It's Turbin' Time (Library of Ruina Modded/Arknights)

thenew · Nov 4, 2022

Spoilers for Library of Ruina, the specific mod that this quest is about and Arknights.

0.1 - Turbulent Will

…you're dead.

What a shame. After all you and your friends went through, after all you did to carve your name into the annals of the City, you are dead. As of now, all you can feel is your body fading away into light-wreathed pages. It feel like the world has slowed down. You're vanishing- slowly, gently.

It's done. You no longer have a body. Everything that used to compose "you" is now safely contained within one of the Pale Librarian's tomes. You don't expect to stay safe for long. She did say she would set fire to your books after this was all said and done.

Hah. Maybe you should've done this before the Library was declared an Impurity. Maybe you could have won, then.

So this is the end of the legend of Turbulence Office. What a joke of an ending. Then again, not like you were any different. The Library swallowed you whole, and unlike all these other people, there will be no coming back from the belly of the beast.

No great pillar of light will come out of the sky to spread Light over the City once more. You will not awaken in your Office, safe and sound once again. Tell me, Fixer. How did you fall?

[ ] You were vanquished by the blade of the Red Mist, under the blistering heat of her forge. A powerful swing of that grotesque flesh blade, a swing strong enough to cleave your body in twain. It hurt but for a moment.
[ ] You bled to death in that peculiar room, with stairs everywhere you could see. Some strange effect kept your wounds open, kept the blood flowing out of your body. It was a very painful way to go out.
[ ] You were crushed to paste in that strange city of gears. That strange chained ball, held by that purple-haired librarian, smashed you into a pulp. It didn't hurt that much, to be honest. After he broke through your defenses, the whole thing was over quickly.
[ ] You were sliced to bits in a flurry of strikes in that enormous city of books. The Black Silence's assault was unrelenting. You almost welcomed that final black blade digging into what remained of you.
[ ] You melted alive. In that bright, golden room with the red carpet. All of a sudden, this strange green liquid covered you and your allies. As you fought that blonde girl and her goons, it burned through your body. Slowly. Very slowly.
[ ] You were rent into nothingness by sound. In that sinister clocktower. You felt no pain at all. All you felt was a sense of… nostalgia.
[ ] You were carved apart by the Singularity of Fairy, whose wounds only worsen with time. You were not expecting an Arbiter to be there. What kind of place even was the Library? And they had the gall to call you a weirdo.

You can't return to the City.

…but nothing says you can't go somewhere else. Somewhere different from anything you've experienced before.

Your book begins to shake. As if claimed by an invisible hand, it slowly slithers out of the bookshelf and falls into the floor. From there, it simply vanishes, off to parts unknown.

But what book was this? Who exactly are you, amongst the ranks of Turbulence Office?

[ ] Sieghart
A Color Fixer known as the Steel Determination, Sieghart is the third member and leader of Turbulence Office. A man who's seen everything that The City has to offer, there's not much that can affect this veteran Fixer nowadays.

Extremely skilled and powerful, unphased by even the weirdest occurrences.
Massive weirdo magnet. It's like the universe itself conspires to put him in the most bizarre situations it can manufacture.
Hears voices. No, not really. He hears one voice. A warm voice.

[ ] Beats
The sixth member of Turbulence Office. A tactical mastermind with an extremely advanced screen-head implant.

His cyborg implants grant him a powerful physique and amplify his already excellent tactical skill.
Addicted to ketamine.
Unlike the president of Cane Office, can't shoot laser beams out of his screen face.
Needs a proper energy supply to keep his implants going, and that can get expensive.

[ ] Linette
The seventh member of Turbulence Office. A self-proclaimed "expert at identity theft," Linette has a tendency to lie a lot. Formerly a charity worker, she now fights to claim the wealth that was denied to the children of the Backstreets.

Linette, can steal money, can steal faces and can steal powers- a true genius plagiarist.
Refuses to show her true face. Linette is always copying someone, whether that "someone" likes it or not.
Likes to shapeshift into people to mess with them. That can get unnerving at times.
Lies all the time, whether or not it's a good idea to do so.

[ ] Wympe
The ninth member of Turbulence Office. Secretary of the organization and a girl saddled with massive confidence issues. Even with her issues, she's still the sanest member of Turbulence Office.

Skilled contract lawyer.
Wait, how did she turn that piece of paper into a bomb?
Nearly entirely unable to see worth in her own accomplisments.

[ ] Lech
The eleventh member of Turbulence Office. A former T-Corp scientist carrying dangerous stolen technology. Living on borrowed time.

Holds temporal manipulation powers and powerful cyborg augmentations.
Has lived for long and seen much.
Much like Beats, his mechanical body has considerable energy requirements, a problem that is worsened by the cost of utilizing his TT2 protocol.
Has yet to fully realize the price of silence.

Author's Note: You might be wondering who the hell are these people. To that question, I answer: those of you that have completed Library of Ruina- play Turbulence Office. Truly, it is the mod of all time. But for real, you don't need to. As long as you have the general background on the City you'll get these guys. If you're not in the mood for a quality modded reception that will absolutely not bring you endless suffering, of course.

thenew · Nov 4, 2022

Character Sheets - Part 1

Turbulence Office

Sieghart: Age: 39
Threat Grade: Color

Third amongst the ranks of Turbulence Office. The Color Fixer known as The Steel Determination. Strong, resilient, and utterly loyal to his friends. A man unfazed by the City's madness. Few are the things that can surprise Sieghart.

- The Steel Determination: To be recognized as a Color- the dream and lifetime goal of all Fixers who wish for freedom.

- Light's Voice: A voice in his head. Guiding, advising, bringing forth revelation. Chipping away at his mind. Her voice is warm. It's warm, like the sun. But you don't have to listen. Idiot.

- Turbulent Will: Turbulence Office remains stalwart. You hit them, you send them flying, you make them stumble, you knock them out. But they bounce back. They always do.

- Unity: Sooner or later you have to face the fact that literally all adventures are about learning the value of teamwork.

- Students Of The Same Teacher: Something binds you to these creatures known as Distortions. The Light is scarce in this reality, and those few who hold it will inevitably drift towards each other. When facing a Distortion, you will connect to it in unexpected ways. But it will connect back.

- Those Who Are Faithful And Trustworthy: Why do you think I decided to stick with you until the end? Just look around you now. Everyone gathered here just for you. And they're waiting expectantly.
- Fairy's Remnant: The power of an Arbiter. The power of F-Corp's Singularity is to open anything- and what is a wound but an opening of flesh? It has healed, for the most part.

- E.G.O Gift ("Hippity-Hop"): A light-blue shark tail, granted to you by the Dreaming Current. Though you can control it,and even use it as an additional limb without issues, it has a range of involuntary movements, which seem to be connected to you are feeling

Wympe: Age: 29
Threat Grade: Grade 1

The ninth in Turbulence Office's ranks, and secretary of the organization. A stalwart friend, loyal companion, and skilled contract lawyer, Wympe is a person you can rely on to do anything for you, unless "anything" is seeing the worth in her own accomplishments. Even with these ever-present self-confidence issues, she remains the sanest member of Turbulence Office.

- Turbulent Will: Turbulence Office remains stalwart. You hit them, you send them flying, you make them stumble, you knock them out. But they bounce back. They always do.

- Unity: Sooner or later you have to face the fact that literally all adventures are about learning the value of teamwork.

- Stained With Ink: Wait, how did she turn that piece of paper into a bomb?

- Preparing For A Brawl: Every Association has a very particular style of combat, and they pass it along to their associated Offices. Seven Association teaches their Fixers that the secret to win a battle is to see through the enemy's defenses and properly assess their weaknesses. But what if the enemy doesn't have any? Make one.

- Imposing Breath: "If I was trapped in a room with the Pianist, the Mother of the Sweepers, an Öufi Grade 1, and a gun with only two bullets, I'd shoot the Öufi twice, then kick the body. Just to be sure." - Renaud, Grade 1 Fixer of Charles' Office

- The Courage To Protect: You also have to remember this. She would want you to protect what we have left, rather than just languish in guilt.

- Bottom Deal: In Nest J, the Nest of District 10, the gigantic casino of J-Corp, gambling is a match of who's smarter, who's more clear-headed, who has the best face and who has the better luck. In the Backstreets of District 10, gambling is a match of who cheats harder.

- THE DEEP: It whispers in your ears. Are you willing to welcome it?

Arabella: Age: 81
Threat Grade: Grade 1

The Bloodsoaked Swordswoman. A Bloodfiend of great age and strength. While she is an immense drama queen and has a tendency to do whatever she thinks is cool at the moment, regardless of how wise it actually is, she is the kind of person who will remain loyal to the ones she loves, until the very end.

- Turbulent Will: Turbulence Office remains stalwart. You hit them, you send them flying, you make them stumble, you knock them out. But they bounce back. They always do.

- Unity: Sooner or later you have to face the fact that literally all adventures are about learning the value of teamwork.

- Bloodfiendish: "There is one thing they strongly crave: blood. It's far from the desire for a good meal. To them, blood isn't something to satiate their gluttony. It's a crystallization of desire. They treat blood like how we treat money. Only that while money is a means for us to afford various desires, blood is a purpose in itself to them. Similar to how humans often become conniving and vicious for money, Bloodfiends are obsessed with blood, and will go to any lengths to consume blood in their own ways." - Moses, the Distortion Detective

- Reckless Blade: Inspired bravery, or reckless foolishness? The line between one and the other is difficult to grasp. When does a courageous charge become a bout of suicidal madness? To one as battle-scarred as Arabella, there is no difference at all. Her blade will wound herself just as it wounds the enemy, and she will laugh all the while.

- Hemomatic Recovery: "Wait, is that my blood- why is poking out through my skin? (incoherent screaming)" An anonymous Middle member, facing Arabella during one of her assassination tasks.

- Hemomatic Boost: If there was ever such a thing as "weaponized suffering," this discipline of Bloodfiend hemokinesis would fit it quite nicely.

Nicole: Age: ?
Threat Grade: Grade 2

Nicole, Piernascie. The 14th member of Turbulence Office. She doesn't talk much.

- Turbulent Will: Turbulence Office remains stalwart. You hit them, you send them flying, you make them stumble, you knock them out. But they bounce back. They always do.

- Unity: Sooner or later you have to face the fact that literally all adventures are about learning the value of teamwork.

- Puffy Brume: Smoking is good for you.

- Hollowpoint: No matter how strong you are, no matter how hard you hit- one shot from her gun will will stop you on your tracks.

- Extra Pack: If there's one thing life has taught Nicole, is to always have backups. Bring an extra magazine, keep a second pistol if your first breaks. Never be left completely disarmed. You can't be prepared for everything- so make sure to cover the basics.

Linette: Age: 39
Threat Grade: Grade 1 (Possibly Color, by now)

Siete, Linette, seventh member of Turbulence Office, wielder of the apparently dangerously illegal Hephaestus "nanomachines," and someone suspiciously similar in appearance and ability to the Damazti Sarkaz.

- Grand Theft: That's a nice ability you have there. It'd be a shame if... someone just... took it for themselves. She could copy it too, apparently, but some times you just have to be an ass to people, it's inevitable.

- It's Just A Prank :3: You know, you can use this for more than just copying. Passing around stolen abilities isn't very reliable, but hey, if it works, it works. And giving someone the abilities you just stole... it's almost perfect.

~~Useless Trash:~~ You learn to keep this stuff around, after time. You never know when it might be useful.

Lies: This is totally a coping mechanism. And hoo boy did it get worse.

Beats: Age: 36
Threat Grade: Grade 1

Sixth amongst the ranks of Turbulence Office. The strange and unpredictable tactician of Turbulence Office. Whimsical, fun-loving and resilient beyond even the standards of his highly enhanced mechanical body. A mind and a soul of steel.

- Turbulent Will: Turbulence Office remains stalwart. You hit them, you send them flying, you make them stumble, you knock them out. But they bounce back. They always do.

- Unity: Sooner or later you have to face the fact that literally all adventures are about learning the value of teamwork.

- Thunderous Tactics - Normally speaking, shock assault troops are expected to take disproportionate casualties in comparison to the rest of the team. Not those ones. Not when he's around.

- Addiction - He can give it up any time, as long as it's next Tuesday.

- Ride the Lightning: A storm for a heart, conductive skin, thunder crackling around their fingers. Beyond the needs of flesh. Not beyond its desires.

