[NEXUS] MagCave V: Tilt Your Head, and the Thread Number and Colon Look Like a Face!

[Mr. Moon]

Outside the Sneaky Room

"A shapeshifter, is it now? Very curious. You'll have to tell me how you did that sometime." Leaving Linda in Magtok's care was paying off far more than Mercutio had anticipated. When the three month period expired and Linda fell into his care, who knew what kind of creature he'd have to command? "Had you told me you were intending to do so, I would have made it easier for you."

And then Magtok asks a question which shifts Mercutio's curiosity very much onto him. He wanted to renegotiate, did he?
"Perhaps. It depends upon the contract. For one as small as, say, the one you and I signed, modification and even replacement is relatively simple. More... grandiose contracts require much more work, of course, to the point of being invariably fixed." The devil plays along with the hypothetical frame of Magtok's question. Mercutio was a patient devil, no point in rushing.

[Chaotic Bob]

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Cloning Vats

"No, not...not to my knowledge, no."

You could argue that a particular clone engaged in conversation with Mercutio is mentally unfirm, but the Magtok hanging out with Libby doesn't know a single thing about that entire ugly situation. In fact, as far as he knows, Linda is still on that cross, slowly being turned into an ice elf for the kicks and giggles of MagClones everywhere.

"Well, actually, there is one clone. He's blind in both eyes in a way that makes replacing them terribly unfeasible. Mostly does paperwork and managing interns nowadays, which is a lot easier now that all documents are stored in the MagComputer database now without any physical paper copies anymore and the MagCave ran out of interns months ago."

So...he's not doing anything at all? That definitely sounds like a waste of space and resources. He must have a list of some really fancy achievements before he went blind, or else some really awesome blackmail on whichever clones are in charge of issuing culling sentences. Maybe he's one of the cullers, even!

[Cloning Vats]

Libby inspects her fingers in that eerily innocent sort of way that usually implies something horribly is being planned.
"So you could probably afford to be down a paper-pusher for a teensy bit then, is what you're telling me, yes?"


Somewhere, Rhode wakes up from a nap.

Spoiler

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[Ponies and Scary Chimera]

The unnatural monster narrows her eyes ever so slightly at Rarity and responds simply. "I do not understand it, no. But it matters little. His purpose and mine are not the same. And I do not threaten. I merely warn. I-"

The creature's voice hitches momentarily, the next few words coming in a slight waver. A show of emotion from Raven? She regards Sigil with a pleading look.

"I do not wish to hurt you, brother. Please do not fail."

And then she's gone.

Sigil lets out a long, slow, tense breath. Pretty sure she's actually gone this time. "When we were born we all got to pick out bits of Mother's memory and personality to help define ourselves. It allowed us to be functional as soon as we started existing," the unicorn recounts. "Raven took only the knowledge of how to protect. How to fight. How to kill. Things were... bad when we were first born. Creatures like that Star were pressing in on the Nexus from all sides and we helped push them back. A lot of us died."

An involuntary shudder as Sigil recalls the events that prevented That Day from arriving. "I nearly died. Raven... she acts like that to push people away. To keep them from getting too close. She's already lost so many friends and it hurts so much. She's afraid she'll have to feel that loss again."

The unicorn offers a sad smile to Rarity.

"So... don't hate her. Please. I know she can do better but... she's afraid to try. Afraid of the pain it might cause her."

Blast it Sigil, Rarity was trying to indulge in the hate-train briefly.
Now look what you did!

She feels bad.
Ashamed even.

Still utterly convinced that Raven's behavior is absolutely ghastly, of course, but...if she's just a product of her environment like that...
"I did not know things had been so hard for you."
Why wouldn't they have been? The ponies had been here for mere days and everything has gone horribly wrong...Ibby/Sigil had lived here his whole life. The opportunities for awful must have been endless.

"She won't get better if she doesn't try, however..."
A slight concession that she could, perhaps.

Rarity is finding it difficult to figure out what to say precisely.
Feels a bit trapped by her own distaste.

[Rebonack]

[Derailing the Hate Train with Ponies]

Raven's behavior is utterly ghastly. But that doesn't mean there isn't some chance that she can do better.

Sigil reaches out with a hoof to pat Rarity on the back. "Don't worry about it so much. What's done is done. I think that with time Raven could come around."

Then a sigh.

Still no sigh of Twilight.

