We Are All Volunteers: A Military-Themed Multi-Fandom Crossover RP

[Inter-VersaLoli]

Spoiler: OOC (PLEASE READ BEFORE WRITING):

Okay, I'd like to ask you to follow a few guidelines when making your debut post:
-Please set the beginning of your post in your PC's setting, either expanding on how he/she ended up signing for the Legion, or just narrating their thoughts just before they plunge into the unknown
-ABOUT THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS: You can have your character come across the ad in a variety of ways: TV ads, posters, popups, word-of-mouth, etc. The only constants is that they'll end up in the actual recruitment offices hidden cleverly in the setting, asked to sign a modern-looking paper contract, and then given an address to go to a few days later(with bags packed), in a certain secluded address next to a road. Improvise and add as little or as much as you want within this framework.
-The characters board the same bus, in order of first post

At the end of whatever misadventure our prospective recruits went through to first sign-up for the Legion (which our talented Players might describe in the next few posts), the Recruits were then directed to some out-of-the-way location in their world, whether it be a narrow alleyway, a forgotten path through the wilderness, the ground floor of an abandoned apartment block, or a bus stop in the middle of nowhere, or some other location. Wherever that is, the Recruits would see an old Army Truck (with it's canvas cover rolled up) come rumbling down beside them. The driver, a young blonde lady wearing army fatigues and a cowboy hat, would wordlessly beckon the Player Character abroad with a megawatt smile and an open palm pointing towards the back portion of the truck.

This would be repeated for every Player Character she picks up. As for the crossing of dimensions, it would be almost unnoticeable. The scenery changed slowly enough that the fact they had traveled dimensions would seem a shock, just like a baby that changes into a man so slowly you just accept it, and yet quick enough that there was no more than 30 minutes between the arrival of each PC on the bus.

 

[Theravis]

Patricia hated dying.

That awkward period as they detached all the catheters and life support from what was formerly your clone, checking to make sure your soul overwrote the brain properly, the endless psychiatry visits about survivors guilt, like magical girls didn't have to deal with that every day, having to lie about your injuries to the girls that hadn't died that completely yet....

So when she saw an advertisement on her implants, on EARTH, no less, the post-scarcity, post-consumerist world of tomorrow, it was welcome distraction.

Turing? Check Governance clearance for this pop-up. Has to be a virus or unauthorized posting

-|Negative. All permissions valid.|-

The hell? Lets see what's so important that....
She read off the retinal screens silently.
Turing? Who authorized this?

-|Governance:MSY. Signed off by Representative Yuma.|-

Why not? Lets get to the bottom of this, and maybe, if it's like a contract.... the contract is the best thing to happen to me. Once more into the breach.

-----------------------------------------------

She was surprised by a actual ground car in the post urban arcology sprawl of Earth. Seemed to be a mortal driver, no other passengers.... why the hell not?

Patricia took a seat near the back, checked her firearm, crossed her ankles, and set Turing to wake her in 3 hours.

 

[EternalStruggle]

The Sheriff looked for one last time at the tattered pamphlet he held in his hands, comparing the faded image of the meeting place to the structure that now stood before him. It matched exactly, right down to the exact decay the structure was suffering, as if it was a photograph freshly taken, ignoring the clear signs of aging on the paper. Yet another odd thing about this strange item that may lead to his salvation.

Stuffing it in one of the frontal pockets of his tactical vest, he cautiously moved inside the dilapidated building. Probably some kind of warehouse. He quietly cursed as he heard the tell-tale low groans of a resting zombie or two. it can never be easy, can it?

Suppressing his nerves by taking a single deep breath that uncomfortably pulled at his scars and stitches, he began creeping forward through the area to what he hoped was the room marked on the crudely drawn map on the back of his paper. Tensing up at every door and turn in the facility, his not particularly honed instincts screamed at him to get out. Don't walk towards the zombies! His mind seemed to tell him. This too he ignored, logically knowing that this was his ticket out of here.

He had almost relaxed when he got close to the relevant room, and that just made him jump first when he opened the door and found a zombie standing silently right behind him. Yelling loudly in surprise, he backpedaled as fast as he could and fumbled with his revolver, attempting to draw it but failing. The creature before him burst into motion, arms outstretched, closing the gap rapidly. He took hold of the gun in his holster once again, and this time managed to draw it, finger on the trigger. He fired at the approaching thing, putting four inaccurate shots into its chest. It staggered, but still managed to take a faltering step forward. Aiming with a shaky hand, the Sheriff managed to squeeze off two more shots that hit the head, sending the zombie tumbling to the floor, dead for real this time.

Breathing quickly, he holstered his revolver and patted himself on the front of the chest, trying to slow his rapidly beating heart. Too close.

Walking forward, he inspected the central area of the room, with a clearly marked circle of some kind in the center. Walking around it, he surmised this was the entry point for whatever recruitment center had been set up.

He paused before going inside the boundaries of the thing. If he went in, there was no going back. It wasn't exactly nice here, with the zombies, bandits and bandit zombies, and maybe even zombie bandits, he'd heard a rumor or two about those. Didn't believe them, but if zombies existed at all slightly smarter ones weren't too much of a stretch. Still, he knew how to survive. He had a rhythm going, unpleasant but workable, and he could keep living. Fighting in this Legion was an unknown though. Maybe he shouldn't be going through with this...

