I can't wait to snatch some more bodies! This quest is great, OP!

You are a strange creature, capable of taking over other lifeforms to serve as your vessel. Your current host, Jack Winters, was unbeknownst to you a drug addict, and overdosed on speedball. To survive, you bonded with him, but this damaged you, leaving you separated from the bodysnatcher command structure. An individual by accident, you are hunted by the cyborg aliens, the forces guided by the illuminati called the Wise, and your own kin.

Something strange is happening in your mind, though your succesful attempt at reading minds distracts you from it. Cath seems better at controlling her powers by the day. The Wise have asked you to help them out in an investigation, and take you to a scene of chilling devastation, hordes of cyborgs, even a dozen HKs destroyed. Your finds seem to suggest that the notorious Anne Grey took part in the battle.

Your known abilities are:
- reinforcing your muscle and bone tissue, making you several times stronger,faster and tougher
- growing weapons from your arms, limited to one on each arm in any combination:a hooked, double edged blade on your forearm, claws, a spike that springs out from your wrist underneath your palm or launchable bone spikes
- hardening your skin into thick,segmented bone plate armor resistant to heat and energy weapons, and growing a membrane under your skin, that contains fluid that hardens on impact
- absorbing ingested organic material, that you can use to increase muscle and bone density(animal tissue is the most effective)
- the ability to call forth your host's memories, skills and knowledge
- altering your appearance, includin skin\hair\eye colour, facial features, height, build, and gender, though the more elaborate the change is, the more time and effort it takes.
- producing almost any kind of drug,poison or acid in liquid form, including sedatives, that you can deliver via gasses, at high pressure from an opening that can be created anywhere on your body, or through the wristspike.
- producing special material that can be a flaming liquid sprayed out, a flammable gas or a sticky jelly on fire
- emitting pheromones that influence humans
- sensing the mind-link of bodysnatchers
- enhanced senses, capable of switching to different spectrums (infravision, ultrasound, noise filtering, etc.)

- fiber-optic nervous system, allowing you to ignore pain to some extent, and speeding up your reflexes by orders of magnitude
- a pair of leathery wings growing from your shoulder blades, with a bio-fuel fed jet system underneath it, allowing you extremely fast aerial movement
- superhuman sense of balance
- four combat tentacles
- sonic vibrator drums that can cause disorientation, loss of balance and nausea on a wider area or severe pain and internal damage when focused. The effect magnifies the more drums you use.
- combat tendrils that can be shot out to a few dozen meters, they are a centimeter in diameter, as strong as steel cable, and have hooked ends that lodge themselves into objects or enemies

Crap, I won't be able to stick around and participate in this for very long tonight.

Don't do anything too retarded without me.

Mutations:
-Perfect Predator
Noise-level sense, body better optimised for stealth, invisible to digital sensors and leaves no scent
-Monstrous Strength
Increased strength, speed, and leaping distance
-Armoured Juggernaut
Massive armour, capable of deflecting most attacks and weathering the rest.
-Master of Arms
Improved bodysnatcher weapons

Sitting by the foot of a tree, you can't shake the feeling that the remains of the battle in front of you are familiar somehow. Catherine is right beside you, still rocking back and forth, her face hidden from you. There is an air about her that would make it hard for you to speak up even if it weren't for a strange sensation bothering you. The creature that you felt during your meditation seems invigorated by whatever riled you, prowling closer, it's growls louder and louder, but still just out of your sight.

Your attempt to block it out is disturbed by a shrill sound coming from behind you, a ringtone of sorts. You look around, and realise that no one else seems to notice it. Richard is argueing with someone over the phone, the technicians are busy taking the wrecks apart, and Cath is still in a stupor. After a moment, you sharpen your senses, determining that the sound is at a frequency human ears can't detect. It's coming from a patch of woods about a hundred yards behind you.

Wat do?

>>16085681
Thanks! Though there is relatively little snatching of bodies.
>>16085762
Well, all momentously stupid ideas have been shouted down so far, so I wouldn't worry.

>>16085785
Investigate!
Also, we might check what's wrong with Cath.

>>16085785
Give Cath a hug and tell her we'll be gone for a few minutes to investigate something.
Try to find the source of the noise then.

>Connection going rogue again, also putting on ym trip
>>16085851
>>16085835
You give Cath that hug and tell her that you'll be back soon, but she doesn't even seem to notice your presence. A little uncomfortable, you head away from the scarred battlefield, and walk carefully through the lightly forested area between the clearing and your destination. The afternoon is turning late, and the shadows are long, the light of the sun more muted. You simply morph your eyes, vision accommodating to the situation. Your feet instinctively avoid branches that could snap, foilage that would rustle, anything that would moke noise, and you ghost through the woods.

