GEMINI HQ needed to be defended. Naturally, it would need to be defended by an esper. The issue therein was that espers had a finite amount of mana they could use. If they used it all up, they would need to wait for it to recharge. As important as the operation was, someone needed to keep their mana levels up in the event that the Hand decided to retaliate. Fritzi had underestimated how well organized they were in the past, but she wouldn’t be making that mistake again. It didn’t matter if they dispatched darkweb esper squads or hordes of monsters, holding the line was something she could do on her own. But Fritzi was not an active sentinel. She had her own research to attend to. Data on the monsters to exploit and future operations to plan. [i]*ping!* *pong!*[/i] But Fritzi was in the break room playing ping-pong with Faith. [b]”Is this really all we can do to help right now?”[/b] Faith tapped the ball back to Fritzi. [b]”I’ve been thinking about Neon Genesis Evangelion a lot ever since I spoke with Finn. I know the robots needed a lot of support people to relay information back and forth and I don’t ever recall them playing games. Like maybe you could be on the radio with them and give them guidance the whole way through or something? I kind of get Gendo vibes from you, but they’re like good Gendo vibes. Like you have a plan but things need to move along a bit more before they can be realized.”[/b] With a flick of Fritzi’s wrist, her next return had a crazy amount of spin on it. It flew just over the net before dropping straight onto the table and firing straight ahead. Faith didn’t even have time to move her paddle before it soared past her. [color=bd71e8]”We need to work on your rambling.”[/color] Fritzi smirked. [color=bd71e8]”I have my earpiece on me, and they can contact me if they need it. But there’s only so much I can do by myself. It’s just you and me here, and you aren’t trained to use any of the equipment. Given your circumstances, I’m not sure how the squad would feel about receiving mission critical details from someone that was fished out of a behemoth.”[/color] Faith came back to the table with the ping pong ball. [b]”I guess that makes sense. But in Muv-Luv, the-”[/b] [color=bd71e8]”Never heard of it.”[/color] Fritzi opened her hand, and Faith tossed the ball to her. [color=bd71e8]”I’ve given Ashley everything I could think of. They’re on their own now. Many of our future operations will depend on the success of this mission, so there’s nothing for me to do. Though getting to know more about you will help with my research. You think we’re just playing a game? I’m testing your reflexes!”[/color] [b]”That’s going to help you learn about the Elemental Chaos?”[/b] [color=bd71e8]”Eventually!”[/color] [b]”Couldn’t we just interrogate some monsters?”[/b] The scientist huffed. She placed the ping-pong ball on the table and set her paddle on top of it. [color=bd71e8]”We’ve attempted to do so in the past. The information we get from monsters is impossible to verify ourselves and isn’t enough to explain what the Elemental Chaos is.”[/color] She folded her hands behind her back. [color=bd71e8]”I don’t care for theory craft much, but there is a small group of the scientific community that does. It’s theorized that our world and all of the worlds the monsters come from are ‘bubble universes’ trapped in a ‘foam,’ with that foam being the elemental chaos.”[/color] Faith’s ears perked up. [b]”Bubble universes? I wonder if the person who thought of that theory was a fan of Mihoyo’s games, because there’s a theory that-”[/b] [color=bd71e8]”Possibly, I wouldn’t know. But it’s based on eye witness accounts from [i]monsters[/i] and doesn’t help us figure out how to enter the Elemental Chaos. Who cares about skies filled with freezing lava or alternate realities where everyone’s a vampire? It’s pointless if we can’t access such phenomena ourselves.”[/color] Fritzi sighed. [color=bd71e8]”But to this day, there’s only one person who was able to spend any real time in the Elemental Chaos. Someone who walked beyond the threshold of any portal we’ve used to look into the place.”[/color] [b]”You’re referring to Oros the Mad?”[/b] Faith set down her paddle and folded her arms. [b]”I could be wrong, but she has ‘mad’ in her title. It doesn’t seem like her mind survived the trip even if her body did. It kind of reminds me of Arakune from Blazblue, because he was once a very intelligent scientist that had his personality almost entirely devoured by his research. No matter how many times Litchi smacks him with her pole he doesn’t snap out of it.”[/b] [color=bd71e8]”...I kind of understood that analogy.”[/color] Fritzi turned around and started walking towards her office. [color=bd71e8]”But if we talk to someone close to her, especially someone scientifically minded, they could give us a lot of valuable information.”[/color] Faith peaked around the table. [b]”Does-”[/b] She scuffed after Fritzi. [b]”Does such a person exist?”[/b] [hr] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/59130ec9-ed14-4987-990a-43bfc6f37c8a.png[/img] [sub][@Ponn][@ERode][@Izurich][/sub] With a plan set out, the agents could get moving without any further delay. Estelle and Mika could easily slip around the exterior of the building, not every security camera outside had been fixed after the hailstorm damaged them. They'd eventually reach the mentioned vent. From a quick glance-over it looked big enough for an average male to fit. Pair that with an easily breakable grait, and the two were able to crawl inside one at a time. Now if they can navigate through the inside to the booth, that'd be fantastic. Meanwhile Ellie and Ashley were able to get a good look at the inside. Slot machines, roulette and blackjack tables, all the usual works that goes into your typical casino. There were two sets of stairs leading up to a second floor lounge for the gamblers to smoke, drink, and be merry, with a decent view of the main hall. A grand chandelier hung over it all, but that's not important right now. At the very back was their target, a keen eye could glance an elevator at the back of the teller booth, with an [i]"employees only"[/i] sign hanging on the side. There weren't many people left skulking there either. While the workers were cleaning up and getting ready to head home, there were still a few patrons that hadn't left yet. Such was the [url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FachDZ2VQAAz7uV?format=jpg&name=medium]sharply dressed man[/url] talking with one of the card dealers. The man spared a quick glance at the two girls when they entered through the door, but did nothing further to investigate. They probably had a good reason to swing by so late. Maybe they left something here and they came back to pick it up. Maybe they were looking for a friend they were supposed to meet up with. Spades McGraw took another puff of his cigar. [i]She[/i] warned them about a couple of feds coming by, didn't she? Through an earpiece, Spades spoke up: [b]"Look alive, gents. I'm smellin' some rats."