[DBitp] Here Comes The Son

[igordragonian]

Vodkana

Vodkana sighed. Jade should be much more confident, and she thought, Vodkana is doing what ever she please..
Vodkana had her own set of morale priorities, but, she will always respect Jade's requests. That why she was so hurt in the first place- Jade didn't scolded her, or asked her to change her ways... Vodkana felt that Jade just gave up on her.

But this is in the past. No one owed her anything, especialy not Jade.
It was her job to prove she worthy of her friends. Starlight's situation were added to the giant pile of things she felt guilty for.


Vodkana was almost prepared to destroy him, right here right now.
Pineapple on pizza? But no! he was just educated by evil people! That it!
So, for now she decided to dodge this grimmdark aspect of Black Scorpion's life.
'I am surrrre, that I will have fun sparring with you. Also... why girls always say it? That because you are hot. That why. Like a planet core, trust me, I know. Nya.. Anya way... I could use my destruction energy to... umm, well, I guess it will wait. So, are you mind controlled?"


Vodkana waved to the new arrivals. 'Hello! I am Vodkana, head of Hailing Entertainment! I hope we can get deals, later! Nya!"

[Lord Raziere]

Shenron:
Masala decide to take Max's advice and go over to hug Starlight and never stop if she isn't going to do anything. Pinappla looks at this and goes
"...Ooooh, so thats what a hug is. I thought that was some weird wrestling move..."
"....Of course you would think that..."
Beryl says an eyebrow raised and a smile on her face. Saiyans!

Storefront
The manager looks at you, knowing what you say makes sense but wondering if this kind of info sharing really happens through the methods he is currently using? Somehow he doubts a marketer comes into the storefront of another corporation and just starts yakking about his prices to the customers there. One would think that goes through different channels? But screw it, he knows your playing him but he isn't getting paid enough to deal with this upper management marketing bull your spouting. So he just calls one of the guys in marketing then says
"Whats your name gain? The marketing department is willing to listen when you get to Deglargo HQ but we need a name so that we know who is coming to discuss this. honestly, you couldn't have just called them ahead of time and worked out a date to meet?"
Its clear he just wants you out of his storefront as soon as possible.

Deglargo HQ
Apfel can sense that Deglargo is just as confused and panicked at this unexpected turn of events as he is despite his outward gregariousness and smile. That he did not expect anyone else here either. There was a leak, a rat. Someone didn't keep their lips tight. Deglargo was going to have the hide of whoever did this.

After them giving them some quick explanation on the Bio-android they missed, and demonstration of regeneration on Black Scorpion, CEO Deglargo leads them to Orange Wasp, who stands before them in their default orange bio-android form with his wasp wings and abdomen with a stinger at the end, his face resembling Perfect Cells rather than the last two who were more like imperfect cell's.
"Behold! The Third Unkillable! This is where we start getting creative and making newer and greater possibilities than just your average soldiers but upgraded. Orange Wasp has the ability to shapeshift on top of the usual bio-android abilities."
As he says this, Orange Wasp begins shifting through various forms.
"There are no known recorded limitations as to what forms he can take! Thus the Orange Wasp model, is designed with infiltration in mind. With the element of surprise without causing a ruckus. Ki fighters who can blow up planets? they are a dime a dozen. But Orange Wasp can do so much more. Spy, sabotage, infiltrate, subterfuge, espionage this Unkillable is perfect for any job that requires restraint and silence. And if they somehow get caught they can fight their way out of any situation while looking like someone else for maximum deniability. He is a master of deception!"
Deglargo does not mention Orange Wasp's horrifying form of reproduction. Before you try to contact Orange Wasp telepathically, Red Mantis tells you:
Just fair warning, the first time connecting to Orange Wasp's- as well as the others after them- mind can be a little......different. There are some things that just can't be expressed with words, and everyone in the mind-conference will be pulled into it.
From here on out you will start temporarily experiencing their mindscape due to their unique mental issues. keep in mind, it may impact effectiveness if its too distracting.

[Frozen_Feet]

The crowd murmurs and nods approvingly as Deglargo continues his show. The Namekian raises an eyebrow and frowns at the regeneration demonstration.

Deglargo's nervousness seems of no concern to them, or at least they don't seem to consider anything out of ordinary. As far as they know, Deglargo himself set this up. Though of course, they have their own appearances to keep. Apfel can feel the red woman and the blue reptile giving him glances when they think he's not looking.

The alien with a sphere for a head remains a complete enigma, having neither facial expressions nor detectable thoughts. Is the sphere some kind of an anti-telepathy helmet? However, at the end of Orange Wasp demonstration, they ask:

"... %€/='?! 4(?"

Okay, that's not very helpfull. Let's translate:

"This Wasp, does it acquire any other traits besides shape of what it is transformed to?"

[Rater202]

"...Maybe we should not psionically connect with this one?"

