ValtheStarGal
Supreme Stellar Sorceress
Consciousness returns to him like his own mind being poured back into his body as the meditank gel is drained to welcome him back to Mars; Rushing Jaws flexes and relaxes his hands, feeling new structures and sensations where there were previously none before - and the whole world alive with new sensory input, an intuition of the outside world coming to him through hearing and the reflexive clicking of his remolded tongue against the roof of his mouth to make a mental picture of his surroundings. The oxynitride glass of the tank lowers once the fluid is drained, and two morph technicians move to disconnect him from the life support apparatus that kept his morph alive during the augmentery procedure. It takes a moment for the numb feeling to shake off and for the post nanosurgical soreness to send waves of dull pain from his hands and his head.
“Welcome back, Rushing Jaws,” a baritone voice says, its tones so much more rich than they were when he went in; Rushing Jaws knows the voice belongs to a neo-orangutan names Bertrand, the memory simply needed a moment to filter back in.
“The procedure was an unfettered success,” chimes in the synthesized voice from a humanoid synthmorph; Rushing Jaws also knows that to be the voice of the neo-parrot Whisperwind, consigned by bad luck to a morph ill-suited for them but happy for their services nonetheless.
“Thanks for all this, y’all,” Rushing Jaws says, testing his new augmentations: his cyberclaws unsheathe with a satisfying snikt, and he can feel electricity looking for an outlet at his summons. These augmentations had been a lot to organize in so short a span of time, but Rushing Jaws found willing help among the mercurials of West Elysium - a pair of black kettle morph technicians, working in secret for big cred or good rep to provide gray- and even black-market augmentation. His name had apparently carried quite a ways from Ceres; the two were all too happy to help make arrangements to get him augmented in all the ways he needed. Now, stronger in subtle degrees, Rushing Jaws feels a little more prepared for what’s to come - and doesn’t trust the feeling for an instant.
“How are you feeling?” Bertrand asks, supporting Rushing Jaws along as if he needed the help - not that he minds.
“Not bad. Everything’s feelin’ a little sharper.”
“I should think so, with your new cyberware!” Whisperwind proclaims. “Everything feeling like it should?”
“Yep. Hands’re a little sore, but the audio augs’re just the thing,” Rushing Jaws replies: already the world feels a little more in focus, the dimly-lit sub-basement lab still resolving clearly with his new echolocation augmentation and the tapestry of ventilation and computer noises so much richer with his enhanced hearing. He tests the reactivity of his new cyberclaws and smiles at how quickly they deploy and sheathe.
“You got somethin’ for me to test these on?” Rushing Jaws asks; Bertrand and Whisperwind share a quick glance before the latter trots off to retrieve a ballistic gel mock-up of a transhuman torso, as requested. As she goes to set up the practice dummy, Rushing Jaws trots over to the fabber they’ve had making a new set of armored clothing - these a little more appropriate for urban operations, consisting of a long coat and tactical clothing. It wasn’t much in the way of armor, but it covered more than his Lupercalia outfit did and he had plans to get additional gear to supplement it. Once he is properly dressed, Rushing Jaws returns his attentions to the mockup as his comrades finish putting it into place.
“Here, just-“ Whisperwind starts to say, setting up the mockup on a wheeled table in the middle of the dingy lab: she and Bertrand step back and let Rushing Jaws sidle up to it, loosening himself up as if for a sparring match. He shadowboxes for a moment, pleased to find no lost reactivity in his musculature, before striking the torso a few times with good old-fashioned fisticuffs, and then-
The claws deploy at just the right time to bite into the ballistic gel of the mock-up, cutting deep and ready for the electric shock that Rushing Jaws sends down the metal and into conductive sensors within it. He slashes a few more times at the torso before dropping his stance - and rolls his eyes with a grin at the applause he gets from the two lab techs standing off and watching.
“His majesty won’t see it coming!!” Whisperwind declares, to the amusement of all.
“If it comes to that, shit has well and truly gotten out of hand,” Rushing Jaws quips back; team Rincewind has enough on its plate without pissing off the monarch who rules this viper’s nest.
“Should we let the people know?” Bertrand half-jokingly asks.
“Not just yet,” Rushing Jaws answers. “Lemme get the hang of political revolution in my own back yard before I fuck it up here.”
“Nonsense, you’re what people are looking for!!” Whisperwind insists. “You’re strong, brave, clever, anti-authoritarian, a Mercurial, revolutionary!!”
“Hey now-“
“Our friend is right,” Bertrand says, saving him the trouble. “He’s less familiar with the situation here. Whatever he’s doing here, it’s important, and not for us to know. The struggle for liberation happens a thousand different ways, and even if he can’t singlehandedly ensure the downfall of the Oaxaca-Maartens, he is no doubt planning to aid us.”
Suppose he ain’t wrong.
“Oh, alright, if you say so,” Whisperwind concedes, a little deflated but spinning it into a ‘kidding!’ tone.
“Em, I don’t suppose you could say what you need all this for?” Bertrand asks.
“Doin’ some pro bono work,” Rushing Jaws replies. “Can’t get into it too much.”
“I understand-” Bertrand starts, before being cut off by the gleeful cackling of Whisperwind, who cuts in with an “I knew it!!”
“Real hush-hush now, ya know,” Rushing Jaws says to the neo-parrot with a wink. The way he figured it, the truth wasn’t far off: he really was here to do some pro bono work - even if that involved neutralizing an X-risk instead of overthrowing a monarchy and its hypercorp allies. Keeping the truth from them feels like a small betrayal, one he hides with smiles and jokes, but if he can provide a measure of hope to good people who helped him out on short notice, then he’s happy to do so. Looking at how gleeful Whisperwind is at the idea that Rushing Jaws is here to Deliver Uplift Justice, and even how Bertrand seems more animated than he was when Rushing Jaws first arrived here, he doesn’t have the heart to take their hope away.
Maybe we’ll have to come back some day.
A blur of panic and pink marks Eppie’s entrance from the street. She tosses the huge duffel bag to the floor with a remarkable boldness, given the dangerous contents within as she spins to the panel of the door. She doesn’t know the code to lock the door, but a humming harmony that makes her entire arm tingle guides her hand to the panel. The panel beeps an approval to the code she enters with a flourish, sliding the locks of the door into place.
She presses forward into the lab, picking the bag up and hauling it back over her shoulder as she storms towards RJ, pushing him toward the back door, “We gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta right now -”
Eppie’s entrance cuts off all wistful thoughts and brings in their place thoughts of worry; Rushing Jaws has never been great at reading sapes but he’s been in this life enough to know mortal terror when he sees it. Retracting his claws and taking a deep breath, he crosses to Eppie’s side, scooping up the bag - feeling the heft and hearing the clattering of weaponry inside - and bracing for something to try following her through the door.
“How did you-” Bertrand starts to ask, before getting cut off by Rushing Jaws, who is just as prompt in asking “Eppie, yo, what the hell is going on??”
“Black Carnival, two of them, we gotta go right now-”
“Fuck.”
“Wait, what’s going on??” Bertrand demands, suddenly a lot more tense. “Who did you lead to our lab??”
“Some real fucken bad people,” Rushing Jaws answers for her, his tone a warning. “This place ‘got backdoors?”
“Of course!!” Whisperwind says in a fluttering screech of excitement. “We need to be ready for police!!”
“Yeah well, these sapes are gonna do you even worse than sapes,” Rushing Jaws warns. “How many backdoors?”
“Four!” Whisperwind blurts.
“Great - y’all take one, we’ll take another one. Eppie - how much time do we have??”
Eppie breathes hard, trying to catch her breath, “They were pretty close on my heels, like - still in eyesight if I looked back?”
“Shit - okay yeah, we gotta go, where are the doors?” Rushing Jaws asks the other uplifts.
“One’s by the vent, another’s behind the meditank-” Whisperwind starts to exclaim, before-
“Now wait a minute, why should we risk our lab for her??” Bertrand demands, shocking and angering Rushing Jaws. “Do you know how much work it takes to keep a lab like this?? If it isn’t police, just-”
“Shut yer goddamned mouth,” Rushing Jaws snarls at him, silencing Bertrand; he’s free to be mad at sapes all he fucking wants to, but Rushing Jaws will be damned if he’s going to allow Eppie to be cut loose for the sharks. “She’s with me, and we’re getting out of here. They’re after us, not y’all, and if they break anything I’ll help you get it back up n’ running but we gotta go now.”
