rider: Velocity]
The so-identified Protectorate members were waiting for Outis and Nightingale at the entrance to the PRT HQ's, where the Parahuman Healing Licensing Exam would take place, making quite the contrast between the properly armoured gold-and-white Dauntless and red-and-black, skin-tight suit of Velocity, one which it was easy to note did not include certain… protections. How the man managed to push it past the government PR was a mystery even online.
As Amy explained it, pretty much every parahuman related matter was handled by the PRT, no matter how benign, which meant hospital staff with enough experience would also be the ones visiting to provide 'expert opinion'. In that manner, the presence of two Protectorate heroes wasn't particularly out of ordinary.
"Epopeia, Nightingale, welcome." Dauntless took charge, greeting them warmly and offering an open hand. His helmet uncovered enough of his face to let them see the man's easygoing smile. "Always good to hear about more healing capes."
"Nobody wants to be the hero who missed out on the fight due to a sprained ankle." Violet Caster chuckled as she shook the hand, before shifting minutely to let the Head Nurse handle her own introductions.
"Everyone is entitled to using their gifts as they see fit." The woman commented curtly, grasping the offered hand in a firm, short handshake. "I'd rather have a dedicated volunteer of limited capability helping me than someone with means and talent phoning it in out of obligation."
"Someone really dedicated. And with a name like that, I am guessing already with some knowledge?" Dauntless probed as he turned around to lead the two of them deeper into the building.
"Nothing official." The Nurse of Steel deflected.
The hero kept the small talk going, probing questions deflected through Nightingale's stubborn singlemindedness and occasional noncommittal remark. Soon enough, they are in the PRT HQ's infirmary, where a few doctors wait, alongside a variety of other people in different states of health.
"Volunteers," The lead doctor explained. "Variety of injuries in increased order of severity, nothing urgent." He added quickly. "Helps figure out the limits of healing ability. Some illnesses too, just to make sure. We will observe and monitor how you perform, note that all down. Keep them for observation for a few days to make sure there's no time limit involved."
"That sounds like there's a story involved." Nightingale noted, nodding along with the man's explanation, to which he grimaced.
"2003, cape name Stability. Could freeze the condition of people he touched, no numerical limit, shrugged off anything thrown at them."
"The limit," Velocity picked up with a dour tone. "As it turns out, had been in the absorption. Stability had an insanely high ceiling of what his lock could absorb, but as it turns out, once the threshold was reached? The field still kept you in perfect condition, yes, but only for the next thirty six hours. After that? All that excess damage hits you at once."
"The least bloody Behemoth battle, they called it at first." Dauntless added.
Outis could just about see a hundred thousand apartments and houses experiencing everything from spontaneous human combustion to a plus sized giblet balloon. She exhaled through her mask, shaking her head and squaring up her shoulders, "What a mess. But nothing to be done about it. Come on, Nurse. We take turns on trauma and go from there?"
"Mhm."
"Woman of action, eh?" Velocity tried to lighten the atmosphere again. "Well, we do have two sets for each of you. It will also serve as, however incomplete, power testing. After the last patient is processed, the theoretical for Nightingale and then you are free for a couple of days while we process everything."
"I can already see a solid third that Miss Nightingale will have to take off my hands, but at least that's practice passing over diagnosis info." Violet Caster chuckled, propping up the floppy brim of her hat with a wand that hadn't been in her hand an eyeblink ago. "Alright, let's get to it! People are miserable and it's our job to fix it!"
"So we have your normal, regular bullshit bullshit and…" Velocity commented as the two of them, alongside one of the senior doctors from Brockton General, observed Epopeia and Nightingale at work. Dauntless was inclined to agree with the crude, if not inaccurate, summary of the former. Epopeia was certainly living up to her informal designation of 'Myrddin junior', going full tilt the picture of a witch, waving a wand around her share of patients. Broken bones, cuts and bruises were fixed, toxins and viruses purged, even if the damage already done had been registered as remaining. Good at diagnosing.
Nightingale, on the other hand…
"It's like I'm watching a bastard child of Victor and Uber, with a touch of Brandish." Dauntless admitted to his coworker, both of them sparing Doctor Smith a brief glance. The man, honestly, looked like he was having a religious experience.
"Incredible, simply incredible. That precision, these unerring movements, the decisiveness." The man kept muttering as he frantically alternated between writing down his observations and simply watching Nightingale at work. "Sure, she seems to use mostly outdated or old fashioned tools and techniques and it limits her, visibly, but the skill…"
The red-clad cape, indeed, went from one patient to the next, conjuring a variety of simple surgical implements into her hands, even going so far as providing her own anaesthesia wherever she judged the patient needed to be brought under. Each operation was also quick, far quicker than Dauntless had awareness it should take. Part of it was the simple fact that Nightingale seemed to be a low-end Brute and applied that to her actions too.
"Trumps, am I right?" Velocity quipped with a snort.
"I don't think this facet of Nightingale's power qualifies as Trump, Velocity. Thinker, most likely." Dauntless replied with a shake of his head.
"She is almost going faster than Panacea, without absurd biokinesis, the hell you mean 'she is not a Trump'?" The speedster asked with crossed arms.
"Doesn't interact with powers." Dauntless rebuked his colleague gently. A great many people, capes included, tended to forget the power rankings were threat assessments for PRT's Troopers. "She has a great skill, thematically appropriate projection ability and basic Brute package, but aside from her weird, glowing… thing, none of that interacts with powers."
Some questioning of Doctor Smith revealed that while highly skillful, none of Nightingale's techniques have been supernatural by themselves. Yes, she seemed to have preternatural awareness of human biology and any injuries her patient sustained, the steadiness of her hand as she performed was ludicrous, but it was not special. Unless one counted the fact that a single woman with downright archaic procedures could perform on par with modern medicine. Low Thinker-Striker package, maybe?
Really, what was it with the recent triggers and getting Brute tacked onto their powers even when it didn't connect meaningfully to the rest of the skillset?
"Oh, more of the gang kids from Stalker's little playground." Velocity's voice brought Dauntless out of his musings. Indeed, a bunch of teenage skinheads were brought in, in that slight daze they were slowly starting to get accustomed to. "Damn, Empire really is getting pounded on all fronts, aren't they?"
"Risky. Very risky. Actually makes me hope it's one of Epopeia's she hasn't revealed yet." The cape in question took over the group of kids, waving her wand with an airy gesture that saw them blink in confusion. Another common sight of 'Sting's' victims. "And of course, she will play dumb if we ask her."
"Or she will bullshit Sting being one of hers if they are not." Velocity shrugged. "Not much we can do about it until Sting shows themselves up for testing and slash or recruitment."
"Optimistic, aren't we?" Dauntless sighed. Bathory didn't really want anything with the cape scene but seemed involved with Epopeia to a degree, and through her, Parian. Nightingale was definitely sticking with Epopeia. Panacea, from what he had heard through Gallant almost definitely was now with Epopeia. Kanabo was with Epopeia and there was a chance Glory Girl might drop her family for a new team. Which, of course, was not Wards.
Their luck with recruitment was absolutely atrocious. He was starting to see why Armsmaster was always so high strung.
Elizabeth hummed to herself as she spread an outfit on her bed, a gift from Sabah to commemorate their… relationship. Ah, puppy love combined with natural bashfulness, all on a pretty, oriental face. Such an intoxicating mixture~. A shame she won't be able to share with Darling for quite some time yet. Alas, the modern age, despite being quite more liberal in a great many aspects, was more conservative in others. Bah, always a relaxing side-project for the future! Not everything had to bear all the seriousness of her career, after all.
Nodding to herself, she puffed her chest up, hands on hips and tail swooshing lazily. Even if this Earth was a dreary little place, things were definitely looking up.
THUD!
A dull, heavy thud shook her bedroom.
"Ah!" In the privacy of her room, she would not be ashamed to admit she jumped a little, spinning in place to face her door. Frowning, she approached them, opening them in a sharp, irritated motion.
…and felt her mouth dry as she was greeted not with the spiralling staircase, but a wall of grey, drab stone.
"Nonono…"
CLANG!
Spinning around again, she noted with dread that iron bars lined her windows now, too tight and dense to let her squeeze past, to just fly out.
"Nonono!" Whirling around to face her walled-in door again, she gathered all her strength and punched. "Ah!"
It hurt. Ithurtithurtithurt… It felt just like it did back when…
"B-bernadett?" She called out for her favourite Wraith. Only silence responded. "I-ivett? Cintia? Lashlo?! A-a-anyone?! Please, anyone! What's going on?!"
"Oh, you poor, confused, dumb little puppy." A voice purred from behind her, as Elizabeth found herself stiffening. That voice. Her voice!
Twisting around, she lashed out with her open hand–
–and cried out as it was caught and used to twist her right back, slamming her into the wall.
"Don't you get it, Erzsebeth?" The mocking voice whispered, warm breath tickling her neck and ear. "You had it too good. Unacceptable." She hissed, fingers clasping around Elizabeth's head as it was pushed harder against the cold stone, nails digging into her skin. "Why should a monster like you get to enjoy good things?"
"I am not–!" She tried to shout back, only for the grip to tighten, the wicked nails drawing blood.
"You are. And do you know why, little, foolish Eli? Because you are just a dumb, deluded me." She laughed, slow and low, a sound full of viciousness and cruelty. Of glee. "You've got so many tasty little lambs gathered in my castle, I should really thank you."
"Don't you dare!" She snarled, struggling against the hold. Her tail was not responding to her. Why?
"Hahaha! Or what? What can you do, foolish little girl, trapped in your bedroom to starve and die forgotten by the world. Again." A finger slid against the back of her neck and down her spine, the nail almost cutting her skin open. "Don't worry, I'll show those girls the full and undivided… Csejte Experience~."
"Darling will–!"
"Do nothing, Erzsebeth." She purred. "Not until too late. Because it's my castle. And then? Then it will be too late, and between done deal and Moriarty? No one will miss you."
Then, suddenly, She was gone, a black mist seeping through the cold stones.
Elizabeth curled her hands into fists, rage boiling in her veins so hot, she ignored the blood dripping from where her nails pierced the skin. She stared hatefully at the all-too-familiar stonework barring her path.
For some reason, her extra appendages felt alien to her, needing full focus to so much as awkwardly make them twitch. She felt weak, weaker than ever as a Servant.
That wouldn't do.
That wouldn't do at all.
An idol cannot disappoint her fans.
A woman, the love of her life.
With a snarl, she rushed back to her bed and focused.
"Master, I do not believe you were planning any redecorating in this direction." Nightingale stated grimly as they both watched Csejte's darkened walls, a thin layer of mist roiling off the brickwork. The castle proper was far more foreboding, splashed with patches of darkened, murky brown colour. Iron bars fitted into every window, moss hanging from the roofs and over the edges of the wall. The gates now of the same black iron, barred firmly shut.
Most damningly, the connection with Moriarty and Elizabeth was completely dead. Not gone, Outis could still feel their presence. Faintly, as if separated by great distance, but it was as if something was barring communication.
[Interlude: Beauty and the Beast]
[Csejte Castle has been transformed, the way inside seems barred to you and the fate of your allies within is unknown. Brave it's twisted halls, fighting off whatever assailed it and wrestle the control of your domain back.]
[Rewards: ???, ???, ???]
[For what it is worth, I was hoping to introduce you to events in a more pleasant way.]
Outis saw red.
AN: We interrupt your regularly scheduled golden gaytime for some cheap, Persona-style drama
By joining, you, too, can access two chapters ahead.
"You're one scaredy cat, aren'tcha?" Amy startled out of her funk at the sound of Bathory's voice. The idol was lazing in one of the first floor windows leading to the courtyard where Amy sat with the fucking dragon fang held on her lap. Even with her power calmed down, especially after the spontaneous modification it gave her, it seemed to snap to particular attention when she handled the weird, possibly magic bullshit Outis was surrounded with. There was an itch in Amy's hands, the desperate need to reach out for the material and do more with it. Especially since, thanks to Da'at's presence and Violet Caster's… installation, her power knew some of what could be done with the thing.
"What do you mean?" She glared at the redhead, hands closing around the tooth. Her mind immediately flooded with the ideas and she hurriedly broke contact.
"This." Bathory shook her head, putting the notepad she had been doodling in inside the room before casually jumping out of the window to land outside, a little bit away from Amy. She even struck a pose with her arms held wide to the sides, tail flourishing behind and wings spread out as she bowed. So needlessly extra, despite her only audience being Amy. "You talk big about your power but then you go and act like you are going to… dunno, burn an orphanage if it does something you didn't expect. Or something like that." The dragoness added with a tilt of her head as she loomed over Amy, hands on her hips.
"My power is dangerous." Amy hissed. Did that stupid, vapid woman realise the damage Amy could do if she-
"Blah blah blah." Bathory dismissed Amy's point with a mock-flapping gesture of hand. "Get a grip, girl, every kind of power is dangerous. That's what power is. Y'think my voice isn't dangerous to people? Don't see me keeping my mouth shut all the time."
"You have it under control. I do-"
"You do. When you are healing, definitely. Outis described how you look when you heal. Even with what you claim is your power distracting you." She countered, poking Amy on the forehead with one of those ludicrous nails of hers. "But you are a coward, so any sign of struggle and you shut down and spiral down."
"My power mutated my body all on its own, you stupid bitch!" Amy shot to her feet, teeth grit and hands curled into fists to stop herself from laying hands on that infuriating woman. Least she actually acted on her impulse. "It was way more than 'a little bit of struggle'!"
"Clearly because even your power knows that if it doesn't give you a shove off the cliff you're never gonna try to fly." Bathory countered dryly, completely unimpressed with Amy's self restraint. "Head Nurse and Da'at already told you your problem is that you're throttling yourself. I can understand not using Caster out of the gate, the info must've been overwhelming."
"What if I get hurt? Who is gonna heal brand new extra nervous system injury plus whatever else gets damaged because I fucked up, huh?!"
Bathory shook her head. "You're doing that thing really smart people love to do where you get lost in 'what ifs' and 'maybes'. Too much thinking, not enough doing. You've already seen how it's supposed to look when Darling showed off to you, didn'tcha?"
"I-I mean, yeah…"
"And you said yourself your power tells you automatically what's going on with your body, yes?"
"Y-yes?"
"Have you even tried to turn those circuits on? Not even do anything with them, just turn them on and see if it matches what Darling was doing at all?"
"N-no…" When Bathory laid it out like that, it did sound simple. Embarrassingly so. But if she did it, then would her power be satis- "Ouch!" She yelped when Bathory's tail smacked her backside and she glared again.
"You were getting lost in too much thinking again." The Dragoness pointed out. "Honestly, what does Darling see in you?" W-what? "Useful power, yeah, but that complete lack of confidence is suuuuuch a turn-off~. Seriously, when you bit back right there? That was a very nice preview." W-w-what kind of tangent was that?!
"Act, girl. Honestly, even Sabah managed that instead of spiralling in her own head." Bathory shook her head with a sigh before grabbing Amy's hand. "Here. Either turn your power or your circuits." Then, she pulled Amy closer, forcing her to bow slightly. Amy swallowed nervously at how close they ended up. "Do that or I'm dragging you to my tower until you get all of that uselessness out of your system. Got it?"
"I-I-I-I…"
"Dragon kidnaps the princess it is." Bathory declared as she tackled Amy, wrapping arms around her waist and lifting her over shoulder, securing Amy with a smack on her backside.
"Eeeeep! W-w-waaaait!"
"Too late~!"
Although she lacked the detailed features for it to show, Bernadett frowned as she inspected the dungeons. The phantoms of Csejte didn't really need to go out of their way to keep the Territory in peak shape as they would in life, with the actual castle, but old habits died hard. Lacking means to properly communicate with others, sans inconveniencing their young again lady, it was a way to pass the time too.
Yet, in the dungeons, in the darkest, most hidden reaches with the worst stories to them, the scent of blood lingered, heavy and intoxicating.
Like in the bad
The atmosphere in the meeting room was on the tense side. Not quite defeatist, nor too enraged, but given the most recent setbacks, they had more to complain about than not. Hookwolf getting driven back twice by the same cape wasn't particularly new, but the demonstrated firepower was. His capture was felt too. Cricket's too, but Cricket was a follower and while Hookwolf didn't mind following, he had some leadership qualities.
Made the wrong sort of people think the Empire was weakening. Lung, thuggish brute that he was, barely controlled his followers who decided to try their hand at taking a bite out of the Empire. They were wrong, of course. A proper American spirit and mindset saw the barbaric horde driven back to the Docks. Lung was now down a cape too and little Rune learned a thing about parahuman fights.
Justin would have considered it a fair trade, if not for this Epopeia deciding to follow up. That she would meet with New Wave wasn't particularly surprising, the old Brigade still held onto delusions of being able to take the city from its rightful owners. He could respect the grit to keep going, if nothing else.
But then, Epopeia hit the hospital Rune was recovering at. A bold move. Daring and risky, given the optics of the scenario.
"She is speedily becoming an insistent thorn." Kaiser mused aloud, summarising everyone's feelings. Fenja and Menja, as always, leaned against his sides, the backdrop of the night time Brockton Bay casting the man in shadows. Personally, Justin thought Kaiser didn't really need to put so much effort into these theatrics, but then, maybe there was a reason Justin was ultimately an enforcer and not a subfaction leader. "A well connected thorn. Even if this time, running into our capes had been a coincidence… no, not a coincidence, but a secondary objective."
"Didn't feel like a secondary objective." Rune muttered from her seat, bowing her head bashfully when Kaiser clicked his tongue. Still, the man kept his smile and his voice remained even.
"Considering the focus on grabbing medical supplies and equipment, I believe the intent was very clearly a supply run aimed at simultaneously exposing us. That facility will be a bust for a while, I'm afraid." Bit of a shame, but they had plenty of places across Downtown and properly cared for parts of the city to not feel it too badly. "Additionally, it forced Epopeia to reveal another resource of hers. Victor?" Kaiser inclined his head, gesturing at the skill thief.
"The woman doesn't seem to bother with concealing her features, but she also doesn't seem to exist on any database I could access on short notice. It is, however, safe to assume she is not native. That Trump power of hers is interesting because it doesn't seem to have any kind of discrimination in its targeting."
"Doesn't stay up for too long, just a couple seconds, but enough to catch people off guard." Othala piped in, and Victor let her speak like a good husband he was. Justin approved. "Definitely unplanned, given the Dallon girl didn't expect it at all. She prioritised civilian safety when Alabaster took a hostage so there's that as a potential psychological weakness to exploit."
"Taken into consideration, but given she is merely misguided, we will not be going for that measure just yet." Kaiser considered, steel creeping into his tone as he focused on Alabaster specifically. The man had the good grace to look ashamed, at least. Really, the whole business with Fleur was just shortsighted. "Continue."
"She applied for a White Card licensing exam, alongside Epopeia, who applied for the Blue Star Card instead." A murmur rippled through the room. That changed calculations of how to deal with the two considerably. They were lucky Othala had White Card. If Panacea thought those two could merit high class licences like that… "She decided to bundle it together with power testing and used the name of Nightingale. A bit cliche, if you ask me, but we should have full details of her soon enough."
"We will do our best not to target Miss Nightingale directly, then." Kaiser nodded. "Of course, if she wades into the battlefield as an active participant, then using force to defend ourselves will be understandable, but unless that actually happens, she, like Panacea, is off limits. Understood?"
They all nodded. Really, what were they going to do? Disobey Kaiser on such an obvious non-issue?
"When?"
"Tomorrow, which is a bit surprising, but White Card applicants always get fast tracked."
"We will be able to account for any surprises by the time we spring Hookwolf and Cricket, then. No sense planning the deviations from the previous plans before we get the full picture, then. Now, as much as it galls me to say this, we will be holding back our response to Lung's inability to control his thugs, understood? I want everyone in top form."
"Never thought I'd see a day when I would be bothered by too much good news." Piggot grumbled as she massaged her temples. "Not even a week and Epopeia is involved in something. Again."
Sophia honestly didn't see the issue. Rainbow Warrior out there was knocking heads and actually making difference, fucking the Empire up and exposing their ops. And here she was, stuffed into a conference room the second she came back from her nice, safe patrol because she was the only one with good footage of the new cape. Personally, she thought they could just check Twitter and be done with it, it had as much info as she had and that way she could catch some shut eye before being back at Winslow.
Huh. Too much of a good thing indeed.
"'Local healer duo robs hospital; exposes nazi op in the process'. I can see Daily's headlines clear as day." Dumbass the Elder made an attempt at humour. "Gotta say, Velocity, I envy you, from the online discourse, the new girl is qui–"
"I would like to remind you that you are a married man, Assault." Fast Guy replied dryly. Yeah. Somefuckinghow. Sometimes, when she was really bored, Sophia wondered what kept the Crime Marriage together. Dumbass the Elder must be incredible in bed for Wind Up Woman to tolerate him.
"To stay on topic. Nightingale, backed by Panacea, applied for a White Card licence this morning." Piggot steered the duo back on topic. "Which Epopeia used to slide her own application for Blue Star Card into the same general time slot. So that's two more healer capes on the radar. Neither of which are directly affiliated with PRT." She spat out.
'Has PRT considered a less shit package' was unlikely to be an accepted argument, so Sophia stayed silent.
"We have a Blue Star rating? I thought it went Red-Yellow-Blue-White?" Dumbass the Elder was genuinely confused.
