[Nexus] Remnant IV

[happyturtle]

Vas's Office

"What kind of assurance do we have that he didn't orchestrate this?" Missy says, though her tone isn't very accusatory. She doesn't really believe that's his style. "Honestly? I think if we agree to this deal, and we're trusting him with the job, we need a camera in Lord Magtok's eyeball until it's dealt with."

Gee, I wonder where she got that idea?

[Lord Magtok]

Vas's Office

Magtok avoids commenting on that old assassination nonsense. Man, that was like ages ago, Missy. Try to kill someone's boss one time, just once, and she never lets it go!

"If the football was ever on my side of the field, I can tell you without hesitation that it would never wind up where it is now. Watchtower would already be ashes. And as much as I'd like to agree to your camera terms, I've already got my people circling around the golden goose, waiting for the order to grab it and run. To pull them out, poke them in the eye, and then send them back in could arouse suspicions, maybe even jeopardize the mission."

Not really, no. Magtok's pretty sure they could get away with that, and is lying right now. Even so, there's plenty of reasons to object to eye-cameras, not the least of which being the discomfort involved in having such a thing implanted by a begrudging, less-than-totally-trustworthy ally.

"Alternative idea: I can sit tight here, rent a room for a few days or something, until someone drops off the package in your mailbox. Put myself up as collateral, one of the few remaining MagClones left until we get the cloning tanks up and running again. I'm sure you can find creative ways to make me regret being here if anything goes wrong."

Magtok smiles back at the women, as if daring them to start imagining elaborate revenge schemes and shenanigans this very minute.

[UncleWolf]

Vas' Office

"Before we commit to anything, we just need some sort of proof that the pictures are linked. Do that, and we'll be able to do something definitive for you. I have to cover my own ass here too afterall. I'm sure you understand." Vas tells Magtok. "I'd like to send an observer at least. That way you aren't risking anything more, and I still get my proof. You won't even know they're there."

[happyturtle]

Vas's Office

Missy nods her approval to the compromise. But of course she can't approve the entire plan till she knows exactly how much Magtok is asking.

[Lord Magtok]

Vas's Office

"Fine."

Magtok sighs. He'll just have to hope she's right about not noticing their presence, otherwise things will go to hell so quickly there's no telling what might follow.

[UncleWolf]

Rec Center

"I agree to the terms," Iamar says. "If I am to join a unit where such an outcome is likely, then I should take any precaution I can."

Rec Center

"Tell me. What sort of training did you go through to become an assassin?" Aliz asks, sitting on the pool table as Taul heads over to the bar to get drinks.

Vas' Office

"Alright. Now that that's agreed to, what are you asking for now that things have been laid out?"

[Devixer]

Rec Center

"In the beginning, when I was small, I was taught how to observe, hide, steal, manipulate others if I had to. But I think you wish to know my combat training," Iamar says.
"I was allowed to learn to handle my weapons, and then fought the others of my Order. It was hard training - two of us died, and I bear many scars from it."

[UncleWolf]

Rec Center

"Well, the training for this isn't going to be fun. It involves a lot of beatings and breaking until you can work through any injury. My sister and I are priests, so we'll heal you after every session." Taul explains.

[Devixer]

Rec Center

"I understand. Will I need to learn any new skills for this besides working through wounds?" Iamar asks.

[Lord Magtok]

Vas's Office

The cyborg lowers his eyes, examining that piece of paper he'd been scribbling on with a pilfered pen.

"Let's see now...Removal of the space ban, full pardons for any outstanding arrest warrants, the official protection thingy you mentioned, a fancy Remnant hat and/or t-shirt, an calendar with autographs on every month, a celebrity endorsement deal or two on MagMart products...actually not that last one, you have your own rep to worry about, nevermind. I'm also going to need a new building in Inside to do stuff and put things in and whatnot, and the base template or whatever you guys use for your armor, prior to all the fancy customizations and everything else."

[UncleWolf]

Rec Center

"Mental reinforcement against magical and psionic attacks, simple ritual magic, basic hacking and security, extra weapon training, and other things of the like." Taul explains. "As well as extra training in powered armor."

Vas' Office

Vas looks at Halifax once Magtok finishes. "Any objections? And keep in mind Magtok, the protection would only extend to your holdings Inside."

