VIGIL 3: Uh... can we get a mulligan?

[Halae]

[Obstacle Course]

Shireen gives Amrbosia a curious look. who was this woman? How did she know their teacher?

She tries to give an answer to Wenomir's question, but while she excelled at the physical part of this exercise, it looks like she's floundering in the more cerebral end.

[Morty]

[Wenomir's Home]

Wenomir quirks an eyebrow.

"Home? Have you settled down somewhere? Anyway, one of those temples should cease to be a problem soon." When the plot involving them is finished. "If you find and attack another one before we do, I should be able to help."

[Obstacle Course]

Wenomir nods to Mia. That's a good answer. He makes note of Shireen's hesitation, but decides some introductions are in order first.

"This is Ambrosia, by the way. A scholar who helped me with some research and showed interest in the Riddle of Steel."

[VIGIL Skybase]

Wenomir does not appear convinced.

"Has any research been done towards disposing of the power released upon an A-Class's death?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Obstacle Course]

"Scholarly interest." Ambrosia points out. "But yes, philosophy is a area that I like to study." She nods as her gaze lingers on Mia and Shireen. "So why do you two wish to 'become stronger'? You are training quite hard."

[Darkcomet]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"That would require killing one and an ability to transfer that power elsewhere to test, which we do not have and will not do, as the only test available would be A-2. While theoretically possible, this requires the same expertise in matters of the soul as preventing one's death would, and to focus on that possibility would be gratuitously bloodthirsty. It would also pose a threat to A-3 and A-4. The necessities of the situation would demand that the information on this route be transferred to Anomalous Solutions, who would seize the opportunity to kill every Class A. Furthermore, the level and type of power involved combined with other factors means that attempting this against them could incur severe collateral damage against Evolution Industries and the rest of the civilian population. " Two pauses, then adds: "The AS-Riverside incident is available as evidence."

[Morty]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"Right. That's a fair point," Wenomir grudgingly admits. "We can offer our aid in containing A-1 and preventing him from achieving the power he's after, but we can't commit to the goal of... ensuring A-2's longevity. At least not yet."

[Darkcomet]

[VIGIL Skybase]

Two doesn't say anything in reply, seeming to simply stare into the void through Wenomir, unblinking. There's a purpose to this, of course, in that she's using those powers she has to pull the cause of that hesitation out of nothing just like she did (to partial success) with 'Isaac.' Visibly, it just looks like she's spacing out like that.

[Shadowcaller]

Command Center

Cessie regards him cautiously. "You make a sound argument, mister Isaac, but I admit that I don't understand is why you are seeking our spoken support in the first place. VIGIL isn't especially outspoken politically, we have largely remained neutral in these constant turf-wars in Riverside. In fact, we offered to host the Eastside political debate just because we are a considered a neutral party. If we start to politically support certain parties, we might lose that status. You are asking us to break that policy in exchange for... what exactly?"

[Morty]

[VIGIL Skybase]

Wenomir is hesitant because he trusts Infinite Descent about as far as he can throw them, and does not consider them to be the kind of people he'd trust with means of achieving immortality or longevity. It sounds far too much like ID is trying to get Vigil to do their dirty work.

"...are you alright?" he asks, as Two stares creepily at him. What is that about?

[Darkcomet]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"Infinite Descent is not interested in spreading any means of unnatural life beyond the cybernetic, due to the massive upheaval inherent in such an action. We agree with your hesitation to pursue this, and would not be looking into it were the situation any less dire. Should we succeed and have word spread, it would lead to civil war as various factions within the Syndicate attempted to seize it for themselves." And now Two just tried to counter something Wenomir hadn't even said.

Between the monotone and the obvious power abuse it's clear this visitor is in fact an Anomaly, but not that she's that one.

[Morty]

[VIGIL Skybase]

Wenomir advances two steps towards Two, menacingly.

"I would very much like to know why and how you answered a question I didn't ask."

[Darkcomet]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"I am an anomalous representative with abilities focused on information." Two states, not looking intimidated in the slightest.

The big armored hulk accompanying her speaks with a robotic voice, apparently female. "Dial it back, Anomaly. Even if that was kind of funny. Sorry about that - Descent policy is that no one but Anomalies and AI units can be trusted to handle this matter, or someone might talk. You probably know what happens with them by now, and it doesn't leave them with very good social skills." Huh, that means the bodyguard's a robot. A robot that actually finds things funny, apparently. "Our philosophy is different, but Syndicate policy will continue to exist until the technology exists to bridge the gap between baseline humanity and anomalous subjects."

"We are prepared to offer discounts on cybernetic augmentation should you prove cooperative."

