[ Some day, some time... ] [ Just who are you? What is this whiteness? Do you like papaya, or not? When this is all over, will you finally call your mother and say that you love her? Pfft... love. Stupid, pointless, gets you nowhere. No! Love means something. It drives people to... ] [ The jumble of voices subsides. The pure whiteness subsides. The confusion over who you even ARE subsides. Identity reasserts itself; thoughts are no longer something formless but an ego, something with an 'I' attached. A name. A personality. ] [ Everyone's eyes open to a scene they left that feels like it was eons ago, but couldn't be more than a few moments. Kat's gun is pointed. Ferrion's flunkies are stepping between him and the heroes. Rochelle's head hurts like a BITCH. All around them are the participants in this experiment, slumped forward in their 'seats' around the center circle... ] [ ...except Keith Ferrion, who is clutching his face and sobbing, and Xavier Auron, who is groggily trying to sit upright and force himself out of his restraints. ] [ What terror awaits our heroes as they regain their senses...? Let's find out. ] * Yue was... where was Yue? She just melted Brokkr's face, shethinks? (Pizza, stop falling apart as I eat you. It's rude.) (I had my guns on Platina. Is she still up?) (In real time less than 10 full seconds have passed. Everyone's exactly where they were.) * Rochelle is on the floor and holding her head, because as the GM kindly stated, it hurts like a *bitch*. Plus she was pretty much tossed aside not long ago. She doesn't even check to see if the psi-suppressor's still on !Kitaki or not. (In fact if you have head comps or other chrono-accessible stuff, it's been 4.923 seconds exactly.) (Who did you psi-suppress again, Roch?) (The dude Kitaki was possessing.) (Kataki.) (IIRC, he was kind of strangling me.) (Ferrion/Kataki) (Kataki, yes.) (Ah. Interestingly: No, it's not.) (I... totally do not remember what Zak was doing.) (Sorry. Been a while. He was strangling me, I slapped a suppressor on his head, and I think he dropped/tossed me.) (In fact the suppressor is not only not on him, it's not even in the room, that you can see.) (Zak was on fire dousing.) (Yue is pretty much gonna just try as quick as she can to regain her senses and attack whoever needs to be attacked still.) (He'd just realized Roch was in danger before we all got whacked.) (Mecha why do you hide log folder indices for games with no sekrit logs) (If you ever posted the log of that session, Mecha, a link would be handy.) ( http://mechalink.sandwich.net/rp/atcg/atcg-14-01.txt ) (Yup, I was right!) (Anyhow feel free to pose actual stuff; for whatever reason you're slightly faster on the uptake than the Bad Guys are.) * Katherine gets back to her feet as she looks around, and doesn't see the Kataki. So her eyes focus on Platina, and she fires two no-doubt startling gunshots at her as she starts to move towards Xavier. "Did... anyone see where... ngh... went?" (No, no. Augustus Ferrion is still in the room.) * Yue rises from where she was dropped to her knees, with a scowl on her face as she dives forward for Ferrion and his flunkies. No guns remaining. Gotta use her hands now. (Unless I'm misreading what you meant.) * Zak has his hand stretched out towards Rochelle. As he comes to, shaking, he staggers towards Ferrion and kicks him the fuck in the head. (Oh, okay. Then kill the words. I'm still shooting, though!) (The *suppressor* doesn't appear to be in evidence but that's another story.) (Wait, it's gone? :o) (Maybe it's inside his head. Let's open it and see.) * Rochelle tries to get to her feet, despite the headache, and stumbles over to help Xavier out of his restraints. (Who is Kat shooting AT?) (Platina.) [ Our heroes are moving faster, but Ferrion and company seem to be catching up. Ferrion -- the tall professor one stumbles away from Zak in a sort of scrambling backwards shamble, clutching his head much as Rochelle was. Kat's bullets hit Platina twice; once seems to glance off an armored subdermal plate, but the other lodges in a ball and socket joint, one of those always-vulnerable places. ] [ She yelps, sees the oncoming Yue, and scrambles backwards as well. Kat's stray bullet ricochets and lodges into the ice block that is Eitri... though deep inside said block a fiery red glow is spreading. Roch gets as far as Xavier's restraints, which aren't difficult but are time-consuming... he stares at her muzzily, mumbling, "...Roch?" Yes, without the -elle. ] I'm gonna... hurt you so badly. * Katherine gets a feral grin on her face as one connects. "It's over, Platina. I've been shooting knees since before you were made." [ The cyborg smirks at Kat, bringing up her hand... and displaying finger guns. Literal ones, not 'eyyyy!' ones. "This travesty is over so who cares about the damn goats?" she snaps, and opens fire on not just Kat, but the people in the seats behind her, though apparently the shots go mostly wide at this range. ] (seriously just be appropriately dramatic, you guys know how I feel about running combat) * Yue attempts to take advantage of Platina's new damage by pulling her leg up to heel drop it in as telling a manner as possible, since the Plat doesn't seem to be firing in her radius. "Not so fast." * Rochelle doesn't get shot, because she just so happens to not be in the right place to get shot. Hopefully neither is Xavier, as she keeps trying to get the restraints off of him. * Katherine hits the deck in a roll. Damn lack of cover. "Yue, get her down before she fucking kills someone!" * Zak lets loose with a burst of ice at Ferrion's legs, trying to freeze him to the floor. "Maybe I won't ice you, but I'm gonna fragment your cabesa so bad..." [ Yue approaching Platina produces the first emotion you've seen her display to date: genuine fear. The silver eyes