In front of you is a cluster of willow trees, swaying in the light breeze. The sound comes from between the roots of one, and you dig and shovel earth away with your hands turned into claws. A heavily modified satellite phone appears from the fragrant soil, packed into a plastic ziplock bag. It goes silent, and you almost drop it in surprise when it comes alive again without warning. Fumbling with it, you see that it recieved a text message, and opening it you see the following message:

-Dear Mister Winters, if you'd pick up that damned phone already I'd be grateful.

Ps. Don't alert Agent van Rohe, or anyone else for that matter. This is between you and me.-

>Damn, left this out.
>>16086066
The phone rings again, caller ID showing Unkown Number.

>>16086090
"Batcave?"

>>16086066
Okay, let's see what's going on. Answer the phone. This may (and almost certainly is) be a trap, but to hell with it.

>>16086066
Well pick up the phone and answer the call

rolled 76 = 76

I have an idea.

Kill Jack Winters.
Snatch Cath's body. This eliminates another weak link from our network, one less meddlesome human aware of our existence. A lot more respectable than a dumb junky too.

>>16086156
>>16086158
>>16086179
"Ah, very funny. I am speaking to Mister Winters then? Very good." The voice is masked by a synthetiser, just like when you spoke to the Wise. You growl into the phone. "Who is this?" "My person is irrevelant, what matters is my position. I am one of two people in command of the Fools." Hearing the angry sound you make, the voice laughs, clearly feminine somehow despite the distortion. "Yes, your relationship with us is somewhat strained. But I'd like to make that something of the past. You see, the Wise are losing. They are old, stuck in their ways, slaves to ideals outdated when they were concieved. They refuse to change with the times, unlike us. We will win this war, Mister Winters, and all who stand in our way will be obliterated. It's only a matter of time. If you would like to be on the winning team, all you'd have to do would be to join us, help us in our operations, and hand over Miss Abbey for research."

She -because you have begun referring to the other person as a woman- chuckles. "We'll be very gentle, I promise. So, what say you, Mister Winters? Do you wish to live, with all you wishes granted, all your whims law? Or," her voice grows harsh and cold. "do you wish to become just another sack of rotting meat on an autopsy table. The choice is yours."

If the phone has a speaker-phone option, answer with that. Otherwise, armor up the side of our head and hand before answering. no sense in putting an unknown piece of technology right net to a soft, flesh main-line to our brain. If all goes well, this may just be a phone call. Maybe from a member of the Wise who wants to end-run his colleagues, or a member of the Fools who wants to suck up now that it's semi-revealed that they are incapable of killing us, or any of a dozen other possibilities. But it's also likely that this thing could be rigged to explode, or inject a toxin, or pop open and have another body-snatcher wriggle in our ear to fight us for control. The circumstances are tricky enough, no need to take unnecessary risks.

>>16086185
Snatching Cath's body, at least as far as you know, is tantamount to suicide. It is not human, and would likely react with violent agression to any attempt to take it over.

>>16086287
"Contact me again in two days time. I will have to think about your offer and discuss it with Miss Abbey."

They've gone bananas.

>>16086287
"All my wishes granted? Really? My, you are ambitious. And presumptuous, but that's forgivable given how little you truly know. But, you're talking business. Trying to sell me something. So, you've got my attention. Let's cut the smoke and mirrors. Make me an offer. Something tangible and well defined."

>>16086287
We don't give a shit about ideals, theirs or the Wise. We just want to survive, protect our friends and find out what the hell is going on.
"Why do you want Cath? If you want us on your side, then why do you ditched us in the first place? What game are you playing?"

>>16086365
"Well, what do you want? Money? We could give you billions. Cars, villas, drugs, women? In an hour, we could get you on a private jet en Cyborgs to smash? When they are all dead, we'll build some, just so you can destroy them. We could have you famous by next week. You could be president of the United States when elections roll in. Or is that too little? Would you like complete control over a nation? A continent? Possible, after we win of course. We are very generous to those who serve us well, Mister Winters. Of course, if you turn out to be useless to us, your rewards will be less, but still substantial, merely for the fact that you joined us."
>>16086357
"I'm afraid that doesn't quite work for me. I'll call again in fifteen minutes. Have your answer by then. I'll be waiting..." She almost sings the last word.