Sleepy: Age: 27
Threat Grade: Grade 1

Sleepy, Enam Belas. The 15th member of Turbulence Office. Very rude.

- Turbulent Will: Turbulence Office remains stalwart. You hit them, you send them flying, you make them stumble, you knock them out. But they bounce back. They always do.

- Unity: Sooner or later you have to face the fact that literally all adventures are about learning the value of teamwork.

- Battle Ready: Sleepy's hand is steady, and he is always ready for another fight.

- Sleeping Terror: He looks unthreatening, doesn't he? Resting there in the shade, immobile, so peaceful. But the second he feels he's disturbed, there won't be much left of the enemy to tell the story.

- Danmaku: If you shoot enough bullets, you literally can't miss.

- Gun Specialist: "Bet you can't put it through the eye." "Left or right?"

Capone: Age: ?
Threat Grade: Grade 3

The former leader of the branch of the Siracusan Mafia stationed in Lungmen.

- Mafia: Due to its ancient tradition, the country of Siracusa is currently under the effective control of twelve Mafia families. Capone was born and raised there. That upbringing has left marks in his soul.

- Survivor: The harsh world. The unforgiving world. These are the conditions which shape one's skills to preserve their own life.

- Partial E.G.O: Much like the Angel of Dawn, the Nine Children of the Dragon, and the Red Mist before him, Capone's psyche has manifested itself into a great power. Its true form has yet to be witnessed, but he has moved past the Distortion... for now. A fragile psyche isn't something you can fix with a single speech. His E.G.O will remain incomplete until he attains a true resolution for his emotions.

- The Long Path Ahead: It's time I stopped trying to survive- and started tryin' to live. The Partial E.G.O of Capone. Not only does it allow him to adapt his flesh into a myriad of powerful tools, it also allows him to reconstitute his own body from separated biomass. However, this does not mean that he is invincible- if the biomass is destroyed... and there seems to be a cap on how much biomass he can generate at once using simple animal flesh. Eating human flesh would push past the cap... but Capone has swore to not follow this path of mindless consumption anymore.

- The Expectation for the Meaning of Existance: I want to believe that there's a reason for every sacrifice that was made, and to know that eventually, everything will be okay.

Ayam Adom: Age: >1
Threat Grade: Grade 1

Once, "The One Who Watches." The child of two tides- one of saltwater, one of blood. They fear the ocean, and yet they long to reunite with it, to offer their hands to its children so they may dance together. Is it a foolish dream? Is it a true hope for the future? Only time will tell.

- THE DEEP: It whispers in your ears. Are you willing to welcome it?

- Bloodfiendish: "There is one thing they strongly crave: blood. It's far from the desire for a good meal. To them, blood isn't something to satiate their gluttony. It's a crystallization of desire. They treat blood like how we treat money. Only that while money is a means for us to afford various desires, blood is a purpose in itself to them. Similar to how humans often become conniving and vicious for money, Bloodfiends are obsessed with blood, and will go to any lengths to consume blood in their own ways." - Moses, the Distortion Detective

- First Steps: They're learning, still. (Traits may be gained, lost, and replaced rapidly.)
- Shapeling: Flesh twists and bone knots under her hands. Life springs forth from a drop of blood.

Lobotomy Corporation

Abel: Age: ?
Threat Grade: ?

The former manager of Lobotomy Corporation. A spectral apparition of the fallen Wing's past, clinging to the mind of the Steel Determination.

- The Fearlessness to Keep On Living: Something never earned in life, now, ironically enough, attained in death. Even when life is full of pain, Abel will persue his chosen path- finding and holding on to even the smallest shred of possibility.

- The Wings of the World: Ayin was a scientist so skilled he could have picked any Wing, and would have attained great prestige no matter which one he chose. He chose to persue and attain an even greater goal- to found a Wing himself.

- Scars: ~~Abel cannot stand up to Carmen. He cannot even bear to hear her voice. Not yet. The pain is simply too great.~~ It still hurts. But for better or for worse, he has to gaze upon that horrible sight. And he refuses to falter.

Abram: Age: ?
Threat Grade: ?

The former manager of Lobotomy Corporation. The wielder of the Dreaming Current.

- Bubble: The pools of liquid that profused certain sections of the facility while The Dreaming Current escaped drastically inhibited the movement of employees and dealt RED damage over time. However, the employees' SP healed over time.

- Dash: After all is said and done, the biggest appeal of sharks is their strong jaws and teeth. A shark's jaw can apply an intense amount of force, around 20 times that of an adult human. Besides, their vision and olfactory sense are extremely well developed, allowing them to locate their targets easily. This is why sharks could reign as the ocean's greatest predator until today.

- Candy: Tell the kid today's treat is going to be grape-flavored candy. It's his favorite.

- ???: Unknown.

- ???: Unknown.

X (& [CENSORED]): Age: ?
Threat Grade: ALEPH
Formerly the Manager of Lobotomy Corporation. The wielder (and friend) of the Abnormality known as [CENSORED]. Fulfilled the dreams of Ayin and Carmen, and in the end, made the choice to abandon that name of his, and to not fade away.

- [CENSORED]: Even after we adopted the cognition filter, many of our managers have lost their minds. Half of them gone because of (CENSORED). Even if we raise the cognition filter to its maximum setting at the risk of having our employees and other Abnormalities being perceived as extremely simple objects, the managers will still be driven insane as soon as this Abnormality comes into sight.

- The Knowing I: The final lesson, the teachings of Keter. X knows who he is, and what he is. Some would say that this is the most important lesson of them all.

- ???: Unknown.

The Plague Doctor: Age: ?
Threat Grade: ZAYIN

An immortal Abnormality capable of ascending to a far greater form, if the stars align. It is once again sealed, but a small sliver remains- inside your mind.

- Abnormality...?: Immortal, beholden to one's nature. A being born of humanity's collective subconscious. But something seems to have changed.

- A Contract: A deal has been made. A proposal was accepted. A fragment of the Plague Doctor shall live, and move onwards.

- Light and Life: So shall he never die.

- ???: Unknown.

The Dreaming Current: Age: ?
Threat Grade: WAW

An immortal Abnormality aligned with dreams, escapism, and the ocean. You have wielded it in combat before, and it has given you a gift.

- Synchronization: There is some incompatibility. But now, it's a possibility for you.

- Abnormality: Immortal, beholden to one's nature. A being born of humanity's collective subconscious.

- Rainbow Sea: Let us all watch the brilliant ocean tides together, sparkling in rainbow colors. It doesn't have to be the real sea. Just looking at that candy, the candy with the sea inside, it's enough for me. When you're looking at beautiful things, it's okay to take slow steps.

- Hippity-Hop: I'm not wishing for things like vast meadows or warm sunlight. What I want to see is the ocean. I keep seeing it, in my dreams... and after that, I get so excited, I just can't stand still. Will I be able to run around in wider places one day?

- Candy: Please tell me it's grape-flavored candy. It's my favorite.

- ???: Unknown.

?????

Skadi: Age: ?
Threat Grade: Grade 1

"Skadi," a wandering singer. Perhaps more.

- ???: Unknown.

- ???: Unknown.

- ???: Unknown.

- ???: Unknown.

Lungmen

Wei Yenwu: Age: ?
Threat Grade: Color

Lungmen's Chief Executive. A respected political leader. Wise, polite, tough, and a good strategist. Highly respected in many circles around the world. Truly cares about the development and well-being of his city- not very fond of people who bring destruction to it.

- ???: Unknown.

- ???: Unknown.

- ???: Unknown.

Lungmen Underworld

Gambino: Age: ?
Threat Grade: 4/3

The actual, current leader of the branch of the Siracusan Mafia stationed in Lungmen, as he took the boss spot from Capone when he came there. Brash and prideful.

- Mafia: Due to its ancient tradition, the country of Siracusa is currently under the effective control of twelve Mafia families. Gambino was born and raised there, and now that his family was purged, he moves to Lungmen to continue his operations and seize any power he can.

-Oh, My Brother: An oath has ben sworn with blood. Few who would cast such a promise break it.

- Pride: How many bosses does it take to change a light bulb? One. He holds the light bulb and the universe revolves around him to screw it in.

The Inquisition

Dario: Age: ?
Threat Grade: Above Grade 2

A high-ranking member of the Iberian Inquisition.

- Unrelenting: There exists a certain kind of person- the kind who will fight until the bitter end and then some.

- Wedge: A sharp blade, and a sharp mind behind it. The tools of an Inquisitor- the cannon and the rapier- represent Iberia's strength.

- The Inquisition: The de facto governing body of Iberia. Those who remain standing between the Seaborn and their nation. Though not all Iberians welcome them with open arms, they still hold great power and authority.

- ???: Unknown.

- ???: Unknown.

Irene: Age: ?
Threat Grade: Grade 2

An Iberian Inquisitor. While her experience is lacking, none can say she does not have spirit.

- Wedge: A sharp blade, and a sharp mind behind it. The tools of an Inquisitor- the cannon and the rapier- represent Iberia's strength.

- The Inquisition: The de facto governing body of Iberia. Those who remain standing between the Seaborn and their nation. Though not all Iberians welcome them with open arms, they still hold great power and authority.

- ???: Unknown.

The Distortion Phenomena

THE ETERNAL PERSISTENCE: Age: Less then a day
Threat Grade: Star of the City.

~~The Distortion of Capone. Consumed by its desire to persist eternally, and its uncontrolled, ever-rising spiral of pure emotion.~~

Has receded. The ever-growing hunger has ceased- the endless drive to survive has been quenched. Capone has returned to the world.

- Shimmering - Distortions cannot be exhausted. Beings consumed by desire will chase the desire until their very soul gives out. No wounds shall impede, no blood spilled shall weaken. They will proceed on their endless march until the reaper comes to claim them.

- ~~Knowledge: The Eternal Meal:~~ ~~They fought amongst themselves to eat the others. And the stronger side survived. That, simply, is the story.~~

- ???: One of three secrets. This one tastes of hunger.

- ???: One of three secrets. This one tastes of water.

-The Stench of Betrayal: One of three secrets- the secret of a bond. A bond that turned out to be a lie. It has now been revealed. There are consequences to breaking such a sacred bond. But these consequences will be consumed, much like all else. The oath made was a lie, and the sin was also a lie. Everything that is not vital for one's survival is a lie- and lies will be left behind.

(Gambino will ignore all protections that the Eternal Persistence constructs to defend itself. As long as Gambino lives, wounds he inflicts on the Eternal Persistence will not heal and cannot be adapted from. Killing Gambino will allow the Eternal Persistence to rise to far greater heights.)

THE END OF URSUS: Age: ???
Threat Grade: Star of the City.

The former host of the Deathless Black Snake, now Distorted. She marches on a mission to destroy all that can be called "Ursus." The image you see is but her former human shape- it has been discarded.

Knowledge: Helix Of The End: The tower is touched by the sky, and it will leave nothing on the earth.

Where We Must Reach: (This Distortion is infectious. Each victim that perishes at their hands- starting from the second the lethal blow is given- will rise as an extension of her. A creature borne of hate, persuing that all-consuming vengeance alongside its master.)

Death of the Deathless: Unknown.

???: Unknown.

???: Unknown.

thenew · Nov 5, 2022

[x] You were carved apart by the Singularity of Fairy, whose wounds only worsen with time. You were not expecting an Arbiter to be there. What kind of place even was the Library? And they had the gall to call you a weirdo.
[X] Sieghart

0.2 - Impuritas Civitatis

You're almost sure you're going to lose this one. That Arbiter isn't playing around.

Emil coughs blood. He's not in a good condition. That librarian with the bamboo hat sliced off his hand. You did your best to seal the wound, but he's still bleeding, and badly. His left eye- the organic one- is gone.

It's not like your situation is any better. Damage to the right eye. Not enough to impede visibility, but it has worsened considerably. Several contusions and bruises. Smoke latching into your armor. Considerable organ damage, and a buildup of the Fairy singularity eating away at your body. Armor in the region around your left shoulder has been reduced to the point of uselessness.

At least Laser-Eye managed to escape before his wounds got too bad.

"Boss. I'll provide cover fire for a while, okay? I- I think you can take out the Arbiter, if you get close enough. She's never entered melee range for the entire fight. Maybe she's weaker there." he says.

You nod, and ready your blade. It's the best chance the two of you will have. They're going to come towards the two of you very soon, and trying to escape won't help- they'll just persue, and then you'll be at a disavantage. But... two versus four isn't that bad, actually. It could be worse, that's for sure. You take a look at your enemies.