dart to Yue's hand, and then to both Yue and Kat, shouting: "GET AWAY FROM ME." She's able to avoid Yue's heel drop but only by scrambling backwards and really messing up that full-auto spread she's got going on. ] * Zak is either so consumed with emotion he's failed to notice Platina spraying gunfire, or he doesn't actually care. (She's firing at those two. Zak, Roch, et al. aren't even in her LoF) * Katherine stands up and tries to plant bullets in Platina's knees. She wasn't really joking about that. "Surrender or she'll do it again, Platina! I'm not letting you shoot at bystanders." [ Ferrion gets his legs iced! He doesn't respond verbally, though; something seriously wrong is going on in his head and it shows. However, that cracking sound and the sudden heat, including the melting of Zak's ice, suggests that Eitri's gotten himself free. Well, that and: "Dunno what you did... gonna frakkin' kill you... so hard..." ] [ Roch gets the left wrist undone! Xavier's brow knits. "Whas goin' on..." is all he can manage, though his gaze tears away from Roch and off to Ferrion. ] * Rochelle starts working on the right wrist. "Dunno. Head hurts," is all she can really offer right now. * Dicesuke has joined #atc (Just in case.) * Yue waits until after Kat looses her round of gunshots before lunging forward for some cold android-on-10%-cyborg action. Unless they're made out of superconductive metals. In which case hot. (You just punching, Yue, or...) (Tackle! Takedown.) [ Upside: fear makes people stupid, and being shot severely hampers their defensive options. That means Yue suddenly tackles a shouting Platina, bullets spraying up toward the ceiling the process. Downside: Kat now has a clear shot on *nobody* that she would conceivably want to shoot. ] * Zak clenches his fists, looks upwards, and lets loose a brief blistering string of totally new and invented curses. "I AM SO TURDUCKIN' SICK OF YOUR STUPID ASSBAG FACE." He ices Ferrion up to his waist, just to keep him immobile, and spins to face Eitri. "You fuckin' failloser. You can't frakkin' beat me, you're chumpweight applelame. I'm gonna mount your fuckin' head over my goddamn FIREPLACE." (If she suddenly wants to kill Zak, Roch, Yue, though: bonus to hit even!) (TURDUCKIN! XD) (Rochellllllllle.) (Make a future cheeeeeeeeeck.) (Ooh.) * Katherine moves over near Zak and Roch, saying, "She's got this... Zak, nail him down." 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 6. Rochelle rolled 2 6-sided dice. < 6 6 > Total: 12 (10). (I made it! According to Dicey.) (HA.) (Dice is gone.) (Just proves that Saka's dice HATE HUMANITY.) (I'm going to be sad when I can't listen to Zak anymore. Maybe he can show up in ATC3.) (There are links between ATC3 and ATCG!) (Hohoho. *fan*) (I don't think there's even anything I can do that's effective, unfortunately, so I'm just waiting for an opening.) (I'm getting to it! There's four of you! Take a breath!) (Nod, just saying.) * Rochelle pauses for a moment while undoing Xavier's restraints, her pupils dialating as she gazes at nothing. [ Eitri just stares back at Zak, trying to unice Ferrion with one hand and making a whirling shield of fire around him with the other. "You're deluded, asswipe," he snarls back, apparently equally angry. "I hate this fucking job! I have to put up with this deluded jerkfuck and his brat, the ice queen, and now you complete and total IDIOTS. You don't even speak fucking MARSAL, you rodent, so why don't you crawl back to your shithole city and DI (I bet that cut off.) (city and DI) DIE." ] * Yue snatches Platina's wrist and wonders if she can bypass her security systems with her hands this time, staring down on her as she invades her cybernetic mind with her cybernetic hands. Or at least, she tries. The last time it didn't work out so well, but the last time Platina was also not freakin' out. (Hoo boy. yue, computer check with a +2 penalty for the weird-ass situation; Roch gimmie another futurecheck.) (... I ... hum) (I don't know I have my sheet anymore.) (HA.) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 8. (Hum, DR1) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 7. (Yay!) (Okay.) (I have... 2 ranks of the skill, and a -2 bonus from Technopathy.) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Yue (2d6-2) and gets a natural 5 for a result of 3. (Aw yeah.) * Zak takes advantage of Eitri's split attentions to lay on the ice as thick as he can, while he shouts, "If you don't like the frimframmin' JOB then FUCKING QUIT, you absolute DOUCHERAG! You're whining like an Earther schoolgirl on a Venusian gas farm! 'Oooh, life is hard! Ooooh, my job sucks! Waaah, I have to put up with assholes at work!' You should just lay down and die if it's that hard to keep going!" * Rochelle snaps out of it, shakes her head with a small grimace, and keeps working on that restraint. (Good to know the future hasn't changed a thing about schoolgirls!) (Is the restraint able to just be shot off?) (Because I can help there.) (ATC4 subtitle: SCHOOLGIRLS - STILL WHINY) (Not from where you are. But I am WORKING ON IT. DEEP BREATH.) (Okay!) (I'm just trying to keep abreast of my options!) [ Yue... well. Her issue here is that apparently Platina's body remembers things as well as her brain, because the mere sight of Yue's hand coming up makes her (proverbially) lock up, giving the mercenary access... but there is something a little more complex to interfacing with a FC cyborg than just hitting the off-switch. Yue's senses are suddenly flooded with input in a debilitating way! ] * Yue gets hurled through Space Oddysey, and grits her teeth as she attempts to use her computer knowledge to see her through this regardless. [ Roch frees Xavier! He slumps forward, then sits back up and lolls his head in her direction just to see her eyes unfocus and focus again. He suddenly reaches out to grip her wrist, voice cracking, and demands: "What did you see." ] [ Shouting! Ice! Fire! Stalemate! Perhaps Zak will just have to INSULT Eitri to death. "BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT A LOSER WOULD DO, YOU FUCKING NEOHIPPIE PEACENIK JERKFUCK!" he hurls back at Zak. Oh dear. ] (Okay, Yue: This is going to sound weird but: make a computer check but check it against Soul and not Mind) * Rochelle blinks as her wrist is grabbed, then tells Xavier calmly, "I was going to school on Earth. And I saw a green Twilight City." Brief pause. "What did you see?" [ "Not... that," he says back, gripping tighter. "Now. Just now." ] (No penalty?) (So -4?) (Yeah.) 