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The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

Alice's expression the moment she laid eyes on the holographic image of the space station their mission would take part in was one of shock. Not only due to the sheer size of the space station, but due to it's overall layout. The tight corridors and corners not only would be incredibly unfavorable for Alice, making it much harder to position herself and use her rifle properly, but it also would heavily favor CQC, something Alice had only very basic training of.

"Oh this is bad... Very, very bad..." Alice said to herself, with a worried expression. Immediately upon looking at the holographic image of the Space Station, she could already think of a multitude of terrible situations that they could face... And she had not even began to think about ethereal interference... Which could make that mission a true nightmare, should their luck fail them.

"It would be extremely helpful if we had an idea of the path we're going to take inside the Space Station and a map... Any engagement with hostile forces inside would be incredibly disadvantageous for us, who have no knowledge of the inside layout of the Space Station. Ambushes and traps are only a few of our worries when we get inside..." Alice said, clearly concerned.

"Knowing the chances of a distortion wave or any large-scale ethereal disturbance... And being prepared for those... is also vital for this operation. The Oneiric Chasm is cruel and deadly to those unprepared... Even for those who had already went into numerous expeditions before." Alice said, agreeing with Ilshar's words and sharing Salvator's concerns about possible ethereal disturbances.

Even experienced voidhangers knew better than to consider adventuring into the Oneiric Chasm without proper preparation and considering every possible outcome, no matter how unlikely it was to occur. Fearing and respecting the Chasm was the first thing Alice learned on the exploration ship she used to live with other voidhangers.

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

Knowing that the matter of the said 'informant' would be investigated did make Alice a bit more relieved. She knew well the invictoids wouldn't tolerate a potentially disastrous variable on their plans, considering how they acted. Either bring such 'variable' under control or eliminate it. Hopefully, sooner than later and without using them as a disposable force for their objectives...

As the Invictoid mentioned to the dossiers of the possible missions they could take next, Alice noted how King seemed to know their content with a single glance. But what perhaps drew her attention even more was King's attitude at the Invictoid Authority. With acid words and not making any attempt to hide his opinions, it certainly made Alice stop reading the dossiers and watch the Invictoid's reaction. Who exactly was King? The only possibility she could think of was that he, somehow was someone important enough to allow him speak his mind like that to the invictoid without fearing any repercussions. But again, if he was so important, why put him in a squad with mere agents like them?

"I think the option B is a rather interesting one. Not only it will help us to secure the results of our previous mission, but it will also give us a good opportunity to gather intel on field, which definitely prove to be very valuable." Alice said, raising her voice a little bit in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere after King's words, worried about a possible retaliation from the Invictoid Authority.

"By the way, I am sure the necessary information will be given to us once we have decided on our next mission. Stricter protocols to help avoid any information leak are understandable, given the situation we have faced on our last mission." Alice said, trying to calm down King.

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

The commander's words, after showing them the aftermath of their last mission, were harsh but the point he wanted to make was clear... Keeping one's hands clear and following one's morals in the situation they faced was... impossible. Just like the invictoid commander said, there was no room for discussing right or wrong in the war they fought. Doing so would be useless. They only had to be clean and efficient. It was a cold way to thing about things, but it was better than sitting down and spending days and days discussing how they could do things in the 'right' way instead of actually acting.

The invictoid commander's words were like a cold shower for Alice. In a war of that scale, the old sayings about doing a few things that could be considered 'bad' to bring a greater good later on seemed more appropriate than ever. With those thoughts in mind, Alice knew she would have to find a way to ignore her reservations and her morals, if she wanted to continue doing her job.

"I-I... understand commander..." Alice said, looking down. As unpleasant as it might be, she knew the commander was right and trying to argue against his logic would be useless... After all, regardless of how much society changed and evolved, one aspect would always remain unchanged. War.

---

With those thoughts still in Alice's head, she gave a small bow as she went to take Kleo to the medical bay, where upon arriving, they were silently greeted by a gealtirocht as it motioned for Alice to lay Kleo down on the bed behind a curtain. As soon as she did so, Alice would ask the gealtirocht's help in taking the shrapnel in her back.