If Bertrand had any objections, they’ve been frightened right out of him - and Whisperwind has already opened a cleverly hidden door up into a housing project. “This way!!”
Rushing Jaws wastes no time in taking Eppie by the arm and making a run for the door, nearly throwing her through the door before turning back to the other two uplifts: “I mean it - if they wreck anything, let me know, I’ll spot you.”
Bertrand only nods up to Rushing Jaws as he and Whisperwind disappear through another hidden door; Rushing Jaws closes and seals his own, following Eppie up into the apartment bloc. He keeps a hand on her as he searches for a way out of the apartment bloc and onto the streets, knowing that false doors only buy time. It takes dodging and weaving through crowds and a maze of hallways, but one of them eventually deposits the two of them back into an open alley between buildings with just one way out - back to the boulevard Eppie would have escaped from. With precious seconds gained, Rushing Jaws wheels around, escape being foremost on his mind as he asks; “Eppie, what do they look like?”
Being taken by the arm and pulled around was getting really old, and her nerves were so shot that she actually snaps, “I can walk, RJ,” as she wrenches her arm out from his grip. The sheer surprise on his face when she looks up instantly spawns regret, and takes his hand in hers, “I’m sorry, I just - had a weird moment that shook me and I’m still not… back.”
She feels the song of the Star raise to a hard, buzzing hum, then feels RJ’s intensely focused but intensely worried thoughts slowly rise into her mind. She recalls the image of the women she spotted after she split away from Annie - both tall, both carrying themselves the way that people capable of combat tend to. She shows to RJ the image of the three women on the bench, then flashes she saw when looking behind her as she made her way through the crowd - the woman with dark skin, short black hair, and the unnerving brand of TITAN sealing her eye shut, and the other, pale, hulking, with mousy brown hair pulled into a harsh, military bun.
There were only two after me when I split from Annie. I think the other went after her. They knew each other, RJ. Annie was Black Carnival and they psychosurgeried her à la fucking Clockwork Orange when she left. Eppie tries to breathe deep and keep herself calm, but the way her thoughts flow in jagged, fast flashes as anxiety eats away at her is impossible to miss, with the thoughts she wants most to hide jumping to the front of her mind - flashing images of Annie gagging on her words, the woman raising her hand to wave, and Eppie feels like everything is going too fast, What if Annie sold me out? Told them I was coming? Even if she didn’t, they watched us the whole time and could’ve killed me at any minute-
Rushing Jaws does the only thing he could think to do under the circumstances: he uses the grip he has on Eppie and scoops her up into an embrace that is secure while leaving room for her to break off. He slowly leans his head onto the crown of her own, humming a soft song into her scalp, doing his best to center both her and himself. As much as they need to be moving right now he knows he needs to help her steady herself first - and with the mindlink, he can feel her anxiety like it is his own, so he does his best to offer her the resolution of a soldier determined to survive, no matter what it takes.
First off, I’m sorry for yankin’ you around like that - I got spooked because you were spooked and now I can see why. Second off, there’s too many unknown integers in that equation for us to be able to know anything for sure, so speculating is wasting time just now. What matters right now is that we need to get moving, and get moving now. Our mercurial friends bought us time, so we gotta use it to put as much distance between ourselves and these fucking clowns as we can.
Rushing Jaws gently moves a hand up to take Eppie’s face, cradling it to look her right in the eyes as his voice echoes in both of their minds: Third off, I’m not gonna let these fuckers hurt you, Eppie. We’re getting you out of here, whatever it takes.
Doing what feels right, Rushing Jaws presses a kiss to Eppie’s forehead, making a mwa sound as though they were underwater and it needed the punctuation. As much as they need to get going, he feels the temptation to do it again, and is sure Eppie can feel the thought pass through his mind like it was her own. He takes a few deep breaths to lead her into steadying herself, doing his best to infuse her with his cool-under-pressure vibes before asking: Are you ready, baby doe?
The frantic movements of her mind come to an absolute screeching halt as RJ gathers her up into his arms. It’s still a little startling to have someone that knows that she is an async, capable of doing any number of things through the alien powers of her mind, but still holding her with no worry. She leans into him as a grounding force to steady her anxiety. She feels the hum of his voice vibrating in his chest and where his mouth is at her scalp, speaking reassuring words into her hair, and she shuts her eyes tight to focus on that instead of the aching sense of impending doom that looms over her.
Then, he takes her face in his hand with a heartbreaking tenderness, and presses his lips to her forehead.
Now, it should not be possible for Eppie to become more pink - being exceptionally, inimitably pink is her most defining physical characteristic. And yet, when it hits Eppie with as much subtly as getting punched in the face that RJ is KISSING her FOREHEAD, she goes from a pleasing pastel pink to a blazing magenta from chin to hairline. She can even feel her burning blush extend down her throat, a reaction that almost catches as much off guard as the kiss since Eppie was, well. Eppie. And Eppie has probably let half the solar system inside of her at one point or another.
A forehead kiss should not shake her. And yet when he pulls away, Eppie looks at the world through a dissociated daze, suddenly seeing an angle to her friendship with RJ that had not occurred to her in the slightest until this moment, having been obscured to her through her own self-loathing and trauma that her Watts-McLeod made her unwantable and unloveable. He’s still holding her face. Her skin burns where his fingers touch, his other hand intertwined into her fingers, as if she were a young school girl holding hands with a person she liked. She feels his thoughts, feels a nudging thought of kissing Eppie again that he makes no effort to hide from her.
RJ likes her. But like… In a gay way.
Her cognitive, mental voice says, ineloquently, Wait. This is gay-
The Star and it’s chorus sing a bone rumbling, low bass note that Eppie feels in her ribs and teeth, so loud and so sudden that she can hear a small note of neo-cetacean alarm through the bassline from RJ. It moves into convulsing notes she barely recognizes from her days at the Rehab Center on Europa, and recognizes it as an neo-orca song of warning. Eppie peers over her shoulder, feeling a pull at her mind, and feels whatever warm feelings she was feeling towa- Eppie, that’s fucking gay - in this situation are doused like she just had a bucket of ice cold water dumped over her head.
She can see them through the crowd. The taller one, more distinctly - she speaks low to the dark skinned woman Eppie can barely see through the crowd, too dense for Eppie to see them clearly and, thankfully, too dense for them to see her and RJ. Eppie squeezes RJ’s hand tightly and quickly, twice. RJ, they’re right there. We gotta bounce.
The feeling of something colossal in his mind is not something easily shaken off, even for someone who spends a lot of time in the presence of colossal beings such as Rushing Jaws; the sensation of the Star’s warning roar shifting into a song he can comprehend sends shivers up his spine - even as the rush of emotions of Eppie’s piecing together how he feels about her serves to soothe the harshest edges of it - but as far as he can tell, Eppie is still at the wheel and their interlopers are still much too close. Clicking softly in a way that is more instinctual and reassuring rather than necessary, Rushing Jaws takes a long breath to banish any thoughts that do not focus himself toward the task of getting Eppie - and himself - out of here. He looks back to Eppie, about to tell her to stick close to him-
-when it hits him how goddamned pink she is.
“Fuck-” Rushing Jaws swears, scooting back out of sight as he removes the long jacket he’d had fabbed with the rest of his armor clothing while he’d been under. Trying to do it as quickly as he can without agitating Eppie any more than she already is, he places it around her, helping her into its long sleeves that make her comparatively small Exalt seem like an extraordinarily pink Hobbit. The effect would be comical out of context, but with the collar on the coat up, it serves to conceal most of the pastel pink of her skin that would stick out like neon in the dystopian grey of West Elysium.