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Yue (2d6-4) and gets -2, a CRITICAL SUCCESS!!! "I'm a child of extremes. Have a crit, and a nice day to go with it." (BAM) (That's how we do!) * Rochelle starts, and now she does look somewhat surprised, but she doesn't scramble away. "Eitri shot." [ Yue's experience trying to overpower Platina is eerily similar to what she just experienced elsewise... very surreal, with the two locked in 'combat' of wills rather than anything else. Unfortunately, Yue has HAD IT with these reptiles and this spaceplane, and in the virtual world she puts a metaphorical fist right through Platina's face. The cyborg's eyes seem to dim, and she doesn't go limp, but tenses up. ] (Cut off?) (Naw.) [ Xavier, meanwhile, looks at Roch, thinks that through, and then turns to look at Kat, whose headputer suddenly registers a firing target. It's not anywhere rational -- in fact it's somewhere on the ceiling. But it also just came literally out of nowhere. ] * Yue deletes Platina.exe in 27 seconds. S rank! She pulls up from the tensed up Platina and rises, a little groggy, but muttering, "Target... eliminated." * Katherine looks up at the target a split-second to make sure it's not obviously stupid, then shifts the grip on both her guns to fire up into that spot, and then shoots it in sequence. Bam-bam. (Roll a called shot ranged attack, Kat.) (I mean, I doubt there's a chance you can miss without critfailing.) (But what the hey.) (On a called shot? I only hit on a 9!) 2d6-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d6-1) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 5. 2d6-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d6-1) and gets a natural 5 for a result of 4. (Oh snap.) (And those were both below 9.) (Bam.) (Kat is such a jerk. She could at least give the unarmed gunner one of her guns. :( ) (Loans cost money, girl.) (You're busy hacking faces!) [ The room is bizarrely silent after the reports of Kat's gun. The bullets fly... up to the ceiling. There is then a series of *pwang!* noises that goes on about eight times, before Eitri suddenly lets out a loud yelp and a bullet slams into his shoulder, which suddenly shows a massively spreading bloodstain. His attention falters, the flames dimming. ] * Katherine says, out the side of her mouth towards Roch and Xavier, "Okay, what the fuck was that?" * Zak sees what's happening, shouts "Someone watch Ferrion!" as he quickly sheathes himself in ice and RUNS RIGHT THE FUCK THROUGH the flames, forming an ice block on his hand as he does so. He then proceeds to swing for Eitri's jaw with all the force he can muster. (Ahahaha okay.) [ Two things happen: ] * Rochelle sees that, then comments, "Eitri shot. And dying." She decides to listen to Zak and... er, watch Ferrion. [ One: The ice around Ferrion's legs starts to recede, and against all logic he starts making sword-like swipes at them with a handy length of pipe, cracking the rest. ] [ Two: Sheathed in ice, Zak plows through Eitri's shield of flame for sort of the opposite of Burn Knuckle. The redhead has time to turn and go "FUCK Y--" before Zak's fist impacts, the ice of his cold fury (get it?) flash-freezing the mercenary's head. Which Zak then, summarily, literally punches right off his body with a *snap!* sound like an icicle breaking. ] (I wonder if I can reprogram Platina to fight for us. Probably not. She's a complex machine.) "NO, YOU ARE THE LOSER!" * Katherine mutters, "Great," and then swivels the gun in her right hand towards Ferrion, saying, "Don't move." (Awww, you missed the Bond one liner opportunity. "Take a chill pill.") * Rochelle decides now is a good time to stand and, well, aim at Ferrion. What are the chances she'll ruin her perfect record, really. (Looks like the rules... *sunglasses* just got screwed.) [ Well. Apparently everyone in the room has a bead on Augustus Ferrion, which is good if you really want to kill him. Unfortunately, Keith has also gotten free, and is running unsteadily toward his father, which is... you know, bad. ] * Zak skids to a halt on the momentum of his head-shattering punch, and turns to re-face Augustus. (Why aren't they allowed to touch?) (Wait what?) (I'm trying to parse why Keith running towards his dad is bad. Roch can cover that, though.) (I MEANT that a kid is in your line of fire between you and his father, you cold-hearted bastard.) (He's not tall enough!) * Rochelle runs forward, trying to grab the kid by the arm and pull him away. "Stay back!" (...again: cold-hearted bastard.) (Kat doesn't miss.) (... oh, okay, see, I thought it was for a much more horrible reason.) (Yeah, me too.) (So I was gonna have her try to do the improbable by chucking Platina across the room to bowl Keith over.) (I thought 'contact = fisison mail'.) (I love how everyone's like "We can hit him!" and I'm like "You are going to kill a man right in front of his emotionally-damaged kid.") (Well, I'm not saying it's optimal. It's just one of the options. :|) (Being emotionally damaged builds character.) (Look at, uh... all of us.) (It's just funny is all.) (Ha ha ha ha.) (The Krogstads know