But apparently she's on her way?

And no response from the other side of the portal yet, either. Hopefully they're going to hurry... Oh! Maybe they could check up on them!

"Hey Rarity, do you have a mirror?"

[Lord Magtok]

Outside the Sneaky Room

"I'm going to assume you were speaking the truth with Linda. That this isn't so much about her and I, but Starling. His death, or at least his death now, before your three months are up, would be inopportune for you. Inopportune for reasons I can't imagine you freely sharing with me, which I won't waste my time pushing for."

Magtok glance towards the door out of the corner of one eye, before returning his gaze to Mercutio. Best hurry this up, Linda might stop seizing and realize he's been gone for too long or something.

"There are Magtoks who'd kill him just to spite you, clones of me actively working against that whole soul thing, as you already know, so they can arrange for exactly that. In fact, once the machine thing is up, if it's not running already, the only thing stopping them from going after the guy is the desire to further spite you by denying you Linda's soul, which would invariably fall into your possession if they broke their end of the deal."

Magtok shakes his head.

"But I'm sure you know all of this already. The important thing to note is this: Magtok souls are going to cease to be a renewable resource. Those clones that are in the afterlives presently are the only ones that are ever going to be seen out there ever again.

I'm not in the system yet, though. Still totally up for grabs, a potential collector's item, and I'm willing to exploit that for the gain of Magtoks everywhere, even if they won't entirely approve."

Magtok lowers his voice, taking a few steps closer to Mercy as he continues to scowl at the blue-skinned hellspawn.

"I'll give you Zeus. His power, his soul, his throne, whatever. I'm going to kill him sometime before Linda's hourglass runs out, and you can have what's left. A god's divine power and junk has to be at least double the value of whatever you're getting from Starling. All I ask in return is that you release your grip on Linda, whilst maintaining the regeneration bit for just an extra month. Additionally, when it's her time to die, the afterlife she passes on to will be decided by me, and by me alone. I can get her out here to sign on that, if you need me to. We both know full well she'd do it, too.

However, if I fail to deliver the lightning god's demise? You can have Linda and me. I would be the last Magtok soul to leave the Nexus, if all goes well with Libby. Of course, attempting to add myself to the updated cloning system before Zeus's execution will also cause the whole thing to be rendered null and void, with everything goes to you. How's that offer sound, Juliet? No matter what happens, you profit even more than you would've to begin with, and we neatly sidestep that aggravating soul recycler I'm sure you're absolutely furious about."

Dammit Magtok, Libby just finished scolding you for getting into deals with devils without having her step in as your lawyer! Are you seriously getting into this stupid mess all over again?

Cloning Vats

"We'd be helping him, honestly. Improving quality of life and junk. Blindness isn't fun at all, and a mostly-useless clone is a mostly unhappy clone."

Go ahead and justify it however you want, Magtok. It doesn't change the fact that you're sentencing a clone to a (hopefully) very temporary death. Let's hope he's in a forgiving mood when he returns from the dead, or there might be some problems.

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

Archer has fallen asleep on RobeSwish's lap. AcidShark Week continues to play on Sunny's hoverdrone. Only to be rudely interrupted by Mainframe's voice through a speaker.

We're ready to start hooking MagClones up to the network again. Of course it'll be a while before we get around to you, so don't bother getting up.

[Morty]

[MagCave in General]

Magtok will recieve a text message from Michalson:

One of my targets is dead.

[Lord Magtok]

MagComputer Room

"You didn't need to tell me that, then!"

Magtok glares at the speaker system, making a small mental note to kick someone in the face for this later. Shouldn't be too hard to ask Mainframe to seize control of one of those bots for a few moments, should it?

MagCave in General

Four more to go, then. Good luck. Don't get impregnated.

[Mr. Moon]

Outside the Sneaky Room

Oh. Well then. Wasn't that an interesting prospect?
Mercutio is silent for several moments after Magtok finishes speaking, startled and perhaps a little bit stunned.

"That certainly is an audacious plan, Mister Godlark. Very audacious indeed." If any mortal were to stand a chance at killing a god, Mercutio supposed that Magtok might be a contender for that role. "Before I entertain this further, however, I should draw your attention to the fact that you are asking something that may prove difficult. If Miss Dalihan's soul does not fall into my hands, I have no control over where it goes. You'd be better off asking your dear Ms. Libitina. However," he adds quickly, before Magtok can be put off by this, "if her soul does end up as my property - and considering her history there is a very strong probability that it will - I'll be quite able to comply. In addition, once the time comes I may be able to lend some indirect support."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cloning Vats]

"That is certainly a very cheerful way to view this, Maggy. No fear for your conscience, however.
It is not by our will that this will be done."
Libby could never kill a Magtok, nor even want to.


