VIGIL I: We don't have a cool title yet...

[Beans]

[Ocean Base - Infirmary]

Agatha stares at Carrie with a great deal more surprise and horror than is probably called for by a crying cutie. Hey, no! Stop that! Stop crying! She tries to grab the other woman and hold her in an awkward attempt at consolation. What the hell is wrong with you!?

I-I'm crying because... because one of us has to! Because it's horrific! W-why shouldn't there be crying?

[Morty]

[Mountain Base - Portal Room]

"Alright, then. Tobias, do you feel up to testing him?" Wenomir asks.

[Mountain Courtyard/Infirmary]

"There have been some doubts as to her identity," Wenomir calls back to Mira. "But it seems there's nothing suspicious at work. The drones can take her up."

[Arkhosia]

Mountain Base - Third Floor

"I am merely practical. My supposed treachery and departure from this place won't impact the Org one way or another." Cutter says with a shrug before stepping in front of Sophia's blade. "And you know, I'd been hired to take down your father while I was at it. Do you know how easy it is to concoct a plague that hits cybernetics as well as flesh?" She asks as she steps closer until the point of the blade will rest on her own chest if Sophia doesn't take it away. "I pose more of a threat to your family than DC ever has, but do you think you can strike at someone unarmed?" She asks, raising her hands slightly to show they are empty. The entire time the doctor smiles, as if pleased by all of this.

"Either way, let me help you with that choice."

Unless stopped, her hand will dart out with a speed far greater than a human's in an attempt to grab the blade and pull it as she steps forward to impale herself on it through her own chest.

Ive had to before, and though I wish not to, I will if I must.
The shifter paladin replies with gravity, keeping her blade leveled.
She seems slightly surprised at this action, but knows Cutter isn'tlikely killing herself here. she steps towards her, and utters to her with eyes leveled to hers, You may pose a threat, but you are not yet my enemy. If you have a death wish you're welcome to remedy that, but if you do not then i suggest getting out of my way. I doubt that impaling will kill you, but just in case, im not going to help you bleed out.
she replies, detatching the blade and reloading the hilt, then moving to the side to pass her, a wary eye kept on the woman.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Mountain Base - Third Floor]

"You and me versus the world, huh? Just like always?"

Kr even manages to crack a smile slightly. A small, slightly rueful smile, but still. Her smile cuts off sharply as Sophia starts waving her sword and making threats. Embarrassing ones. I mean... wyrm!? Seriously!? And then a little drama plays out between her and Cutter. All-in-all, things are turning into a little bit of a mess. Time to simplify things. The staff hums, etched hieroglyphs glowing faintly as Kr looses the bindings on the thousands of demons stored within. Letting some of their power slip through. Slip through into her.

"I THINK IT'S TIME MY FATHER AND I HAD A LITTLE TALK. PRIVATELY."

She flicks the end of the staff, and Sophia and Cutter should find themselves teleported unceremoniously to the courtyard, in whatever same positions they were in, where they can pursue their little diversion in peace.

Assuming action is completed:

Kr turns back to DC, resting the staff back on the ground.

"That should take them out of our hair for about a minute, assuming Sophia starts running back up the stairs immediately. Longer if she tries to rappel up the wall and burst in through a window first." She says, resting the staff back on her shoulder, seemingly unconcerned about the display of power, or that a very angry titan shifter is likely to be rampaging back towards them quite soon.

[Recaiden]

[Ocean Base - Prison Cell]

The door to a certain gnome cultist's cell opens. That hasn't happened in quite a long time. Since he was put in here, actually. His jailer always slithered through the bars to bring him his food and water and questions.
You are free to go. But remember that you are not free to do harm, even to the weak. I will be watching.
The voice sounds in Arteitheio's head, rather than the usual being spoken aloud.