>Bah, damn laptop.
>>16086490
>In an hour, we could get you on a private jet en route to your very own little paradise.
fix'd

>>16086490
None of the things she's offered have much value to us, really.

Can we establish a mindlink connection to Cath, or is she zoned out completely?

Also, note down the exact time the call started and ended, and see if we can get a GPS position for where we are. That could tell us which satellite she used to broadcast to this phone. Likewise with the next call in 15 minutes. Not exactly a solid trace, but it's a start.

>Apparently, another complete sentence got deleted somehow.
>>16086490
Bodysnatchers to absorb? We'll round some up and even hold them down for you.
>>16086533
You are certain that you could reach through to her with a little effort.

>>16086533
Getting Cath in on this is a good idea, in my opinion. That way she'll know we won't sell her out, even if tempted with such promises.

>>16086533
>None of the things she's offered have much value to us, really.
Well, aliens to absorb do have a value, but we can get them ourselves. Hell, they're practically flocking to us.
Her proposition is tempting, but I trust her just as I trust the Wise - not at all. I'm not going to give Cath to her. We're on our own side.

>>16086577
we need a secure line of communication, and a method of tracking these satellites and their transmissions. Cath can forward our thoughts to Kellery's cell phone, and probably track which satellite is being used to chat with us. Let's try to get Cath to pay attention.

>>16086656
>>16086636
>>16086632
You reach out to Cath, and have to brush aside images of war in strange, alien landscapes, cyborgs and bodysnatcher battling eachother in blurry, surreal memories. When you are sure you have her attention, you relay to her your conversation. She reacts with panic and raw fear. "No, nonononono, you can't even think about trusting these people. They lied to us, tried to kill you, they made me like THIS!" You try to calm her down, reassuring her that you simply wanted to clue her in before making a decision. "Oh. Good. I'll try to track the call down. It should be in about... thirteen minutes."

You settle down, waiting for the phone to ring, and snatch it up at the very first sign of a call. Cath signals through the mind-link that it has been exactly fifteen minutes. Before the person on the other end could speak, you say "No deal. As far as I know, you are at least as bad as the Wise. I am not giving over any of my friends to you." After a short pause, the woman talks, sounding dissapointed. "Ah, well, for a minute I thought you would listen to reason. You do realise that you just signed your own death warrant, yes? Alas, I can't have you acting against my interests. Oh, one more thing. I always wanted to say this. This phone will self-destruct in one second." You can hear the voice laughing as you chuck the device as far and high as you can. It almost seems like she lied, when a small ball of fire erupts out of the plastic casing, incinerating the phone. You walk back to the clearing, this time less wary of making noise, kicking fallen branches and stomping on twigs as you go.

(cont. because field too long)

>>16086802
Catherine is standing there with her arms crossed, waiting for you. "I narrowed the source down to Paris. That's the best I could do, the signal was bounced around the planet, dozens of proxies and security measures blocking me. Hell, Paris could be a false lead as well for all I know." You let out a deep breath, and smile tiredly at her. "You did what you could. We know that they're good at hiding." The carcasses of the HKs shine with the colours of the setting sun behind her, the preparations to haul them away only just starting.

Anything else you want to do here?

>>16086812
Grab Cath's hand.
"Tell me, something has been bothering you. Even more than it has been those past days. Do you want to tell me?"

>>16086812
let the Wise know to compile a list of everyone leaving Paris.

Let them know that the Fools were likely here before they were. Either during the attack or immediately after. Double check all the wreckage for listening devices or tracking devices.

Re-assure Cath that there is nothing they could offer us that would be worth losing her, and that we'd certainly never trust them after what they tried to do to all of us.

Ask Cath about the visions she was having. See if we can share some over the mindlink. See if we can share our tree-dream with her.

>>16086849
Indeed, we should ask what was happening to her. We can also mention that we too have strange visions. If we're going crazy, we're doing it together.

>>16086907
It could be any number of things, but I think part of it is the thing inside her trying to wear her down with a constant barrage of violence. If we give her some play time in our little mental garden, it might help her relax a bit. 'Course, I still don't know what's going on with our head either.