But a certain velociraptor, finding key behavior-inhibitors and equipment securities missing...
He certainly can.

Rhode is already hunting his quarry.

[Ponies And a Mirror]

Rarity is still frowning faintly...but she does nod a bit.
"I hope so. Not sure what can be done about that talent...but no matter now."
It is vile and horrific, but...it is what it is.

The unicorn is very done with this topic now, and sets her face slightly.
A little horn glow and a small, diamond-encrusted mirror daintily presents itself from her bag.
"Of course I have a mirror, darling. Why do you ask?"

[Rebonack]

[Ponies and Mirrors and Divination]

Sigil wrinkles his nose a bit at the very fancy mirror. "I need it as a reagent for a scrying spell. It'll let us see where our friends are and what they're doing. Y'know, see how they're coming along so far with retrieving the Elements."

A beat.

"The spell will destroy the mirror, though... Do you have one that isn't quite so... eeerr..."

Expensive?

Ostentatious?

Fabulous?

"Nice?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Dealing With Fancy Mirrors]

"Oh, that seems clever. I wonder if I can learn it."
It does involve mirrors and her friends.
Both things she's good with!

But for the moment, she's frowning and staring at her mirror for a moment.
"Perhaps you're right. I am rather fond of this mirror...this one is more disposable."
Another mirror is presented!

This one is only encrusted with measly sapphires.

[Rebonack]

[Ponies and Shattered Mirrors]

"Possibly! I think I know how I can adapt it to work with unicorn magic. It shouldn't be that hard considering that I'm already familiar with a psionic equivalent of the spell," Sigil replies as he reaches out with his telekinesis to take the MUCH less fabulous mirror.

And then he concentrates on it! "Show us Applejack the Earth Pony," Sigil intones in a firm, authoritative voice.

There comes a sound of cracking, grinding glass followed by the mirror fracturing into a fine sparkling mist. It then shimmers and flashes and resolves into an image showing Applejack and those around her!

...assuming that the palace isn't warded against scrying magic. Does scrying magic even exist in Equestria? Haven't seen it used before...

[Lord Magtok]

Outside the Sneaky Room

Magtok nods. "So long as her worldview stays more or less the same as it was last you spoke to her, then? That's simple enough."

He doesn't remark on Mercy's shock and awe. Just keeps a straight face and quietly smiles on the inside, rejoicing in the knowledge that he made that cool cucumber crack. He quickly spots on minor issue with his own proposal though, and hurriedly rushes to stamp it out.

"Oh, and one other thing. It's a bit of a minor grievance, but the deal should be framed in a way so that if Linda ends up getting the killing blow for me, it still counts. That's fair enough, right?"

Cloning Vats

Magtok shakes his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't agree with that. I identified the clone, leveled the rifle to his head, Libby. Even if it's not my finger on the trigger, I'm still not about to go that far."

Let a Magtok have his twinge of guilt, Libitina. Better that he not start excusing his actions, that road goes to a very dark place.

"Going to reroute a tube or two. New clone should drop through the ceiling once a death happens, fully robed and ready to punch me in the face."

Magtok tinkers with some settings, adjusts some numbers, and then opens up a portal. He promptly sticks his head through, holding a small thingamajig in one hand. Presumably it's the device that supposed to be attached to a clone to send their soul back into the system and junk.

"Hey. Blindguy. BatMag. The Dark Blight. The Cripple Inside Deserves, But Not the One It Has Parking Spaces For Right Now. Clone with no-"

"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME ALREADY?!"

That device is then shoved through to the other side of the portal.

"Here. Attach this to your chest. Oh, and if it falls off, you'll die instantly, so be careful with it."

"Sure, fine, whatever. Just leave me alo-Wait, what was that last part?"

"Sorry, no time, bye!"

The portal closes, and the clone who's been hanging around with Libby gives her a smile. Man, he sure got over that guilt fast, didn't he?

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

MagComputer Room

"You didn't need to tell me that, then!"