this!) (Roch has got it.) (Right. Do you want Keith growing up like Kat?) (Then they can get married and have TERTIARY BEANS) (haha, THAT shut you up!) ("Well..." "I hate you. :|") (No, I just can't type fast) (OKAY ANYHOW) (If I've got line of obstruction I'll block his movement too, but Roch's probably got it.) ( I can always just ice the entire room up to our knees) [ "No!" Keith yelps, breaking away from Roch and turning to face you, but still not really crossing the distance. He's closer to you than to his dad. Yes, it is pretty clear that you could easily kill Ferrion without hurting him. "Don't. He didn't do anything bad!" ] [ Ferrion, for his part, is looking down at the kid with a very odd expression. It's not exactly 'gratitude'. ] (HE'S A DOUCHE, LET'S KILL HIM) * Rochelle mentally shrugs and goes back to aiming at Ferrion/Kataki. If he tries to do anything funny, she is so shooting him. (And I'd like to know if he's going to try to do anything funny!) * Katherine flicks her eyes to the kid, then back to Ferrion. A thin smirk comes across her face. "If that's true, kid, he can stand down right now. So how is this gonna go down?" * Yue can't really do a thing. No gun, no rifle, no nothin'. She does step closer, though, watching how this is all going to pan out. [ "Wait..." Xavier mutters, finally heaving himself out of the chair, standing just behind Roch and staring at Ferrion, whose gaze tracks to the blond. "He... ngh, stupid... thing... Kataki took advantage of him..." he finally bites out. ] * Katherine mutters, "No shit." Sure. Might still be there, taking advantage of him. [ For his part, that makes Ferrion grin and nod. "Oh, absolutely. And I'm not like Thren, off to wander into the good night because it's the 'right thing to do'. You want me gone, you're going to have to kill Doctor Augustus." That statement makes Keith turn to him, blinking. ] 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 9. (DR2) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 4. (Now comes the minigame where Kat fires her lipstick at him and guides the bullet in slow-mo) (Ha ha ha.) (I'm just waiting to see if Roch is doing something obvious with that roll or not.) * Rochelle stands there, dazed, but doesn't shift her aim. After a few seconds, she says quietly, "You'd like that." (Not really.) * Katherine tosses her offhand gun over at Yue. "Keep him covered." (Ice up to the kneees plan lookibg better and better) (You only have to ice him up.) * Yue is gunned! Yes! She immediately checks the weapon, then aims at his hed. Cold-hearted bastard? Don't mind if I am. [ Dimly, in the distance, you hear two sounds: a couple explosions, then the sound of blast door-style maglocks unsealing. It's coming from the ground floor above you. ] (She's in good company.) * Zak is trying to circle around to where he can get a clear ice shot at Augustus. (His back is to the wall. You have a clear shot basically anywhere.) * Rochelle hears that, and decides now is a great time to try to pull Keith back again before Ferrion tries anything desperate. [ Whatever it is his 'dad' said has made Keith impressively pliable. He not only pulls back to stand near Rochelle, but clings to her leg... though his eyes are locked on his dad. ] * Zak just resumes icing Augustus up to his neck, then. (Soul check, Zak.) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Zak (2d6) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 9. (oh ffs.) (Aw, I totally wanted to bend reality for you. Can I do that?) (If you reality warp I make the roll) (Actually, soul checks for everyone.) (If it's allowed, sure. ^^) (Soul, not psyche, yeah?) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rochelle (2d6) and gets a natural 5 for a result of 5. * Katherine glances up at the explosions. "Dammit. They're never gonna believe this shit." (Well we'll see once this is resolved. And yes, Soul.) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katherine (2d6) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 9. (Made by two.) (Miss by 4.) They'll believe it. (Want me to roll again?) (Nope. I do want Yue to roll though.) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Yue (2d6) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 6. (Not a make.) [ Ferrion doesn't seem intimidated; in fact, he only smirks. Why? Because everyone but Roch feels the distinct impression of what Marvel comics likes to call a 'dampening field' kick in. "Failsafe," he explains. "Considering the experiment." ] ... how failsafe are we talking? [ Whatever it is isn't making your powers disappear, but to those affected the term 'drastically reduced effectiveness' applies. The air around Augustus gets chilly; frost even forms on his body, but it's not enough for full-on icing. ] * Rochelle doesn't seem bothered; she just keeps aiming at Ferrion. [ "Oh, I don't go in for dramatic blowing up of buildings, Kat. That's your mother's style, not mine. Now... you enjoy the company of the brat, and I'll be leaving, thank you." He starts sidling toward the elevator. ] * Katherine sidesteps around to block his movement, gun still up. "No." (Since this is just a fact Kat would know: he's armed with a sword-length pipe. Since when have bullets bothered a Musou Tenkei practitioner?) (Well, I shot one once...) * Yue 's eyes narrow as she gets a bit closer around to help block. "... my mission from the start was to complete this investigation. I will kill you if you fail to comply," she states, ice-cold. (Okay. NOW everyone needs to hold on a sec.) (Some OOC arranging needs to be made for remainder of scene before we keep going. ^_^) (god) (Damn) (major fucking lag) (Yeah, well. Kat's not perfect, but neither's Kataki.) * Rondure has joined #atc (oh shit it's mom) (everyone run) (*hides*) (The most huggable industrialist!) * Rondure is standing behind