[/b] [b]"You gotta be fucking kidding me, [i]now?![/i]"[/b] [url=https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/048/195/199/large/rinotuna-.jpg?1649425195]"Honey Badger"[/url] whisper-yelled back in response. [b]"Relax, Badger, just act natural. Doesn't look like they're itchin' for a fight yet."[/b] Honey Badger was about to sharply retort when Ellie and Ashley finally walked up to the booth. With a strained groan, he leaned against the back, next to the [i]actual[/i] teller. Before the two can be shooed away, the vent grate by the wall burst open, and out came the other two. Honest to god, Honey Badger should've expected there to be more than two. [b]"Oi what the [i]fuck[/i]- You ain't supposed to be back here!!"[/b] Despite his rising panic, he was reaching for a weapon. They couldn't allow GEMINI to gain access to the lower floors, Tony would have their damn heads for lunch! [hr] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/49e43850-6b94-4e43-94d0-440214371bfb.png[/img] [sub][@The World][@Nyahahameha][@Nakushita][@TaintedMushroom][@FamishedPants][/sub] A woman humming from a nearby [i]rooftop[/i]? A girl leaning against one of the few standing walls of the MicroMart? Another trying to remain inconspicuous while in one of the most vacant parts of the city? Oh yes, there was no way they weren’t all espers. Kira was able to take in quite a bit of the area from her vantage point. The city wasn’t so congested this far out. There were strips of grass growing between the buildings and around the roads. There had been plans to develop this part of the city and expand towards the mountains, but everyone holding the money noticed how “accident prone” this area was and cut their losses. The MicroMart was in shambles, but the hailstorm only did in what was already a deteriorating building. The tin siding had been knocked off the rusting frame, and twisted rebar poked out of the building's foundation. While it wasn’t a giant store, it was still big enough to completely hide the semi behind its far remaining wall. Looking past the mart at the distant hills revealed some far off movement. A group of people on a hill, too far away to see in detail. The freelancers in front of the MicroMart met without incident. Marrie didn’t look too unusual on her own, but Himiko with her neon yellow hair and eccentric outfit made for an unusual scene. Aside from Kira, no one else appeared to witness it. But that didn’t mean there was no one else around. Someone was giving a speech just on the other side of the MicroMart. Kira was too far away to hear in much detail, but the other two freelancers could hear everything. [b]”...And the day the storm came, I witnessed a giant shadow fall out of the sky! And when it waved its arm, my flesh broke out into boils and cysts. You all felt that too, didn’t you? At the time I was hungry, tired, and in pain. My shelter crumbled and my arm trembled. My wound had been festering for a while, but when the boils formed on my body, my arm opened up like the petals of a flower. And do you see this? Beneath my weakened flesh was this pearl appendage. It feels no pain, it does not bleed, it does not break. I knew in that moment that the shadow I saw in the sky, that cloaked figure, was the [i]shadow of corruption[/i] cast by our politicians!”[/b] several voices roared with approval. [b]”But that shadow is [i]us[/i], and maybe instead of twisting ourselves around to conform to what our so-called leaders want, maybe it’s time they bent to [i]our[/i] shape. And that’s why we’ve taken this water for ourselves. I’ve already purified a few bottles for our purpose. But we will need more, [i]so much more[/i]. We will need food, more followers, more of everything our corrupt society withholds for themselves. Let us not cease our momentum here. We must continue to claim ground. [i]So long as we have the dragon, we cannot fail![/i]”[/b] The leader’s followers roared, and those roars were joined by the sound of a semi starting. Its diesel engine shook the ground, along with an uncountable number of footsteps. Then what poured out from the side of MicroMart were… The homeless. Dozens of men and women in dirty clothes brandishing improvised weaponry. Broken bottles, steel pipes, shivs, all with a look of madness in their eyes. Or was it desperation? Marrie and Himiko were close enough to the MicroMart that they escaped the mob’s vision. They pushed forth without as much as looking in their direction. But not Kira. With about fifty pairs of eyes looking in her direction, it was inevitable that she would get spotted. A few outstretched hands pointed at the woman standing on the rooftop, others tightened their grip around their weapons. But while Kira was visible to them, she could also see down the side of the building at what was coming. The semi was rolling around the corner with more bums flanking either side of it. Though the most interesting person in the mob’s numbers was a man reclining on the vehicle’s hood. He wore less than the bums that he was traveling with. He had coveralls, but they were torn to tatters. He wore them like pants and let the upper half of his uniform hang behind like a tailcoat. His torso was sculpted like a Greek statue, and covered in scars. He also wore some occult jewelry like a necklace made of fangs and an engraved silver bracelet. But no detail was more interesting than his left hand. From the elbow to his fingertips, there wasn’t a scrap of flesh. It was stained red bones and nothing else. But he could move it like any other. A red scrap of cloth was tied around his elbow, and it fluttered in the breeze. The vagrants didn’t [i]look[/i] like cultists, but they were in possession of a truck that, according to their leader, held a lot of water. The freelancers presently had the initiative but it wouldn’t last. They weren’t too pleased to see Kira on the rooftops, and they might turn hostile once they noticed the other, much closer espers standing beside the MicroMart.