"...they also put advertising protocols in, apparently. But that is how we intend to do it, and I am programmed to offer you a selection if you pursue this line of discussion." The robotic titan shrugs. "I suggest that we focus on the subject at hand, however."

[Zefir]

[Obstacle Course]

Mia looks up as Wenomir introduces Ambrosia. She is even more emberased now.

"E..E..Eh." She starts. "I want to be able to defend myself."

[Lord Magtok]

Command Center

Cessie regards him cautiously. "You make a sound argument, mister Isaac, but I admit that I don't understand is why you are seeking our spoken support in the first place. VIGIL isn't especially outspoken politically, we have largely remained neutral in these constant turf-wars in Riverside. In fact, we offered to host the Eastside political debate just because we are a considered a neutral party. If we start to politically support certain parties, we might lose that status. You are asking us to break that policy in exchange for... what exactly?"

"It is no surprise VIGIL would remain neutral when it comes to the governments of Riverside's past. Westside was ruled by literal blood-sucking vampires, Malechenar took the northern quadrant, and the Lotus Gardens of Eastside could be described, if I was feeling generous, as the world's largest rehab clinic, whereas its critics would tell you that Jezebel was running the most depraved den of sin, vice, and sexual degeneracy, next to Skyside. Now personally, I lean more towards the former than the latter, but it still isn't a place I'd raise children."

Isaac sighs, folds up his map by putting his hands back together, and rests his head atop his hand. He'd look like he was trying too hard to look pensive, if not for that helmet making it damn-near impossible to read him any other way. "But that's not reason enough to trust me, to put your faith in us. No, you're right, it would greatly compromise VIGIL's standing as an apolitical peacekeeping force if they backed us, even if we are the only organization promising change. It would hurt us both in the long run, really. I couldn't promise to donate funds or technology in exchange, either, because that would only worsen VIGIL's reputation when such a 'bribe' inevitably explodes into an outright scandal. Hrm..."

Isaac, stop. You're only agreeing with her now, how's that supposed to convince her to do anything to help The Faction? "Ms. Mithar, do you remember Inside's City Council? We were originally going to make this offer only to the Empress and General, but another open seat at The Faction's table wouldn't hurt. We're fairly certain one or the other is going to reject our offer, anyways. You and the other leaders of VIGIL could sit in on our meetings, be granted a voice and a vote, see that your concerns and key issues are addressed, and make sure that we continue to operate with only the Nexus's best interests in mind. I...I know it's not much, but it's all that I can think to offer. We will be most vulnerable in these early days, before we have solidified our control of the region. Your support would help immensely, giving the warlords another reason to think twice before assaulting our various projects."

[Reinholdt]

[Wenomir's Home]

"Yes, the old embassy in Southside. I decided to take it before AMEN chose to utilize it after all. One less option for them, one more option for me," Ilpholin explains.

She was just about getting ready to hit that temple too. She'll have to go after a different one now. "Excellent. I'll give you a call as soon as I know something."

[Morty]

[VIGIL Skybase]

Wenomir's expression does not soften any.

"Anomaly, you say. So it's a person you folks brainwashed to spout the party line. Which class of anomaly is she, if I may ask?"

[Wenomir's Home]

Wenomir nods.

"You know where to find me. Was there anything else?"

[Darkcomet]

((A-2 just Knowing Things given permission by Morty.))

[VIGIL Skybase]

The Titan-bot nods. "That's correct. We're not AS, but it's difficult to shake support for the practice. I'm not certain of why you're asking about the designation. But I'm not sure why you're asking about the..."

"Oh, relax. Look, now that he's realized that, he's not going to do it unless we tell him and you know it, Point-Five, and he's not going to risk pissing off all of ID himself." A-2's speech patterns have abruptly shifted, and she's not all monotonous anymore. In fact she sounds like she's having fun with it. "Yeah, plot twist for you, Mr. of Raven's Ford. I'm A-2, and I'm going to shoot your experience-fueled moral dilemma about aiding me right down."

"That's -"

"Point-Five, you are literally an AI copied off my brain while we were trying other options, you know how boring it is keeping that mindless Tronstad victim act going, I am aware of how bad an idea it is, I also don't care and he's not going to do anything with it anyway if he doesn't want to **** over the only Syndicate faction that wants to change anything," Two looks back at Wenomir after lecturing...Two, apparently. "Obviously, don't go spreading that around. Sorry about all that, I've been keeping that charade going nearly unbroken for over thirty years. That and it would've sounded really bad if I walked up and said 'hey, make me immortal, it's totally cosmically important.' Talk about unconvincing." Now she's snickering. "Anyway, if you want some evidence about all that Class A stuff, just ask Three to forward you what he and some other help found out about him after he died. And if it's not obvious, this is off the books for Infinite Descent. Officially, I'm here on recon duty."

