[Masks IC] Resurrection Roundabout: Drawing Individuals

[Balmas]

Dominus: DID BRAINSTORM TAKE OUT AN ENTIRE MEGAGOON SQUAD WITHOUT HIS ARMS?
Angel-IKA: Looks that way o.o

Ah, to quell or to spread? On the one hand, no harm in having a better reputation for danger. On the other hand, that meant that he'd be more likely to be targeted, if people thought he was a legitimate threat. So... therefore, spreading must be a good idea. If they're occupied with the non-threat, that means that the sturdier fighters have less pressure on them.

So there's some stuff you can just figure out because you're a super genius and you know how this tech works. Comstar is almost certainly using a Possibility Space Drive - a powerful Rx reactor that, among other things, allows her to crunch multiple alternate aspects of herself into a single reality. They're not safe, and they're not cheap, but she seems like the kind of person to accept those risks. Some of the original superhero generation can do stuff like this inherently but for someone like Comstar it means tech.

----

The first one is made difficult because Brainstorm can recognize that Prometheus' programming optimizes him for jumping onto and consuming other artificial intelligences, so you'd be pretty sure he'd have made the jump to Ferra during the fighting. Luckily there's a van full of infowarfare stuff over there that isn't even crashed into anything - it's a bit shot up, but it should let you do a systems purge on Ferra, maybe even remotely.

Find the Possibility Space Drive. It shouldn't be too difficult - it's a really big, bulky piece of technology, tonnes of wires, bleeding enough Rx radiation into the air to give a strong pepper aftertaste especially when it goes through an energy spike.

Okay. Grab the repeater, and then figure out priorities. First is to undo whatever damage Prometheus might have done. He's already lost one AI to his own hubris, and he's not going to let it happen again. That means charging--no, sneaking--at the van.

"The real heist is the frie -" Comstar was just starting to say when second guessed by Errant. But you're both teaming up to incite a monologue and Comstar is inherently incapable of resisting that.

"Oh well, nothing much," she says, rapidly flipping through the pages of the book - doing that hyper-rapid eye scan thing of someone photographing every page with their optical augments. "This is just Doctor Gears' secret lab notes. The ones he was narrating his invention of Ferra into. So money is one thing, and a good thing mind you, but an army of superpowered robots is another thing all together." She bites her lip with anticipation and tucks the book into her jacket.

"That's why you guys are so important! Your entire team all contributes to my master plan!" said Comstar brightly, both sides of her skipping over and high-fiving, standing on either side of Errant as @Sarahphim is carried back out through the vault door. "You two for the star power, Ferra for the prototype - then we just need to pick up Brainstorm on the way out, make him crack the code, and then we'll be able to take over the world! Nyaaah-hahahahahaha!"

Ooooooh, spitballs. Okay, double down on sneak and sneak fast, dammit. I want to be inside that van and hacking into Comstar's equipment before the Comstars have a chance to notice. I figure that van is the key to getting this thing sewn up quickly. She has to have a link to her fancy doodad, and if I were here I'd want it as close as possible.

[Thanqol]

=ErrantOfficial has joined=

ErrantOfficial: @SARAHPHIM
ErrantOfficial: Oh whoops. I was trying to ping you, not shout.
ErrantOfficial: Sub-vocal typing is difficult.
ErrantOfficial: I haven't been able to say anything due to obvious concerns re: your spine, but now that you don't have a gun jabbing into it I thought I'd remind you.
ErrantOfficial: You are, in fact, still in possession of a Hardlight Generator and it does, in fact, still work upside down.
Angel-IKA: Wait, what is happening???
ErrantOfficial: Please do not get so caught up in playing robbers that we let this highly dangerous object slip into the hands of a crazy person.
ErrantOfficial: You're a very good actor, by the way. I am jealous.
ErrantOfficial: The rest of you, please have a pleasant evening.

=ErrantOfficial has left=

Dominus: I TOLD YOU SHE WAS FAKING IT
Locker: yeh we knew dude
Angel-IKA: So Errant is good again?? When did that happen??
Ferraphim1tp: *grumps* Sarah didn't even blast her with a friendship ray or anything.
Locker: spoke too soon

A low whistle. A pause. Another frown.

"Why doesn't anybody ever want to team up with me just because they like me?"

"That's why puppets are so good, silly!" said Comstar.

[X]: GUILTY
POTENTIAL 5

Several lotus flowers unfold into being from nothing, eyes blinking in their depths. This is one of the classic @SARAHPHIM attacks, but the kicker is that she’s doing them while inverted on the vertical axis, and she’s still going to get the bullet pattern right. What a pro!

“Thanks for letting us know what you came here for, idiot,” @SARAHPHIM sneers before the flowers bud beautiful golden and azure light bullets all over the room.

[I want everyone to be aware I rolled straight Snake Eyes on this. So, uh. Bad times.]

The flowers bud, but it's not gold and blue - it's neon pink. Turns out that just unplugging yourself from a computer console doesn't make you immune to viruses.