There’s a crowd coming Rushing Jaws points out, to signal his intent to Eppie without having to yank her any more than he already has. I need you to stick close, follow my lead as much as you can. We’re gonna move with the crowd, break off as soon as we can, always have somethin’ between us and them. On my mark…
Go. Rushing Jaws calls to Eppie as he breaks from cover to join the crowd, moving as quick as he can without being obvious about it. He can sense Eppie’s mind in relation to his own through the mindlink through an extremely strange sense of kinaesthesia. The fact that the link stays steady as the crowd moves up the street is reassuring despite the uncanny background noise that echoes across its intangible space. Weaving through the crowd feels natural in its own way, like swimming with a metapod, even as Rushing Jaws has to work to keep Eppie on the far side of the crowd and himself hiding in plain sight from the Black Carnival thugs out to get the two of them-
They are just like Eppie said, and Rushing Jaws passes uncomfortably close by them, enough to get a glimpse of them from the corner of his eye. Sure enough, the tall one - almost certainly sleeving a bruiser by the look of her - scans beyond the crowd, her attention seemingly fixed on the doors into the apartment building into which Eppie fled rather than the crowd right in front of them. Her shorter companion is the one who watches the faces in the crowd, scanning them with a stern look in her one good eye, a scowl on her face - and sure enough, the letters T-I-T-A-N branded vertically down the side of her right eye. She seems way too sharp, spurring Rushing Jaws to keep his attention firmly ahead and face turned away to keep either of them from getting a good look.
They ain’t movin yet...Really don’t like the look of that one with the brand on her face, though. Rushing Jaws says to Eppie, the connection between them still holding through the crowd as he throws together an escape plan from whatever straws he can grasp at. Here’s what I got: I’m supposed to be meeting with some Guanxi types later to get some extra gear I set up. They...ain’t fans of sapes though, worse than Bertrand if you can believe. We get you back with the team, I disappear and reconnect with them.
Eppie’s eyebrows pull into a deep scowl, Okay, RJ, I appreciate where you’re coming from, but - in the wise counsel of Scooby Doo, I really don’t think it’s a good idea to split, because it will be easier for them to divide and conquer us that way. Not that I don’t have faith in your mercurial friends, because I’m sure they can hold themselves well. But I don’t think they’d just be after me. You wreaked havoc in Lupercalia. Bare minimum, please let us pick you up after the meet-up.
jukeboxmaiden {TacNet}: [ive been followed the last couple of blocks by two women that are probably but definitely with the black carnival. im with rj now and theyre still tailing us and theyre armed. keep watch - you might be getting followed as well]
Heliortrope: [Penny says you’re a bloc down from me- do you want me to run interference >:3c]
Heliotrope:[ Do you need a ruckus?]
jukeboxmaiden: [watch your tail first, viddy! you got anybody on you? shake em first and make sure YOURE safe, because being outnumbered is. bad]
jukeboxmaiden: [ive got so many guns and an rj, im okay]
Heliotrope: [10-4 ]
He took a moment to scan his own crowded street for lurkers and is disappointed to find two. It would be easier if he could just make a break neck b-line for Eppie and RJ, luring them along behind him into the inevitable disaster that his hypothetical surprise soccer slide with a sword plan he’d concocted would have caused. He steps into the shadow of a rather tall bruiser morph and goes Into invisible tatical cat girl mode instead. And for about a bloc he makes good progress in slipping the two, He pulls his sord out of his pocket- as soon as he’s sure he’s lost them he plans to double back- show them what Goblin time means to him.
Though it takes a handful of moments for the two women to locate Vidar again, their reappearance happens quickly, smoothly, and far closer than they should’ve been able to approach in the little time they had. A leather jacket-clad arm is thrown over Vidar’s shoulders as a woman slides up to his side, grinning all the while as she chews gum. “You gotta tell me the mods you’ve got in that morph, chicka-dee,” The woman drawls in a heavy Brooklyn accent, removing her sunglasses to show bright blue eyes and a small heart tattoo under her right eye, “Very nifty. I’ve been doing this a long time, and if I didn’t nail my infiltration test, I woulda lost you in the crowd.”
“Jackie,” Another woman says, sliding up to the other side of Vidar. As he looks over, he sees the scowling and familiar face of Faith, the woman sleeving a synth that RJ somehow killed with his bare hands, “Don’t play with your food.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, don’t you have a puppy to go kick or something? A child to rob of candy? A grandmother to shove over? Hop off my dick,” Jackie sneers, “Don’t play with your food, this woman says, sounding like a fucking supervillain.”
Faith opens her mouth, but Jackie makes a hushing gesture with the hand around Vidar, “Let the adults talk.” She shifts her gaze to Vidar, “So, back to you. You, and your crew, have been making Valeria the Gardener Snake look like a fucking clown. I love the energy. The pizzazz. You should’ve seen it, honestly - she threw a fucking table when y’all made her at Lupercalia. I can appreciate the chutzpah and energy of your crew-”
“Jackie-” Faith warns.
“I will send you tongue to your dumbass sister in a fucking box if you talk again, Faith. On God’s fucking name. It will be the dustiest, grossest box, so they have to grow you a fucking new one.”
Heliotrope: [Y’All.
check this shit.]hara: [is fucking deadpool harrassing you. what the fuck]
Faith crosses in front of Jackie, snatching her hand, “Listen, bitch. You’re on Valentina’s dollar now, and that means you need to put some fucking respect on her name.”
Jackie smiles pleasantly, then winks at Vidar, “Watch this. I’m gonna ‘Mei’ her.”
Jackie’s head jerks to look at Faith, switching their grip so Jackie is also grabbing Faith. and Faith buckles, making a choked scream of pain as she grips her head. She falls to the ground as if Jackie had just punched her, despite the fact she didn’t touch the other woman at all. Dropping Faith’s hand, Jackie guides Vidar to step over Faith, “Thank fucking God for - what’s an alliteration for this - Whatever Macdonalds. Okay, but let’s talk. Transhuman to transhuman. I’m sure you’ve heard all the gossip about me, no?”
Heliotrope: [Chuckles. I’m in danger.]
“I have no idea who you are. But sure. Speak;” And he had never sounded more like the tiered ancient goblin capo that he was than in that moment.
Jackie pauses, blowing a small bubble with her gum and popping it, “That’s a refreshing change of pace, actually. Most people know me and try to shoot me. This is a new vibe and I like it. Anyway, so. I’ll spill my own tea, Valentina has hired me to get the snitch and kill you guys while I’m at it, which shouldn’t surprise you. But we have some common ground here - we both need Emilio. We both hate Valentina. And you’re cute. Like… cute, but in the same way a real ferocious cat is cute, you feel me? I know you’ll kill the shit out of me, but - I’m sidetracking. I’d rather not kill you. Or your crew. The fury from Lupercalia can eat shit, but I’m willing to let it slide. But we both have a job to do.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” he says coyly, being familiar with Jackies type in the world they both came from and aware of the high key flip of a coin situation he is in. Unhinged and Async. What a lucky day he was having. “I’m a sucker for a good brooklyn accent- what do you want? Whats in it for me? You don’t know shit about what I want.”
Jackie grins, “You’ve got excellent taste by the way. I want to kill two birds with one stone. I have a job to do - so do you, by my guess. We both need Emilio for… reasons. If you want Emilio, have at him. I would just like to have him after. And then you get to go alive, I don’t have to kill you, we part as unlikely friends. The second bird is that this good spirit of fuckin’... teamwork, cooperation, Whatever Macdonalds solidarity, will infuriate Valentina, which is a bitch I would love to infuriate.”
Heliotrope: [Well. Shit.]
jukeboxmaiden: [im screaming what is HAPPENING]
hara: [either way, there’s one right answer]
hara: [where’s that gif of lucy liu screaming ‘tear the bitch apart’ when u need it]
jukeboxmaiden: [https://media1.tenor.com/images/274a14a4dd6ca0dd03f16b00ffb57075/tenor.gif]
jukeboxmaiden: [love u]
hara: [ur my favorite]
hara: [don’t tell the others]
jukeboxmaiden: [finally the recognition i deserve]
Heliotrope: PLEASE ADVISE YALL
jukeboxmaiden: [i would sleight her personally but im not entirely sure shes not like. capable of tearing a hole in your ego.
hara: [i mean i can come but i have a tail too, do u want me to bring more of them????]
jukeboxmaiden: [wh]
jukeboxmaiden: [devin blease. blease mention that earlier.]
hara: [i’m handling it]
jukeboxmaiden: [i love u devin but like. u in danger, boi]
jukeboxmaiden: [anyway vidar, you need to like. get the fuck out of there lmao that is my advice.]