[Earl of Purple]

Ocean Base- Just Liberated

It's been a long time, indeed. He shivers at the mind-voice, and looks out the door. He has no idea where he is, but he'll sneak out of his cell and along the corridor, looking for an exit.

The cultist himself is young, about fourteen years old, and a gnome. He has dark blond hair, pale skin from about a year's worth of captivity, and deep brown eyes. He's wearing a red checker shirt and denim dungarees, and he's holding a pair of farmer's boots in his hand as he pads along the corridor with his sock-clad feet.

[Recaiden]

[Ocean Base - Just Liberated]

If he takes every available left, he'll wind up at the exit with only 1 detour. By design or coincidence, the path to escape is quite simple.
Fluorescent lights glow overhead, cleaning robots pass him by and ignore him, rounded transparent hallway walls reveal fish and stranger creatures flitting by outside.

The liberator is less young, at least twenty-six years seen by any clock, more by a few of them. She is an indescribable horror from the blackest depths of the ocean, wearing and carrying nothing as her silver plasm flows through the ducts underfoot, the prisoner watched carefully in her mind's eye.

It's possible no one bothers him as he explores.

[Earl of Purple]

Ocean Base- Just Liberated

It is possible. But not necessarily fun. I'll leave it a day to see if anyone jumps in.

[UncleWolf]

Mountain Base - Third Floor => Courtyard

Cutter just smiles as the teleportation struggles with her. After a half second she chuckles. "See you at the Teahouse." She tells DC before she stops resisting and allows the power to move her. Out in the courtyard, she just smiles at Sophia, assuming she is teleported as well. "Don't even think about going into the building again."

[Cyber Punk]

"Alright, then. Tobias, do you feel up to testing him?" Wenomir asks.

[Mountain Base - Portal Room]

"If I may ask, where would the test be taking place? Richard asks.

[Arkhosia]

Mountain Base - Third Floor => Courtyard

Cutter just smiles as the teleportation struggles with her. After a half second she chuckles. "See you at the Teahouse." She tells DC before she stops resisting and allows the power to move her. Out in the courtyard, she just smiles at Sophia, assuming she is teleported as well. "Don't even think about going into the building again."

do you really think you can stop me? Besides, I dont plan to interrupt their little talk unless it gets violent or anything like that.
sophia reples, putting the back of her right hand upon theblade's edge to get her pointacross with the first question.

[UncleWolf]

Courtyard

"You saw what your blade did to me. Nothing." Cutter tells Sophia before opening up the new hole in her shirt a bit to show the hole and the blade in her. She takes the blade gingerly with her hand before holding it before her. As Sophia watches, she'll see the black ichor that's covering it begin to corrode the blade with alarming speed. "I am a child of The Grandfather, bearer of Life and Death." She explains before looking at Sophia and tossing the blade gingerly to her to catch. "Your titan form would rot under my touch just like anything else. And that is merely a fact, not a threat."

[Arkhosia]

Courtyard

"You saw what your blade did to me. Nothing." Cutter tells Sophia before opening up the new hole in her shirt a bit to show the hole and the blade in her. She takes the blade gingerly with her hand before holding it before her. As Sophia watches, she'll see the black ichor that's covering it begin to corrode the blade with alarming speed. "I am a child of The Grandfather, bearer of Life and Death." She explains before looking at Sophia and tossing the blade gingerly to her to catch. "Your titan form would rot under my touch just like anything else. And that is merely a fact, not a threat."

Sophia sidesteps the tossed blade, preferring not to get the ichor on her or her clothing. besides, her blades are meant to be disposed after breaking or losing dullness. I'm pretty sure that counts.
Fair enough. It may be a bit difficult for you though, as it would regenerate.
Sophia chuckles slightly.
I think we may be evenly matched, though I may be wrong. I regenerate, you decay. unless one of us does so faster than the other, we'd be at a stalemate, chances are.
she doesn't bother to tell Cutter how her regeneration powers take a toll on her.

