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Shèn's estimation of the PRT was picking up steadily. They had not only treated them professionally, but some had gone as far as to commend them for their actions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the poor bloody infantry valued civilian lives over villain arrests. Not that it'd stopped them from carting all the hostages into transport vans, once a few nervously mentioned being able to think clearer or focus better after her bass boosted Esuna had hit them.
There had just been a put upon sigh from the lead groundpounder and a few calls. Plus a whole lot of apologies to both her and the former hostages, of course. Everyone knew it made no real sense for her to turn them into sleeper agents or whatever else, but protocol existed for
really good reasons. Inconveniencing people was better than letting them fall prey to parahuman nonsense out of carelessness.
The trip to the PRT HQ had passed in the timeless tradition of grouching about their respective days. Clockblocker, who was sitting between them as a blatant just-in-case, had even managed to chuck in a few good zingers. Benefits of celebrity PR training, Shèn supposed. She herself just took it as a chance to ask a few questions about the Bay's gang situation.
The Empire did as you'd expect of the biggest concentration of power in the city even before you accounted for their overseas connections, doing whatever they damn well pleased so long as they didn't cross enough of a line that the Triumvirate would get called in. Given how apparently there was a lynching or firebombing at least once a week, more than a few troopers grumbled that it wasn't going to happen unless they killed a Ward on national TV.
Clockblocker very pointedly changed the topic, rather than deny anything said.
The ABB apparently had done the yakuza special, propping up businesses and protecting their territory from enemy gangs. Hence, endless bitching from the troopers that anyone with a badge was openly glared at and chased out at the first opportunity. The civilians relied on and trusted the ABB to protect them, the police and PRT were viewed as nothing but a threat to that protection.
They also had, to little surprise, more than two Capes.
Finally, there was no mention whatsoever of the Merchants as a gang. Only grouching about the combo Skidmark and Squealer made and the sheer amount of property damage they caused whenever they got a 'good idea' in their soft skulls. They were spoken of in the same breath as a potpourri of minor gangs, independent villains, vigilantes and the odd small time hero who fucked up. Some were familiar, like Trainwreck rumbling around the Trainyard bullying any Cape passing through. Some weren't, like Diesel or Ballistae.
Well, it figured, highest Cape per capita in the East Coast if not all of America.
Before long, they were going through the doors of PRT HQ. It looked like an office building. A reinforced and fortified office building, but an office building none the less. It just looked like it'd been crossed with a cinderblock, all in all.
Shèn politely wrapped her tail around herself, the doors only fit so much and she was sandwiched together with Miho amidst a bunch of troopers, never you mind Aegis and Clockblocker. It made sense to have a Brute and a timestop Striker kept close to them, yes, but Vista hadn't exactly been subtle about her glares.
These two had volunteered to stay away from the Rig as long as humanly possible.
Their fidgeting as all four of them were crammed into an elevator bound for the basement didn't change the dragon's mind in the slightest. Admittedly, Miho wasn't doing much better, flipping aimlessly through her Grimoire to busy her hands. Well, unless she
desperately needed to cross-reference Fester, Radiant Aegis and Libra for some arcane reason.
Soon enough, the metal box on pulleys dinged and they were let out into the underground testing chambers.
"Man, it must've taken some legal black magic to get permits for this." Shèn said with a low whistle. Damn thing was the size of two football fields put side to side. The left half seemed like the unholy lovechild of a CQB training field and a firing range, everything made out of blue and red hardlight. The right half was best summarized as a futuristic gymnasium. Bigger machines, all sorts of swappable and adjustable bits, the odd holographic screen.
What really got her approval, though, was how reinforced everything was. Metal plates that she'd bet anything could be quickswapped covered
everything, with plexiglas stuffed with some sort of goop layered on top of those in some parts. Nevermind how every control, observation and whatever else room peppered around were built like bunkers.
A rather short blonde woman, barely taller than Miho, walked up alongside a pair of men clad in labcoats. The presumed Dr Marigold if her lanyard was anything to go by raised a hand in greeting, the other busy holding a clipboard, "Hello, Shen, Miho. Welcome to ENE PRT HQ. Specifically our power testing chamber." Pausing, she turned to Aegis and Clockblocker, "Aegis, Clockblocker, you two are dismissed."
"Ma'am." Aegis saluted, turning about face and marching back into the elevator, accompanied by his teammate, who unlike everything the media based off of this world would tell you? Just nodded sharply and followed right along without a word.