The Arbiter is hanging out in the back, her enormous, eye-covered black wing staring directly into your eyes. There's a faint smile in her face. Every Arbiter- not many, one, no, two- you've seen has that smile. She is in total control of this situation and she knows it.

You close your eyes, just for a second. Take a deep breath. No. Everything is going to be fine.

All right. You're ready. And they are too.

The Arbiter leads the assault. With light gathers around her body, and she gets a clothes change. A long overcoat, tattered bandages draped all over its fabric. On the chest, a hungry mouth with sharp teeth. The many eyes in her wing begin to shine- and these eyes are everywhere. You brace for impact.

If I kill them first… then no one would be killed by the beast!

The eyes vanish as soon as they appear. You aren't hurt at all. Whatever test they presented, you've passed. But you feel different, somehow. No matter. You need to keep going.

The librarian with the black suit is the first one to reach you. That weapon... you can recognize it. It has a Stigma Workshop look to it. You can already feel the heat in the air as it moves towards you.

The first hit is deflected. He goes in for a second, and you block it again. He's fairly predictable, actually. If he's taken out quickly there's a chance this fight can be won. You smell burning cloth. Did he set fire to himself?

No matter. You sidestep and avoid another hit.

Then, you kick him in the chest, and take the opportunity to slice a good chunk of his leg off. It doesn't feel like you're cutting flesh. Is this- is this melted wax? This substance that got stuck in your sword? Oh, the other two Librarians are almost on you. One is wielding a hammer. Smoke-based technology, an odor that is instantly recognizable. Leaflet Workshop. None of your Office use that kind of stuff, but you did try out some smoke gauntlets for Max last year. Broke in a week.

The second is wearing the Purple Tear's clothing. She's wielding her third blade- the blunted one. That's the least dangerous of the four, you think. Apparently, when the Library absorbs the powers of its victims, there seems to be significant decay. This girl is nowhere as strong or fast as Iori.

Before these two can strike at you, Emil laughs, and starts to shoot. He doesn't care who or what he's shooting, or if he'll hit at all. All he wants to do is give you a chance. As the librarians move to evade his barrage, you leap over them and dart for the Arbiter. A pillar rises from the ground. It's clearly filled to gills with Fairy. You grit your teeth and materialize your second blade.

"Hey Sieg. Go to the left." chips in the Voice. She's speaking so clearly- now. You've never heard her like this. Is it some property of the Library? Did she come from here? No, you shouldn't think about that right now. Concentrate in the fight.

You heed her advice- and evade the pillar by a hair's breath. You form your energy clone, just behind your enemy. Both of you strike directly at the Arbiter. Her blood covers your blade. But it's not over yet. The air trembles. Then, you feel the shockwave.

She raises her hand, and light gathers around it. Before you can hit her again, the first wave of energy hits you directly in the chest.

You fail to resist the second, and the third wave. They send you flying. Your wounds have only worsened. The effects of Fairy amplified them as you fought. She points your finger at you- she'll launch a Singularity projectile. You raise your blade-

Oh. It broke. And you don't have energy to form a replacement.

The last thing you see before the Fairy tears you to pieces is the Arbiter's smile.

Now, all that you can see is darkness.

You wonder if there was any way you could have gotten out of that situation. No, not really. As strong as you are, an Arbiter and her goonies are a bit over your pay grade. Maybe if you hadn't split up you'd be able to deal with her.

But again, there were the rules. Five on five. How... sad. You hope that Emil escaped too. You're not banking on it- that Arbiter was very precise with her Fairy bolts. But it would be nice to dream.

You take a breath. This is not the time for regret, or contemplation. You are the Steel Determination. You will not mope around. You died and you'll deal with it. But... where the hell are you? Is this what being booked feels like?

"No, not really. Being booked doesn't feel like anything. You're placed in stasis after that happens." chirps the Voice, cheery and warm as always.

Then what happened?

"I dunno."

That is not reassuring.

"Hey, it's the truth! Maybe you should take a look around."

Take a look around? It's a void. You can't see anything but your own body. No matter how hard you try, all that you can notice is this utter darkness.

"By the way, you-"

Shut up. You're not in the mood for the desire talk right now. You need to get out of this place as soon as possible, and go back to Turbulence Office. If everyone has been wiped out, with the sole exception of Laser-Eyes, you'll need to do some rebuilding. You can take in some Star-ranked cases, keep the Office afloat. Gather funds.

Then you'll go back to the Library and get your friends back. Maybe Iori would be open, if you pay her enough. You never know, with that woman. You still keep in touch with Arabella's contacts in the Bloodfiends, too. They might be helpful.

But for now... get out. Now that you're steeled your resolve, you're seeing something. There's something. In the distance. You can see a way out of this abyss.

The Voice says nothing, but you feel a hint of smugness.

What do you see?

[ ] The dirty alleyways of... are these the Backstreets? It's certainly crammed enough to be. You can faintly hear- is that rap music?
[ ] A bustling metropolis. Everywhere you look, you can see the banners with the same words- "Kazimierz Major."
[ ] A vast, snow-covered expanse. You can see many mountains, but no signs of civilization. You have the feeling this is going to be a long walk.

A/N: get arbited idiot. Also, thanks to breakingamber for making me realize accordeon formatting is a thing that exists.

thenew · Nov 6, 2022

[X] The dirty alleyways of... are these the Backstreets? It's certainly crammed enough to be. You can faintly hear- is that rap music?

1.1 - Not Your Business

You emerge from the darkness. You're not sure what just happened, but you're... pretty sure that this is the Backstreets. You're going to have to find you way back to your Office.

You pat yourself down. You need to get your wallet. You can just go and get a Warp train back home, and- your wallet is gone. The compartment in your armor that contained it ended up destroyed during the fight.

So was your sword. Yes, it broke during the Arbiter's shockwave, didn't it?

You hope no one tries to mess with you during your route back home. Most people recognize you or assume you're R-Corp from the looks of your armor, but, when you're in the Backstreets, it's not that rare for some moron of Rat thinks you're a here to kill them and try to mount a surprise attack. You'd kill them with insulting ease, sure, but you're just... not in the mood for any more fighting today. Oh well. Better get going.

You take one step, and then you feel pain.

You lower your head, and finally notice the cracked panels of your armor, your destroyed cloak and the gaping wounds in your torso. These are... the places where the Arbiter hit you, at the end of the fight. You did not notice all of this before, for reasons unknown to you. How strange. Maybe the events of this day have been messing with you.

Pain assaults you again.

You see. The Fairies didn't leave. Every wound in your body has been healed by whatever happened to you. No bone fractures, no missing bits. Except these Fairy-induced wounds. Your armor's holographic display decides to helpfully inform you have a buildup of hostile Singularity material in your chest region.

If you were Sleepy or Arabella, you'd probably already have sworn an oath of eternal vengeance against F-Corp, its Nest, its Backstreets, its Taboo Hunters and every single product it ever released in its entire history.

You're not that kind of person, though. Really, an oath of eternal vengeance kind of sounds contradictory. Vengeance isn't supposed to be eternal. After you kill your target, it's over, isn't it? An oath of eternal vengeance sounds like you're admitting that you can't actually follow through with the whole thing and are just being overdramatic.

Oh well. Lost in the Backsteets, no sword, with no money, your armor half-destroyed, your body being eaten by Fairy and your Office made into books. It could be worse.

"Just admit the situation is bad, Sieg. It isn't a crime." say the Voice. She sounds exasperated. You're not sure why.

You try to ignore the pain, and succeed quite easily. Now that the initial impact of realizing you have a bleeding wound in your chest is gone... honestly, it's not that bad anymore. Now that you look at it... that time where you had to face the case of the Bleeding Heart Forest. You lost both your arms and Beats got his eyes infected by the Distortion, and that was a deeply unpleasant experience. You got your arms back and Beats got his screenhead implant, sure, but there's always something memorable about losing that much meat.

Yeah, this will be easy to handle. You're sure that you can annul the Fairy by just buying a stronger quantity of Lock and overpowering it. That sounds logical. It "locks" stuff, which is the opposite of "opening" like Fairy, right? The two should cancel each other out.

The Voice whistles.

"Hey, that music is pretty good. Wonder who's the singer."

Yes. You noticed it before. It's coming from the inside of one of the houses. You'll memorize the lyrics and check the singer out later. Way later, though. Maybe after you've gotten the books of your friends back.

You try to remember how exactly did the Library situation resolve. If you're not mistaken... they released everyone. Reversed the booking process on all their victims, and shot another pillar of light into the sky.

Okay. So this is the plan.

Find money.
Get a Warp train back to District 19.
Get back to Turbulence Office.
Regroup with any survivors or anyone who mysteriously returned like you.
Do some jobs. Star-ranked, probably.
Come back with all the forces you can muster.
Win and get the books of Turbulence Office back.

Yes, that seems reasonable.

Anyway, you've been walking for quite some time now through these alleys, and your wounds aren't worsening. While the amount of Fairy on them isn't decreasing, like it should have already, what few parts are left of your armor say that the Singularity material in your torso isn't active enough to cause new wounds passively.

Trying to exert yourself will probably activate them, though. You'll have to get healed before you take any case higher then Urban Nightmare, nevermind an Impurity like the Library. Add that to the plan. Between steps 4 and 5.

Maybe you'd go faster if you'd just climbed upwards. Get a look at the area, check out which District you're in.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with the letter T."

Hmm? What is it? What could it be?

"Come on, guess! It's no fun if I just tell you."

Okay then. Is it... the sky?

"Nope."

The ground?

"No-no."

The slow death, unforeseen- unforgiving?

"Oh come ON, Sieg. Guess! It obviously doesn't count if you use "the" as the beginning."

You have no idea, frankly. Well. A tree, maybe? You're not seeing any. Could she give you a tip?

"Hmmm. Okay. They have a weapon!"

You noticed them, before. They're a bit far away, staring at you. But no one will blame you for being a little dramatic. You smile, and adjust your hat.

"Would it be a two-bit Syndicate thug, voice?"

"You guessed it! Hooray!"

She starts to clap. You laugh. Honestly, as much as people might call you crazy, having a voice in your head isn't all that bad. It's good to have company. You were never a fan of being alone, and with her in your head, you always have at least one friend, giving you advice when you need it. Even if she can get annoying at times when she goes off about desire and wishes. You can even just tune that stuff out.

You wonder if you could call her a member of Turbulence Office, too.

Honestly, what else could you call her? She's bailed you out of many bad situations. You like to think she enjoys these talks as much as you do. You two stick together, don't you? Maybe, when you get the back of the Office out of the Library, Wympe can write up a contract for her. You're sure that there's something in the legislation about the rights of disembodied voices. The voice chuckles at that thought, but you don't sense any sort of opposition to the idea.

The thug is staring at you. He has a knuckleduster... a knuckleduster knife, in his hands, and looks confused at your presence.

"Maybe you should take some photos, Sieg. I think your camera module still works! Who knows when you'll get a chance to see someone THIS stereotypical again."

You chuckle. He's really stereotypical, yes. The classic Thumb Syndicate goon you see in a movie. Using the actual Thumb coat and offending them is a big no-no, thus the black suit and fedora to try and disguise it. The only thing you're missing is the dumb accent and the bayoneted gun. Mamma mia, la regole, a half-dozen mangled Thumb slang phrases, blah, blah, blah.

You're not sure why people keep making these films, considering as around three quarters of their directors are inevitably shot to death by a Thumb squad whose superiors watched the movie and weren't fooled in the slightest.

Wait, are those... animal ears? Uh. You think these are wolf ears. The guy dug two holes in his fedora to accomodate for them. Why would you need animal ears, you think. They're fully organic- you can notice the movement of the fur. It's pretty good work- the dude looks like he was born with them.

Animal ears... you'd probably use them as sensory enhancers. A decent hearing implant isn't that expensive. You bought your first one when you were a grade 7 nobody. Or are these cosmetic? You take another look at that thing he's holding. It looks kind of dumb.

Eh, to each their own. The ears do look cool.

He's getting closer, and there's more of them now. They have similar animal traits. One has a tail, other has bigger ears. Honestly, it's just your luck that you'll get cornered by a two-bit Syndicate the moment you step into the Backstreets. These guys have no idea of who they're messing with.

You sigh. This is going to be a chore.

"Heya." says one of the guys. "Who exactly are you, and what are you doing in our territory?"