Vidar had the smart sword in his hand since Jackie had thrown an arm over his shoulder, which was a testament of how badly her introduction had rattled him. He had to pick between fast and subtle, and in this moment, he wasn’t sure if he could be faster, so he went with subtle hoping That in her soliloquy she might not notice as he brought the smart sword into a good position to turn it on and skewer her.
It’s a smooth movement, but as Jackie’s fingertips touch the bare skin at Vidar’s neck, the sounds of the bustling street suddenly blend together and fall quiet, with the sensation of Jackie’s skin against his suddenly electric in intensity. Her words seem like the only sound despite the busyness of West Elysium around them, “Baby boy, put that sword away before you take somebody’s eye out. We’re in public.”
Her words were round smooth pebbles of reason in his mind. And her point was salient, and the realization hit him like it was his own- accept he’d already calculated that when he’d decided his move? He was sliding the inert smart sword back into it’s hidden pocket, the hair on the back of his neck raised from her touch and the electric static sensation of her mind touching his own. His left ear twitched in annoyance as he felt himself shift into the origami shapes that meant he was thinking hard and fast and he drew a knife, slipping through the commands loophole. It wasn’t a sword.
“I’m a bit of an exhibitionist,” he says slashing upwards with his off hand.
It’s a move Jackie barely avoids, jerking back from Vidar to dodge the arc of the knife. Pedestrians around them gasp and dart around the duo to get out of the way of possible gang conflict, and Jackie’s eyes glimmer as she looks incredulously at Vidar. A small cut across her cheek from the blade begins to lazily bleed, which Jackie touches with her fingers. Her eyes flick from Vidar to her red fingertips, then back again, with a furious intensity.
Of all things, Jackie laughs low. A feral grin spreads across her face, and she stands straight from the instinctive stance of self defence she had taken, “See? That was a big fucking mistake. This was a parlay, sweet thing. Just a talk. I offered you the easy way out of your trouble with the cartel, and you have taken the hard way,” She shifts, putting her hands up in a mocking surrender as she leans in, “You’re cute, but next time, that isn’t going to save you. And when we kill all your friends, you’ll have no one but yourself to blame.”
Jackie backs up from Vidar with her hands still raises, removing her jacket as she does, before she turns and disappears into a darkened alley.
Vidar quickly hides his vibro blade up his sleeve and watching her go sticks his tongue out through the v of his fingers. His blood is hot and had been expecting a fight- dreading that fight. But he pops his hood up over his head and ducks into the crowd moving fast with his heart in his throat. Jackie was intimidating and not in the hot or fun way and nothing got him riled up more than when threats came in the slick packaging of I’m doing you a favor. She was going to live rent free in his head till this was over.
Heliotrope: {Tacnet} [we all agree Emilios blog is too good to let the cartel have him, right?]
Azathothwakes: [Yer goddamned right]
Azathothwakes: [I got some firepower waiting for me that’ll help when it's time for the big dance - Gonna try to shake the fuckers on us first.]
Rushing Jaws hadn’t given the blog a good look, but as he guides Eppie through the crowded thoroughfares of West Elysium, he is resolved that these shitsquids hunting for him and Eppie will get neither them nor Emilio. Knowing that the Carnival is actively hunting all of them forces Rushing Jaws to reconsider breaking off for his meet, all too well aware that there is strength in numbers and vulnerability in separation. The clanking in the bag reminds him that he is not defenseless, however - and that gives him an idea.
Eppie - what kind of firepower you got in this bag?
Oh, um, well, I actually have no idea? I didn’t look. Everything is just gun to me.
Is the gun in here big enough to put some hurting down?
There’s more than one in here, so one of them ought to do. But we’re in public, there’s civilians everywhere?
There sure is, which is why I aint planning on engaging here. If we can put enough ground between us n’ them, we can find a spot to ambush ‘em, make it look like gang shit so folks clear out, we either drive ‘em off or we score kills n’ nab stacks. Follow?
Eppie’s eyebrows turn upwards concern, squeezing his hand tight and intertwining their fingers nervous, Okay. Okay, and then you can check the guns. Annie said they were all close and mid range.
Understood. We’re gonna get you out of here, Rushing Jaws says, his grip on Eppie’s hand firm as he focuses up for the task ahead.
Training and instinct come together to guide him through the winding currents of foot and vehicle traffic in the dense, narrow passageways between the mini-domes and souks of West Elysium. Unsure of where his opponent’s location is and not willing to linger and let either of them be spotted, Rushing Jaws presses ahead, maintaining the grip on Eppie’s hand and keeping her close to him, the clinking of weaponry in the bag reassuring him that the final option is still readily available. Having no one to spot for them does not help matters, but rather than worrying about what he can’t control, Rushing Jaws focuses on moving from cover to cover, trying to put as many barriers between themselves and their pursuers as possible.
The alleyway that Rushing Jaws had been hoping to find appears like a gift from the Ancestors, and he wastes no time getting them into cover: the rover parked within it just about makes him sing with joy at their luck, and he hurries to get himself and Eppie behind it, casting an eye back down the alley and happy to see no one looking after them as he sets the bag down on the ground and unzips it. He feels the stock of a rifle, and smiles an orcanine grin when he draws no less than an automatic railgun from it.
“Now we’re fuckin’ talkin’,” Rushing Jaws whispers as he reaches in to grab the other component of the weapon, his hand coming away with an underbarrel shotgun attachment for the rifle. The attachment slides right onto the barrel of the weapon and locks into place with a minimum of fuss; Rushing Jaws has to bite his tongue to suppress the chuckling sound he’d want to make. It takes a tense few seconds for the weapon’s smartlink to mesh with his PAN, which Rushing Jaws uses to load a magazine and some shotgun shells into their attendant weapons.
“Here,” Rushing Jaws says, drawing a pistol from his pants pocket and handing it to her, “I’ve set it to sync with your inserts. It ain’t much, but now you got teeth. Don’t fire until I do-”
“Now now, there’s no call for that,” a voice says from down the alleyway, causing Rushing Jaws to go utterly silent; he starts clicking, almost too soft for it to work among the noise of the city, but gets pings off of two figures standing just outside the alleyway, where the chance for collateral damage is too high to make firing worth it. The big one stands with her arms crossed; the small one has her fists on her hips, and the iciness in her voice is audible.
“We just wanted to talk. This is hardly any way of having a conversation,” the stranger says, in a soft tone full of malice. “Considering the trouble you have already caused, I should think you would want to avoid causing any more.”
Rushing Jaws can’t escape the feeling that the threat is directed to him personally, having to actively restrain himself from using his new weapon against the speaker.
“As for your friend - we know what you are. We know what you did, we know how you did it, and we know the price of that kind of power. They’ll never understand what you are. They’re just going to use you until you’re of no further use to them before casting you aside. You’d be family with us, though. You could come home. Step out from there, and come with us.”
Don’t listen to ‘em, Eppie, Rushing Jaws ‘says’ to her across the mindlink. Don’t let ‘em fuck with you, these fuckers got it in for you and all of us. If they make a move, it’s fuckin’ on.
Eppie’s about to reassure RJ she is not swayed, but the speaker continues, an edge to her voice, “Did you know Elias was in the car your little orca friend shot down?” Eppie’s mind blanks completely, a heavy weight of dread settling into the mindlink in place of her coherent thoughts. Her heart climbs into her throat as her hold on RJ’s hand tightens to a vice grip. The speaker continues, empty of emotion, empty of anything but cold hard fact, “He volunteered as backup for Lupercalia because he wanted to make sure his big sister was safe. He begged the crew at Lupercalia not to hurt you, and take you down gently.”
The woman continues, mercilessly, words as sharp as a knife. “Thanks to your orca friend, Elias got crushed under the dashboard after the impact, and suffered for close to two hours before he died. We might’ve been able to save him too, had your crew not stirred the shit so much that the cops got involved,” Eppie can hear her sneer, as if the woman could feel how deeply her words cut, “His morph was so mangled we had to scrap it. The fact his stack was even intact was miraculous.
“But that’s neither here nor there, is it? If you ask your friend there, I’m sure he doesn’t even care that he killed your brother - think about how much your crew cares about you or your family. The Rat King would have shot him, and the friend beside you actually did, and gave Elias a long, painful morph death. These people don’t care about you, Eppie,” Her heart stops dead to hear her name in the clinically cold tones of the woman, and she looks to RJ with wide, frightened eyes, “You’re useful because of what you are, and once you’re used up, or pose a problem because of the consequences of your powers, they’ll leave you behind. You’ll always be bending to please them. They’ll never meet you in the middle.”