"Thank you. Just be warned, Kleo might be a bit... agitated... when she wakes up... If she does so, just send her our way, if she is in any condition to walk or just tell her to wait for us and that we will explain everything to her as soon as possible." Alice said, thanking the gealtirocht both for tending to her wounds and staying with Kleo with a brief, albeit somewhat distant and tired smile, before she returned to where the rest of the squad was.

---

Alice heard the commotion before she saw the scene as she was reunited with the commander and the rest of the squad. The reason for such was a human, apparently someone with high ranking, who seemed to be incredibly angry about how the commander's actions deviated from the previous agreed plans. Alice merely watched in silence, similarly to the rest of her squad as the human went on about what happened in Prosperity, ending with a rather ominous remark as how they were all disposable for the invictoid commander. Once again, a cold fact, but one that was still undeniably true.

"Disposable? Maybe.. But nobody could straight up order them to die... Or blaming them for surviving afterwards." Alice thought to herself.

With that little 'incident' dealt with by the commander, they continued following him into a room where a strange creature, composed of a swarm of small, strange pieces floating in an orb of ethereal power seemed to be in charge of a command center. This creature, which was introduced as the Ixaxxar node by the commander soon began it's questioning after a brief evaluation of their squad's performance on the last mission.

The question asked by the Ixaxxar node was a very concerning one, bringing to light something Alice seemed to have either missed or forgotten about in the middle of the chaos that previous mission was. The very first informant that met them...

"It seems there was a security breach." Alice said, agreeing with the other Gealtirocht, Rho-Hux.

In hindsight, now that she heard Salvator's report, the so called 'informant' did seem to be rather suspicious...

"Just like Rho-Hux, Ilshar and Salvator said, it does seem to be too suspicious. Whether he was merely an informant or not, he seemed to have a good deal of knowledge on how the Intransigence operates and specifically about our mission there. He seemed to know more than what he should." Alice mentioned with a serious expression.

The Hunt, A Modern Fantasy Smorgasbord RP

^{Interactions: Amanda @Kumbaris, Micheal Crane @BigPapaBelial, Xaviron @Martian, Morgana @King Cosmos}

---

While it was true Faye wasn't wounded or in any immediate danger, for someone with Fae blood, especially her, who was basically a hybrid, being trapped in such manner and completely cut off from magic was extremely cruel. A torture one could not hope to escape from. At least not alone. With that said, despite Faye's struggle, she could still hear in the background Morgana and another woman having a heated exchange.

"Please... I did nothing... Wrong..." Faye said, weakly as the iron chains rattled very faintly as she used the little energy she still had to draw attention to her weak and low voice... As she herself knew trying to free herself was not an option.

Even though she knew deep down that the best she could do was to trust Morgana and her friends, every second she remained in those chains seemed to last hours for her. For a family who did never capture or engaged in conflicts with the Fae, why would they employ such cruel means to trap them? Did the Faith family even care of how much suffering those bindings caused Faye or any Fae-blooded creature?

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

Alice heard the commander's words with a somewhat concerned expression. It was a given that their position wasn't the best one. Alice knew well that certain... tactics were a given when fighting against powerful enemies, but even so... There was a line one should not cross. No matter the goal or cause... Kleo's outburst was also definitely not helping. Fortunately, she soon fell unconscious due to probably either continuously overexerting herself or the wounds reopening. While not technically a good thing, it would give them time to explain things to her... and try to prevent her to further test the commander's patience and leniency.

"Thank you, commander. Forgive us for Kleo's... Outburst. She went through a lot and lost a good deal of blood." Alice said, gently putting Kleo's arms over her shoulder and lifting her as the commander turned to them, suggesting to take Kleo to the medical bay.

"While not exactly 'special forces', I understand the position we are in and I understand that some times, some... 'interference' is needed to make the situation evolve in the way we want it to... With that said..." Alice said, pausing as she tried her best to measure her words so they wouldn't be taken as an offense or a sign of insubordination by the commander.

"There is a certain line where the 'whatever it takes' approach stops being acceptable or justifiable. Wanting to succeed on our goal is a given, but we should be careful to not do anything to cross this line. Should we do, bringing the popular opinion against us will be just one of our worries." Alice said, bowing a bit just to make sure her words wouldn't be misunderstood as challenging or threatening.

