Vigil

[Ironsmith]

[Briefing Room]

"...So we intend to keep them here?" Eun asks.

"It would not be productive to turn them loose. We cannot protect them if they are not in our custody." Khafir elaborates.

"I get that. I just..." Eun frowns. "...I'm not... especially comfortable with the idea of keeping them here, so close to the action. If their attacker comes in tracking the decoy, but just... happens across where we're keeping them..."

Khafir frowns and turns to the others in the room, saying nothing.

"...Surely we have a safehouse we could send them too, or something?"


[Khafir and Cessie]

"Then, it seems that, for once, we are on the same page." The corners of Khafir's lips turn up in a pale imitation of a smile, turning back to face her patient. "...A subject to revisit at a later date. For the moment, I have a surgery." She clicks the dental-lamp-like device on again and makes her way over to a computer on her desk. "...I don't believe you have had the privilege of working with one of our dermal scalpels, correct?" She begins, tapping a few buttons on her keyboard as the device whirs into place. "This is my own take on such a device. A means of performing surgery without using crude metal blades; no need for an entry incision, and therefore no need for disinfectants or a complex setup. This operation should take half an hour at most."

[Zefir]

[Briefing Room]

Mia looks at them confused.

"First of it is HIM no THEM. We only got one prisoner." she says. Or do they mean someone else?
"Second we wouldn't place the trap here on the island. There are to many innocent people and we don't know how destructiv our enemy can be. Outside has some places like junkyards or battelfields where our decoy could search resources to repair and wouldn't draw attention. Unless you have another sot in mind."
The last one is ointed at Wenomir.

[Morty]

[Briefing Room]

"Mia is correct. The prisoner will remain here while we feign his escape and fake his signal elsewhere." He considers it for a moment. "It should be somewhere that he would logically go to, yes. I don't have any specific idea yet."

[Shadowcaller]

[Extraction Successful]

Reinholdt doesn't generally consider someone's race an important point of discussion to have with Felandria, but that might just be the cat in him. "Of course, thank you. I look forward to seeing you at the meeting then, though we'll get you all set up first for sure." Rein smiles at Ambrosia in confirmation of their discussion.

"Anything else? I feel like maybe we've overstayed our welcome here and should probably be getting back. I know I'm eager for a good meal and some girlfriend snuggles. Who knows how long that surgery on Klaus is going to take?" Reinholdt assumes that's what they've been working on the whole time while Rein and Ambrosia were talking. "I'll buy you lunch on the way if you want." They both earned a little extra today after all.

[Extraction Successful]

The dragon might lack eyebrows but her eyes make a motion that suggest that she would just have raised them. "I can never say no to food but I'm guessing you're not intending to buy me a cow to chomp down now, are you, mister Rein?" The corners of her maw turn up into what could be a smile. "Not that I would say no to that. But I think I would need to pick up my human body if you are going to buy anything for me. I eat significantly less as a human after all."

[Khafir and Cessie]

Cessie had just been waiting for Khafir to start the surgery, this conversation had really gotten in the way of things.
She gives a nod of approval. "Great, then I should I have the time to observe the entire thing myself just to make sure he doesn't have some surprises still in store for us."
And once that was done there would be a whole lot of paperwork.

[Ember]

[Raptors!]

"Hmm." That's not very precise. "Let's go to the command centre. We should be able to find that mission in the archives."

"Right, of course. I will follow closely." Iamar shook her head once more. Now that she thought about it... "My quarters had collected dust as I slept. I thought it to be an odd quirk of the land..."

[Morty]

[Raptors!]

"Come on, Coco, let's go."

Wenomir leads the way to the command centre, his raptor happy enough to follow along. Once there, he'll consult the archives for missions that took place around the time Iamar was last seen. See if any of them match her description or jog her memory.

[Ember]

[Raptors!]