[Devixer]

Rec Center

Iamar nods in understanding. She doesn't like powered armor that much, judging from how bulky it looks, but she won't voice her displeasure - it was probably necessary with all the weapons that are commonly used. "Are my own weapons still viable?"

[happyturtle]

Vas's Office

"The space ban can be modified to say no weaponizable space assets. No missiles, and any orbital devices are set to explode in the stratosphere before they hit anything." Missy says. "And the autographed calendar isn't personalized. Just signatures. No one is required to sign 'Dear Magtok' or anything like that."

[Lord Magtok]

Vas's Office

Magtok nods, "You don't even have to tell them it's for me. Hell, you can even dig through the inventory, see if there's one just lying around that already has all the names inside."

[UncleWolf]

Rec Center

"Of course they are." Aliz says with a smile before offering her what appears to be a credit card. "We'll start in two days. Meet us at the Interview room from before after that. I recommend you go and enjoy yourself for those days. No worries about charges, just nothing over 1k a pop."

Vas' Office

Vasquez nods. "We'll work something out. Even the building. Is there something else?"

[Devixer]

Rec Center

Iamar glances at the card before taking it. She knows what credit cards are, but she isn't sure how she's supposed to enjoy herself. "My thanks. I will be back soon," she says, before turning to leave the Rec Center.

[Lord Magtok]

Vas' Office

"No, that's just about everything," Magtok says with a shake of his head. He reaches out to close the suitcase, and move on to whatever's next when it comes to formalizing this nonsense, when suddenly, the comatose rat mentioned earlier suddenly snaps awake, worms its way out of that plastic bag it was held inside, and stands tall on its hindlegs in front of everyone present in the room. As if that weren't weird enough, it starts speaking. Even worse, it's doing so with the voice of Needs Food Badly, deceased MagClone and former cyborg sorcerer supreme.

"Apologies for interrupting negotiations. The diplomat is innocent, whatever flimsy excuse he had for carrying a dead rat around were entirely true to him. Message for Tracy Elton. Post-Mortem. Rat is of no threat."

Meanwhile, Magtok just sits there, blinking. He looks like someone had done a Jedi Mind Trick on him, and only now has it finally begun to wear off.

[UncleWolf]

Vas' Office

Vas blinks at the rat for a moment before pulling out a pen and sheet of paper. "Continue. The message will be passed to Tracy. You have my word as Commander of Remnant." Vasquez says, having every reason to respect a dead Clone's last message.

Rec Center

Iamar is allowed to leave, the two officers waving goodbye to her.

[Halae]

[The Barracks]

Those in the barracks and surrounding it will hear a very loud explosion emanate from of of the rooms. This is no simple explosion either - the sound is no sudden burst, but a maintained wave of sound for no less than five seconds. Those in the area once that part of it clears will also hear the sounds of sizzling.

Those who care to check will find that the source of the explosion is Caet's Room. Erin "Caet" Mathus, for those who don't know, is the single most paranoid individual on the base, to the point of it being psychosis. To this end, he learned everything he could about wards and protective magic - as well as destructive for when you want to break something until it can't attack you anymore. His best known quality was his rather eccentric room. Not feeling safe sleeping anywhere else, he'd lined the very building around his room with wards, at least two more every day, leaving him with hundreds of layers of protective spells and traps. One can actually feel the building humming in the presence of his room, as the ludicrously concentrated energy is maintained only by his extensive knowledge of wards and sigils.

There's been a betting pool out for a long time on when something is going to go wrong and blow the entire area up. Said pool also covers how big the explosion would be.

Those on the scene will see a fairly terrible sight. The door was blown off it's hinges and currently sits halfway into the wall on the opposite side, the sheer force of the explosion having been enough to send it almost through into another room. The hallway sustained mostly superficial damage - the walls and ceiling and black and a bit warped from the force and fire, but intact. The floor has had some acid eat into it, leaving pockmarks and sharp points like stalagmites, with small rivulets on the lower walls where the acid ran down into the floor. The air smells of sulfur and ozone, suggesting there was electricity in the blaze as well.

The inside of the room is even worse. Those rare few who saw the inside previously know that there were books stacked everywhere, to the point where navigating it was like walking through small hallways. Caet Rarely slept, instead relying on his magic to keep him awake except for the rest day he'd take once per week, and while awake he'd almost constantly be working on some new spell formula or another - no less than 25% of his collection of books was all spellbooks he'd filled with small variations and nuanced versions of different spells.