You cough, and lift your hands in a gesture of peace. If your cloak wasn't as damaged as it currently is, you'd cover yourself in it. People find you less threatening when they can't see your armor.

"I got lost and I don't know where I am. I just want to go back to my Office. I have no jobs dealing with you guys. Okay? Let me go and none of you will get into trouble."

The thug looks kind of worried.

"Get us into trouble- wait, how are you still walking? You chest looks fucked up, dude. And... you don't look like an office worker."

You don't look like a Fixer to this man? Well, most of them just wear suits and regular clothing. If this guy is just some nobody Syndicate member, then he's proably never seen any fixers above grade 3. But... no, not really. Even Low-ranked fixers can wear armor. There's something amiss here. Another one of the thugs approaches and whispers something in his ear. He probably thinks you can't hear it.

"Just knock the guy out and be done with it. The MountainDash brat isn't going to wait for us, and if we're not with Gambino he'll get pissy."

Oh dear. It seems that you're going to get into trouble. Hah. Like these guys are going to be any.

What do you do?

[ ] Write-in.

- Trait: Fairy's Wound added to Sieghart's character sheet.

A/N: This is the true beginning of the quest, I'd say. Until the chargen and the choice of situation is done, the thing hasn't truly started. What do you guys think of the writing itself, so far? Thanks to @Lepidoptera for mentioning me in his quest. I hope you like what I'm going to do.

Nyarky said:
Huh shouldn't he know that she got booked? He saw her key page being used, that's quite a clear indication she isn't out there anymore.

Turbulence Office occurs after Ruina's True End. The Library released everyone, and all they have are copies.

thenew · Nov 6, 2022

NHO said:
Can someone point me to lore behind turbulence office?

Most of Turbulence's lore is on their Credenzas. But many of the stuff in this quest, including a lot of Sieghart's personality, was obtained through personal interrogation of the mod's makers on the LoR Discord. Beats being addicted to ketamine was a joke from his creator. I have compiled the results of my information gathering, but I will not be unveling that.

The Credenzas are here. I compiled them if you're not in the mood to play through the mod itself.

thenew · Nov 7, 2022

[X]Ask the gang to tell you which district you are currently located, and just get out of here once you know.
-[X] If they don't want to tell you and is choosing the hostile approach, try to escape from the alleyways and into the open streets. Focus on dodging, and avoid fighting if you can.
-[X]If they answered your question, ask which direction is the nearest hospital, at least you can get some stitch work done over there, If they have K corp stuff then even better.

1.2 - Festivals and Fire

These thugs think they can knock you down. Heh. Honestly, what's with kids those days.

You cough into your hand.

"Could you please inform me what District is this? I need to get on the train back home, you know."

The guy blinks. For a second, he looks kind of confused, but quickly shrugs it off.

"You're in the southwest. The Lungmen Ring Expressway is a mile or so behind me."

Time slows down while you think. Well, metaphorically. You're just thinking very fast right now. Time manipulation is Lech's deal. Southwest? You like to think you're pretty good with locations. But you don't know where these places are supposed to be. Lungmen... that name is likely important.

The southwest region of the City encompasses around nine of the Districts. District 19 is your home. If you're in that region, going back, even if you theoretically couldn't take a Warp train, would be simple. You know your way.

But there's something amiss here. The way that he said "district" and "this city." Hmm. Not to mention...

The exact time it's now. It's night. You can see the moon in the sky. You've been feeling out of place since you ended up in this alley. Right now, it should be the Night of the Backstreets. No Syndicates should be out- the streets should be dominated with Sweepers. You didn't give that a second thought, at first. Sweepers are easy opponents. Their blades are extremely short-ranged, and there isn't a more glaring weakspot then their fuel tanks.

Not to mention that you're a Color. Contrary to popular belief, Sweepers aren't mindless monsters. You don't recall where you read that, but the average Sweeper is five times as educated as the average "base" human. They should know better then to fight you.

"That statistic is kinda misleading, don't you think? The average human can't find enough food to eat, nevermind an education. Meanwhile, pretty much every Sweeper at least has their family to support them."

Fair enough. Anyway, you've come to a conclusion. Either you're in a section of a Nest, or you're outside the City itself.

Nest... you don't know that yet. Looks way too crammed, and Syndicates and Wings generally prefer staying away from each other. So maybe you could have been moved to somewhere way too far from where you're supposed to be.

You're pretty much sure this is somehow Iori's fault. It was probably some sort of weird interaction between your light-based techniques and that librarian who was copying the Purple Tear's powers.

You might be in another reality entirely, who knows. No, that sounds kind of dumb.

Oh well, you just have to find your way back. Maybe you can just wait for the real Iori to pick you up. You still owe her a teriyaki sandwich at HamHamPangPang. You're sure she'll eventually come to collect.

Your thought speed returns to its regular pace.

"Could you tell me where the nearest hospital is? I am in need of medical attention."

The thug smiles. Now that you think of it, this might not be as easy of a fight as you were thinking. There are so many possibilities. Perhaps you're in some kind of world where everyone is a godlike figure. Perhaps, you have made a terrible mistake and are facing a Star of the City-level threat.

"Well, if you need a doctor that much, maybe I could give you some surgery."

They lunge for you.

Yeah, no.

One of their knuckle-knife wielders gets close to you, and you spin in their direction. This one has wolf ears, too. They have a few scars, so that's a combatant with some experience. You grab their weaponless hand and toss them aside with ease. Then, with a swift kick to the jaw, you dispatch this first offender. Now, all you have to do is- oh.

The intensity of the Fairy wounds in your torso increases. It's a slight increase- not enough to cause considerable damage- but had you moved a tiny bit faster, there would be a trickle of blood dripping from your left side.

This is not good at all. Hm. The voice looks slightly worried.

"Maybe you should try to move less? That looks bad."

Yes, the Voice's suggestion seems reasonable. Go for singular, powerful disabling hits instead of the flurry of strikes you typically prefer. Or better yet...

You could just not fight these guys. There's pretty much nothing to gain. Information isn't worth additional damage to your organs. So, you think about one of your friends.

Many Colors have a "trick," per se. Iori had his dimensional jumping, the Vermillion Cross had that, well, giant flaming cross of his. Sure, there's exceptions- Kali was just flat-out the strongest person you've ever seen in your entire life, and her "trick" was just to change wardrobe for a while and get even stronger. Argalia was an asshole, but you can't deny that the man gets in your head faster then a Rat gets inside a coffin. There's others, with their own tricks. The Ultramarine Escape's freezing aura, the Indigo Intervention and that weird briefcase filled with blue tentacles.

Your trick is simple. Your trick is Turbulence Office. You are at your peak when you are at your friends' side. You enhance them, you inspire them to move forward. You do not fully understand where this power came from, but you've tested it extensively. For some reason, you bring out the best on them.

You're nowhere as fast as Alvar is, but a jump isn't that hard to do. He'd already be at the top of these buildings, but you don't need to be there right now. You just have to be out of here.

As the Syndicate goons, seemingly discouraged by the loss of their ally but not enough to retreat, close on you... you just hop right above them.

Judging by the higher then baseline strength of the grip of that one guy, and the speeds that they are moving at, you'd place them in Grade 7. Not bad, but you're above their paygrade. Either they took some implants, or people in this world are just built different.

No matter. You can just buy a biology textbook somewhere and check that out.

The thugs are stunned at your speedy retreat, but it no longer has any importance- they're far behind you now. You're moving at an okayish speed of 30 meters per second. If you don't mantain this speed for too long, you're sure that the Fairy won't act up too much.

Oh, there's a trail of blood right behind you. Maybe you should slow down a little.

After hitting the metaphorical brakes on your enhanced body, you stop for a while and clean your chest with what's left of your cloak. Then, you cover yourself with it. Yes, you probably look less terrible right now.

You've now left those mazelike alleys and stepped into the wider city. The Voice says something about you, something about trying to look strong. It's just a matter of pretending she is not talking. This city is... yeah, you think it looks better then the average Backstreets, at least. You take a look at... everything. It's certainly different.

There are stalls ranging from improvised to professionally made, selling stuff from toys, to candy, to various kinds of food and drink. There are children wandering around with their parents, and candles everywhere. The night is buzzing with excitement.

The average citizen doesn't look as stressed as they should look in a Nest- not to mention this city isn't prim and proper enough to be one- and there are not enough Sweepers wandering around being annoying murderhobos to be the Backstreets. You take

People look at you with surprise and amusement. Kids are pointing at you. There is no recognition, like there normally should be. The "outside of the City" theory is starting to get more plausible. You sigh and keep walking. You're seeing that place that the thugs referred to. The expressway. It does look like a ring.

Welp, it's not like you have any places to be right now. There's some cars he, maybe you can get a taxi and get to a hospital. You're pretty sure you're fast enough to not have to pay for the fare.

And maybe you're fast enough to avoid having to pay the medical bills. Or you could sneak in and nick some medical supplies. If this is a Nest, there's definitely going to be K-Corp material to keep your wounds from worsening, and if this isn't, well, tough luck for you.

Alright then. You'll find a way home somehow. You're sure of it.

You continue walking, holding out a thumb whenever a car passes. Nobody stops. It takes almost twenty minutes for somebody to be willing to take you. In this case, the exact kind of person you wanted to find- a taxi driver.

It's a man with an even more impressive body modification. He doesn't look human at all- instead, you see some weird cross between one and a snake. There are white scales covering his body, and his pupils are reptilian. It's either a complete job, or something like a Tailor.

"Heya, boss. Where we goin'?"

You enter the car, land comfortably on the backseat and adjust your hat again.

"What's the closest hospital you know?"

The guy blinks. You're pretty sure snakes don't have eyelids, so the modification wasn't as through as you thought. He doesn't seem to be hostile. You slash "gruesomely made mad scientist lab rat" off your list of explanations.

"Well, there's the Tsan Yuk hospital. It's not that far. Twenty-five minute ride."

You can afford twenty-five minutes.

"How much will that go for?"

"What do you think of fifty LMD, samurai?"

...LMD? Another point for the "outside the City" theory. But everyone knows there's nothing beyond the city but the half-dead remnants of the Outskirts and the horrors of the Ruins. The people who live in there aren't in the state to stablish new currencies. But the city runs on Ahn. Trying to make another currency to compete with the one the Head created would be akin to suicide-by-Claw.

"I'll pay."

The taxi drives off, moving towards the highway above. The taxi driver tries to make small talk with you, asking questions. You wonder if you should answer, or just stay silent through the entire trip.

"So, why are ya wearing a costume in Sauin night?"

No, that sounds boring.

"I don't know what Sauin is. I just got here, to be frank."

He laughs.

"Sauin's supposed to be about the spirits, you know. Those who left us behind. On the day of Sauin, they come back to see us. All these candles, all these events are our way of welcoming them back. We celebrate these dead, so when they go back to the world of the dead, they're in peace." he turns his head towards you. "You picked up a good time to come here to Lungmen, you know. When you do whatever you're come to do here, maybe check out the festivals. Sauin's no time to be worried about business."

You chuckle. You're going to be worrying about business for a long time. You can't allow yourself to rest until the situation gets solved. But it's good advice. For someone else, it absolutely would. Also, Lungmen. This city is called Lungmen.

The Voice sighs.

"You've always worked yourself so hard, Sieg. Do you even know why?"

Nonsense. If anything you've not worked hard enough.

"What's your name, by the way?"

...it's no harm giving it out to this driver. Everyone knows it already.

"It's Sieghart."

"Mighty impressive name, samurai. I'm Lin."

The highway shakes, minutely. The driver does not notice the variation. You do.

"Oh dear."

A significant chunk of the freeway explodes. Before your driver can react, his car comes spiraling out of control. Ahead of you, a limousine is caught far closer to the epicenter of the blast. Two people- you can't identify them more precisely- jump out of it through the front doors and fail to land on two feet.

The car is going to crash. It's spinning towards the railings of the highway and will collide in around 30 seconds. Lin will very likely not survive. You were never going to pay him, and now you've directly contributed to his car being destroyed. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You'll repay what you owe to this man a little bit.

Before the taxi driver splatters himself all over the broken remains of his car, you act quickly. Bringing out the broken remains of your blade, tucked away safely in your waist, and hold tightly onto it.

Then, you leap into the passenger seat, and toss your blade's hilt towards the driver door, opening by force. Lin curses.

"What the fuck-"

Before he can even finish the sentence, you yank him out of his seat. He lets out a panicked yelp, and then a scream as both you and him fly out of the doomed vehicle.