"In this case though, I fully understand and agree that our interference was definitely necessary to both hasten and make these 'peace talks' being taken more seriously." Alice completed, once again bowing, thanking the Commander for both hearing her words and for his service before turning and nodding to the rest of her team, getting ready to take Kleo to the medical bay.

"Oh, and... I'm sorry for the blood and all the confusion... Anyways... welcome to the team! You can count on me for scouting and long-range fire support." Alice said in a lower tone before leaving, turning to King with a smile.

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

For a moment, the sound of metal creaking was everything Alice could hear, as the huge walker went down the hill, creating as much, if not more damage to the terrain than it had on it's previous, violent charge towards them. It wasn't a fun mission, nor one that went without it's share of problems but they were all fine... Mostly. Kleo still needed some proper medical attention and now that the adrenaline was starting to die down, Alice as well began feeling the shrapnel in her back from the previous explosion. Pain began in waves, one after another until it came back as strong as in the beginning.

Fortunately, it took but a moment for the ship that was going to extract them to arrive, appearing almost out of nowhere due to it's extremely advanced technology. The command coming from the soldiers disembarking and securing a perimeter with an almost mechanical-like efficiency around them was direct and simple. Board and depart. Their mission was complete. Exactly in time for the much needed medical attention for both her and Kleo.

---

It was almost strange how in the span of a few seconds, the battlefield they were in was left behind, remaining just as a memory. The tranquility and calmness within the ship stood in stark contrast to the endless cacophony of gunfire, explosions, and death that had surrounded them on the battlefield mere seconds before. Unfortunately, despite the grave wounds that Kleo had suffered and the shrapnel embedded into Alice's back, it seemed like their presence was being expected by the commander of that ship, a vaguely humanoid, skeletal machine going by the designation: Invictoid Authority Node 04/10.

Quickly acknowledging their presence upon arrival, the machine spoke. It's voice sounding like a strange echo around it as it addressed the Envenomed. The machine's speech was direct and efficient, dismissing any sort of formality as it asked them to follow it to a more... comfortable room, before urging the Envenomed to ask their questions it knew they would definitely have. Time seemed to be of utmost importance and value for the mysterious machine.

Kleo's reaction upon reaching the room was completely unexpected though. Despite her grave wounds, Kleo didn't hesitate in throwing her helmet at the machine as she began a stream of insults and threats towards it, mentioning how she was kidnapped and how she almost died, inevitably ending with her letting herself fall on the couch after coughing blood into the ground, a clear sign that her wounds had reopened.

"Kleo... Your wounds... Please calm down." Alice said delicately, going to where she was as she quickly took an apologetic glance towards the commander and the strange human that now had his boots covered by Kleo's blood. Upon closer look, the latter one, despite it's outwards human-like appearance, had quite an unsettling feel about him. The lack of movements as it stood still, not moving even for breathing make it look more like an ultra-realistic sculpture than a human. King would also notice Alice staring at him for a bit too long, before turning away.

"I'm sorry. It is as Salvator said. She has lost quite a bit of blood and was severely wounded. We both need some medical attention, but her wounds are much worse than mine." Alice said, both to the commander and the human named 'King' Should they agree that Kleo deserved urgent medical care, it would buy them some time to calm her down and hopefully address any concerns or doubts she might have.

Aside from her concerns about Kleo's well being, the points raised by both Salvator and Ilshar did also make her concerned. What exactly was the goal of their mission in Zanovia? Were they really just fulfilling a contract?

"That would make us quite similar to any other big corporations in the galaxy, wouldn't it? Moving ourselves for money and contracts, rather than for a cause..." Alice said, replying to Ilshar and Salvator's words as she took an inquisitive glance at the Authority Node.

"I also wouldn't mind for a proper explanation about what happened... Like many others that joined the Intransigence, I also suffered greatly in the hands of other greedy mega corporations. It would disappoint me greatly to see the Intransigence taking a similar path..." She completed, looking to the bio-machine with a serious expression.