Magtok glares at the speaker system, making a small mental note to kick someone in the face for this later. Shouldn't be too hard to ask Mainframe to seize control of one of those bots for a few moments, should it?

"I wanted to tell you so I could watch you fume and glare impotently at the speakers." Mainframe says.

[Lord Magtok]

MagComputer Room

"I'm going to replace your voice with Cyban's as punishment for this. Just so you're aware in advance. We'll see who's technically genderless yet still defaulting to male pronouns then!"

Silly Magtok, you can't get revenge on a computer that has no feelings!


PatCave

((Note: Huge amounts of the following aren't mine. Only reason they aren't in quotation tags is because then you wouldn't see the italics and junk.))

Elsewhere, a certain MagClone with a certain implantation heads to a part of the lair that has not seen use in months. No, not 'it hasn't seen use' in the sense that whatever's going on there is off the records, like with Linda and NFB's old room, that's something else. What we're talking about her is a ghost-chamber, a barren little lab that nobody's ventured into since Cassius went to jail. Ant-tok enters Pat's lab, a number of her old sister-daughters trailing behind him like a cape. There's a chamber here, a chamber Pat told him to check out around this time.

The chamber itself cannot be seen through, a column of glassy stone that stands in the center of Pat's old Lab. Even though the chamber itself doesn't seem to have any levers, a small stand to the right of it has a simple lever and a note.The lever is labeled "Pull to release", but the note, carved into the stone, is much longer.

Beloved, if you choose to awaken what lays within, then I must surely have been gone a long time, or perhaps you just wish for semi-familiar company. Either way, I must admit that I initially lied to you, and for giving you false hope, I am dreadfully sorry.

The person within isn't me. She never could be. I was unable to find a way to split my mental processes completely while retaining personality. As it is, I had to start with something, some one new. While she will have many of my memories and abilities, she will be younger and more child-like than our first because she won't have the Mind to back up her knowledge. Even so, she'll know you and I feel she'll be quite loyal and friendly to you and the MagBots. I leave it up to you to decide what name you shall choose as I trust your judgement.

I know Cassius is likely serving his redemption still, so please let our daughter know that she isn't alone and even in my absence, I will love her very much.

- Always Yours, Pat Godlark

The truth stings, even more so when Magtok realizes why it is he came here. He'd given up hope on Pat's success in Hell, in only a matter of months had assumed she wouldn't be coming back, and slipped in here during the middle of the night to try to force her return. Pat and Harpoontok were dead to him. Even though the rational part of his mind continued to spit out sensible excuses for her prolonged absence, despite feeling terribly guilty for doing so, Magtok has given up.

And now, this is his reward. For trying to exile the memory of that harpooned clone and seize that Mag's betrothed for himself, he has instead been left to look like a fool, standing before not the Pat he intended to steal away, but a daughter to raise in that fallen clone's stead. It is an apt punishment, a fair sentence. The only sort of penance that makes any sort of sense, in a world that has long since discarded the notion.

"You'll need a name, though. Madison? No, not an M-name, nothing so vain and pompous..."

A name that has some meaning, maybe? Something to do with redemption, pride, beauty, or power? Best try for something that hasn't been heard a million times in the Nexus, too. Gods know she'll hate you for the rest of your days if you dare name her Alex, Alexandra, or some other name along those lines. How about-

"Renee. Renee Godlark. This is your-err, one of your fathers speaking. If you can hear me, congratulations. It's your birthday. I haven't got any cakes, but there's no doctors here to slap you either, so I guess it evens out."

Oh, a name meaning 'rebirth'. That works too, I suppose. Magtok pulls the lever, and waits.

[UncleWolf]

PatCave

As soon as the lever is pulled, the stone surrounding the cylinder slides down into the ground, revealing a glass chamber filled with green nutrient fluid and a form. The form within is small and slightly feminine. The newly christened Renee is a small girl, appearing to be about twelve to fourteen in age physically, and even though she shares the familiar dark skin of Pat's line, she appears to have been crafted with long brown hair. And as Ant-Tok will be able to tell, while she's currently covered by a thin layer of chitin to keep her protected and modest, she's quite a bit more human physically than Cassius had been at "birth".

Her eyes are closed at first, but a small comes to her lips when the fluids begin to drain. Her hair drapes down her back when it's done and she begins to cough badly when the glass slides down as well. When that's gone, she looks up at the MagClone, smiling with emerald eyes up at him. "Happy birthday to me."

