[center][img]https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/ObfXRuxb6cIycBndF6yb4wfoMPCaSkClHh6nJ7k7w1E/%3Fcb%3D20190315052123/https/static.wikia.nocookie.net/control6745/images/f/fe/Pyramid2.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340[/img] Level 3: 23/30 Word Count: 1,438 Location: Al Mamoon Northeast- Outside of Rocket Inc Points Gained: 3 New EXP Balance--- Level 3: 26/30[/center] The Seekers pulled through. Shadow was overwhelmed by their combined offensive. Mao got the last hit in, putting the powerful Hedgehog on the mat. Jesse 'holstered' her Service Weapon, the pistol vanishing into mid-air, and straightened up her posture. For a moment she surveyed the ruined room and it's many fallen spirits, holes, and unconscious fighters, contemplative. Her eyes landed on Orendi and Nastasia's spirit. But it was back to business. They weren't out of the woods yet. The Ciella situation would be resolved with a rather simple deception. In all of this mind control chicanery, it wasn't unimaginable that someone might lose track of who is on who's side. Jesse said nothing, implying her assent to the plan. It was obvious the Director was deep in thought now that the battle was over, only half involved in the situation around her. Jesse and her Tool Gun were put to work, and she did it quickly. Expanding Mona and Necronomican and then attatching balloons and rockets as necessary. Silent, she did her part to guide the Seekers to safety. Then, she un-inflated Mordecai's hawk, and unshrunk the big guy Reinhardt. Once outside Rocket Inc, Jesse breathed in the fresh desert air. Yellow Team was shortly reunited. There were a lot of people from all sorts of placed Jesse would have to get acquainted with. Especially the big feathery creature and his anime robot. But, the situation with the Grimleal wasn't over yet. There were more mind-controlled individuals that could still be rescued. Especially some friends of Mao's. As much as the kid didn't want to admit they were friends, he was a terrible liar. Jesse...knew the feeling. It might surprise her fellow Seekers that those among the first people she'd ever killed. Perhaps she had expected more fanfare. Only now, in the aftermath, did she wonder if she should have hesitated, doubted herself, or even considered the fact for a moment. But she hadn't. Jesse had been surrounded by death ever since she became Director. Whether it be the countless FBC employees she's since replaced, the ones that died while she was the acting Director, and the few that have perished under her orders since it began. Sure, she had killed many people controlled by the Hiss, but they were already long gone. And her brother...the old Director...well, she still wasn't sure. But she had acted then. And she had acted now. The Director didn't regret her permanent violence. Orendi and Nastasia were both dangerous threats. They had to be taken out of the picture before they had a chance to recuperate or inflict more harm. Jesse had spared where she could, and acted with executive decision where she couldn't. The time for her doubting her own intentions and actions had long past. Jesse knew who she was. The time for self-reflection, however, was never over. Jesse had been on the back foot in terms of information and situational awareness ever since she first got put into this place by Galeem. If she had more control, Jesse knew less people would be dead. If anyone at all. First of all, Ciella made her attack on Rocket Incorporated while woefully outmatched. She was still defeated by Shadow and Nastasia, even with all of the Seekers' help. Midna may have worsened the situation temporarily, but Ciella still owed Midna her life in the first place after Midna saved her by giving her a Friend Heart. The Seekers were lured into a trap Ciella and her Grimleal had already fallen into. This entire fight shouldn't have happened until the Grimleal had the sound advantage. When doing a raid on a house, SWAT teams moved in with the overwhelming advantage. They didn't just send in one maverick cop with nothing to lose like in the movies. Which was a bit rich coming from Jesse 'One Woman Army' Faden, but that was only because she was the person on Earth best equipped to deal with AWEs. Believe her, if she could equip her Rangers with telekinetic powers, she would. Not that they weren't extremely competent already. But. Y'know. Spooky stuff couldn't always be solved with LMG's, manpower, and years of training. A surprising amount of it could, though. Human ingenuity, planning, and ingenuity was a remarkable thing. Well. It could be. These wer the thoughts that ran through Jesse's had as she had left Rocket Inc and while the others had their brief conversations. Blinking out of her internal world, Jesse looked at the captured Shadow. "Walk and talk." Jesse clarified before speaking. "What are we going to do about Shadow the Hedgehog? Give him a Friend Heart and wish him on his merry way? I'm not sure if there's a prison that can hold him, and I'd rather have him aware of the Galeem situation than not. Alternatively, we could execute him. Which is a bad call. But if we do nothing, he'll wake up and escape one day, still under Galeem's influence." Jesse said. "Besides." Jesse glanced over at the Phantom Thieves, who also recognized him from media back on Earth. "He's just edgy Sonic who uses a machine gun, right?" Jesse had been fourteen when Shadow the Hedgehog came out. At the time she didn't exactly have the time to play a lot of video games, but cultural osmosis tended to find its way towards introverted teenagers who sulked all day long. "Like... pretty sure his game was rated E10+. Not even T for Teen. He can't be that bad. He was under two layers of violence-inducing mind control." Jesse said. "Oh." She looked at everyone. "I hope to get a chance to fully debrief, and get debriefed, on this entire situation once we have a moment to rest. But, in summary, on the world I'm from, lots of people in this world are instead fictional media properties. I hope there's Wikipedia somewhere in the World of Light, because that could be an extremely useful resource." Jesse said. Then she sighed, gathering her breath. "Wikipedia is an online resource, people can use computers to access and edit it. On the world I'm from." She explained, already exasperated. "Okay." Jesse started thinking aloud, clapping her hands together. "We need spreadsheets. Folders. Pamphlets. Cute little name tags. Galeem is keeping people in the dark and we need to combat that by spreading information. Or at the very least, having a more effective way of catching everyone we recruit up to speed on how the mechanics of this world work. I could do it if I had a library card and a modern day library, or if we went back to my base. Which, by the way, the situation my base is in is an entire other thing we need to dicuss later. The whole reason I left was to gather information and allies." She ran a hand over her forehead and into her red hair. The Director followed the Seekers on their way to reunite with further more allies. Walk and talk, walk and talk. "We can go into more detail about that later. It's not pressing. I'm fine with letting Shadow be everyone else's problem. We already have enough on our plate as it is. The sooner we can focus on taking down Galeem, the better." She said. Joining the Seekers on what was essentially a side mission hadn't made Jesse any less eager to strike out and start solving this massive AWE known as Galeem. [i](God, I wish Emily was here.) [/i] Jesse longed to return to the Oldest House just to give her and everybody there the news and data she had acquired. Let alone her desire to save all of her employees and friends. While the situation there was stable, it had been so long since she had been there, it could have changed since she left. If freed, it could act as another safe base of operations to strike out at Galeem with. So many options, so many variables to consider. Jesse wished she could just step up and take control, but with all of these egos running around, she doubted it would be possible. Everyone here was probably entirely unused to being ordered around. Especially by someone they didn't even know. Be it the Phantom Thieves and their own independant code, or being a princess, or just being an adventurer, warrior, hero, etc that did what they wanted and didn't take shit. On their worlds, it was probably was made them forces for good. In this world, it was grounds for an awkward team building excercise. The only cohesion was their shared desire to destroy Galeem.