Puppeteer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] "Who's the one responsible for teleporting and scrambling our minds?"
The first question that immediately springs to mind, that you have to ask, is the one that will clear up Snake's fears, that someone-Rabbit or Sheep or Monkey copying one of them-interfered with the teleportation into this lab.
"Who's responsible for scrambling our minds and interfering with our teleportation?"
Fimulvetr's body limps as the command goes through.
"Freya interfered with your short-term memories. Heimdallr and that deprivation tank interfered with your teleportation."
The hypnosis wears off, and he struggles against Horse and Tiger's hold. Horse grips his throat, applying just enough pressure to cut off his air supply and knock him out but letting him go after that to not kill him.
And right as Fimbulvetr goes unconscious, his body teleports away. Horse looks extremely annoyed at that, even as she and Tiger get up.
"Okay, we've got a name for their teleporter, Heimdallr."
"A bridge guardian. A little further afield than most of the choices, but still close. But… a deprivation tank?"
Horse stands up. "I would assume they mean sensory deprivation tank? But I thought that was just a weird relaxation experience?"
"I haven't been in one myself, but from what I understand, yes, it's meant to be therapeutic and meditative," Tiger says, scratching his chin.
"…I have some… theories, but I would need more before I can say anything definitive. At least we know now that nobody on our side was directly responsible for the interference."
The tone of Snake's voice betrays her concerns that a traitor could still exist. But she still does seem a little relieved that Sheep, Rabbit, and Monkey aren't directly responsible for all of this.
With your opponent out of the way, you recollect yourselves and move onwards, continuing the broad tactics of Horse and Tiger clearing the way, Snake holding the rearguard with her electricity, and you holding the middle with gunshots.
You continue to make solid progress, trying to reach your way back to Dragon and Pig.
But as you make your way through various labs, offices, and the like, you hear a voice in your mind.
"Everyone!" It's Sheep!
"Sheep! Did Ox and Rabbit reach you?" You ask quickly.
"Uh, yeah, but, we've got a bigger problem right now."
"What?"
"Zombies!"
You pause, trying to recall how the fuck something like that would happen, before mentally correcting yourself. The puppeted corpses! Of course she'd call them zombies. That is basically what they are, it's just… well, there's no virus, it's just controlling them.
"We've dealt with them before! But do you need backup? Is Ox not enough?"
"There's another commander, too!"
You quickly look around at the others. They're all clearly receiving the same message.
"I'll help. Give me a minute."
"I'm going to reinforce Sheep's position. I can get there faster." You look at their faces. "Plus, I'm the weakest of us offensively."
"…fair enough, I suppose." Snake nods. "Be careful. We'll let Dragon, Pig, Monkey and Rooster know when we see them, and head towards you."
You nod, then put your hand to your temple again.
"Give me a direction to head to you. I can go as the crow flies, get there faster."
Sheep starts to relay directions, and you move closer to her location, moving through walls and furniture to get there as fast as you can.
In a few moments, you enter a hallway where you see her, Ox, Rabbit resting with his eyes open slightly-damn, even without drugs, Sheep works well, Sheep tending to him, and Dog in the group center.
"And the rat makes 5."
A voice you don't recognize comes from your right. You turn and draw your gun, seeing several of those soldier-puppets, led by a woman, with that same helmet, this time with black and purple highlights on the armor.
"You're the puppeteer, I would presume."
"Ding ding ding! You can call me Hel. I'm one of the newer recruits here! But they definitely like what I can do."
She points her arm out, and the puppets all take battle poses, drawing guns of their own.
"…what you were doing before was weaker. Range restriction?" Ox asks, taking a defensive stance of his own, ready to block bullets with his telekinesis.
"Yeah, I guess my orders aren't as… direct at range. I had to look at you all through Thor's security array before, but now that I'm up close and personal, it's much easier to do this."
She's a talker. You can use this.
"Thor… must be having a field day, with Dr. Kirishima's research on electrokinetics. Seems like he's got technopathy down pat."
Hel's helmet gives nothing away, but somehow, you feel emnity leeching off of her.
"Don't mention the doctor's name. Or I'll gut you and make you into a new puppet."
She cools off quick though.
"BUT! I'm willing to forgive and forget! I'll walk away if you do me a favor."
You keep your hand on your gun, but listen a bit longer.
"…why do you handicap yourself?"
You look at Hel, then at Ox, who looks puzzled. Then back to Dog, who has a hand on his gun and has also drawn it and also looks confused. Rabbit is awake but still in a bit of a fugue, and doesn't seem to be reacting.
Sheep, meanwhile, seems to know exactly what she's talking about.
"I mean, yes, using your powers to heal is certainly useful. I do it all the time. But biokinesis can be so much more than that. You could be so much more, so much stronger."
Sheep draws her gun, her face torn but angry.
"Stop talking like you know me!"
You saw this! In your vision in that server room! This must be a pivitol moment.