While he was deep in thought, a second zombie entered through the same door as him. He heard its approach, and turned towards the entryway. Reaching for the shotgun slung across his back, he prepared to deal with this quietly.

Then, as it entered the door, and growled at him and his weapon, pointed directly at the member of the undead , the other three doors of the room opened up to reveal what looked to be a veritable horde of the creatures!

No time to think, down into the depths he goes! And so it was that the Sheriff was taken underground through the concealed elevator, away from the menace up above.

The room was pristine white, seemingly made as a solid block. The roof was made of fluorescent lights, which combined with the shiny walls and floor made the Sheriff glad indeed for his hat. In the center of the room was a simple plastic table and chair, with a pen and paper document laid neatly on the table. He sat down and looked carefully at what was clearly a contract of some kind. Reading through it, the contract seemed reasonable to his trained eye, but any hope of somehow avoiding the fight while serving this 'Fifth World Foreign Legion' was lost. Still, looking around the rook he didn't say any way out, so he signed his name after he had read it through. As he did so, the opposite wall slid open, leaving no indication it had done so. The hole looked like it truly belonged there.

Inside was another elevator, disguised in a similar way. It took him far away from the compound, however, moving oddly through space. He didn't question it, if this group could move through dimensions like the contract said they could then this feat of space warping must have been little trouble.

He ended up at a roadside campsite. From the looks of it, the group here was forced to escape in a hurry from zombies, but did so with force and efficiency. Looking at the weapons left behind, they may have been bandits.

Shrugging, he sat down and helped himself to some food, water and ammunition while waiting for whatever would happen to him, also taking the time to reload his empty pistol. After maybe twenty minutes of waiting, a military truck rolled down the road, and the driver cheerfully waved him on board the vehicle. Saluting in respect for what looked to be a fellow cowboy hat wearer, he moved to the back of the truck and sat down opposite a young woman. Leaning back and lowering his head so it was harder to see his scars, he quietly waited until whatever was happening here was finished.

 

[Dolly Fail Fail]

Sandman had sat in bed, in his home, simply, bored. There was no more challenge to it. Sure at first it was fun, Hondo had sped himself up to the point that he was actually hard to hit. Popinski was some kind of genetically modified Russian super soldier now. Tiger had merged fucking MAGIC into his illusions. The rest had either found a new way to cheat, or just gotten themselves better, fixed up their weaknesses. However, it hadn't lasted, he was too strong, and just good enough at everything else that they couldn't handle him effectively.

So, he had decided to make a last stand. He would show up to the arena, and fight any challenger who wanted to take him on, all in a row. He admitted, he never expected the new champion would be a gorilla wearing a tie. After that, he retired. Hung up his gloves, gave up on the belt, he had just stopped caring about boxing.

Why did he give up on boxing? He felt it didn't achieve anything. He entertained others, and gave people concussions. So what? When he saw the ad, he jumped at the chance to actually fight FOR something. To become strong in a way besides punching, to actually achieve something that mattered. So here he is, standing next to a back alley in the ass end of Philly. He considered it might be somebody hoping to lure in some unsuspecting sap and mug them when nothing happened for a little while, but if they where then... Heh, good luck. Then a truck simply pulls up, simple military design, two passengers, a man in a cowboy hat and bulletproof vest, and a young woman. He took a seat, and waited.

 

[SplicedHunter]

It was a few months since Delilah was sealed in the Void, and Dunwall and Serkonos was making a decent recovery. This was unexpected. Emily found a flyer for some kind of army in her paper work. She decided to look into the address on the flyer, which happened to be where Doctor Galvani used to live. Emily told Corvo that she was going to look into something, and left her room during the night. She checked her right, and saw that she still had the Outsider's mark. At least it was going to make getting around easier.

Emily eventually arrived at the front door of the building for recruitment. She decided to use Dark Vision, and saw that there were a few people sitting down in the middle of the room. Emily decided to walk inside. After a conversation about what exactly she needed to do, Emily filled out the form, and reached the point where she needed to wait for everything to be processed.

A few days later, Emily had gathered the equipment she used in Serkonos, and waited near Bottle Street. She was wondering how long it would be before they arrived. Eventually, a vehicle that reminded Emily of the carriages in Serkonos came by, and stopped. She understood the motion, and climbed in the back to see what looked like a another girl around her age, someone who she couldn't really figure out how to describe, and a man who looked like a brawler.

 

[MS-21H 'Hawke']

Alliera Brightshield almost wanted to die, as she saw her youngest come home in what could be described as a Cascket. The Old Mother had looked inside the box when it came, and her oldest had to close it afterwards, Casket was an appropriate word. The Remains would be moved to something more befitting a Brightshield of-course, the heroics of her children and the old mother herself had earned the name fame and wealth in the decades sense Alliera was a young woman. By this point Alliera knew the whos of funeral arangments locally, so the Dragonborn was in the town that was just inside the little 'fief' her family was charged with protecting by the Dwarven Lord. Alliera had just about sent all the missives needed for people that needed to know of young Elan's demise, when she saw a strange paper nailed to the outside of a local tavern. Alliera almost ignored it for more important fair, but she got a feeling she got so rarely now a'days, the feeling of Bahamut's eye upon her.