The angle shifts, shifts, and then starts blasting wildly down the corridor, hardlight lasers cutting around Ferra and Brainstorm in a swirl of garish colour. Comstar gestures and Maria turns stiffly and starts walking down the corridor towards the other two hero, wielding @Sarahphim like a laser gun.

Directive: Do not take over the world. Ever.

Ferra looks askew at the two Comstars, before shrugging. "Interesting tech. Shame if something were to happen to it." She drops the Repeater at Brainstorm's feet, before stepping forward towards Comstar. "I was under the impression that all of Dr. Gears' laboratory notes were in the Gears Foundation's hands. Do you know how this ended up here?" There's a bit of a low edge, and it's not actually directed at Comstar. She knew what his technology was capable of. She did not want it floating loose in the world. Comstar having it is a problem. BlackStar, or the people who hired BlackStar to protect this vault, that would be the far bigger problem.

Ooooooh, spitballs. Okay, double down on sneak and sneak fast, dammit. I want to be inside that van and hacking into Comstar's equipment before the Comstars have a chance to notice. I figure that van is the key to getting this thing sewn up quickly. She has to have a link to her fancy doodad, and if I were here I'd want it as close as possible.

So, the two of you are just about to make your run at the van when suddenly there's a wall of lasers in the way. Maria and @Sarahphim are coming right at you layering down incredibly intense firepower. If you just want to straight run across the gap to the van it's going to be taking a powerful blow, but you might want to do something else to try to deal with this at the source.

[Balmas]

Brainstorm freezes momentarily, but then a wide grin splits his face. Before the first lotus blossoms, Brainstorm is already stepping towards the eye of the storm, and tracing the steps of a memorized dance. "Really, Comstar?" he drawls. "You have access to @SARAHPHIM's systems, and the best you can do is copy her? Stream, back me up here; who else already knows this pattern? Filthy hack can't stream without leeching off a star and can't draw without tracing a real artist's work."

With a final pirouette and a flip of the bird, he yanks open the doors to the van, and stares. Now, to deprogram Ferra--and hopefully not get shanked too badly by a pair of pissed-off prima donnas.

[Raz_Fox]

[X]: GUILTY

Okay, this is the part where @SARAHPHIM is just incoherently screaming. Like, howling and shrieking as she’s shaken around like a ragdoll shotgun being used to spray the room.

But then she does her best to start squirming out of that terribly strong grasp! Her bodysuit’s slick and good for that, and she’s flailing and going for the face of the megatrooper holding onto her.

This is why folks watch @SARAHPHIM! She’s got the raw sparks and moxie to do something this suicidally stupid and still come out on top!

...usually.

[Directly Engaging! That’s a 7, and I want to... impress the opposition, because I am almost certainly not going to make the upcoming Powerful Blow. Oh, wait, that’s an 8, so I guess... give ground. Maybe release the Megatrooper from the virus control on accident?]

[PhoeKun]

Are you serious? Is this really happening? Could a plan please hold together for just 30 seconds before something comes along and scraps it?

Errant fights away the urge to claw her own face off and settles for just throwing Brainstorm a dirty look. Between the distance, the bullet curtain he's in the middle of dodging, and the angry villain he's calling over to him he probably doesn't have time to actually notice it, right? Right, good, ok. So now Plan... god what are we on at this point? G? Urgh. Right. So. Priority number one, now that there's a moment to do it in, is to get @Sarahphim back on her own feet and away from anything that makes her a good hostage. That'll give everybody a free hand to do things in between bouts of becoming hacked pawns of evil.

Problem: how?!? Errant's brain spins. It lands on a solution, but it's an awful solution and she veers away from thoughts of radioing Command with all the force of a child convinced they're running away from home. So what else? What else?! What else?

[Errant has attempted to Assess the Situation again and find a clearer path forward. Result: 6. Maybe she shouldn't have rejected Comstar's influence after all!]

[Thanqol]

Angel-IKA: Woah! @Sarahphim just took out Ferra and that Maria chick in the same sequence!
Locker: i guess thats the answer to who wins that fight
Ferraphim1tp: Wait, is that Ferra? It doesn't look like Ferra. That can't be Ferra, right?
Locker: dsnt matter shes dead now.
Ferraphim1tp: Ferra's a robot, that's... I think I need to rewatch that clip, this doesn't seem right.
Bode: Excuse me, Dominus. You know how long it takes an overloaded Rx reactor to explode, right?
Dominus: WHAT OF IT
Bode: Would you please put a big dramatic red countdown clock on screen for the rest of us?
Dominus: HEH. YES, I CAN DO THAT.

[X]: GUILTY

Okay, this is the part where @SARAHPHIM is just incoherently screaming. Like, howling and shrieking as she’s shaken around like a ragdoll shotgun being used to spray the room.

But then she does her best to start squirming out of that terribly strong grasp! Her bodysuit’s slick and good for that, and she’s flailing and going for the face of the megatrooper holding onto her.

This is why folks watch @SARAHPHIM! She’s got the raw sparks and moxie to do something this suicidally stupid and still come out on top!

...usually.