Eppie rubs her eyes with the heel of her hand, crushing RJ’s hand in their linked grip. She hears reassuring neo-cetacean songs from his side, and puts her hand out from cover for her middle finger to be visible to their stalkers, “Yeah, get fucked, bitch.”
Heliotrope: [there’s a joke here about firewall async union reps and health insurance but I’m stressed.]
jukeboxmaiden: [can someone blease get me the fuck out of here. bitch just called me by my name, the fucj]
Heliotrope: [They got your name from your brother. Breathe. It’s messy, but they got next to shit leverage on you and you got an entire RJ.]
jukeboxmaiden: [scream. hussle, you lil async, could use the backup if this going apeshit]
Heliotrope: [I’m working on it!]
I’m sure the fucking carnie cult Valentina called in to fucking kill us all has nothing but your best interest at heart, Rushing Jaws thinks, outraged at the lies that whoever-the-fuck is spewing out there to try and rile them up - but never once for a second taking the bait, knowing from many bouts in the battlesphere a taunt when he hears it. The marching hymns he sings resonate with a righteous fury, and he does not let the pain of Eppie squeezing his hand read as anything other than welcome.
As for the carnie fucks…
Rushing Jaws watches, and listens: the jabberjaw of the one carnie would make for a good screen if Rushing Jaws was still a pup and didn’t know basic Clever Girl hunting tactics. He simply sings the hymns in his mind as he clicks and listens, the actions compartmentalized in a way that only a neo-cetacean would be able to manage, and thanks to the augs, a map of the alley forms in his mind. The one carnie, jabberjaw, yammers at the end of the alley, hands on hips and proud as anything; the other one, however, has left her side, and Rushing Jaws snaps into hunting mode, scanning with sound for any sign of movement, however slight-
-and finds it, up against the car, on the opposite side, looking to sneak around to Eppie’s side.
Eppie, I know yer seeing what I’m seeing: move slow and careful with me, we’re swapping sides.
Painful seconds go by as Rushing Jaws swaps with Eppie, jabberjaw going on and on about how Firewall is supposed to be what the Cartel actually is and strongman making her slow move around the corner like a cat thinking she’s got the mouse unawares. He ponders for an idle second as to whether he should use the shotgun or rifle, and decides that the accuracy and punch of the railgun will be better than the underbarrel shotgun just now. He sets the fire mode to burst. He leans against the buggy. He lets strongman get just a little more around the corner. He smiles an orcanine grin.
Azathothwakes {TacNet}: [Vibe check.]
Rushing Jaws turns the corner and levels the rifle on strongman: she watches strongman react with shock and alarm as he pulls the trigger - and the supersonic thwackthwackthwack of the railgun shatters the West Elysium soundscape. Strongman is screaming now, collapsing to the ground and struggling with all her (considerable) might to get away and into cover. Jabberjaw has gone silent: Rushing Jaws ‘spots’ her running up to the car, pistol drawn and firing wildly down the alley and forcing him back into cover. A coppery smell fills the air, and echolocation tells Rushing Jaws that strongman has crawled into cover behind the buggy. Strongman pulls herself to her feet, snarling and swearing vengeance between grunts of pain.
The carnies exchange words quickly, and then suddenly make a break for the street. Rushing Jaws turns the corner again to draw a bead. He does not fire: they are moving fast despite their wounds and there are too many civilians behind them. He watches one of them - the smaller one, jabberjaw - turn back to glare at him just before the two vanish behind the corner and into the neon-lit streets. Rushing Jaws gets ready to lower the gun, when he sees a pink hand place itself on the barrel of the rifle.
Her opposite hand falls gently at the juncture of his throat and his shoulder, her fingers winding into the hair at the nape of his neck. Despite the riptide of the Star’s song that she shares with RJ at her touch, the entity agitated to frenzy by the echo of bullets and the blood spilled, her voice is soft, They’ve run. We don’t need to take up the hunt, RJ. Let’s go.
We got some great minds on this mindlink, Rushing Jaws quips, getting the railgun back in the bag and slinging the bag over his shoulder. Instinct tells him to get moving, but-
-he follows his heart instead, and wraps Eppie in his arms. It can’t be long, so he makes it strong: he will not let her think she is a means to an end.
You’re squad, Eppie. Don’t ever forget that, and don’t ever let anyone take that from you.
Surprise floods the mind link, fragmenting the notes of the star into small fractures, and Eppie laughs despite how hard her heart is pounding, the hug so fast and forceful he practically squeezes the sound from her lungs. I’m not swayed to believing the contrary, if that’s what you’re wondering. I was less concerned about her desperately lacking persuasion skills and more concerned that - There is a hot, invasive flash of Elias crushed in a vehicle, a voice within the Star screaming a high, sharp, distant note of agony, before Eppie banishes the thought, - nevermind.
Her hand rests on RJ’s wrist as she pulls him towards the opposite way the carnies moved in, We need tor rendezvous with the others. We have safety in numbers and Viddy’s already on his way.
jukeboxmaiden: [@heliotrope our tails bolted after rj took a shot at them, be on the look out for a small obvious async and a bloody, very large, very angry lady bruiser.]
Heliotrope: [10-4]
jukeboxmaiden: [i love yall so much. but i dont know what that means. ive pretended to be cool but i have no idea]
Heliotrope: [that’s okay. Its short for “I understand completely.”]
Heliotrope: [I’m not really sure of the etymology honestly. But now that I speak english I realize its in english. Kinda always thought it was just a slang word not numbers.]
It was on that note, the man the myth the cat girl caught up.
Eppie breaks from RJ as Vidar appears in the alleyway, his ears pressed back against his head, peeling towards her fellow async with RJ in tow. Breaking the mindlink she shares with RJ to insure she doesn’t drag Vidar into it by accident, she rests her hand on Vidar’s forearm. She reluctantly buries the impulse to go into downtime, as Vidar being nearby often makes her feel safe enough to go into a complete shutdown, but latches onto the security she feels from having both RJ and her favourite sword goblin. “Vidar, I cannot stress enough how happy I am to see you. What in the fuck, dude.”
“Shit’s Texas, but I’m good. Everythings good, had it on lock down the whole time,” He says with confidence that went against his pinned ears and his all caps posts during the events. He gives her a squeeze. “Nice vibe check by the way.” He tells Rj.
Eppie squeezes his hand in both of her’s, “I can’t believe you took a swing at an assassination squad leader. You absolute madman.”
“Well I dated one for seventy years, she’s gonna have to try a little harder to be someone I wont stab than that.”
“If we weren’t still in imminent danger, I would have eight billion follow up questions. Why is your backstory so full of mystery,” Eppie makes a frustration sound, waving her hands, “Don’t answer that. I need dedicated time for this.”
“Someday when you are one hundred I’m going to make you explain your whole life to a stranger in five minutes or less, just to see how you fare.” he quips back.
“Is it cheating if I get the multitude of aliens in my brain to help storytell?”
He smacks her lightly, because they lived in panopticon, and also because it absolutely was cheating. “-Lets get some place not in the middle of the street.” He says looking to RJ.
“Good call. I got another meet tonight - I had to tell my contact I got held up - let’s get you all back to the spot where they’re keepin’ our new ride and go from there, huh?”
In truth, Rushing Jaws didn’t entirely mind having his meet put off for a little bit, they would want to be sure he didn’t bring company along, friend or foe. They had hardware he needed - doubly so, even with the vibe check he pulled off - but getting the squad to safety comes first.
“Sounds good,” Vidar says, doing his best to act natural, as they get moving again. This of course involves pulling out his Juul and keeping his ears permanently pinned to the back of his head.
Azathothwakes {TacNet}: [if yer out and about, rendezvous at Shu’s. odds are the carnival’s pulling back but let’s get someplace reasonably safe until we can verify that, otherwise they’re gonna pick us off. anyone got updates?]
Mekhaakumaar {TacNet}: [Yes. I spotted two staking out Shu’s. Looks like they’ve been called off, but I managed to get Mesh IDs off of them. Considering the pros and cons of hacking their inserts and planting backdoors to help later on down the line.]