The local heroes, ladies and gentlemen.
"As good as White but automatic, so no control over the process." Fast Guy explained, exasperation clear in his voice. Dumbass the Elder was just lucky Armsy was still in the time-out corner, being the happiest Tinker. "And considering how soon they are applying, Nightingale probably has a preexisting background in medicine."
"Can I go? I don't see what I'm contributing to this conversation?" Sophia had decided to stick her neck out a little because she really needed her beauty sleep before going back to Winslow.
"Once you finish explaining properly why you thought running in the direction of a giant projection instead of keeping to your patrol route was a good decision, thus ignoring Triumph's orders." Piggot proved immediately she sustained herself purely on parahuman suffering and spite.
"Love you too, boss lady." She spat. Well, seemed like she would be sleeping over the more boring classes and breaks instead. Rejoice, gangs of Winslow, your skulls will go uncracked for once.
"Are Embers supposed to have the mouthfeel of jelly beans?" Red Berserker asked after swallowing a big bite of one of the leftover Embers of Rage, bit off like it was an apple. Damn things were the size of a fist, not that she was complaining. It tasting like blood had been a bit disconcerting, but it was a nice flavour. Managed to work really well with the jelly, although that was partly due to it having a consistency closer to really rare beef. The coat was closer to a steak's crust, too, now that she was paying attention.
"Is that how it is for you?" Nightingale asked as she slowly chewed her own with all the dignity of a professional, simply eating her meal with a fork and a knife. "Back in Chaldea, everyone confessed to a different feel or taste of them."
"Huh. Tastes like blood on a seared steak to me, you?" The temporary Berserker asked with an arched red eyebrow.
"Beef steak, potatoes and vegetables, generous serving of gravy. Filling, warm and healthy." The nurse smiled thinly. "Which is also why I elect to consume them the way I do."
"...Yeah, I have no idea how that even begins to work for balancing all those flavours and mouthfeels. I'll keep munching on my blood jelly beans." Outis chuckled, shaking her head from her slouch on her usual seat at the main hall. She was sure someone like Da Vinci or Sherlock could drop ten thousand words on the topic, with a solid third being in magic mushroom quotes of conceptual inespecificity. "Glad you enjoy them, though. I hear they could be very hit or miss back in Chaldea."
"I suppose I am lucky in that regard."
"Jeez, it looks weird, seeing the two of you munch on a bunch of pearls you ripped from metallic hands like they are snacks." Katsumi muttered from where she sprawled over the table. A couple hours of smacking inhuman monsters with lethal force took its toll on anyone. "Kinda makes me curious."
"Don't bother." Elizabeth shook her head from her throne. Her tail was wrapped around heavily blushing Amy who nonetheless kept one of her bare hands on the dragoness' appendage while the other kept inspecting the tooth. "If you try off-class Ember, it's guaranteed to taste horribly. Still randomised precisely what it tastes like, but you won't like the taste."
"Next in line is Caster to restock on quanta bits since it's got the best payouts, then Archer for Prof to get up to speed, after that we can hit Saber." Outis chimed up after swallowing another bite. It'd get really old really fast if she had to eat dozens of these in one sitting, but since this was just the leftovers it was fine. Plenty enough to upgrade her AGL to D rank. It felt like measuring a hot drink filling a container by how it warmed your hand, working towards ranking up a parameter, it was just her ribcage instead of a mug.
Although how the Head Nurse managed to tuck away sixty repetitions of the same meal in one go was beyond her. The woman was already on her twentieth Ember.
"This power of yours is just damn insane." Katsumi shook her head. "So, what about those?" She asked, pointing at the considerably smaller pile of circular blue gems with the horned Berserker symbol emblazoned on them.
"Skill Gems. Embers increase our parameters, these work towards ranking up our Skills. At least for Card Holders like us, people like Miss Nightingale work on the Ascension system instead." Red Berserker explained, idly chucking the remaining half of the ember into that beartrap of a mouth and swallowing it not a second later. "She's gotta glut on Embers then we chuck a small mountain of materials in a funny glowing circle she stands in and presto, massive growth."
Katsumi glared at her with suspicion. "...this is just a fucking gacha game based power, isn't it?"
"The only difference is that Da'at doesn't shut down every other day for maintenance." Outis chuckled.
[What do you think happens when you sleep?]
"..."
"..."
Outis just shoved a Skill Gem in her beartrap of a mouth and pretended she had heard nothing. "Aaaaaand Skill Gems are like soft merengue, not that I'm complaining." She muttered. Even better, it was still sweet and wonderful, just underlined by a coppery and meaty taste like someone had replaced half the eggs with blood. She was damn well taking her sugary goop, it'd been nigh on two years since she had any good merengue.
Mad Enhancement D, here she came.
January 18th
"Heeey Amy~" Outis crooned, smiling like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.
Elizabeth shook her head, barely containing her grin as she observed her Darling toy with Amelia. The mousy healer was, of course, looking completely suspicious of the crimson phial dangling from a bit of thread from Darling's hand, but then, Darling didn't hide he loved fishing for people's reaction, did he?
Not that she disliked that about him. If not for Darling's love of speaking his mind she wouldn't have made that final step and that… well. She actually let a giggle out, even if she kept some decorum by putting her hand over her mouth. So, so enthusiastic~! And attentive! A-aand–
Elizabeth shook her head. Later! Later, for now, she had to make sure Amelia didn't slide back. They made… decent progress, in the evening, but one session an idol didn't make, after all.
Focusing back on the two, she didn't seem to miss much. Amelia was still looking uncertain about touching the phial Darling was presenting her with, so Elizabeth took the initiative to reach out under he table with her tail and poke the healer with the tip of her fin in the butt. The girl squeaked out and twisted in her seat to shoot Elizabeth a nasty glare, one which she answered with a grin. She had to be a good manager and encourage showings of spine in her comrades after all.
Amelia's sister, the unfortunately completely straight beauty Elizabeth really wouldn't have minded visit– Nonono, focus, Liz, focus. The blonde bombshell gave her semi-discrete thumbs up, for perhaps the third or fourth time this morning. Amelia was lucky to have such a supportive sister.
Amelia sighed and turned back to Darling, muttering things under her nose which Elizabeth magnanimously decided to interpret as acknowledgement of Elizabeth's wisdom and reached out for the phial with her fingers, her body kinda locking up in that funny way it did that told Elizabeth the healer was using her power to get a read on something and was having her worldview shaken.
"Alright… alright. So, this thing, if I am reading it properly, can temporarily give anyone Circuits? Kind of similar to Installing one of your cards." The healer muttered as she slowly dipped her fingers in the red liquid. "Well, it's injectable so it lasts until the body processes it. Quality of the liquid determines both how long it lingers in the organism and the quality of circuitry…" She shook her head. "Power granting tinker-tech drug. I… considering this is spinal fluid–"
"What the fuck." Amelia's hot sister whispered as she suddenly leaned closer, eyes wide.
"My thoughts exactly." Amelia answered absentmindedly. Elizabeth poked her in the back just to make sure the girl would keep focusing on how she could play around with her power with the information given. "I… think I could replicate the effect? I would need a guinea pig to observe the effects of it after injection. Would need a lot of practice, especially to make it permanent, but I already have a permanent version on hand to study."
"As your older sister, I'd like to remind you it would effectively make you a Trump able to churn out various grades of Brute rating and at that point, PRT is back knocking on your door, Ames." The blonde shook her head. "This is a little riskier than just diversifying how you use your power."
"Let's not kid ourselves, the PRT already has her listed as a Striker-Trump. Anyone with biokinesis like her would have to be considered one where threat ratings are concerned." Darling chuckled as he finally chimed in, shaking his head softly, "It isn't about what you will do, it is about what you could do. Even before I showed up, she could've given a Brute rating to anyone by improving their ligaments, bone density, switching muscle types to something better, slapping on cartilaginous subdermal plating like a boar, toss in a few fun mutations like erythropoietin hypersensitivity and alpha-actinin-3 overgeneration, hell the human body can be tweaked to autonomously incorporate metal into the bones."
What followed from Amelia was a small rant full of medical and, likely, biological jargon which fled completely over Elizabeth's head. But Darling also mentioned boars and that was enough to inform Elizabeth of the potential Amelia could give even before the option of further magical enhancement was on the table. Thankfully, Amelia's hot sister looked equally lost, so Elizabeth chalked it up to scholars being scholars and not any particular indictment against her intelligence.
[Regenerating boars with metal bones which can regrow half their brain and only need four hours of sleep a day, to be precise.]
Absolutely bloody terrifying.
"Yes, yes, very impressive, both the potential and how much you know, Darling." Oh, that flush and gooey grin were delicious. Truly, almost as great as painting the cheeks of pretty girls with shades of red~. "Still, Amelia needs to practise, so I would grab her and… Katsumi, plus the fluid and get to testing?"
"What if–"
"Ah-ah-ah." She wagged her finger at Amelia, even as she wrapped her tail around the girl's ankle and squeezed lightly. Speaking of painting girls with pretty reds~. "No overthinking. You will see how it forms and fades, you have the baseline template for both with and without it. Believe in yourself, and if you can't, then in me who believes in you."
"That's ripped from that one Aleph cartoon." Amelia's more attractive sibling objected. Elizabeth just shrugged.
"Doesn't make it any less applicable. Meanwhile, Darling and Miss Nightingale can go attend their exam." And even if she didn't remind Darling of it, Miss Nightingale, observing them from the entrance to the Hall would. Elizabeth still wondered at just how much more personable the woman was now, with her Madness sealed. Like night and day.
Probably would still break every bone in her body if she tried to suggest alternative ways of stress relief. Rest in pieces, Ferghus.
[Lancer: Dauntless]
[Rider: Velocity]
The so-identified Protectorate members were waiting for Outis and Nightingale at the entrance to the PRT HQ's, where the Parahuman Healing Licensing Exam would take place, making quite the contrast between the properly armoured gold-and-white Dauntless and red-and-black, skin-tight suit of Velocity, one which it was easy to note did not include certain… protections. How the man managed to push it past the government PR was a mystery even online.
As Amy explained it, pretty much every parahuman related matter was handled by the PRT, no matter how benign, which meant hospital staff with enough experience would also be the ones visiting to provide 'expert opinion'. In that manner, the presence of two Protectorate heroes wasn't particularly out of ordinary.
"Epopeia, Nightingale, welcome." Dauntless took charge, greeting them warmly and offering an open hand. His helmet uncovered enough of his face to let them see the man's easygoing smile. "Always good to hear about more healing capes."
"Nobody wants to be the hero who missed out on the fight due to a sprained ankle." Violet Caster chuckled as she shook the hand, before shifting minutely to let the Head Nurse handle her own introductions.
"Everyone is entitled to using their gifts as they see fit." The woman commented curtly, grasping the offered hand in a firm, short handshake. "I'd rather have a dedicated volunteer of limited capability helping me than someone with means and talent phoning it in out of obligation."
"Someone really dedicated. And with a name like that, I am guessing already with some knowledge?" Dauntless probed as he turned around to lead the two of them deeper into the building.
"Nothing official." The Nurse of Steel deflected.
The hero kept the small talk going, probing questions deflected through Nightingale's stubborn singlemindedness and occasional noncommittal remark. Soon enough, they are in the PRT HQ's infirmary, where a few doctors wait, alongside a variety of other people in different states of health.
"Volunteers," The lead doctor explained. "Variety of injuries in increased order of severity, nothing urgent." He added quickly. "Helps figure out the limits of healing ability. Some illnesses too, just to make sure. We will observe and monitor how you perform, note that all down. Keep them for observation for a few days to make sure there's no time limit involved."
"That sounds like there's a story involved." Nightingale noted, nodding along with the man's explanation, to which he grimaced.
"2003, cape name Stability. Could freeze the condition of people he touched, no numerical limit, shrugged off anything thrown at them."
"The limit," Velocity picked up with a dour tone. "As it turns out, had been in the absorption. Stability had an insanely high ceiling of what his lock could absorb, but as it turns out, once the threshold was reached? The field still kept you in perfect condition, yes, but only for the next thirty six hours. After that? All that excess damage hits you at once."
"The least bloody Behemoth battle, they called it at first." Dauntless added.
Outis could just about see a hundred thousand apartments and houses experiencing everything from spontaneous human combustion to a plus sized giblet balloon. She exhaled through her mask, shaking her head and squaring up her shoulders, "What a mess. But nothing to be done about it. Come on, Nurse. We take turns on trauma and go from there?"
"Mhm."
"Woman of action, eh?" Velocity tried to lighten the atmosphere again. "Well, we do have two sets for each of you. It will also serve as, however incomplete, power testing. After the last patient is processed, the theoretical for Nightingale and then you are free for a couple of days while we process everything."
"I can already see a solid third that Miss Nightingale will have to take off my hands, but at least that's practice passing over diagnosis info." Violet Caster chuckled, propping up the floppy brim of her hat with a wand that hadn't been in her hand an eyeblink ago. "Alright, let's get to it! People are miserable and it's our job to fix it!"
"So we have your normal, regular bullshit bullshit and…" Velocity commented as the two of them, alongside one of the senior doctors from Brockton General, observed Epopeia and Nightingale at work. Dauntless was inclined to agree with the crude, if not inaccurate, summary of the former. Epopeia was certainly living up to her informal designation of 'Myrddin junior', going full tilt the picture of a witch, waving a wand around her share of patients. Broken bones, cuts and bruises were fixed, toxins and viruses purged, even if the damage already done had been registered as remaining. Good at diagnosing.
Nightingale, on the other hand…
"It's like I'm watching a bastard child of Victor and Uber, with a touch of Brandish." Dauntless admitted to his coworker, both of them sparing Doctor Smith a brief glance. The man, honestly, looked like he was having a religious experience.
"Incredible, simply incredible. That precision, these unerring movements, the decisiveness." The man kept muttering as he frantically alternated between writing down his observations and simply watching Nightingale at work. "Sure, she seems to use mostly outdated or old fashioned tools and techniques and it limits her, visibly, but the skill…"
The red-clad cape, indeed, went from one patient to the next, conjuring a variety of simple surgical implements into her hands, even going so far as providing her own anaesthesia wherever she judged the patient needed to be brought under. Each operation was also quick, far quicker than Dauntless had awareness it should take. Part of it was the simple fact that Nightingale seemed to be a low-end Brute and applied that to her actions too.
"Trumps, am I right?" Velocity quipped with a snort.
"I don't think this facet of Nightingale's power qualifies as Trump, Velocity. Thinker, most likely." Dauntless replied with a shake of his head.
"She is almost going faster than Panacea, without absurd biokinesis, the hell you mean 'she is not a Trump'?" The speedster asked with crossed arms.
"Doesn't interact with powers." Dauntless rebuked his colleague gently. A great many people, capes included, tended to forget the power rankings were threat assessments for PRT's Troopers. "She has a great skill, thematically appropriate projection ability and basic Brute package, but aside from her weird, glowing… thing, none of that interacts with powers."
Some questioning of Doctor Smith revealed that while highly skillful, none of Nightingale's techniques have been supernatural by themselves. Yes, she seemed to have preternatural awareness of human biology and any injuries her patient sustained, the steadiness of her hand as she performed was ludicrous, but it was not special. Unless one counted the fact that a single woman with downright archaic procedures could perform on par with modern medicine. Low Thinker-Striker package, maybe?
Really, what was it with the recent triggers and getting Brute tacked onto their powers even when it didn't connect meaningfully to the rest of the skillset?
"Oh, more of the gang kids from Stalker's little playground." Velocity's voice brought Dauntless out of his musings. Indeed, a bunch of teenage skinheads were brought in, in that slight daze they were slowly starting to get accustomed to. "Damn, Empire really is getting pounded on all fronts, aren't they?"
"Risky. Very risky. Actually makes me hope it's one of Epopeia's she hasn't revealed yet." The cape in question took over the group of kids, waving her wand with an airy gesture that saw them blink in confusion. Another common sight of 'Sting's' victims. "And of course, she will play dumb if we ask her."
"Or she will bullshit Sting being one of hers if they are not." Velocity shrugged. "Not much we can do about it until Sting shows themselves up for testing and slash or recruitment."
"Optimistic, aren't we?" Dauntless sighed. Bathory didn't really want anything with the cape scene but seemed involved with Epopeia to a degree, and through her, Parian. Nightingale was definitely sticking with Epopeia. Panacea, from what he had heard through Gallant almost definitely was now with Epopeia. Kanabo was with Epopeia and there was a chance Glory Girl might drop her family for a new team. Which, of course, was not Wards.
Their luck with recruitment was absolutely atrocious. He was starting to see why Armsmaster was always so high strung.
Elizabeth hummed to herself as she spread an outfit on her bed, a gift from Sabah to commemorate their… relationship. Ah, puppy love combined with natural bashfulness, all on a pretty, oriental face. Such an intoxicating mixture~. A shame she won't be able to share with Darling for quite some time yet. Alas, the modern age, despite being quite more liberal in a great many aspects, was more conservative in others. Bah, always a relaxing side-project for the future! Not everything had to bear all the seriousness of her career, after all.
Nodding to herself, she puffed her chest up, hands on hips and tail swooshing lazily. Even if this Earth was a dreary little place, things were definitely looking up.
THUD!
A dull, heavy thud shook her bedroom.
"Ah!" In the privacy of her room, she would not be ashamed to admit she jumped a little, spinning in place to face her door. Frowning, she approached them, opening them in a sharp, irritated motion.
…and felt her mouth dry as she was greeted not with the spiralling staircase, but a wall of grey, drab stone.
"Nonono…"
CLANG!
Spinning around again, she noted with dread that iron bars lined her windows now, too tight and dense to let her squeeze past, to just fly out.
"Nonono!" Whirling around to face her walled-in door again, she gathered all her strength and punched. "Ah!"
It hurt. Ithurtithurtithurt… It felt just like it did back when…
"B-bernadett?" She called out for her favourite Wraith. Only silence responded. "I-ivett? Cintia? Lashlo?! A-a-anyone?! Please, anyone! What's going on?!"
"Oh, you poor, confused, dumb little puppy." A voice purred from behind her, as Elizabeth found herself stiffening. That voice. Her voice!
Twisting around, she lashed out with her open hand–
–and cried out as it was caught and used to twist her right back, slamming her into the wall.
"Don't you get it, Erzsebeth?" The mocking voice whispered, warm breath tickling her neck and ear. "You had it too good. Unacceptable." She hissed, fingers clasping around Elizabeth's head as it was pushed harder against the cold stone, nails digging into her skin. "Why should a monster like you get to enjoy good things?"
"I am not–!" She tried to shout back, only for the grip to tighten, the wicked nails drawing blood.
"You are. And do you know why, little, foolish Eli? Because you are just a dumb, deluded me." She laughed, slow and low, a sound full of viciousness and cruelty. Of glee. "You've got so many tasty little lambs gathered in my castle, I should really thank you."
"Don't you dare!" She snarled, struggling against the hold. Her tail was not responding to her. Why?
"Hahaha! Or what? What can you do, foolish little girl, trapped in your bedroom to starve and die forgotten by the world. Again." A finger slid against the back of her neck and down her spine, the nail almost cutting her skin open. "Don't worry, I'll show those girls the full and undivided… Csejte Experience~."
"Darling will–!"
"Do nothing, Erzsebeth." She purred. "Not until too late. Because it's my castle. And then? Then it will be too late, and between done deal and Moriarty? No one will miss you."
Then, suddenly, She was gone, a black mist seeping through the cold stones.
Elizabeth curled her hands into fists, rage boiling in her veins so hot, she ignored the blood dripping from where her nails pierced the skin. She stared hatefully at the all-too-familiar stonework barring her path.
For some reason, her extra appendages felt alien to her, needing full focus to so much as awkwardly make them twitch. She felt weak, weaker than ever as a Servant.
That wouldn't do.
That wouldn't do at all.
An idol cannot disappoint her fans.
A woman, the love of her life.
With a snarl, she rushed back to her bed and focused.
"Master, I do not believe you were planning any redecorating in this direction." Nightingale stated grimly as they both watched Csejte's darkened walls, a thin layer of mist roiling off the brickwork. The castle proper was far more foreboding, splashed with patches of darkened, murky brown colour. Iron bars fitted into every window, moss hanging from the roofs and over the edges of the wall. The gates now of the same black iron, barred firmly shut.
Most damningly, the connection with Moriarty and Elizabeth was completely dead. Not gone, Outis could still feel their presence. Faintly, as if separated by great distance, but it was as if something was barring communication.
[Interlude: Beauty and the Beast]
[Csejte Castle has been transformed, the way inside seems barred to you and the fate of your allies within is unknown. Brave it's twisted halls, fighting off whatever assailed it and wrestle the control of your domain back.]
[Rewards: ???, ???, ???]
[For what it is worth, I was hoping to introduce you to events in a more pleasant way.]
Outis saw red.
AN: We interrupt your regularly scheduled golden gaytime for some cheap, Persona-style drama
As always, big thanks to Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya, Bowchikabowow. MetaWorld42, nununu, Just Some Guy With A Mustage, Ermast, Helios, Joshua Littlesun, [TEE],PlatiNom, Jose Matos, Soulsmsher, Altaibaatar, Ian DeHart, Brigand, Starfall 20 and ลิงติดเกม จากป่าดิบชื้นแถบอเมริกาใต้, saganatsu, Gabriel, Devan Duncan, Dodge the Lava, Aravir, Alys, Romain BETTINELLI, Phantsai and Austin who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.