[Directly Engaging! That’s a 7, and I want to... impress the opposition, because I am almost certainly not going to make the upcoming Powerful Blow. Oh, wait, that’s an 8, so I guess... give ground. Maybe release the Megatrooper from the virus control on accident?]

Your lasers rake wide, beyond your control, and Ferra isn't quick enough to get out of the way. You land half a dozen clean shots straight to centre mass in an assault that would be highlight reel worthy if it wasn't for the particular target.

But then you start fighting back. Like a cat that has decided that it will not go to the vet today you twist and thrash and squirm and claw and through sheer chaotic force and the willingness to tear your bodysuit a little you're able to rotate around so that you're aimed directly at Maria and she starts taking point-blank hardlight blows all over - and with Comstars' attention elsewhere she has to just stand there and take it. Finally with a particularly large explosion you envelop her whole body in shining light causing her to let loose an involuntary yell of pain. x50 hit combo!

Her blackened and scorched armour crackles and smokes. And then there's the small tink as a broken and ruined Repeater lands on the ground behind her.

[Marking Angry]

Maria throws you furiously through a bunch of the advanced machinery. She follows it up with an indiscriminate blast from her nanopulser. Immediately the delicate precision tech starts going haywire as the nanobots infect everything, multiple small explosions starting to strike out around you. A spike of energy runs up into the room's generator and it crackles with bright energy, starting to overload. The entire building sways and now things are very much on a clock.

Are you serious? Is this really happening? Could a plan please hold together for just 30 seconds before something comes along and scraps it?

Errant fights away the urge to claw her own face off and settles for just throwing Brainstorm a dirty look. Between the distance, the bullet curtain he's in the middle of dodging, and the angry villain he's calling over to him he probably doesn't have time to actually notice it, right? Right, good, ok. So now Plan... god what are we on at this point? G? Urgh. Right. So. Priority number one, now that there's a moment to do it in, is to get @Sarahphim back on her own feet and away from anything that makes her a good hostage. That'll give everybody a free hand to do things in between bouts of becoming hacked pawns of evil.

Problem: how?!? Errant's brain spins. It lands on a solution, but it's an awful solution and she veers away from thoughts of radioing Command with all the force of a child convinced they're running away from home. So what else? What else?! What else?

[Errant has attempted to Assess the Situation again and find a clearer path forward. Result: 6. Maybe she shouldn't have rejected Comstar's influence after all!]

So the good news is that the @Sarahphim situation has resolved itself. The bad news is that an absolutely livid megagoon is currently going on a rampage and you're her next target.

Sometimes when you're fighting a cybernetic peer it can feel like the battle was won or lost months ago in an engineering lab and you're just along for the ride. Maria is ruthless, dangerous, and brutal - not shy at all about integrating headbutts and bodyslams into her fighting style. That's not the real problem, though - the real problem is that she just started a chain reaction that's going to send this whole building up in smoke and she's too stupid to realize.

You've got a choice. You can stand here, trading blows with her, and hope that you bring her down before the building detonates. Or you can turn your back, fix the reactor, and hope that you can endure the onslaught. What do you do?

[Directly Engage or Unleash Your Powers (your powers being super-durability).]

Brainstorm freezes momentarily, but then a wide grin splits his face. Before the first lotus blossoms, Brainstorm is already stepping towards the eye of the storm, and tracing the steps of a memorized dance. "Really, Comstar?" he drawls. "You have access to @SARAHPHIM's systems, and the best you can do is copy her? Stream, back me up here; who else already knows this pattern? Filthy hack can't stream without leeching off a star and can't draw without tracing a real artist's work."

With a final pirouette and a flip of the bird, he yanks open the doors to the van, and stares. Now, to deprogram Ferra--and hopefully not get shanked too badly by a pair of pissed-off prima donnas.

"Ohhhh, I'm going to get you," said Comstar, shaking her fist. She storms over after you, forgetting entirely about the chaos going on all around her. It's not a great move for her - she doesn't have any of her puppets on hand and she's not even holding a weapon. If there was ever a time to punch her, this is that time.

[Eldest]

Ferra goes down. Hard. Arcing bits of power, a cratered hole in her chest, she does not die pretty. The lights in her head flicker, fade, as she goes back into a dreamless sleep.

Gears Project 749.2 failure
restart? y/n
...
y
booting 749.3
Gears Project 749.3 Reboot Complete
Do good out there.

There's a shifting, a change in what could have happened. And the lights click back on. She's sleeker, she's got a metallic, glittering sheen, and she looks angry.

Trigger Regen.
Physical Appearance shift.
Ability shift.
Lessons forgotten.
Angry marked.

[PhoeKun]

Errant parries Maria's first blow, dodges the second, and then gets dropped to one knee by a headbutt she's not remotely expecting. She shakes her head to clear it, then rolls under Maria and kicks her in the stomach with one smooth motion. Then she's up and running.