"Well, someone's touchy." Hel's tone is smug, playful. "But trust me, we've done our homework on all of you."
She looks over all of you.
"Derek. Tara. Jesús. Yi-soo. Gavin."
A chill runs down your spine. You recognize your name, and it's not hard to remember everyone else's.
"How long have you known about this operation!?" Ox shouts, vibrating with anger.
"It's not so much that we knew about this operation. It's more that we know about you all." Hel's cocky tone continues, with a steely undercurrent.
"I knew it. Snake's traitor theory was right." Ox's anger turns icy and cold.
"Mayyyyyyyyyybe. Or perhaps, we just have some really good remote viewers? I'd never tell." Hel's tone becomes playful. She's… enjoying riling Ox up.
Ox immediately waves his hand, and the corpse-puppets start to fire at him.
But they can't touch him. The bullets freeze inches from their guns, stopped by telekinetic force, then the puppets themselves fly backwards into the wall behind Hel as the bullets fall to the floor.
You practically see Hel smirk under her helmet, and she moves her arm slightly. The corpse-puppet's bodies twist a little, and then, suddenly, melt, sliding down the wall and across the floor to the gap between you and her.
The blood, bone, fat, muscle, and skin swirl together, creating a large…
God, you can only think to call it a monster. It's hexupedal, like a bug. A small exoskeleton of bone and nails covers it. Guns stick out from the front, in an array.
You almost want to puke. But you keep your gun leveled, even as you look back. Ox's anger isn't fading. Dog still has a stoic expression. Sheep looks scared, and mad, and upset, and confused. And Rabbit is still out of it.
"This is what you could do if you fucking tried, instead of hiding like a coward and playing the medic!" Hel isn't visible with her monster in front of her, covering her.
Dog thrusts out his hand, and, thank god, the monster sloughs and sags a bit, some bits of flesh dropping off as Dog Suppresses Hel. The fact that it doesn't fall apart immediately does tell you that it's her Primary, however.
"Right. Forgot you could do that. But I'm still powerful enough that I can just power through your Suppression."
Dog frowns, but stays quiet.
Sheep continues to focus, holding her gun out as she fires a few shots into it. They hit flesh, not the bone exoskeleton, but don't seem to do much damage.
Dog focuses, holsters his gun, and then holds out both his hands, one pointing at you and the other at Ox.
You nod, as you feel the Enhancing entering your system. You can feel the energy, the power, the efficiency.
You look at Ox, and he looks at you. You nod, and focus.
Ox raises his hands and crosses them into an x-shape before swinging them down.
Blades of telekinetic energy slice through the monster from all angles, as light gathers in your hands. Hel seems to be reforming the monster as fast as Ox can divide it, as it slowly tries to move closer. You make your move, running forward and sliding on your back between the giant flesh-beast's giant legs, towards Hel.
You focus, and for the first time since you've arrived, you prepare your laser.
Blades made of bone jut out from the monster's gut in an attempt to slice you, but then the whole monster is lifted straight into the air, slamming into the ceiling, even as tendrils of flesh fly at Ox to stop it, as well.
Hel seems to be straining a bit as you keep sliding forward from that initial momentum. The light in your hands is charged, and you place your hands together for a full blast mere meters from her.
It hits her dead center, knocking her back into the wall and sizzling her armor. You don't even feel winded, the energy from Dog's Enhancing hitting like an adrenaline high. You draw your gun and fire at her armor, hitting her right in the ribs.
She wheezes from pain. Even a high-end bulletproof vest that stops a bullet completely can still break ribs.
Still, given what she just did, healing happens fast.
You fire again, stunning her further.
"Stop it!"
"Undo that monster." You calmly say, gun still drawn.
"FUCK YOU! I'M BETTER THAN YOU! HEIMDALLR!"
And she teleports away before you can do anything, the monster of meat falling to the ground.
But something lingers, something Heimdallr forgot to take when he teleported her. A pill capsule, the kind prescriptions are sold in, orange with a white cap.
You pick it up and examine it. The twist-top has three letters written on it in permanent marker:
TND. Trineurodunamis.
Looking inside, there are 3 pills inside.
…you could give these to some of the others, or yourself, and boost your Tertiaries. You didn't pay too much attention to the earlier parts of the document Snake looked at, but you remembered that it stayed active for about 36 hours, more than enough time for you to finish the mission. And only one pill was necessary to get the effects. It did take a couple of minutes for them to go into effect, so the earlier you took them, the better.
The question is, who?
Plan Vote: Pick 3.
[] Boost your own Clairvoyance.
[] Boost Sheep's Telekinesis.
[] Boost Tiger's Celerity.
[] Boost Rooster's Sensing.
[] Boost Snake's Hypnosis.
[] Boost Dragon's Cryokinesis.
[] Boost Horse's Healing.
[] Boost Monkey's Suppression.
[] Boost Rabbit's Invisibility.
[] Boost Ox's Precognition.
[] Boost Dog's Fortitude.
[] Boost Pig's ???????.
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