Heliotrope: [Not a bad idea. But you aught to hand off the IDs to Starglass. They knew that we were with Firewall and correct me if I’m wrong, that’s not supposed to happen. We might have a much bigger problem.]
jukeboxmaiden: [wait wtf]
Mekhajakumaar: [... that is indeed very concerning. Right. Programming on the car’s largely finished, I will set to work on finding out what I can about the carnival’s plans.]
A task made much simpler by the discovery of our new friends… Veronica thinks with a smile, retasking her two forks as she fishes for the mesh inserts of their interlopers. Thanks to their oversight, Veronica can trace the thousand little interactions of their ID back to the inserts from which they originated - and is able to establish a connection in a few minutes. She does not rush the process of breaking through the firewall protecting her target - Jericho was the name connected to the Mesh ID - instead working with her forks to probe the Firewall for a weakness she could use to find her way past them and into his inserts…
...her smile widening as they find their opening and push through - masking her intrusion as the interaction of POUNDR, a casual dating app Jericho uses - and slipping right by both the Firewall and beneath the notice of Jericho’s muse.
Mekhajakumaar {TacNet}: [Word to the wise - be careful that your dating apps are secure.]
She takes a moment to survey the topography of Jericho’s inserts, spotting quickly the VPN software that is no doubt being used to mask their TacNet and opting not to push her luck lest a more capable defender is on digital overwatch. His apps are rather unremarkable, save for the unusually sturdy encryption and TacNet software that Veronica isn’t surprised to find installed on the inserts of a career criminal, as well as the facial recognition software that is no doubt being used to monitor the building for signs of team Rincewind.
S2: [Since it was our ticket in, how about we use POUNDR to install a backdoor?]
S1: [I was thinking we could take a look at his chat logs.]
S3: [Both good options. The latter is considerably less risky than the former, and any insight as to their plans would be useful.]
S1: [Peek at his chat, then get to installing the back door?]
S2: [We could do both.]
S3: [Yes.]
S1: [You two get on the backdoor, I’ll take a look at the chat.]
Accessing Jericho’s chat logs is as simple as hacking access into his entoptics, and then layering their input over her own augmented reality, and Veronica takes a moment to scan through the chat log that is currently visible to Jericho.
mom: [I’m gonna shit, cat girl is an ASYNC]
thing 1: [I’m sorry, who?]
mom: [the one we couldn’t find ANY info about!!!!!! Ffs Shannon keep up, being the only one who knows anything is a burden]
thing 1: [Do you even know where you are?]
mom: [Ill be real with you chief, no idea]
thing 1: [And there is our answer. Eppie has paired up with the orca, Tex and I are in pursuit.]
mom: [dope. be careful - shot my bi ass out of the fucking sky]
thing 1: [I’m not an idiot]
mom: [@thing 2, @Baby #Confirmed, @ Void fuckr supreme how we doing]
Baby #Confirmed: [Better now. I have a smoothie.]
Baby #Confirmed: [Dunno where the rat man went, though.]
mom: [you’re grounded.]
Baby #Confirmed: [That’s fair.]
thing 2: [shida n I are on overwatch, and have got Racer man + the rat king + the hacker]
void fuckr supreme: [race car guy got no business being this thicc. why did he walk into the garage and his ass passed thru the door five minutes later]
mom: [rashida blease]
mom: [CAT GIRL JUST ABOUT SWUNG A SWORD AT ME. THIS FUCKIN GATO HOMBRE GOT A SWORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IS THIS MOTHERFUCKER EIGHT BILLION YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
void fuckr supreme: [jackie, u literally use swords sometimes]
mom: [Yes. but I am an eccentric criminal millionaire you fucking bitch. this guy breeds RATs. . ese really out here with a whole ass sord. im fucking GAY. WAIT HE GOT A KNIFE WHAT THE FUCKASDFAFKLDGJ]
void fuckr supreme: [wait did he get you???]
mom: [lmao ye, I Told™ him to put his sword away and he took a slash at me with a knife instead]
thing 2: [WIG]
mom: [don’t get me wrong, I’m furious. but…. the gall… the nerve… the sheer audacity. I love myself a bratty bottom]
Baby #Confirmed: [Fucking gross.]
mom: [you’re grounded you can’t talk to me like that]
thing 1: [Orca fired a rail gun at Tex. Tex is wounded. We’re retreating.]
thing 2: [im sorry WHAT]
void fuckr supreme: [WASTED]
Yeehaw Ass Bitch: [I’ll gut you like a fuckin’ FISH, Rashida.]
void fuckr supreme: jokes on u my favourite kink is complete evisceration
mom: [I’m torn on dibsing the orca and the cat girl. I know rules say I can’t dibs both. But…. Getting shot down in a car…. or getting slashed at during a parlay…..]
Yeehaw Ass Bitch: [@mom I’ll fight you for the chance to get back at that fucking glorified fish]
thing 2: [holy RACISM batman]
mom: [monkeypuppetmeme.jpeg]
void fuckr supreme: [tex. I know youre from the south, but girl you CANT say that]
thing 1: [Revenge discussion can wait. Our plan, Jackie.]
mom: [right.]
mom: [so. they’re not interested in settling. so we’re gonna have to do this the hard way.]
mom: [We’ll wait until they bring Emilio out of hiding and spring the trap when the timings good for it. yall remember that plan?]
thing 2: [yes’m]
void fuckr supreme: [shannon ran it over too many times for me to forget]
mom: [good. so, @ yeehaw Ass Bitch, go get in the tank so we’re ready, and remember you’re on duty until Emilio is out of hiding. always be ready to go on short notice. we’re not dealing with petty criminals - the rat King hauled some serious muscle for whatever the fuck heist he needs emilio for - two asyncs is worrying enough, but the neo-orca has seriously wounded two of us so far. the fucking thundercat plays with swords, and i dont know a whole lot of people that’ll carry a sword with them that they dont know how to use very well. Don’t underestimate them - and i’m looking at shannon and tex for that.]
Yeehaw Ass Bitch: [Fuck you.]
mom: [i’d tell you to fight me, but you got GOT already, so :/]
thing 1: [I won’t make the same mistake again.]
mom: [good. @Get Out of my fucking Brain is working on some shit, so I’ll let you know how that goes later.]
Get out of my fucking brain: I don’t want to alarm any one. But this cat girl is playing 27 consecutive games of candy crush and I think I need to sit down about it.
mom: [i love a man with focus.]
thing 2: [#asyncmoodboard]
thing 1: [Can I trade in my Watts-McLeod for that Watts-McLeod? I’m tired of my W/M telling me to eat my arms.]
Baby #Confirmed: [Sorry, no returns, exchanges, or refunds. You just get to die.]
Get out of my fucking brain: Arms are tastey adn full of protien.
Get out of my fucking brain: [Also ffs he’s actuallya fucking gardner. He’s a gardner and he breeds rats. Got a fucking art colective for plants? And thats for fucking it. He’s got a tacnet on here that looks like I’ll fucking die if I touch it though.]
thing 1: [I’ll remember that when you finally sleeve a morph, Thomas.]
Get out of my fucking head: god the faster you kill me the least of ammount of time I’ll have to be made of meat.
thing 1:[
]
mom: [a whole gardner. and rat cultivator. I love my sharp boys to be full of love and tenderness and secrets. I want to kiss him under moonlight]
Baby #Confirmed: [GROSS.]
mom: [fuck you, Im a widow. Let me yearn, dammit]
Get out of my fucking brain: [ You can’t kiss him. He’s wholesome. You’ll get cooties.]
mom: [#worthit]
void fuckr supreme: [jackie, you haven’t had a good boy to corrupt since alistair!]
mom: [finally, my time to shine]
mom: [tbf, @get out of my fucking brain, he’s not wholesome. nobody wholesome swings a knife without hesitation. he's a goblin.]
Get our of my fucking brain: [ Sigh.]
mom: [you get your sexy glitter christ priest boyfriend, let me want the norwegian sword goblin. :<]
Get of my fucking brain:[ Okay. But do you want me to crack this cursedTM tacnet like a lobster or not. Or like what.]
mom: [thomas did you just say or not, AND or what.]
mom: [Also, lobster. you maine ass bitch.]
mom: [and the answer is yes.]