Not wanting to displease her patron god, and having faith in him, Alliera walked up the paper and read it. It seemed to be recruiting for an army that fought in alternate dimensions, which was actually nothing new to Alliera, as she had gotten into a few extra-dimensional shenanigans before and after she settled down. The recruiting office she was guided to by the paper, and Bahamut's own nudges, was made out of what had been her second youngest' smithery when she had come home, having found a love for the art after her own adventure. Alliera had urged the child to seek better opprotunities, and so the young Brightshield(well, probably well into her 30s now, but still young to her mother) had strove off and forged her own name for herself...not just in the shadow of the famous; some say cursed; name of Brightshield. She had let the ownership go at a decent price years ago, so had no idea when the army had moved in appearently.

Alliera set aside any thoughts of rudeness as she walked in, and found herself in something of a recruitment office. Alliera had seen her share when she had to deal with the Lord's Alliance and varios other armies over the course of her life. The human recruiter expanded on what the paper said for her, explaining that danger was indeed around every corner of the multiverse, and that they could use every able body they could. Alliera knew what to do, and signed the papers that seemed unnaturally well written, as if by the hand of magic or by something without emotion. When Alliera commented about this, the young man explained that they had machines that made them able to write and transcribe things in an unnaturally neat way that made everything easier to do, and Alliera thought about trying to get a few for the Estate and the Brightshield Mandate if she survived the whole endevour. Alliera didn't stay long after that, she had to make arrangments. Alliera's oldest was hier, and quite capable, so the Estate and area they were charged with protecting were in great hands. Alliera finished setting up the funeral for her youngest child, and then packed her things for her last crusade. After the funeral, Alliera was waiting, in full Plate armor, on the side of an isolated trade road that had falled into disuse following reorganization of the area by Alliera and her husband 40 or 50 years ago. As such, it was heavily overgrown and almost unusable now. So Alliera was surprised when the horseless cart wheeled up and stopped.

The Blond woman gestured to the back with a smile, and Alliera obliged, making sure to note the hat...that looked like something her oldest might like, so Alliera would have to keep watch for any she might purchase on her adventure and send back to the estate. Alliera got into the back, and noticed several people, and one vaguely humanoid creature... again, forgetting any thought of rudeness Alliera sat down and looked around. the two women looked fairly normal, if weirdly dressed in one instance. The male was a rather beefy example of human masculinity, and Alliera would have drooled if she was 30 years younger. The creature was just strange, it had no arms or legs, and it's face was a cross.

 

[Theravis]

-|Time alert|- Turing noted.

This doesn't look like 19:37 Turing

-|Connection to Governance Servers was lost 150 minutes ago. Chronometers could not sync with local networks.|-

Patricia looked around the truck, warily, attention settling on some sort of lizard... thing?

@MS-21H 'Hawke'
"Errr.... you a colonial? Your morph looks pretty illegal."

 

[Kensai]

Anna held the fountain pen poised above the sheet of paper. Its nib hovered over the dotted line, motionless.

A shaft of afternoon light slanted across the page, illuminating it in the dimness of the study. On many a day in the past, that light had caught the leaves of a book, revealing the marks that patterned knowledge, joy, wisdom, despair. Reading was one of the few things that Anna was known to do in the time that was her own. Occasionally she might pen a poem herself, or bake. She did these things well, and the results could be shared with her friends.

Friends were valuable. They helped.

But she had arrived at a point of decision. The fay were close to tracking her down. She could feel it in her ivory bones, her nerves of orichalcum. Years upon years of running and hiding, of sacrifices and betrayals, all for naught if they caught her. And then - the unspeakable things they did to those who defied their whims, who gave the lie to their illusions of mastery.


Anna could not allow that to happen. She had no capacity for tears - just one more thing they had taken away from her, along with all the others. But the emotions that engendered tears - these she could still remember, still evoke dimly, still cling to for hope that she was more than a wind-up toy to slake their bored depravity.

She could stay in this world, where her friends were, and the semi-life she'd managed to build for herself. Or she could cast herself into the wider multiverse, perhaps even beyond the reach of the fay, and perhaps even to cross the path of someone who could make her whole again.

Even if it were to crumble into the dust of old age immediately, that might still be worth the while. To be whole and human again, even for a moment, and to die like a human should.

Dust motes danced in the shaft of golden sunlight.

The pen descended, and Anna's ornate signature flowed across the paper.

* * *

The tailgate of the truck swung down with a bang, and the built-in step flopped open. The newest arrival was a tall, slender woman in a silver-gray twinset, black trousers and boots, and a long gray woollen coat. She wore her pale blonde hair free, with a silver clasp at one temple.

She mounted the truck with as much grace as if she were ascending a throne, and took her seat on the bench next to the dragon-countenanced amazon with unperturbable dignity. She was silent for a moment, taking in her new comrades, before she spoke - her voice clear and high, her diction perfect but for the faintest trace of an accent.