Iamar gives Coco one more parting pet before she follows to the command centre, looking at each of the archived missions from... how long ago? "This is... a great length of time I have missed," she murmurs, before pointing out one particular mission archive - a scouting run to find the location of a wizard's hideout somewhere in Outside, before reporting back. It was filed as "incomplete." "This was where I went, but that... cannot be right. I returned after a successful run and reported back."

[Ironsmith]

[Briefing Room]

"...Oh. Right." Eun blushes. That seems obvious in hindsight. It probably seemed obvious to everyone else in advance, too.

"Even so. It may be necessary for the decoy to have a detail with them, or at least substantial enough combat capability that their being unaccompanied is not suspicious." Khafir folds her hands. "Who would you send if we were simply releasing our prisoner, commander?"

[Khafir and Cessie]

If Klaus did have any surprises in store for them, he doesn't seem to have counted on full-body paralysis getting in the way of activating them. What follows is half an hour of typing, clicking, more typing, more clicking, and staring at a display showing the intricate surgery that Cessie likely has no basis for comprehending.

Thirty minutes of aggressively awkward silence.

Or at least it would be, if Khafir didn't seem to actually notice how awkward the silence is.

"Alexa, play something nice for the commander."

"Okay. Selecting from guest playlist. One moment...."

"Thank you."

As the song starts, Khafir briefly addresses Cessie, not looking up from her work. "The majority of this operation is performed automatically. If you still wish to converse, the option is available to you."

[Reinholdt]

[Extraction Successful]

Reinholdt laughs. "I mean, if you want a cow, I'll buy you a cow. As long as we can find someone who is selling." He's not hard up on cash.

His laughter turns into confusion though. "I... don't understand. Do you not just shapeshift into that? What do you mean by pick up?" He's only ever heard of dragons using magic to turn into humanoids in order to go slumming by banging elves and making draconic sorcerers. But it seemed like a relatively simple process.

[Shadowcaller]

[Extraction Successful]

The dragon simply stares back for a moment. She was going to make a joke about cows but now it was just all sort of awkward.

"Oh." Ambrosia finally comments. "I thought I mentioned that at some point. See, my human and dragon bodies are actually separated. To, as you call it, 'assume a human form' I'm possessing that body like a spirit would. Or, ah, animating it more accurately. Hence why I would need to pick it up as I left it... elsewhere." Somewhere safe and secret.

"Might be best if we discuss that elsewhere too though as it's a bit personal." She wasn't sure if Rein immediately would understand all the implications this might have. However, as she had told Wenomir and Cessie about her situation it seemed like he should know too considering her new relationship to HALO.

[Khafir and Cessie]

Not that awkward. Cessie had to endure this sort of thing every time she visited the science department. It was of course frustrating, especially as she considered herself a scientist of sort, but it was something one could learn to be subjected to.

Cessie had learned to just take at least one a pocket book with her wherever she went. Which is just what she's reading through now as she waits for this process to finish. She was eager to see the results though even if the operation itself was completely incomprehensible to her.

[Reinholdt]

[Extraction Successful]

"Right. Behind a building in the middle of Vigil plaza isn't exactly the most secure." Reinholdt knows there's at least two people with ears tall enough to eavesdrop on anyone. "How about you do that and just meet me at... Trog's then? Would that work?" Not the finest dining, but this isn't a romantic overture, so homemade Zee cooking is fine.

[Shadowcaller]

[Extraction Successful]

Trog's? Wouldn't have been her first choice.

"Zee would likely listen in. If only since she can't help it." The dragon points out, possibly knowing something Rein doesn't. "I've actually talked to her a bit and while I would consider her more of a friend than an enemy it doesn't change the fact that whole tavern is her domain. We might have to ask her not to if we go there."

[Reinholdt]

[Extraction Successful]

"Oh, yeah. I guess that's true." Zee does always seem to have Rein's order ready by the time he actually orders it. Probably uses listening bugs. He imagines they could actually just ask her not to and she would, but if Ambrosia's that concerned about it...

"Where would you like to eat then?"

[Morty]

[Raptors!]

Wenomir frowns, as if in intense concentration.