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

"Excellent idea. I shall IMPLEMENT it IMMEDIATELY!"Mainframe says.

[Lord Magtok]

MagComputer Room

No! Noooo no no nooooooo! Mainframe isn't the slightly bit reluctant about the change, that just makes it eleven kinds of awful for him! Aaargh, and just when he'd dreamed he would never have to hear that voice again, too! DX

"Aaaaaugh! Make it stop!"

PatCave

"Welcome, Renee-"

Magtok smiles, sweeping across the room with one arm, as the other is held out to assist with any balance issues she might have in the very near future.

"-to life. We hope you have a long and pleasant stay. This isn't your room, by the way, this is your mom's room. Yours is just across the hall and completely undecorated yet because I had no idea I'd be doing this until just now and now I need to find a bed and get you things and find out what you don't know about and-"

Magtok blinks, catching himself already spiraling and babbling out of control. Let's fix that now. You only get one chance at a first impression, after all.

"Y'know what? Forget about all that junk, I'll worry about it later. For now, let's go get you some cake. Cake is wonderful, you're going to love cake."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cloning Vats]

Libby quirks an eyebrow, but says little.
Some weird combination of mortal and Magtok things just happened.

She'll just go with it.
"Should be only a few moments, I imagine."
The moving piece has a lot of pent up aggressions to get out.


[Blindy's Area]

And does it look forward to getting them out.

Rhode isn't sure how it knows the little target on its sensors is a Magtok, but it does.
Also not sure why its security and weaponry inhibitors have spontaneously failed, but he doesn't plan on complaining.

No, he plans to jump into that ventilation, find his way to the Target's room, then give those plasma cutters in its claws a good, long workout.


A master predator, despite what that dark goddess did to him, his movements are perfectly silent, fluid.
With Blindy's visual impairment, what possible hope does he have of noticing the cyber-raptor in time?

Judging by the yelling, absolutely none.

[Scrying Ponies!]

Applejack is shown rather simply.
No scrying blocks are present, it seems.

She is trotting in the castle halls, next to Rainbow Dash and Leaky (assuming he isn't blocked), with Celestia walking before her.
The ponies all seem rather grim-faced again, even the Princess.

"Well they seem to be alright. They're in the castle, so I would assume Princess Celestia is taking them to the Elements presently."

[Rebonack]

[Missing Ponies]

Sigil stares at the image for a few moments. Three Elements. Two Princesses. And Leaky. Buut...

"Oh no..." he mutters as a rather icky feeling settles in his gut. "Magtok and Pinkie are missing."

That!

...might cause a problem.

Sigil Stripe briskly trots over to the Gate and calls out to the guards on the other side. "Did Pinkie Pie and the metal monkey in the purple dress accompany Princess Luna into the palace?"

Hopefully they'll be polite enough to answer.

[Chaotic Bob]

[A Few Missing Ponies]

Luna and Fluttershy aren't immediately present either, although they're just slightly "off screen".
Perhaps they're with them?

As Sigil goes over to ask the guards, Rarity elects to keep watching the scry.
Perhaps she'll see something interesting.

Two guards look at Sigil Stripe and acquire very plainly exasperated looks.
Today is just...tiring.

"Something about brownies or fudge or something and a Sugar Cube Corner."
"Now be quiet and stay put."
Polite enough to answer.
But not enough to be nice.

[Rebonack]

[Totally Missing Ponies]

Well.

That's... interesting. There's a good chance that Sigil will disregard both of those orders. The 'be quiet' and the 'stay put' ones.

The stripy pony glances back at Rarity with a question!

"Hey Rarity? Where's 'Sugar Cube Corner'? Is that a shop in Canterlot somewhere?"

He's probably not going to like the answer.

In fact, he's almost certainly not going to like the answer.

[Chaotic Bob]

[A Bad Plan is Brewing]

"Where is her regalia...?"
Rarity frowns at the projection for a moment, before glancing over at Sigil.
"Sugar Cube Corner? That is the bakery Pinkie Pie does work for, in Ponyville. Why do you ask- don't even answer."

The unicorn is already sighing, fairly sure that she knows exactly where her friend is going with this.

Definitely the worst day ever.

[Rebonack]

[Ponies Keep Making Things Difficult!]

Curse those ponies! They drive me to frustration!

Sigil face-hoofs.