You keep hold of him in a bridal carry, and land gracefully atop the highway. You place him on the floor.

"Go. I'll handle this." you say, as the absolutely gobsmacked man stares at the wreckage of his car. He nods, and quickly makes his exit from this scene. Hmm. A bombing attempt. Targeted at you? Does someone know you're here? Points towards the "place in the City you simply never were in before" theory.

The aforementioned scene is particularly strange. There's more of these Syndicate thugs right there. It seems that they've armed the bombs, and are swooping in to take care of any survivors. You notice one that seems to be like a leader. Suit jacket draped over his shoulders, black sweater, yellow glasses, and similar animal traits as the rest of his gang. In his hands, a crossbow.

There's a kid on the floor. He has horns protruding from the top of his head, a backpack, and in his hands, you see a circular shield. Looks kinda like a hatch door. At his side, there's a redhead with... a halo? And angel wings.

Submachine gun in her hands, though. These are expensive as all hell. You'll need to stay in your toes. You can't really afford trying to deflect a hundred bullets in your current condition.

And here's the thing:

After this little stunt you just pulled? They're all staring at you.

[ ] Write-in.

Status of Self and Allies:

Sieghart's Current Condition: Minor blood loss from exertion.

A/N: Oh boy, this exploded. I really was not expecting this. Okay, so I'll talk a little.

About Sieghart's keypage:

Not all of these game mechanics are canon. As an example, Sieg isn't spreading actual Seed of Light around. He's restoring Light in the gameplay sense, and improving everybody's capacity to keep fighting by inspiring and driving them to continue. Otherwise you run into the absurdity of Irina, (who can also restore the entire team's Light) somehow manipulating Light by writing insurance contracts and then discarding them.
He is connected to the Light, though. He doesn't know, but you sort of need to be to hear the Voice.
Sieghart's ability to inflict status effects so easily came from his sword. It's busted now. The bleed and disarm in his combat pages is just him knowing exactly how to cut someone up, though.
Sieghart is, according to the creators, not stronger then Kali. Kali was The Strongest for a reason. While it would be a fun fight for both, Sieg would get smashed to bits by Kali's overwhelming strength once she got her E.G.O going.
His ability to pull the pages of his Turbulence Office operators is going to be attributed to him just, like, having learned from all of them and knowing a bit of their techniques. Thanks to former construction worker Alvar, I can safely say that Sieghart is Forklift Certified.
Steel Will isn't going to be relevant until you heal, since it's an absolutely all-out move that Sieg can't afford to use when he's got Fairy running through his torso. When it is relevant it'll get explained in-story.

The idea of having a really strong character like Sieg and starting with a debuff was actually my original core idea for the quest. It was originally going to be about Argalia, and you'd get to choose who walloped his team during the Distorted Ensemble fight. Then I ran into the issue that I wasn't going to have fun writing him, and eventually decided for the more comedic Turbulence. Doesn't help that I've been obsessed with Ruina modding as of recently.

Also, do you guys have any issue with using two Write-ins in a row? The last time I ran a quest was before the pandemic, on Spacebattles.

thenew · Nov 8, 2022

[X] The enemy of my enemy is a friend. Throw something at the apparent leader of the syndicates and focus on dodging from there.

1.3 - Fast and the Furious

The man with the crossbow is apparently their leader.

Your experience tells you that typically, the leader of a Syndicate is one or two grades above his mooks. When he gets stronger, he either gets new ones- which will be on the same average level- or they rise with him. This is the optimal state for a Syndicate. Of course, there are lots of exceptions, but it's a good rule of thumb all the same.

Heh, rule of Thumb.

Anyway, they're already reacting to your presence. The angel girl has pointed her submachine gun at you, and the boy with the shield has taken a defensive position that is frankly not that bad.

If push comes to shove, you'll need to rely on your speed to make yourself a difficult target. Attempting to block so many projectiles with either the remains of your sword or your own bare hands is not something you're looking forward to. But there is a second possibility. Based on the fact that the Syndicate's bomb nearly killed this boy and the other person in the car, you'll assume that they have an adversarial relationship. Perhaps he is the member of a rival group. Perhaps he's a Fixer, and foiled their operations before.

Oh, "the MountainDash brat." These thugs in the alley talked about one. A job they had to do. Is this the brat? So the leader is that "Gambino" person, then.

The girl... no signs of burns or contusions. Bodyguard? Partner? She's evidently not the other person who jumped out of the car. That would be the suited man with similar horns, sitting at the roadside. Father, perhaps?

"He's not unconscious. Just pretending to be, for some reason." mentions the Voice.

How does she know that? If she is saying the truth, then his acting is top-notch. It does look like he's actually knocked out. Perhaps this is a means to exact a surprise attack on the Syndicate? No, he's too far for that. Is he trying to play dead?

No matter. You'll deal with him when you have to deal with him. Right now, the best case scenario would be to avoid conflict altogether, but you know that is not something very likely to do at the moment. The second best case scenario would be to avoid the specific targets that could inflict the most damage to you: the angel girl and the Syndicate's leader.

You ready yourself for the assault. If you can take out both of them before they start shooting, you can get out with minimal fuss. Wait, wait. Yes, you should stay prepared, but soften them up first. Talk to them. Get them open.

You lift your hands up. You're still holding your sword in one of them, but it shouldn't be a threatening sight. All that's left of it is the hilt, and a few pieces. Not even a tenth of the original blade.

"I don't want any trouble. Who are you guys?"

The Syndicate leader- Gambino? Perhaps. He stares at you, calculating. Apparently not prepared for your intrusion. You are now certain you were not the target of this bombing, and your involved in this entire episode is merely a disastrous coincidence. But getting involved in shit you didn't want to thanks to something you had no control over happens pretty often in your life. It's not a big deal. The guy starts to speak, but you interrupt him.

Violently.

With your sword.

It hits him pommel first in the shoulder, and he loses his balance immediately. Your plan is simple- resort to that old adage. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If you can present yourself as the foe of the Syndicate and ignore the boy, the biggest threat in the battlefield- the angel girl- will most likely eschew attacking you in favor of exploiting your mutual foe's vulnerability.

They start aiming their crossbows. If you were at the top of your game right now, you'd already be at their position, breaking down their formation. But you're not at that state, not yet.

So when the projectiles fly, you focus on dodging- as efficiently and conservatively as you possibly could.

It's not that hard. You just need to be far away from the place they'll hit. So all you need to do is calculate trajectory and- no, you can't just dodge each projectile individually, that would exert you and activate the Fairy. That blasted thing is getting more and more annoying by the second. You'll need to dodge in a way that will exert your body less- one singular action. So you keep your eyes straight on the enemy- wait for them to fire all their bolts. When the last one of them leaves its weapon, you start to move. These aren't repeating crossbows, so they can't fire another volley for now, and you can see that these bolts' tips are apparently designed to bury themselves in flesh. So they cannot correct the bolt's trajectory through ricocheting, like certain gun-users typically do. and all of their paths are traced. You need to perform as little movement as possible. You duck- lowering your center of mass- and accelerate.

With this burst of speed, you're going to be headed straight into the enemy group. They'll have to enter melee range. As you dart towards them, they lower their crossbows and breaking into two groups- charging at at you with knives, bats and swords. The redhead stares into your eyes for a split second, and then turns in the direction of the most pressing threat to her right now. Her mouth mutters something you cannot hear right now, and she fires.

Seems like "enemy of my enemy" worked. Damn, that's a high quality weapon. One of these thugs is already being hit. The bullets shred him to pieces instantly- no, wait, they don't.

She's using... rubber bullets. Nonlethal ammunition? Uh.

You don't typically do that, but to each their own, you guess. She's probably trying to take them alive for interrogation. The leader of the syndicate already recovered, reloaded his crossbow and is pointing at you. He's fast on the draw.

He probably thinks he can nail you right now. You can't deflect it, having thrown your only weapon. But here's a funny thing about your sword's hilt. Losing a weapon can be a death sentence in a fight- any fight. So a Fixer has to prepare for it. In your line of work, you have to prepare for anything that might happen.

Some guys just have a sufficiently strong grip to never drop their weapon, like Kali. Others carry backups, like Iori or the Black Silence. Some choose to not wield any weapons, and beat their enemies to death with their bare hands. You simply asked Dilaceration Workshop- who created your sword- to include an electromagnet in its hilt. And another in your hand.

The look in his face when the sword's pommel slams into the back of his skull is priceless. You wish you had a camera- you'd hang the photograph in the wall behind your desk. He scowls, ignores the pain, readjusts his aim, and fires anyway. All in the span of a few seconds.

This guy is pretty okay. You'd put them at Grade 5.

Judging by the projectile's speed, which is pretty damn high for a crossbow- if you go for another burst of speed, the Fairy will inflict damage to your internal organs. You'll have to block- or better yet- send it back. His eyebrows rise as you hold into your recently recovered sword and do exactly that. Unfortunately for you, he dodges the reflected bolt and prepares to fire again. The angel is busy dealing with his goons. You're pretty sure the plan worked- she is no longer seeing you as an active threat. Good.

You go in for a punch. However, your attempts to halt the Fairy damage mean you can't go fast enough right now. He dodges. Another goon enters the fight, trying to buy time for his boss to retreat to a better range. While it's admirable that he can wield a crossbow in melee, he's obviously better outside of it. Fortunately, you don't even have to deal with him. A stray rubber bullet slams onto his back before you can do so. Also, someone new has entered the scene. You deliver another hit to the Syndicate boss- this time, a kick in the stomach that sends him reeling. Then, you take a step back from the scene, and look towards the newcomer. She's an orange-haired girl with the same horns as the "MountainDash brat." Sister? Cousin?

"Yeeeehaw!" she screams, swinging her weapon- a tactical shield- at the Syndicate thugs trying to surround her.

"T-that crazy broad charged right through! Is that armored guy with them, Capone?" screams one of the mooks at his already-rising boss. So that's his name, hmm?

You stare at the bull girl. She's grouped with the boy and the angel, and her clothing shares the same logo as hers. "Penguin Logistics." The theory of them being Fixers has gained more weight. But the boy lacks the logo. They are already fleeing the scene. Should you follow them?

[ ] Yes. You don't have any leads on where you are, or what you're supposed to do now. Maybe they'll provide one.

[ ] No. They're not worth the trouble.
- [ ] Retreat for now. None of this is your business.
- [ ] Keep fighting the Syndicate.

[ ] Write-in.

Character Sheet Unlocked: Capone

Status of Self and Allies:
Sieghart: Minor blood loss from exertion.

Enemy Status:
Syndicate Leader (Capone)
- Grade: 5
- Condition: Broken nose, fracture at collarbone, huge headache. Concussed and bruised.
Sieghart's Note: He's skilled enough to use a crossbow in melee range and reloads fast enough to leave less openings on himself then a typical ranged attacker. I personally think he's remarkably pain-tolerant. Most grade 5 enemies, if I tried the pommel stunt on them would be stunned for, what, 10 seconds? He recovered in three. Superhumanly fast and strong, but that's normal for his grade.

Syndicate Goons:
- Grade: 8-7
- Condition: Around 9 of them are left, sporting various injuries such as bruises and cracked bones. 4 have been knocked out by you or Penguin Logistics.
Sieghart's Note: Terribly unimpressive. I don't have a lot much to say about them.

thenew · Nov 9, 2022

[X] Yes. You don't have any leads on where you are, or what you're supposed to do now. Maybe they'll provide one.
-[X] Some bandages will be nice, or some blood bag, you're not picky.

1.4 - Happy Feet

An Office of Fixers... if you're truly separated from the City, there's really nothing you can do right now to further your "return to the Library" plan. What you need to do is find a way back home, and then move from there.

You can't find a way back home if you remain completely unaware of your surroundings. So you need a lead on where you are. Maybe it was all a matter of interrogating the taxi driver, but the past is the past and you had something more pressing in your mind at the moment. Thus, the plan: follow Penguin Logistics and obtain information from their side. They owe you one for bailing them out of this situation, after all.

But you don't know how they'll react. The whole "favor" thing is kind of iffy. They can just argue that they had no need for your help, and then what? Obtaining information from the Syndicate members is also not an option. No one tells anything of worth to the mooks, and kidnapping the leader guy will undoubtedly get you into deep shit with them, even worse then you already are. Normally, you wouldn't care at all. You're a Color and they're Urban Plague at best. Maybe if every single one of their troopers had the skills of this Capone guy and they had some Workshop gear, they'd get to Urban Nightmare. Maybe.

