[X] Be proactive; look for clue!
- [X] The imposter can change its face but Dieci cannot. If you can catch Dieci or her sisters you can win!
- [X] Keep a careful eye on those you know. They get broken too easily.
You study the dagger again - it's just a plain dagger, straight-bladed, with the gem crudely fused to the hilt in place of a pommel-stone. It doesn't seem to be trapped in any way, but the nature of the gem itself makes figuring that out for certain impossible for you. You carefully pull it out of the desk and set it down. You turn and pace a little; you want to go and hunt, but you can't do that without knowing what your prey is. If Dieci were still a prisoner, you would have a target, or at least a general area ... but someone released her, and that was almost certainly an insider's work, since an illusionist wouldn't have the right orders to get her out. But you can't just go in there and force them to let you know - well, you could, but you did tell Gaiz you'd give him a little time before you started burning the city down. And you don't have any other leads that you can follow up. Sure, Lutecia works with them, but you don't know where to look for her, either, and ... you halt and grin.
"Astra? Would you be able to find out where someone is, or at least where they're supposed to be, if I give you a name?"
"Yes, Miss Scarlet," he says, turning back to the display and tapping a few times. "Alright."
"Nakajima, a Sergeant," you say. You aren't certain, of course, but her armaments and her way of moving remind you far too much of Nove for it to be a coincidence. She's a connection, and you need one to move forward.
"Sergeant Ginga Nakajima, normally assigned to the 108th Battalion," he begins, and you step next to him to look at the face on the screen. "... Currently on temporary assignment to Riot Force 6, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Hayate Yagami." You frown. On the one hand, if she is an agent, they can take care of themselves, from what you know. On the other, they won't be expecting an inside attack, so ....
"Can you contact them for me?" He nods and rapidly taps the screen. A brown-haired woman with glasses appears on-screen.
"This is Corporal Finieno of the Antiqui-" She pauses, eyes widening, and you guess that she can see you.
"Hello!" You wave, and she responds after a moment. "Hm, I know it's kind of short notice, but I'd like to speak with one of your officers. Could you get one of them for me?" You smile. She stares at you for a moment, mouth working, then shakes herself and nods.
"Um, just one moment, please ...." She turns away slightly and seems to talk to someone else for a bit. Then the screen changes, and you see Fate sitting at a desk.
"Flandre. What is it you wanted to talk about?" She seems irritated about something.
"It's something important, and I don't trust telling anyone about it except in person," you say, and she sighs.
"If you can't tell me about it, I can't meet you about it," she says. You stare at her image for a moment, then reach back, grab the dagger, and hold it up for her to see. She takes a short breath and leans forward to look at it.
"Someone left me a message with this," you tell her, and she sits back down, frowning in thought.
"... Alright, come meet me. Bring that and the message, if you can." The display cuts off. You frown, then look up at Astra, who's already busy with a small device of some kind.
"... There." He holds it out for you. "Just push this button -" he taps one of the buttons on the side, and it projects a screen showing the intruder breaking in, "and then push this button to shut it off." You smile at him as you take it.
"Thank you. Now, are there any tools for directly alerting another person in an emergency?" He frowns.
"Hmm .... There are emergency tracking beacons - if they're activated, tuned scanners will go on alert." He looks at you curiously.
"Those will do. We'll need two beacons and one tuned scanner, then." You pat his head. "You see, you're going to drive me to my meeting with Fate, and then you're going to go see Tarbin. Each of you will get one beacon, and I'll have the scanner. That way, if anyone tries to attack either of you, I'll know." Astra stares at you for a moment, then bows his head.
You wave as Astra drives off. He'd gotten the beacons and scanner, and shown you how to read the display, and then you'd told Balfour what you learned from Gaiz - that is, that he hadn't even known anything had gone wrong and was trying to find some way of fixing things without knowing what else had gone wrong - and then Astra had driven you here. Of course, the person waiting for you wasn't Fate herself, but an underling. Specifically, it was the very same Ginga Nakajima. She glances at the dagger you're carrying, then greets you. You warily stare at her as she bows politely and leads you through the building and into Fate's office.
Fate looks up from the screens she's working at to wave you forward. "Come in, come in." You take a few steps in, then pause.
"Just the two of us," you say, when it becomes clear that Ginga is planning on staying as well. They both stare at you. "And any type of spells you know to keep our conversation secret." Ginga's shock turns to anger, but Fate remains calm, and after a moment she stands up.
"It's alright, Ginga. I'll be fine." She smiles at her underling, then gently shoos her out of the room. With the door closed, she takes out her axe-headed staff. Moments later, golden rectangles lock over the walls, floor, and ceiling, and Fate sighs. "Alright, it's secure. I do hope you had a good reason for wanting this, though." You nod.
"Yes, someone brought me this," you say, holding up the dagger. Fate takes a deep breath as she takes it from you - she only studies the gem, but she's very careful about it. After she sets it down, you show her the recording. "Except that that's not Marino, because someone brought Marino's head and false leg to the unit earlier, and I was meeting Gaiz when this happened. And whoever brought the head also left behind a metal collar with a 'II' on it - one that looks like those girls like Dieci had. And one of those girls, Nove, had boots and a gauntlet like Ginga does, and Ginga moved like they did. And someone helped Dieci escape last night, which means an insider." Fate holds up her hand.
"And you think Ginga is the insider?" You nod.
"Or at least someone who knows where I can start looking." Fate sighs.
"Well ... it is true that Ginga is a combat cyborg, but she isn't working with the Numbers - the ones we've been fighting. We're certain of it." She gives you a hard look, then sighs. "But ... with all this going on ...." You glance at the dagger.
"So what is that?" She glares at the gemstone pommel.
"It's something called a 'Jewel Seed.' They're incredibly powerful artifacts, capable of altering living things based on their desires, or providing power for massive spells. That someone would waste one on something so simple as a threat ...." She shakes her head. "Something so dangerous needs to be kept under control, not simply left free."
What do you do?
[ ] Kidnap Ginga; she obviously just has good enough cover that no one else suspects her!
[ ] Try to think up another clue to look for.
[ ] Go visit Tarbin and Astra.
[ ] Other?
DM Note: It's about noon right now.
This is getting fucking ridiculous. All we wanted is get some servants and a device. But no little Ms. Little Yellow decided to fucked shit up for Flandre. If it does go that way we are going to break as many of these dumbasses we possibly can.