>>16086849
>>16086876
As you grab her hand, you can feel that she's shivering. She looks away, her head bowed, hair falling over her face. She's a scared girl, not even a proper women, out of her depth. The illusion only last until she meets your eyes, her own void black and deadly, impersonal blue. "Since we got here, I've been having these flashes. The aliens, they've been fighting so long. The bodysnatcher look fur suitable planets, and the cyborgs follow. When they're finished, there's nothing left but a globe of charred earth. And they've been at war so long that they don't even know who they are, or why they are fighting. They don't even know how to care about it anymore." "Cath, let my try something." You focus, and present the image of the trees as faithfully as possible, carefully omitting the predator stalking you. She gasps, wavers, then sits down with a thud. "That's... beautiful. Thank you, Jack. I mean it. Thank you." She beams at you, and satisfied, you leave to find Richard.

He's organising the retrieval operation, but shoos away the people around him when he sees you coming. You quickly tell him what happened, and his expression darkens, becoming almost savage. "Paris, huh. That's bad. Really bad. I'll get some people on it. Thank you for trusting me with this man, it means a lot." He claps a hand on your shoulder, then turns away, fishing a satellite phone of his own out of a pocket, and storms away out of hearing distance.

You go back to Catherine, who is still smiling blissfully, engrossed in the memories you gave her, and sit down beside her. After a few minutes, a Cannes Belli jogs up to you. "Sir, I have orders from Agent van Rohe to ask you to board the next KP-21 heading back to Fort Heinlein. If you don't have any objections, of course."

>>16087059
We're finished here. Let's go.
And these small bits of information are interesting indeed...

>>16087059
Well, we should be easily able to listen in on Rohe's conversation while boarding the transport.
Any objections to returning to their base?

>>16086876
Sounds good.

When we get some time, I want to experiment a little with Daisy and Kellery. I want to see if we can broadcast that image to Kellery and have her receive it clearly, or if we can send it to an ordinary person. And daisy seems to have some instinctive understanding, the way kids always do, so I want her take on the trees. And I want Doctor Scruffles to give us his take on the predator. He has better instincts for that kind of thing.

>>16087059
Lets get there. We wont be any more or less of a target there compared to here and we might be able to get more information agout the situation there.

Wait, did none of the others besides Cath notice the explosion from the cell phone bomb? We couldnt have been that far away.

>>16087268

It doesn't need to be very large at all to render the cellphone unusable. It sounded more like the thing caught on fire than went out with a large bang.

>>16087165
>>16087143
You've been discretely focusing your senses on Richards conversation while walking away. To your surprise, he didn't stop moving away, and you only managed to catch the start of his call.

"This is The Eye. Identificiation. Nihil sine magno labore." I little spike pops out of the phone and he pricks his finger on it. A synthetic voice says "DNA identification complete. Welcome sir." He continues without pause." I'm requesting a Level 13 Type Foxtrott lockdown on Paris, France. Target is likely White Crown Two. Yes, I bloody well mean it, who the hell do you think you are talking to?"

The rest is obscure by the din of the technician's work.


You nod to the soldier. "Yes, we'll leave. Come on Cath." You pull her up, and pace to the VTOL, still thinking about what you heard. The trip is made in almost complete silence, both of you preoccupied, and the next thing you notice is the doors opening, revealing the roof of the base.

What next, anyone in support of >>16087213?

>>16087370

Get Daisy's opinion on it, but I'm iffy on exposing it to anyone else.

>>16087370
>>16087213
Well... I suppose if nobody's getting hurt it's fine. Hopefully the alien-ness of the trees dont freak Daisy the fuck out.

>>16087370
Seems okay, as long as we can do it in secret.

Lets also ask them to disable any surveillance equipment on our floor and have Cath check if they're true to their word.

Also, let's make some smalltalk with the Canes Belli if we come across some of them. It seems like they've got a pretty crappy job even considering their pay.

By the way, how many pilots did Cath manage to rescue?

>>16087370
>anyone in support of >>16087213?
Well, I suppose it won't hurt to try.

>>16087425
Out of four pilots, two dozen Cannes Belli, and one Richard, she saved three, fifteen, and one, respectively.

>post coming, and it's a doozy

You head back to the suite, and find Kellery and Daisy playing some kind of card game. After a greeting consisting of one tackle from the girl and a warm smile from the Professor, you share your plan with them. The Professor seems reluctant, so -after making sure that the rat you messed with isn't crazy, braindead, or the regular kind of dead- through a combination of the mind-link and creative use of your new tendril-scan, you share the image of the trees with Kellery. She gives you the ok on it. "It's interesting for sure, but I can't imagine that she'd be upset by it." With her guardian's consent, you share it with Daisy as well.