"Good day to you all," she said. "I am Anna Vosyem. Please call me Anna."

 

[willyvereb]

Kazuma was bored, so very bored. Being the protagonist of a literally dead franchise tends to be like that. No new villains, no new threats, anything. He's just sitting back at home, watching a TV rerun of Flash. It's almost a week till the new episode's out. Same with Arrow. What is he even doing with his life? He's a millionare and well acquainted with influential people. That's one of the perks of his job. Yet he's sitting in a run-down apartment watching a shitty show about people pretending to have powers. Something really went wrong with his life as of late. Perhaps he shouldn't associate with the likes of...

"Sup!"
Speaking of the Devil, or in this case god. A face with a giant smirk was plastered over his TV screen. ROB, Random Omnipotent Blade. That was his name. He's the self-proclaimed manager of Kazuma's entertainment as of late... which generally involves Blade conning him into various messy situations in other universes while readying popcorn and watching Kazuma's struggle and/or frustrations. In spite of the appearances thought the two of them are bros and this wouldn't change.
"Goddamit Blade! Not now! I am watching the show!"
"You mean the shitty reruns, right? Pal you wouldn't beleive where Caim is at right now."
"Nope. Don't care. Bastard didn't give me a phone call for a month now."
"Well, he might be busy right now. Let's just say he's occupied ensuring the meaning behind SAO's death game."

"You bastard. Never change Blade, never change..."
"Hahahah! You know I don't ever disappoint."
"So what are you doing here? Don't tell me you are just in for a little meeting. You never do. If I see your face that means you have another one of those adventures in store to me, right?"
"Not quite. This time I barely did much of anything. Although I am pretty sure you'll like it, Kazuma."
"I kind of doubt that but it isn't like I have a choice, do I?"
"Nope. You're comming with me!"
"Wait! I still didn't..."

***WHATCHOOW!***

"Ugh...my head. You know you could use some warning before just warping me elsewhere. And why am I talking in colored text now?"
"Makes it easier to distinguish when you're talking to someone, that's all. By the way I don't have a color because you pretty much won't see me for the rest of the time!"
"Figures. You'll just grab popcorn and watch me doing wild or stupid shit for your amusement. The usual deal. So what is this place?"
"Read the sign and you'll know it, Kazuma. Don't make me spoon feed it to you."
It read:
FIFTH WORLD FOREIGN LEAGUE PICKUP STATION

"I already did and I don't get it. I know a bit of these guys, I read their recruitment paper. Not quite interested. Besides you need to fill out a form first before you ca-... wait a minute!"
"Yup, I did that for you! It wasn't too hard albeit I need to borrow your credit card information to do that."
"What!? Goddamit, Blade! I was searching for that damn card all week. Give it back!"
"Sure, hope you don't mind that I drained it to rockbottom, right."
"I absolutely do but I am beyond caring now. So, what's your angle? What am I supposed to do?"
"Dunno. Just be yourself and survive in the Legion as long as possible. As of this moment you're dirt poor and without the plot giving you meaty multi-million jobs you have no way to escape this debt. Unless... well, I heard the pay in the Legion is pretty damn spectacular. Also I doubt many debtors would chase you into another universe."
"Yeesh, I get it. And yes, you might be right on that. So you plan me to play military for a while, earn my pay and perhaps visit many different universes. Sounds halfassed but you know? As bored as I am, anything is fine. Very well, I'll board that damn bus, sign up for this army thing and then provide your damn entertainment. Sounds about right?"
"Yup. You've got it, Kazuma! See ya!"

With that Blade just disappeared into the thin air. Just like he always does. Not even a minute after the "bus" leading to the Fifth Legion appeared, a large military cargo vehicle. The driver was decorative young blonde in military fatigues but a beautiful smile. She didn't say anything but after confirming Kazuma's ID she motioned towards the back of the truck. He was not alone and saw several people already aboard. Kazuma felt no reason to just hit up a conversation with them thus he silently took his seat.

 

[samdamandias]

Finding the place wasn't hard. Finding most things wasn't hard, if one knew how to look.

In this case, it involved heading to Nowhere, Oaklahoma, walking three times around a four-block area, and sitting on the steel bench under the plastic sun shade by a cornfield in a place that wasn't the Middle of Nowhere, but at the same time wasn't not the Middle of Nowhere.

He set his bag in the dust from the road, gripped the papers in his left hand, and closed his eyes. He curled the fingers of his right hand and extended his thumb parallel to the road, in the direction his ride would be going.

There was the breeze and the heat.

There was the rumble of a diesel engine and the hiss of brakes.

Ralph opened his eyes and saw the driver motion to the back of the truck. He held up the papers in his left hand, clearly displaying the letterhead of the Fifth. The driver nodded.

He walked around to the back of the truck, then turned and smoothly caught his bag in two hands. He slid the bag under a spot on the bench, before claiming that seat. Ralph whistled, and a bundle of brown leapt from the side of the road to the side of the truck, before scrambling up his outstretched hand and settling on his head.