[Sagetim]

Delargo Storefront/Shenanigans

In the telepathic conference call Max responded ~I think I'll go ahead and avoid connecting to someone with that many issues, thanks. Ya'll know where to contact me, good luck.~ He then gently disconnected from the conference call. Because if Max is going to have to deal with someone's emotional issues, he prefers it not to be via telepathy.

"Ah, I am Dr. Banders of Shining Futures Industries. Thank you for the reference. And, had I approached in a more normal manner, I doubt I'd have been able to make an appointment at all." Max waited for the arrangements to be completed, and, having no more business at the storefront, he would start making his way towards Delargo's headquarters. Depending on how long that might take to accomplish on foot, at normal human speed, he may wind up finding a clear landing space to pop his shuttle out and fly it there instead.

[igordragonian]

'I was trained by the Goddess of Nightmares, I'll be fine. Nya.'

[Emperor Ing]

Ah, an unexpected encounter, but welcome nontheless. Apfel greeted the newcomers with a smile, but he was still internally screaming. The only way it could be worse is if a Veru'nas Warlord showed up.

We wish to avoid any risks. He will remain unconnected for the time being. Apfel telepathically answered back, before turning back to Orange Wasp, looking thoughtful. I would like to know more about the engineering of these...specimens. He asked.

[Hawkflight]

Starlight took several deep breaths, focusing inward. Suddenly, there was a great flash as she suddenly shifted into her "rainbow power" form brieflt, before shifting back into her normal form, regaining her color.

"No," she said. "No, this ... everything that happened, with Vodkana, it's my fault as much as it is your's. I could have stopped it, but I did not. I was afraid of interfering in an alien culture, where pony ways may not be appreciated. I will apologize to Vodkana properly when she gets back. For now, I have to finish converting this spell, and ... probably test for dark magic contamination. I wish I had one of the Unkillables to test it on -- without being able to test it, it's basically a crapshoot, and I don't like to risk a crapshoot when it really matters. I already have an idea about how I can test it out -- would it be possible to arrange a hooves-on combat demonstration?"

[Lord Raziere]

With Max:
Whenever you get there, the receptionist takes a look at you and goes:
"....Are you here for an appointment?" She says in a neutral tone, but you can tell she is just bored out of her mind.

Shenron
Masala does not stop hugging Starlight. Ponies are just so huggable and soft!
Hm, I assume she means fight with HER and no one else or it doesn't make sense. Mantis, she has a spell that could free the Unkillables. Since it might be unreliable, which one do you think it'd be best to test it out on?
....Well it would be possible to work in a fight for the demonstration, and Apfel can probably pass off Starlight as one of his fighters for that, question is, Deglargo is the one who gets to choose which one to demonstrate, so its a question of what he will throw out. He probably won't put in Grey Spider, she is designed to be a cold-blooded assassin, to her killing is less a choice and more of a reflex and accidental deaths would be bad for publicity among people like this. My style is offensive and rush oriented, so it might interfere with it firing off at all, while Scorpion is all about watching his foe to counter them, different method same problem, and Yellow Queen....
There is a pause as he considers this.
.....Grey Spider is less dangerous than her. Orange Wasp or White Butterfly are the ones with abilities that are support or most out of combat application and therefore the safest if you can get them. They can still fight well yes, but have other things to deal with while Scorpion and Spider are more combat focused. Butterfly is a healer and supporter type....while Orange Wasp can infiltrate. Either one would be good to have if it works and they get free. Its unfortunate, but Purple Moth can't be of help even if she was free- somehow her depression makes it so she stays immobile even with the programming on, and Deglargo wouldn't choose her anyways. So, Apfel, you can ask for a Starlight-Unkillable duel now or on the 5th bio-android. If we want less risk.