She perks up immediately. "I think you should share this with the bodysnatchers." She looks at the Prof to see if she used the correct term. You crouch down beside her, hands on your tighs. "Why's that, kiddo?" "Everyone should have a memory of their parents." With that, she skips off to watch TV, leaving you frozen in the same position, mouth open. You shrug, filing another weirdness away, and attempt to hunt down the cat.

You find him sleeping on a couch, large, expensive looking pillows piled underneath him. "Scruffles? I've got something I'd like to talk to you about." He yawns, stretching, claws sinking into silk. "Sure boss, ask away." You explain about what you felt, and send the appropriate mental images through the mind-link. "Huh. I think what you got is a whatchamakalit, an avatar of all things bodysnatcher. With all the crazy mutations you've been going through, the parts you were missing at the start came loose, piled into one entity or whatnot." If a cat can frown, then this one is doing it. "I'm betting it ain't happy that you're not one of them, what with the sappy human stuff and the killing them an' all that. Nasty bugger, primal. You should watch it, boss. It's not very smart, but it's mean as hell. Don't let your guard down."

>>16087641
wat do?

>>16087641
>"I'm betting it ain't happy that you're not one of them, what with the sappy human stuff and the killing them an' all that. Nasty bugger, primal. You should watch it, boss. It's not very smart, but it's mean as hell. Don't let your guard down

Oh. Great.

>>16087685
Kinda. If no one has anything else in mind, then I'll move things along.

>>16087705

I'm just wondering what kind of crazy powers we can get from killing and consuming an avatar of the race as a whole.

Wait... so is this an actual separate entity that's stalking us, or is it some weird manifestation in our own psyche?

>>16087747
Purely psychosomatic.

>>16087747
It's a manifestation in our own psyche. My money is that it's going to get stronger with each mutation.

>>16087747
> Wait... so is this an actual separate entity that's stalking us, or is it some weird manifestation in our own psyche?
The latter. Kind of like Cath. Just imagine what could happen if it took over...
And we should do as Daisy says. If wonder what reaction that would provoke.

>>16087747
The latter. It's all in your head. Doesn't make it any better though, since you can't shoot, punch, or stab it to death.

>>16087722
Thank them for their help and ask Kellery if something interesting has happened while we were away.

>>16087775

We need to train up on our mental defenses then, and maybe focus less on gaining new mutations unless we absolutely need to. Keep that thing at bay as much as possible while we try to figure out a way to excise it from our mind entirely

>>16087805
>>16087775

We could try to train it as our own spiritual attack dog/wolf/? thing.

>>16087855

I really don't like the idea of playing around with a primal force of nature mental construct that also happens to be supremely pissed off at us now. Maybe later. But not now.

On the other hand, we COULD give it what it wants. Forget pretending to be human and go into full-blown supervillain mode. Not sure if we have enough power and connections to pull that off yet either though.

>>16087901

I would also doubt that Cath, Kellery or even Daisy would play along.

>>16087925

Is there any other reason we keep them along besides the fact that they have skills useful to us?

Who knows, we might be able to get those skills at some point too, then do you still want to drag them along everywhere?

>>16087781
You go around, thanking them all for helping, which they seem to regard as an opportunity to extract favors from you. Scruffles wants some english lager, Daisy requests funny animal movies, and Kellery would like to run some tests on you. Though you agree to the first two, you tell the Prof that you'll get back to her about that when you feel less threatened by being poked and proded by scientist. She accepts that surprisingly graciously.

Cath comes into the living room, droping down beside Daisy to watch television. This obviously jogs Kellery's memory, as she turns to her. "Ah yes, Catherine, your sister, Anna, called." She seems to shrink, and hugs her knees. "Oh. What, uh, what did she want? And how did she know where to call?" "Apparently, she filed a missing persons report. The Wise agents sent to dissapear the report told her that you were busy with something confidential, and gave her this number so she wouldn't cause a scene. She just wants to know if you are alright."

"I guess I should tell her that I'm fine." She look up at you, her eyes pleading. "Jack, could you come with me? I'm kind of afraid I'll chicken out at her front door."

>>16087936
>Is there any other reason we keep them along besides the fact that they have skills useful to us?

Yes, one of them is that we would have to rename the quest to sociopath quest.

>>16087945

Sure, why not. We can cover for her if she freezes up.

Oh, one more thing. Since I doubt people read the archives multiple times, and it is a pretty important plot point, I would ask that you guys read this post >>16087370 again after reading post number 15772300 in this archive:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15759397/

Not really the fault of anyone that a minor detail from several weeks ago might not be easy to remember.