By joining, you, too, can access two chapters ahead.
- Location
- Probably at sea
Oh hey, Taylor gets a cape name! Sadly, it doesn't seem like she's interested in joining The Police, even if Armsmaster would be Walking On The Moon if she decided to do so. I guess that's just not the Shape Of Her Heart.
Also, while I'm sure it's no fun for Outis or especially for Elizabeth, that's a really cool way to introduce Interludes! I wonder what triggered this one? There's probably a Bond prerequisite like there is in FGO, and judging by Liz's comments she and Outis did cross some kind of line offscreen, so maybe that's it? Looking forward to seeing how this shakes out!
- Location
- London
Bond 5 for Liz as well as confluence of her picking several relationships, especially with having multiple pretty girls at her castle. Carmilla, after all, is lesbian vampire archetype, so just going at it with Outis like rabbits, or the hypothetical scenario where Outis and Liz have mostly guys around, wouldn't trigger early Carmilla appearance.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Poor Liz, haunted by a spectre from her... Future, actually. If we're going chronological time vs what Servants operate off. It'd be tough to reconcile your current self with the monster you became in the past.
But hey, now she can bond with Amy on stuff besides romance and bedroom activities! They're both scared of themselves, heh.
But hey, now she can bond with Amy on stuff besides romance and bedroom activities! They're both scared of themselves, heh.
Nihilo
Authorial parasite
- Location
- Catalonia
We're actually playing on how it is a Dracula situation. Carmilla is an irish guy's lesbian erotica fanfic. Which somehow got glommed onto the political slander that got slung at Bathory.
Also, trust me. Liz is very much done being scared.
- Location
- England
I'm not sure where I should stand on conversion therapy to turn useless lesbians into non-useless lesbians. Against? Probably against.
Chapter 17: BnB-1 [Man Made Monster]
New
- Location
- London
January 18th
He knew what had happened.
There was only one thing that could warp the castle like this. That could turn his lover's home against her like this. He couldn't breathe, he could barely even move, body coiling and gnashing on itself. He was so mind-numbingly, blindingly apoplectic words were beyond him.
Only clean, pure intent.
[Mad Enhancement D→C]
Vertebrae crackled and popped, forming ridges down the back. Teeth piled on one another, as though scrabbling for dominance, cluttered rows of misshapen spikes. The jaw itself lengthened even as cheeks peeled back into a death's head grin. Red-tinted smog whistled through the forest of ivory with every breath. Limbs warped, muscle mass bulging only to be compressed and stretched out together with bone under invisible hands. The red wrappings looked like nothing but flayed muscle, tipped by unnaturally long digits. They weren't fingers, they were of no use for wielding tools or building, they were nothing but talons. Fit only for gouging and crushing.
The eyes, though. The eyes were human, for all they smouldered like hot coals. Only a human's eyes could hold so much hatred and disdain.
There was no Outis anymore. No he or she. Nothing but Red Berserker, a monster, an it.
Murky orange flashed in its claws, the sword all but growing from the monster's clenched claws. Twisted and jagged like its wielder, it didn't cut so much as rip through the black iron barring the way, bending and tearing and melting. The blade was mangled in a single blow, but the baleful red beating under its bronze skin forced the metal back into shape, cracking and screeching the whole way.
"Go." Berserker rumbled as a single yank from its claws had the bars fold open.
"Understood, Commander." The other Red Berserker on the team nodded, her own red eyes shining with intent as she pulled a gun from her bag. "Commencing Battlefield Rescue operations."
Wraiths armed with chains screeched at them.
Soon, they were screaming far louder.
Berserkers. She thought disdainfully, feeling her lips curl into a scowl, as she observed the two red dots crash into her front lawn. Barreling straight ahead with nary a thought of consequences.
True, Csejte wasn't exactly known for being impossible to get into but brute force tended to make the shortest paths. Even if the Nurse wasn't as insane as she remembered the woman being… no, precisely because of that. She would know how to direct that mindless fury by expenditure of personal experience.
But then, the Nurse was also a woman. A very fine one and predictable in her obsessions. She would scream. Scream and bleed and be all the more breathtaking for it~.
Let the pair of screeching madmen play daring heroes braving a monster's lair, chasing after their companions, loathe as she was to part with her playthings. They would buy her time, at least, to finish things here.
In the courtyard below, the two splashes of red finished dispatching the Wraiths, black smoke surrounding the pair. Glancing into the mirror's reflection, she frowned as she found Master's burning red eyes staring directly into hers–
… Ridiculous thought. There was no direct line of sight between them, and he was merely playing a Servant, not being one.
With a wave of her hand, she cut the connection and turned back to her personal guest. Shame she needed to work on the pretty thing in gloves, she bet her skin would feel wonderful, but she was not stupid.
Fortunately, Carmilla always had a way of bringing teenage girls to her perspective.
"I'm afraid we may be lost." Nightingale stated, annoyed, as they paused at the intersection of corridors. "Which is quite impressive for such a small castle, one which I previously familiarised myself with."
There didn't seem to be rhyme or reason to how the hallways would twist and turn, or where they would lead to. Almost. Any attempt to go up, or even in direction other than 'not down' seemed to be at the mercy of chance. The ill-lit halls of Csejte, with the lights vanquished, turned into a dark and confusing maze. At least they could reset the whole puzzle by jumping out of the window and into the courtyard.
Red Berserker took a deep, shuddering breath as its eyes closed for a moment. Madness twisted and gnawed on itself, warping under the weight of obsession. It wasn't clarity, not truly, but the monster steadied itself. Focused.
Familiar scents filled its nostrils as instincts forgotten by humanity took hold, false told from true instantly. Red eyes snapped open, locked into what seemed like an empty alcove. "Follow."
While they moved, a ball came bouncing off the walls, wrapped in paper and with far too much speed for anything natural (or even baseline human) to have launched it. It was also on a crash course with Nightingale's face. The Nurse, to her credit, took it in stride and merely waited until the last moment before catching it.
"Good to know the hijacker let Professor free reign of his limbs and brain. A classic mistake, really." Unfolding the paper, the woman scanned its contents before sighing. "Please, calm down, Master. You will need your faculties to more effectively plan this endeavour."
A long, strained growl was her answer. But the monster held still and to attention. Even in the throes of Madness, its trust in Moriarty's schemes could not be budged. Rage and hatred would not retreat, could not retreat, not here. Instead, they condensed, becoming boiling tar low in its chest. Waiting, simmering. "For their sake. Speak, please."
"Carmilla has bolstered the security of her personal lair with occult. We need to free others before we can confront her. There's four seals and four captives powering it. Professor is one of them. We need to confront her if we want to free Miss Elizabeth. Csejte will confound women, but has little effect on men." The Nurse spoke softly. "Professor may not know where others are, but Freeshooter cares not for distance, is fired by a man and can be guided by the bond."
That was all Red Berserker needed to hear, nostrils flaring for a moment before its head snapped towards the familiar scent of black tea, moustache oil and gunpowder. Even reduced to a monster, a Master remained a Master. "That way."
Ironically enough, the trail led them closer to the tower housing Elizabeth's solar, as well as Carmilla's heavy, blood-filled stench. The corridors seemed to grow darker and more forbidding the further they went, too. There were very few wraiths in those hallways too, dispersed almost insultingly easily. The great hall was abandoned, the crest of Bathory gone from its place of prominence, with black bat on dull red serving as a replacement. Then, behind the doors leading to the tower…
"Ah, you're here." Moriarty greeted them, cane tucked under his arm as he lounged on the stool, somehow, in front of a glowing, purple barrier with four sigils arranged in an 'X' pattern around the sigil of a bat in the centre. "It's a bit smaller scale than her usual, but funny how it operates on the exact same mechanics as Miss Elizabeth's usual, significantly more cheerful brand of trouble, is it not?"
The monster's glare said it all regarding its appreciation for the comparison. Carmilla was nothing but a spectre aping the real thing.
"I don't think the commander is finding the situation, or the comparison, particularly amusing, Professor." Nightingale answered dryly, approaching the barrier and giving it a rap of her knuckles. The surface rippled and rang like a graveyard bell, but otherwise didn't seem to change. "But yes. Starting at the finish only to have to round all the way back to the start is a classic. Nine months early, though."
"Mhm. Cannot fault me for trying to inject some levity into the situation!" He admitted with raised hands. "Now, Master, this is a little bit more open-ended than these things usually are, we have complete flexibility in how we go around breaking others out." Moriarty explained as he stood up. "Freischultz would work best with… Miss Sabah, I believe, then Miss Katsumi. Unfortunately, there's nothing to work with regarding Miss Victoria for me."
"Also, dealing with the obligatory guardian." Nightingale pointed out succinctly, nodding at the writhing mass of shadows blocking the entrance.
It was a true struggle, keeping from tearing at the barrier, trying to rip out the shadows and ride the screaming carcass all the way to Liz's freedom. But a single swipe of its claws told Red Berserker all it needed to know. There was nothing to do but follow its Servants' lead, as much as it made the tar bubbling in its guts froth up to its throat, having its goal waved in front of its face. "Elizabeth. I will be. Back."
"Doesn't it strike you as a bit… hasty?"
"From what I've heard from some of my patients, if anything, it was Miss Kyrielight who was an outlier."
"Explains why she lost in the end, I suppose."
Its piece said and the colourful commentary ignored, the monster turned its back on the barrier, inhaling deep enough to stir up a breeze. Leather, cloth and dyes; varnish, sweat and lingering aroma of alcohol; overpriced artisanal shampoo, secondhand cigarette smoke and ozone. The scent of Amy's gloves, cheap smokes and surgical soap was entirely missing.
…No. It wasn't missing, it was hidden under the stench of the pretender. The growl was low in Berserker's throat, deep and rumbling.
The bubbling mass of darkness coalesced into a more solid shape, Red Berserker whirling around the moment it started to slough off the barrier. It was a grey skinned hulking monstrosity with curved horns and massive, leathery wings. Red eyes burned with hungering hatred as it flexed long, steel-grey claws. Its presence filled the room, pushing on the minds of its opponents.
"One of those already? Maybe she is taking this seriously after all?" Moriarty hummed as he spun his cane around, a sharp hold bringing it into a shooting position. A finger squeezed the hidden trigger and the rifle barked out, a gleaming, silver bullet shooting for the bat monster. It raised a paw in defence, only for the Professor to slide the muzzle of his gun-cane, causing the bullet to swerve at a sharp angle around the limb. A few more motions and it struck against the beast's eye. It growled, shadows filling the bleeding wound but otherwise appeared unharmed. "And as formidable as ever."
It howled, a loud, hollow roar and leapt forward, claws outstretched as its wings gave it extra speed. Speed that was handily outmatched by a red comet in the throes of Madness, a steely heel smashing between its shoulderblades and warped fingers wasting absolutely no time tearing off the wings with the same motion.
Almost as an afterthought, dust showered down from the spot in the ceiling Berserker had springboarded off of. Violet Caster may have to fix those cracked bricks.
The demonic beast howled in equal parts pain and rage. Its thin tail lashed out like a whip, leaving an angry mark on Red Berserker's skin, even as it twisted its body as if the spine was more of a suggestion than a restriction it should be. Before its claws could rake against the monster that had been Outis, its left leg gave in under a two handed hammer strike from Nightingale, who ducked under the retaliatory swipe.
Of course, the berserk monster wasn't idle during this. Dark blue light flashed as it lunged and suddenly there was a wooden shaft crushing the beast's windpipe, an unforgiving knee making its vertebrae crackle and pop from the opposite side. A snarling, choking roar was silenced when another bullet buzzed straight into the maw before swerving directly upwards. The beast slacked in Red Berserker's merciless grip, before sloughing into black goo, which slowly evaporated. It only left behind a golden box, gone too as Da'at snatched it.
"Seasonal variants." Moriarty shook his head. "Explains why it felt easier than usual for its kind."
"Good. Now, let's find Miss Sabah, if you would be so kind, Professor? She is the only noncombatant in the castle, and as such should take priority." Nightingale demanded as she focused her attention on tending to Red Berserker's superficial wound.
The monster bore it with no complaint, wordlessly cooperating with the Nurse of Steel. It was Mad, not stupid.
The Mockery ignored her as she entered the solar, so focused It was on Young Mistress' latest… playmate. The poor dear held admirably, so far, keeping silent while It rambled at her while Its hands wandered over the exposed bits of the mousy girl's skin. If they didn't grab one of the… tools It laid out on the table beside them to use instead. It was, unfortunately, smart enough not to allow direct skin contact. Not smart enough to not ignore her completely as she put down the pitcher of wine and a pair of cups on the table for It to tempt and cajole with.
Nobility, especially as they were in the stories, oft ignored their servants as anything more than moving fixtures of the background, and It was a creature particularly defined by its story.
Why would a 'countess' pay attention to what her faithful, bound attendant did? When she was busy 'entertaining' a guest? She was beneath notice of nobility.
Certainly, she was beneath notice enough that when a violet card went missing from its spot on the table, it was attributed either to carelessness or Young Master's strange magics revoking Its access to one of his tools.
Bernadett gave a shallow, as shallow as she could get away with, bow before she closed the door. It pained her to leave young Amelia behind, but she was but an echo Young Mistress allowed to resound in the halls of their home. She could certainly not defeat It.
She didn't need to. Coming to a stop before that abominable wall trapping Young Mistress in her room, she knelt and slid the card under the small gap in the stonework. That small bit of pointless cruelty would come in handy, for once.
The corridors felt less confusing, with Moriarty in the party, either because he was the one leading them or his 'freedom' weakening some of Csejte's effect. Regardless of the cause of their easier travel, his abuse of Freeshooter led the party of three deep into servant quarters. The Wraiths kept being persistent, but before a pair of Berserkers, they were almost literal chaff before the wind, even when it looked as if there were more of them in this part of the castle.
"Nothing more than an annoying bait." Moriarty speculated as he strolled idly after his companions. "Most likely banking on the fact the two of you are Berserkers. Incite you enough, get adrenaline surging consistently and you will just blindly, obediently attack whatever hostile looking thing you are presented with."
Red Berserker snorted derisively, a great big plume of coppery smog. Its Madness was obsession, not mindless aggression. As for Nightingale? It would never allow Madness to warp that formidable woman.
"Arrogance is a particularly crafty virus." Nightingale clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Especially given how many of us, EX-ranked, obsessed maniacs Chaldea had."
"You do have to admit that many violent monomanias isn't the natural state of being." Moriarty deflected mildly. "Your typical Berserker is more along the lines of young Fran, or that depressing knight. Easy to rile up, hard to stop, difficult to direct. I am, in fact, impressed with the Master handling his current state so well."
"Goal first. Listen to nurse. Trust schemer. Simple." The berserk monster rumbled with a note of what could very well be humour.
"Trust a schemer. Such a delightful paradox." Moriarty chuckled as he reached out to ruffle Red Berserker's hair, who took it without complaint. Embarrassment was for the sane. "Now I am wondering how interesting Ritsuka's stint as a Berserker would go if that's your attitude towards these things."
"Maximum bond with female Servant within twenty four hours." Nightingale dryly disapproved, a hands tightening as the Freeshooter led them towards her infirmary. This close, Sabah's scents were mixed heavily with metallic tint of rust and heavy smell of gunpowder. "I will admit to being unsure what, exactly, we will find behind the doors. Miss Elizabeth's trouble can be infuriatingly unpredictable like that." She sighed, Moriarty nodding along.
"Copper and rust. Iron maiden." The monster grunted. What else could it be, given Carmilla? One with guns or explosives, maybe, given the other scent.
"I'm taking point." Nightingale declared, her magical energy swelling as she readied her Noble Phantasm. Then, the Head Nurse kicked the door to the infirmary open as Nightingale Pledge illuminated the corridor and the room with pale, blue light.
A good thing too, as they were greeted with the whir of a rotary cannon which was denied its ability to drown them in bullets. A golem replica of Elizabeth, streaks of rust-red marring its dull, grey chassis, stood in the middle of infirmary, pointing one of its limbs at them. The golem dipped its head down to stare at its armament in confusion at the lack of hail of bullets.
[Caster: Iron Maiden Millarca von Karnstein, Guardian of the Orient]
[STR: B-, AGI: E, END: B-]
"So she dug up that thing?" Moriarty clicked his tongue with an exasperated shake of his head as the clumsy, mobile prison retracted its cannon back into its arm and crouched low. "And of course she would let her spite make it worse."
"It would've been actually dangerous otherwise. Still, since Miss Parian is almost definitely inside it, I would suggest going for a different approach than just breaking it with brute force."
Red Berserker hadn't exactly stopped, fully trusting Nightingale's Phantasm. It couldn't attack, but it could observe. Especially with the visage of Elizabeth in front of it, however rough it may be. The golem's eyes shone yellow as they stared back into Berserker's own, yet the lights behind them flickered as if the machine was malfunctioning. There was a distinct rattling noise when the head swivelled to track it.
"I am guessing the decrease in parameters is due to being hollowed out to host a prisoner." Moriarty theoreticised as he observed the golem's lack of movement as it waited for Nightingale's Noble Phantasm to time out. "It's still a lump of high quality steel, so the degradation isn't too bad.
"Miss Elizabeth would likely shake her head. That girl goes all out when tinkering to bring her ideas to completion and wouldn't accept such… half measures." The nurse agreed with a sigh, even as the pair cautiously observed their Master and opponent slash hostage.
Nightingale Pledge prohibited hostile action. There was nothing hostile in the monster as warped fingers wrapped around the automaton's chin and forced it to show the back of its metal skull. A panel had been roughly torn out, with card-like pieces of plastic and circuit halfway out of their sockets. The too-dark blood oozing out of them was likely the reason, turning into a disgusting smog as it dripped out and was exposed to the Head Nurse's light.
Pull, blow out the curse smoke, slot back in.
The golem jerked as it stood back up, its eyes turning off and on again a couple of times in simulation of blinking, its tail smashing into the ground once then another before, with a screech of blade against stone, it pulled the appendage back up.
"Elizabeth-Pattern Csejte Defense System Mk.II is now fully back online." It spoke as it stared at Red Berserker, tilting its head. "Thank you for restoring the full functionality of my logic circuits. This is why amateurs should not be allowed to make modifications." It shook its head, raising its hands in a gesture of exasperation.
"A bit crude, but I suppose a successful brain surgery is a successful brain surgery." Nightingale nodded approvingly at the interaction as she let her Noble Phantasm fade.
The monster proved that it truly was Outis under the Madness by patting the golem's head. The golem blinked again as it stared back. "That was unnecessary. I do not receive the tactile sensations the same way organics do, and it has not damaged my chassis so there was no report?" It sounded genuinely confused. Then, it blinked again. "Speaking of, excuse me, but I must run a diagnostic, my weight seems to be off…" The lights in its eyes dimmed for a second, before the golem visibly startled.
"WHY AM I MISSING ALL OF MY INTERNALS?!" It screeched despairingly. "WAITWAITWAIT, WHY IS THERE A HUMAN INSIDE?!" Mk.II backed away from Red Berserker as it spun in place, fumbling with itself. Cute, as expected of something patterned after Elizabeth. "I AM NOT DESIGNED FOR HUMAN STORAGE! I AM A DEFENSIVE WEAPONS PLATFORM, NOT A POWER ARMOUR! THIS CANNOT BE OPTIMAL! OR SAFE! OR HEALTHY!"
"Her priorities leave something to be desired." Nightingale grunted.
The golem flailed around for another moment before it found whatever it was it was looking for. With a hiss, her front split and swung wide open, causing Sabah to fall out, wide eyed and pale.
Red Berserker caught her, of course. Although that came with its own issues. The poor girl went completely stiff at the first sight of Red Berserker's face, shutting her eyes as she whimperingly stuttered pleas in Persian.
"Allow me, commander." Nightingale sighed as she stepped to her fellow Berserker's side and gently grabbed the shorter girl, spinning her with surprising gentleness before pushing the girl's face into her bust as she cradled the shocked parahuman in her arms. "Here, Miss Sabah, it's okay now, you are safe, hmmm?"
She was in good care, so the monster took the time to tap Mk2's shoulder, just enough force to make the joint shift and get its attention. It was easier, keeping the rage at a low, sickly simmer with a replica of Elizabeth. Even if it only made its purpose weight all the heavier. "Metal and oil. That way."
The machine shook its head. "Appreciated, but while I can perform self-maintenance, re-installing my internal components after such a haphazard modification is too delicate an operation for me to attempt in current condition." She gave Red Berserker a thumbs up regardless. "I still have my cannons and while my weight has been greatly reduced, it is more than sufficient for anything but that batty invader." Mk.2 tilted her head to get a better look around Outis, where Parian was calming down. Still skittish and trembling, but her breathing was getting better.
Nodding, she stepped around and approached the bed on which the two women were seated before falling to her knees, placing her hands in front of her head. The clamour of metal falling on the stone startled Parian enough for her to turn around to look at Mk.2 with wide eyes.
Nightingale's firm grip on the girl most likely prevented her from doing anything rash.
"I'M REALLY SORRY!" Mk.2 screamed as it slammed its forehead against the floor. "I SHOULD'VE BEEN ABLE TO FIGHT OFF THAT INVADER SO THAT YOU WOULDN'T COME TO YOUR IMPRISONMENT! PLEASE, I'M READY TO OFFER ANY PENANCE!"