[Darkcomet]

[Mountain Base - Third Floor/Vault]

"I can do something about that," DC says as he glances back at the stairs. He raises the hand previously leveling that blade at Kr into the air, and red forcefields suddenly start blocking the stairs and nearby windows as a red aura swirls around it. He also seems to discount the whole risk of titan, though that's probably since he doesn't think she's careless enough to wreck the base to get to him.

"So what do you think? This organization can't be saved-the very idea that the HALO members might take exception to that whole 'nanite-plague the doom cat they've idiotically befriended' plan was paranoid insanity to the other leaders even on this side of things before the damn merge, and with Magtok and his little puppet in authority now? There wasn't a damn thing to be done about it. I thought trying to force them to fix it by putting pressure on them from outside might work, but it's accomplished nothing. The most I've gotten is halfhearted sympathy from those in no position to do anything about it. Hell, even a damn League member's bothered to express that. Then it hit me." He lowers his weapons and deactivates the forcefield-extensions as he speaks, leaving him with just the daggers. Well, those and the floating guns pointed at where Sophia just was.

"The leadership of these organizations, they're too set in their ways to change, unless I was going to mind control them, I guess, but that never works. But the people in them aren't, necessarily. You, Marley...even Vulpan expressed that I wasn't utterly full of it. VIGIL can't be saved...but it can be replaced, with people capable enough and trustworthy enough to continue its mission, and contain and protect things like that block in there. My resources would be a natural start for it. Careless, blindly trusting idiots can't be left in charge of artifacts like that, and whatever you think of what I've done, I have no doubt that after this little display, you know something has to be done. If VIGIL won't change, then competent people have to take over for it, and I can't see any way to change it anymore. If not that, then what do you propose?"

[Courtyard]

Don't kill her, you'll send Magtok into this bloodthirsty vengeance war frenzy, and I really don't care to have to deal with that. Says the telepathic equivalent of a voicemail message to Cutter's head. No active mind reading is going on. Distract her, occupy her attention, whatever, but no killing unless you want to deal with far worse than one idiot.

[UncleWolf]

Courtyard

Cutter doesn't bother replying to DC, figuring that if he wanted to, he'd just keep tabs on her via psychic powers. "Not really." Cutter says as she rests her hands on the back of her head and lets out a long sigh that turns into a coughing fit, making her cover her hands with her mouth. It goes on long enough that she drops to a knee for support before it is over. When it is, she stands back up and opens her hands to show a small handful of little white eggs that begin to squirm and hatch. "You think I'm alone." She says as large beetles begin to fly away from the eggs to circle around herself.

[FireFox]

[Ocean Base - Infirmary]

Because... because... Agatha whirls on Aurea. You! Say something!

Aurea blinks, looking up from the results of her indepth analysis, and obliges. She is not dying. The demon inside her is.

[Mountain Base - Portal Room]

Testing... Tobias makes a faintly disgusted face, then points an index finger at Richard. Pop quiz, hotshot. In this base, there is a vault filled with powerful and potentially dangerous artifacts. A disgruntled former member of Watchtower shows up, intending to break into the vault and steal the bound souls of two evil supernatural entities, ones which had caused an awful apocalypse years ago. A current Watch member, the one who bound the souls in the first place, is there to stop him. It's personal for her, since the first guy is her father. To further complicate this situation, another Watch member and a HALO member show up and begin to fight each other for a reason you don't know at the moment. The first two individuals are not currently fighting, but both of them are clearly armed and dangerous. So... what do you do? Clearly having lost his patience, the fox-eyed man turns back to Wenomir. That's not a hypothetical situation, in case you were wondering. DC here's looking for a fight and KR's about to give it to him. You should try to get your own house in order, but I'm afraid it's time for me to cut anchor and take my organization back. Without another word or glance backwards, he steps through the portal to the HALO base.