"I feel as though I should remember you doing that, but I don't. This is very odd. What happened?"

[Ironsmith]

[Khafir and Cessie]

Not that awkward. Cessie had to endure this sort of thing every time she visited the science department. It was of course frustrating, especially as she considered herself a scientist of sort, but it was something one could learn to be subjected to.

Cessie had learned to just take at least one a pocket book with her wherever she went. Which is just what she's reading through now as she waits for this process to finish. She was eager to see the results though even if the operation itself was completely incomprehensible to her.

[Khafir and Cessie]

The failure to rekindle the conversation is, on Khafir's part, not even shrugged off. She prompted Cessie to speak, in case she wanted to, but when no reply comes the subject seems to be summarily forgotten.

Thirty minutes later, Khafir lets out an equally-nonchalant "I have finished." She points at the screen for Cessie's benefit. "Removing the implant would be an endeavor for which I am ill-equipped, but I was able to reset it and add a dead-man function to it. Every twelve hours, it will reset itself to default parameters. Any glitchy alterations made in that time will be erased as a result." She gives Klaus a little nod. "I would avoid straining the implant, but otherwise, mister Quire is ready for dismissal."

[Arkhosia]

► SHOW SPOILER

Far Too Early

"The way I see it, our best option is to have one of our best liars sneak into the prison with the implant, claiming to be a hypnotized double-agent sent to infiltrate the prison, set the clone free and cover his escape. Hail God-Emperor Magtok, etcetera, etcetera. The clone nods, happy he's still important enough to have a rescue mission organized on his behalf, and doesn't look a gift horse in the mouth as he steps past the hypnotized goon and flexes his telekinetic muscle to break out of prison," Magtok explains, idly wondering if there's anyone in Vigil who could genuinely hypnotize a consenting volunteer. It's probably not that hard to pretend to be a mind control victim, but a little bit of extra authenticity wouldn't hurt, right? The best lies are the ones virtually indistinguishable from the truth.

"It's either that or someone 'accidentally' trips and drops the implant on his side of the cell, or they hand it over during an interrogation for cooperating with questions about Prime, not realizing how powerful it really is. Both of those two alternatives are really bad, because they predispose the clone towards vindictively harming the person who mistakenly helps him. I'd rather not have someone get telekinetically smashed through a wall just because Prime's puppet was feeling petty and happened to feel like hurting someone on his way out the door." Some collateral damage is expected when trying to stage a prison break, but Magtok would much rather the damage was all Vigil's property and architecture, and not its staff. Wenomir can scowl all he wants if Vigil has to pay a hefty repair bill later, but it'll be a very bittersweet victory if Mag's plan gets an innocent person killed right at the very beginning.

"Now, for tracking, I'm fine with whatever magic or fancy tricks or bloodhounds you've got. I don't have anything that can reliably follow a psychic from a distance without getting spotted, so that part of the operation is all yours. I'd like to suggest snipers, but I don't know what his telepathic range will be, so if you want someone to follow him from afar to try to pop his head like a balloon, you'll want someone who can keep their head completely empty under pressure." Magtok is trying really, really hard to keep himself from looking in Blanche's direction when he suggests snipers with nothing going on upstairs. He's so sorely tempted to glance her way, even if just for a moment, but it would sabotage the plan, the relationship, the catgirl's feelings...it would be funny, but not that funny. It's just not worth it this time, unfortunately.

[Far Too Early]

"Pretending to be mind-controlled is probably more reliable. It's what the clone would want to believe, so he'd do most of the work in his own head. Of course, there's always the possibility of the clone being vindictive regardless." After being defeated and captured, someone so arrogant and cruel is going to lash out at any available target. "Tracking him and taking him down quickly would be a challenge, regardless. Many of our people are strong-willed, but it's still a gamble to pit that against Prime's power."