the elevator doors as they open, with her hair in a severely angular setting and her face indicating she's in a serious lather about something. She strides right on out of the elevator, past Augustus, with two people in tow - one of them's Soma, and the other is a guy in a suit who looks rather like Jorge Vanderhoosen. "Okay, someone's going to explain what the HELL is going on around here, and if I don't get some (don't get some) (Grumble) (Man, we know what happens if she don't get some.) (Which sent my brain in a very fun direction.) (... best cut off ever.) (She get cranky.) (some explanations I like I'm going to invent a time machine and erase all your personal histories so I can make better ones." Then she turns to Augustus, expectantly.) * Rochelle looks at Kat with a bit of a 'told you so' expression. She's entitled once in a while. [ Soma, who is a dork, waves at you all with a smile. The hand he's doing it with is holding a handgun, which makes it sort of creepy. Jorge Vanderhoosen, the head of Dunno, is... a somewhat overweight man in a pinstripe suit, with red hair heading in all sorts of directions and a very worried look on his face. ] * Katherine sighs slightly. "Oh, for fuck's sake, honey." She gestures slightly with the gun. "That's Kataki." Yeah, so stop him before we kill him or something. Please. * Yue doesn't seem to be too worried, because Soma is there. She doesn't lower her gun, though. Her eyes, her 24 powers dampened as they are, are SEEDing straight at Ferrion. [ His voice, when he speaks, has a very Disney Cartoon Supporting Cast tone: e.g. wavering, nervous. "D-d-director Ferrion, I hope you have a--" and then he turns to Kat, blinking. "...who?" ] I'd guessed, which is why I'm standing here waiting for him to say something so I can actually do something about it. * Zak seems fairly nonplussed at the arrival, and at his lack of freezing ability. :( [ Ferrion just shakes his head. "Oh, whatever. I know she can't kill me, I know the tan moron won't shoot me, that just leaves you three, which I think I can handle." ] [ "Dad... what's going on?" Keith demands. Soma, meanwhile, draws a bead on Ferrion. "Oh, whatever, Dracula." ] (Okay. I have like EIGHT MILLION NPCs right now so) (Be patient with me) [ "Kid..." Ferrion starts, turning to Keith with a grin, "your dad's a moron. A sappy moron who just wanted to save your worthless little hide before you kick off this mortal coil in a few years. I'm not even sure if there's anything left of him in here, to be honest. Ask the beanpole if you don't believe me. But you're better off without him." ] * Rondure rolls her eyes. "You were a hell of a lot cuter when you were five, you know. Before your whole 'evil pubescence' thing." [ "You know who had it right?" he says to Ronnie conversationally. "Dorian Grey Parker. I mean, he was a fool but he had style." ] [ Keith follows Ferrion's headnod to Xavier, who looks down at Keith for a moment, then says in a very even tone, "He's gone, Keith. But your dad loved you very much. And that's the truth." ] * Rochelle mental notes that: Ferrion, gone. (I now expect a whole bunch of things to happen at once.) (So gimmie one pose each.) (Except Zak.) * Yue says, "If the boy's father is gone..." She tightens her grip. "... you have just revealed that you've no more hostages to hold us back." And then she aims straight for his head and fires. * Katherine knows what's gonna go down, and starts to say, "Dammit, get the kid out of here--!" * Rochelle moves to cover Keith's eyes and keep him from looking, as... well, yeah, and plenty of other people are going to shoot Kataki in about .2 seconds anyway. [ The following things happen: ] [ 1.) Grimacing, Ferrion deflects Yue's shot into the wall with a motion that probably looks familiar to Ronnie, Kat, and Roch. However, Kat appears to have outsmarted him, a bullet slamming into his hand, causing him to hiss in pain though he doesn't drop the pipe just yet. However... ] [ 2.) Keith, rather than burying his face in Roch's leg, suddenly toddles over to Zak and grips his instead. And then, uh... glows. Well, less 'glow' than 'heat shimmer-like distortion effect' around him. Zak, in a rush, not only feels his power come back, but come back better than ever. ] (Aw, what am I doing then? Darn slippery kids!) (Reaching for him!) (You had the best of intentions!) (But kids are like greased pigs, I'm sure you know this.) (I should stop having good intentions. They make me inefficient. D:<) * Zak hadouken-poses towards Kataki! He doesn't even generate any intermediate ice, he just attempts to take Kataki's body as close to absolute zero as he can get it. [ The result is... impressive. Ferrion ices over *instantly*. So does the floor around him, and the wall behind him, and some nearby computer consoles close to him, which after a second or two shatter into perfectly-frozen splinters. ] ... that was clean. [ Keith then stops glowing, turns back to Roch, and resumes pants-gripping. ] (Get in some reactions as I need to AFK a sec.) * Rochelle blinks. Then blinks again. Then her pants get gripped, and she looks down at Keith. "Neat trick. You okay?" * Yue takes a second or two to stare at Ferrion, and then hands the gun back to Kat like a non-tossing-person-what. "I believe we're done here?" She stares at Soma. She's the person she needs to talk to right now and get some answers. Cute. Well, there's THAT done, now can someone actually do the explaining? You cannot even imagine how pissed the board is going to be that I'm here and not at the B&D summit. * Zak looks down at his hands, a little wonderingly, then at Keith. * Katherine runs her hand back through her hair before taking her gun back. "Yeah, I can explain." She looks at Xavier a long moment, then to Ronnie. ... don't stall, Katrina. I'll find it all out eventually, it