[Ocean Base - Announcement]

The shrill low-high whistle of the bos'n's general call is piped over the base's 1MC public address system. Now hear this! This is Commander Tobias. Due to a general lack of leadership, I am once again taking on the responsibilities of leading HALO. We are splitting away from VIGIL and cutting all ties with Watchtower, effective immediately. I will be in the conference room five minutes from now to explain my reasons and to discuss the direction we, as an organization, should take in order to move forward. I hope to see many of you there, although attendance is not mandatory. Thank you.

[Arkhosia]

Watchtower Fight-to-be to Ocean Base MeetingI figured you had more than the power to decay and corrode. I myself do have some other tricks up my sleeve... i doubt you can corrode diamonds, for one.
sophia replies with a lack of threat in her voice. Cutter might get the sense Sophia isnt trying to winat a contest of betterness.
then sophia hears of the announcement. Ive been saving the whole 4th wall talk thing with sophia for plot powering.
I think i may have to take my leave now.
sophia then tries to slip away and report to Tobias.

[Lord Magtok]

Mountain Base - Courtyard

"Sophia. Hideously ugly pregnant woman," Magtok says, casually nodding in greeting to each of them as he steps out of the MagMobile, spinning his keys around one finger as he approaches the base to retake his spot in the leadership, now that matters with Marciano seem to have ground to a boring halt. He doesn't seem to give either of them much thought, as he opens the door, tucks his keys back into a robe pocket, and then immediately freezes in place, as the surveillance tech he left hanging around his HALO office finally picks up on something that actually matters.

That...this complicates things. It complicates a lot of things, actually. Watch's folk were never fond of him, and he's fairly certain Tobias wouldn't be so chummy either, after he strongly discouraged putting the druid back into a leadership position. There's almost definitely more to the story than this, conflicts that went on while he was busy tending to personal matters. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if Sophia and the ugly pregnant lady themselves were right about to fight to the death before he showed up. Raptor Christ, he can't leave these people alone for a month without all of society breaking down and everyone slinging their feces at each other, can he?

"Hey kids, I've kinda been out of the loop for a while. Either of you happen to know why VIGIL is suddenly not being a thing anymore?" He asks, turning back towards Cutter and Sophia with a raised eyebrow, trying his hardest to seem completely unmoved by the sudden fracture of the status quo. Goddammit, something has to be done. Order has to be upheld. He didn't switch teams just so the light side of the Force could crumple up like a piteous wad of toilet paper when his back was turned. He was supposed to shepherd them all into greatness, how dare they quit on him! There are people who need to be punched in the face immediately, and so far as Magtok is concerned, he's the one most qualified to do so. That, or he's the person most qualified to take advantage of the split and exploit the ensuing mayhem for his own villainous purposes. He's not sure yet which position to take; they both sound pretty fantastic right now.

[Shadowcaller]

[Somewhere Else]

Through the eyes of the flying creature three beings watches the events transpire through both it's eyes and ears.
First one is black, a floating ball shaped construct crackling with purple energy seems to look at Magtok through the vortex that holds a clear picture of the mountains base courtyard with a clear audio of Magtok's voice. "VIGIL not being a 'thing'? I do not understand what that weakling is talking about." It tells what we'll call silver-bird.

Silver-bird, another construct that as our made-up name implies look vaguely avian and made in silver, but the name doesn't really tell us that it's body is humanoid, unlike black-orb which more looks like a Star wars torture droid than humanoid.

Silver-bird looks up at black-orb, which is rather hard considering it doesn't seem to have anything you'd call eyes. "I'm not sure either but this might effect my plans. Still, now that Magtok is here, we cannot waste any time." Silver-bird gestures at the swirling vortex. "His arrival here coincides perfectly what's going on right now." It gestures at another vortex which seems to be centered over DC and the Vault. "DC is planning to start anew but to do so, he has to give his new organization a purpose. An enemy. Or he will have failed to realize what caused VIGIL's apathy. That enemy will be Magtok."