Ralph leaned over and tapped the side of the truck twice.

 

[Dust and echoes]

-<Incoming Transmission>-

-<Unrecognized source ID>-

-<Transmission Bloc-X-X-X>-

-<Stand by->-

-<Transmission key recognized>-

-<Booting up Persona core>-

-<25%>-

One could say that NorthStar blinked. A purely human explanation for her optic's flickering as power was rerouted, but appropriate.

-<47%>-

She calmly took a moment to register her surroundings. The resulting flood of IMC identification tabs immediately reminded her where she was. The charge cord status updates and securing bolt notifications immediately reminded her what she was.

-<75%>-
-<attention: Persona core power consumption at 110% accepted levels. Notifying engineer>-

A notification appeared at the console before her maintenance station. A nearby tech glanced at it and grumbled something under his breath.

"What's that?" Asked another.

"You get three guesses."

"Oh, that's that NorthStar?"

The tech nodded and tapped a few things into his data pad. "Kills two pilots, then gets an overactive AI. Fuckin' waste of metal."

-<82%>-

"I don't know, maybe it's sad?"

"It's a robot, robots don't get sad idiot. It's just broken. Going to be decommissioned next month as long as-"

-<Audio Receptors disabled>-
-<100%>-

The two techs didn't bother NorthStar. That's what she told herself anyway. They simply distracted her from the task at hand.

-<Opening Transmission>-

The Titan examined the transmission momentarily. Then again. And once more.

It wasn't like any she'd seen before. Simply a picture of a recruitment poster, but none that she'd seen before. At the bottom of the image was a place to input text, and locked behind that was a data packet.

NorthStar, assuming the transmission was for a pilot, input her previous pilots name into the space. The image flashed red and wiped the name clean, demanding in red letters that she enter her name.

Confused, the Titan paused, then entered her Serial number.

"NorthStar Class Titan DC-2570"

The poster blinked once in congratulations, then disappeared. In its place, a series of orders flooded into Northstars autotitan cortex, as well as the maintenance console. Orders for release, arming and redeployment, post haste.

----------

The blue sky thundered once, before emitting a head-splitting crack that those few present felt reverberate in their chest cavity. A ball of flame descended from the heavens, screaming to the earth and impacting with bone-crushing force behind a nearby copse of trees.

After a second, a massive being of steel and electronics came loping into view, each step shaking the earth beneath its feet. It stopped and took a moment to examine the lonesome truck, apparently parked on a forest road in the middle of nowhere. After noting that at least most of its occupants were human, NorthStar walked over and addressed its driver with a halting salute.

"NorthStar class- DC 2570 on station."

She glanced down at the truck.

"Directions are to follow and provide support. Standing by."

And so, passenger-laden Truck and Titan carried on to their next destination.

 

[Theravis]

-<Incoming Transmission>-

-<Unrecognized source ID>-

-<Transmission Bloc-X-X-X>-

-<Stand by->-

-<Transmission key recognized>-

-<Booting up Persona core>-

-<25%>-

One could say that NorthStar blinked. A purely human explanation for her optic's flickering as power was rerouted, but appropriate.

-<47%>-

She calmly took a moment to register her surroundings. The resulting flood of IMC identification tabs immediately reminded her where she was. The charge cord status updates and securing bolt notifications immediately reminded her what she was.

-<75%>-
-<attention: Persona core power consumption at 110% accepted levels. Notifying engineer>-

A notification appeared at the console before her maintenance station. A nearby tech glanced at it and grumbled something under his breath.

"What's that?" Asked another.

"You get three guesses."

"Oh, that's that NorthStar?"

The tech nodded and tapped a few things into his data pad. "Kills two pilots, then gets an overactive AI. Fuckin' waste of metal."

-<82%>-

"I don't know, maybe it's sad?"

"It's a robot, robots don't get sad idiot. It's just broken. Going to be decommissioned next month as long as-"

-<Audio Receptors disabled>-
-<100%>-

The two techs didn't bother NorthStar. That's what she told herself anyway. They simply distracted her from the task at hand.

-<Opening Transmission>-

The Titan examined the transmission momentarily. Then again. And once more.

It wasn't like any she'd seen before. Simply a picture of a recruitment poster, but none that she'd seen before. At the bottom of the image was a place to input text, and locked behind that was a data packet.

NorthStar, assuming the transmission was for a pilot, input her previous pilots name into the space. The image flashed red and wiped the name clean, demanding in red letters that she enter her name.

Confused, the Titan paused, then entered her Serial number.

"NorthStar Class Titan DC-2570"

The poster blinked once in congratulations, then disappeared. In its place, a series of orders flooded into Northstars autotitan cortex, as well as the maintenance console. Orders for release, arming and redeployment, post haste.

----------

The blue sky thundered once, before emitting a head-splitting crack that those few present felt reverberate in their chest cavity. A ball of flame descended from the heavens, screaming to the earth and impacting with bone-crushing force behind a nearby copse of trees.

After a second, a massive being of steel and electronics came loping into view, each step shaking the earth beneath its feet. It stopped and took a moment to examine the lonesome truck, apparently parked on a forest road in the middle of nowhere. After noting that at least most of its occupants were human, NorthStar walked over and addressed its driver with a halting salute.