[Morty]

[VIGIL Skybase]

Wenomir's expression shifts from bewilderment to anger, and then to a sort of reluctant respect.

"And you managed to fool me. I'm actually impressed. Now is a good time to explain how you know where I'm from and that I have personal experience in this matter. And a few other things you couldn't possibly know."

[Darkcomet]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"Like I said, been doing that for over thirty years. And I wasn't lying before when I said how I knew you were worrying about that. I'm not a telepath like Three, but knowing things is my business. Bit weird compared to the other three, but hey, means I never wrecked a city in an emergence event, can't complain, aside from the part where it means I'm as mortal as you and not like the other three." Two's fairly nonchalant about it. "Speaking of which, that other guy that showed up? Got something partially blocking me off that apparently knew I was faking it, apparently he used to be some costumed hero called Intrepid, he's one clone of many, and something about forty cakes. Just thought you might want to know that."

[Morty]

[VIGIL Skybase]

Forty cakes? Clones? That's... oh, Riddle.

"Magtok. I thought I'd recognized that foul stench. Hopefully Cessie can deal with them. Anyway. Knowing things out of nowhere. That's not creepy at all. Still, if you're not brainwashed, helping you achieve longevity does look like less of a horrible idea. Especially if it's not sanctioned by your superiors. What recon did they send you on?"

[Darkcomet]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"Not officially sanctioned. Very few know the truth, but like Two Point-Five there said, ID's got a different outlook on things than AS. I'm supposed to be taking a look at whatever you've got powering this thing in the interests of expanding technology, but I severely doubt it's anything we can duplicate anyway. I mean, I'll look anyway if that's alright, it's probably cool." Two shrugs. "Or not, but if I come back with nothing to report I'm gonna have to empty a few rounds into something to keep the lie plausible."

[Morty]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"The island floats by itself. It can't be replicated," Wenomir says. At least they haven't found a way to make it move yet, so he doesn't need to bother hiding it. "Back to the relevant topics, I can agree to stopping the... A-1 guy, if that part is true. But the longevity project will take some consideration. Though I don't know what we have in this regard that you don't."

[Shadowcaller]

[Command Center]

The empress? Of course, she was in Southside too, wasn't she? Which now meant that Adir probably was involved in the whole thing. Just great. "A interesting offer, though I had no idea that VIGIL's spoken support was that valuable to you. But what would happen if we said no? Are you seeking the support of other factions as well?" Regardless, she probably needed to talk to Wenomir about this, Adir being involved in all this changed everything.

[Lord Magtok]

Command Center

The helmet tilts to one side, as its wearer regards Cessie with a mix of surprise and bewilderment. "You mean besides the organizations of the General and Empress? No. Of course not, never. The Faction is composed of Nexus natives; we know how this all works. Even if they weren't a weak, pathetic shadow of their former selves, AMEN would still be too wicked for our purposes. I'll admit MERC would have potential, if they weren't already doing security work in Westside and motivated solely by greed. HALO and the League have the proper moral fiber, but simply don't have the kind of sway or reputation needed, and the other city governments are..." Isaac pauses, trying to figure out exactly how to phrase this.

"We don't want Skyside's support for the same reasons we don't associate with AMEN. We don't trust the rest of Riverside because we know their history. The vampires, the cults, the crime...the Union is nearly acceptable, but Inside's police state and disproportionately powerful army makes my superiors deeply uncomfortable. Have you any idea how much of their funds goes straight to the defense budget? No, Ms. Mithar, VIGIL is the only organization we consider trustworthy at the current time." He answers, shaking his head. Awfully bold of him, talking about trust like that when he's so blatantly hiding his own identity (who wears a helmet indoors?) from Cessie.

[Reinholdt]

[Wenomir's Home]

"No, that's it," Ilpholin says standing to leave. "Thank you for seeing me."

[Darkcomet]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"Figures, Anyway, for one, Anomalies can't do magic, so it's your friends' chance to look into it without me having to make a bunch of my coworkers into wizards. That seems like something you'd want to avoid. I don't actually know what exactly is going on there for sure, but based on all available information, the nature of our powers probably interferes with channeling other external forces." Two frowns, not especially liking not knowing that, apparently. "So I can't do that myself at all. Three can back me up on that one. We'd both be a lot more powerful than we are if we could."

"You know, I could..." Point-Five starts to interject, but Two cuts her off.