Delgargo HQ:
Deglargo laughs genially. Translator microbes, just roll with it.
"A good question! Best know the full strengths and limitations of this ability, no? Demonstration time!"
He brings up a sheet of paper.
"Orange Wasp, turn into a pair of scissors then cut this sheet of paper, then turn back"
Orange Wasp does so, now floating in midair as a pair of scissors then cuts it in half in a single snip, and while She turns back, Deglargo explains
"As you can see, Orange Wasp can take on the physical properties of scissors and even alter them- that pair was too big to be an ordinary pair and was capable of flying unlike normal scissors. Yet they were still alive and could move on their own. Orange Wasps ability can take on the appearance of anything and still have a mind and motion upon the world, even if there is no DNA involved, like with the scissors. Yet trying to become anything liquid or gaseous doesn't work. We've tried giving him the ability to see the future through shapeshifting into a kanassan, but he reported that he couldn't see the future at all, which means that any psychic abilities cannot be acquired even temporarily. Also since a shapeshifter can change what the form to what they look like rather than only do perfect imitations, they are also capable of being INACCURATE about the transformation. For example: Orange Wasp turn into a short version of me."
Orange Wasp becomes a shortened version of Deglargo long enough for everyone to behold and then turns back
"See? the ability implies one needs to recreate the person or thing in every detail, or they will get it wrong. We assume then that to acquire the traits you speak of, Orange Wasp would need to have extensive knowledge about how the form works on every physical level. The shapeshifting depends on the knowledge and skill of the one that wields it. It is easy to imitate form, but function is an entirely different story. It is very possible that due to this need for knowledge and skill that while a wide variety of appearances can be taken, only a very few forms can be shapeshifted to the level of successfully recreating function, five or less in all probability given how complicated it is to learn even one species anatomy or one technological devices's inner workings. It also explains why you can't be anything gaseous or liquid, as there is too much risk of the shapeshifter trying to become a cloud and being torn apart and dying from not knowing how to do that, so no shapeshifter has achieved such a thing."
Then he smiles and says
"And that goes double for turning into plasma or a singularity! Trying for any of that would simply be crazy, isn't that right Orange Wasp?"
"Yep. Glad I'm not doing that."
Apfel can sense they are both being completely honest about that and the explanation. The risk is just too great for either of them try that for different reasons.
"As for the engineering....you know how it is, Our Head of Research and Development Chief Engineer Rilla is the one to ask for the intricate details."

Orange Wasp looks at Apfel, wondering if that Wasp Jr. was okay. Many conflicting emotions flow through him/her. Were they okay? Were they dead? Red Mantis assured Wasp that the Rebel Alliance wouldn't kill them, but Red Mantis himself said you shouldn't trust someone entirely on their reputation, given that Deglargo is one all about cultivating a good reputation to hide his skeletons. Furthermore concerning the shapeshifting, Orange Wasp's unique mind is both a blessing and a curse for it: sure one can access vast stores of information to help act out roles and be accurate to the person they're faking, but no mind was meant to hold such vastness in the first place. Due to their mercurial nature, it takes great effort and concentration to focus and maintain a single consistent identity when their attention could be easily distracted as well as time to find the information amid all the memories. And that is assuming the knowledge from those memories are accurate: if knowledge of something is outdated, it will be of no help. Shapeshifting, far from being easy, is in fact incredibly difficult.

Spoiler: Vodkana, Mindscape: Orange Wasp

Show

As you connect to their mind, your vision is filled with a world of mirrors. In each one is a different person, and all the mirrors are shifting and flowing to show even more others. In the middle you see Orange Wasp surrounded by reflections of other people.
Who am I?
The mirrors shift and Orange Wasp was just one of many reflections.
Am I me? Am I one? Or am I many? Can I ever find my true self, or am I masks upon masks wearing more masks?
They all step out of the mirrors reach up to take off their face- and they are different people yet again.
Is this how I am meant to be, or just how I turned out? Can I even agree with myself on anything? Are my questions more myself than the answers my many reflections provide? Am I truly a consistent being, or just thousands of moods coming and going?
Such is the questions of Orange Wasp, the voices coming from each and every single reflection within. they turn to you, each voice different yet all asking the same questions

[Hawkflight]

"I believe Orange Wasp would be preferable," Starlight replied. "My spells make me sufficient at infiltration to put up a show of testing their abilities, and if it works, I can then throw the fight. My only concern is about their infiltration abilities being sufficient to throw me off -- we should stipulate that the fight should only test their combat abilities. Say that we are concerned about their focus on infiltration overshadowing their combat abilities."

Starlight continued working on the spell, while also keeping a mental "eye" on Vodkana and Orange Wasp. It would be more distracting to not keep an eye on them and worry, and their mindscape might provide a valuable weak point to target with the spell.

[Rater202]

...a direct combat demonstration...?

Aphel? How realistic would it be for you to have been traveling with someone who you, the emperor, consider and expert in terms of judging the viability of combatants? Because I think I know a way to to either goad him into slipping up and revealing whatever illegal things he's got in the Depths or a least an excuse for I myself to enter the building to try and find it myself: A judge that you, the Emperor, trusts to evaluate his unkillable's showing against your chosen test subject?

[Sagetim]

Delargo HQ: Reception

Max nodded to the receptionist, "Quite. I am Dr. Banders of Shining Futures Industries. I believe I have an appointment with someone in marketing? But aside from who I am, how has your day been? I can only imagine how dreadful and dull it must be to be stuck behind a desk all day."

While Max hadn't thought of any way to help the person stuck working retail at the Delargo storefront (short of offering him a job that Max wasn't sure would exist, setting a bad precedent that he would have to address later), he figured he could at least offer to hear out the receptionist's problems while he waited for his appointment. Possibly introduce the concept of a talk therapist to the culture of Lun-V at the same time. Well, they might already have those. Either way, Max would learn more about the situation he was entrenching himself in.

[igordragonian]

Vodkana clapped, but seemed distracted.