>>16087959

Fine I suppose. But if the time comes we have to choose between them and saving our own skin, I'm going to be looking out for number one.

>>16087945
Why not. Make sure we're well rested and have eaten something before we go there.

>>16087945
Absolutely. e better come up with a cover story first, though. I'm suggesting "Jack got a job offer from a company in Seattle and we've been looking at houses up there."

>>16088010
>Crowns

Oh great, even one of the high-ups is out to get us.

>>16088017
>>16088048
>>16087970
"Sure, Cath. We should get something to eat first, maybe take a breather, rest a little. Oh, and give her a call so she's expecting us." She leans back, some tension escaping. "Okay. I'll call her in a minute." She stays there though, and you're already in the middle of cooking something up in the kitchen when you hear her making the call. You prepare some meat and vegetables in a wok, Scruffles commenting on your flippin technique as you work. You portion the meal out on some plates, and call every one in. The next few minutes are occupied by busy chewing. Jack seemed to have some hidden talent at this kind of thing that naturally exerted itself. After you finish, Catherine gets dressed relucatantly, and after a short enquiry at the informations desk, you find out that a brand new BMW was made available to you if you ever needed it.

Soon you are cruising along the streets, Cath navigating you to a run down apartment building downtown. You match your stories, and walk up to the door. You have to practically haul her behind you, as she turns back half-way there, making some half-assed excuse about forgetting that she accidentally told her sister that you'd be coming tomorrow. You press the buzzer, and give her a stern look. She fidgets, clearly wanting to leave, but manages to steel herself. "Who is it?" "It's me, Cath." The speaker screeches, but the voice is similar to Catherine's. "He with you?" "Annie." "Is. He. With. You." Cath sighs. "Yes." Her sister pauses for a second, sounding angry when she speaks again. "He's not coming up here, and you know it damned well."

>>16088293
Well, what do our host's memories say about that Annie?

rolled 70 = 70

>>16088293

"It seems my old reputation precedes me."

Let Cath go in there herself, we'll be down here if she needs anything. We won't make ourselves look any better to her sister if we just go barging in against her wishes now.

Use the mindlink to whisper to Cath. "It's ok. You know I'm right here. I'll stay here unless you call for me."

>>16088348
Shifting through your host's memories, you find a fuzzy memory about Catherine arguing with someone named Annie over the phone. The other person kept referring to someone as a "violent asshole", "douchebad" and "worthless junkie", which Cath seemed to take offense to. Jack was high as a kite at the time though, so he didn't really care or even make the connection.

Otherwise, he had no contact with the sister, and Catherine never really talked about family around him.

>>16088456
Sounds good. Seconding.

>>16088384
>>16088520
>>16088456
She looks grateful and mortified at the same time, and pushes the button again. "Okay Annie, I'm coming up alone." The door clicks open, and after a last look back, she heads up. You sit down on a knee-high stone fence, wishing you bought that damn pack of smokes already. Instead, you idle away your time by trying to recall the events of the last few days, put it all in order. After about twenty minutes, you see Catherine reappear behind the door, and stand up to wave at her.

You feel a tugging at your stomach, followed by a burning sensation. A hole the size of a coffee mug gapes where your head was a moment ago, and you look down at it just in time to see another one blast open a few inches higher. Your head goes fuzzy, and you try to follow a possible trajectory back, your eyes focusing into the distance. Atop a high-rise stands a gleaming metallic figure, similar to the suit you saw Megan wear. In it's hands is a weapon longer than it's user is tall, more than four meters, spikes from it lodged into the roof for bracing. Another projectile is almost at your head, and all you can do is grow the heaviest armour possible. It still feels like a kick in the head, and your knees go out from under you.

Cath let's out a cry of grief and pain, turning midway into a shriek of pure rage as several aircraft decloak above the street. You reach a hand tentatively to your head as she bursts into action, a lanky figure in blank at the door gaping at her transformation. You manage to navigate your hand infront of your face, and note with curiosity the greyish-white matter stuck to it.

The darkness swallows you whole.
(cont.)

>>16088688
>a lanky figure in black
fix'd

>>16088688

FUUUUUUUUUCK OF COURSE IT WAS A TRAP. WHY THE HELL DID WE NOT SEE THAT COMING.

>>16088723
Not necessarily. They might have simply tapped the conversation between Cath and Annie.

>>16088754

Either way, we should've had our guard up for shit like this.

We done goofed.

>>16088788
There's nothing we can do about it.