"NorthStar class- DC 2570 on station."

She glanced down at the truck.

"Directions are to follow and provide support. Standing by."

And so, passenger-laden Truck and Titan carried on to their next destination.

Click to shrink...

....I wonder if it's sentient.

Patricia reached out with her soul, touching the robot lightly.

-|Hello? Are you Voholokov-compliant?|-

 

[Dust and echoes]

....I wonder if it's sentient.

Patricia reached out with her soul, touching the robot lightly.

-|Hello? Are you Voholokov-compliant?|-

Click to shrink...

-<Incoming Transmission>-

-<Bandwidth unrecognized, source unrecognized, reciever unrecognized>-

-<Anomolies interfering with Electronic Warfare countermeasures, source non-traceable>-

-<Query-Transmission designation: Electronic warfare?>-

-<Negative: Source content reveals no harmful intent>-

-<Transmission content: unrecognized>-

-<Broadcasting response through channel: [External Audio](default)>-

"<Hello. This unit does not recognize your affiliation ID. This unit does not recognize your broadcasting source. Please state your name, intent and affiliation.>"

 

[Theravis]

-<Incoming Transmission>-

-<Bandwidth unrecognized, source unrecognized, reciever unrecognized>-

-<Anomolies interfering with Electronic Warfare countermeasures, source non-traceable>-

-<Query-Transmission designation: Electronic warfare?>-

-<Negative: Source content reveals no harmful intent>-

-<Transmission content: unrecognized>-

-<Broadcasting response through channel: [External Audio](default)>-

"<Hello. This unit does not recognize your affiliation ID. This unit does not recognize your broadcasting source. Please state your name, intent and affiliation.>"

Click to shrink...

-|Down on the volume, please? Poor semi-sentient. We'll have to give you a tune up later. Patricia Von Rohr, information gathering and unit cohesion, Earth Governance, MSY division, Combat Platoon 13, under army group Nile and Field Marshall Tomoe.|-

 

[SplicedHunter]

-<Incoming Transmission>-

-<Unrecognized source ID>-

-<Transmission Bloc-X-X-X>-

-<Stand by->-

-<Transmission key recognized>-

-<Booting up Persona core>-

-<25%>-

One could say that NorthStar blinked. A purely human explanation for her optic's flickering as power was rerouted, but appropriate.

-<47%>-

She calmly took a moment to register her surroundings. The resulting flood of IMC identification tabs immediately reminded her where she was. The charge cord status updates and securing bolt notifications immediately reminded her what she was.

-<75%>-
-<attention: Persona core power consumption at 110% accepted levels. Notifying engineer>-

A notification appeared at the console before her maintenance station. A nearby tech glanced at it and grumbled something under his breath.

"What's that?" Asked another.

"You get three guesses."

"Oh, that's that NorthStar?"

The tech nodded and tapped a few things into his data pad. "Kills two pilots, then gets an overactive AI. Fuckin' waste of metal."

-<82%>-

"I don't know, maybe it's sad?"

"It's a robot, robots don't get sad idiot. It's just broken. Going to be decommissioned next month as long as-"

-<Audio Receptors disabled>-
-<100%>-

The two techs didn't bother NorthStar. That's what she told herself anyway. They simply distracted her from the task at hand.

-<Opening Transmission>-

The Titan examined the transmission momentarily. Then again. And once more.

It wasn't like any she'd seen before. Simply a picture of a recruitment poster, but none that she'd seen before. At the bottom of the image was a place to input text, and locked behind that was a data packet.

NorthStar, assuming the transmission was for a pilot, input her previous pilots name into the space. The image flashed red and wiped the name clean, demanding in red letters that she enter her name.

Confused, the Titan paused, then entered her Serial number.

"NorthStar Class Titan DC-2570"

The poster blinked once in congratulations, then disappeared. In its place, a series of orders flooded into Northstars autotitan cortex, as well as the maintenance console. Orders for release, arming and redeployment, post haste.

----------

The blue sky thundered once, before emitting a head-splitting crack that those few present felt reverberate in their chest cavity. A ball of flame descended from the heavens, screaming to the earth and impacting with bone-crushing force behind a nearby copse of trees.

After a second, a massive being of steel and electronics came loping into view, each step shaking the earth beneath its feet. It stopped and took a moment to examine the lonesome truck, apparently parked on a forest road in the middle of nowhere. After noting that at least most of its occupants were human, NorthStar walked over and addressed its driver with a halting salute.

"NorthStar class- DC 2570 on station."

She glanced down at the truck.

"Directions are to follow and provide support. Standing by."

And so, passenger-laden Truck and Titan carried on to their next destination.

Click to shrink...

Emily looked at what appeared to be the newest member, and it seemed like the result of one of Jindosh's Clockwork soldiers having a mind of it's own.

 

[Dust and echoes]

-|Down on the volume, please? Poor semi-sentient. We'll have to give you a tune up later. Patricia Von Rohr, information gathering and unit cohesion, Earth Governance, MSY division, Combat Platoon 13, under army group Nile and Field Marshall Tomoe.|-

Click to shrink...