"I-it's fine, miss." Parian whispered softly, shaking her head. "I… I don't really understand everything that happened, but Masters and Strangers like this… Carmilla… they aren't new."
"Local terms for power theming." Moriarty piped in from his spot on the chair by one of the beds closer to the door.
"We are all… related." Mk.2 lied with perfect poker face only a machine with no facial musculature could achieve. "Elizabeth, me, Mk. 1 and Carmilla."
"Amongst a few other girls."
"Carmilla appreciates the fact the least. I mean, me and Mk. 1 don't particularly approve of Elizabeth either," The golem shrugged, completely oblivious to peoples' reactions to the blunt statement. Which was a feat given how Red Berserker's eyes were all but burning a hole on the back of her skull, "But we are willing to just live and let live. Carmilla does not. It was, in my opinion, inevitable she would show up to do what she could to tear Elizabeth down as hard as possible."
"Specter." The monster rumbled, so low it was more felt than heard. "Caricature. Fabrication. Worse than. Gilles' work."
That version of Jeanne had grown into her own person. Carmilla only existed to tear down Elizabeth, nothing but character assassination given a gaudy dress.
"Don't have too much room for throwing stones, do I?" Mk.2 asked wryly, twisting around to look at Red Berserker as it ran one of its hands from top down its torso. Shaking its head, it runed back to Parian. "Still, you are a guest of the castle, so it's unacceptable you've come to harm under my watch."
"Should we point out to her that she can hardly be blamed for what happened when she was… offline?"
"They have always been perfectly happy to apply retroactive reasoning to their logic, professor."
"As a recompense, I'd be perfectly happy making sure you're safe while Elizabeth's… other bed warmer." Mk.2 paused to select perhaps the most scandalous words it could, especially judging Parian's blush. "Deals with Carmilla. I'll understand if you would rather not, given…"
"–she turned you into my extremely claustrophobic prison?" Parian finished for the golem with a bitter laugh. "Fucking Masters." The Iranian cape shook her head. "I knew I would be the target at some point, I even accepted Liz's deal knowing it would cause the Empire to potentially target me. Having some psychotic eldest sibling choosing the worst possible way of dealing with her feelings of inadequacy make me a collateral to her scheme… is certainly a way to get started on these things. But, as long as I don't see your insides again, I should be fine."
"Good! That's good. That you don't mind me, I mean." Mk.2 replied cheerfully, and with only a minor hiccup, as it rose to her feet. Its right arm unfolded back into the rotary cannon, which it slapped against its chest in a version of salute. "Elizabeth-Pattern Csejte Defense System Mk.II will make sure you are as safe as any princess in a castle tower, miss Parian!"
The girl in question just ducked her head low, blush evident, as she fidgeted on a supremely unimpressed Nightingale's lap.
"You might want to come up with an actual name for yourself, dear." Moriarty sighed as he stood up. "For expediency's sake at the very least. It'd also be easier for people under your protection to sign your praises with a single word, y'know." He added with a knowing smirk while Mk.2 nodded. While the golem's face was a fixed piece of metal, it was clear it was seriously considering the argument.
The Wraiths infesting the corridors weren't exactly a great threat before, but with Parian's release, somehow, they became more… docile. Less willing to engage Red Berserker at the very least, and their weapons shifted, from chains and bindings to clubs and knives.
"It's rather clear that the prisoners contribute to the castle's security." Nightingale hummed as she dispatched a lunging Wraith with a clinical grab by the wrist and threw it into a wall. "Although the corridors becoming more navigable could've been chalked up to greater ratio of men than women in the group, and a man taking the lead interfering with Csejte's legend."
[Correct. However, the format we are presented with is unprecedented so I cannot predict the effects of taking things in the order you've chosen.]
"Well, obviously I had to be first, or else they wouldn't get anything done." Moriarty harrumphed.
"Not necessarily, Professor. We were lost, yes, but still inside the castle and, technically speaking, not trying to get out, so I bet we would get to one of the hostages eventually." The Nurse of Steel countered.
[At the very least, I believe the guardians will be harder and harder the longer they are left alone.]
[I do not know whether or not the other Mecha-Elizabeth will be waiting for us with Kanabo or not.]
"Probably not." Moriarty shook his head. "They are supposed to be flight capable, you know? If the castle bases its security features on parahuman powers, I'd bet the other one is containing Miss Victoria… which, in turn, will allow it to fly beyond Master's range if we try to repeat the previous approach."
Red Berserker made a confused grunt, Da'at helpfully translating.
[Flight doesn't seem particularly advantageous indoors, speed boost aside.]
"There's more than one tower to this castle, Master." The criminal mastermind reminded them smugly. "Making us waste more time by putting one of the prisoners far away from the others is elementary logic."
"Careful, Professor, your nemesis is rubbing off on you." Nightingale deadpanned, ignoring the man's indignant squawk. "Even if you are correct. Especially since Miss Katsumi seems to have been deposited into dungeons, to add another layer of distance."
[As long as Master does not treat the tower as an excuse to replicate Reichenbach.]
"One time!"
Even through the hatred and wroth roiling in its gut, Red Berserker managed to crack something resembling a smile. The banter was soothing. "Lucha."
Clearly unimpressed, Nightingale's gaze bored into the Master. "That's not the counterpoint you might think it is, Commander." She stated flatly. "Had Miss Quetzalcoatl not been such a… good sport about it, that would have been the end of things."
[Good sport is certainly a way to put it.]
Traversing the rest of the dungeons had been a similarly languid affair, the number of wraiths respawning to bar the path trickling down to nothing even as the scent of the blood and the chime of the loosely hanging chains filled the air. Then…
CLANG
The sound of steel hitting steel. The frenetic rhythm of blades clashing and bodies hitting the stone.
The main chamber of the dungeon was dim, barely lit by the torches put on the walls, the flames flickering as the pressurised air blew by. In the middle of it, Katsumi stood, a bit wobbly, sweat trickling down her skin, surrounded by the black armoured shadows. The floor around her was cracked, same with the walls around the chamber.
[Saber: The Memory of Oni Hunter]
[STR: B AGI: E END: C]
There was an additional enemy, seated on the throne at the back of the chamber, hidden by its black armour blending in with the surrounding darkness. It might have been a surprise, if not for Da'at being a cheat code of privacy violations.
"Ah, lovely." Moriarty choked out.
Red Berserker made a noise like a dying cat, gut instinct telling it what James' brain had provided the old man. Didn't stop it from immediately calling a bloated mockery of Green Archer's bow and loosing a javelin sized arrow at the Shadow Servant. The massive arrow hurled through the air in a vortex of crimson mana, energy crackling alongside its shaft, a streak of baleful light which struck the throne…
To the sound of thunderclap and a blinding flash of light.
A cloud of dust kicked up even as warriors surrounding Kanabo vanished and the oni-girl immediately took advantage to dive towards the party. "'sup boss." She gasped as she leaned into Nightingale's analytical embrace. "How long?"
Berserker grunted out something vaguely resembling a greeting, already holding another arrow drawn back and ready for the millisecond it sniffed out where the Shadow was. It would have crushed a man's spine and torn his muscles to shreds to hold the grotesque bow like this, but that was of no concern to a monster.
"Six hours." Moriarty provided helpfully, without looking away from the slowly settling cloud. "I take it you have had a more active time than me?"
"Fuckin' endless duels while the goth bitch watched like some morning cartoon baddie." The girl chuckled weakly. "They suck, more or less, but they just… keep comin'."
Moriarty nodded and squeezed the trigger of his cane-rifle, the bullet whizzing unerringly into the darkness, only for the unmistakable sound of parry sound out. That was all Berserker needed to aim the spear it called an arrow and loose.
The thunder roared again and the dark blur shot past the projectile as the steel flashed in the dim light. Katsumi heaved and sprang from Nightingale's grasp, bringing her bat up in a swift motion, gripping it from both ends.
"Gah!" Her knees buckled underneath her as the shadowy silhouette of a demon slayer drove her into the ground through sheer, brutal force of the blow, electricity coursing through her as the lighting ground itself.
The shadows washed away from the generous figure of their enemy to reveal an emotionless… no, a cold, merciless visage that stared down at oni-like cape with muted, murderous intent. The Shadow Servant slid her blade down Katsumi's bat with a screech of metal even as a knee strike drove the breath out of the teen's lungs and flung her back.
Right in time for Red Berserker to smash into the pale copy's back like a runaway freight train, tackling her even as the bow's body found its way around her throat. Instead of fighting it, the Oni Hunter silently slammed her head into Red Berserker's face.
A few teeth shattered and fell. That was fine, it had plenty more. Something it introduced the sorry imitation of the Mystery Slayer to by testing how strong a Shadow Servant's skull was. The woman kept silent even as she slashed seemingly blindly with the blade still in her hand - enough to keep Moriarty back and not take another shot, at the very least. Blood, or the shadow of it, trickled down the Shadows face in the streams of evaporating darkness. Lightning arced over Saber's body as she reached overhead with a hand and clamped around Red Berserker's skull with a vice grip.
A wild kick sent a cracked stone into Moriarty, forcing the man to dodge as the two madmen played chicken with their skulls.
"Nightingale Pledge!" The Nurse's voice rang out, choked and raspy as she forced the activation of her Noble Phantasm again. Oni Slayer took advantage of the inability to be hurt to rip Red Berserker off her skull and threw it over the shoulder at the true Servants. "Commander… haaah… remember that your life is… critical." Red eyes bore intently into Red Berserker's as the quickly fading trump card nonetheless healed him, cracked bone and missing teeth mending and filling out.
"By the power. Of this. Command Seal. Florence Nightingale. Be restored." The monster said by way of apology, its left hand raised high. Warped and fused with cloth its palm may be, the mark of a Master shone bright and clear.
An almost translucent veil of pale azure surrounded Nightingale as the woman's chest rose with a deep, slow breath before she exhaled long and equally slow, red eyes shining with new light when she opened them. Silently, she nodded towards Berserker before focusing on the enemy.
"Servants with Eternal Mastery have always been such a pain to put down." Moriarty added slowly as he kept aim at the Saber who simply backed away to her throne, visible in the light of Nightingale's Noble Phantasm now, and ripped out one of the chains dangling from the walls, wrapping it around her hand, a bit of masonry still hanging on the other end.
"Don't know all the details, but guessin' that's your cape terminology and stuff?" Katsumi asked as she rejoined them, eyeing the Shadow warily.
"Something like that. She is actually something of a Projection, but has all the skills of the original she is based on." Moriarty agreed.
"Lovely. Bitch hits harder than Glory." The oni cape groaned, rolling her shoulders. "Still, someone gotta keep the boss from killing himself, eh?"
"It would be appreciated, yes." The elderly man nodded agreeably. "I am not exactly a brawler type-" [Unless detectives are involved.] "-and Head Nurse's way of dealing with damage would be counterproductive."
"Well, I did sign up for actually doing something for a change and getting hit in retaliation." The girl rolled her shoulders. "What 'bout Parian? I think she was swingin' by to visit Bathory?"
"Safety of noncombatants has been prioritised." Nightingale spoke up. "I am dropping the Pledge in five." She added a warning.
[Kanabo Bond Level 3 gained]
[Temporary Party Membership requirements met.]
[Adding to the party…]
"Aight, let's ball!" She grinned, standing side by side with Red Berserker, bat held in both hands in front of her like a sword while behind them, Moriarty prepared his gun cane.
"She is naturally slower than our illustrious boss and me, so she uses her lighting boost primarily for speed." The man warned just as the azure light of Nightingale's Noble Phantasm started flickering. "But be ready for her to pump it into offence at a moment's notice."
Murky indigo light bubbled from the monster's warped hands, a pair of hooked blades blooming out from between its knuckles. It knew better than to upset the Nurse of Steel twice.
The Pledge dropped, returning the chamber to the dim darkness, the crack of Moriarty's gun drowned by the boom of thunder as the Shadow charged the chain in her hand pulled with such force it effortlessly imitated a whip, smacking the bullet out of the air. Then, she was between Kanabo and Red Berserker, the chain wrapping around the former's bat while Saber thrust at the latter.
CLANG
In a heartbeat, Moriarty's cane batted the blade away. The Shadow twisted her lips in a sneer as she pulled with both hands on the chain and yanked, swinging Kanabo's weapon out of her hands and in an arc at Red Berserker's legs. The madman just counterlunged to catch the bat in his own, spiked hands. At least that was the intent as the bat snapped in his grip with barely any resistance.
Shadow Saber stepped back, lightning pooling around her feet to retreat towards her sword. She didn't get to complete the move when Kanabo tackled her, arms wrapping around the oni hunter's midsection and horns goring the flesh on the unprotected breast. The inky, mist-like blackness the shadow Servants had in place of the blood sprayed Kanabo's face. Shadow let out a soundless gasp before grabbing the girl's skull between her horns and pushing against her. Lightning lashed as the blue-skinned cape struggled to keep her head from being snapped back by sheer brute force.
Lightning that made the Shadow deaf and blind to the true Berserker in the room for just a heartbeat too long, the first thing she saw of the red comet planting its heels on the oni's shoulders was a hook punching through her eye. The first thing Shadow Raikou heard from the monster was the shockwave of its leap, cartilage and vertebrae tearing like so much rubber as the fake's head was all but nailed to the dungeon's ceiling.
Thankfully, while oni blood she may have, Shuten's refusal to stop fighting past decapitation she lacked. Her grip slackened and the imitation of the demon slayer staggered back and collapsed to the floor, starting to melt into the shadows wreathing it as the eye hanging from the ceiling turned glassy. In moments, there was no trace of her existence, even her weapon gone.
There was, however, an orange Class Card lying on the floor.
[That would, I suppose, explain the class change.]
"Oh hey, new person?" Katsumi perked up while she grabbed her Card from the floor. "Install!"
[Technically speaking, I was Outis' first co-worker.] Da'at explained languidly. [There's simply a few caveats for me to be able to interact with others.]
"Got it, funky powers business." Katsumi shrugged, blinking at the mace hanging off of her waist as the Card's transformation subsided. "Ooookay, that's new. I know I don't have my stuff for my power to force things through, but what gives?"
[We have found that things on my end do like to play up to stereotypes.]
"Shit, you too?" Katsumi chortled. "That must be rough. Aight, so what next?"
[Since your power source isn't exactly hostile, it's probably a beneficial change in the long run.]
[I suspect this particular Saber card might be locked into this weapon path.]
"Now, we need to go find miss Victoria." Moriarty explained as he massaged his cane arm with a slight grimace. "Carmilla used four prisoners as means of making herself unreachable, so we must free everyone before we can proceed."
Katsumi nodded as she hefted the bonking stick she was granted by the system. "'kay, you can fill me on the way while I decry having to face off against a flying brick."
By joining, you, too, can access two chapters ahead.
He knew what had happened.
There was only one thing that could warp the castle like this. That could turn his lover's home against her like this. He couldn't breathe, he could barely even move, body coiling and gnashing on itself. He was so mind-numbingly, blindingly apoplectic words were beyond him.
Only clean, pure intent.
[Mad Enhancement D→C]
Vertebrae crackled and popped, forming ridges down the back. Teeth piled on one another, as though scrabbling for dominance, cluttered rows of misshapen spikes. The jaw itself lengthened even as cheeks peeled back into a death's head grin. Red-tinted smog whistled through the forest of ivory with every breath. Limbs warped, muscle mass bulging only to be compressed and stretched out together with bone under invisible hands. The red wrappings looked like nothing but flayed muscle, tipped by unnaturally long digits. They weren't fingers, they were of no use for wielding tools or building, they were nothing but talons. Fit only for gouging and crushing.
The eyes, though. The eyes were human, for all they smouldered like hot coals. Only a human's eyes could hold so much hatred and disdain.
There was no Outis anymore. No he or she. Nothing but Red Berserker, a monster, an it.
Murky orange flashed in its claws, the sword all but growing from the monster's clenched claws. Twisted and jagged like its wielder, it didn't cut so much as rip through the black iron barring the way, bending and tearing and melting. The blade was mangled in a single blow, but the baleful red beating under its bronze skin forced the metal back into shape, cracking and screeching the whole way.
"Go." Berserker rumbled as a single yank from its claws had the bars fold open.
"Understood, Commander." The other Red Berserker on the team nodded, her own red eyes shining with intent as she pulled a gun from her bag. "Commencing Battlefield Rescue operations."
Wraiths armed with chains screeched at them.
Soon, they were screaming far louder.
Berserkers. She thought disdainfully, feeling her lips curl into a scowl, as she observed the two red dots crash into her front lawn. Barreling straight ahead with nary a thought of consequences.
True, Csejte wasn't exactly known for being impossible to get into but brute force tended to make the shortest paths. Even if the Nurse wasn't as insane as she remembered the woman being… no, precisely because of that. She would know how to direct that mindless fury by expenditure of personal experience.
But then, the Nurse was also a woman. A very fine one and predictable in her obsessions. She would scream. Scream and bleed and be all the more breathtaking for it~.
Let the pair of screeching madmen play daring heroes braving a monster's lair, chasing after their companions, loathe as she was to part with her playthings. They would buy her time, at least, to finish things here.
In the courtyard below, the two splashes of red finished dispatching the Wraiths, black smoke surrounding the pair. Glancing into the mirror's reflection, she frowned as she found Master's burning red eyes staring directly into hers–
… Ridiculous thought. There was no direct line of sight between them, and he was merely playing a Servant, not being one.
With a wave of her hand, she cut the connection and turned back to her personal guest. Shame she needed to work on the pretty thing in gloves, she bet her skin would feel wonderful, but she was not stupid.
Fortunately, Carmilla always had a way of bringing teenage girls to her perspective.
"I'm afraid we may be lost." Nightingale stated, annoyed, as they paused at the intersection of corridors. "Which is quite impressive for such a small castle, one which I previously familiarised myself with."
There didn't seem to be rhyme or reason to how the hallways would twist and turn, or where they would lead to. Almost. Any attempt to go up, or even in direction other than 'not down' seemed to be at the mercy of chance. The ill-lit halls of Csejte, with the lights vanquished, turned into a dark and confusing maze. At least they could reset the whole puzzle by jumping out of the window and into the courtyard.
Red Berserker took a deep, shuddering breath as its eyes closed for a moment. Madness twisted and gnawed on itself, warping under the weight of obsession. It wasn't clarity, not truly, but the monster steadied itself. Focused.
Familiar scents filled its nostrils as instincts forgotten by humanity took hold, false told from true instantly. Red eyes snapped open, locked into what seemed like an empty alcove. "Follow."
While they moved, a ball came bouncing off the walls, wrapped in paper and with far too much speed for anything natural (or even baseline human) to have launched it. It was also on a crash course with Nightingale's face. The Nurse, to her credit, took it in stride and merely waited until the last moment before catching it.
"Good to know the hijacker let Professor free reign of his limbs and brain. A classic mistake, really." Unfolding the paper, the woman scanned its contents before sighing. "Please, calm down, Master. You will need your faculties to more effectively plan this endeavour."
A long, strained growl was her answer. But the monster held still and to attention. Even in the throes of Madness, its trust in Moriarty's schemes could not be budged. Rage and hatred would not retreat, could not retreat, not here. Instead, they condensed, becoming boiling tar low in its chest. Waiting, simmering. "For their sake. Speak, please."
"Carmilla has bolstered the security of her personal lair with occult. We need to free others before we can confront her. There's four seals and four captives powering it. Professor is one of them. We need to confront her if we want to free Miss Elizabeth. Csejte will confound women, but has little effect on men." The Nurse spoke softly. "Professor may not know where others are, but Freeshooter cares not for distance, is fired by a man and can be guided by the bond."
That was all Red Berserker needed to hear, nostrils flaring for a moment before its head snapped towards the familiar scent of black tea, moustache oil and gunpowder. Even reduced to a monster, a Master remained a Master. "That way."
Ironically enough, the trail led them closer to the tower housing Elizabeth's solar, as well as Carmilla's heavy, blood-filled stench. The corridors seemed to grow darker and more forbidding the further they went, too. There were very few wraiths in those hallways too, dispersed almost insultingly easily. The great hall was abandoned, the crest of Bathory gone from its place of prominence, with black bat on dull red serving as a replacement. Then, behind the doors leading to the tower…
"Ah, you're here." Moriarty greeted them, cane tucked under his arm as he lounged on the stool, somehow, in front of a glowing, purple barrier with four sigils arranged in an 'X' pattern around the sigil of a bat in the centre. "It's a bit smaller scale than her usual, but funny how it operates on the exact same mechanics as Miss Elizabeth's usual, significantly more cheerful brand of trouble, is it not?"
The monster's glare said it all regarding its appreciation for the comparison. Carmilla was nothing but a spectre aping the real thing.
"I don't think the commander is finding the situation, or the comparison, particularly amusing, Professor." Nightingale answered dryly, approaching the barrier and giving it a rap of her knuckles. The surface rippled and rang like a graveyard bell, but otherwise didn't seem to change. "But yes. Starting at the finish only to have to round all the way back to the start is a classic. Nine months early, though."