Now, the books are scattered everywhere, though most are undamaged, having been warded as well. The bed is aflame and parts of it are melted to the wall. The desk, somehow having made the trip across the room, is also sitting on the newly elevated bed, also burning but with the legs cleanly melted off by acid. The walls are all charred black with rivulets of cement dripping down as the acid eats away at them, the roof is darker than pitch and everything, even metal things, have cracks in them. the walls, roof, desk, bed, everything. presumably the floor as well, if one could see it.

However, more concerning is the fact that Caet was in his room at the time of the explosion. one can't see all of him, buried in a pile of books as he is, but his right hand is sticking limply out of a pile, the fingers charred black and his thumb missing. What more damage was done to him is yet to be seen, hidden as he is by the literary avalanche.

One of the worst parts is that this wasn't nearly all of the wards he had in place. the entire area still hums with magic.

[UncleWolf]

Caet's Room

Luckily, unless Caet disabled them, fire suppression systems will kick in right after the explosion, spraying a light foam that snuffs out the remaining flames. Only seconds after that happens, others living nearby his room burst in with guns and no armor, a couple still dressed in their skivvies and one dressed in nothing at all.

The last, a man, gives a sigh at the sight. "Gods damn it! Caet! You alright?" He shouts, gesturing for the others to start digging him out.

[Halae]

[Caet's Room]

Caet doesn't move in response to his name. Once the pile of remarkably pristine books is off him, those digging through be able to find why - he's not dead, but he's most certainly not awake. Which is a blessing, given his extensive burn wounds and injuries.

Spoilered for graphic nature of the injuries present.

Spoiler

Show

His face as obviously caught in the blast - the left side of his head is completely charred, the cheek burned away with blackened and cracked teeth under it. His left eye has also melted it its socket. His hair caught fire in the blast, leaving him with nothing of the blond hair save for a few patches and burnt skin. What skin on the right side of his head that wasn't charred is still burned.

The robes he was wearing - remnant colors and design, with a few personal alterations to carry his massive amount of components pouches and to make it a robe rather than a uniform - have been burned down to reveal the majority of his chest. His left arm is completely gone, and part of his collarbone with it, revealing the burnt and cauterized tissue inside him. He also has several small melted holes in his stomach where acid ate through the robe and his skin, though these are simple splashes - the majority of the acid was concentrated low, and his lack of anything below the thighs showcases that fairly well. Once again, the nature of the explosion saved him from blood loss - his legs were cauterized by it.

What skin is still there on his body is charred and blackened, or the robe has fused into it as it melted in the heat and acid. His vital organs are all still intact, but he's in horrible shape, and his breathing is shallow.

Best call the infirmary.

[UncleWolf]

Caet's Room

The naked man stares for a moment before letting out a loud curse and wrenching a headset off of one of his fellows. "Stretcher! We need a stretcher to Barracks C, Caet's Room. Yes him. Do it right ******* now!"

As he's shouting, people begin shoving things aside from the wounded man, clearing the way as those with even slight medical training move in to assess him, not that they can do much about anything at the moment.

"And get a damned team of mages here to remove all these wards! It's a frakking deathtrap!"

[Halae]

[Caet's Room]

Those examining him will be able to tell one thing - after that, the sheer kinetic force should have turned the young man to mush, and even now after the fact his still being alive is a magically reinforced miracle. The injuries on him shouldn't be allowing him to survive, if from shock than nothing else.

It won't take long to get him out - he's within reach of the door, and can be pulled onto a stretcher easy enough. He can be moved to the infirmary with little fanfare.

When mages arrive to disable his wards, they won't find some simple set of sigils. There's still hundreds upon hundreds of wards weaved into the room, so much so that trying to look at them with magical sight would be nearly as damaging as looking at the sun. The worst part is that this is only roughly three fifths of the wards he had in place - the aetheric residue from the ones that went off show that only the least stable ones went off. All this would take months for Caet himself to take down, and probably years for anybody else.

[UncleWolf]

Caet's Room

The medics get there within moments and whisk Caet away to the Surgery Ward of the Infirmary.

The mages however, Anna and Aliz, have a much bigger problem at hand than the surgeons will. Namely the terribly explosive wards still in place, with no idea if they'll blow if Caet dies.