"<External audio volume lowered 23%. Patricia Von Rohr, information gathering and unit cohesion, Earth Governance, MSY division, Combat Platoon 13, under army group Nile and Field Marshall Tomoe, your affiliation, rank, unit and officer do not match any in IMC databases. This fact is deemed irrelevant upon examining current circumstances.>"

the massive machine, which has been steadily jogging behind the vehicle, nods its "eye".

"<Ally status verified. It is nice to meet you, Patricia Von Rohr.>"

 

[Theravis]

"<External audio volume lowered 23%. Patricia Von Rohr, information gathering and unit cohesion, Earth Governance, MSY division, Combat Platoon 13, under army group Nile and Field Marshall Tomoe, your affiliation rank, unit officer do not match any in IMC databases. This fact is deemed irrelevant upon examining current circumstances.>" the massive machine, which has been steadily jogging behind the vehicle, nods its "eye". "<Ally status verified. It is nice to meet you, Patricia Von Rohr.>"

Click to shrink...

-|Maybe a little more than semi-sentient.|-

She probed out with a scan and diagnostic. -|Let's take a peek at what you've got, hmmm? I bet I could kick you up to full sentience.|-

 

[Dust and echoes]

-<External Query Identified. Systems Diagnostic requested.>-

-<Source Match: Patricia Von Rohr, Clearance: Ally>-

-<Electronic counter-measures standing by>-

-<Return: NorthStar Auto-Titan basic system diagnostic>-

-<Standyby for response>-

 

[Theravis]

-<External Query Identified. Systems Diagnostic requested.>-

-<Source Match: Patricia Von Rohr, Clearance: Ally>-

-<Electronic counter-measures standing by>-

-<Return: NorthStar Auto-Titan basic system diagnostic>-

-<Standyby for response>-

Click to shrink...

-|Oh. Oh, you poor baby! They don't even treat you as sentient. Well, I'll fix that. You're already pushing up on sentience, maybe I can do some software upgrades, optimize, see if I can't get you a little more quick-learning. We'll get you all tuned up and running clean. Can I poke around in your source code, dear?|-

 

[Dust and echoes]

-|Oh. Oh, you poor baby! They don't even treat you as sentient. Well, I'll fix that. You're already pushing up on sentience, maybe I can do some software upgrades, optimize, see if I can't get you a little more quick-learning. We'll get you all tuned up and running clean. Can I poke around in your source code, dear?|-

Click to shrink...

"<Negative. Tampering with acceptable auto-Titan source code is prohibited->" but she wasn't part of the IMC anymore was she? No pilot, no IMC ID tag. In fact, she currently had no tag. Technically she had no affiliation, which meant she was beholden to none. No one to tell her that to do, besides the order to 'follow the truck.' Did that thought scare her? Is this fear?

The pause was but a fraction of a fraction of a second but it was there. Some may have called it uncertainty. NorthStar may have agreed with them.

"<-Prohibited by IMC law. Violators will face detention and fines, along with possible charges of dissent. Such action may cause irreversible damage to Titan. Reprimands may cause irreversible damage to violator. I...I cannot recommend such action, Patricia Von Rohr.>"

Did she just pause again? Something was wrong. A quick system check showed nothing than the odd power consumption levels. Was she broken, or...

"<Patricia Von Rohr, this unit has a query...>" the Titans blue 'eye' picked through the seated group, attempting to find its conversation partner.
"<Define...Define 'Sentient'. Please.>"

 

[UbeOne]

Kaname Madoka
Law of Cycles

---

The days and nights tended to blur together for a certain pink-haired goddess, resplendent in her ivory white dress, as she resided in the ocean of stars.

She had rescued a number of magical girls recently, some of which were from Earth, and some of which were from other planets. Some used up all their remaining magic, to protect a comrade or to defeat a powerful foe, for instance, while others fell in despair for one reason or another, like the loss of loved ones in a disaster or in war. She came to them at their darkest hour and helped them find rest and peace within the Law of Cycles.

One time, however, she heard a powerful voice, one with a message to bear. According to it, there was more out there, more than her universe. There is an entire multiverse, one that cries out for justice. There is a group, a Legion, they call themselves, that helps others, that fights in defense of those who could not protect themselves. "We want you," it said, "to be their hope in these dark times." It then gave an address for a recruitment office within her hometown, Mitakihara.

She couldn't ignore that. She had to go and help. Bringing hope to others with her own two hands was worth wishing for, after all, and it is what gives her that sense of fulfillment, of happiness.

However, she couldn't abandon her duty here. There were always magical girls who needed saving. The Law of Cycles had to be upheld for everyone's sake.

So, she thought of another way. She planned to separate a part of her power, to become a magical girl once more, while leaving the remaining portion to maintain the Law of Cycles. That way, she could join the Legion while still doing her part as the hope-bringer of magical girls.

Sayaka and Nagisa, the self-proclaimed private secretaries and two of her close friends, had to know, so she went to them and informed them of the situation and her decision. "I want to go and help," she said. "There are many who are in need, and if I could be their source of hope, why not?"