You're right, you know. You're absolutely right, this battle was determined way before the woman or the girl decided to start fighting it. It was really decided before Errant even put on a uniform. Before her limbs were whatever composite alloy they are now. It was decided back in that fire, in the Arcology, when she realized the type of person she wanted to be. And that's not the type of person who's willing to let a building explode if there's any damn thing she can do about it.

She makes a dive for the nanopulsar to reverse it and stop the damage, and gets kicked in the ribs for her trouble. She tries to turn her attention to the generator itself to locate the damaged sections and run repairs as best she can. This gets her lifted up and dropped spine-first onto a cybernetic knee. Again and again and again. Errant gets knocked down, smacked around, and brutalized, but other than to twist her way out of a choke hold or throw another kick to clear some distance, she doesn't fight back. She doesn't get distracted, and she always, always pops back up again.

Some of her ribs feel cracked. She's also sure she's got some bleeding going on somewhere. Her left arm is spitting sparks. But damn it, she's got this.

[Unleash Your Powers: 8. Errant marks Hopeless, but invokes her impossible toughness]

[Raz_Fox]

@SARAHPHIM manages to roll with the landing and gets safely behind a desk when the nanite shots start going off. Score. Who knew that overwhelming firepower would once again be the solution to all her problems? Now the coast is clear and she can go punch Comstar. A lot. One punch for every lancing bullet that took down Ferra.

Except it was her fault. This whole thing, when you think about it, really. If she hadn’t frozen. If she’d taken Comstar out before she set Errant on fire. If she’d been smart enough to figure the whole thing out.

A sharp, pained grunt. The meaty sound of cybernetic limbs slamming into too, too yielding flesh. This time, @SARAHPHIM doesn’t choke. She has a goddamn job to do and she’s going to do it, and she’s going to show Errant that the streamer is the real superstar here. Everything ends well, and she’s too cool to be hung up on things like “hey remember how Errant screamed when the fire hit her.”

Nope! Now is the time to let Comstar scurry under whatever rock she calls a lair and instead save Errant from a salaried employee.

She pops back up and activates one of her trademark mandala halos, something guaranteed to catch the eye. Nobody ignores @SARAHPHIM. Nobody.

“She’s not the star, jackass,” our swaggering hero says, sending a red streak blurring across the room to splash against the goon’s cheek. “So you gonna come get round two or what?”

[A solid 8 on this Defend Others roll. Looking to clear Guilty here by sacrificing the takedown on Comstar, which will be a huge blow to her ego when Brainstorm gets the confirm.

Also I would like to take Influence on Errant please and thank you.]

[Balmas]

"Ohhhh, I'm going to get you," said Comstar, shaking her fist. She storms over after you, forgetting entirely about the chaos going on all around her. It's not a great move for her - she doesn't have any of her puppets on hand and she's not even holding a weapon. If there was ever a time to punch her, this is that time.

Yeah, see, that's logical. That's sensible. That'd be the smart thing to do. Brainstorm fought for this van, braved lasers and roided-out amazon megagoons. It only makes sense to fight for it now, make sure Ferra doesn't get influenced by Prometheus.

But seeing Comstar bearing down on him? Seeing the three other heroes duking it out with Maria? Yeah, {scrubbed} that noise. Something snaps inside him, and Brainstorm's out, scuttling along the walls like a cockroach running from a flashlight.

[Running away to clear Afraid]

[Eldest]

Ferra glows red and angry, eyes only for Comstar. She lurches up from the ground and shoves both her hands towards the villain, palms emitting an high pitch hum. "Down you go." And a blast of pure sound slams into her.

Rolled an 11 on directly engage, call it avoid her blows and impress/surprise/frighten the opposition. Also, I'd like to wreck the van to clear Angry.

[Thanqol]

Ferraphim1tp: o.o thats ferra
Dominus: NO ITS NOT, THATS A CHICK
Ferraphim1tp: o.o; ferra turned into a chick
Locker: ferra cant use supersonic blsts tho
Ferraphim1tp: o.o;; ferra turned into a chick and gained new powers
Angel-IKA: I think she looks really cute!
Feraphim1tp: o.o;;; all my fanfiction is coming true
Angel-IKA: YOU HAVE FANFICTION WHT ARE YOU NTO SHARTING YOUR FANFICTION
Bode: Oh boy, here we go
Ferraphim1tp: femrra.png
Ferraphim1tp: femrra2.png
Ferraphim1tp: femrra3.png
Angel-IKA: o.o;;;;
Ferraphim1tp: femrraphimDRAFT.doc
Ferraphim1tp: femrraphimDRAFT2.doc
Dominus: ARE YOU SERIOUSLY POSTING YOUR FANART RIGHT NOW WHILE SARAFIM IS IN THE PROCESS OF KICKING ASS
Ferraphim1tp: omg your right I can't share this its awful what am i doing ><
Angel-IKA: No! Wait! It's really good!
Ferraphim1tp: ><
Bode: Aaannnnd she's wiped it all.
Angel-IKA: Damn it!

Some of her ribs feel cracked. She's also sure she's got some bleeding going on somewhere. Her left arm is spitting sparks. But damn it, she's got this.