just won't be as easy to clean up. * Katherine snaps at her, "It's not stalling, dammit." She turns fully towards Rondure. "Best I can figure, Ferrion started kidnapping people to set up this experiment, hoping to give his kid a better life by... playing body swap games." [ "I-I-I would like some explanations too, PLEASE!" Vanhooser says, his voice getting a little screechy toward the end of that sentence. He's wringing his hands. Soma, meanwhile, walks over to Yue, and is about to say something when he looks down at the P-2000 lying there. "...uh." ] * Katherine licks her lips and adds, "Kataki musta got himself into the mix somehow." * Yue is reaching down to get her gloves back on so she doesn't melt any more faces. "We traced his activities down to this lab, and the proof is as you see." She stares at the P-2000, and then says, "I shut her down." ] [ Xavier looks at Roch and Keith for a moment (the latter simply gripping away and not answering questions or this will go on ALL NIGHT). He turns to Rondure, and fills in the blanks. "Amped psi," he explains carefully. "Centered around my abilities. He wanted to perfect a way to move the... the..." He waves a hand absently. "...self, between bodies." ] * Katherine shoots Xavier a look, then rubs her forehead and looks back to Ronnie. "Yeah. That." [ Somewhat apologetically, Xavier looks sidelong at Kat. "Kataki explained things. In, you know... the... thing." Specifics. ] * Rochelle decides that's okay enough and kneels, giving Keith a hug. Aw. * Katherine looks over at Xavier again. "Yes, I had figured out the amped psi angle myself..." she gestures around. "... maybe I'm just a bit more sensitive about the whole damn thing." * Yue says with all due serious business to Soma, "I believe this concludes the mission." * Rondure stares at Xavier. Then she turns back to Kat. "Hell of a thing to leave out of the explanation. What, do you WANT other people to have a very special childhood like yours? Cut me some slack here, Kat, I've got a whole damn planet to attend to!" She pinches the bridge of her nose. "Did the amped-psi reach outside the room?" * Katherine mutters, "I was going to cover it more quietly. Don't think so." Thank Space Jesus for small favors. * Katherine adds, "I figure most of these people had already been subject to it, or were kids, but I couldn't really get a confirmation on that." [ "Doubt it," says a voice, which surprisingly belongs to Soma. He turns to the group. "I checked the floor plans. There's dampeners built into the walls." Well, that explains the sudden suppression of your 24 powers, which coincidentally returned as soon as Ferrion was, uh... incapacitated. ] * Rochelle looks up from giving Keith his hug. "Didn't touch anyone outside," she says with certainty. [ "Oh dear," says Vanhoosen, and the hand-wringing reaches fever pitch. "Ohdearohdearohdearohdearohdear. This lab is an experimental offshot... they have so much autonomy..." He's the White Rabbit! There we go. ] [ Xavier looks around at the people, then back at Rondure. "They're all either former members of the Europa Team's unit, or their children. Ferrion didn't know why they were needed, but Kataki did." ] * Rondure nods to Xavier. "Thank heaven for small favors." * Katherine chuckles and gestures with a gun at Xavier. "Score one for me, then." * Rondure then looks over her shoulder at Vanhooser. "Okay, Jorge, you and I are going to have to have an exciting one-on-one meeting about this tragic lab accident later, after we detonate the explosives we're going to plant here." She looks back to Kat, then Roch, then Zak, and finally chuckles. "Right under my nose, another crisis, and you handle it before I even know it's here. It feels like I'm getting old." Still young enough for me, baby. You can handle the next one. * Katherine puts her guns in their holsters. * Zak looks a little sheepish. "Uh, actually, I have a question?" [ The entire room turns to look at Zak. ] * Rondure quirks an eyebrow. "I'm listening." * Yue looks to Zak. Not much else she's got to do but report and cash in. * Rochelle looks at Zak. Yup. ("WHERE IS THE BATHROOM? D:") (*dance*) * Zak points at the Platinabot. "That... thing crammed bombwires all over Twilight. I need help making sure they're deep-sixed." He pauses. "If ... that's schway with you." * Rondure chuckles again. "Yeah, it's schway. I'll get someone out there, no charge." [ "I'll go, Zak," says someone. That someone turns out to be Xavier. "I, uh... I think I can do it." ] (Do you know why we stopped the car?!) (Because Cham is playing all the people! ATC4! Cham plays everything!) Hey, thanks, Professor X. (Hey, I was worried I'd get Ronnie WRONG. She's in your head.) (And thank god she's nowhere else.) * Katherine looks over at Xavier, then says, "All things equal, I think it's best we guard you... again." You're welcome to stick around. We could use you, for sure. [ "So, uh..." he continues, before looking at Rondure. "So, uh. Threnody's, uh, gone. But there's some things he told me I can't, you know, forget." ] We're listening. (Meanwhile, Soma and Yue: ._.a) (Shit, I forgot who Soma works for.) (What's the name of that company. Calhoun! There.) ("Who is he talking to? And how does he make his voice do that?") [ THAT statement makes him very nervous. He tries to think of a way to say 'you're an AI' that will not be heard by Soma, Yue, or Vanhoosen. Eventually he grimaces and just says: "You know. About your, uh, childhood." ] * Katherine groans slightly. "Dammit, Xavier, you're as good at this as Thren is. Which is to say, balls-out awful. Can we at least get the Dunnos moving?" Ah, FUCK. [ Xavier physically recoils from that reaction, slamming out "hesaiditwasimportant" all in one jumbled word. ] * Yue doesn't have a clue what's really going on. But is listening in for anything juicy