They take a few minutes to think about what to do, but Aliz gets an idea. "Everyone, clear the building. Just in case." He says before calling in a Special Item from the Armoury.

Anyone still watching will see a pair of soldiers, garbed in black armor instead of the usual white, carrying a small wooden crate between them, one hand on the handles and one holding guns at the ready. Whatever's inside is clearly quite valuable and dangerous.

Once they reach the room, Aliz signs a couple forms before opening the crate, pulling out one of four small ruby discs wheels. While Remnant had neither the knowledge nor the capability to make full on Wheels, research allowed them to create something similar. But where the jade Wheel from before was like a massive bomb in power, this was more of a flash-bang.

The mini-Wheel, so far lacking a cool name, is thrown in after Aliz says a Keyword. Four seconds later, a giant hum fills the air before a void of magic simply appears in the muddle of the room. It's there for only a moment, and just strong enough to suck th magic away from the room before deactivating, slowly letting the magic back into the environment.

It should be able to destroy the wards in a single burst.

[Halae]

[Caet's Room]

And with that, the wards are gone. The hum of power and energy, the very vibration of the stone, fades into a heavy silence. Caet's room can now be maneuvered into safely, and none of the wards exploded.

[UncleWolf]

Surgery

Caet will make it to the surgery without any further damage and Bugs is waiting for him will a full team. When the head Medic sees him, Bugs shakes his head, but it was his job to do the best he could.

And dammit, he was going to.

"Comrades. We have rebuild him. We have the technology..." Bugs says with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood a bit. It's not his normal method, but sleeping with a beautiful dryad the night before has that effect on people.

The surgery will probably go on for most of the day, even going into night before it's finished. Bugs and his crew would have had to scrape away all of the charred flesh, replacing it with synth-flesh and fake skin. It'll take several days for it to fuse with Caet's natural tissue, and even then it'll feel slightly numb and never tan right if it gets sun. That process takes just an hour.

The eyes were probably the hardest part of the surgery, taking a full seven hours alone. While one was still partly intact and could reasonably heal, full recovery wasn't likely, so replacement was opted in that regard as well. He'll receive top-of-the-line replacements, shielded against electronic interference and capable of switching vision spectra when needed.

Next are the internal organs. While only bruised, Bugs has a policy to replace any that are damaged. It takes six hours, but at the end, Caet's lungs are replaced with cybernetics that are also capable of underwater breathing, and his heart is replaced with a stronger one. At the end, Bugs even replaces his rib cage with an armored one.

There are a couple final add-ins, enhancement implants attached to his kidneys and liver, but Bugs will fill Caet in on those when the man awakens.

Finally, there are the limbs. Those are simple enough to replace compared to all else, and they're replaced with heavily armored military models. They're sleek, can have flight boots added in case of the legs, and can carry a sidearm within. The arm can hold secret weaponry as well. And that's just the basics.

Caet will probably wake up a week later, in a room where magic can't leak in, and heavily restrained as well as being blind.

[Halae]

[Null-Magic Room]

Caet, blinded as he is when he awakens, first makes the assumption that it's just dark. Most people in this situation would try to stay sleeping, but his considerable paranoia makes him try standing up from the bed.

And then he realizes he's restrained, doesn't have access to his magic, and he can't see anything. If there's something monitoring his vitals, they're spiking - he's going into the full throes of panic here.

[Gullara]

[Post Surgery]

After the very very extended surgery, Bugs will find that Sequoia is sitting waiting for him. She's practically dozed off in a chair, but her head shoots straight up when he enters the room. "Bugs. How'd it go?" She stands up a bit stiffly, but doesn't mind that as she looks at him with concern. How much of that concern if for Caet and how much is for Bugs himself is a mystery.

[UncleWolf]

Bugs Office

"About as well as expected." The doctor admits with a heavy and tired sigh as he sits down in a chair. "More damage than I thought too, but he's alive and will be up in a couple weeks tops."

Null-Magic Room

"Hey! Keep calm dammit!" An aide shouts. "You're restrained and blindfolded because of new Cybernetics. Can't trust you not to hurt yourself. Understand?"

[Halae]

[Null-Magic Room]

Caet lets out a shuddering breath. Another person. A source of information. He can fight down the panic if he can learn what's going on. His heart rate stays high, but he controls his breathing and stops fighting the restraints.

"What happened? why do I need cybernetics? Why am I blindfolded?"