But with the Fairy and all, you can't afford to get them in your heels being annoying. So Penguin Logistics it is. If anything goes bad, you can just run away and pretend none of this ever happened. Fixer Offices aren't as vengeance-happy as Syndicates are. As the three leave the scene, you dart on their direction. One of the goons tries to grab ahold of your arm, but you just swat him off. Time to go.

Behind you, Capone pulled out a radio out of his coat and is communicating with someone. You're already far away from him. No reason to care.

"You're going to leave without even saying goodbye? That's pretty cold of you, Sieghart."

Oh, so she's calling you by your full name now? Who does she think she is, your mother? Are you getting chastised by the voice in your head? Maybe you should start taking schizophrenia medication. See how she likes it.

"Taking your meds is not going to make me disappear and you know it."

That sounds like the kind of thing that an auditory hallucination would say.

"I'm not a hallucination! I've been with you for long enough for you to know that!"

The fact that you've been hearing voices for a prolonged period of time does not mean that they're real. If anything, the fact that she's been talking for so long and there's no signs of it stopping proves that you're crazy. The Voice lets out the long-suffering sigh you've heard from her many times before. You know that she's going to sulk for a solid hour in... wherever it is that she waits when she's not talking to you.

"I talk to OTHER people, who actually listen to what I have to say."

These people must be really, really lonely.

"Hmph! I'm not going to talk to you anymore! I'll talk to Boris instead. Good-bye!"

Whatever. Penguin Logistics have went back to the alleys, and the Syndicate guys apparently took a car to follow them. They're eager for a beating, aren't they? The mafiosos are on their trail, and you're too. Well, if you run into each other you'll end up wasting time. So you'll have to take a slightly longer route. To dodge them.

Your name is Bison. You like to think you're a pretty good Messenger. With all the training and opportunities that your dad gave you, it would be pretty damn sad if you weren't one.

But you weren't ready for this.

There is a reason you carry your shield around. The life of a Messenger is fraught with risks, and as the heir to MountainDash Logistics, the corporation that owns pretty much 95% of the Messenger firms across Lungmen, you're an even bigger target. But oh wow, you were not trained for this situation.

First, the Siracusan mafia blows up the road to try and kill you. Thanks to that Exusiai, your butler is safe, but you can't say the same for yourself right now, as they're chasing you through the streets of Lungmen. Hopefully they'll lose sight of you and your allies in these confusing alleys. As long as you don't hit a dead end, or that samurai guy shows up again.

That one was weird. If someone with such strength was living here, should've been at least heard from before. If he hasn't, it means he's not from Lungmen. Which means he came here from another city- maybe all the way from Higashi- the samurai getup seems legit- just to get involved with your troubles and save you from the mafia. Just who is that guy? And he was following you alongside the mafia, too, though he disappeared halfway through the chase.

Oh no. There's nowhere left for you to go! If you turn back, the mafia- or the samurai- will catch you. If you stay here, they'll catch you anyway! Damn it!

"Oh, we've hit a dead end. Dammit." says Exusiai.

"I can just bring the wall down! No one lives here anyways." says the Forte- Crossiant, yes.

Wait, is she going to break through the walls with her shield? The whole thing could collapse! You can't let her do that!

"Wait- don't! You could-" you try to dissuade her, but before you can complete your sentence-

"There they are! It's a dead end! We got 'em!"

Oh no, they're got you right where they wanted. You're cornered. What are you even supposed to do? You turn towards Exusiai.

"Do you have any ideas?"

The Sankta chuckles.

"Yeah, I do."

Just figures- wait, she does?

"We haven't properly introduced ourselves, have we?"

The thugs are already here and she wants to talk??

"Now's not the time for this! We've got more important things to deal with!"

You hear a voice you recognize. You've heard him talking to your father. You've heard him singing, even if you prefer Alive Until Sunset, and even spoke to him before. It was very brief- not enough to get a real handle of him. It's the boss of Penguin Logistics- the aforementioned penguin. He's a billionaire and a world-famous rapper.

"Nah." says Emperor.

He's above you, on the ceiling of one of these buildings- standing atop a stack of boxes in the darkness.

"This is important. Real important. We got a serious emphasis on corporate culture. And today's culture buzzword is 'courtesy.' I just came up with it."

The mafiosos are already reacting, weapons in hand. Is Penguin Logistics just- not taking this seriously at all?

"It's Emperor! Somebody call the boss! There's someone else with him!"

Now that you look better, there is. She has a sword in hand, and in her mouth, you think that's a cigar. Another Messenger of Penguin Logistics.

"Came up empty, Exusiai." she says.

"Not every Siracusan mook's a total moron. We'll get 'em next time, don't worry." answers the Sankta, gesturing towards you. "But hey, at least you get to meet Penguin Logistics's newest temp worker: Bison."

She's- Texas blocked the way. Why? There's no path left for the mafia to leave! You're trapped here with them, now!

"They blocked the only way out. We- we have to fight through!"

Texas points her blade at them.

"Get down on the ground. You don't have to die."

She's seriously scary... and it seems that the mafia thinks the same. They're breaking formation. Just who is Texas to inspire this much fear in them? Some of these mafiosos... they're already making a break for the walls!

"Woah! Settle down, we just have to hold out until the boss...!"

Emperor chuckles. At least you think it's one, his beak makes it sound weird.

"Hold out? Hit the lights."

Exusiai nods, and hits a switch you didn't even realize was there before. Much to the mafia's chagrin, a spotlight comes to life and soon the entire room immediately is all brightened.

"Welcome to Penguin Logistics, little doggies. Now I can see you. And that means you're on land that belongs to the Penguin Empire. Now I hate to bother you, but I'm gonna have to see your landing visa. You got it on you?"

The mafia has already recovered. They're moving towards Emperor. You're going to have to fight! Well, this whole show made you a little more confident. Their boss isn't here, and if they have your back...

"No? Then I think we gotta send you crying home to your mamas."

This whole thing is just going to get more and more dangerous, isn't it?

You dash through the rooftops. There's an area ahead that's pretty well-illuminated. You've been paying attention to Penguin Logistics' movement- they entered that place and didn't leave since them. The Syndicate followed. You take a dive right off the edge of the last building, and land on your feet, right below...

A penguin?

Yes, it's a penguin. The torpedo-like shape. Cylindrical body, short legs. Thin beak. Feathers all over his body with black and white coloring, flippers, and bird feet. And sunglasses. And a white beanie, and gold chains, and a T-Shirt with a bearded man's shape in it... eh, whatever. It's a penguin.

"He's adorable." chirps the Voice.

This is either some sort of replacement body, a Distortion, or he's an actual penguin and the Head suddenly changed their entire worldview on nonhumans. Or you're outside the City. The last option is pretty much completely confirmed by now.

"Not a Distortion. Believe me, I'd know if he was."

After this helpful tip from the voice in your head, you notice that the horned kid, the angel and the shield girl are there too. There's unconscious and battered Syndicate goons all around the area. No signs of the leader or anyone who looks above the usual cut. Interesting. It seems that these four- no, five. There's a new girl, with wolf ears- so these aren't just a thing for that Syndicate- with a sword. Same logo, too. Another member of the little group.

And yet again, you're being stared at. Great. The redhead angel points her submachine gun at you.

"You helped us later, didn't you? Why? Who are you?"

Well, you have to think of an explanation right now. Luckily, as a Fixer of Turbulence Office, you've gotten pretty good at explaining why you got involved with something you shouldn't have.

"They attacked me earlier, in an alley. Then I took a taxi to the hospital, and guess what happens? The highway gets bombed. I don't even know who they are supposed to be, but for some reason they decided to make my already bad day worse. So, yes that's pretty much it. Sorry if I brought you any trouble." yes, that sounds like a good excuse.

The truth is, you don't really have a reason to have beat the Syndicate up beyond pure self-preservation. You could have fled the scene, but then you'd likely have to dodge both their crossbows and the angel girl's bullets. It's kind of funny that these guys got kicked around simply because it was less trouble then not doing so. But you can't just go and say that you fought them because all the other options were worse. If this isn't the City, explaining the specifics of your Fairy affliction could get complicated.

Penguin Logistics lowers their weapons. For now, they're apparently choosing to hold back. Good. The penguin crosses his flippers.

"I don't exactly buy that, but you helped my gals out, and I can't complain about that. I owe ya one. What'd ya want with us?

"He's so cute..."

Now is really not the time, Voice.

[ ] Write-in.

Character Sheet Unlocked: Emperor
Character Sheet Unlocked: Bison

Status of Self and Allies:
Sieghart: Minor blood loss from exertion.

thenew · Nov 11, 2022

[X] Directions to a hospital that can treat a gaping chest wound please. And some currency to afford said trip. Or we could offer a favor for a favor.

1.5 - Drop the Beat

Okay, so he wants to know what you want. For now, you have their attention, and you're pretty sure the submachinegun girl won't attack you. So, what are you going to tell the penguin? Now that you think of it, he's probably their superior. Penguin Logistics.

"Well, first of all, I would like some directions to the nearest hospital." you begin. You could really use directions to that hospital. And some money to pay for it. You don't want to get the local law enforcement on your trail by having to rob people, not with your current condition. That, and you actually want to get a better grasp of this place- Lungmen. The name is Lungmen, right? Lungmen Ring Expressway.

"Wait. Make a pause for dramatic effect. Then take your cape off your chest. Show the wound. Trust me, that's how it works. Drop a bomb. When the other person is reeling they're easier to influence."

You follow the voice, and pause. Then, you untie your cape, and tie it around your arm instead. Now, your wounds are out for all to see. It is quite an ugly sight. While the Arbiter's attacks essentially made mincemeat of your body, the wounds appear to only show in your torso. There are three of them in total, sitting very close to each other. Two right below the sternum, and one slightly above, near your shoulder. Above them, the your armor is pretty much destroyed: holes reveal the torn flesh, and the plating around them is filled with cracks.

You hope that someone in this city has a way to treat Fairy. It's unlikely, but a man can dream.

Snakes are incapable of blinking, aren't they? No eyelids. Can birds blink? Whatever. The humans blink in surprise, and the movement of the penguin's sunglasses sort implies a blink. It's weird to look at.

"You've been cut up pretty bad." says the wolf girl. "What happened?"

"A run-in with someone above my level. Wasn't fun."

That's all you're going to say about that one. Keeping it vague seems good.

"Know what? Let's talk about this inside. Keep an eye on him, girls, don't let him touch the little guy." the penguin says, pointing at you, then at the horned kid. Guess he's important. "We got any bandages there, Texas?"

"Been a while since we shacked up here. There might not be."

So that's wolf-ears' name. Well. Might as well go in and get the business talk flowing. You politely cough.

"Thank you. Any sort of medical supplies would be great. I really need those right now."

"Pet the penguin."

No.

"Do it."

No. Go talk to Boris, whoever that's supposed to be. You are not insulting your best chance to get some actual medical treatment right now no matter what the Voice says.

"You're no fun."

Cope.

Well, it isn't bad for a safehouse. You'd had to stay the night in a literal broom closet, this might as well be a luxury bedroom, in one of these hotels for Wing executives with way more money then sense.

The boy looks really nervous with you around. That's honestly fair. He's being targeted by assassination attempts by the local Syndicate. In a situation like this, keeping that little bit of paranoia close to your heart can't hurt, can it?

"So this is where Penguin Logistics holes up..." the boy mutters.

"We haven't been here for quite some time, sorry if it's dirty. And here, found some bandages." says Texas, handing you a first aid kit. You thank her and start removing your armor's chestplate. You're pretty sure this wound is not going to heal just by waiting around, but something to staunch the flow of blood is always good.

"Please forgive me for bleeding all over your couch." you say to your hosts. You really aren't sorry, but it's always good to be polite.

"Nah, don't sweat it." says the bird. His voice sounds kind of familiar. "So, big man, gonna introduce yourself? Same thing for you, kid. Hey, Texas, what's for dinner?"

"We're throwing a welcome party for the newbie, of course! We just gotta wait for Sora. Where is she anyway?" interrupts the angel girl before Texas can answer.

You finish tying up the bandages around your torso. You place the bundle around your belt, just to be sure. Might need them later.

"My name is Sieghart. I am..." wait, you can't say Fixer. The word probably means nothing for them. "...a mercenary."