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

Despite the rapidly approaching threat, the quick salvo of attacks, aimed at the priority targets stated by Salvator made quick work of critical components such as the antenna and the camera pod. Thanks to the salvo of heavy, autocannon rounds, Alice's rounds hitting it's wheels and Echo slamming on it's side, the ramming attempt from the heavy walker as also rendered ineffective as it's trajectory was radically changed, making it collide with a number of trees as it crashed into the ground. Despite the heavy damage suffered into a short span of time, it seemed the walker wasn't completely inoperative yet, as the noises of gears grinding through damaged components made it clear that it was still able to at least attempt to force itself upright.

"Acknowledged. Do we have an ETA for the extraction? Even with damaged components, that thing still probably has enough firepower to turn almost anything we can use as a cover around itself to rubble." Alice said as she reloaded, her rifle, taking a new mag from the pockets in her armor, one of the few she had left before running towards Echo's main body, just as it merged again with it, recommending them to board it.

"Boarding Echo. It's unlikely the mech will be able to stand up again and if it does, large part of it's mobility is done. Unless we absolutely have to, our best bet would probably be leaving it behind and heading to a somewhere we can more easily secure and defend for our extraction." Alice said through the comms as she climbed on Echo's main body and waited on the door, making sure all members boarded it... Not before making it clear how worried she was about Kleo's wounds after she ignored her recommendations, immediately going into the .50 call.

"Kleo, how are your wounds? Have any of them reopened? I don't think dealing with the recoil of a .50 cal is good for your body right now. Let me check them." Alice said as she approached Kleo, already moving in to check her while she glanced back and forth from Kleo, the remaining members that had not boarded Echo yet and the fallen mech.

The Five Senses - Second Arc (Accepting New Players!)

Karina Frost

The idea Karina had to use Xrylos' power against himself by making use of the other crazed was quickly dismissed by the Nashep-Najier. Her explanation about the bond most of the Crazed shared with the position Xrylos occupied was quite simple to understand. Especially when she compared it to the very same bond they had with the 'Being'.

Despite being able to understand them, said bonds were still... tricky to deal and even to plan around, since they were bonded to concepts and ideals and not people or other things. Xrylos, of course, wasn't immune to said bond... But as Nashep-Najier said herself... A same ideal could be interpreted of many different ways.

Karina already had her mind full trying to include these bonds into her plans, so she didn't even realized that Nashep-Najier herself had one of her own... At least until Tayla asking her about it.

"Balance, in a certain way, isn't it?" Karina said to herself as she heard the Nashep-Najier's reply to Tayla's question.

Should her words be true, it was a very comforting answer. Regardless of the personal reasons for her bond or the current predicament the Nashep-Najier's people encountered themselves in, her ideal was one they could trust.

"Having this much power concentrated into a single artifact can only ever bring chaos to the world whenever said artifact is used." Karina asked, looking to Nashep-Najier.

"I assume destroying said artifact was never an option. Otherwise it would likely be one of your goals... If we take your 'ideal' into consideration, am I correct?" Karina asked.

---

With the arrival of Chres and the remaining of the group, Karina set her questions aside for a moment. Knowing the princess and Chres were safe were very good news... As it was the news that they had new allies... If they could trust them, that is.

"Nia and Pyter... I somehow have the feeling there is more to your story than just this, but for now, we have a bigger problem to solve." Karina said, glancing to Chres with a firm expression. Whether she was silently admonishing him for being too naive and believing whatever story those two told him or if she was demanding to know the full truth behind her new 'allies' was uncertain though.

Before Karina could even entertain the idea that the new arrivals might not be trustworthy yet, a blood curdling screech echoed through the foyer, immediately making Karina unsheathe her rapier and prepare for combat.

The moment her eyes met the creatures that arrived followed by said screech though, even Karina, despite all her training, felt impacted by the sight. Horribly twisted and disfigured creatures. Creatures that simply should not exist but yet, there they were.

Barely resembling a man, the creature with elongated hands and limbs, standing atop of a tangle of spider-like limbs approached the group. It's face, a grotesque mix of a human and an arachnid's face, complete with fangs and the ability to produce silk.