[Unleash Your Powers: 8. Errant marks Hopeless, but invokes her impossible toughness]

Nope! Now is the time to let Comstar scurry under whatever rock she calls a lair and instead save Errant from a salaried employee.

She pops back up and activates one of her trademark mandala halos, something guaranteed to catch the eye. Nobody ignores @SARAHPHIM. Nobody.

“She’s not the star, jackass,” our swaggering hero says, sending a red streak blurring across the room to splash against the goon’s cheek. “So you gonna come get round two or what?”

[A solid 8 on this Defend Others roll. Looking to clear Guilty here by sacrificing the takedown on Comstar, which will be a huge blow to her ego when Brainstorm gets the confirm.

Also I would like to take Influence on Errant please and thank you.]

The countdown stops. Somewhere Dominus sighs disappointedly.

Maria stands panting, eyes flicking back and forth between you.

Then she surges. She grabs each of you by the collar and throws, huge and over-handed. You soar from the vault and slam into the side of the wrecked comms van. Immediately Maria lunges for a console, rapidly presses a few buttons and -

The hardlight barrier of the vault slams shut. Locking her inside.

[Marking Afraid, and defeated]

You can hear her through the barrier as she paces back and forth like a caged animal. "Command, I've been beaten. Send in reinforcements. TAGs and counterhackers. Maybe air strikes, whatever you've got."

Yeah, see, that's logical. That's sensible. That'd be the smart thing to do. Brainstorm fought for this van, braved lasers and roided-out amazon megagoons. It only makes sense to fight for it now, make sure Ferra doesn't get influenced by Prometheus.

But seeing Comstar bearing down on him? Seeing the three other heroes duking it out with Maria? Yeah,{scrubbed} that noise. Something snaps inside him, and Brainstorm's out, scuttling along the walls like a cockroach running from a flashlight.

[Running away to clear Afraid]

Ferra glows red and angry, eyes only for Comstar. She lurches up from the ground and shoves both her hands towards the villain, palms emitting an high pitch hum. "Down you go." And a blast of pure sound slams into her.

Ferra comes out of nowhere. Comstar hits the ground. She stays down, only a low moan of pain indicating that she's still conscious.

[Marking Afraid, and defeated]

The other Comstar looks at this, thinks for a moment, and then produces a gadget from her wrist and activates it. There's a burst of Rx energy and you again get the polychromatic aftertaste you had before, turns out that's what it feels like when an Rx teleporter goes off nearby.

And suddenly... just like that... it's over.

Maria's locked herself in a box. One of the Comstars is on the ground giving up and the other has split the scene. The megatroopers are either unconscious or evacuated. Prometheus is disconnected (aside from that one fragment that got into Ferra's head, but there's now no longer a convenient BlackSun signals van on hand to clear it out from).

That's it. You won. You won!

[PhoeKun]

Hold it together, girl. Hold it together. You are so close, so just...

With effort, Errant drags herself back out of the remains of the poor signals van. She stumbles across the distance between herself and Comstar, produces a pair of handcuffs from her belt, and clips them between the villain's wrists.

"Criminal Designation B-2664, uh... A, I guess, you are under arrest for attempted grand theft larceny, assault, possession and use of unauthorized technology, and possession and use of a controlled substance. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney, if you can afford one. And you should give up on this bank robbing crap forever, because it is an utter waste of your talents."

Uh, yeah? That's what you're going with? Euna, she set you on fire, why are you-- She shakes her head. Hold it together. The next part is automatic, though given the circumstances it probably shouldn't be.

"Command, this is Special Agent Errant. Mission complete, requesting extraction. Suspect is in custody and, uh, also at large. We... crap. Guys, do we have eyes on the notebook? Which one had it? Wait, what? When did we get a robot girl? Where is Ferra? Is that Ferra? The hell did I miss?"

Her head spins. Hold it together.

[Balmas]

Brainstorm runs. Limbs lash out, claw holes in the wall, drag him forward as quickly as the nanobots can be ordered to reform. He runs, Comstar behind him, a gun to his head, Prometheus corrupting his friend, limbs cut off, helpless, useless! He runs, and does not stop until finally it filters in that it's too quiet.

Clinging to the ceiling, Victor dares a look behind. Then he hesitantly ventures a look at the stream.

Damn. He'll have to PM Ferraphim later.

What is he doing? What does fanfiction have to do with this? That doesn't matter! Friends! That's if they'll even still have him, after he left them in a lurch. They all saw him run, saw him abandon them.

Brainstorm turns, takes a deep breath, and slowly begins the walk of shame back to the team.

[Eldest]

Ferra takes a moment, slowly lowering her arms from where they were held, hum dispersing. "I appear to have discovered new capabilities." She declares, somewhat matter of fact. "And possibly a temper." She bats away the urge to give Comstar a ill-natured kick: she was captured and helpless, you did not do such a thing. The fact that she even had that urge was confusing. All of this was confusing.

[Raz_Fox]

Guess who’s jacking Comstar’s stream to log off with a blown kiss and a cheery wink, before cutting the feed? That’s right, it’s @SARAHPHIM. Let’s leave the scene with that, shall we?

