[i]I am the way into the city of woe,[/i]
[i]I am the way into eternal pain,[/i]
[i]I am the way to go among the lost.[/i]

[i]Justice caused my high architect to move,[/i]
[i]Divine omnipotence created me,[/i]
[i]The highest wisdom, and the primal love.[/i]

[i]Before me there were no created things[/i]
[i]But those that last forever—as do I.[/i]
[i]Abandon all hope you who enter here.[/i]
[list][*]Dante Alighieri, Inferno[/list]

[i]“Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.”[/i]
[list][*]Paradise Lost, John Milton[b]
[/b][/list]
[b]November:[/b]

Imagine if 3 Mile Island happened in Guantanamo Bay. Who gets right of way? 

For the moment the problems aren’t even coming from Rudy’s handlers, they’re coming from dealing with the largest terrorist attack in recent memory. But there is refuge in audacity, it means that black ops has to wade through the same obstacles you will, just to catch up to you. 

[b]Strawberry:[/b]

Pink, White. People are making their way to your basement control zone, and are broadcasting orders to you all over. You’re the LAX air traffic controller when two planes just collided on the runway. These next moments are critical. How do you inspire confidence that you’re handling the situation confidently? The roar of voices is a kind of democracy in action, rapidly congealing around a decision of who should be in charge. In a few moments there’s going to be some clear winners singled out of the crowd that you’re going to be able to respond to.

That hasn’t happened yet. Right now it’s critical that you do something so when those voices start to fade to key figures, you’ve [i]already[/i] established yourself as one of them. Assert dominance. Otherwise you’re benched. 

This is a contest. Difficulty 3 - You were here first, you hold home field advantage, that quality puts you on parity with their quantity. A signal in the noise just rolled 5, no spend. Your turn. 

[b]Waffle:[/b]

You’re cutting through. There’s no question about that. But you’ve done space demolition before - sometimes you know that success is its own kind of failure. 

Difficulty 4 to cut through. Difficulty 6 to cut through without [i]any[/i] incidents. You’ve got a lot of dice pools you can justify here - Ways to check that you’re not cutting through that powered cabling, hitting cryofluid ducts, or overcutting through and destroying whatever’s on the immediate other side. Fail the 4 and the problem’s so bad that you need to deal with it before you can start cutting again. 

No matter what, this will take time.

[b]Orange:[/b]

Fiona starts - “Nothing. Next to nothing. Goat’s a black hole after that.” Stops. Crystal holds her hand. Fiona doesn’t like what it means that she doesn’t know this, and that you asked. 

Mr Merkin has sent an email to v8j@hdajp{[241njsdnf01%-01495Jljs#1934@spicemail.com. It’s a miracle he survived sending it. 

	[i]I don’t know if this is you. I’m not allowed to know what this is yet, but someone’s really scared, and you popped into my burning head. [/i]

[i]	If you don’t know what I’m talking about, forget it. But if you do? I want out. I’m done. If you can guarantee that for me - [/i]guarantee [i]that - I’ll do what I can. No threats, no haggling. Mutual trust fall. [/i]

Pawns win endgames. When every other piece is traded off the board, the pawns decide the winner. And you know something else, November? 

Kindness is optimal. Always.

What can you tell him, that he’d believe?