The second creature was a woman, or at least something resembling one. Sticking out of all her limbs, innumerable splinters of the most varied materials, ranging from wood to even stone and metal. Every step the creature took seemed to make her limbs fuse with the ground, taking part of it with them as it continued walking.

The last one was perhaps the most disturbing. A mass of fused limbs, bodies and people, crawling at their direction.

Despite how grotesque and disgusting the creatures were and even contradicting with the initial thoughts Karina herself felt, which caused her to step backwards, almost throwing up in disgust. Despite that, the thoughts that seemed to forcibly invade her mind somehow told them that those 'things' were normal.

"I see... So this is the power of the Cutlerware..." Karina said, trying to control her own thoughts and regain her composure. If it wasn't clear before, now she knew exactly how dangerous that artifact was.

Not only the sight of the creatures caught even Karina, a trained soldier by surprise, but the conflicting thoughts that were being forced upon her were hard to deal with. It took some time, but just as Nashep-Natjier said, the best course of action was to simply accept those thoughts. Even knowing that they clearly didn't belong to her.

"Such thing... should not exist." Karina said, still feeling her stomach turning a bit as she looked at the creatures and prepared herself to join Jen and Nashep-Natjier against them.

The Hunt, A Modern Fantasy Smorgasbord RP

^{Interactions: Amanda @Kumbaris, Micheal Crane @BigPapaBelial, Xaviron @Martian, Morgana @King Cosmos}

---

Normally, Faye would take the words of someone who was speaking highly about their own family with a grain of salt, but given Morgana's apparent 'troubled' relationship with her family, her words of warning did make Faye a bit worried. Old magic, especially the kind that was studied and improved upon by a generation of witches tended to be both powerful and treacherous... And according to Morgana's words, the spells and wards on her family's house seemed to be especially treacherous, even for a witch's standards. To make things even worse, Faye, being half-fae, was almost constantly in contact with magic. Her mere presence might be enough to trigger one of those wards Morgana mentioned.

"Should I just... wait outside? If even Morgana isn't totally sure her mother wouldn't hurt her, I don't think she would be any more gentler to us. Besides, I'm afraid my mere presence might be enough to trigger a few of those wards. You know... Being half-fae and all..." she mentioned, undeniably worried about what might happen.

While Faye didn't say it out loud, it was quite clear she didn't trust Morgana's previous declaration that much, that her family had never hunted or entered in conflict with the Fae. Even from outside, the magic weaved in the spells of that mansion both felt and looked VERY malicious, just as Morgana herself said.

Unfortunately, Faye's worries would quickly show to be very justified. In the very moment they decided to investigate the Faith manor a powerful magic pulse knocked Faye out. There was no time for reaction, even Faye who could feel and see magic, wasn't able to react in time. Whatever spell it was used, was one designed to be extremely effective at disabling it's target, leaving no time to reaction if they were caught by surprise.

Faye had no idea of how much time had passed nor of what had happened as she was being woken up by Amanda's voice calling her name. The moment she finally opened her eyes, Faye knew there was something very wrong. Her body felt heavy... So much that even lifting her head to look at Amanda proved to be difficult. Her very thoughts seemed to come to her so slowly that she took a minute to even realize that Amanda was asking if she was okay and a few more for her to realize that she was bound and chained. From the places the chains and shackles touched her, Faye felt a strange coldness to it. Almost as if the very heat from her body was being sucked out of her.

But what perhaps was the worst feeling for Faye was how... quiet, colorless and... 'silent' the world around her was. She couldn't feel any magic, the link she had with the magic permeating through all things was completely severed. For Faye, it was like having a part of her taken away from her. That horrible, terrible feeling from being cut off from magic was so bad that it was the only thing preventing Faye from closing her eyes and falling unconscious due to the weakness she felt.

"Amanda... Where... are we?" Faye said weakly as she slowly, and with great effort lifted her head to look at her.

"I feel... weak..." Faye replied.

"Wish I could close my eyes and... sleep... But when I do... I feel no magic... No connection to the world... I feel... Nothing... I wish I could close my eyes but I am afraid... Afraid of the darkness that comes with it..." Faye mumbled. Both thinking and speaking seemed to come at great cost to Faye due to the added effect of both the cold iron and the runes cutting her from magic. It seemed that both of them had such a great effect on her when used together that it took conscious effort from Faye's part to make her own words have any meaningful sense.