Spoiler

Show

Vodkana cringed a bit. But she could relate a lot to those questions.
Who was she? She herself was a paradox, a sin by her very existence. Gods of Destruction can't create, and yet.. she exist.
'Those are the wrong questions"' Vodkana said softly,
'The question is much simpler, yet harder. Nya. Who do you want to be?"

[Emperor Ing]

Interesting. Apfel remarked, a hand under his chin thoughtfully. You mentioned that Orange Wasp is no slouch in battle yet its design is clearly geared towards infiltration. And presumably, assassination. However such an overspecialization would leave such a being woefully unprepared in direct confrontation. I wish the fighting capabilities of Orange Wasp demonstrated, provided Deglargo Industries possesses the infrastructure to facilitate such a battle.

[Lord Raziere]

Reception
The receptionist looks at you. Blinks. Oh well, its more interesting than waiting around she guesses.
"Eh, Yeah, its boring, and at each of the day the boredom is punctured by periods of going through flying car traffic, y'know? The commute is dangerous these days. Not only the flying cars but sometimes ki users fly around as well....sometimes people crash into the ki users. so dangerous, been considering just taking the subway instead, impersonal but... no crashes at least. Oh but I did have some VIPs come in, weren't on the schedule, but....y'know, who am I tell them no? Something about a bio-whatever. I don't know, its all nonsense to me."
She quickly finds your appointment.
"Yup, you check out. Your appointment is on Floor 572, Room 113-B."

Snapshot: Getting the Details Right:
Unknown Location:
Little did Starlight know that while her spell will 100% work if it hits and is useful, the Deglargo Programming is not something thats contained to each individual Bio-android, but rather is apart of a private network with multiple computers at hidden locations that monitor the status of the programming and will work to put it back in, however its not perfect. Even working as fast as they can, there is a time delay between the programming being lost and being re-uploaded, allowing for short windows of freedom for the Unkillables. And even if the program is re-uploaded, its essentially reset by doing so- the specific vocal commands given to that Unkillable from the previous upload are lost even if they must follow the general rules of the programming. While the programmers are doing this, they cannot contact the higher ups to tell them whats going on- even making one phone call increases the delay time, and reporting that a bio-android is out of control BEFORE getting it back under control is a good way to get fired- its assumed that everyone already knows the bio-android is out of control, what they need is confirmation that they're back under control in case the Unkillables are faking it. None of the Unkillables know this information.

Two Deglargo programmers sit at a computer screen, gazing at the statuses of those implanted with Deglargo programming- nothing but numbers on the screen.
".....gods above, this is so boring. why are we here?"
"In an existential, cosmic sense or-"
"No, I mean why are we here in this room. Nothing ever happens. This programming is supposed to be foolproof right? Yet we're supposed to somehow safeguard against it going awry? The hell sense does that make? We could probably take a break and have some actual fun and no one would even notice, especially since there are backups"
"Look I know, its kind of garbage, sitting here waiting for something to go wrong when nothing ever has. But We're in a paramilitary company and any good military is paranoid as HFIL. Lots of our time is about doing nothing but standing around and waiting. Our job is important nonetheless."
"Yeah yeah, I get the speech, if the suits little super weapons go out of control because of some hacker, we're the people who have to act quick and fix the problem because if we don't they could blow up a lot of things and that we're basically the real heroes if we do this while the soldiers are just the guys who hold them off. But whats the real why we're here?"
"Because its a paycheck that actually allows us to use our degrees?"
"Heh, too true. Its scary though, these things can probably just replace entire militaries. what next, are they gonna replace us with bio-mechanical machines to keep control of them? Where does it stop?"
"machines to control machines? That could only go wrong, and yet....I can see some stupid suit thinking its a good idea. Why pay people when you can automate it all? Why send a soldier when you can get some drone who can't disobey you to do it instead?"
"and then there is this programming itself, I've gossip that the suits are thinking of figuring out a way of selling it as a way to control prisoners or to help people follow the law as a crime preventative measure, what do we do when people start programming their minds like that to be obedient little cyborg drones? I dread to think what we'll do when people start tinkering with our minds like that."
"Yeah, stuff like this in our job is why I drink. Either way you look at it, things are only just going to get more terrifying. Either the machines take over, or we become the machines."
"yeah....too true man.....too true..."

Deglargo HQ
Little did Deglargo or Red Mantis know, that not even either of them knew of all the Unkillables capabilities. While they are to an extent defined by their design, most of them had time to train to themselves, to figure out ways of using their abilities in other, better ways, and that many of them have raw talent of Freeza, the fighting genius of Goku, the single-mindedness of Vegeta and the creativity and smarts of Piccolo running through their veins. To say an Unkillable is worse at fighting than the other is to say one of the top ten wonders of the world is less splendorous than the other: only true to slight degrees and from a certain point of view, the completely wrong way to look at it. Particularly in the case of Orange Wasp and White Butterfly. These two know that they have specializations outside of pure combat and how they are important- but like all Unkillables they seek to defy the role imposed upon them.