Far Too Early

Cessie considers these options for a little while in silence. "...Magtok, you know Prime better than me so how likely would he believe us simply handing him the chip in exchange for an alliance? The reason being that we need his help to go up against what we think is a bigger threat. Perhaps we could say that we believe that the Mag-collective is a threat to the nexus as a whole. Since I get the impression that he would love to take that down so much that he's more likely to buy it."

She has nothing to say regarding the tracking right now since she had to hear what Magtok had to say about this idea first.

[Far Too Early]

"That's an interesting idea. Our problems with the King in Rags give us a pretty good scapegoat for a potential target - but Magtok mentioned to concern of paranoia, and something like that would set some alarm bells off wouldn't it?" Blanche looks to her stepfather for confirmation, before considering the other points. "Snipers never hurt. Do we have anyone on staff with any psychic ability, or mages that might have experience warding against mental intrusions? I'm sure there must be some way we can at least mitigate Prime's powers, even if we're unlikely to truly counter them."

[Zefir]

[Briefing Room]

"Since we wtinesed some of our prisoners fighting style it should be easy to recreate them in the decoy. The decaoy is also simulating a damaged state as if it barly escaped out of a fight. None but us knows we caught him so it can just be an escape from the fight." Mia says. Then she looks aound at the others present.

"Well, from what we have here only Wenomir is a skilled fighter. Then it's up between us, while I don't know about your experience myself have a decent training under the commander."

[Ember]

[Raptors!]

Iamar's eyebrows knit together. This was getting stranger by the secone. "I found the mission's target, entering a hut in a forest, and surveyed for an evening. After which I returned, and reported back that further investigation was likely unnecessary." She shakes her head. "I went to bed after, and now... this."

[Morty]

[Briefing Room]

Wenomir shrugs.

"If it weren't for our target wishing to claim his power source, we would release our target alone and keep an eye on him. He's a nuisance, not a serious threat. But it is probably better to make it look like he escaped."

[Raptors!]

"This could be some kind of magic effect on the hut. Direct or indirect." Wenomir rubs his chin. "Distorting time around an intruder. Certainly an odd defensive measure if that's the case, though."

[Ember]

Raptors!

"A strange form of defense, especially against one who had made no threats against them." Iamar lets out a sigh. "What is to be done?

[Magtok]

Far Too Early

"...Magtok, you know Prime better than me so how likely would he believe us simply handing him the chip in exchange for an alliance? The reason being that we need his help to go up against what we think is a bigger threat. Perhaps we could say that we believe that the Mag-collective is a threat to the nexus as a whole. Since I get the impression that he would love to take that down so much that he's more likely to buy it."

There's a split-second where Magtok looks like he's about to cry, but it's instantly pushed to the bottom of his subconscious, buried beneath several dozen walls of ego-assuaging hubris.

"Prime thinks I'm just a defective copy of him, a clone with no psychic power, and thus, no real value to his empire. He does not see me or my clones as a threat," Magtok answers carefully, trying to keep himself from specifying whether or not he thinks Prime is right to think such things, whether he'd be able to do anything at all to stop Prime if that stupid ghost felt like stealing his body away and taking his entire life for his own ghostly purposes. Whether or not the very thought of personally standing up to Prime on the battlefield fills him with a kind of existential dread and terror that only two others have ever been capable of inspiring within him.

"I think he would laugh in your face for daring to imagine anyone else as the greatest danger to your status quo," he adds quietly, before wincing again when Blanche mentions countering Prime's hypnotic voice.

"I was working on something for that with MERC, training one of their psychics to try to emulate his power, using a weakened recording of his voice to help her learn. Our progress is...well, I was probably too optimistic, thinking someone could learn to match his power in just a few days. I can share the recording, though, give everyone a headset with a button that will command them to 'kneel,' which is less than ideal in the heat of battle, but still preferable to being ordered to kill themselves."

[Ironsmith]

[Briefing Room]

"Trivial. I have the necessary tools to make it appear as though a certain robosupremacist organization orchestrated his escape." Khafir gives Wenomir a brisk nod. "They have been quite active in Inside as of late. It would not be an especially incredible story."