>>16088688
Your mind slowly collects itself, a thousand pieces of shattered glass painstakingly pieced togerther. At first, the only thing you know is that you are still alive. Bit by bit, conscious tought returns, and you notice that you can't move. Your body is numb, cold and disconnected, like another person's. You think you hear a click, followed by a voice. "July the twentysecond. This is Doctor Henry Gravel, and with me is Doctor Ida Andersdotter. We are about to peform an autopsy on the body of the heavily mutated bodysnatcher hybrid Number Eight, AKA Jack Winters." That doesn't sound right. You're still alive, and it's the nineteenth. This guy must be confused.

"As we can see, the body miraculously kept healing, despite confirmed braindeath. Unfortunately, the recovery team had to take elaborate measures to transport the corpse to this facility due to heavy Wise activity, so the exact process remains undocumented." While listening to the man drone on, you feel a tingling sensation in your limbs, and flex your toes and fingers. Some feeling and control has returned already. "Doctor, I think it just moved." The man sounds practically ecstatic. "Yes, even despite the extensive wounds, the bodysnatcher cells regrew the missing tissue. The team even reported it talking! The vegetative system is attempting to bring the body back to full capacity. There's nothing to be afraid of though, it's long dead."

The sound of a buzzsaw fills the air. "Now, let's make the first incision." You jump up in a panic, slapping the instrument out of the hand of an older man with greying hair. A blonde woman on the other side of the steel table you were on starts screaming as you grab the doctor by the throat, lifting him into the air with contemptous ease. He manages to choke out "Please. I just work here. Don't kill me."

Wat do?

>>16088970
3 days downtime. Not good.

I'm against killing them, let's try to gather some information.

-Where are we.
-Where's Cath.
-And a reason why we shouldn't rip them to pieces.

>>16088970
Look around. Are there other cadavers? If so, demand meat, so that we can continue repair. He has a choice, let us rebuild with the dead meat, or we start taking chunks of him.

rolled 54 = 54

>>16089024
>>16089080

We should tie them up and make sure we don't attract attention from security first though.

Then make with the OMNOMNOM and interrogating.

>>16089119
Agreed

rolled 33 = 33

Brain, you still awake?

>>16089119
>>16089080
>>16089024
You glance around the room, a morgue of some sort, white tiles covering it from top to bottom, several steel tables like the one you were on littering it. A wall is covered by a large container, seperated into several coffin sized partitions. You spot some surgical tubing, and unceremoniously drop the doctor on his ass, snatch the tubing, and turn back to him. "Wrists and ankles." "W-what?" "Put. Your wrists. And ankles. Together. Like this." You show him, and he hurries to comply. "You too." The woman goes pale, but nods and obeys. You tie it as best as you can, then grab the man painfully by the shoulder. "Where am I?" "We don't know." You grip tighter and he winces. "Don't fuck with me." "I-in Sweden. We don't know anything else, they take us here blindfolded, it's a secure base." The female doctor nods enthusiastically. "Okay, where's Cath?" "Who?" You shake him violently. "Catherine Abbey, cyborg hybrid." "O-oh, her, no one knows. She went rogue after they took you down, dropped of the grid." You kneel beside him, and smile. He almost screams. "Well then, why should I let you live?" He whimpers, trying to piece together a coherent sentence. "I-i, just work here. We didn't know you were alive. I have a family, PLEASE!"

(cont. field too long again)

>>16089377
Yeah, sorry, just tried to write out what I had in mind, turned out to be fukken long.

>>16089389
Your head snaps to the side, and you point at the wall-to-wall container. "What's in there, corpses?" "Bodysnatcher corpses, yes." Stalking over to it, you simply rip off a door, and pull out the carcass. An Infiltrator, from the smell of it. You wrench the forearm free from it's socket with a wet pop, then unhinge your jaw and simply stuff it down inside. A satisfied growl vibrates through you, but strangely enough, it feels less like it came from you than from behind your right ear. You look back, seeing the woman sob quietly, so as not to attract your attention. The older man likes at you with terror, and stutters. "Y-y-you don't have the time to eat us. There are cameras e-everywhere. Security will be here a-any minute now. You should j-just go." You snarl, barely noticing the man fouling himself, and you turn on your digital cloaking.

Wat do?

rolled 76 = 76

>>16089389

Once we finish getting info out of them, pump them with sedatives, not enough to kill them, just to prevent them from compromising our escape.