she might be able to blackmail people with later. Ha ha. (THAT'S WHY YOU MUST GO. :|) (Hahaha.) * Rochelle looks kind of amused. Almost. Which is to say, generally emotionless with a little bit of a grin, because it's sort of funny. * Rondure turns to Soma. "Can you, your friend here, and Jorge here go find us some explosives? We're going to need quite a lot." (I'm torn between "ICly Kat and Ronnie will try to get you out of the room as fast as possible" and "I don't want to cut Saka out of the finale") * Zak is almost but not quite not asking. (It's coo. Yue has a bronzed god to ride into the sunset.) (oop, wrong char.) (Also I assume Ronnie said that.) * Rondure is almost but not quite not asking. * Katherine nods and says, "It ain't getting any worse. Let's get these people into an infirmary." [ Rondure gets... a very curious gaze from Soma, but he shrugs and grips Yue's arm. "Sure. Come on, Mr. President," he says, gesturing to Vanhoosen, who is too dumbfounded not to be shepherded. He gets as far as the elevator with Vanhoosen, then turns back at looks at Platina's form on the ground for a long moment, before turning and getting in. ] ("We'll mail her to you, parcel post!") (Haha. as far as he's concerned you can disassemble her and make Walkmen, he just wanted a last look.) (Those would be some messed-up Walkmen.) ("Are you sure you want to listen to that song?") * Yue gets her arm gripped, but gets the message as she heads off in search of the Bomb Satchel in this dungeon. Hope they have the blue key. "... are you seriously that lonely you want a murderous android to accompany you in bed?" Yue Rohay, future comedian, ladies and gentlemen. * Rondure turns back to Xavier. "Lucky for you I'm not the Cube, or we'd be fitting you for cement galoshes. Do they even do that anymore?" They should. [ The elevator comes back up, and then down again in that period of time. Soma's forced to move as paramedics appear and start taking out the captives, as well as Keith Ferrion, who after a last look at Zak and Rochelle, relents and goes with. "...not anymore," Soma says to Yue, and then gets in the elevator with Vanhoosen. ] [ Soon, only Kat, Ronnie, Zak, Roch, and Xavier are left. ] * Katherine glances to Rochelle and Zak, adding to Ronnie, "So they're family now too, huh?" (Aaaaand let's timeshift Ronnie and Kat's statements after the narration) (For the sake of cleanliness.) (Okay!) * Rondure shrugs. "They know enough as it is. And who knows what kind of subtle hints got transmitted through Xavier's power? Better to come clean now, and put the fear of Ronnie into them." She looks at Kat. "Unless you think they're not trustworthy." (Doesn't Roch already know?) * Yue is in the elevator with Soma, and saying, "I am still uncertain about one incident." She shuts her eyes, eyebrows moving in thought, and then says, "I believe it may have been that android's doing." (I wasn't sure that the ATC2 team fully learned about the Cube/Ronnie situation at the end of ATC1.) [ Her partner raises an eyebrow. "Oh? What's that?" ] (I don't think it was everyone. But Roch had that dinner with Thren and Kat.) (Right.) * Katherine shrugs and gives Roch and Zak a look, smiling slightly at the two of them. "I guess they're alright." (*pokes roch*) * Yue explains, "We were trapped in this simulation of ... I can only imagine it must have been our wildest fantasies. The only link out of it was the android herself." (What!) (TALK D:) Roch already knows some of it. * Rochelle is there. And standing, as it happens... she doesn't look particularly worried about Ronnie, in any event. (What, what about what?) "So what did Threnody actually tell you?" (Roch knows Ronnie's an AI. I don't believe Roch knows much about the actual detailed end of ATC1.) (I don't.) (The reference to the Cube is what bugged Kat.) [ Leaning back in the elevator, Soma crosses his arms behind his head and looks way too smug. "Your wildest fantasy involved Platina Fortescue? How did it end?" ] (Well, I don't really remember. :D I know there was a mini where I found out some stuff.) (So let me look things up. (Okay this is going to be much easier on me) * Todd is now known as Xavier * Yue responds, noselling his joke, "It ended with Parker trying to pull me out of the... dream, if I may use such a vague, imprecise term for it." * Xavier clears his throat and looks at Ronnie. "Not a lot. Just that, uh... the president of ATC is, uh... you know. A very sophisticated AI. Actually, he also said 'I kind of know how she feels now'. I didn't get that part." [ Soma looks at Yue and then laughs out loud. "You, Platina, and wolf girl? You sure this is *your* wildest fantasy?" ] (AH, found it!) I think _I_ do. Well that's good. Do me a favor and don't explain. * Yue stares back at Soma and says, "I was a painter. Apparently the wildest fantasy I can imagine is a quiet seaside cottage in the British countryside back on Earth." [ "...you don't make even a remote amount of sense, Rohay." But in a good way, Soma's tone implies! ] * Rochelle waits until Xavier talks, then says, "Thren told me more. But it was over a year ago." * Rondure sits down on a convenient piece of nearby equipment and crosses the legs of her extremely expensive pants suit. "So, I'm an AI. I was made by the Europa Team. I took over ATC from the previous AI, who was a dangerous character driven insane by too much TV. I wish I were joking, but that's the actual history." * Yue folds her arms and instrospectively chuckles for a moment. Not a lot of chuckling goes out of her. "I'm not paid to make sense." * Katherine looks over at Ronnie oddly, then says, "You got talkative in your old age too." (What costs more, the pants or the legs?) * Zak is kind of agog at all this. * Xavier turns to Kat. "Well, that explains *you*," he says carefully. (The legs, rowr.) * Katherine