No, really, now is the time to get out of Dodge. Before more people with guns show up and point them at Errant. She waves over Brainstorm and... robot girl? “Holy hells,” Sara breathes. “Did you... level up? Evolve? Hatch??”

Now she is All Over Ferra, poking and peering and not respecting personal space. “Tell me your secretsssss.”

[Eldest]

Ferra endures it with the stoicism of somebody who does not understand the concept of personal space applies here. "According to the diagnostics system, I was designed with, ah, these." She powers up a palm for a second, subsonic buzz setting teeth on edge momentarily. "And have always had them. Which conflicts with my memory of them reading that I was designed with the ability to use hard-light constructs, and always had those." She frowns without thinking, peering at her hands. "I do hope Comstar did not get any sort of hacking in on me. That would explain this, but it would be... detrimental."

[Balmas]

Brainstorm drops from the ceiling, and coughs. "Er. Yes. That would be a reasonable assessment, and I propose that we retire to Mami's immediately, before more Megagoons show up. Once there, I should be able to see about stripping any... Holy crap." Had Dr. Gears' notes mentioned that? Did he build that into Prometheus? Dammit, he had to have done. Meticulous note taking, and then added improvements.

"...Never mind. Virus. Yes. I'll check for that and do my best to strip out any alterations that Comstar made."

[PhoeKun]

"Gaaahhh, don't do that!" Errant scolds while also jumping four feet into the air.

It's unusual for her to be this jumpy, but then it's unusual for her to look this bad after a mission. Her uniform's in shambles and her hair, which is normally so straight it makes people wonder if it's an aug, is a frizzled mess. Cut her some slack, chat. It's been a day.

"No, you're right of course. We should clear out, and you all need looking after. Make sure you triple check Ferra, we're in huge trouble if she's compromised. But, um, good work everybody. You held up really well even though..."

She trails off. She'd forgotten protocol. She kneels down and begins a slow and careful pat down of Comstar. Officially, she's checking for edged or hidden weapons and any other dangerous materials or contraband, but more than anything she has to know. Which one of them had that notebook? Did Errant just aid in the theft of one of the most dangerous artifacts of her lifetime? Forget being fired, was AEGIS about to throw her in jail?

[Thanqol]

Dominus: MWAHAHAHAHA. LOOK AT THAT VIEWERSHIP SPIKE. TO THE VICTOR GOES THE SPOILS
Locker: cool looks like today is done
Angel-IKA: What about the BlackSun reinforcements? Won't they have to fight their way out of the bank in another extended action sequence?
Ferraphim1tp: ><
Locker: doubt it
Bode: I've just heard that the Shogun is deploying to the scene. BlackSun isn't going to mess with her.
Angel-IKA: So it's over! OMG! It's over! That was the coolest!
Locker: yeah it was ok not really many new pattrns tho.
Dominus: EXCEPT THAT TIME SHE LASERED TITS ONTO FERRA?
Locker: oh that was pretty sweet yea.
Angel-IKA: Do you really think @Sarahphim did that!? O.O
Locker: if she could she'd do herself first
Dominus: SARAFIM IS FINE THE WAY SHE IS YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU PATHETIC MAGGOT

Hold it together, girl. Hold it together. You are so close, so just...

With effort, Errant drags herself back out of the remains of the poor signals van. She stumbles across the distance between herself and Comstar, produces a pair of handcuffs from her belt, and clips them between the villain's wrists.

"Criminal Designation B-2664, uh... A, I guess, you are under arrest for attempted grand theft larceny, assault, possession and use of unauthorized technology, and possession and use of a controlled substance. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney, if you can afford one. And you should give up on this bank robbing crap forever, because it is an utter waste of your talents."

"It was a good show though, right?" asked Comstar. Now that the cameras were off there was almost a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Command, this is Special Agent Errant. Mission complete, requesting extraction. Suspect is in custody and, uh, also at large. We... crap. Guys, do we have eyes on the notebook? Which one had it? Wait, what? When did we get a robot girl? Where is Ferra? Is that Ferra? The hell did I miss?"

Her head spins. Hold it together.

"Understood. BlackSun is escalating but so are we, and we have a much higher ceiling. Don't worry about your evacuation route, Agent, we have it covered. Take your time and do it right."

She trails off. She'd forgotten protocol. She kneels down and begins a slow and careful pat down of Comstar. Officially, she's checking for edged or hidden weapons and any other dangerous materials or contraband, but more than anything she has to know. Which one of them had that notebook? Did Errant just aid in the theft of one of the most dangerous artifacts of her lifetime? Forget being fired, was AEGIS about to throw her in jail?

A good call. You keep coming up with gadgets, repeaters, backup hacking devices, smoke bombs - there's stuff everywhere. Tricks for days. No guns, though, nothing lethal - not even any sign of that flamethrower, that must have been the other one.

But - but! She does have the book! You got the Dr. Gears notebook! Not an unambiguous win - you know she managed to scan it with her implants - but you've got the physical thing at the end of the day.