@Rei of Sunshine

 

[MS-21H 'Hawke']

@Theravis
"I'm not a druid dear, this is my natural state." Alliera said, chuckling lightly "We'll all be seeing things we're not used to on this adventure." Alliera looked on in interest as more people got on the horseless buggy, all of them different in some way Alliera couldn't see but just felt something vaguely off about them...except the human male who just sit down quietly. Then the automaton came aboard. Alliera had met automatons before, even mechanical ones like their new companion, if not nearly as big or strange looking. Alliera merely listened the half of the conversation she could hear from the automaton, and couldn't help but smile. That smile turned into a frown and sympathy when she heard how Northstar denied the request. "I will admit to not knowing what that is, but you are your own person now." Alliera said to the Titan, sounding to all in the back of the vehicle like a wise grandmother "Unless this IMC wishes to cross blades with me and, I suspect, many on this contraption, it will stay that way."
@Dust and echoes

 

[Dust and echoes]

@Theravis
"I'm not a druid dear, this is my natural state." Alliera said, chuckling lightly "We'll all be seeing things we're not used to on this adventure." Alliera looked on in interest as more people got on the horseless buggy, all of them different in some way Alliera couldn't see but just felt something vaguely off about them...except the human male who just sit down quietly. Then the automaton came aboard. Alliera had met automatons before, even mechanical ones like their new companion, if not nearly as big or strange looking. Alliera merely listened the half of the conversation she could hear from the automaton, and couldn't help but smile. That smile turned into a frown and sympathy when she heard how Northstar denied the request. "I will admit to not knowing what that is, but you are your own person now." Alliera said to the Titan, sounding to all in the back of the vehicle like a wise grandmother "Unless this IMC wishes to cross blades with me and, I suspect, many on this contraption, it will stay that way."
@Dust and echoes

Click to shrink...

NorthStar's eye came to focus on the humanoid reptile. Certaintly strange, but not the strangest of the group.

"<Negative. I am IMC NorthStar Class Titan DC-2570. I am not a...not a Person.>"

She needed to stop that. It was wrong. Pauses shouldn't be occurring. Perhaps a reset of her Persona core?

"<I am a weapon of the IMC, bore against the rebel Militias.>"

"<Such action would be foolish, the odds of your survival against even one standard regiment of the IMC Military are non-existent. I would not reccomend such course of action.>"

 

[Theravis]

"<Negative. Tampering with acceptable auto-Titan source code is prohibited->" but she wasn't part of the IMC anymore was she? No pilot, no IMC ID tag. In fact, she currently had no tag. Technically she had no affiliation, which meant she was beholden to none. No one to tell her that to do, besides the order to 'follow the truck.' Did that thought scare her? Is this fear?

The pause was but a fraction of a fraction of a second but it was there. Some may have called it uncertainty. NorthStar may have agreed with them.

"<-Prohibited by IMC law. Violators will face detention and fines, along with possible charges of dissent. Such action may cause irreversible damage to Titan. Reprimands may cause irreversible damage to violator. I...I cannot recommend such action, Patricia Von Rohr.>"

Did she just pause again? Something was wrong. A quick system check showed nothing than the odd power consumption levels. Was she broken, or...

"<Patricia Von Rohr, this unit has a query...>" the Titans blue 'eye' picked through the seated group, attempting to find its conversation partner.
"<Define...Define 'Sentient'. Please.>"

Click to shrink...

"Sentient: To feel or perceive. It always irritated me that people made them sentience protocols when they're really about judging sapience. But Sapience: To apply knowledge or experience. To learn and grow. I think you can do it. But if you don't want to..."

She shrugged. "It should be your choice."

@Theravis
"I'm not a druid dear, this is my natural state." Alliera said, chuckling lightly "We'll all be seeing things we're not used to on this adventure." Alliera looked on in interest as more people got on the horseless buggy, all of them different in some way Alliera couldn't see but just felt something vaguely off about them...except the human male who just sit down quietly. Then the automaton came aboard. Alliera had met automatons before, even mechanical ones like their new companion, if not nearly as big or strange looking. Alliera merely listened the half of the conversation she could hear from the automaton, and couldn't help but smile. That smile turned into a frown and sympathy when she heard how Northstar denied the request. "I will admit to not knowing what that is, but you are your own person now." Alliera said to the Titan, sounding to all in the back of the vehicle like a wise grandmother "Unless this IMC wishes to cross blades with me and, I suspect, many on this contraption, it will stay that way."
@Dust and echoes

Click to shrink...

"I don't know what a druid is, but I know where I come from looking that inhuman on purpose is illegal. Somebody might confuse you for an Elitist holdout or a xenoform."

 

[MS-21H 'Hawke']

@Theravis
"Human is just one of many of the species on my world, so a law like yours would be rather silly to apply to people coming from there." Alliera said, glancing at Patricia "Like I cannot judge 'Elitists' or 'Xenoforms' because I have not lived in your world."

@Dust and echoes
"You have an identity and you have doubts." Alliera said, counting the two points on her fingers "that's two points right there for you, but this is not something to be rushed, let us follow the adventure and see where it takes us."