"Mhm. Cannot fault me for trying to inject some levity into the situation!" He admitted with raised hands. "Now, Master, this is a little bit more open-ended than these things usually are, we have complete flexibility in how we go around breaking others out." Moriarty explained as he stood up. "Freischultz would work best with… Miss Sabah, I believe, then Miss Katsumi. Unfortunately, there's nothing to work with regarding Miss Victoria for me."
"Also, dealing with the obligatory guardian." Nightingale pointed out succinctly, nodding at the writhing mass of shadows blocking the entrance.
It was a true struggle, keeping from tearing at the barrier, trying to rip out the shadows and ride the screaming carcass all the way to Liz's freedom. But a single swipe of its claws told Red Berserker all it needed to know. There was nothing to do but follow its Servants' lead, as much as it made the tar bubbling in its guts froth up to its throat, having its goal waved in front of its face. "Elizabeth. I will be. Back."
"Doesn't it strike you as a bit… hasty?"
"From what I've heard from some of my patients, if anything, it was Miss Kyrielight who was an outlier."
"Explains why she lost in the end, I suppose."
Its piece said and the colourful commentary ignored, the monster turned its back on the barrier, inhaling deep enough to stir up a breeze. Leather, cloth and dyes; varnish, sweat and lingering aroma of alcohol; overpriced artisanal shampoo, secondhand cigarette smoke and ozone. The scent of Amy's gloves, cheap smokes and surgical soap was entirely missing.
…No. It wasn't missing, it was hidden under the stench of the pretender. The growl was low in Berserker's throat, deep and rumbling.
The bubbling mass of darkness coalesced into a more solid shape, Red Berserker whirling around the moment it started to slough off the barrier. It was a grey skinned hulking monstrosity with curved horns and massive, leathery wings. Red eyes burned with hungering hatred as it flexed long, steel-grey claws. Its presence filled the room, pushing on the minds of its opponents.
"One of those already? Maybe she is taking this seriously after all?" Moriarty hummed as he spun his cane around, a sharp hold bringing it into a shooting position. A finger squeezed the hidden trigger and the rifle barked out, a gleaming, silver bullet shooting for the bat monster. It raised a paw in defence, only for the Professor to slide the muzzle of his gun-cane, causing the bullet to swerve at a sharp angle around the limb. A few more motions and it struck against the beast's eye. It growled, shadows filling the bleeding wound but otherwise appeared unharmed. "And as formidable as ever."
It howled, a loud, hollow roar and leapt forward, claws outstretched as its wings gave it extra speed. Speed that was handily outmatched by a red comet in the throes of Madness, a steely heel smashing between its shoulderblades and warped fingers wasting absolutely no time tearing off the wings with the same motion.
Almost as an afterthought, dust showered down from the spot in the ceiling Berserker had springboarded off of. Violet Caster may have to fix those cracked bricks.
The demonic beast howled in equal parts pain and rage. Its thin tail lashed out like a whip, leaving an angry mark on Red Berserker's skin, even as it twisted its body as if the spine was more of a suggestion than a restriction it should be. Before its claws could rake against the monster that had been Outis, its left leg gave in under a two handed hammer strike from Nightingale, who ducked under the retaliatory swipe.
Of course, the berserk monster wasn't idle during this. Dark blue light flashed as it lunged and suddenly there was a wooden shaft crushing the beast's windpipe, an unforgiving knee making its vertebrae crackle and pop from the opposite side. A snarling, choking roar was silenced when another bullet buzzed straight into the maw before swerving directly upwards. The beast slacked in Red Berserker's merciless grip, before sloughing into black goo, which slowly evaporated. It only left behind a golden box, gone too as Da'at snatched it.
"Seasonal variants." Moriarty shook his head. "Explains why it felt easier than usual for its kind."
"Good. Now, let's find Miss Sabah, if you would be so kind, Professor? She is the only noncombatant in the castle, and as such should take priority." Nightingale demanded as she focused her attention on tending to Red Berserker's superficial wound.
The monster bore it with no complaint, wordlessly cooperating with the Nurse of Steel. It was Mad, not stupid.
The Mockery ignored her as she entered the solar, so focused It was on Young Mistress' latest… playmate. The poor dear held admirably, so far, keeping silent while It rambled at her while Its hands wandered over the exposed bits of the mousy girl's skin. If they didn't grab one of the… tools It laid out on the table beside them to use instead. It was, unfortunately, smart enough not to allow direct skin contact. Not smart enough to not ignore her completely as she put down the pitcher of wine and a pair of cups on the table for It to tempt and cajole with.
Nobility, especially as they were in the stories, oft ignored their servants as anything more than moving fixtures of the background, and It was a creature particularly defined by its story.
Why would a 'countess' pay attention to what her faithful, bound attendant did? When she was busy 'entertaining' a guest? She was beneath notice of nobility.
Certainly, she was beneath notice enough that when a violet card went missing from its spot on the table, it was attributed either to carelessness or Young Master's strange magics revoking Its access to one of his tools.
Bernadett gave a shallow, as shallow as she could get away with, bow before she closed the door. It pained her to leave young Amelia behind, but she was but an echo Young Mistress allowed to resound in the halls of their home. She could certainly not defeat It.
She didn't need to. Coming to a stop before that abominable wall trapping Young Mistress in her room, she knelt and slid the card under the small gap in the stonework. That small bit of pointless cruelty would come in handy, for once.
The corridors felt less confusing, with Moriarty in the party, either because he was the one leading them or his 'freedom' weakening some of Csejte's effect. Regardless of the cause of their easier travel, his abuse of Freeshooter led the party of three deep into servant quarters. The Wraiths kept being persistent, but before a pair of Berserkers, they were almost literal chaff before the wind, even when it looked as if there were more of them in this part of the castle.
"Nothing more than an annoying bait." Moriarty speculated as he strolled idly after his companions. "Most likely banking on the fact the two of you are Berserkers. Incite you enough, get adrenaline surging consistently and you will just blindly, obediently attack whatever hostile looking thing you are presented with."
Red Berserker snorted derisively, a great big plume of coppery smog. Its Madness was obsession, not mindless aggression. As for Nightingale? It would never allow Madness to warp that formidable woman.
"Arrogance is a particularly crafty virus." Nightingale clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Especially given how many of us, EX-ranked, obsessed maniacs Chaldea had."
"You do have to admit that many violent monomanias isn't the natural state of being." Moriarty deflected mildly. "Your typical Berserker is more along the lines of young Fran, or that depressing knight. Easy to rile up, hard to stop, difficult to direct. I am, in fact, impressed with the Master handling his current state so well."
"Goal first. Listen to nurse. Trust schemer. Simple." The berserk monster rumbled with a note of what could very well be humour.
"Trust a schemer. Such a delightful paradox." Moriarty chuckled as he reached out to ruffle Red Berserker's hair, who took it without complaint. Embarrassment was for the sane. "Now I am wondering how interesting Ritsuka's stint as a Berserker would go if that's your attitude towards these things."
"Maximum bond with female Servant within twenty four hours." Nightingale dryly disapproved, a hands tightening as the Freeshooter led them towards her infirmary. This close, Sabah's scents were mixed heavily with metallic tint of rust and heavy smell of gunpowder. "I will admit to being unsure what, exactly, we will find behind the doors. Miss Elizabeth's trouble can be infuriatingly unpredictable like that." She sighed, Moriarty nodding along.
"Copper and rust. Iron maiden." The monster grunted. What else could it be, given Carmilla? One with guns or explosives, maybe, given the other scent.
"I'm taking point." Nightingale declared, her magical energy swelling as she readied her Noble Phantasm. Then, the Head Nurse kicked the door to the infirmary open as Nightingale Pledge illuminated the corridor and the room with pale, blue light.
A good thing too, as they were greeted with the whir of a rotary cannon which was denied its ability to drown them in bullets. A golem replica of Elizabeth, streaks of rust-red marring its dull, grey chassis, stood in the middle of infirmary, pointing one of its limbs at them. The golem dipped its head down to stare at its armament in confusion at the lack of hail of bullets.
[Caster: Iron Maiden Millarca von Karnstein, Guardian of the Orient]
[STR: B-, AGI: E, END: B-]
"So she dug up that thing?" Moriarty clicked his tongue with an exasperated shake of his head as the clumsy, mobile prison retracted its cannon back into its arm and crouched low. "And of course she would let her spite make it worse."
"It would've been actually dangerous otherwise. Still, since Miss Parian is almost definitely inside it, I would suggest going for a different approach than just breaking it with brute force."
Red Berserker hadn't exactly stopped, fully trusting Nightingale's Phantasm. It couldn't attack, but it could observe. Especially with the visage of Elizabeth in front of it, however rough it may be. The golem's eyes shone yellow as they stared back into Berserker's own, yet the lights behind them flickered as if the machine was malfunctioning. There was a distinct rattling noise when the head swivelled to track it.
"I am guessing the decrease in parameters is due to being hollowed out to host a prisoner." Moriarty theoreticised as he observed the golem's lack of movement as it waited for Nightingale's Noble Phantasm to time out. "It's still a lump of high quality steel, so the degradation isn't too bad.
"Miss Elizabeth would likely shake her head. That girl goes all out when tinkering to bring her ideas to completion and wouldn't accept such… half measures." The nurse agreed with a sigh, even as the pair cautiously observed their Master and opponent slash hostage.
Nightingale Pledge prohibited hostile action. There was nothing hostile in the monster as warped fingers wrapped around the automaton's chin and forced it to show the back of its metal skull. A panel had been roughly torn out, with card-like pieces of plastic and circuit halfway out of their sockets. The too-dark blood oozing out of them was likely the reason, turning into a disgusting smog as it dripped out and was exposed to the Head Nurse's light.
Pull, blow out the curse smoke, slot back in.
The golem jerked as it stood back up, its eyes turning off and on again a couple of times in simulation of blinking, its tail smashing into the ground once then another before, with a screech of blade against stone, it pulled the appendage back up.
"Elizabeth-Pattern Csejte Defense System Mk.II is now fully back online." It spoke as it stared at Red Berserker, tilting its head. "Thank you for restoring the full functionality of my logic circuits. This is why amateurs should not be allowed to make modifications." It shook its head, raising its hands in a gesture of exasperation.
"A bit crude, but I suppose a successful brain surgery is a successful brain surgery." Nightingale nodded approvingly at the interaction as she let her Noble Phantasm fade.
The monster proved that it truly was Outis under the Madness by patting the golem's head. The golem blinked again as it stared back. "That was unnecessary. I do not receive the tactile sensations the same way organics do, and it has not damaged my chassis so there was no report?" It sounded genuinely confused. Then, it blinked again. "Speaking of, excuse me, but I must run a diagnostic, my weight seems to be off…" The lights in its eyes dimmed for a second, before the golem visibly startled.
"WHY AM I MISSING ALL OF MY INTERNALS?!" It screeched despairingly. "WAITWAITWAIT, WHY IS THERE A HUMAN INSIDE?!" Mk.II backed away from Red Berserker as it spun in place, fumbling with itself. Cute, as expected of something patterned after Elizabeth. "I AM NOT DESIGNED FOR HUMAN STORAGE! I AM A DEFENSIVE WEAPONS PLATFORM, NOT A POWER ARMOUR! THIS CANNOT BE OPTIMAL! OR SAFE! OR HEALTHY!"
"Her priorities leave something to be desired." Nightingale grunted.
The golem flailed around for another moment before it found whatever it was it was looking for. With a hiss, her front split and swung wide open, causing Sabah to fall out, wide eyed and pale.
Red Berserker caught her, of course. Although that came with its own issues. The poor girl went completely stiff at the first sight of Red Berserker's face, shutting her eyes as she whimperingly stuttered pleas in Persian.
"Allow me, commander." Nightingale sighed as she stepped to her fellow Berserker's side and gently grabbed the shorter girl, spinning her with surprising gentleness before pushing the girl's face into her bust as she cradled the shocked parahuman in her arms. "Here, Miss Sabah, it's okay now, you are safe, hmmm?"
She was in good care, so the monster took the time to tap Mk2's shoulder, just enough force to make the joint shift and get its attention. It was easier, keeping the rage at a low, sickly simmer with a replica of Elizabeth. Even if it only made its purpose weight all the heavier. "Metal and oil. That way."
The machine shook its head. "Appreciated, but while I can perform self-maintenance, re-installing my internal components after such a haphazard modification is too delicate an operation for me to attempt in current condition." She gave Red Berserker a thumbs up regardless. "I still have my cannons and while my weight has been greatly reduced, it is more than sufficient for anything but that batty invader." Mk.2 tilted her head to get a better look around Outis, where Parian was calming down. Still skittish and trembling, but her breathing was getting better.
Nodding, she stepped around and approached the bed on which the two women were seated before falling to her knees, placing her hands in front of her head. The clamour of metal falling on the stone startled Parian enough for her to turn around to look at Mk.2 with wide eyes.
Nightingale's firm grip on the girl most likely prevented her from doing anything rash.
"I'M REALLY SORRY!" Mk.2 screamed as it slammed its forehead against the floor. "I SHOULD'VE BEEN ABLE TO FIGHT OFF THAT INVADER SO THAT YOU WOULDN'T COME TO YOUR IMPRISONMENT! PLEASE, I'M READY TO OFFER ANY PENANCE!"
"I-it's fine, miss." Parian whispered softly, shaking her head. "I… I don't really understand everything that happened, but Masters and Strangers like this… Carmilla… they aren't new."
"Local terms for power theming." Moriarty piped in from his spot on the chair by one of the beds closer to the door.
"We are all… related." Mk.2 lied with perfect poker face only a machine with no facial musculature could achieve. "Elizabeth, me, Mk. 1 and Carmilla."
"Amongst a few other girls."
"Carmilla appreciates the fact the least. I mean, me and Mk. 1 don't particularly approve of Elizabeth either," The golem shrugged, completely oblivious to peoples' reactions to the blunt statement. Which was a feat given how Red Berserker's eyes were all but burning a hole on the back of her skull, "But we are willing to just live and let live. Carmilla does not. It was, in my opinion, inevitable she would show up to do what she could to tear Elizabeth down as hard as possible."
"Specter." The monster rumbled, so low it was more felt than heard. "Caricature. Fabrication. Worse than. Gilles' work."
That version of Jeanne had grown into her own person. Carmilla only existed to tear down Elizabeth, nothing but character assassination given a gaudy dress.
"Don't have too much room for throwing stones, do I?" Mk.2 asked wryly, twisting around to look at Red Berserker as it ran one of its hands from top down its torso. Shaking its head, it runed back to Parian. "Still, you are a guest of the castle, so it's unacceptable you've come to harm under my watch."
"Should we point out to her that she can hardly be blamed for what happened when she was… offline?"
"They have always been perfectly happy to apply retroactive reasoning to their logic, professor."
"As a recompense, I'd be perfectly happy making sure you're safe while Elizabeth's… other bed warmer." Mk.2 paused to select perhaps the most scandalous words it could, especially judging Parian's blush. "Deals with Carmilla. I'll understand if you would rather not, given…"
"–she turned you into my extremely claustrophobic prison?" Parian finished for the golem with a bitter laugh. "Fucking Masters." The Iranian cape shook her head. "I knew I would be the target at some point, I even accepted Liz's deal knowing it would cause the Empire to potentially target me. Having some psychotic eldest sibling choosing the worst possible way of dealing with her feelings of inadequacy make me a collateral to her scheme… is certainly a way to get started on these things. But, as long as I don't see your insides again, I should be fine."
"Good! That's good. That you don't mind me, I mean." Mk.2 replied cheerfully, and with only a minor hiccup, as it rose to her feet. Its right arm unfolded back into the rotary cannon, which it slapped against its chest in a version of salute. "Elizabeth-Pattern Csejte Defense System Mk.II will make sure you are as safe as any princess in a castle tower, miss Parian!"
The girl in question just ducked her head low, blush evident, as she fidgeted on a supremely unimpressed Nightingale's lap.
"You might want to come up with an actual name for yourself, dear." Moriarty sighed as he stood up. "For expediency's sake at the very least. It'd also be easier for people under your protection to sign your praises with a single word, y'know." He added with a knowing smirk while Mk.2 nodded. While the golem's face was a fixed piece of metal, it was clear it was seriously considering the argument.
The Wraiths infesting the corridors weren't exactly a great threat before, but with Parian's release, somehow, they became more… docile. Less willing to engage Red Berserker at the very least, and their weapons shifted, from chains and bindings to clubs and knives.
"It's rather clear that the prisoners contribute to the castle's security." Nightingale hummed as she dispatched a lunging Wraith with a clinical grab by the wrist and threw it into a wall. "Although the corridors becoming more navigable could've been chalked up to greater ratio of men than women in the group, and a man taking the lead interfering with Csejte's legend."
[Correct. However, the format we are presented with is unprecedented so I cannot predict the effects of taking things in the order you've chosen.]
"Well, obviously I had to be first, or else they wouldn't get anything done." Moriarty harrumphed.
"Not necessarily, Professor. We were lost, yes, but still inside the castle and, technically speaking, not trying to get out, so I bet we would get to one of the hostages eventually." The Nurse of Steel countered.
[At the very least, I believe the guardians will be harder and harder the longer they are left alone.]
[I do not know whether or not the other Mecha-Elizabeth will be waiting for us with Kanabo or not.]
"Probably not." Moriarty shook his head. "They are supposed to be flight capable, you know? If the castle bases its security features on parahuman powers, I'd bet the other one is containing Miss Victoria… which, in turn, will allow it to fly beyond Master's range if we try to repeat the previous approach."
Red Berserker made a confused grunt, Da'at helpfully translating.
[Flight doesn't seem particularly advantageous indoors, speed boost aside.]
"There's more than one tower to this castle, Master." The criminal mastermind reminded them smugly. "Making us waste more time by putting one of the prisoners far away from the others is elementary logic."
"Careful, Professor, your nemesis is rubbing off on you." Nightingale deadpanned, ignoring the man's indignant squawk. "Even if you are correct. Especially since Miss Katsumi seems to have been deposited into dungeons, to add another layer of distance."
[As long as Master does not treat the tower as an excuse to replicate Reichenbach.]
"One time!"
Even through the hatred and wroth roiling in its gut, Red Berserker managed to crack something resembling a smile. The banter was soothing. "Lucha."
Clearly unimpressed, Nightingale's gaze bored into the Master. "That's not the counterpoint you might think it is, Commander." She stated flatly. "Had Miss Quetzalcoatl not been such a… good sport about it, that would have been the end of things."
[Good sport is certainly a way to put it.]
Traversing the rest of the dungeons had been a similarly languid affair, the number of wraiths respawning to bar the path trickling down to nothing even as the scent of the blood and the chime of the loosely hanging chains filled the air. Then…
CLANG
The sound of steel hitting steel. The frenetic rhythm of blades clashing and bodies hitting the stone.
The main chamber of the dungeon was dim, barely lit by the torches put on the walls, the flames flickering as the pressurised air blew by. In the middle of it, Katsumi stood, a bit wobbly, sweat trickling down her skin, surrounded by the black armoured shadows. The floor around her was cracked, same with the walls around the chamber.
[Saber: The Memory of Oni Hunter]
[STR: B AGI: E END: C]
There was an additional enemy, seated on the throne at the back of the chamber, hidden by its black armour blending in with the surrounding darkness. It might have been a surprise, if not for Da'at being a cheat code of privacy violations.
"Ah, lovely." Moriarty choked out.
Red Berserker made a noise like a dying cat, gut instinct telling it what James' brain had provided the old man. Didn't stop it from immediately calling a bloated mockery of Green Archer's bow and loosing a javelin sized arrow at the Shadow Servant. The massive arrow hurled through the air in a vortex of crimson mana, energy crackling alongside its shaft, a streak of baleful light which struck the throne…
To the sound of thunderclap and a blinding flash of light.
A cloud of dust kicked up even as warriors surrounding Kanabo vanished and the oni-girl immediately took advantage to dive towards the party. "'sup boss." She gasped as she leaned into Nightingale's analytical embrace. "How long?"
Berserker grunted out something vaguely resembling a greeting, already holding another arrow drawn back and ready for the millisecond it sniffed out where the Shadow was. It would have crushed a man's spine and torn his muscles to shreds to hold the grotesque bow like this, but that was of no concern to a monster.
"Six hours." Moriarty provided helpfully, without looking away from the slowly settling cloud. "I take it you have had a more active time than me?"
"Fuckin' endless duels while the goth bitch watched like some morning cartoon baddie." The girl chuckled weakly. "They suck, more or less, but they just… keep comin'."
Moriarty nodded and squeezed the trigger of his cane-rifle, the bullet whizzing unerringly into the darkness, only for the unmistakable sound of parry sound out. That was all Berserker needed to aim the spear it called an arrow and loose.
The thunder roared again and the dark blur shot past the projectile as the steel flashed in the dim light. Katsumi heaved and sprang from Nightingale's grasp, bringing her bat up in a swift motion, gripping it from both ends.
"Gah!" Her knees buckled underneath her as the shadowy silhouette of a demon slayer drove her into the ground through sheer, brutal force of the blow, electricity coursing through her as the lighting ground itself.
The shadows washed away from the generous figure of their enemy to reveal an emotionless… no, a cold, merciless visage that stared down at oni-like cape with muted, murderous intent. The Shadow Servant slid her blade down Katsumi's bat with a screech of metal even as a knee strike drove the breath out of the teen's lungs and flung her back.