The boy looks somewhat tense, but the rest of Penguin Logistics doesn't even budge.

"What I propose is a favor for a favor. I really need to get healed. Some directions to the nearest hospital would be nice. And some money to afford the treatment, if possible." you think for a little while. Wait, there's something else you need. "Could you tell me your names? I don't know any of them."

The penguin looks contemplative.

"Ya don't know who I am? I'm famous 'round the world, hat man! But whatever. I'm Emperor. You already know Texas, and you bailed out Exusiai," the angel- "and Crossiant." the one with the shield. "The little man hasn't got to talk about himself, so let 'em do it. Come on, kid!"

The boy is clutching onto his shield. He likely expects you to strike at any moment.

"I'm a Messenger, codenamed Bison. I'm from Lungmen, and I work for Mountain Dash Logistics. My father sent me to learn what I can from your company. And I appreciate the opportunity."

What can you gleam from these new information? These Penguin and Mountain Dash Logistics seem to fulfill tasks in a similar manner to Fixer offices. Bison is a Mountain Dash operative, sent here to get some training by his father. Mountain Dash and Penguin are likely cooperative Offices whose leaders know each other. As the Syndicate went through the trouble of orchestrating a bombing to kill Bison, he likely has importance within that Office. His father sent him here, and thus has some kind of authority position. Is Bison's father the leader of MountainDash Logistics? Yes, that sounds like a reasonable guess.

The word "Messenger" makes the Index come to mind, but it's probably just a coincidence. Oh, and now the penguin is looking at you.

"It's almost time for dinner, so I'll make this quick. I'll pay ya your favor. I could get someone to patch you up no problem. Can't drop yo ass off there now, not with the situation, but I can give ya some pointers. Is there a map here or somethin'? Whatever. Don't have my money with me right now but send me the bills and I'll pay. Just don't snitch on us about anything you see here, kay? If you do, we'll deal with it ourselves."

You nod. "I can wait a bit. These bandages are enough for now."

"Great, glad we're doin' this right. Hey, Texas, where the hell's my cigars? You shoulda gotten me one already."

"Sorry boss, it all went bad." Texas shakes her head. "Sora probably threw it away when she came here to clean the place up."

While Emperor lowers his head in despair, Bison looks very nervous. You think the boy has potential, but he needs to get some tolerance to weird stuff. He's just way too out of place, and you can't look out of place in this business. You have to be in control of the situation, or at least look the part. He tries to get in the conversation .

"Uh, now that you two are finished- are you two finished?" you nod, and so does Emperor. "We should figure who exactly attacked us."

"Wait just a second! We gotta get some tunes in here! Can't have a discussion like this without music!" notes Emperor. "Hey, Crossiant, ya brought a box of vinyl here earlier, didn'tcha?"

"Yeah, purdy sure I hauled it over some time ago. Real expensive stuff. Think ya picked it up on the black market, didn'tcha?"

Black market tunes... music? Wait, you did think Emperor's voice was a little familiar, earlier on. As Crossiant gets to work searching for the Now you know why. He was the singer you heard in that alley.

"Wait, you're the rapper! Heard a bit of your music earlier. Was wondering why your voice sounded familiar." you snap your fingers. "Pretty good, I'd say. What's a rapper doing in this business?"

"Ha! It's the thing I love the most, but I'm way more then just my music career. But if ya think my music is quality, check out these ones. Anyway, keep talking, little guy."

The music is pretty good, you'd say.

"Uh- yes. They probably attacked me to try to provoke our two companies."

You lean back on the couch, trying to relax a bit. You're in a safehouse, listening to some music and having a talk. You can probably afford to take a breather, even if it is just for now. They keep talking to each other, but you just tune it out again. It's a mostly boring talk- seems that you misjudged this whole Messenger thing. The kid evidently just does regular transportation business. Penguin Logistics is also supposed to do that, but for some reason, they universally end up getting into trouble when they do it. Be it gang fights, property damage or just general disasters happening for no discernible reason.

Really, there's few missions you can remember that didn't go wrong in some way. Oh, now you're getting nostalgic.

The talk keeps going. The local law enforcers- the "L.G.D," will not intervene in this situation. Lungmen Guard Division? Lungmen Guardian Defenders? Lungmen Guard Department? Who knows, you don't feel like butting in. But that is relaxing. Getting in trouble with the Zwei is something you do all the time back home, and it's always a bother.

Penguin Logistics' plan, that being to have no plan and just improvise, is great, too. Just go with the flow. It's a shame you'll probably spend this night on a hospital bed, doing nothing. Real shame, but getting patched up isn't ever fun.

Right after the girls finish reassuring the boy that everything is going to be fine, you hear a noise.

Beep.

Beep.

Oh no. They planted another bomb. You have to move, right now. It's coming from Emperor's chair. He evidently notices as well, and leaps off. The girls are bracing themselves for the impact.

"Get down! It's a bomb!" you scream.

You hear a final beeping noise. Then, boom.

By now, you are 100% sure that there isn't anything left of his box of vinyl records but worthless melted sludge. Shame, you wanted to listen to some more of these tunes.

As the six of you leave the burning warehouse for the streets, Emperor looks furious. While the noises coming out of his beak are completely incomprehensible, they do an excellent job at conveying the sheer hatred that's spilling out his tiny body. You are absolutely certain that this Syndicate is not going last much longer.

"I can't believe you're feeling intimidated by a cute little gangster penguin, Sieg."

The Voice can laugh all she wants. Your instincts are screaming at you that Emperor is much more dangerous then he looks like, and you did not reach the rank of Color by not listening to your instincts. Underestimating an enemy because he looks silly means you'll get disemboweled by the first clown-based Syndicate you see. There's an awful amount of these around, for… reasons. You're pretty sure that there was a clown-based Distortion in the Blue Reverberation's garage band, too. Met his end at the Library, and like the rest of the gang, nobody's seen heads or tails of them after the Pale Librarian's banishment. Even though everyone else returned.

Nevertheless, the penguin is fuming at the loss of his vinyl records.

"That's not a sentence I had thought I would ever hear in my life."

It's not even the weirdest thing you've said this month, Voice. After a while, you get used to this kind of stuff.

"I knoooow…it still is a funny sentence, though."

Yeah, fair enough.

The smoke is rising from the former Penguin Logistics safehouse. The angel girl is coughing. They sneaked a bomb inside of their haven- perhaps while the owners were busy fighting, earlier on? Now they're taking flight. Wow, they sure got a deathwish.

Well, you should just- pain.

It shoots up through your spine, and your entire body trembles. You wish you could just lie down for a bit right now. Maybe you will, once you have a bed to sleep on.

You once again misjudged how much you could exert yourself without getting your body cut up, and spent a bit too much energy on escaping the blast. The Fairy accumulation in your stomach region cut through the tissue and damaged the organ's walls themselves. A few arteries, fortunately nothing major, have ruptured, and your recently-placed bandages are slick with blood. You need to get to healed as soon as possible.

"Hey!"

Emperor is sitting on the passenger seat of a large, black pickup truck. Texas is driving. How did they get there without you noticing? Are you getting old? You're only 38, are your instincts dulling already?

"You! Get in. You're a merc, arent'cha? You're hired. All of you can expense your speeding tickets tonight."

He points at the fleeing enemies, shaking with barely-controlled rage.

"They gotta pay... for my vinyl recoooords!!"

Well that's good and all, but you have to go to the hospital-

"Forget about the damn hospital! Sora'll get you good as new!" this Sora can get you healed? Hmm.

Jeez, you're already feeling nostalgic.

[ ] Offer your hand to the Emperor. (You will follow Penguin Logistics and continue Code of Brawl. Emperor will like you considerably more.)

[ ] Forget about these people. Go to the damned hospital, you've been delaying this long enough. (You will spend Sauin night on a hospital bed. People might ask questions about your many, many biological augmentations.)

This nostalgia... you're thinking about the old days. Moments in time. In another moment, they'll be gone. (This will get you a flashback in the next chapter.)

[ ] The Case of the Left Finger (You and Malkuth Reverberation took on a case to find a Messenger of the Index and remove one finger from their left hand- specifically, their pinky. ONLY the pinky- he was not to be harmed otherwise. You only found this out in the middle of the request. It was a pain.)

[ ] The Case of That Which Should Not Be Known (You and Alvar took on a case to recover a locked briefcase and prevent it from ever being opened. Unfortunately, a number of Seven Association Fixers had been hired to open it and discover its contents, instead.)

[ ] The Case of the Forest of No Trees (You and Arabella took on case to find- or at least confirm the deaths of- three local Syndicate leaders who had disappeared on a particular alley. The sole survivor babbled endlessly about a forest.)

[ ] The Case of the Absolutely Safe Bubble (You and Lech took on a rogue P-Corp employee, seeking to rescue the daughter of a Nest executive he took hostage. The irony was not lost in you.)

Status of Self and Allies:
Sieghart: Minor blood loss from exertion. Internal injuries in the stomach area.

Emperor, Penguin Logistics CEO
- Grade: ???
- Condition: Absolutely furious. Emotionally distraught by the loss of his vinyl records.
Sieghart's Note: While he may not look like much, I think that Carmen's Note: The cutest little bird ever. Look how his flippers are flailing around in rage! I want to pat that feathered head of his and give him a BIG hug. Shame I don't have a body anymore!

thenew · Nov 13, 2022

Interlude: The Case of the Left Finger

Wympe presents the contract to you with a smile.

"It's for you, boss!" she says, placing it on your desk. Honestly, she's incredible. You don't know where you'd be without her.

You skim through the 37 pages of legalese. Basically, if the contract goes through, you and Malkuth are each getting paid a considerable sum, of around half a billion Ahn, for an Urban Nightmare direct combat task around the Backstreets of District 17.

"Wympe, did the client specify why exactly they requested for us?" it's always good to be suspicious of things. You've been ambushed under the appearance of a job before.

"Well, according to the client were apparently recommended for them by… wait, let me check. Yes, the contact was the Elder Bloodfiend of District 17, known as Yosef the Eyeless. He requested our services… 2 years ago, in the extermination of the Outskirts creature known as the Toxoid Bone-Slug. We performed extremely well in it, and apparently left a good impression in Yosef's books."

Ah, the Toxoid Bone-Slug. You remember that one. Some moron Fixers thought it would be a good idea to bring the highly toxic eggs of an Outskirts creature to the City and try to use it as makeshift grenades. When one of the eggs hatched and the creature ate its handlers, you were called to exterminate it before it caused sufficient damage to the Backstreets of District 12. Malkuth disposed of its poisoned corpse with fire, you remember it well. Well, everything seems to be in its correct place.

"I will be taking the job. Is there additional information or will the client themselves tell me?"

"Well, boss, the client requested anonymity. It is kind of sketchy, but there's no way that you guys won't be able to do it! They paid ahead of time, even!"

"Okay, then. I'll get Malkuth and do the job after I finish reading this. Thank you, Wympe."

Uh. Oh, right, it's leg day. Maybe you should get a workout too. Maybe after the job's done. Oh well, you'll pick her up.

"Is there a time limit on the job?"

"It is to be completed until the day… until today, boss."

You check out the holographic calendar- a gift you got from Max at the Office's last Secret Santa. You gave a "#1 grandpa" mug to Lech. You remember it well. It's currently the 25th of August. You have the entire day to do this. There's time.

"I'll pick her up later." you sign the contract, and hand it over to your secretary. "I'll leave the contract on your room."

Wympe nods enthusiastically, hands you the other contract and leaves. Well, you suppose you'll have to go get her. But before that, the summary- what's this about a bookshop?

"Malkuth, got a job for you."

The Malkuth Reverberation stares at you, before nodding. By her side, Arabella is doing her daily workouts, sweat dripping down her forehead. Well, not dripping down. Dripping up, depending on your current perspective. The bloodfiend was, at the moment, in a handstand position, balancing an enormous amount of dumbbells atop her legs. One, two, three, thirteen high-duty dumbbells. Wait, are these G-Corp dumbbells? The gravity-enhanced ones? Max did say he'd buy some. At max settings, these must weigh, what, half a ton each? Yes, so thirteen divided by two, roughly six and a half tons of weight balanced entirely around her legs, or three and a half average cars.

Were it not for the weight-nullifying plate- also G-Corp material- that she's standing on, the floor would already have collapsed. Around her, Max, Linette and Heavy are cheering. Malkuth is just staring, as always.

"Please take care to not drop anything. I don't want to have to repair the floor again." you say to the quintet in front of you.