Teenage celebrities or not, they were
also paramilitary.
"I'd say it's a pleasure, but I don't think anyone in the building is terribly pleased with the circumstances leading here." Shèn sighed, shaking her head, "Ah, well, we make the most of what we have."
"Do you mean perhaps the potential Master power you utilized, or the circumstances behind the Undersiders robbing Brockton Bay Central?" Dr. Marigold replied, a glint of amusement entering her eyes before it disappeared, almost too fast for Shèn to catch.
"I'd imagine the latter." Miho answered, snapping her book shut with a
thump. "That said, may we get an introduction, ma'am? I believe it is considered the absolute bare minimum in polite society."
That got her poked on the side by Shèn's tail, but little else.
With a huff of amusement, Dr. Marigold nodded, "Doctor Abigail Marigold." She introduced herself properly, bowing slightly at the waist, "My associates, Doctor Reuben Hamilton and Nurse Nicholas Mason will be assisting us today, considering one of you has shown the ability to heal."
"How, exactly, are we going to be testing that?" The dragon had to ask, because there was a very pointed absence of patients in the basement. So at best they'd have to relocate at some point, at worst someone would have to 'volunteer'.
"What she said," Miho nodded, curiously peering around the room now that her face wasn't stuck in a book.
"We'll be bringing in volunteers when we arrive at that stage of testing," The obviously senior of the doctor-nurse pair explained, "This wasn't exactly scheduled ahead of time so it will take a while for them to reach HQ."
"Fair enough." Shèn said with a bob of her head, stretching her triceps with an elbow pin just for show. "Alright, what'd you want to see first, doc?"
"Blaster abilities first, I think." Dr. Marigold replied instantly, "Miho, if you could please follow me to demonstrate? Shèn, if you could follow along, we'll be testing your defensive abilities momentarily."
The floozy threw her fellow… situation enjoyer a meaningful look, both sighing nearly in sync. Shèn simply motioned for her to go ahead. "Shèn and I share the same abilities, Dr. Marigold. Both she and I will be able to provide you with similar data."
The good doctor's face was a
picture, but credit where it was due, she schooled her features in record time. The wonders of professionals, "In that case, both of you will be working with the Blaster range. Even cluster triggers have different power expressions."
Implications hung heavy there, but at least the good doctor was polite enough to just ask them to follow right along and give her some data to evaluate. They had to weave around some of hardlight projections which given how the place had been clearly emptied out for them? Were only really there to show off the PRT's access to Tinkertech. Shèn wasn't about to begrudge them the manipulation, it was no different from cleaning up and putting on your best suit before an interview.
She had a personable mask wedged on right now, after all.
She honestly just wanted this to be over with after the morning she'd had, get some good food in her belly and a bit boozed up, but needs must. It wasn't like she had any money right now, either. Or a legal identity. Hopefully she could hook onto whatever aids they gave to C53s.
Soon enough, they were told to stand in place amid the mess of hardlight as the labcoat squad skittered off to one of the reinforced rooms built into the walls.
"So, Shèn," A softly-spoken half-question from Miho, along with the hand on her shoulder, caught the dragon's attention, "How much, exactly, do you think we want to share with the federal types?"
"More than what their Thinkers would be able to pull out with their nonsense, less than what would make us sound insane." Shèn replied, reclining back on her uncertified magical tail with an explosive sigh, "How to strike that balance, I have no idea."
"I'll handle it." Miho replied with a slow nod, clearly not at all happy with the idea, but very much aware that she was definitely the more knowledgeable of the pair when it came to Arcanima, "Speaking of handling it, how exactly are you thinking of handling the fact we're, well, ya know?"
"Do you mean the tails or the crystals?" The dragon asked with a quizzical tilt of her head.
"The fact we have no legal identity, no money, and are stuck in the United States of fucking America, who have a social support network that 'exists' only to appease the populace when in reality it doesn't." The fox deadpanned, a hint of irritation entering her voice as her ears flattened against her head.
"The tails, then." Shèn surmised with a bob of her head, throwing a lazy arm over one of her coils, "I'm just going to ask what the Case Fifty Three aids are and if I don't like 'em, demand more on grounds that healers are insanely valuable and if
they don't help me, someone else will."
"Reasonable." Miho shrugged, ears perking up as the irritation from earlier fled her voice, "I suppose we are essentially what amounts to a combat medic combined with a battlefield surgeon."