"Right... I think I saw a set of train tracks leading down the mountain when we were in the bird's eye view above the city. That'll probably be the the route they take back to Ponyville unless they feel like walking the whole way."

Which would probably take a while.

The unicorn begins fiddling with the Gate's controls again, causing it to suddenly stop being where it is and start being waaaaay up above the city again. From way up here it should be easy to spot the train station! Or at least easier.

The guards will probably be glad that the portal is gone.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Ponies Are Good At Being Difficult]

Pinkie Pie is...hard to keep on track.
Leaving her be with Magtok was probably a terrible plan.

"The train does run directly to Ponyville yes. What if they have already boarded?"

The gate moves up, up, and away!
Once more working pegasii will be giving it weird looks, but at least this time it's only two unicorns on the other side.

A pale green pegasus waves as he flies by.


Meanwhile, the train tracks should show them to the station just down the street from the castle.
Bird's Eye View mapping sure is easy, huh?

[Lord Magtok]

Cloning Vats

Magtok nods, and then peers at his wrist. He looks back up at Libby, and raises an eyebrow.

"I thought-"

Those two words are all he has time to say, however, before a clone drops in from the ceiling, draped in a fresh robe and a thin layer of sticky blue ooze from whatever cloning tank he was reincarnated inside of. That new clone immediately kicks Libby's 'tok in the shin, tries to shout something rude profane (but only manages to gargle some more blue slime that was still left over in his mouth), and then storms right out of the room.

"...Oww."

[Rebonack]

[Those Difficult Ponies]

"Hopefully they haven't. Otherwise this is going to be getting really fiddly," Sigil replies.

A pair of unicorns makes quite a bit more sense. One would expect unicorns to be doing weird magic experiments. Sigil waves back somewhat absently before once again tweaking the controls and WOOOOSH!

The Gate suddenly starts sitting near the train station!

And Sigil doesn't waste a moment, galloping through the rift to the other side yelling as he goes! "Pinkie! Magtok!"

Hopefully they're still there.

Hopefully they haven't left already!

Hopefully Sigil's letter will reach Luna soon. Temporal disconnects are weird.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cloning Vats]

Libby gives once-Blindy a little wave and a smile as he comes, kicks, and goes.
"Well that seemed to work out rather nicely."

Is she completely ignoring the shin-kick?
Probably. He kind of deserved it.
Besides, how can she get mad at him for hurting himself after killing himself to preserve himself?

None of that even makes sense!
"Pleasant to note that my drunken science fu is up to par."

[Ponies]

"Sigil, wait! Oooh, phoo."
Weren't they supposed to be monitoring this or something?

Probably.

Oh well!
Rarity runs after him.

[happyturtle]

MagComputer Room

MagComputer Room

No! Noooo no no nooooooo! Mainframe isn't the slightly bit reluctant about the change, that just makes it eleven kinds of awful for him! Aaargh, and just when he'd dreamed he would never have to hear that voice again, too! DX

"Aaaaaugh! Make it stop!"

"You WISH ME TO STOP obeying your FOOLISH ORDERS?
HahaHAhahaHAHAhahaHaHaHA! I ACCEPT!"

Sunny walks in while Mainframe is maniacally laughing. "Who are you talking to?" she asks, having never had the pleasure of making Cyban's acquaintance before. She's half afraid that Linette has run something dangerous inside this Magtok's mind.

[Lord Magtok]

Cloning Vats

Libbytok just sorta clutches his shin for now, content to simply gripe wordlessly about his leg pain than actually do anything of real use for anyone. Libby's totally not drunk, and both Cyberfunk and her know that, but let's save that argument for another time.

"So I guess the rest of the installation is done whenever, with priority towards anyone in the field who might die soonish. Can probably handwave that for the most part, seeing as it'd a terribly minor thing to do such an operation, give a few hours."

Magtok gradually picks himself back up, still a little unsteady on that one leg. BatMag held nothing back with that shin-strike, this is probably going to lead to a bruise or something.

"That's business out of the way, then. Did you have any other plans for the day, or is this where we part for now?"

MagComputer Room

"Mainframe! She's being a jerk! Not just a jerk, but a huge buttpirate megajerk!"

Come on, Magtok. You're an adult. Cyban's voice might be like shards of glass scraped against a chalkboard made from the undead flesh of infernal harpies, but that doesn't excuse this sort of childishness at all.