After a round of variations of "okay boss," you turn towards Malkuth.

"Malkuth?" says her.

"Well, Malkuth, the job's simple. We have locate the Messenger of the Index known as José Silveira, and remove his left pinky finger."

"Malkuth."

Hah. Enthusiastic as always.

You and Malkuth walk out into the Backstreets of District 17. This is the District of QWERTY Incorporated, which prints around 30% of non-digital written text in the City. Their Singularity, Questioning, allows one to immerse themselves inside the books. While you've personally never tried it recreationally yourself, their tomes are filled entirely with blank pages, pages that fill as they are inspected. Reading the text creates vivid illusions of whatever story that it contains, and certain particularly intense texts can end up having the person actually end up believing they're the story's protagonist. Ghastly thing- you've had it used as a weapon in you before, in the case of the Absolutely Safe Bubble. As Q-Corp is one of the least lucrative Wings, whose position is constantly threatened- because of the heavy side effects of their products- few people actually care about them in any way.

In the Backstreets of District 17, everyone is reading. The passerby are immersed in newspapers, children sit in large circles reading together, and there's a bookshop in every corner. They seem entirely unaware of each other's existence- immersed entirely on their books.

You've been told that there's a heavy Index presence here. They've held this territory for over two decades now. It would be hard to find a specific Messenger in this area… were it not for the list of habits that you were given, alongside a photograph of the target. José Silveira, dark-skinned, blonde hair, green eyes, 21 years old. Orphan, became a Proselyte at 14. Proxy at 15, Messenger at 17.

Likes milk and grape-flavored jelly in his coffee alongside a good horror story. Every day at 4:00 PM, after delivering all his Prescripts for the day, he goes to a specific book shop, and buys whatever new stuff is in stock. Has a coffee and dinner in the bookshop itself, then goes home at 5:00 PM, arriving home just before the Night of the Backstreets arrives. You have very specific information in your target and, in addition to this, know their location at various points of the last week. Their weapon is the typical Lockblade of Index personnel, this one being a locked rapier.

You have everything you need. Now, all you need to do is wait. Remove the left pinky finger, hm? Perhaps this is a contract by the Pinky, meant to send some sort of message to the Index? Something like, "we're going to kill you and take your territory." That's the kind of message Syndicats send to each other. No matter.

It is currently 3:12 PM. You have time.

"So. Wanna go and get a coffee while we wait?"

"Malkuth."

You're at the exact same bookshop that you're supposed to kill your target in, and it's dogshit. The coffee tastes like dirt, the milk is sour, and the breadsticks are burnt. You have no idea why this place is so popular. You've seen dozens of people come here, drink their coffee without a single complaint, and leave. It seems that this District has a terminal case of shit taste. Truly saddening.

Malkuth is reading something. What is it? You take a peek at the text.

It's just the word "malkuth" repeated over, and over, and over. The cover has a dozen pictures of Malkuth poorly glued together. She seems legitimately interested in the text. Eh, to each their own. Not your business.

"Why is there a perfect lookalike of Elijah running around with you. I still don't get it." mumbles the Voice.

You have no idea who Elijah is supposed to be. That's just Malkuth. She's just like that and you respect it.

"Malkuth." she warns.

The Messenger has entered the bookshop. There are 3 Proselytes following him. You place your hand in your blade's hilt. You look at Malkuth and whisper.

"Wait for him to sit down, then you jump and hit him over the head. I'll go and cut off his finger while he's reeling from the impact." you consider the possibilities. Messengers are fast. "If he dodges or blocks, we take the opportunity and bring down the Proselytes so they don't interfere."

"Malkuth."

Yes, the plan would work better like that. Malkuth has better crowd control then you, she can hit all four enemies in quick succession. Plus, it'll bring their Vibration to the correct level and provide an advantage for the rest of the fight.

So: she hits all four enemies instead of just José. You go and hit the target, slicing off his finger. Take the finger, and escape. If he's too quick, you'll finish off the rest of the enemy formation before anything bad can happen.

"That sounds better, yes. Thank you. Try not to burn down the shop."

"Malkuth." she nods. "Malkuth?"

…great question. The Proselytes aren't too much of a threat, but there could come reinforcements later. Proxies are highly unpredictable and varied opponents. You'll have to try and get the job done as quickly as possible.

"I'll count to three. Then, we strike."

"Malkuth."

She's ready.

"One. Two. Three. Let's go."

Before you even finish the sentence, Malkuth's already leaped off her chair. Her scythe is a blur. In one second, the first Proselyte's throat is slashed through. The second blindfolded goon tries to block, but she slams the back of her weapon on his temple. He falls to the floor, blade clattering harmlessly in the ground. You're already moving for the Messenger before the third is even reached. You slash at his hand, but he's already moving. He kicks the coffee table towards you and darts for the bookshelves. You cleave through the table, but he already has something- some kind of grenade- in hand. He throws it at you, and-

Suddenly, there is a dragon in the room. No, there is no room. You are atop a castle, facing a dragon. Oh. So that's his tactic. He's using the Questioning Singularity as a way to keep you distracted- immersed in these stories. No matter- you've faced it before. You simply pinch your cheek, and the dragon dissolves in ink. The Messenger has his rapier in hand and is moving towards you.

You chuckle. He's right where you want him.

You go for a stab at his chest. He dodges again.

"He has another grenade in his back. He'll try to throw it again." whispers the Voice.

Thanks, that's good to know. You briefly close your eyes and your form becomes a flash. In a second, you're already striking at his hand. He barely manages to deflect the strike with the book, rendering the tool useless. His blade is still unlocking- two sixths of the way to breaking free.

Malkuth has already disposed of all Proselytes and appears right behind José. He reaches for something inside his cape- another grenade. Now that you take a better look, it's actually just a small metal cylinder covered with pieces of paper. Doesn't look threatening at a first glance, but Singularity-based weapons are always trouble in some way.

"Malkuth!" warns your companion. An Index Proxy has arrived at the scene. An extremely pale man, with ten long metallic tendrils instead of arms. Each one of them has a Lockblade- locked sais- held in its claws. He goes in for you.

"You will be defeated, Steel Determination. It is the Prescript's will that I strike you down." he says.

The Messenger releases the cylinder, and tentacles erupt out of every corner of the room, lunging straight for you. You can cut them into pieces with barely any effort, but you cannot stop yourself from reacting- even though you know they are illusory. While your mind may know the truth, you body and your instincts react by themselves and distract you, even if it is but for a moment.

"Malkuth." says your ally, as she spins her scythe and releases a torrent of flames around the room. The Messenger is still unharmed, and exploited the illusion to make moves towards his escape. You cannot allow him to evade your grasp, so you'll have to follow.

"I will leave the Proxy to your care, Uno. If additional reinforcements arrive, retreat to my current position."

"Malkuth." she answers.

Very well, so the plan is workable. As the Messenger leaps over the flames and escapes the bookshop through a window, you follow, blade shining in the firelight.

You follow his footsteps through the alleys of the District. People barely pay attention to you, immersed as they are in their own little realities that the Singularity affords. You snatch a discarded book off the ground and throw it towards the Messenger with as much strength as you can muster- aiming right at his neck. He goes for a sidestep, but in doing so, he reduces his speed for a second, and you get closer. You'll reach him in no time. He's just as fast as you- which is impressive- but he's exerting himself considerably to reach this speed. You can make this work.

"Serasa!" you hear someone call. Wympe? It's coming from your communicator in your arm. A phone call?

"Serasa here. Nio, what happened? I am in the middle of a chase for the Messenger case." you answer.

"The client has requested an additional requirement for the task. Paid double for it, but apparently he will try and get a refund if this is not accomplished. They said: you are not to slice anything off but the finger. Only remove the finger and nothing else. Do not harm him." she chuckles. "I wouldn't care too much, boss. If he tries to go to an Association to start trouble,we can just point out that we did the task as he told us to, and then tried to go back on the deal. It'll be no issue. Did you harm him already?"

But you can do this. It'll be kind of a pain, but the doubled money would be nice.

"I'll do it. Thank you, Nio. Bye."

"Okay, boss! Bye!" she turns off the comms.

You're almost on the Messenger. It's weird that he isn't supposed to be harmed, but you can pull this off. It's good that he dodged the first hits, then.

You accelerate and move for a stab. You know he'll dodge again, but in doing so he'll be vulnerable.

You were correct in your predictions, at first. He reduces his speed to dodge your attack and gets way too close to you. With his guard completely open, an opportunity has been created. You grab his hand and reach for your sword. He punches you in the face, but the brief flash of pain is easy to ignore. Unfortunately, just as you were about to get him, someone throws a knife at you. Forced to drop the Messenger to evade the projectile, you lose the chance to get the job done.

There is a second Proxy behind the two of you, holding a great number of throwing knives in her hands. She glares at you, and prepares to throw again. You cannot left the Messenger escape, so you'll have to be quick.

You materialize a light clone, and send it off after her. It's exhausting, but you need to keep her off your tail for now. The Messenger already got away- he's going towards a huge dilapidated building, with black, glossy windows. He jumps straight into one of the windows and it shatters. With a beep breath, you dive right behind him, landing in some sort of abandoned factory. You and him stand above a large metal platform.

Hmm, this equipment. Printing presses, is that a cauldron? This place printed books, long, long ago. With Q-Corp's appearance, it likely became wholly obsolete.

His blade is fully unlocked and he's ready to fight. He goes in for the kill, with a flurry of thrusts from his blue rapier. Your armor deflects most of them, but the rest- strikes aimed at your throat or the chinks on your plating- you have to block yourself. You decide that enough's enough. You need to take him down right now, before the Proxy comes to the rescue. You dissolve the light clone you already sent- and materialize a new one. It dives in straight for the Messenger, ignoring their rapid strikes without any care for its own wellbeing. While he's busy, you leap above both and use the opportunity to take off his finger.

It's done. Your cut is perfect and nothing else is harmed. You hold the removed finger in your hand, and the Messenger immediately goes slack. The two Proxies burst into the room through the same window you recently shattered, and Malkuth appears by your side in a burst of flames.

"It is done." says José. The two proxies nod. Oh, you're starting to guess what happened here.

"Malkuth?" says Malkuth, pointing her scythe at them. You shake your head. It's over. The Messenger knew what you were here for, and so do the Proxies. The Index Proxy with the metal arms tilts his head at you.

"We requested that you not harm him. The Prescript commanded it so. You have failed. He has wounds from the glass he jumped through." no, not really.

You sigh. "You were the ones that asked for the whole service, weren't you?" They nod. "Could you show me the prescripts relevant to the case, then?"

All three hold a Prescript in their hands.

To Index Proxy Louise: fight the Fixer known as the Malkuth Reverberation.

To Index Proxy Mathilde: at 4:12 PM, go to the left alley next to your house and throw a knife at the first Fixer you see. Afterwards, engage the first combatant who faces you until you can no longer do so.

To Index Messenger José: Speak to the Elder Bloodfiend of your District. Request a recommendation for one or more Fixers skilled in direct combat. A friend of yours must request them to cut off your left pinky finger. Resist the Fixer assault as much as you can. Aside from the finger, the Fixer themselves must not harm you.

"Hmm. I personally must not harm you." you point at the shattered window. "Emphasis on personally. You harmed yourself in this case. I am entitled to my payment."

The Index members mutter a bit between themselves, before nodding.

"We will pay the doubled value. Thank you." they say in unison, and leave.

The Index is always a pain to handle and you know it.

"Malkuth?" asks Malkuth.

"No, Malkuth. You can't keep the finger."

You'll toss that thing in the garbage as soon as you get home.

"And that's how it went. Pretty simple, all things considered." you say to Linette, taking a sip of actually decent coffee from the office's machine.

She's wearing the face of Suhyun, some Grade 1 Fixer you met last weekend at Dong-Hwan's pub. Pretty weird guy. You were discussing which Star of the City had the worst aesthetics. You personally believe it's the Eight Chefs. He said it was the Blood-Red Night. You said she was dead and thus it didn't count.

You have no idea why Linette is looking like him in particular. You're pretty sure she's never even seen him before.

"So, what happened to the finger?" she asks.

"Rat King picked it off the trash and ate it."

"Disgusting."

"It's fine, it wasn't my finger. No one really cares."

A/N: Have your first Sidestory. I'll put out the actual chapter later. Voting is over, obviously.

It's Turbin' Time (Library of Ruina Modded/Arknights)

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