A third being which we'll simply call tentacle-golem thanks to it's many arms raises one of it's limbs. "You. Seem. So. Sure." It's robotic voice echoes through the black space which the three seems to occupy. "Are. We. To. Make. Sure. Of. That?"

"If need be." Silver-bird replies which causes Black-orb to mutter a comment.
"Finally..."

"But only if necessary. So far they have acted like we wanted them too, despite HALO's reemergence this might still work. Any action from us right now would be counter-productive for our plans. Let them destroy themselves and we'll just help them over the edge."

"So we're just supposed to watch then, as usual." Black-orb says, it's voice giving away more frustration than it might realize.

"I didn't say that, we simply have to nudge our thrall towards another goal..." Silver-Bird says before turning back it's attention to the vortex overlooking the vault.

[Mountain Base - Third Floor/Vault]

The subtle goal KR has will suddenly change from telling her to study and activating the staff inside of VIGIL to telling her that her father is right. Magtok IS the true enemy. He has corrupted VIGIL from within and have to be destroyed. Most of VIGIL is already dancing after his strings by now. The staff could help her destroy the evil cyborg.

[Zefir]

[Mountain Base - Portal Room]

"Alright, then. Tobias, do you feel up to testing him?" Wenomir asks.

[Mountain Courtyard/Infirmary]

"There have been some doubts as to her identity," Wenomir calls back to Mira. "But it seems there's nothing suspicious at work. The drones can take her up."

[Mountain Courtyard/Infirmary]

"OK." Mia replies and the drones will start to transport the woman to the infirmary.

[Morty]

[Mountain Base - Portal Room ==> Courtyard]

Wenomir looks after Tobias in stunned silence. Very little of it made any sense to him, but he knows the situation is serious. He turns to Richard.

"Sorry, kid. Things just got really complicated all of a sudden. Your test might have to wait a while. Make your way to the courtyard."

With that, he... flips the window open and jumps. He lands on the courtyard with a slam, raising a small cloud of dust. He walks over to Magtok and the others, seemingly unconcerned about what he just did. Kr can handle herself, even against DC. He needs to start containing the mess that just sprung up.

"I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're not involved with Tobias' apparent defection," he says to the cyborg.

[Cyber Punk]

[Mountain Base - Portal Room => Courtyard]

Richard stands there alone with an eyebrow raised, then wonders what to do. He can either get to the courtyard by jumping after Wenomir, or he can stay in character and walk there. He looks out the window and down at the courtyard, then parkours down to the courtyard, landing in a cat-like manner, also walking over to the ones Wenomir presently addresses.

[Earl of Purple]

Ocean Base- Just Liberated

Arteitheo hears the booming voice and ducks towards the nearest cover and listens carefully, worried that people are now looking for him to put him back into the cell. When he realises it isn't, he returns to his current task of escaping. It's been over a day, and that's how long I gave for people, so I'll start using him elsewhere now.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Mountain Base - Vault]

"You're right, of course." Says Kr calmly, observing DC's handiwork. "But if we're to replace this organization, there's no need to steal the artifact. Why slink off with it, when we have a perfectly serviceable vault, and a perfectly serviceable base right here?" Kr plants the staff on the ground.
"The problem is the leadership: Magtok and all the people he's somehow managed to convert or fool while trying to grab more power. We can leave them on the back foot, not us."

[Darkcomet]

[Mountain Base - Vault]

DC shakes his head. "We can't risk trying to hold the base against Magtok like that. We'd end up basically starting a war between him and whoever actually sided with us, and if you hadn't noticed, I haven't exactly been the best at turning anyone to my side. " He sighs. "But Magtok himself can be stopped-take out his income and he's dead in the water. I was close already, when I brought his brainwashed doubles he made from bombing victims to light. I have the resources to start up something new, but we can't risk plunging the Nexus into what'd essentially be a corporate war between MagCorp and EI. The connections we have would essentially drag everyone in with us, and who knows who would take advantage of the chaos? He thinks he prevented war by betraying me to the cat and attacking EI in Riverside, but he came very close to causing it instead."