They have been training to match their siblings in secret, knowing that their design makes people underestimate them. A true martial artist surprises their foe with what they've been holding back and a true saiyan takes pride in being a great warrior, and that often means keeping their true capabilities secret from their allies as well- no secret can be kept when shared. Orange Wasp does not know of Starlight or what she plans to do. The practical upshot is that taking on Orange Wasp is more dangerous than anyone knows.

Spoiler: Orange Wasp Mindscape:

Show

The mirrors suddenly show a bunch of people smiling, Wasps's mood swinging towards happy and peaceful at Vodkana's advice.
Your right....what do I want to do? I guess I want to help people with my insight to various peoples psychology perhaps I can be some kind of therapist and help them overcome their problems healing their minds and-
Then Waps hears Apfels words and suddenly her mood swings just as fast, the mirror suddenly filled with saiyans, pride and anger
-NO! What I want is to prove him wrong! I am strong! I'll show him whose "woefully unprepared"!

Deglargo of course just thinks this is a great idea: the more he can show these beings off, the more money he can probably make.
"That sounds like a great idea! Of course we have the infrastructure, who do you want Orange Wasp to fight against? You or..?"
"I'm ready for anyone!" Orange Wasp declares, suddenly having changed moods and identities.
Deglargo leads them towards a Deglargo-Brand arena. They put in there so that their guards can blow off steam between long bouts of boring guard duty. It is equipped for ki battles. In short there are three factors that no one knows about at play: The hidden combat abilities of Orange Wasp, Orange Wasp not knowing about Starlight's spell and how Starlight's spell interacts with getting rid of the programming. Things....are getting interesting.

[igordragonian]

Vodkana

Vodkana smiled. 'I will. I actually had a stressful day, and didn't blown any planet in the end. Nya." she has summoned her most basic Ki Paws.
She also thought, that 'speak with their fists' could compilment, their other conversation.
'Is that ok? Nya?"

Spoiler: Wasp's mindscape

Show

Vodkana sighed. 'Listen... it took me years to get it. But you don't have to prove anything. Ok? Nya?" she used her nightmare magic to create, Spoon, Jade, Starlight and Celestia.
'You want to fight? You want to get stronger? Cool. And you nya what? You can do both. Because you are a smart cookie. I am.. much more then a future to be Goddess Of Destruction. I have found an entertainment company of galactic scale. We have planets which you can blow up for fun... and also.. I am a cook. Nya. I enjoy destroying stuff, but I also want the people I love to be happy. Actually, I want everyone to be happy. It's confusing... but I think I can do it. And so you are. Esepcialy since you are probably immortal... you have time, to be anything! Nya! But do what YOU want, don't.... build your happiness om what others think of you...."

[Hawkflight]

[Is This A Motherbucking Jojo's Reference?!]

"Actually, that will be me."

Suddenly, Starlight materialized next to the group, teleporting in with an invisibility spell up before throwing it off, making it look like she had been there the whole time. However, she had taken a moment to disguise herself, so that she wouldn't be recognized as one of the heroes who helped take down Emperor Hailing. She reached up to brush a yellow braid back into place, and one could swear they heard the Pillar Men theme intensify. She turned and bowed to Apfel before turning back to Orange Wasp.

"My name is Stardust Crusader. I will be your opponent today."

[Rater202]

Nevermind. There goes my "egg him on or else infiltrate the building" plan... Unless you just want me to teleport in?

[Sagetim]

Delargo Headquarters

"Oh, it certainly sounds like the subway would be the safest route to go with. On the bright side, you would have time to read, knit, watch something. One of the greatest benefits to not having to direct where your method of transport is going. Floor 572, Room 113-B, thank you. I'll be on my way towards it. Have a good day." Max smiled and waved to the receptionist as he slipped off to head to the meeting location. While this put him in the same building, technically, as the others, it also meant he probably had a few hundred floors of concrete or other building material in between himself and the rest of them. That might prove problematic later...but if worse came to worse, he could dive out a window to get to the ground floor faster, then start working his way down from there. Maybe? The important part was really more that the secretary had mentioned unexpected VIP's showing up.

That's the kind of information that would have been handy if he hadn't already known it. So, if he keeps meandering along his strange little infiltration of Delargo, Max figured he might, maybe, actually run into something that the group didn't already know, or wouldn't find out from Apfel's investigation.

[Emperor Ing]

I hope you can forgive me for allowing one of my bodyguards to shadow us without your knowledge. Apfel apologized to Deglargo, in such a way as to imply that he did, in fact, have knowledge that Stardust Crusader was there the whole time. More importantly, it implied he may have more, and if there were beings strong enough that stood a snowball's chance of fighting anything that could seriously threaten the Emperor of the Arcosian Empire, then they must be strong, indeed.