Eun just falls silent and gives a little nod of her own, before suddenly becoming quite preoccupied with her clipboard and its contents.

[Shadowcaller]

[Khafir and Cessie]

The failure to rekindle the conversation is, on Khafir's part, not even shrugged off. She prompted Cessie to speak, in case she wanted to, but when no reply comes the subject seems to be summarily forgotten.

Thirty minutes later, Khafir lets out an equally-nonchalant "I have finished." She points at the screen for Cessie's benefit. "Removing the implant would be an endeavor for which I am ill-equipped, but I was able to reset it and add a dead-man function to it. Every twelve hours, it will reset itself to default parameters. Any glitchy alterations made in that time will be erased as a result." She gives Klaus a little nod. "I would avoid straining the implant, but otherwise, mister Quire is ready for dismissal."

[Extraction Successful]

"Oh, yeah. I guess that's true." Zee does always seem to have Rein's order ready by the time he actually orders it. Probably uses listening bugs. He imagines they could actually just ask her not to and she would, but if Ambrosia's that concerned about it...

"Where would you like to eat then?"

[Khafir and Cessie]

Cessie had taken the music as a signal that Khafir didn't want to talk.
Also, her player had somehow missed what she said at the end of her last post so there's that.
"Thank you doctor. Excellent work." The commander stands up and nods respectfully to Khafir. "But I had some questions for you. Would you recommend to eventually remove the implant considering the apparent risk of future failure? Furthermore, just what exactly will mister Quire remember and feel once he's conscious again? Since we need to tailor that moment to give him as much mental stability as possible."

[Extraction Successful]

"Either we could simply go to the black dragons den or there's another similar joint called the Triple B which we could go to. I know the owner of it so it's a place I go to sometimes. It's a bit more shabby than Trog's but it would do for our purpose."

She pauses a moment. "There's of course that new cafe that I heard just opened if you prefer something closer." It was, apparently, also owned by a dragon. So if Zee counted as the owner of trog's then the majority of the inn's she knew about were actually owned by them. The exception being the place called the black dragon's den ironically.

[Ironsmith]

[Khafir and Cessie]

"He has been conscious the entire time." Khafir replies evenly. "He has simply been immobile." She wheels away the surgical device she had used back to an unoccupied corner of the room. "I would not recommend removing the implant entirely. After having relied on it for so long, that would be similar to cutting out your eye, or maybe one of your digestive organs, without any means of growing it back. I would not suggest it unless there was risk of imminent, catastrophic failure."

[Morty]

[Raptors!]

"It could have been an unintentional side-effect." Wenomir is guessing at best. "Regardless, it seems you've come back... though we might want to check if any lingering effects remain."

[Reinholdt]

[Extraction Successful]

"Oh! Black Dragon's Den. Practically my second home. I quite enjoy it there. I know Raril well. Ah... the proprietor." Don't expect any discounts though!

"We should go there if that's an option." Zee is married to Raril so it might not be. Reinholdt's not going to begrudge another choice though, since he's treating Ambrosia.

[Ember]

[Raptors!]

"Yes... that would likely be for the best." Iamar looks at the report one more time, softly shaking her head. "So much time has passed in the blink of an eye..." What happened in the time she had lost? What of her friends?

[Morty]

[Raptors!]

"It is frightening, yes." Wenomir decides not to try to sugarcoat it. It's not as if he's any good at it. "But you're back now and we can help you get back on your feet and maybe find out why it happened. Make sure it doesn't happen again."

[Ember]

[Raptors!]

Iamar takes a deep breath, then lets it out. "I appreciate the honesty. It's not as though I can do anything to get this year back." She straightens herself. "I shall simply have to pick myself up where I left off, and ensure that I can still perform my duties to my usual ability."

[Morty]

[Raptors!]

"Given the circumstances, we can give you some free time to get your bearings." Iamar has always struck him as someone who has to be explicitly instructed to relax. "Assure your friends that you're alright and so on."