[PhoeKun]

"Not really, no." Errant tells Comstar with an arched eyebrow as she finds a sixth repeater and tosses it on the pile. "Your ad lib and your acting suck, and you neither pushed a consistent narrative or a consistent framework. Your chat hates you right now because I didn't die. They don't even realize how good your camera work is. Go straight. Be a director. If you make movies I will go see every one of them."

Her hands are shaking. Hold it together. Remember, rehabilitation comes after subduing. Just... remember your training. And try not to think about how creepy Command sounded just now. To keep from punching something (or someone) she snatches up the notebook and walks it over to Ferra. She can't bring herself to look directly at Ferra's new body, and settles for awkwardly staring at a spot near her feet while extending the book out.

"Th-this is technically stealing I guess, but nobody has more of a right to this than you. Whatever happens to it is, uh, your call."

[Eldest]

"All of Dr. Gears' notes, research, and inventions are property of the Gears Foundation, myself included. I will return it." She takes the notebook. "My concern is Comstar's access to the notebook. The Foundation may request that those files be deleted from this Comstar, though I am unsure if the other one would have had time to access it." She turns to Comstar. "While theatrically dramatic, shows involving the endangerment of the public are frowned upon, and illegal. I would suggest finding another outlet."

[Balmas]

"It was a good show though, right?" asked Comstar. Now that the cameras were off there was almost a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"People whose lives you were endangering may not be the most impartial critics," Brainstorm spits. "Ten points for ingenuity, plotting, and showmanship, but minus fifteen for attempted theft of viewership and reckless endangerment of the people around you."

A good call. You keep coming up with gadgets, repeaters, backup hacking devices, smoke bombs - there's stuff everywhere. Tricks for days. No guns, though, nothing lethal - not even any sign of that flamethrower, that must have been the other one.

Idly, Brainstorm picks up a hacking device and lets a finger trail over the keyboard. "Out of curiosity, where do you get your supplies? You're unusually well-equipped and funded. Sale of pepper, perhaps?"

"All of Dr. Gears' notes, research, and inventions are property of the Gears Foundation, myself included. I will return it." She takes the notebook. "My concern is Comstar's access to the notebook. The Foundation may request that those files be deleted from this Comstar, though I am unsure if the other one would have had time to access it." She turns to Comstar. "While theatrically dramatic, shows involving the endangerment of the public are frowned upon, and illegal. I would suggest finding another outlet."

Okay, so he's going to have to steal that. Or at least, find a moment to access it and scan the contents. Any information on where he went wrong with Prometheus is essential.

[Raz_Fox]

@SARAHPHIM: like I even care
@SARAHPHIM: like, the fact she got replaced with alt!Ferra? more important right now than hardlight-induced breast expansion
Locker: [doubt.jpg]
@SARAHPHIM: The police will never find your body <3
Ferraphim1tp: o.o;;; wait she what??

***

Okay, the facts are clear. This is an alternate universe version of Ferra. Possibly a failsafe run off her generator. If she is ever in mortal peril, poof, pull one in who could survive.

“Ferraaaa,” @SARAHPHIM drawls, hanging onto her arm. “So, like, could you answer a few questions for me? Like, say, what my name is, how we found you, and why Errant first screamed at you~?” The fact that the answer to that last juiiiicy question might be revealed on stream is definitely a pro, not a con. Blushing Errant gets donation spikes and waifu memes.

Oh, but that grip’s iron tight. If the answers aren’t correct, someone is in Trouble. Or, at least, there needs to be a solid debrief about the differences in our universes. Like, who’s evil in this universe and who’s not.

[Thanqol]

@SARAHPHIM: like I even care
@SARAHPHIM: like, the fact she got replaced with alt!Ferra? more important right now than hardlight-induced breast expansion
Locker: [doubt.jpg]
@SARAHPHIM: The police will never find your body <3
Ferraphim1tp: o.o;;; wait she what??
Ferraphim1tp: So the original Ferra is still out there!?!? o_o;;
Bode: No. This technology is not teleportation based. It works based on a localized possibility space detonation; scrambling Ferra's own timeline but not actually initiating a breach.
Locker: bode you keep knowing weird things
Ferraphim1tp: But... she didn't actually transform, then? You're saying she changed so she always was this way? :/
Angel-IKA: She's remembering stuff from her previous incarnations, they're talking about it now.
Bode: Everyone think about it in silence, @Sarahphim is asking an Errant-based question now.

"Not really, no." Errant tells Comstar with an arched eyebrow as she finds a sixth repeater and tosses it on the pile. "Your ad lib and your acting suck, and you neither pushed a consistent narrative or a consistent framework. Your chat hates you right now because I didn't die. They don't even realize how good your camera work is. Go straight. Be a director. If you make movies I will go see every one of them."

Her hands are shaking. Hold it together. Remember, rehabilitation comes after subduing. Just... remember your training. And try not to think about how creepy Command sounded just now. To keep from punching something (or someone) she snatches up the notebook and walks it over to Ferra. She can't bring herself to look directly at Ferra's new body, and settles for awkwardly staring at a spot near her feet while extending the book out.