"All in a fancy glowy package that can be executed at range, on multiple targets and in a matter of seconds." The dragon woman snorted, making jazz hands just for effect.
"Ain't Arcanima great?" Miho chirped, perhaps a little bit louder than she'd intended.
"Fukkin nerdo magic." Shèn snorted as she got up, turning towards the bunker with hands cupped around her mouth, "Alright, we're done giving you free intel, roll out them tests!"
Right on cue, the sea of reds and blues flickered away in favor of two parallel rows of turquoise dummies, with floating distance markers saying they were dotted every five meters.
"For the first test, you'll be firing off your Blaster abilities at each dummy in your row." Dr Marigold's voice buzzed through hidden speakers, "Miho, you are first, describe the ability you will use in your own words then take a single shot at the nearest red target."
With a well hidden roll of her eyes and a
far too fancy flourish to draw her tome, the fox sighed as she stepped up to the metaphorical plate. Flipping through the pages idly to in a full on nerd act, going as far as pushing up an imaginary pair of glasses, "Right. So. Ruin. Specifically the standard variant. Ruin is a spell designed
specifically to be easy to utilize by even the most novice Arcanist, and is roughly equivalent in strength to a rock flung from a sling." Pausing, she took a breath, and continued, "I will now demonstrate."
"ルイン!" Miho intoned firmly, raising her book with her left hand as her right made a vague gesture towards the closest target. Upon being struck, the target flickered, the impact area of the spell turning a nasty yellow-orange. Turning back towards the direction the scientists had gone, she bowed theatrically, "Ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration, Ruin."
"It seems we agree on the general potency of your Blaster ability, Miss Miho." Dr. Marigold hummed from within the safety of her bunker,
very pointedly not saying anything about the she-fox's comments and their implications, "Shèn, if you would?"
"Of course. To add onto what my partner said, Ruin's extreme simplicity allows for buffering multiple instances of the projectile. Furthermore, as reports will tell you, gestures can substitute verbal components for manifesting a schema. Watch." Shèn explained, taking Miho's lead in going full fucking send it. Yellow fingers traced out the edge of the schema with a flourish, the magic circle unfurling inwards like a camera diaphragm. "Energy intake, elemental stabilizer, capacitor, shaping, targeting, output."
She pointed to a different part of the array as she listed out their respective functions. "I will begin feeding aether to the structure now, note the transit of the energy through the system, as indicated by the light."
Aether went in, was balanced out among all six base elements, then pooled in the holding area without moving further. "As you can see, the structure is built with robustness in mind, allowing for safe handling of power concentrations that would overload other schemas. Furthermore, the shaping segment is designed to
always make a projectile under its presets, such that aether exceeding its requirements will simply be fashioned into additional bolts. Finally, both it, targeting and output are so simple they face no practical issues handling the whole of the capacitor's load as a single batch. Their limits are in excess of what the capacitor loop can hold."
"Neither gestures nor vocalizations are required for granular actuation and regulation of the schema, only for its materialization. They are, however, required for modification, as your reports of the earlier altercation will no doubt highlight." Shèn explained evenly, even as she allowed more of her aether to flow into the schema. About eight shots worth, she'd reckon. "I will launch the projectiles now, aiming for the head. Note the rudimentary nature of the targeting."
The barrage of white-rimmed black bolts exploded out as it should. Three smashed into the head proper, two into the neck, one outright
deleted an ear and the rest simply grazed as the buckshot barrage tried to curve in to hit no matter what.
The hardlight head, mimicking human anatomy to the best of its ability, became a black and red pulp clinging viscously to the largely intact 'bone' towards the back. Shèn paid it no mind beyond a small pleased grunt, instead turning towards the bunker with an arm across her chest and brushing by her shoulder, bowing. "I hope this was informative."
"...Interesting."
______________________________________________________________________________
With a huff and a sigh, Miho pushed away the still building irritation from being
hungry. It certainly wasn't helping her irritation any the the scientists were very much still discussing the results from the tests earlier, though there wasn't exactly much she could do about that. Flipping a page in her tome, she mentally reviewed the tests and the results thereafter.
Shèn had gone first this time, showing off her elemental set of Water, Wind and Earth. Sapphire Ruin burst with a
lot of concussive force behind it, mimicking pressurized water. It was like a gigantic hammer taken to whatever it hit, more often than not knocking the dummies on their asses. Emerald Ruin was faster to cast and reach the target, making a terrifying whistling noise through the air before biting into the hardlight like a guillotine arrow. Topaz Ruin meanwhile had the projectile behave like a hunk of lead, having FAR more mass behind it and squashing into the target to deliver its full force before dissipating.