[Lord Raziere]

With Max:
Okay, lets try that again. As Max meanders he overhears a few rumors from a few employees talking and drinking at watercoolers:
"I heard Kalzin had something sent in a tube all the way to the moon of Lun-XI, and now he has up and disappeared, weird huh?"

"I heard some seen a weird green girl with red eyes has been stalking the premises but no can seem to catch her."

"I've seen guards taking weird people-sized boxes down to the Depths, but none of the usual talk of failed experiments, whatever that itself means...."

"I heard one the guards had a scouter explode when they scanned a janitor. Nonsense, why would someone so strong be working a job like that?"

"I heard the guards discovered a strange corpse in one of the dumpsters, stories say its as if it had been sucked dry somehow, yet there was no puncture marks..."

"I heard they were sending stuff to start making "gold, silver and jeweled" models to one of the other branches of Deglargo, say they don't want to make 'em all at the same place. whatever it is they're working on..."

"I heard some of the mercenary Commanders have been getting some special "medical treatment", and now they never seem to get tired..."

"Heard some weird pink skinned guy with yellow snake eyes come through the receptionist desk, said he was going to the marketing department to discuss drug prices...."

"Heard one of the engineers grumble something about "Purple Moth 2.0" must be a real troublesome project, but y'know its all hush-hush...."
Your not sure how much of these are true, but a lot are good things to potentially follow up on.

The Shenron
Masala pouts as hug time is over when Starlight teleports out. Then looks at Jade who has now visibly relaxed.
"Will you be okay?"
Jade waves it off.
"I'll be fine. It'll take more than that to make me break down."
She did wonder however: has she only exchanged younger Oxyribo-esque judgment of who to kill for Apfel-esque viewing them as resources to manipulate and accomplish what she sees as right? Can that be called progress, or just trading one flaw for another? Thoughts for later.

Deglargo HQ

Spoiler: Orange Wasp Mindscape

Show

What are you talking about? Here and now, this instant I'm a saiyan! I have everything figured out! Those other mes can all go screw themselves! For however long this mood lasts, I am a warrior!
Say these mirrored saiyan memories, however, Vodkana hears background voices of other people, other identities wishing to come back to the fore, to have their own turn, to be themselves despite that.

Deglargo shrugs it off
"Of course, of course! A good Emperor always has a guard after all."
Orange Wasp thinks: Hm. One of Apfel's guards eh? Well clearly she must be used to fighting things that are bigger and stronger than her at least physically successfully doing so. Combined with her having hooves rather than hands, she couldn't grapple anyone physically either or at least not as well with anyone with hands. So she must make up for that with telekinesis, its the only logical answer. Probably ranged speed based fighting style, keep at range with power ki blasts optimized to be as great as possible, any melee attacks would come from her hooves and since they are all one side of her she can't use more than two hooves and they are from a predictable direction. Unless she optimized for pony-like melee and zips around like a pinball with the force of ten thousand charging bulls or something. Either way its unlikely this one gained the position she has through standing still and being a wrestler. Probably used to fighting smart. Though judging by her entrance she is a bit flashy and probably likes flashier more show-off-y attacks.
"Pleased to meet you, Speed, flashy ki attacks, telekinesis, lots of dodging, keep at range."
The nearby guards gape at this. Wasp has already figured out his foes fighting style? At a glance!? Nani!? The Deglargo referee- he is there to make sure no one kills each other- says
"Ready........Go!"
Instantly Orange Wasp shapeshifts a bunch of metal whips replacing his arms and wasp wings that then spread to try and cover the entire arena while shapeshifting up extra eyes to see everything in 360 degrees without needing to turn his head, all so that he try to catch Stardust in a grapple wherever she is, basically trying to shutdown the mobility that he is guessing you rely on.

Starlight knows instantly: She has found a foe that does not underestimate her.

[Frozen_Feet]

The group of potential customers "Oooh!" and "Aaah!" at appropriate points. Deglargo has a reason to be happy with himself, they seem to be suitably impressed by the Wasp's abilities...

... save for the Namekian, who is just standing, arms crossed, and glaring at the display with narrowed eyes.

[Hawkflight]

Deglargo HQ

"Pleased to meet you, Speed, flashy ki attacks, telekinesis, lots of dodging, keep at range."

The nearby guards gape at this. Wasp has already figured out his foes fighting style? At a glance!? Nani!?

"Stardust" frowned slightly and raised an eyebrow. "Impressive," she replied. "But I did not get where I am today without fighting intelligent foes."

She privately noted that he did not mention her use of magic or teleportation, which made sense as both of those were quite rare and unlikely to be predicted. Thankfully, she had learned numerous new spells in the past decade, which even her allies had never seen before.

Deglargo HQ

The Deglargo referee- he is there to make sure no one kills each other- says

"Ready........Go!"

Instantly Orange Wasp shapeshifts a bunch of metal whips replacing his arms and wasp wings that then spread to try and cover the entire arena while shapeshifting up extra eyes to see everything in 360 degrees without needing to turn his head, all so that he try to catch Stardust in a grapple wherever she is, basically trying to shutdown the mobility that he is guessing you rely on.