The demons watching probably take exception to that last part. Damn psychic and his shocking capacity for foresight.

"Brute force is too dangerous, but we can stop him my way. It's only a matter of time."

[UncleWolf]

Courtyard

"See you around, Sophia." Cutter says as she heads out. The doctor doesn't appear bothered by Magtok's insult either. "Not pregnant anymore. Sometime I'll take my girls to visit you." She swears before shrugging and heading towards the gate, planning to leave Vigil/Watchtower/HALO permanently. Before she leaves, she turns around for a moment. "As for why it's split, I don't know. All I know is that KR and DC were having a spat up on the third floor. As for me, I'm done with this place unless you have a good reason for me to stay. Kind of just admitted that I was here to betray everyone." She admits plainly.

[Arkhosia]

Courtyard exit

Maybe we'll test our skills in the future then!
Sophia replies goodnaturedly before turning to Magtok
Hey dad. I'd adise against confrontation. There's no telling if KR was convinced to help DC or not, and id rather not lose you.
sophia advises, worry clear upon her face, as she exits.

[Lord Magtok]

Courtyard => VIGIL/Watch Interior

"DC left a while ago, yelling all sorts of crap at everyone. Why are people still opening the door for that asshat?" Magtok wonders aloud, sighing as he steps through the door. Ugh, everything's just an absolute mess right now. It's a good thing he already filled out the paperwork for being reinstated as a leader; he's just got to get Wenomir and Cessie to approve, and then he can go from de facto to de jure faction figurehead. Until then, he'll just have to resort to his usual bluffing and bluster and hope nobody bothers to question his legal authority.

"And no, Wend, I've got no part in that. Me and the fox druid guy don't exactly see eye to ocular implant on things. Hey, can you and Sophia deal with the newbie and put that would-be traitor on some sort of group-wide watch list? I'm going to go say hi to our visitor. Sophia, don't worry. I'm not going to shoot first, and I have clones. DC won't touch me without the moral high ground," Magtok insists, stopping for nothing and nobody as he floats up towards the third floor.

[Morty]

[Courtyard]

Wenomir looks as Cutter leaves, but doesn't stop her. She hasn't actually managed to betray them, so they'll just have to watch out for her in the future. He likewise doesn't stop Magtok from leaving. A confrontation between him and DC is liable to end in violence, but maybe it has to happen eventually.

"Take care of this new one," he tells Sophia. "I need to keep track of the mess that seems to have been dumped into our lap."

He walks to the side, then pulls out his communicator to make a base-wide announcement:

"Attention, everyone. Tobias decided to leave and take HALO with him, for reasons currently unknown. We don't know how many members followed him, yet. Please report to me so I can get some sort of tally."

[Zefir]

[Courtyard]

Wenomir looks as Cutter leaves, but doesn't stop her. She hasn't actually managed to betray them, so they'll just have to watch out for her in the future. He likewise doesn't stop Magtok from leaving. A confrontation between him and DC is liable to end in violence, but maybe it has to happen eventually.

"Take care of this new one," he tells Sophia. "I need to keep track of the mess that seems to have been dumped into our lap."

He walks to the side, then pulls out his communicator to make a base-wide announcement:

"Attention, everyone. Tobias decided to leave and take HALO with him, for reasons currently unknown. We don't know how many members followed him, yet. Please report to me so I can get some sort of tally."

[Communicator Feedback]

After Wneomirs call Mia will try to reach him via communicator. She doesn't want to leave the informary right now, while there are people there needing help. The woman from the demon attack should have arrived by now unless anything stops it.

"Report back." She starts. "Mia Mechanicus still in the infirmary. I'm alone here so I don't know who else is around."