Right in time for Red Berserker to smash into the pale copy's back like a runaway freight train, tackling her even as the bow's body found its way around her throat. Instead of fighting it, the Oni Hunter silently slammed her head into Red Berserker's face.
A few teeth shattered and fell. That was fine, it had plenty more. Something it introduced the sorry imitation of the Mystery Slayer to by testing how strong a Shadow Servant's skull was. The woman kept silent even as she slashed seemingly blindly with the blade still in her hand - enough to keep Moriarty back and not take another shot, at the very least. Blood, or the shadow of it, trickled down the Shadows face in the streams of evaporating darkness. Lightning arced over Saber's body as she reached overhead with a hand and clamped around Red Berserker's skull with a vice grip.
A wild kick sent a cracked stone into Moriarty, forcing the man to dodge as the two madmen played chicken with their skulls.
"Nightingale Pledge!" The Nurse's voice rang out, choked and raspy as she forced the activation of her Noble Phantasm again. Oni Slayer took advantage of the inability to be hurt to rip Red Berserker off her skull and threw it over the shoulder at the true Servants. "Commander… haaah… remember that your life is… critical." Red eyes bore intently into Red Berserker's as the quickly fading trump card nonetheless healed him, cracked bone and missing teeth mending and filling out.
"By the power. Of this. Command Seal. Florence Nightingale. Be restored." The monster said by way of apology, its left hand raised high. Warped and fused with cloth its palm may be, the mark of a Master shone bright and clear.
An almost translucent veil of pale azure surrounded Nightingale as the woman's chest rose with a deep, slow breath before she exhaled long and equally slow, red eyes shining with new light when she opened them. Silently, she nodded towards Berserker before focusing on the enemy.
"Servants with Eternal Mastery have always been such a pain to put down." Moriarty added slowly as he kept aim at the Saber who simply backed away to her throne, visible in the light of Nightingale's Noble Phantasm now, and ripped out one of the chains dangling from the walls, wrapping it around her hand, a bit of masonry still hanging on the other end.
"Don't know all the details, but guessin' that's your cape terminology and stuff?" Katsumi asked as she rejoined them, eyeing the Shadow warily.
"Something like that. She is actually something of a Projection, but has all the skills of the original she is based on." Moriarty agreed.
"Lovely. Bitch hits harder than Glory." The oni cape groaned, rolling her shoulders. "Still, someone gotta keep the boss from killing himself, eh?"
"It would be appreciated, yes." The elderly man nodded agreeably. "I am not exactly a brawler type-" [Unless detectives are involved.] "-and Head Nurse's way of dealing with damage would be counterproductive."
"Well, I did sign up for actually doing something for a change and getting hit in retaliation." The girl rolled her shoulders. "What 'bout Parian? I think she was swingin' by to visit Bathory?"
"Safety of noncombatants has been prioritised." Nightingale spoke up. "I am dropping the Pledge in five." She added a warning.
[Kanabo Bond Level 3 gained]
[Temporary Party Membership requirements met.]
[Adding to the party…]
"Aight, let's ball!" She grinned, standing side by side with Red Berserker, bat held in both hands in front of her like a sword while behind them, Moriarty prepared his gun cane.
"She is naturally slower than our illustrious boss and me, so she uses her lighting boost primarily for speed." The man warned just as the azure light of Nightingale's Noble Phantasm started flickering. "But be ready for her to pump it into offence at a moment's notice."
Murky indigo light bubbled from the monster's warped hands, a pair of hooked blades blooming out from between its knuckles. It knew better than to upset the Nurse of Steel twice.
The Pledge dropped, returning the chamber to the dim darkness, the crack of Moriarty's gun drowned by the boom of thunder as the Shadow charged the chain in her hand pulled with such force it effortlessly imitated a whip, smacking the bullet out of the air. Then, she was between Kanabo and Red Berserker, the chain wrapping around the former's bat while Saber thrust at the latter.
CLANG
In a heartbeat, Moriarty's cane batted the blade away. The Shadow twisted her lips in a sneer as she pulled with both hands on the chain and yanked, swinging Kanabo's weapon out of her hands and in an arc at Red Berserker's legs. The madman just counterlunged to catch the bat in his own, spiked hands. At least that was the intent as the bat snapped in his grip with barely any resistance.
Shadow Saber stepped back, lightning pooling around her feet to retreat towards her sword. She didn't get to complete the move when Kanabo tackled her, arms wrapping around the oni hunter's midsection and horns goring the flesh on the unprotected breast. The inky, mist-like blackness the shadow Servants had in place of the blood sprayed Kanabo's face. Shadow let out a soundless gasp before grabbing the girl's skull between her horns and pushing against her. Lightning lashed as the blue-skinned cape struggled to keep her head from being snapped back by sheer brute force.
Lightning that made the Shadow deaf and blind to the true Berserker in the room for just a heartbeat too long, the first thing she saw of the red comet planting its heels on the oni's shoulders was a hook punching through her eye. The first thing Shadow Raikou heard from the monster was the shockwave of its leap, cartilage and vertebrae tearing like so much rubber as the fake's head was all but nailed to the dungeon's ceiling.
Thankfully, while oni blood she may have, Shuten's refusal to stop fighting past decapitation she lacked. Her grip slackened and the imitation of the demon slayer staggered back and collapsed to the floor, starting to melt into the shadows wreathing it as the eye hanging from the ceiling turned glassy. In moments, there was no trace of her existence, even her weapon gone.
There was, however, an orange Class Card lying on the floor.
[That would, I suppose, explain the class change.]
"Oh hey, new person?" Katsumi perked up while she grabbed her Card from the floor. "Install!"
[Technically speaking, I was Outis' first co-worker.] Da'at explained languidly. [There's simply a few caveats for me to be able to interact with others.]
"Got it, funky powers business." Katsumi shrugged, blinking at the mace hanging off of her waist as the Card's transformation subsided. "Ooookay, that's new. I know I don't have my stuff for my power to force things through, but what gives?"
[We have found that things on my end do like to play up to stereotypes.]
"Shit, you too?" Katsumi chortled. "That must be rough. Aight, so what next?"
[Since your power source isn't exactly hostile, it's probably a beneficial change in the long run.]
[I suspect this particular Saber card might be locked into this weapon path.]
"Now, we need to go find miss Victoria." Moriarty explained as he massaged his cane arm with a slight grimace. "Carmilla used four prisoners as means of making herself unreachable, so we must free everyone before we can proceed."
Katsumi nodded as she hefted the bonking stick she was granted by the system. "'kay, you can fill me on the way while I decry having to face off against a flying brick."
As always, big thanks to Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya, Bowchikabowow. MetaWorld42, nununu, Just Some Guy With A Mustage, Ermast, Helios, Joshua Littlesun, [TEE],PlatiNom, Jose Matos, Soulsmsher, Altaibaatar, Ian DeHart, Brigand, Starfall 20 and ลิงติดเกม จากป่าดิบชื้นแถบอเมริกาใต้, saganatsu, Gabriel, Devan Duncan, Dodge the Lava, Aravir, Alys, Romain BETTINELLI, Phantsai, Austin, That_One_Guy, Francisco Garaycoa and Matthew Johnson, who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.
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Last edited:
- Location
- England
Wrong "rein". It's a horse metaphor.
Actually I think that was intentional. I'm fairly certain you can use both in this case, with each emphasizing different aspects.
- Location
- England
Nihilo
Authorial parasite
- Location
- Catalonia
Funny you mention that one.
Elizabeth (Disambiguation)
Elizabeth Báthory is one of the Lancer-class Servants who first appeared in Fate/Extra CCC. Below are the variations of Elizabeth that have appeared in FGO:
fategrandorder.fandom.com
Chapter 18: BnB-2 [The Courage To Be Yourself, And Nothing Else]
New
- Location
- London
January 18th
The wall in front of her still didn't budge. Whatever Carmilla did to her, Elizabeth was still weaker than she should. At least she managed to get all of her body back under control. Still didn't help, but the fact she was fully in control of herself?
Comforting.
"Grrrrr." She glared at the wall, before deflating with a sigh. Her eyes swept her bedroom before coming back to the Card Bernadett (because who else could it be, only Bernadett, her sweet, caring, loyal Bernadett) slipped in. That… would probably work, but she was hesitant. She wasn't Caster, no matter what she told Amelia. Not really. The Pumpkin Liz was… there was a Grail involved in that one. Besides, the aesthetic was out of season! Screwing with Carmilla in Halloween drip outside of Halloween? Laaaaame.
Still…
It was an opportunity. A resource. And…
The AI's wicked smile reached her red eyes. She was offering so much entertainment, and all for a small, small price of subservience to her commands. Just go and have fun at the expense of the little piggies squealing in the halls of the moon. She would even throw in a few mods to her Spirit Origin to sweeten a deal. Nothing big. Just things that should've been hers anyway.
The alien energies coursed through her body, tearing her apart even as they rebuilt her. Stronger. Better. With this, the damned fox would pay for humiliating Elizabeth.
The will of the Father of Europe dug into her mind. It pushed and pressed, and no matter how hard Elizabeth tried to fight Oraclization it… It was changing her. She was just one stupid girl with a silly dream. He was an Emperor. He who Dreamed of the world at peace, united under one banner, one vision. Who she was, really, to deny Rex Magnus? She was a girl who made mistakes and was determined not to squander kindness and the offered hand with a stain of treachery again. But… it would have been nice, to not need to fight for that dream, wouldn't it, Elizabeth?
Grail after Grail, year after year. A new year, a new her. A new her, a new chance, no? This time… this time, her popular phase will finally…!
She was probably making a mistake, playing with the stuff she didn't really understand. Tinkering with Csejte was a gamble enough, back then, even if it did pay off.The only one which did.
Well, if it did pay off, who says things wouldn't go right again?
A new year. A new summoning. A new Master. Really, that just meant the narrative of new her should hold up, no?
Bet she would dazzle Darling into speechlessness~.
With a grin, Elizabeth grabbed the Violet Caster's card and sat on her bed, focusing.
With three seals down, Csejte was all but back to being out of the clutches of whatever fuckery Carmilla pulled. Even the Wraiths kept out of their way now, making the trip to Victoria all but a breeze. 'The way' being atop the free standing tower in which Outis'd set up his workshop.
"Okay, so what you're saying, Glory is most likely imprisoned in an Elizabeth-looking robot. Which can fly and is armed with guns." Katsumi questioned as they climbed to the top of the tower.
"It's a conjecture at this point, but there was one holding Parian and they are a set of two." Moriarty nodded along before smirking. "Also, don't forget the missiles. Missiles are important."
Katsumi shot him a dirty look. "Riiiight, because thinking about that makes me feel so much better. Still, that presents a bit of a problem."
Moriarty nodded genially. "Outis has a decent ranged capacity, but that's it. I can pull off a single shot of high damage, but…"
"Still playing with Vicky's health." The oni groaned. "How did you manage with Parian?"
"She was indoors, for one." The old man pointed out dryly. "Miss Nightingale's ability to force a cessation of hostilities allowed us an alternate solution too. Unfortunately, between flight and the passage of time, we can't exactly count on the repeat performance."
"We really are goin' to be playin' a game of tag with explosives." Katsumi shook her head. Approaching the door to the top, she slumped before crouching. "Aight, let's see what we're dealin' with."
Then, she sprung out, shouldering the piece of wood open. Immediately, bullets pinged off of her skin.
[Saber: Iron Maiden Millarca von Karnstein, The Radiant Domain Keeper]
[STR: B, AGI: D+, END: B+]
"NEARL!" Red Berserker roared, sickly yellow light exploding from its body. Its legs bubbled and ran like wax, exploding out into flayed horse hindquarters with a pair of stomps that embedded hoofprints six inches deep into the stone. A yellowed equine skull boiled out of the monster's scalp, covering its misshapen face like a gruesome helm, baleful red shining from its sockets.
"That boy is so getting Self-Modification on that Card." Moriarty's gleefully exasperated voice commented as the man shot at the mecha Elizabeth out of obligation. The robot didn't bother to dodge as the familiar shimmer of Glory Girl's protective forcefield stopped the bullet cold. "There it is."
[Enemy Skill revealed.]
[Gallant Panoply: B]
[Effect: Single hit invulnerability. Extremely short cooldown.]
"Oh, so that's how that works. No one knew it's hit based." Kanabo muttered in quiet wonder even as she kept her eyes on the machine instead of Red Berserker, who had thrown itself at the robot before the transformation was even done. "Geez, PRT's PR department lucked out with the boss skipping out on them."
"Eyesore. Begone." Mechanical Elizabeth spat out as she focused her fire on the red beast specifically. Unfortunately for her, Nearl's hooves had some rather strong opinions about the words 'all terrain'. With the tower hollowed out like this, the monster had free reign running across its contiguous wall, dodging MK1's aim.
"I can keep the invulnerability off of her so you don't need to worry. Just don't go full rip and tear." Moriarty addressed Red Berserker as he, too, resumed fire.
Inverted legs flexed, only not blowing a hole through the wall by the grace of Servant nonsense as they launched an equine missile straight for the remodelled robot. The Mecha Elizabeth moonlighting as a Saber tracked the trajectory of his jump and swerved upwards just before he could reach her.
"Moooo-ron!" She mocked Red Berserker in a singsong voice as she brought her cannon to bear. "About to be expected of dumb bru–!"
Nearl's hooves found purchase in all terrain. All terrain meant all terrain.
The skull's sockets flared the same yellow as the air under Berserker's leading hoof as it leapt a second time, grotesquely distended arms cinching around the machine's elbows and wings in an unforgiving vicegrip. Their strength was matched, in theory. In practice, red and yellow smog boiled off of its arms and disabused any such notion.
"Wha-!? Unhand me you disgusting wretch! Creep! Swine!" The robot shouted indignantly in Red Berserker's grip, the metal of her joints creaking under the pressure. "Let go, you stupid thing! I don't even need those wings to fly!" She screeched loudly, trying to manoeuvre into gaining speed to shake her newfound load off.
Predictably, she got a horse skull smashing into her face for that. "How dare?!"
"Miss Katsumi, a word, if you would."
"Yeah, old man?"
"How strong would you say your throwing arm is?"
"Eh? Fairly good, I'd say… fucking hell boss, you're a crazy son of a bitch."
"Good enough to throw, oh, I don't know… a man up there?"
"Your spindly ass? Should be doable, why?"
"I have… an inspired idea."
"...I will get my Noble Phantasm ready."
[Is that what they call midlife crisis?]
On the other hand, aside from headbutting mechanical Elizabeth, Red Berserker was limited in options that did not increase his opponent's chance of throwing it off. A true stalemate, given the robot, in turn, could barely headbutt back, her long tail not being the most flexible of appendages.
Then Moriarty sailed past both of them, deep, bright blue energy pooling in his embrace as the old man twisted mid-air with a surprising amount of agility. A massive, coffin-like cannon materialised in his hands as the criminal mastermind grinned like a madman.
"Normally, I would worry about missing but in this instance, Freischultz's curse is more of a blessing!" The man took aim as the cannon thrummed and the barrel expanded as the halves of the coffin slid apart. "Dynamics!" Moriarty shouted gleefully as the blue pooled in the depths of the barrel.
"WAITWAITWAIT!" Mechanical Elizabeth realised what was about to happen and was none too happy about it.
"Of!"
"YOU ARE GOING TO BLAST YOUR MASTER TOO, YOU FUCKING LUNATIC!" Too bad, because Berserker wasn't letting go. "Trust."
[James Moriarty Bond Level 4 gained]
"ASTEROID!"
Framed by the full moon, the Napoleon of Crime squeezed the trigger of his weapon and the beam of shining blue smashed into Mecha Elizabeth's back as well as Red Berserker's limbs enveloping her. Both were sent careening down into the tower where Kanabo and Nightingale were waiting, tension in their eyes visible if anyone was in position to see it.
"OWOWOWOWOW! THIS IS NOT HOW I SHOULD BE DEFEATED!" The mechanical Saber whined as her chassis began to break apart. "WHERE IS MY GALLANT KNIGHT MAKING A BOLD CHARGE?!"
"Nightingale Pledge!"
Just as the two were about to smash into the stonework, the Head Nurse's massive Stand materialised. It grabbed the falling machine and madman into its grasp and slammed them the rest of the way - yet with none of the expected damage. Without even knocking the air out of Red Berserker's lungs. Within seconds, Kanabo disentangled the monster from the machine and pinned the robot underneath herself.
A moment later, Moriarty himself landed on the edge of the tower in a crouch. Only then did Nightingale release her Noble Phantasm.
"Aight, you tin can." Kanabo grunted as she slammed her mace into the spot between the robot's nonexistent shoulder blades. "You release Glory and I will make it quicker than boss prolly would."
"I'm just… I'm just going to turn myself off and when someone turns me back on, maybe the world will make sense again." The robot whined quietly while the air filled with the unmistakable sound of her chassis opening up.
Katsumi had barely any time to step away from the fallen machine before Glory Girl blasted from within, aura turned up to the max, flooding everyone present with dread and awe as the teen hovered over the tower. Fists balled up, hair a tangled mess, breath heavy and eyes bloodshot. Before anyone could offer so much as a word in, the blonde blasted off without care towards the main keep.
Katsumi shivered and slouched as the blonde's weighty presence vanished with her. She barely reacted when Nightingale crouched by her side. "Deep breaths." The nurse commanded softly, watching intently as Katsumi screwed her eyes shut and followed the instruction. "Take your time."
"W-won't t-the bitch who did this fuck Glory up harder?" Katsumi asked in between shaky lungfuls.
"She won't." Nightingale said firmly.
"What the Head Nurse means." Moriarty added after giving the two a long, measuring glance and checking on Red Berserker to make sure he wouldn't follow Glory Girl's footsteps. "Is that Carmilla loves playing with her food. She won't do anything permanent and instead spend the next forever playing games with the sisters."
"The woman is insistent on repeating her own plot." Nightingale muttered darkly while she inspected Katsumi's pale face before nodding. "Better?"
"Y-yeah. Sorry about that." The blue skinned girl muttered, trying to look away from the Nurse. Not on Nightingale's watch, however, as the woman held Katsumi's face firmly in place.
"Do not. To fear is natural. And paranormal terror is all the trickier to deal with, even less rational." The older woman stated firmly.
"Alright. C-can we go on? I am worried." Katsumi acquiesced with a sigh. "Vicky is bound to do something recklessly stupid."
[I do not think she can quite replicate the good Professor's idea.]
Moriarty simply harrumphed in lieu of answering.
"You see, Carmilla, this is why I, personally, don't have a high opinion of you." Nightingale spat out at the sight which greeted them in Csejte's solar. Or as close as the deadpan woman could get to actually bristling with disgust.
[Assassin: Carmilla, the Blood Stained Lily Temptress]
[STR: C AGI: A END: D MGI: D LCK: D NP: B]
The vampiress sat imperiously at the opposite end of the chamber, vibrantly red cloak doing absolutely nothing to preserve her modesty, letting the whole world see the black leather fetish harness which served as the woman's undergarments. Knee long, crimson-red boots and latex gloves reaching to her elbows completed her ensemble. Propped against the makeshift throne was an iron staff topped with a figure of a bat.
[Caster: Panacea, the Enchanted Shaper]
[Status: Charmed (Indefinite)]
Flushed on Carmilla's lap, Panacea squirmed in black fetish nurse outfit, shivering as the vampiress' long nails caressed her throat and inner thigh.
[Saber: Glory Girl]
[Status: Charmed]
And kneeling in front of the two, with arms pulled back by loosely tied, loosely hanging chains, red faced from equal parts rage and embarrassment was Glory Girl glaring hatefully at the tip of Carmilla's boot placed precariously close to her lips.
The generous curtain of rather lifelike slithering chains and shackles separating the trio from the group just cinched it.
Carmilla quirked an eyebrow at the Head Nurse. "And why shouldn't I indulge, miss Nightingale? Unlike the previous time, the world isn't about to end, there's no need to play perfectly nice."
"Let my sister go, you psychotic fucking homewrecker." Glory Girl growled weakly, doing her best to keep her lips away from the vampiress' boot.
"We might have met on the wrong foot, but you don't see dear Amelia complaining, do you, sweetie?" Carmilla chuckled maliciously as her hand slipped under Panacea's skirt. "Do you, A-m-y~?" She leaned, lips all but pressed against the teen's ear, stage whispering as her golden eyes bore into Glory Girl's blue ones. The vampire's hand twitched almost imperceptibly where it rested upon Amy's body.
The chains around Glory Girl's arms tightened just in time to prevent the normally flying brick from leaping forward. The cape's only 'success' being the forced kiss against Carmilla's boot. Carmilla chuckled imperiously as she reached down to pat her on the head.
"See, sweetie, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Assassin mocked the teen heroine, golden eyes shining as they bore into Glory Girl's. "Why not just drop the pretense and enjoy ourselves, darling?"
Glory Girl's body slumped as she breathed laboriously. For a moment, she was silent as the [Charm] status held up. Then, she raised her head again and spat Carmilla's in the face, even this small act seemingly sapping her of the strength.
[Enemy Skill Revealed]
[Femme Fatale (False): A]
[Effect: Single target Charm. Success chance and duration raised against females.]
"Oh, so she is the psychotic nympho type of villain. Not many of these around after Heartbreaker got big." Kanabo muttered from the middle of the surrounding pack.