"No, Point-Five, I'm not going to make you a magical AI, that would be ridiculous. Besides, that gave me a massive headache when I picked that up anyway. Point is, anything you guys uncover on that front is something I can't duplicate. Longevity, immortality, any of that. I'll be good for, oh, centuries probably as cybernetics tech advances and I find more of it to analyze, even if the only thing left will be a brain in a Three-style synth body. Anything that'll help if I were to, you know, actually die would be great, so focus on that." She remains awfully casual about this whole 'give me immortality' thing. "As for One, I'll leave you with a comm code for a hidden safehouse I managed to set up while we were in Skyside on tech-analysis. Only call it if you've got everything together for taking him down, or you've found something for me." Two produces a datapad with built-in comm abilities, probably for vidcalls, and offers it to Wenomir. "That's got my code and some encryption I whipped up. Any other questions, bits of history you don't know and want to know about, that kind of thing?"

[Morty]

[Wenomir's Home]

"Think nothing of it." Wenomir stands up as well, and nods. "Good luck."

[VIGIL Skybase]

Wenomir shrugs.

"Not really. I'll pass the word on to my people about a hunt for an... anomaly with aspirations to godhood. Anyone who wants to call themselves a god can use a good smackdown. Preferably sooner than later. I'm glad to oblige."

[Darkcomet]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"Right. You've got two examples of the perfect bait available with me and Three, but you'll need a specialist to bind him into some prison or another. Destroy his current form and he'll just come back later, and we don't want to...wait. Wait. **** you don't have the one that made those things Three ranted about to everybody and got killed over anymore." Two holds her face in a robotic hand.

Point-Five does much the same, except it's a big armored gauntlet of a hand to a helmet of a face.

"Ugh, I knew you'd done this before, but I didn't know who. This just got more complicated."

[Morty]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"The list of things 'Three' ranted about is long. But I know what you mean," Wenomir says. "We do not have those anymore. And the person who made them is..." He sighs. "She's no longer with us." Then, he blinks and his eyes open wide. "But... you could help me look for her."

[Darkcomet]

[VIGIL Skybase]

"I could try, but it'd have to stay small-scale. You wouldn't get away with associating with us that closely. But at the same time, those powers of mine come with a range. My help won't mean much if you don't know where to go to start. Not to mention those corrupting demon things being involved..." Two tilts her head. "I have no idea what an Anomaly getting grabbed by one of those would cause, but I don't intend to find out even if I do help. In other words, I'll require a lead and heavy escort should any combat scenarios come up. If you can't do that...well, I can always look for other experts, but they seem like they might be a bit more unpleasant, considering we're talking about soul manipulation. Not typically a lauded field, I understand."

"And who knows what they'd do? Probably try to splice One's power into themselves, or some other stupid stunt like that," Point-Five adds, for once not getting interrupted by her original self. "They'd probably only get part, but that might not come with the magic problem, so that could be a serious risk."

"But when you're trying to prevent the apocalypse and also not be assimilated by a crazy bastard who wants to be a god, you take what you can get. If you can get me what I asked for, I can help you. If not, either I can't do anything or the risks are too great."

[Shadowcaller]

Command Center

The helmet tilts to one side, as its wearer regards Cessie with a mix of surprise and bewilderment. "You mean besides the organizations of the General and Empress? No. Of course not, never. The Faction is composed of Nexus natives; we know how this all works. Even if they weren't a weak, pathetic shadow of their former selves, AMEN would still be too wicked for our purposes. I'll admit MERC would have potential, if they weren't already doing security work in Westside and motivated solely by greed. HALO and the League have the proper moral fiber, but simply don't have the kind of sway or reputation needed, and the other city governments are..." Isaac pauses, trying to figure out exactly how to phrase this.

"We don't want Skyside's support for the same reasons we don't associate with AMEN. We don't trust the rest of Riverside because we know their history. The vampires, the cults, the crime...the Union is nearly acceptable, but Inside's police state and disproportionately powerful army makes my superiors deeply uncomfortable. Have you any idea how much of their funds goes straight to the defense budget? No, Ms. Mithar, VIGIL is the only organization we consider trustworthy at the current time." He answers, shaking his head. Awfully bold of him, talking about trust like that when he's so blatantly hiding his own identity (who wears a helmet indoors?) from Cessie.

Command Center

The sorceress listens closely, she couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not, but had VIGIL truly that good reputation in the nexus? After all that Wall-talk by DC and Magtok she had always felt that their reputation had been permanently smeared. Was there perhaps something more to it? Hm. "Very well, I think I've run out of questions then. Would you please wait while I discuss this with my co-commander?"