The light and sparkle that once were in her eyes was gone and her stare was fixed in the distance... Even as she looked towards Amanda, it was almost as if her stare went right through her. Faye could hear the voice of a woman on the background, someone else that wasn't Amanda. She could hear some familiar names, but they all seemed to be too far away, too blurred and difficult to distinguish for her to think about them at the moment.

A fae should always trust their instincts above everything else. A rule Faye had ignored when she decided to follow the others and enter the Faith Manor...

The Hunt, A Modern Fantasy Smorgasbord RP

^{Interactions: Amanda @Kumbaris, Micheal Crane @BigPapaBelial, Xaviron @Martian, Morgana @King Cosmos}

---

As Faye listened to Morgana and Micheal (or better... his friends, since Micheal was still exhausted from using too much of his power), one thing became worryingly clear for her. They had little to no information about Mr. X. Just as Morgana said, all the information they had was... scattered. The idea that Mr. X might be a deity was nothing more than that, an idea. Besides that, all the things they have faced until now could only be assumed as having a direct link to Mr. X and even when they did so, the purpose for his actions was still unknown.

Truth be told, it was... improbable that Mr. X was a deity. If he was though, it would be the worst case for them, but at least until now, every situation that was proved, or at least assumed to be linked to Mr. X could be done by a normal person... Assuming they were VERY influential and powerful though... Which would help them somewhat to try and discover his true identity.

Surprisingly enough, right in the middle of their conversation, Faye felt a strange magic coming from the table, just besides Morgana. While not anything that she could perceive as being harmful, it has a weird... 'pressure' to it. Not like a god's, but a pressure nonetheless. A brief moment later, a letter suddenly appeared on top of the desk.

"A letter?" Faye asked curiously as Amanda grabbed the letter, before quickly blinking behind Amanda, getting on the tip of her toes to look over Amanda's shoulders and trying to read it.

Amanda's words as she turned to Morgana made Faye a bit confused. Even though Faye herself had certain... circumstances regarding her relationship with her family, a letter from them asking to go back home, even if for a visit, wouldn't be something THAT bad. But both the tone of the letter and both Amanda and Morgana's reactions made Faye think that there was more to that letter than just a family reunion.

Faye's hypothesis would show itself to be true a bit later. It seemed like Morgana and her mother didn't really have the best relationship and in order to solve it, so they could continue their mission, they all would have to visit Morgana's family to try and solve the issue.

"No problem! Considered it's a witch's house, I would be honestly surprise if it didn't." Faye said as she began walking around the front of the mansion, searching for any magic, be it a trap or not that could be there.

"Witches can be quite... tricky and difficult to deal with. Very much like the Fae, to be fair!" Faye said, laughing a bit

"In a certain way, their relationship can either be very good or incredibly bad... Normally I would not fear being captured or restrained but... Witches, especially on this part of the world, are quite accustomed with dealing with Fae... Fae are attracted by magic after all. For a witch, not being able to appease Fae in order to avoid their 'playful' tricks... Or knowing a way to outright prevent them from approaching would mean she would most likely never be able to get anything done with the Fae's interference. In the other hand, should a Witch be able to appease them, she would likely be able to trade with them... or even receive gifts of some pretty rare magic reagents." Faye said after she heard Amanda's words, hoping they wouldn't be captured.

"In the other hand... There are those who prefer hunting and capturing Fae..." Faye said with a grim tone.

"Even if my powers can be very hard to restrain and deal with, given their origin, I wouldn't be too surprised if the witches here had a way to interfere on my abilities..." Faye finished in a bit more serious tone. It was easy to see Faye was indeed being quite careful. Normally she wouldn't hesitate in just blinking around and just going inside to check for stuff but instead of doing that, Faye seemed to be careful with every step she was taking. Lest she fell on some kind of trap.

"Is your relationship with your mother really this bad? I mean... She's still your mother, right? She wouldn't harm you or your friends... I hope..." Faye said with an awkward chuckle to Morgana, adding to what Amanda asked regarding what Morgana's mother was capable and willing to do against them.