"See, Master?" Carmilla addressed Red Berserker as she slowly stood up, one hand wrapping around Amy's waist pressing the girl against her, "It's so easy to get them to do what you want, and with a little bit of effort, it can be made permanent. Imagine." She breathed deeply as she and her enchanted victim approached the kneeling Glory Girl. "Plenty of parahumans for you, and made subservient fast enough to start… utilising them to the fullest, with none of that boring song and dance about 'earning' it. Much more convenient than all the effort that silly girl necessitates, no?"
"I. Love. Báthori Erzsébet." The words were forced to be clear despite the utterly warped jaw and tongue with the same dogged determination the monster kept its implacable advance through the mechanical hounds, the foreign name pronounced perfectly despite its Madness. "You. Hurt. Her."
"I will. Wring. Your neck. Bloody Mary." A fake name for a spectre of slander. The berserk monster would not acknowledge this thing even as Carmilla. It was a breathing corpse, fouling up the air of Elizabeth's home, and nothing more.
Carmilla's eyes darkened, mouth twisting in a hateful scowl. Her nails dug into Amy's side, even as the entranced girl barely gave a sign of noticing.
"Men." The vampiress spat the word out like a curse, more dogs stalking out of the shadows to keep Red Berserker busy. The smallest was fit to hunt bears. "Always getting in my way for the stupidest of reasons." Taking a deep breath, the pale woman smiled viciously.
[Enemy Skill revealed]
[Torture Technique: A]
"I may not be able to twist you like I could… literally anyone else here, but even brutes can break." She purred as she looked down on Glory Girl kneeling before her. Harrumphing, she addressed the flying brick. "You know, this is not the kind of passion I had in mind. Rebellious girl."
"Fuck you… bitch." Victoria spat, panting heavily. One could almost hear the defiant grin on her face. "I am straight… as arrow."
"Arrows can bend, you know. Or break." Carmilla huffed in amusement as she freed Amy from her grasp and pushed the girl to stand in front of her, before her sister. "Especially with the right tools." From behind, the vampiress cupped Amy's face, pressing her lips to the girl's ear. Her golden eyes looked right at Red Berserker as she slid a hand over her victim's stomach. "Go on, Amy. Make sure your sister appreciates our company, hmmm?"
Amy closed her eyes as she drew a raspy breath and closed her hands. "N… n-no." She choked out. Carmilla's eyes widened ever so slightly as she focused back on the girl.
"No? What do you mean, no?" The spectre hissed.
"I… I d-don't…" Amy choked out, breathing heavily as Carmilla's Charm focused fully on her. "I don't do… don't do brains."
"You will do brains, Amelia." Carmilla hissed venomously , nails drawing blood. "You can. You want to. You want to be happy, no? But for that you need to make Victoria… understand. So you will. Do. Brains."
Amy was shaking by the end of Carmilla's short tirade, biting her lip as she refused to look at her sister. "N-no!"
[Torture Technique activates.]
[Enemy Skill revealed]
[Bloodsucking Mistress: C]
[Draw targets' vitality and make them more susceptible to damage. Vitality drain cannot kill.]
"You will." Carmilla announced with rage in her voice as she grabbed Amy by the wrist. "You don't have a choice with your power right now after all~."
Bowing her head down, Victoria choked out. "Ames! It's fine! It's okay, sis." She whispered. "It's just a bit of adjustment, no biggie, eh? You aren't really hurting me."
"I don't want to!"
"Use your power, stupid girl!" Carmilla hissed as she forced Amy's hand to connect to her sister's exposed neck.
"Ah!" Victoria cried out, body shivering as she barely avoided collapsing.
[...I am unsure if I should classify that as debuff.] Da'at's comment clued those capable of hearing it Amy managed to, somehow, wiggle around the spirit of Carmilla's command. Judging by the rage clearly written across the spectre's face, she definitely did.
Her hand lashed out and left an angry, red imprint on brunette's cheek. "You… how dare you?!" Scowling, the vampiress summoned her staff into her hand and raised it above her head.
"I will not harm my sister!" Amy shouted right back, tears in her eyes. "Or trample over my lines! No matter what you do to my brain! I will not become a… a monster!"
"EXCELLENTLY SAID, LITTLE MOUSE!" An energetic voice declared, cheerful and carefree in spite of the atmosphere in the chamber. The next moment, a wave of sound washed over the room, before a portion of the ceiling broke and crumbled.
[Caster: Elizabeth Bathory, the Draconic Idol]
[STR: D AGI: B END: D MGI: B LCK: A NP: C]
[Territory Creation: A]
[Item Construction: B]
[Magic Resistance: A+]
[Plus Multiplier applies to debuff resistance]
[Idol's Charisma: A]
[Party-wide damage buff, party-wide mental debuff resistance up. Allows change of Elizabeth's Class.]
[Mana Burst(Song): B+]
[Physical Parameters rank-up, party-wide mental debuff cleanse.]
[Performance Continuation: B+]
[Injuries don't cause a drop in performance. Upon receiving fatal damage, heal back to fighting condition once. Party-wide mental debuff block.]
[Noble Phantasm]
[Bathory Encore Erzsebet: The Show Goes On, No Matter What Happens, Okay~★]
[Rank: C] [Type: Anti-Army]
[Apply: Guts, Debuff Cleanse, Buff Removal Immunity, Mental Debuff Immunity, Heal, Physical Parameters rank-up to the entire party.]
Elizabeth descended on fully unfurled wings, floating effortlessly in the air. Her dress was a mix of black and blue vertical stripes with detached white sleeves and gloves, a delicate, silvery tiara resting on her head. Even her nails were painted blue. There was also, naturally, a microphone clutched firmly in her hand.
She grinned and blew a kiss at Red Berserker. "Don't think I haven't heard you, Daaaarling~!"
Such a soft smile had absolutely no place on a monster's maw as it burst from the dogpile of steel and hatred. All the better, because it was Outis grinning wide and proud at Elizabeth, suddenly pushing back the horde of mechanical beasts where before Berserker's Madness hadn't been enough. "Go get 'em, girl!"
[Elizabeth Bathory joined the party.]
[Charm removed from Glory Girl.]
[Charm removed from Panacea.]
"There it is. The practically expected insanity dogging that girl's heels." Moriarty shook his head from his position at the back of the room, seemingly content to let things play out.
"Ridiculous as always." Carmilla scoffed as she jumped away from Glory Girl's furious, rising uppercut. "Don't lie to yourself, little girl. You are me. I am the inevitable endpoint of your miserable delusion of a life. So just lie down and die in a ditch so I can go on in peace!"
"Still clinging to that delusion?" Elizabeth mocked as a tap of the nail against her mic sent a beat of sound at Carmilla. "You are not me. You are not even what the slander against me said I was! You are just some Irish guy's yuri erotica to jerk off to."
[Ah, so we are just completely abandoning even the thin veneer of 'non-parahuman capes from abroad' for the sake of the audience.]
"Nothing like a good reveal to get everyone pumped, eh?" Outis laughed, red mane floating as his magic energy poured out clean and pure. Bright red without a shred of smog. "Let me clean up the stage for you, Liz!"
Yellow and orange joined the lightshow, looking like nothing but a living flame. Brass, copper and gold burst from the Master's body, covering him head to toe in stylized armour. Hooves crashed into the stone like thunder, Nearl's spectre overlying his charge and knocking the dogs like tenpins. The wild laugh echoed in his horse skull helm, monstrous and joyful.
"I have no fuckin' idea what's goin' on anymore." Kanabo grunted as she followed in his wake, breaking anything the initial charge didn't dispose of, clearly making the decision to leave the thinking for later and just focus on things easy to understand.
"We're linked! If I wasn't you, I wouldn't appear here, now would I?" Carmilla shot back as she swept wide with her sceptre conjuring a wave of boiling blood to soak and envelop Glory Girl. "No matter how loudly you delude yourself!" Then, she pointed her sceptre firmly on Glory Girl. "And you! Stay down and out." Power surged, cloaking the vampiress like a second cloak, vivid and red. "Phantom Maiden."
"Encore!" Elizabeth countered even as a giant iron maiden materialised around Glory Girl. For a moment she and everyone else not named Carmilla were enveloped by pink-blue particles as her voice rang loud and clear. Glory Girl braced herself, curling into a ball.
The legendary torture device slammed shut. Amy cried out as the crash of iron on iron resounded deafeningly.
"Hmph. Sending a woman out to try and fight me." Carmilla clicked her tongue mockingly as she stepped towards her Noble Phantasm, palming her sceptre. "Shows how much of a fool you a–" The iron maiden shattered and Glory Girl thrust her other fist upwards, slamming it into the vampiress' chin and sending her upwards. "Gah!"
Exactly underneath Elizabeth, who spun and slammed her tail into her supposed 'evil older counterpart's back, throwing her to the ground with a crunch.
"If anyone deludes themselves, it's you for not realising the rules here are a little bit different." She huffed as she landed near the struggling to stand back Assassin. She slammed the butt of her microphone into the woman's back, sprawling her back to the ground. "Playing a shitty shadow-of-self game ain't working here." She stated firmly before pressing her foot against the spot on Carmilla's back where she hit her with the mic while she swung the object around so its head faced the back of Carmilla's head. "I am Elizabeth Bathory, a Countess, an Idol. I am Darling's Servant and a girl who can make friends the normal way. And you are just a shitty fabrication who needs to mind rape everyone around to get even a crumb of affection. So bye, and don't show up again."
The sound wave hit with full force and kept going, drowning out whatever noise Carmilla might've made even as blood spurted from her orifices.
And then, she dispersed into deep-purple, almost black, particles and Elizabeth slumped tiredly, remaining standing seemingly through sheer stubbornness rather than anything else. Or at least she did before her arm was slung over a muscular back, Outis' shoulders propping her up even as his hand closed around the other side of her waist.
The armour had shattered the moment he was done with the charge, and with Bloody Mary gone and everyone safe? Nothing left to keep him chugging along after a very tiring and trying day. Well, nothing other than the Countess triumphant in his arms.
Big Brother sat in silence for a moment, staring mutely at the bottle of strong whiskey a subordinate left at the desk some hours ago when the… events began unfolding. The office ABB's resident intel cape sat in was, as with pretty much everything surrounding Big Brother's aesthetic, an almost painfully generic manager's office one could find in a great many businesses. Well lit, organised, with the barest hint of personal touch to inform a visitor it was, in fact, occupied by someone who worked from it instead of being some sort of showcase. In Big Brother's case, said personal touch was a pair of kakejiku flanking the office window behind Big Brother's chair.
Anonymity was an ace in the sleeve in the world where every crumb of information on you could spell your doom. In all of Brockton Bay, only Lóng and Oni Lee knew Big Brother's true identity and not merely one of the Face sent in the cape's stead.
The parahuman shook head and returned to pondering the intel young Kanabo provided. Epopeia was a new variable, if one amenable to cooperation as Hookwolf so generously showed. Her power, likewise, was respectable in its versatility. And then in its demonstrated potential power, as Hookwolf's pride allowed them to learn.
Information was power, doubly so in the world of parahumans.
So Big Brother did what was best for… Azn Bad Boys. A twitch found its way to the corner of an eye, as it always did when thinking about the name of the pan-Asian gang. The Dragon was a formidable man, one whose power had to be respected, but the man's sheer… contentment with getting merely comfortable and no further, sprinkled with a handful of spite so common amongst half-breeds…
Big Brother shook head. Thinking about being part of a gang, not a family, not a clan, a gang always flared the temper. A reminder that for all that he was an unambitious brute, the Dragon had his low cunning that allowed him to keep them in check.
Still, the information regarding Epopeia's organisation, Oratorio, seemed valuable, the details on their headquarters and the projected capabilities of its members, both those present in Brockton Bay and hypothesised to support them from abroad. If Big Brother wasn't careful, another Empire 88 might spring right under ABB's noses, with as much difficulty in rooting out. International backing was a powerful tool, after all.
This night only served to up the projected assessments further. Because Epopeia's power was capable of growth. That was a very dangerous component. Parahuman powers remained largely static, Tinkers aside, with merely new facets possibly being found out through trial and error and experimentation. To have a non-Tinker be capable of growth? Big Brother poured another shot of whiskey and downed it in a single gulp.
Coupled with Oratorio's mission control in Da'at, a Thinker-Master whose power seemed so similar to Big Brother's own in some aspects…
There would be need for adjustments, preferably before Big Brother's little backdoor was discovered. Begging for forgiveness was not better than asking for permission at the level of crime syndicates. For all the trappings of legality Oratorio was surrounding themselves with, they operated… almost like a proper yakuza. Big Brother could respect that.
Heavens knew the Dragon couldn't be counted on for that.
As long as you bowed your head, didn't start conflict with other Asians and delivered your tithe to the Dragon, he didn't care how said tithe was acquired. Big Brother had been so, so busy arranging for the… weeding out those who went too hard, too brutal, on the local population just for quick money.
The Dragon didn't particularly like having to fight off incensed Protectorate either, so it was best to relieve him of the burden before it became a problem.
Another shot downed and Big Brother shuddered, reclining in the chair as the heat hit, allowing a smile to bloom on the lips. Sometimes, when the parahuman violence was confined, it almost felt like the Horayama-kai led the Azn Bad Boys from the shadows. A distinct improvement from Big Brother's time back in the Homeland, crippled by the twin forces of Leviathan and the chains of debt wrapped around it by the ostensibly 'helpful' neighbours.
Big Brother never managed a Chairman proper, true, but was finding second, perhaps even third, in command to be just as favourable position and given the friendly overtunes Oratorio was making, double dipping shouldn't hurt… too much.
Worst came to be, Big Brother could point to being responsible for acquiring intelligence on the enemy as a cover.
AN: In which the consequences of leaving Liz unattended finally materialise.
By joining, you, too, can access two chapters ahead.
The wall in front of her still didn't budge. Whatever Carmilla did to her, Elizabeth was still weaker than she should. At least she managed to get all of her body back under control. Still didn't help, but the fact she was fully in control of herself?
Comforting.
"Grrrrr." She glared at the wall, before deflating with a sigh. Her eyes swept her bedroom before coming back to the Card Bernadett (because who else could it be, only Bernadett, her sweet, caring, loyal Bernadett) slipped in. That… would probably work, but she was hesitant. She wasn't Caster, no matter what she told Amelia. Not really. The Pumpkin Liz was… there was a Grail involved in that one. Besides, the aesthetic was out of season! Screwing with Carmilla in Halloween drip outside of Halloween? Laaaaame.
Still…
It was an opportunity. A resource. And…
The AI's wicked smile reached her red eyes. She was offering so much entertainment, and all for a small, small price of subservience to her commands. Just go and have fun at the expense of the little piggies squealing in the halls of the moon. She would even throw in a few mods to her Spirit Origin to sweeten a deal. Nothing big. Just things that should've been hers anyway.
The alien energies coursed through her body, tearing her apart even as they rebuilt her. Stronger. Better. With this, the damned fox would pay for humiliating Elizabeth.
The will of the Father of Europe dug into her mind. It pushed and pressed, and no matter how hard Elizabeth tried to fight Oraclization it… It was changing her. She was just one stupid girl with a silly dream. He was an Emperor. He who Dreamed of the world at peace, united under one banner, one vision. Who she was, really, to deny Rex Magnus? She was a girl who made mistakes and was determined not to squander kindness and the offered hand with a stain of treachery again. But… it would have been nice, to not need to fight for that dream, wouldn't it, Elizabeth?
Grail after Grail, year after year. A new year, a new her. A new her, a new chance, no? This time… this time, her popular phase will finally…!
She was probably making a mistake, playing with the stuff she didn't really understand. Tinkering with Csejte was a gamble enough, back then, even if it did pay off.
Well, if it did pay off, who says things wouldn't go right again?
A new year. A new summoning. A new Master. Really, that just meant the narrative of new her should hold up, no?
Bet she would dazzle Darling into speechlessness~.
With a grin, Elizabeth grabbed the Violet Caster's card and sat on her bed, focusing.
With three seals down, Csejte was all but back to being out of the clutches of whatever fuckery Carmilla pulled. Even the Wraiths kept out of their way now, making the trip to Victoria all but a breeze. 'The way' being atop the free standing tower in which Outis'd set up his workshop.
"Okay, so what you're saying, Glory is most likely imprisoned in an Elizabeth-looking robot. Which can fly and is armed with guns." Katsumi questioned as they climbed to the top of the tower.
"It's a conjecture at this point, but there was one holding Parian and they are a set of two." Moriarty nodded along before smirking. "Also, don't forget the missiles. Missiles are important."
Katsumi shot him a dirty look. "Riiiight, because thinking about that makes me feel so much better. Still, that presents a bit of a problem."
Moriarty nodded genially. "Outis has a decent ranged capacity, but that's it. I can pull off a single shot of high damage, but…"
"Still playing with Vicky's health." The oni groaned. "How did you manage with Parian?"
"She was indoors, for one." The old man pointed out dryly. "Miss Nightingale's ability to force a cessation of hostilities allowed us an alternate solution too. Unfortunately, between flight and the passage of time, we can't exactly count on the repeat performance."
"We really are goin' to be playin' a game of tag with explosives." Katsumi shook her head. Approaching the door to the top, she slumped before crouching. "Aight, let's see what we're dealin' with."
Then, she sprung out, shouldering the piece of wood open. Immediately, bullets pinged off of her skin.
[Saber: Iron Maiden Millarca von Karnstein, The Radiant Domain Keeper]
[STR: B, AGI: D+, END: B+]
"NEARL!" Red Berserker roared, sickly yellow light exploding from its body. Its legs bubbled and ran like wax, exploding out into flayed horse hindquarters with a pair of stomps that embedded hoofprints six inches deep into the stone. A yellowed equine skull boiled out of the monster's scalp, covering its misshapen face like a gruesome helm, baleful red shining from its sockets.
"That boy is so getting Self-Modification on that Card." Moriarty's gleefully exasperated voice commented as the man shot at the mecha Elizabeth out of obligation. The robot didn't bother to dodge as the familiar shimmer of Glory Girl's protective forcefield stopped the bullet cold. "There it is."
[Enemy Skill revealed.]
[Gallant Panoply: B]
[Effect: Single hit invulnerability. Extremely short cooldown.]
"Oh, so that's how that works. No one knew it's hit based." Kanabo muttered in quiet wonder even as she kept her eyes on the machine instead of Red Berserker, who had thrown itself at the robot before the transformation was even done. "Geez, PRT's PR department lucked out with the boss skipping out on them."
"Eyesore. Begone." Mechanical Elizabeth spat out as she focused her fire on the red beast specifically. Unfortunately for her, Nearl's hooves had some rather strong opinions about the words 'all terrain'. With the tower hollowed out like this, the monster had free reign running across its contiguous wall, dodging MK1's aim.
"I can keep the invulnerability off of her so you don't need to worry. Just don't go full rip and tear." Moriarty addressed Red Berserker as he, too, resumed fire.
Inverted legs flexed, only not blowing a hole through the wall by the grace of Servant nonsense as they launched an equine missile straight for the remodelled robot. The Mecha Elizabeth moonlighting as a Saber tracked the trajectory of his jump and swerved upwards just before he could reach her.
"Moooo-ron!" She mocked Red Berserker in a singsong voice as she brought her cannon to bear. "About to be expected of dumb bru–!"
Nearl's hooves found purchase in all terrain. All terrain meant all terrain.
The skull's sockets flared the same yellow as the air under Berserker's leading hoof as it leapt a second time, grotesquely distended arms cinching around the machine's elbows and wings in an unforgiving vicegrip. Their strength was matched, in theory. In practice, red and yellow smog boiled off of its arms and disabused any such notion.
"Wha-!? Unhand me you disgusting wretch! Creep! Swine!" The robot shouted indignantly in Red Berserker's grip, the metal of her joints creaking under the pressure. "Let go, you stupid thing! I don't even need those wings to fly!" She screeched loudly, trying to manoeuvre into gaining speed to shake her newfound load off.
Predictably, she got a horse skull smashing into her face for that. "How dare?!"
"Miss Katsumi, a word, if you would."
"Yeah, old man?"
"How strong would you say your throwing arm is?"
"Eh? Fairly good, I'd say… fucking hell boss, you're a crazy son of a bitch."
"Good enough to throw, oh, I don't know… a man up there?"
"Your spindly ass? Should be doable, why?"
"I have… an inspired idea."
"...I will get my Noble Phantasm ready."
[Is that what they call midlife crisis?]
On the other hand, aside from headbutting mechanical Elizabeth, Red Berserker was limited in options that did not increase his opponent's chance of throwing it off. A true stalemate, given the robot, in turn, could barely headbutt back, her long tail not being the most flexible of appendages.
Then Moriarty sailed past both of them, deep, bright blue energy pooling in his embrace as the old man twisted mid-air with a surprising amount of agility. A massive, coffin-like cannon materialised in his hands as the criminal mastermind grinned like a madman.
"Normally, I would worry about missing but in this instance, Freischultz's curse is more of a blessing!" The man took aim as the cannon thrummed and the barrel expanded as the halves of the coffin slid apart. "Dynamics!" Moriarty shouted gleefully as the blue pooled in the depths of the barrel.
"WAITWAITWAIT!" Mechanical Elizabeth realised what was about to happen and was none too happy about it.
"Of!"
"YOU ARE GOING TO BLAST YOUR MASTER TOO, YOU FUCKING LUNATIC!" Too bad, because Berserker wasn't letting go. "Trust."