looks back at Xavier with a slight frown. "What's that mean?" * Xavier rubs the back of his head. "Nothing." * Katherine looks at him a moment longer, then says, "Yeah, I'm curious, but not curious enough to talk about it in front of Zak and Roch, thanks." I've got something like dignity left. (Haha. The best part is that all he meant was: "Oh, kid from the Europa Team.") I'm getting really sick of skullduggery, Kat. You know what it's like to be trapped into something you didn't choose. So, now I have a few more friends. [ "No, you're really not," Soma says absently, before the elevator reaches the ground floor and lets everyone out. Vanhoosen nervously taps both Yue and Soma on the shoulder. "Do we REALLY have to blow this whole building up?" ] (".... do YOU want to argue with the crazy lady?") (What gets me is) * Katherine looks over at Ronnie and chuckles before saying, "Yeah, and they're almost your age." (If this experiment had WORKED, eventually Ronnie could have a flesh and blood body.) (She's Not Thinking About It. :( ) * Yue looks back to Vanhoosen and... well, she doesn't really want to answer that. "That would likely be part of the mission, so yes." * Katherine claps Ronnie on the shoulder. "Who knows, in a few years, you might even be bearable and we can put that marraige back together." [ "The alternative," Soma explains gently, "is answering a lot of uncomfortable questions about what went on in this building. Questions even more uncomfortable than 'why did it blow up'?". ] ...what? (Xavier's had a rough day, man. Don't do this to him.) Oh, can we please? Then we can retire and raise sheep in Switzerland! * Xavier just looks back and forth. "...what?" * Rochelle looks over to Xaiver. "Just ignore them." That's what I do. It's better that way. * Rondure sighs. Or I could keep running the goddamn world like usual. * Yue tilts her head and says, "I cannot imagine the scandal and defamation would be the least bit comfortable for you." (+"") ...yeah. ... So you're going back to Twilight? [ Handwring handwring handwring. "Oh no. Nononononono, it wouldn't." He scurries out the door. ] * Xavier nods at Rochelle and Zak, too. "I, uh, owe you. And actually, there's... you know, uh..." He pauses, then sighs. "Zak, you had a good dream. I still think Twilight can go micronuclear explosion for all I care, but you still had a good dream." * Katherine chuckles. "If you don't mind Luanne on the side." She looks to Roch and Xavier a moment, then Zak. * Yue stares awkwardly as he runs out. "He's quite the character." Thanks. I kinda liked it. (Oh bloody hell what's Lexi's dad's name?) (WRONG NAME.) (Poor Cham. I have done this awful thing to you.) (We can wrap it up soon anyway.) (Um, hold on) [ "Yes he is. Vincent Calhoun would snap his arm like a twig with a handshake." He pauses, then looks at the elevator. "And those three are basically in charge of most of Mars. Please forgive me when I say: what the fuck." ] * Rochelle nods to Xavier. "Yeah, he really cares." And then she smiles, a little. "Plus, it'd be nice having you around, you know?" * Yue responds pragmatically, "Better a cartoonish buffoon than a man with an outdated style of villainy like we saw." * Zak grins. "If we get lucky maybe we can have all the utilities back online by the end of the month." [ "Seriously. Pointed Van Dyke? What was THAT all about?" ] Showers, how I'll miss you. * Xavier laughs nervously, then looks down and to the side. "I wonder if I'll find Cerise someday." ] (ARGH NO ]) * Yue shrugs with a wry smirk on her face. "I don't know, but I will be happy to just return to a simple shoot-and-kill routine. Mind trips are not my game." Cerise? [ That gets a smirk from Soma. "Yes, well." He dusts off his hands. "Welp, we've helped saved the world. Let's go get some explosives so we can destroy the evidence it ever happened." ] * Katherine gives Roch an odd look, but Xavier an odder look. * Rondure looks at the elevator, then back to the group discussing things. "The offer still stands, Zak. I can bring some investment capital to bear." Uh, my sister. We got separated a long time ago. She's probably with some gang or another... * Zak shakes his head. "Thanks, but... we gotta work it on our own." * Yue nods, but pauses to say, "Though Calhoun would likely enjoy a report of this caliber all the same, evidence or not." She heads to the nearest Bombs-R-Us. * Rochelle ohs. "Yeah, maybe we can find her." (Yue and Soma head to the Explosives Desk at Calhoun, which is run by a large mouse wearing angular shades.) (*BOM*) (... I should get that ref.) (http://www.mariobrothersonline.net/mario-images/backgrounds/luigi-vs-mouser.jpg ) (Aha.) * Katherine shrugs and says, "Give it enough time and you'll find anything in TC." (You probably rarely fought him.) (Okay. Shall we wrap things up?) (I think so.) (GIVE ME YOUR FINAL THOUGHTS.) (plz) (I'm pretty good. This looks like the start of, well, I don't know about a beautiful friendship, but we are groking Zak's text these days.) * Zak shakes his head. "I'll almost be glad to see Stargazer again." (Haha.) * Katherine smirks a little and says, "And that's how we know you've lost it, Zak." She lets out a small sigh and looks upwards a moment, and then to the frozen body who is to be blown up. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pAb68IUR3E -- our end-of-game theme.) * Rondure hops to her feet. "If any of you need anything, you know where to find me." (Ah, P4. :D) * Yue does spend some time tabbing things to a cellphone of hers, perhaps as part of a report, or some other... but when she's actually audible and panned in focus, all she has to say are the words she ends every task with: "... Mission accomplished." (FTB!) (Works for me.) [ And so not necessarily happily ever after, but... happily enough for now. ] [ ATC Gaiden -- END --]