"People whose lives you were endangering may not be the most impartial critics," Brainstorm spits. "Ten points for ingenuity, plotting, and showmanship, but minus fifteen for attempted theft of viewership and reckless endangerment of the people around you."

"Ad lib... consistent narrative," Comstar was muttering all of this under her breath, repeating everything with utmost seriousness. "Not killing Errant overshadowed my good camerawork... biased analysis from victims of megacrime... established audience for directing movies..."

Idly, Brainstorm picks up a hacking device and lets a finger trail over the keyboard. "Out of curiosity, where do you get your supplies? You're unusually well-equipped and funded. Sale of pepper, perhaps?"

"I make a lot of it myself, you can see my tutorial archive if you go Premium!" said Comstar, snapping back in with a huge smile. "The hard part is sourcing the supplies. When I was studying at MuTech," that's a pretty darn prestigious university. The kind of place someone like you, Brainstorm, would go to get educated, "I had the theory that pepper develops different qualities depending on what parts of reality are compressed into it. So if you want to make a really special gadget you can't just grab anything off the shelf, you need to harvest it yourself. Like cooking! Ingredients are everything!"

[Eldest]

Okay, the facts are clear. This is an alternate universe version of Ferra. Possibly a failsafe run off her generator. If she is ever in mortal peril, poof, pull one in who could survive.

“Ferraaaa,” @SARAHPHIM drawls, hanging onto her arm. “So, like, could you answer a few questions for me? Like, say, what my name is, how we found you, and why Errant first screamed at you~?” The fact that the answer to that last juiiiicy question might be revealed on stream is definitely a pro, not a con. Blushing Errant gets donation spikes and waifu memes.

Oh, but that grip’s iron tight. If the answers aren’t correct, someone is in Trouble. Or, at least, there needs to be a solid debrief about the differences in our universes. Like, who’s evil in this universe and who’s not.

"You are Sara, or Saraphim. We met during what I found out after the fact was an invasion by a warlord from Mars. I do not know why Errant screamed at me. I do not, to my knowledge, possess telepathy. Have you tried asking Errant?"

[Raz_Fox]

"You are Sara, or Saraphim. We met during what I found out after the fact was an invasion by a warlord from Mars. I do not know why Errant screamed at me. I do not, to my knowledge, possess telepathy. Have you tried asking Errant?"

@SARAHPHIM carefully covers Ferra’s ears. There is a good chance this is a completely useless gesture.

“Okay, so. She knows the highlights but has forgotten the Gym Incident. This may not be our Ferra anymore. Proceed with caution.”

[Eldest]

"If you are referring to the incident where Errant's gym outfit had a prominent, unnoticed tear in them after a practice spar, I do remember that. I was stating I do not know why she screamed when she noticed. I would suggest asking her."

[Balmas]

"I make a lot of it myself, you can see my tutorial archive if you go Premium!" said Comstar, snapping back in with a huge smile. "The hard part is sourcing the supplies. When I was studying at MuTech," that's a pretty darn prestigious university. The kind of place someone like you, Brainstorm, would go to get educated, "I had the theory that pepper develops different qualities depending on what parts of reality are compressed into it. So if you want to make a really special gadget you can't just grab anything off the shelf, you need to harvest it yourself. Like cooking! Ingredients are everything!"

"Do you have it on Patreon, instead? You know that Premium steals half your profit, after all."

Brainstorm shakes his head distractedly and studies Comstar. "I don't get you, guey. You're obviously intelligent. You got into MUT. You have a hypothesis about being able to selectively source your pepper, and your tech seems to bear that out. You write that up and get it into a peer-reviewed journal, you're swimming in research grants for years to come. Hell, selectively sourcing pepper'd revolutionize medicine for decades.

"And yet... you're here, robbing a bank, to pick up a notebook. That doesn't scan right."

[PhoeKun]

Errant's cheeks obligingly flush the most adorable shade of red. She sputters something about public decency laws and is halfway to burying her face in her hands before Brainstorm accidentally throws her a branch, which she grabs with 300% more force than the situation calls for.

"Because Rx mining is illegal, you {scrubbed}. It's literally the most illegal thing she's admitted to today! Are you kidding me, after everything she's put us through today?! Gosh, why would the auteur genius be attracted to a life of high profile crime when she could be in a lab writing papers? It's a mystery! Jesus, why are smart people so stupid?"

'Hold it together' has officially fallen apart. Her professional demeanor is broken, even the version that does its level best to pretend to be evil to save a friend, and all that's left is a worn out, frazzled, pissed off Korean girl with a painfully blistering back.

"And you, B-2664! How dare you act so buddy-buddy when you're pulling such dangerous stunts! I knew you were abusing the tech but I never in a million years thought you were crazy enough to mine it! I respected you! I tried to reach out to you despite everything and you just--!"

Oh boy. Somebody needs to cut her off or she'll be in tears in another moment...