Starlight knows instantly: She has found a foe that does not underestimate her.

Stardust took a deep breath, watching as the metal whips whipped towards her, attempting to grapple her and restrict her movement. She whispered a single word.

"Accelero."

Suddenly, she was gone, a Stardust-colored blur enveloping her side of the arena. In the span of a fraction of a second, she had tied the whips around her together in knots, rendering them useless. She hoped that this would not only impede Wasp's whip tactics, but also his ability to shapeshift, though she could not be sure of either. She remained on her guard, searching for an opening to attack.

[igordragonian]

Vodkana backed off, diffusing her ki paw gloves with a sigh.
'I knew you can do it, Jade! Nya!"


She has followed the battle with curiosity.

Spoiler: Wasp's Mind

Show

'Oh, nyo. You are drunken mood. In my casinos, this is part, we send people home. So, you want to be like this, and regret it five seconds later, nya? Doesn't sound healthy to me.
Vodkana trying to use her telekenesis to drag closer, the other aspects of Wasp's personality.

[Rater202]

Oxy instant transmits into the room, behind the group who are all, hopefully, distracted by the fighting between Starlight and Orange Wasp.

He's not immediately recognizable as a bioandroid--a bit of yellow paint hides his spots while a bit of green paint and some polish and his dome--framed by much smaller crests than the pointlessly large ones of his prototype, now resembles an emreld arcosian biogem.

A bit of green lipstick and careful makeup around his eyes giving dark circles and wrinkles combine with this to give the impression of an Arcosion of advanced age, green and yellow of coloration.

At least, from the neck up. Everything else is hidden by a hooded black robe, ave for Oxy's extended tail poking from the back. It is disquised with the same spot hiding paint and a gree prosthetic tip.

Oxy stands with a hunched posture, contributing to the ilusion of advanced age.

"Is this it?" He asks, not in his own voice but that of an elderly man that Aphel has never heard of, in a total

Part of him is hoping that his suddenly speaking up scares the crap out of Delargo or one of the VIPS.

(He doesn't expect anyone to be able to sense his PL, as he is a God, but just in case he has his power suppressed to a paltry one hundred.)

"Bro... I'm not gonna ask you how you can so perfectly imitate Doctor Magenta's voice. All I'm going to ask is that you never do it again once we're done with this. ...and I just got out of therapy over what that bastard did..."

"It's painful for me, too. Aphel, I apologize about not waiting for the go-ahead but the opportunity was knocking."

[Sagetim]

Delargo HQ

Max noted these rumors as he passed by on his way to the meeting. Many of them filed away in his head for later, but one of them causing him to be a little more mindful of the power levels around him. After all, if there was a janitor that caused scouter's to explode, they were either a person of interest, or not actually a janitor...or they were a Janitor, there to 'clean up' the 'messes'. The other lead to follow up on was the person whose name he didn't recognize retreating to Lun 11. Someone scurrying off to a semi-remote location and disappearing triggered Max's suspicions, but he wasn't sure if the person who disappeared was a perpetrator of underhanded actions, or a victim.

In any case, Max made his way to the meeting. He offered a smile and a friendly attitude in greeting, while quietly ready in case they decided to use the meeting as a pretense to jump him.

[Lord Raziere]

With Max:
"Hello you are Dr. Banders? welcome this is our other guest today...what was it again?"
"Dr. Sarkandis of Dark Destiny Pharmaceuticals."
The thin man with snakelike yellow eyes takes your hand and shakes it. He was human, just like you.
"Pleassed to meet you. Odd to see a fellow human out here. Expanding trade as well?"
It is worth nothing that Lagerin Sarkandis, former noble of North City, former prisoner of Hell and enemy of Oxyribo has no idea who Max Banders is, and most likely vice-versa unless someone shared who he is with Max at some point.

Orange Wasp Duel:
"Ha! Be thankful that this is a duel not a real battle, or they'd be electrified! But that will not save you for now they will become-"
At this point, the steel tentacles would've turned into a net so that they can't be tied again, but instead:

Spoiler: Orange Wasps' Mindscape

Show

I'm not drunk! I have it all figured out, I'm going to be a saiyan, my dream is to going to be the strongest and defeat all the other opponents and-
One of the personalities you dragged closer punches the saiyan personality in the face. It is an ordinary gardener, the mirror shifting around chaotically.
-plant the best damn garden in the world now that I have the powers of a godlike being!

"-My garden of self! Behold my thorns! My vines! For I am the MOST DANGEROUS GARDENER IN THE WORLD!!!"
Suddenly the metal whips become vines and form into a plant-like mass of a wrecking ball filled with thorns, still tied up, Orange Wasp swinging it around at you on your side of the arena, somehow that warrior experience was gone for the moment, leaving Orange Wasp wide open, the movement resembling less an experienced warrior and more someone trying to use pure force to win.