Get out of my fucking brain: [ Tough talk you fucking brooklyn peice of shit. Give me like twenty minutes.]
mom: [suck my fat dick, idiot]
Get out of my fucking brain: [let me find you some content to hold you over untill the moot point in linear time when I will don a meat suit to service you.
Catgirl1.jpg
Catgirlswordhot34.jpg
wholesome norwegainmanstockimage.jpg
mom: [first of all fuck you. its not a fucking anime cat girl fetish. what has me dick out is the fact they swung a whole ass knife at me. Bitch]
Get out of my fucking brain; [oh fuck. Excuse me.]
Catgirlwrestlingpiledrive.jpg
catgirlwithswordpose2.jpg
thing 1: [Please stop sending porn in the group chat. Jericho gave us a virus last time.]
thing 2: [a very sexy virus
)))))))]
thing 1: [No. Just a virus.]
Get out of my fucking brain: [first of all who cleaned that the fuck up for you fucking toads? Me. Second of all. Make me? Any way brb. Gotta crack this fucking tanet with my teeth with all 120% of my finely programed maine yankee enginuity steven kingTM bullshit math haxor. Here. have some. Fucking. Idk.
Cat.jpg
Since you hate variety and class.]
void fuckr supreme: [how dare you. im a beautiful froge]
Get out of fucking brain:[ Good news or bad news?]
mom: [jesus fucking christ, thomas. you dumbass himbo. bad news first.
Get out of fucking brain: Did not crack the tacnet like a lobster with my teeth v.v
mom: [that’s what i thought you’d say, you dumb fucking bitch]
mom: [johnmulaney.jpeg]
Get out of fucking brain: good news. This BITCH IS TERRIFIED OF MAPS.
mom: [how dare you break my new boyfriend.]
mom: [wjats the irish boy’s triggers. Smfh]
Get out of fucking brain: IDK he doens’t have them listed as triggers on his fucking @rep like a dumbass.
Get out of fucking brain: and The Hacker has locked me out. Damn. She’s good.
mom: [fuck. if the hacker hacked one of you fucking idiots; fuck you, bitch. Smfh]
Get out of fucking brain: any one who could actually manage to hack us has to read this fucking drivel and that is punishment enough.
Get out of fucking brain: but I’m checking. I’m doing my J.O.B wich is more than like fucking Tex smfh.
mom: [u right]
mom: [pull back for now. let them rest easy until we’re ready]
thing 1: [I’m sorry, who?]
mom: [the one we couldn’t find ANY info about!!!!!! Ffs Shannon keep up, being the only one who knows anything is a burden]
thing 1: [Do you even know where you are?]
mom: [Ill be real with you chief, no idea]
thing 1: [And there is our answer. Eppie has paired up with the orca, Tex and I are in pursuit.]
mom: [dope. be careful - shot my bi ass out of the fucking sky]
thing 1: [I’m not an idiot]
mom: [@thing 2, @Baby #Confirmed, @ Void fuckr supreme how we doing]
Baby #Confirmed: [Better now. I have a smoothie.]
Baby #Confirmed: [Dunno where the rat man went, though.]
mom: [you’re grounded.]
Baby #Confirmed: [That’s fair.]
thing 2: [shida n I are on overwatch, and have got Racer man + the rat king + the hacker]
void fuckr supreme: [race car guy got no business being this thicc. why did he walk into the garage and his ass passed thru the door five minutes later]
mom: [rashida blease]
mom: [CAT GIRL JUST ABOUT SWUNG A SWORD AT ME. THIS FUCKIN GATO HOMBRE GOT A SWORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IS THIS MOTHERFUCKER EIGHT BILLION YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
void fuckr supreme: [jackie, u literally use swords sometimes]
mom: [Yes. but I am an eccentric criminal millionaire you fucking bitch. this guy breeds RATs. . ese really out here with a whole ass sord. im fucking GAY. WAIT HE GOT A KNIFE WHAT THE FUCKASDFAFKLDGJ]
void fuckr supreme: [wait did he get you???]
mom: [lmao ye, I Told™ him to put his sword away and he took a slash at me with a knife instead]
thing 2: [WIG]
mom: [don’t get me wrong, I’m furious. but…. the gall… the nerve… the sheer audacity. I love myself a bratty bottom]
Baby #Confirmed: [Fucking gross.]
mom: [you’re grounded you can’t talk to me like that]
thing 1: [Orca fired a rail gun at Tex. Tex is wounded. We’re retreating.]
thing 2: [im sorry WHAT]
void fuckr supreme: [WASTED]
Yeehaw Ass Bitch: [I’ll gut you like a fuckin’ FISH, Rashida.]
void fuckr supreme: jokes on u my favourite kink is complete evisceration
mom: [I’m torn on dibsing the orca and the cat girl. I know rules say I can’t dibs both. But…. Getting shot down in a car…. or getting slashed at during a parlay…..]
Yeehaw Ass Bitch: [@mom I’ll fight you for the chance to get back at that fucking glorified fish]
thing 2: [holy RACISM batman]
mom: [monkeypuppetmeme.jpeg]
void fuckr supreme: [tex. I know youre from the south, but girl you CANT say that]
thing 1: [Revenge discussion can wait. Our plan, Jackie.]
mom: [right.]
mom: [so. they’re not interested in settling. so we’re gonna have to do this the hard way.]
mom: [We’ll wait until they bring Emilio out of hiding and spring the trap when the timings good for it. yall remember that plan?]
thing 2: [yes’m]
void fuckr supreme: [shannon ran it over too many times for me to forget]
mom: [good. so, @ yeehaw Ass Bitch, go get in the tank so we’re ready, and remember you’re on duty until Emilio is out of hiding. always be ready to go on short notice. we’re not dealing with petty criminals - the rat King hauled some serious muscle for whatever the fuck heist he needs emilio for - two asyncs is worrying enough, but the neo-orca has seriously wounded two of us so far. the fucking thundercat plays with swords, and i dont know a whole lot of people that’ll carry a sword with them that they dont know how to use very well. Don’t underestimate them - and i’m looking at shannon and tex for that.]
Yeehaw Ass Bitch: [Fuck you.]
mom: [i’d tell you to fight me, but you got GOT already, so :/]
thing 1: [I won’t make the same mistake again.]
mom: [good. @Get Out of my fucking Brain is working on some shit, so I’ll let you know how that goes later.]
Get out of my fucking brain: I don’t want to alarm any one. But this cat girl is playing 27 consecutive games of candy crush and I think I need to sit down about it.
mom: [i love a man with focus.]
thing 2: [#asyncmoodboard]
thing 1: [Can I trade in my Watts-McLeod for that Watts-McLeod? I’m tired of my W/M telling me to eat my arms.]
Baby #Confirmed: [Sorry, no returns, exchanges, or refunds. You just get to die.]
Get out of my fucking brain: Arms are tastey adn full of protien.
Get out of my fucking brain: [Also ffs he’s actuallya fucking gardner. He’s a gardner and he breeds rats. Got a fucking art colective for plants? And thats for fucking it. He’s got a tacnet on here that looks like I’ll fucking die if I touch it though.]
thing 1: [I’ll remember that when you finally sleeve a morph, Thomas.]
Get out of my fucking head: god the faster you kill me the least of ammount of time I’ll have to be made of meat.
thing 1:[
]mom: [a whole gardner. and rat cultivator. I love my sharp boys to be full of love and tenderness and secrets. I want to kiss him under moonlight]
Baby #Confirmed: [GROSS.]
mom: [fuck you, Im a widow. Let me yearn, dammit]
Get out of my fucking brain: [ You can’t kiss him. He’s wholesome. You’ll get cooties.]
mom: [#worthit]
void fuckr supreme: [jackie, you haven’t had a good boy to corrupt since alistair!]
mom: [finally, my time to shine]
mom: [tbf, @get out of my fucking brain, he’s not wholesome. nobody wholesome swings a knife without hesitation. he's a goblin.]
Get our of my fucking brain: [ Sigh.]
mom: [you get your sexy glitter christ priest boyfriend, let me want the norwegian sword goblin. :<]
Get of my fucking brain:[ Okay. But do you want me to crack this cursedTM tacnet like a lobster or not. Or like what.]
mom: [thomas did you just say or not, AND or what.]
mom: [Also, lobster. you maine ass bitch.]
mom: [and the answer is yes.]