Everyone had agreed that last one was for 'special occasions only', as Shèn had put it. Watching a single Topaz Ruin crunch down a chest cavity like it was breaking in some pointe shoes would do that.
Her own tests had been similar, although the results obviously differed. Ruby Ruin took longer to cast, but in exchange added a 'hot' explosion, acting as something of the middle ground between Shèn's Sapphire and Topaz Ruins. Dr. Hamilton had remarked on how the burns were second degree and with a pie plate the size of a volleyball? Very painfully debilitating. But hey, the victims wouldn't need to go to the burn ward proper unless she hit them repeatedly! Or go into shock and die, as third degree burns were wont to do.
Meanwhile, Amethyst Ruin was largely identical to Emerald Ruin. Fast to cast, fast to hit,
even louder. The main difference was in it electrocuting the target rather than leaving a mess of cuts on the impact area. Hamilton had warned about nerve damage, which made this Ruin another 'please don't use this if you don't
have to'.
'Wonder if they're going to bother to check on Hess, considering I electrocuted her several times.' Miho mused idly, flipping over the Diamond Ruin's schema.
It had been the one to provide the wonders of lacerations for her, hardening the projectile to fragment on impact. The shrapnel bit in surprisingly deep and froze small parts of the surrounding tissue, begrudgingly making it the least dangerous and painful of her elemental repertoire.
All in all, it had been a productive session for both of the Arcanists and the PRT. Miho and Shèn had attained more practical insights into their spells, while the PRT had begun to piece together exactly
what Arcanima did. However, well.
Miho could definitely tell that they still were filing this under a parahuman ability. That'd be put to rest as soon as Panacea confirmed they had no potentia or gemma. Honestly though neither of them truly had a reason to request that, and Panpan was definitely still in M/S containment after Shèn had pulled off what she could only truly call a minor Limit Break. Perhaps akin to the one that Lamati regularly pulled after a certain point?
Eh, more to think about later. She certainly wasn't going to explain to anyone the mechanics behind a Limit Break. It simply was something that existed, given the brief aura of gold that had surrounded Shèn, imperceptible unless one had specifically been looking for it. After all, she did not want to be responsible for letting those secrets out into the wild. Oh sure, it was selfish. She also did not want to be fighting parahumans who's Shards had figured out the mechanics behind it, akin to the way a
certain AI had.
With a haggard sigh, Miho stood up from the hardlight chair she'd requested to stretch her legs and make this feel a bit less like a layover. Her compatriot in isekai was getting some rest, at least, the dragoness shifting languidly in her scaly bed. After the first twenty minutes of radio silence, Shèn had clearly given up on looking professional and just sprawled herself on her floating coils, an arm thrown over her eyes as she dozed.
"We've finished compiling our notes. At this point, if you could please summon your Master projections, Miss Shèn, Miss Miho?" Marigold's voice asked through the PA system, "We should be able to test your ranges at the same time. Once we're done, the food we asked the kitchens for should get here."
Oh thank the stars. The Doctor had a brain for things other than research!
"Xǐyuè hé kuángxǐ." Shèn groaned, hopping to her feet and straightening out with a rather
fascinating yawn. Just like a snake, her jaw moved in four parts, stretching out each row of dinosaur teeth forward and out… together with her tongue. Woman had a calamitous case of the blep, three inches of pink-purple hanging out of her lip without any seeming notice. At least until she spoke and it got shlorped back in. "Wonder what paramilitaries eat around here."
"Probably depends on what the cafeteria has today." Miho shrugged, turning towards the bunker as she snapped her book closed. In the same motion, she slotted the lifeblood of her magick back into the holster at her side, rummaging through her cloak's pockets for her gemstones. Moments later, she flicked the engraved crystals out, her little 'buncles appearing in a flash of light as the aether she'd loaded into the jewels jumpstarted their systems.
To her right, another quartet of flashes announced the arrival of Shèn's… menagerie. It looked like she'd wanted to demonstrate a bit more, so there was a
wind-flavored Bomb, an
Aqua Flan and a brown
Voidsent Ahriman. The only one unchanged was her cartoonish 'Aegis' Ahriman.