Spoiler: Wasps' Mind Again

Show

Its clear to Vodkana who caused this change that due to the vast amount of personalities with Orange Wasp, only some of them have proper warrior experience and memories to help him fight effectively. And those aren't always available- a mind can only access so much information at a time. And you just forced his mind to access gardening and knowledge of plants rather than battle skills. One might deduce that not even psychic power is required- the right social manipulation might enough to trigger a shift in behavior and experience like this. This must be the reason why you don't put so many peoples memories into a single bio-android: while Orange Wasp may have unlimited potential to be whatever they want more than anyone else, they can only access so much of this potential at a time.

Meanwhile Deglargo is any way perturbed by the Magenta-voice imitation, he doesn't show it. A corporate man like Deglargo has spent his entire life being social and training himself to not be rattled by anyone he encounters, no matter how difficult they are. Always be polite to the customer!
"Hello good sir, I see you've come to observe this battle with your experienced eye. Another one of Apfel's guards I assume? My you are quite stealthy people, you should both meet Grey Spider, our next bio-android mercenary star to showcase! And hahahahaha, look at Orange Wasp being a goof again, its a joke around the office, last time it was "most dangerous mailman!"."
He says playing it off as it being normal elite mercenary eccentricity. He still remembers Red Mantis getting stuck with a bunch of letter-shaped ki attacks though.

[igordragonian]

Vodkana seemed fixated on the battle, even making a video with her Paw-Phone, not very subtle about it.
She simply here, as the super fun Presdient of Hailing Entertainment.
Right?

Spoiler: So, sit on the soffa of Doctor V.D!

Show

Vodkana has tilted her head, trying to hide her amuse. Splitted personality shouldn't be funny, and despite everything, Vodkana tried to be sensitive.

Vodkana thought about it. She has raised her hands and with all of her power tried to drag around her as much personalities as possible.

Her Nightmare Blue ki flared, hoping that in mindscape it will give her the edge.
"Ok. Nya. Your head is even messier then mine.
Let's have a seat." Vodkana has tried to create nightmare illusions of soffas to all of the personalities.
"You can't keep up like this. Nya!" she has created for herself a glasses both, to look more like a therapist, and also because glasses were cute.
"None of you can achieve your goals when you keep playing with each other the "King Of The Mountain." Nya."
Vodkana stood up and created an illusionary chalk board.
"It isn't productive at all. So I have three options for you." she has written "1" on the board, and drawn many skulls with with :3 smile.
"To destroy all the personalities but one. Nya. It might be the most simple... but, I think it sort of immorale. How can we determine who is the "real" Orange Wasp? As far as I know, all of you are equaly the real Orange Wasp. So let's not do it."
Vodkana wrote a big X on option 1.
Vodkana didn't really has considered to this. But this was a nice mental trick, which were probably used in every self respecting buisness. When you offer something, it's hard for the mind of the customer, to tell if your offer is good. By offering a legitmaclt bad offer, you making it easy, by giving comprasion. Now, it's easier to see the benefits of your real offer.

"Option Number 2! Nya!" she has drawn the number two, and drawn bunch of lottery tickets.
"Take your turns! Nya! You are immortal. Right?
You won't die of old age, and supposely, you cannot be killed! Nya? So, what the rush? Why can each of you take turns of day.. a four years, by this time, without distraction the current personality can go forward with his goals, and then give his turn to the next one. In few centuries, all of your dreams will be achieved! Nya!" she paused and drawn number 3. And next to it, a heart with a question mark inside.
"If this isn't working, I have an idea... but I am not sure if it will work, and the results might be a little bit chaotic. Nya."





Ooc: I have read the geniouse book of Dan Ariely "Predictably Irrational", which is about all those things of how our minds work, and how understanding it used in many fieldsz therapy, buisness... every social interaction in fact. I figured Vodkana would know those things. I hope it's ok.

[Rater202]

"Your elite, Unkillable mercenary is fighting like a rank amateur. They were halfway competent before, but now this is all fluff. No substance. It's like going to spacies and getting a SpaceSlam that's entirely syrup. Orange Wasp here seems to be a demonstrable example of the inefficiency of eccentric mercenaries: Well trained and loyal normal soldiers are almost always more cost effective then the lunatic who does what he wants."

[Emperor Ing]

Apfel shrugs. My bodyguard does raise an excellent point. Personality quirks are not unheard of among elite warriors. Indeed the obsession with dance choreography among many of the elite squads of the Arcosian Empire hasn't diminished. He knows Hailing didn't order them to do so, but whether or not they were still complying with Dread Pirate Chilled's last order, was something many scholars and amateurs, including among the elite squads themselves, debated. Neither are thematic fighting styles or techniques. This model is clearly easily distracted and unable to retain focus. I saw this first when it introduced itself as the elements of Ms. Crusader's fighting style.