School House Rumbles 3: Act 3. Warriors and Liberators.

[Cthulhu_of_R'yleh]

Then:

"Alright. Let me have it."

Honestly, she's in no mood for presents, but she isn't about to say no, either.

"Need your scanner first." He smiled.

Now:

"That could work. But how are we going to get the families back out of Eden? And where will we keep them; here or possibly that ship of yours?"

Skye idly taps her index finger against her lips while considering this. "Once the shield is down, do we all exit? Or just our families? Do we do the Gulag noisy to attract attention away from the retrieval team, or is it a stealth job?"

"I really had no intention of it being a blow though job. We get in, hit quick and quiet, and get out. Make it seem like a power failure. We let the now free prisoners do the rest." He paused. "Getting the parents shouldn't be too difficult either... We can stage the Wolf nearby and teleport them there... at least that's a possibility."

Casimir sighed. "I'd figure too, that once we're in. We're in, there's no leaving. We teleport the families out, leave them with Tabia. Soon as we break the Gulag, it'll escalate pretty quickly, don't you think?"

[Rhyvurg]

"If you want, I can show you exactly how I'm doing that. I'll even show you how to stop me from doing it, too."

He's silent for a moment. "I don't know that I want to hide from you."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Then:

"Need your scanner first." He smiled.

She nods and slips it off before handing it to him.


Now:

"I really had no intention of it being a blow though job. We get in, hit quick and quiet, and get out. Make it seem like a power failure. We let the now free prisoners do the rest." He paused. "Getting the parents shouldn't be too difficult either... We can stage the Wolf nearby and teleport them there... at least that's a possibility."

Casimir sighed. "I'd figure too, that once we're in. We're in, there's no leaving. We teleport the families out, leave them with Tabia. Soon as we break the Gulag, it'll escalate pretty quickly, don't you think?"

She nods slowly. "Yeah, it'll all go to hell in a manner of minutes. Once we do that, Volkov will likely come down on us hard. Are we sure we're ready for that? He'll likely have a bunch of Class A's on his side."

[FarBeyondC]

He's silent for a moment. "I don't know that I want to hide from you."

For a moment, she considers using his own words against him.

"I still want you to at least know how to- even if you never use it."

[Cthulhu_of_R'yleh]

Then:

She nods and slips it off before handing it to him.

Be right back. He teleported out of the med bay, only to return a minute later, still holding the scanner. But he had his free hand in his pocket. "All done. The suits already pre-set, so try it on, would you please?"

When she did, she'd find herself in a suit of armor.

Now:

She nods slowly. "Yeah, it'll all go to hell in a manner of minutes. Once we do that, Volkov will likely come down on us hard. Are we sure we're ready for that? He'll likely have a bunch of Class A's on his side."

"We kind of have to." Casimir replied calmly.

[Chrosis]

Now:


"We assassinate Volkov and we place ourselves in the crosshairs of the entire city, save our families. Unless we can find some solid evidence to use against him, we're going to have a hard time discrediting a national hero," Ramilia says.

Cammy frowned, "Then why even bother trying to discredit him? An alterable holo disk isn't going to sway public opinion."

Casimir nodded. "I'm with you up until you propose we assassinate Volkov first. At the very least, we need to break out Agnar, and I'd think, anyone else willing to help us. We can't win a war like this without support. The assassination can wait, I think. If he's managed to use the Gulag to power the dome, I'd air on the side of caution and assume he's managed to use it in ways that could be incredibly problematic."

Cammy shook her head, "We can't go to war. There's not nearly enough of us and he controls the media. It just wouldn't work."

"We have the video evidence Gulliver gave us. If given the chance, experts should be able to prove it's legit, shouldn't they?" Skye asks.

She frowned, "But if he's solidified his position as well as it sounds, nobody would stand up to him. And even if they did, I have no doubt they'd disappear before they could testify."

"I'm worried that leaving him alive makes it exceptionally risky for our families." Skye says. "The one big advantage we have is that he doesn't know we exist. Once we're revealed, and we almost certainly will be when we bust open the Gulag, if I were him, my first target would be to gather our families and use them as leverage. That's unacceptable."

Cammy crossed her arms, "He has an ether user with him who can undoubtedly track us in some way. You all remember how she hunted us down at Arcadia. Can we risk teleporting around before we try to take out Volkov?"

"Which is why I'd wanted to get them first... But getting them out of the city with the dome still up is going to be beyond difficult. I can't teleport them out like I'd wanted. So I'd either need to smuggle them out on the ship, which'd require I wait a full week, or the dome needs to come down..." Casimir trailed off.

Skye idly taps her index finger against her lips while considering this. "Once the shield is down, do we all exit? Or just our families? Do we do the Gulag noisy to attract attention away from the retrieval team, or is it a stealth job?"

"Here's the problem. If we want to get them out fast, we have to bring down the shield. If we do that, Guliver knows something is up, and we can't risk him going to ground. At best, all we can do is try to move our families somewhere safe."