Because of
course Shèn was going to demonstrate petglam just to show off. Or to actually give the PRT useful information. Meh. It wasn't any skin off her back and, honestly, it was probably a good idea. Just like the ideas she had for improving her Carbuncles! Miho was pretty damn sure she'd be able to figure out how to make her Carbuncles walk on literal air if given enough time. But that was a thing for future Miho to gloat about if she ever managed to figure out the correct schema for it.
"And 'lo, there came a light and upon its wreath rode the autism creatures." The dragoness drawled, the side of her lip crooking upwards as she looked on at Miho's color-coded carbies.
"Amen." The fox intoned gravely, standing at something vaguely resembling attention before she craned her head in the general direction of the bunkers, "What exactly would you like us to do, Doctor Marigold?"
"We're testing for, first and foremost: the limitations on range, the issuing of commands, the complexities of the command, and any other fancy things you can do with them. Following that, we'll test the general power of your projections." She declared firmly as the range reconfigured itself, becoming a series of circles centered around both Shèn and Miho. "Now, if you could please command your projections to go as far away from you as they possibly can, Miss Shèn, Miss Miho?"
Miho cleared her throat, glancing towards all of her Carbuncles before shooting a look towards Shèn that screamed, 'Follow my lead'. "Disperse to your maximum range, provided no obstacles are in the way." She commanded, watching with a healthy dose of amusement as, one by one, every Carbuncle eventually made it to the wall of the rather cavernous testing area.
'They, after all,' Miho mused whimsically,
'Technically do not have a limited range. Rather, their limitation comes in their supply of aether.'
"As you can surmise," Shèn said as her menagerie of monsters followed suit through a twitch of her aether, "Verbal commands aren't strictly needed, as the Carbuncles can be commanded utilizing the same mechanisms as schema actuation. This is thanks to the aether used to jumpstart them."
Honestly, Miho wasn't sure whether to kiss or throttle Shèn. She had more meant to utilize a verbal command so they'd underestimate them. Then again, they'd definitely notice given the footage they had access to. Therefore Shèn explaining things might have increased the PRT opinion of them since they'd decided to be honest.
Eh. More things for future Miho to be concerned about. Giving the scientists some time to chew on the new data provided, the fox recalled her carbuncles to her side. Taking a seat in her requested hardlight chair, Miho sighed and reached for her book once again. Finally, after another minute, the scientists remembered they were present, and she snapped it shut, again.
"Now, if you could demonstrate the complexity of commands these projections can follow?" Marigold requested.
Complying with a hum, Miho turned towards her Amethyst Carbuncle, "Move to the point over there, stand watch, and attack anything on the provided blacklist if they approach."
"While capable of some limited fuzzy logic to understand commands, Carbuncles are ultimately advanced programs that do not breach into Artificial Intelligence." Shèn went on with her magistral lecture, only missing a set of glasses and a pointer to complete the look. For all Miho had played with the nerd act, the dragoness seemed to just transform into an university professor at the drop of a hat, "For all it eases ethical concerns, it comes with its own struggles, ameliorated as they may be by the aetheric connection between the Arcanist and the etched gemstone. In future altercations, please bear in mind that Carbuncles are therefore most akin to autonomous drones we can communicate with rather than a direct extension of our wills."
Shèn paused, turning to bore into the bunker with flinty eyes, the red lights nestled in her pupils only making the unblinking gaze all the more intense. Her voice matched them perfectly. "We are freely providing you with no small amount of information when we are in our full rights to withhold, as we are only obliged to submit Esuna for testing to leave and our wider healing repertoire if we wish to take up work at the hospital. I expect reciprocation."
Turning towards the bunker herself, Miho adopted a similar posture, "We bear no ill will towards the PRT or the US Government.
However, we are thinking, living, breathing beings. We, thus, expect a good turn to be reciprocated, as Shèn explained."
The bunker was silent for several moments, the inhabitants silent as the discussed things amongst themselves, or perhaps blinked at the audacity a pair of 'parahumans' without any sort of support network were exhibiting. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Dr. Marigold answered,
"Miss Miho, Miss Shèn, we will keep your words in mind. You are correct that you were under no obligation to provide us with a good amount of your strengths and weaknesses when all we required was testing for 'Esuna'." Pausing, a harsh sigh could be heard over the intercom, "We'll be making some of the standard Case 53 resources available to you both the moment we conclude the testing, in addition to the fund provided to those who are not of our dimension natively. There will, of course, be a significant amount of paperwork."
"And we will, of course, want a lawyer." Shèn said with finality.