Get out of my fucking brain: [ Tough talk you fucking brooklyn peice of shit. Give me like twenty minutes.]
mom: [suck my fat dick, idiot]
Get out of my fucking brain: [let me find you some content to hold you over untill the moot point in linear time when I will don a meat suit to service you.
Catgirl1.jpg
Catgirlswordhot34.jpg
wholesome norwegainmanstockimage.jpg
mom: [first of all fuck you. its not a fucking anime cat girl fetish. what has me dick out is the fact they swung a whole ass knife at me. Bitch]
Get out of my fucking brain; [oh fuck. Excuse me.]
Catgirlwrestlingpiledrive.jpg
catgirlwithswordpose2.jpg
thing 1: [Please stop sending porn in the group chat. Jericho gave us a virus last time.]
thing 2: [a very sexy virus
)))))))]thing 1: [No. Just a virus.]
Get out of my fucking brain: [first of all who cleaned that the fuck up for you fucking toads? Me. Second of all. Make me? Any way brb. Gotta crack this fucking tanet with my teeth with all 120% of my finely programed maine yankee enginuity steven kingTM bullshit math haxor. Here. have some. Fucking. Idk.
Cat.jpg
Since you hate variety and class.]
void fuckr supreme: [how dare you. im a beautiful froge]
Get out of fucking brain:[ Good news or bad news?]
mom: [jesus fucking christ, thomas. you dumbass himbo. bad news first.
Get out of fucking brain: Did not crack the tacnet like a lobster with my teeth v.v
mom: [that’s what i thought you’d say, you dumb fucking bitch]
mom: [johnmulaney.jpeg]
Get out of fucking brain: good news. This BITCH IS TERRIFIED OF MAPS.
mom: [how dare you break my new boyfriend.]
mom: [wjats the irish boy’s triggers. Smfh]
Get out of fucking brain: IDK he doens’t have them listed as triggers on his fucking @rep like a dumbass.
Get out of fucking brain: and The Hacker has locked me out. Damn. She’s good.
mom: [fuck. if the hacker hacked one of you fucking idiots; fuck you, bitch. Smfh]
Get out of fucking brain: any one who could actually manage to hack us has to read this fucking drivel and that is punishment enough.
Get out of fucking brain: but I’m checking. I’m doing my J.O.B wich is more than like fucking Tex smfh.
mom: [u right]
mom: [pull back for now. let them rest easy until we’re ready]
S3: [The backdoor is in place!]
S1: [Excellent, we’re closing the connection now before we get spotted.]
S2: [It was a spirited effort on his part, at the very least. The map spam on his way out was cruel.]
S1: [I’m sure we’ll find a way to avenge Vidar soon.]
S2: [Shall we pursue Tom?]
S1: [No. Shore up the door behind him, and close the connection to Jericho’s inserts for now. We’ll have our backdoor when we need it.]
Mekhajakumaar {TacNet}: [For your viewing pleasure, if anyone was wondering what the hubbub on the net was all about: CarnivalChat.emf. They tried doing the same thing to us that I just did to them, I’m locking them out now.]
jukeboxmaiden: [its good to know renowned criminals have the group chat of a bunch of college students]
hara: [i’m furious i can never be friends with these assholes but they’re so fucking funny]
hara: [i cannot believe these morons think i’m in charge]
Heliotrope has joined the server
Heliotrope: > : (
hara: can i offer you a good baby rat in these trying times?
Mekhajakumaar: [If it’s any consolation, I’ve got logs from his hack and I’ll send post-acts to the muses to update firewalls with; it won’t be easy for him next time.]
juekboxmaiden: [i cant believe the black carnival except for the one rj glocked drinks their respect uplift juice]
Azathothwakes: [yeah. nice to know they only wanna kill the shit out of me because i got them first]
Heliotrope:[ She wants to kiss me under the moonlight.]
jukeboxmaiden: [youre lovable viddy]
Heliotrope: I’m rolling in my own damn grave.
hara: cat ears. swords. gardening. you’re the complete package.
Heliotrope: Thank you.
hara: also i think i know who the irish glitter christ guy they’re talking about is and i don’t want to think about it too hard.
Heliotrope: [Uh,,,,, this get out of my fucking brain guy.....I think he’s- he talks just like some one I know inthe outersystem its fucking uncanny. Right down to- everything. Can I please stop running into people I know its extremely stressful and I’ve just looked at a map. >:C]
Heliotrope: [also this fucking tacnet reads just like my old squads tacnet. Fucking hell. Okay. Well. what the plan.]
Mekhajakumaar: [Is it the same person? Can you tell me anything about how they hack? I can work on countermeasures to make it even harder for the bastard to get in.]
Heliotrope: [Maybe. Probably- I know when he fled earth he did send his ego to multiple places cause he wasn’t sure he’d get through. He’s an emergency dispatch AGI that went rogue int he late 60’s, holed up in maine in a robot dog or some shit till the fall. We play strategy games together like a lot. He’s pretty glass cannon brute force best offense is a good offense kind of guy.]
Mekhajakumaar: [That checks out, given the data from the logs.]
Azathothwakes: [if they’re spooked, that’s the time we need to get the rest of our gear n’ get ready, then get to the hunt for Emilio. we may wanna figure out how to do it without bein watched, make it harder for the carnies to get a clear shot at us when we get him]
hara: well, we know they’re watching. easiest just to keep them watching some of us while the rest of us slip off to look for him for real.
hara: also how the fuck did an agi survive in maine i didn’t know moose had internet???
Azathothwakes: were they
Azathothwakes: uplifted moose?
Azathothwakes: or dudes sleevin mooses with cyberbrains in em?
hara: no no no
hara: just ice age megafauna
hara: running around
hara: maine is a lawless, godforsaken place
hara: that’s the joke
Azathothwakes: yknow they make moose burgers on Ceres, they’re surprisingly good??
jukeboxmaiden: [right. i forgot orca eat moose]
Sleipnir: We shoulda hit those two watching us. Watch to see if they mention the chameleon car, they might’ve realized what we’re doing with it. If they did, I wasted a lot of time and money on jack all. And Veronica probably lost double by Corp standards.
Mekhajakumaar: [On the contrary! I was able to slip a backdoor into one of their inserts. They’re walking away, frustrated in their efforts to hack us, all the while I’ll be able to walk right in to ‘Thing 2’s inserts and crack open their TacNet when the time comes~]
Mekhajakumaar: [From the log, I see no evidence to suggest they are aware of the plan with the car, or even know that we were responsible for stealing despite the furious speculation on the news media.]
Sleipnir: I hope they weren’t looking close enough. They were probably looking for armor and guns, but if they realize we can quick-change like vegas, we’ll never lose ‘em without a fight.
Mekhajakumaar: [I can keep tabs where I can to see if they will anticipate the tactic, but from the log they seemed more concerned about us as targets than what we were working on here.]
Azathothwakes: [besides, we got away before and that was with a rental car instead of a high end sportflyer]
Sleipnir: Yeah. But even the best driver on mars in the best car on mars can’t outrun seeker missiles.
Sleipnir: Those carnival fuckers, though… This is a security pod, I literally have no idea what the fuck they’re on about. It’s pretty slim. Veronica, this is NOT an ass. Back me up.
Mekhajakumaar: [jordanpeelesweatingprofusely.gif]
Azathothwakes: [before anythin else, we oughta rendezvous at the shop or somewhere. we mightve spooked the fuckers for now but we can’t expect that to last forever, so we should stay together, strength in the pod and such.]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [gonna have to pick up the stuff later]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [why]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [interopers.]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [kill them]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [you want the heat in yer fucken hunting waters?]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [i want them fearful of us]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [you n me both. expect me tomorrow night.]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [understood]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [you got our money?]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [will do when i get there.]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [you got my stuff?]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [everything from your people and everything you’re paying for]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [good.]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [remember]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [no sapes.]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [got it.]
“Fuck.”
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [why]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [interopers.]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [kill them]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [you want the heat in yer fucken hunting waters?]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [i want them fearful of us]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [you n me both. expect me tomorrow night.]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [understood]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [you got our money?]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [will do when i get there.]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [you got my stuff?]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [everything from your people and everything you’re paying for]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [good.]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [remember]
VNGNCEFRTHFLLN: [no sapes.]
BR04DS1D3_NO92: [got it.]
“Fuck.”
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