[Rhyvurg]

For a moment, she considers using his own words against him.

"I still want you to at least know how to- even if you never use it."

"Okay, how?"

[FarBeyondC]

"Okay, how?"

"Do you happen to still have the necklace I gave you on Mars?"

[ooc]The one he still doesn't know how to work, by the way.[/ooc]

[Rhyvurg]

He lifts it from under his shirt. "Of course."

[Cthulhu_of_R'yleh]

Cammy frowned, "Then why even bother trying to discredit him? An alterable holo disk isn't going to sway public opinion."

Cammy shook her head, "We can't go to war. There's not nearly enough of us and he controls the media. It just wouldn't work."

"So you think assassinating a 'hero' wouldn't start a war?" Casimir asked. "Hit and run tactics won't work. Once we shut the Gulag down and get into the city, all hell's going to break loose." He shrugged his shoulders. "A war."

She frowned, "But if he's solidified his position as well as it sounds, nobody would stand up to him. And even if they did, I have no doubt they'd disappear before they could testify."

He nodded in agreement.

Cammy crossed her arms, "He has an ether user with him who can undoubtedly track us in some way. You all remember how she hunted us down at Arcadia. Can we risk teleporting around before we try to take out Volkov?"

"It's either that, or physically round up the family members, which would take longer, and be much more dangerous in the long run. Like I said, once you take down the Gulag it's going to escalate quickly."

"Here's the problem. If we want to get them out fast, we have to bring down the shield. If we do that, Guliver knows something is up, and we can't risk him going to ground. At best, all we can do is try to move our families somewhere safe."

"I have the benefit of not having a family to begin with. I'd wager if we had to the Father would shelter them. But we'd still need to get them to gather there, in the Scoop." He replied. "But I seriously doubt his going to ground. He's too arrogant for that."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Be right back. He teleported out of the med bay, only to return a minute later, still holding the scanner. But he had his free hand in his pocket. "All done. The suits already pre-set, so try it on, would you please?"

When she did, she'd find herself in a suit of armor.

She looks herself over, and quickly quirks an eyebrow. This...is not what she expected. "Um....thanks. It's....you must have spent a lot of time on it. But, it's too bulky and constricts my movements too much."

"We kind of have to." Casimir replied calmly.

"I know we do. But we're out-numbered, big time."

[FarBeyondC]

He lifts it from under his shirt. "Of course."

She smiles.

"Good."

She showed him the matching bangle she still wore on her left wrist.

"That necklace and this bangle forms what's called a Resonance Set. Each individual piece of a Resonance Set has a single power that the one holding it can use; for example, the necklace you're wearing allows you to escape the notice of others- especially of those wearing other pieces of the set. This bangle lets me transfer energy from myself to the necklace- so you wouldn't have to waste your own energy powering the necklace's effects."

She then paused for a second.

[Cleric of Hell's Brigade]

"So apparently in the past, Khal'ud had this magical perosn called an angel as an energy source for his Dreadnoughts," Boss began. "Tabia says that most likely, he's still this very day ,doing who knows what."

"So what's the worse case scenario here?" Boss asked, turning to look at Tabia. "He's making another batch of Dreadnoughts?"

"Or worse. Khal'ud is a master Maker, after all."

[Cleric of Hell's Brigade]

"Whoa. Have you actually talked to her?" Sloane was taken aback. Either the blindy was really committed to her disguise, or she was actually a garbage collector.

For some reason, the thought of the latter scared him. Maybe it was the parallel betwen him and her that struck fear into his heart.

"I've spoken to her a few times. Even hshared a few meals with her. A little standoffish, but it was pleasant enough."

[Cleric of Hell's Brigade]

OT: Okay, so from what I recall of the geography of Tabia's place, there's a lake right? So, Elewa needs to get into the place before he meets people so... bear with me.

The lake. The fucking lake!

Elewa dashed to the edge of the lake and out onto the water, his ability carrying him along on the surface as he ran without breaking his stride. He halted as he reached the centre of the lake and disengaged his power, plunging into the water with a mighty splash.

Oh man.

Ooooh shit.

He just sat on the bottom of the lake for a moment, letting the water flow into lungs that no longer required air.

Days in the desert, weeks even. He'd lost all sense of time, he had no idea how long he'd been walking but it had been exceedingly hot and dry. He sat and just absorbed the sense of cooling water for a good few seconds, drinking in the complete antithesis of all that had been his world up until this point.

Sweet circuits this was good.

He kicked off the bottom of the lake and swam up, his body erupting out of the water like a buoyant cork.

Messily doggy paddling and spitting water, he reached the edge of the lake and pulled himself ashore.

Through his euphoria, he was aware that were people nearby. His eyes, still blurred from the endless sun of the desert picked out a figure. The radiant figure of the Elven Queen.



He opened his mouth, his eyes bugging as he thought of everything he could say.

One question first.

"How long...?" he said, his voice weak and quiet.

"Almost a month, give or take a day or so."