[James Moriarty Bond Level 4 gained]
"ASTEROID!"
Framed by the full moon, the Napoleon of Crime squeezed the trigger of his weapon and the beam of shining blue smashed into Mecha Elizabeth's back as well as Red Berserker's limbs enveloping her. Both were sent careening down into the tower where Kanabo and Nightingale were waiting, tension in their eyes visible if anyone was in position to see it.
"OWOWOWOWOW! THIS IS NOT HOW I SHOULD BE DEFEATED!" The mechanical Saber whined as her chassis began to break apart. "WHERE IS MY GALLANT KNIGHT MAKING A BOLD CHARGE?!"
"Nightingale Pledge!"
Just as the two were about to smash into the stonework, the Head Nurse's massive Stand materialised. It grabbed the falling machine and madman into its grasp and slammed them the rest of the way - yet with none of the expected damage. Without even knocking the air out of Red Berserker's lungs. Within seconds, Kanabo disentangled the monster from the machine and pinned the robot underneath herself.
A moment later, Moriarty himself landed on the edge of the tower in a crouch. Only then did Nightingale release her Noble Phantasm.
"Aight, you tin can." Kanabo grunted as she slammed her mace into the spot between the robot's nonexistent shoulder blades. "You release Glory and I will make it quicker than boss prolly would."
"I'm just… I'm just going to turn myself off and when someone turns me back on, maybe the world will make sense again." The robot whined quietly while the air filled with the unmistakable sound of her chassis opening up.
Katsumi had barely any time to step away from the fallen machine before Glory Girl blasted from within, aura turned up to the max, flooding everyone present with dread and awe as the teen hovered over the tower. Fists balled up, hair a tangled mess, breath heavy and eyes bloodshot. Before anyone could offer so much as a word in, the blonde blasted off without care towards the main keep.
Katsumi shivered and slouched as the blonde's weighty presence vanished with her. She barely reacted when Nightingale crouched by her side. "Deep breaths." The nurse commanded softly, watching intently as Katsumi screwed her eyes shut and followed the instruction. "Take your time."
"W-won't t-the bitch who did this fuck Glory up harder?" Katsumi asked in between shaky lungfuls.
"She won't." Nightingale said firmly.
"What the Head Nurse means." Moriarty added after giving the two a long, measuring glance and checking on Red Berserker to make sure he wouldn't follow Glory Girl's footsteps. "Is that Carmilla loves playing with her food. She won't do anything permanent and instead spend the next forever playing games with the sisters."
"The woman is insistent on repeating her own plot." Nightingale muttered darkly while she inspected Katsumi's pale face before nodding. "Better?"
"Y-yeah. Sorry about that." The blue skinned girl muttered, trying to look away from the Nurse. Not on Nightingale's watch, however, as the woman held Katsumi's face firmly in place.
"Do not. To fear is natural. And paranormal terror is all the trickier to deal with, even less rational." The older woman stated firmly.
"Alright. C-can we go on? I am worried." Katsumi acquiesced with a sigh. "Vicky is bound to do something recklessly stupid."
[I do not think she can quite replicate the good Professor's idea.]
Moriarty simply harrumphed in lieu of answering.
"You see, Carmilla, this is why I, personally, don't have a high opinion of you." Nightingale spat out at the sight which greeted them in Csejte's solar. Or as close as the deadpan woman could get to actually bristling with disgust.
[Assassin: Carmilla, the Blood Stained Lily Temptress]
[STR: C AGI: A END: D MGI: D LCK: D NP: B]
The vampiress sat imperiously at the opposite end of the chamber, vibrantly red cloak doing absolutely nothing to preserve her modesty, letting the whole world see the black leather fetish harness which served as the woman's undergarments. Knee long, crimson-red boots and latex gloves reaching to her elbows completed her ensemble. Propped against the makeshift throne was an iron staff topped with a figure of a bat.
[Caster: Panacea, the Enchanted Shaper]
[Status: Charmed (Indefinite)]
Flushed on Carmilla's lap, Panacea squirmed in black fetish nurse outfit, shivering as the vampiress' long nails caressed her throat and inner thigh.
[Saber: Glory Girl]
[Status: Charmed]
And kneeling in front of the two, with arms pulled back by loosely tied, loosely hanging chains, red faced from equal parts rage and embarrassment was Glory Girl glaring hatefully at the tip of Carmilla's boot placed precariously close to her lips.
The generous curtain of rather lifelike slithering chains and shackles separating the trio from the group just cinched it.
Carmilla quirked an eyebrow at the Head Nurse. "And why shouldn't I indulge, miss Nightingale? Unlike the previous time, the world isn't about to end, there's no need to play perfectly nice."
"Let my sister go, you psychotic fucking homewrecker." Glory Girl growled weakly, doing her best to keep her lips away from the vampiress' boot.
"We might have met on the wrong foot, but you don't see dear Amelia complaining, do you, sweetie?" Carmilla chuckled maliciously as her hand slipped under Panacea's skirt. "Do you, A-m-y~?" She leaned, lips all but pressed against the teen's ear, stage whispering as her golden eyes bore into Glory Girl's blue ones. The vampire's hand twitched almost imperceptibly where it rested upon Amy's body.
The chains around Glory Girl's arms tightened just in time to prevent the normally flying brick from leaping forward. The cape's only 'success' being the forced kiss against Carmilla's boot. Carmilla chuckled imperiously as she reached down to pat her on the head.
"See, sweetie, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Assassin mocked the teen heroine, golden eyes shining as they bore into Glory Girl's. "Why not just drop the pretense and enjoy ourselves, darling?"
Glory Girl's body slumped as she breathed laboriously. For a moment, she was silent as the [Charm] status held up. Then, she raised her head again and spat Carmilla's in the face, even this small act seemingly sapping her of the strength.
[Enemy Skill Revealed]
[Femme Fatale (False): A]
[Effect: Single target Charm. Success chance and duration raised against females.]
"Oh, so she is the psychotic nympho type of villain. Not many of these around after Heartbreaker got big." Kanabo muttered from the middle of the surrounding pack.
"See, Master?" Carmilla addressed Red Berserker as she slowly stood up, one hand wrapping around Amy's waist pressing the girl against her, "It's so easy to get them to do what you want, and with a little bit of effort, it can be made permanent. Imagine." She breathed deeply as she and her enchanted victim approached the kneeling Glory Girl. "Plenty of parahumans for you, and made subservient fast enough to start… utilising them to the fullest, with none of that boring song and dance about 'earning' it. Much more convenient than all the effort that silly girl necessitates, no?"
"I. Love. Báthori Erzsébet." The words were forced to be clear despite the utterly warped jaw and tongue with the same dogged determination the monster kept its implacable advance through the mechanical hounds, the foreign name pronounced perfectly despite its Madness. "You. Hurt. Her."
"I will. Wring. Your neck. Bloody Mary." A fake name for a spectre of slander. The berserk monster would not acknowledge this thing even as Carmilla. It was a breathing corpse, fouling up the air of Elizabeth's home, and nothing more.
Carmilla's eyes darkened, mouth twisting in a hateful scowl. Her nails dug into Amy's side, even as the entranced girl barely gave a sign of noticing.
"Men." The vampiress spat the word out like a curse, more dogs stalking out of the shadows to keep Red Berserker busy. The smallest was fit to hunt bears. "Always getting in my way for the stupidest of reasons." Taking a deep breath, the pale woman smiled viciously.
[Enemy Skill revealed]
[Torture Technique: A]
"I may not be able to twist you like I could… literally anyone else here, but even brutes can break." She purred as she looked down on Glory Girl kneeling before her. Harrumphing, she addressed the flying brick. "You know, this is not the kind of passion I had in mind. Rebellious girl."
"Fuck you… bitch." Victoria spat, panting heavily. One could almost hear the defiant grin on her face. "I am straight… as arrow."
"Arrows can bend, you know. Or break." Carmilla huffed in amusement as she freed Amy from her grasp and pushed the girl to stand in front of her, before her sister. "Especially with the right tools." From behind, the vampiress cupped Amy's face, pressing her lips to the girl's ear. Her golden eyes looked right at Red Berserker as she slid a hand over her victim's stomach. "Go on, Amy. Make sure your sister appreciates our company, hmmm?"
Amy closed her eyes as she drew a raspy breath and closed her hands. "N… n-no." She choked out. Carmilla's eyes widened ever so slightly as she focused back on the girl.
"No? What do you mean, no?" The spectre hissed.
"I… I d-don't…" Amy choked out, breathing heavily as Carmilla's Charm focused fully on her. "I don't do… don't do brains."
"You will do brains, Amelia." Carmilla hissed venomously , nails drawing blood. "You can. You want to. You want to be happy, no? But for that you need to make Victoria… understand. So you will. Do. Brains."
Amy was shaking by the end of Carmilla's short tirade, biting her lip as she refused to look at her sister. "N-no!"
[Torture Technique activates.]
[Enemy Skill revealed]
[Bloodsucking Mistress: C]
[Draw targets' vitality and make them more susceptible to damage. Vitality drain cannot kill.]
"You will." Carmilla announced with rage in her voice as she grabbed Amy by the wrist. "You don't have a choice with your power right now after all~."
Bowing her head down, Victoria choked out. "Ames! It's fine! It's okay, sis." She whispered. "It's just a bit of adjustment, no biggie, eh? You aren't really hurting me."
"I don't want to!"
"Use your power, stupid girl!" Carmilla hissed as she forced Amy's hand to connect to her sister's exposed neck.
"Ah!" Victoria cried out, body shivering as she barely avoided collapsing.
[...I am unsure if I should classify that as debuff.] Da'at's comment clued those capable of hearing it Amy managed to, somehow, wiggle around the spirit of Carmilla's command. Judging by the rage clearly written across the spectre's face, she definitely did.
Her hand lashed out and left an angry, red imprint on brunette's cheek. "You… how dare you?!" Scowling, the vampiress summoned her staff into her hand and raised it above her head.
"I will not harm my sister!" Amy shouted right back, tears in her eyes. "Or trample over my lines! No matter what you do to my brain! I will not become a… a monster!"
"EXCELLENTLY SAID, LITTLE MOUSE!" An energetic voice declared, cheerful and carefree in spite of the atmosphere in the chamber. The next moment, a wave of sound washed over the room, before a portion of the ceiling broke and crumbled.
[Caster: Elizabeth Bathory, the Draconic Idol]
[STR: D AGI: B END: D MGI: B LCK: A NP: C]
[Territory Creation: A]
[Item Construction: B]
[Magic Resistance: A+]
[Plus Multiplier applies to debuff resistance]
[Idol's Charisma: A]
[Party-wide damage buff, party-wide mental debuff resistance up. Allows change of Elizabeth's Class.]
[Mana Burst(Song): B+]
[Physical Parameters rank-up, party-wide mental debuff cleanse.]
[Performance Continuation: B+]
[Injuries don't cause a drop in performance. Upon receiving fatal damage, heal back to fighting condition once. Party-wide mental debuff block.]
[Noble Phantasm]
[Bathory Encore Erzsebet: The Show Goes On, No Matter What Happens, Okay~★]
[Rank: C] [Type: Anti-Army]
[Apply: Guts, Debuff Cleanse, Buff Removal Immunity, Mental Debuff Immunity, Heal, Physical Parameters rank-up to the entire party.]
Elizabeth descended on fully unfurled wings, floating effortlessly in the air. Her dress was a mix of black and blue vertical stripes with detached white sleeves and gloves, a delicate, silvery tiara resting on her head. Even her nails were painted blue. There was also, naturally, a microphone clutched firmly in her hand.
She grinned and blew a kiss at Red Berserker. "Don't think I haven't heard you, Daaaarling~!"
Such a soft smile had absolutely no place on a monster's maw as it burst from the dogpile of steel and hatred. All the better, because it was Outis grinning wide and proud at Elizabeth, suddenly pushing back the horde of mechanical beasts where before Berserker's Madness hadn't been enough. "Go get 'em, girl!"
[Elizabeth Bathory joined the party.]
[Charm removed from Glory Girl.]
[Charm removed from Panacea.]
"There it is. The practically expected insanity dogging that girl's heels." Moriarty shook his head from his position at the back of the room, seemingly content to let things play out.
"Ridiculous as always." Carmilla scoffed as she jumped away from Glory Girl's furious, rising uppercut. "Don't lie to yourself, little girl. You are me. I am the inevitable endpoint of your miserable delusion of a life. So just lie down and die in a ditch so I can go on in peace!"
"Still clinging to that delusion?" Elizabeth mocked as a tap of the nail against her mic sent a beat of sound at Carmilla. "You are not me. You are not even what the slander against me said I was! You are just some Irish guy's yuri erotica to jerk off to."
[Ah, so we are just completely abandoning even the thin veneer of 'non-parahuman capes from abroad' for the sake of the audience.]
"Nothing like a good reveal to get everyone pumped, eh?" Outis laughed, red mane floating as his magic energy poured out clean and pure. Bright red without a shred of smog. "Let me clean up the stage for you, Liz!"
Yellow and orange joined the lightshow, looking like nothing but a living flame. Brass, copper and gold burst from the Master's body, covering him head to toe in stylized armour. Hooves crashed into the stone like thunder, Nearl's spectre overlying his charge and knocking the dogs like tenpins. The wild laugh echoed in his horse skull helm, monstrous and joyful.
"I have no fuckin' idea what's goin' on anymore." Kanabo grunted as she followed in his wake, breaking anything the initial charge didn't dispose of, clearly making the decision to leave the thinking for later and just focus on things easy to understand.
"We're linked! If I wasn't you, I wouldn't appear here, now would I?" Carmilla shot back as she swept wide with her sceptre conjuring a wave of boiling blood to soak and envelop Glory Girl. "No matter how loudly you delude yourself!" Then, she pointed her sceptre firmly on Glory Girl. "And you! Stay down and out." Power surged, cloaking the vampiress like a second cloak, vivid and red. "Phantom Maiden."
"Encore!" Elizabeth countered even as a giant iron maiden materialised around Glory Girl. For a moment she and everyone else not named Carmilla were enveloped by pink-blue particles as her voice rang loud and clear. Glory Girl braced herself, curling into a ball.
The legendary torture device slammed shut. Amy cried out as the crash of iron on iron resounded deafeningly.
"Hmph. Sending a woman out to try and fight me." Carmilla clicked her tongue mockingly as she stepped towards her Noble Phantasm, palming her sceptre. "Shows how much of a fool you a–" The iron maiden shattered and Glory Girl thrust her other fist upwards, slamming it into the vampiress' chin and sending her upwards. "Gah!"
Exactly underneath Elizabeth, who spun and slammed her tail into her supposed 'evil older counterpart's back, throwing her to the ground with a crunch.
"If anyone deludes themselves, it's you for not realising the rules here are a little bit different." She huffed as she landed near the struggling to stand back Assassin. She slammed the butt of her microphone into the woman's back, sprawling her back to the ground. "Playing a shitty shadow-of-self game ain't working here." She stated firmly before pressing her foot against the spot on Carmilla's back where she hit her with the mic while she swung the object around so its head faced the back of Carmilla's head. "I am Elizabeth Bathory, a Countess, an Idol. I am Darling's Servant and a girl who can make friends the normal way. And you are just a shitty fabrication who needs to mind rape everyone around to get even a crumb of affection. So bye, and don't show up again."
The sound wave hit with full force and kept going, drowning out whatever noise Carmilla might've made even as blood spurted from her orifices.
And then, she dispersed into deep-purple, almost black, particles and Elizabeth slumped tiredly, remaining standing seemingly through sheer stubbornness rather than anything else. Or at least she did before her arm was slung over a muscular back, Outis' shoulders propping her up even as his hand closed around the other side of her waist.
The armour had shattered the moment he was done with the charge, and with Bloody Mary gone and everyone safe? Nothing left to keep him chugging along after a very tiring and trying day. Well, nothing other than the Countess triumphant in his arms.
Big Brother sat in silence for a moment, staring mutely at the bottle of strong whiskey a subordinate left at the desk some hours ago when the… events began unfolding. The office ABB's resident intel cape sat in was, as with pretty much everything surrounding Big Brother's aesthetic, an almost painfully generic manager's office one could find in a great many businesses. Well lit, organised, with the barest hint of personal touch to inform a visitor it was, in fact, occupied by someone who worked from it instead of being some sort of showcase. In Big Brother's case, said personal touch was a pair of kakejiku flanking the office window behind Big Brother's chair.
Anonymity was an ace in the sleeve in the world where every crumb of information on you could spell your doom. In all of Brockton Bay, only Lóng and Oni Lee knew Big Brother's true identity and not merely one of the Face sent in the cape's stead.
The parahuman shook head and returned to pondering the intel young Kanabo provided. Epopeia was a new variable, if one amenable to cooperation as Hookwolf so generously showed. Her power, likewise, was respectable in its versatility. And then in its demonstrated potential power, as Hookwolf's pride allowed them to learn.
Information was power, doubly so in the world of parahumans.
So Big Brother did what was best for… Azn Bad Boys. A twitch found its way to the corner of an eye, as it always did when thinking about the name of the pan-Asian gang. The Dragon was a formidable man, one whose power had to be respected, but the man's sheer… contentment with getting merely comfortable and no further, sprinkled with a handful of spite so common amongst half-breeds…
Big Brother shook head. Thinking about being part of a gang, not a family, not a clan, a gang always flared the temper. A reminder that for all that he was an unambitious brute, the Dragon had his low cunning that allowed him to keep them in check.
Still, the information regarding Epopeia's organisation, Oratorio, seemed valuable, the details on their headquarters and the projected capabilities of its members, both those present in Brockton Bay and hypothesised to support them from abroad. If Big Brother wasn't careful, another Empire 88 might spring right under ABB's noses, with as much difficulty in rooting out. International backing was a powerful tool, after all.
This night only served to up the projected assessments further. Because Epopeia's power was capable of growth. That was a very dangerous component. Parahuman powers remained largely static, Tinkers aside, with merely new facets possibly being found out through trial and error and experimentation. To have a non-Tinker be capable of growth? Big Brother poured another shot of whiskey and downed it in a single gulp.
Coupled with Oratorio's mission control in Da'at, a Thinker-Master whose power seemed so similar to Big Brother's own in some aspects…
There would be need for adjustments, preferably before Big Brother's little backdoor was discovered. Begging for forgiveness was not better than asking for permission at the level of crime syndicates. For all the trappings of legality Oratorio was surrounding themselves with, they operated… almost like a proper yakuza. Big Brother could respect that.
Heavens knew the Dragon couldn't be counted on for that.
As long as you bowed your head, didn't start conflict with other Asians and delivered your tithe to the Dragon, he didn't care how said tithe was acquired. Big Brother had been so, so busy arranging for the… weeding out those who went too hard, too brutal, on the local population just for quick money.
The Dragon didn't particularly like having to fight off incensed Protectorate either, so it was best to relieve him of the burden before it became a problem.
Another shot downed and Big Brother shuddered, reclining in the chair as the heat hit, allowing a smile to bloom on the lips. Sometimes, when the parahuman violence was confined, it almost felt like the Horayama-kai led the Azn Bad Boys from the shadows. A distinct improvement from Big Brother's time back in the Homeland, crippled by the twin forces of Leviathan and the chains of debt wrapped around it by the ostensibly 'helpful' neighbours.
Big Brother never managed a Chairman proper, true, but was finding second, perhaps even third, in command to be just as favourable position and given the friendly overtunes Oratorio was making, double dipping shouldn't hurt… too much.
Worst came to be, Big Brother could point to being responsible for acquiring intelligence on the enemy as a cover.
AN: In which the consequences of leaving Liz unattended finally materialise.
As always, big thanks to Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya, Bowchikabowow. MetaWorld42, nununu, Just Some Guy With A Mustage, Ermast, Helios, Joshua Littlesun, [TEE],PlatiNom, Jose Matos, Soulsmsher, Altaibaatar, Ian DeHart, Brigand, Starfall 20 and ลิงติดเกม จากป่าดิบชื้นแถบอเมริกาใต้, saganatsu, Gabriel, Devan Duncan, Dodge the Lava, Aravir, Alys, Romain BETTINELLI, Phantsai, Austin, That_One_Guy, Francisco Garaycoa, Matthew Johnson and Mohamed Aljahmi, who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.
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Nihilo
Authorial parasite
- Location
- Catalonia
Carmilla - Wikipedia
Yep. Fucking wild and I have no idea what mushroom man was doing glomming that onto Liz.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
We were done dirty here. Both in her super skimpy fetish wear canonical outfit, and in her general behaviour in the Rome singularity when she was interacting with Nero. Admittedly I dunno if she'd hold a grudge against the Roman leader vs the local occupying force in early England, but we didn't even get to see a general level of disgruntlement iirc. Which you'd expect when she was forced to ally with Nero vs a common foe!
I do kinda like how she's been co-opted as "team mum" in later events though, as a caring parental figure for the kid servants. Just... Give us an alternative costume for her that isn't anywhere near as skimpy - she's more revealing than some swimsuit servants in her regular form. On par with Jack the Ripper, and at least that kid got a cloak in one ascension.
Nihilo
Authorial parasite
- Location
- Catalonia
Worse, her getup is fucking boring. The design is completely uninspired and forgettable, on top of the art quality being mediocre, the sort of stuff I'd expect of a three bucks h-game rather than goddamn FGO.