>>16089400
>likes at you
Dear God, what?
looks at you
what is this, I don't even

>>16089400
"Guys. I haven't killed helpless humans until now and I don't plan to start doing it. You'll get sedated and wake up in a day when this is all over. Okay? Anything I should know that might help me get out of here?"

They're right, we've got to move. I think we have a talent when it comes to eating quickly. Use it.

>>16089400
"You know damned well I'm invisible to all modern cameras. Unless they actually have windows or fiberoptic manual scopes like for peaking around corners and under doors, they can't see me. So, we have two options. I continue eating and fix this body, or I jump ship and take one of yours."

rolled 3 = 3

>>16089400

Chow down a bit more, quickly, only just as much as we absolutely need though.

Then sedate the doctor and nurse, keep our stealth on and try to find a way out.

We could also imitate the doctor to get past guards as well...

>>16089467
I'm pretty sure they can see the two researchers cowering in fear.

>>16089400
Try to contact Cath or Daisy via mindlink.

>>16089549
>>16089483
>>16089467
>>16089455
The woman starts wailing, and you think you can hear a "thank you" in there somewhere, but who has the time for that? You tear off the legs of the corpse and shove them down as well, using every trick you can think of to absorb them faster. Tendrils rip them apart inside your stomach, and the flesh simply melts under a powerful acid, morphed into your body. The process is uncomfortable, painful even, but damn if it doesn't make you feel alive. Wiping your face, you realise that you are shoe- and shirtless, black jeans your only remaining clothes. You shrug, and your flesh twists and ripples, becoming like the scrubs of the male doctor, your face shifting into his. You walk out, and almost as an afterthought, two tendrils lash out into the humans, pumping sedatives into them.

Running through the dim corridor outside, you attempt to reach Daisy, only finding empty space where she used to be. Maybe you are in Sweden. The sound of boots marching approaches from the left, and, taking an example from the defeated Hunter, you will a few wounds open on yourself, parting the skin.

Men dressed in grey uniforms with alien hybrid weaponry almost run you over, moving into action as you scream at them. "It got Doctor Andersdotter! Help her for god's sake!" They rush past you, and you smirk, spotting a pair of elevators from where they came. You rush inside one of them, looking at the buttons. You are on Floor -2, and the base goes from -4 to 5, with an extra level marked "Experimental Vehicle Bay, Authorised Access Only" above the fifth floor.

Wat do?

>>16089666
> "Experimental Vehicle Bay, Authorised Access Only"
>Wat do?
Oh I think you know what do.

If it needs special access for the elevator to go to that leve though just get to the ground level and GTFO.

>>16089666
Head up to floor 5. We can kick out a window and fly away. We don't know squat about flying experimental vehicles, but nobody expects people to escape from the top floor. Or we kick out the window, fly off, then immediately double back so that when they launch the vehicles, we grab on and hitch a ride.

>>16089731

Before we blow this popsicle stand, I think we should track down one of the higher-ups and see if we can get more info about what happened while we were out.

Continue posing as the doctor, then claim that we have urgent news about the escaped test subject we need to tell someone important, and demand to be brought in person to whoever is in charge (we do have a name of who's in charge, right?)

>>16089769
Cant we just steal that information from someone elses head? There's bound to be a tech or test pilot around.

>>16089837
I think they'll probably have found the unconcious doctor by now.

>>16089849

Ah point taken.

>>16089841

Well then, it seems that we must be going after all. Get info on how to drive one of the vehicles from a pilot's head and let's get out of here.

>>16089849
Like I said, we kick out a window, fly out, then double-back and hand under the rooftop exit for the experimental vehicles. When one leaves to try to chase us down, we slip in, cling to it it or climb aboard, then have the pilot take us as far out towards America as he can.

BIAJ fell asleep again.

>Occidente elyHelp
Well I sure hope he's okay.

>>16090353
In that case I'm off to bed. Can't wait until next Thursday.

Fucking Hell in a waistcoat, I just woke up with my forehead on the desktop. I need to take some vitamins or get myself checked for narcolepsy or something.

I mean, I have a half typed-up post in front of me. I fell asleep while typing. WHO DOES THAT? CHRIST.

Ehhhhhh. Sorry guys, I hope you enjoyed the parts where I was conscious. Also, a quick schedule change, this Thursday is a bit iffy for me, so we'll be doing the next quest on wednesday instead.

BiaJ out for some proper rest.(sheesh)

Damn, I missed the last night thread ... well, would be more appropriate to say that I slept, but still...

Is this in the archives yet?