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(Gentlemen: At present, you have no access to the Hollow Sun - It's in the middle of a chapter, so to speak - but I'll reveal the options unlocked as soon as you have the opportunity.)

HOLLOW SUN: 30.1%

IN PROGRESS -

[X] UPGRADE COMPLETE: PHASE RESONATOR

(Hellions have a longer operation time.)

Hellions, by their very nature, degenerate as soon as they depart the Hollow Sun. By incorporating a Phase Resonator, the Hellion hardshells can remain 'in phase' with the Red World for an extended period of time, before they lose cohesion. Notably, Phase Resonators resemble haloes - Solid rings of light hovering above the hardshell when activated.

[X] UPGRADE COMPLETE: SERAPHIM COMMAND MODULE

(Unlocks Virtue-class Command Units.)

Equipped with sophisticated targeting and sensor arrays, Virtues function as mobile command units, allowing for better coordination amongst Hellions. Disorganized, the flock is a blunt instrument - Seeded with Virtues, it is a scalpel. Virtues will automatically take command of Hellion squads, and independently coordinate attacks on targets.

While lightly armed and armoured, Virtues are significantly more agile than standard Hellions - Relying on paired handguns to keep up a constant hail of fire.

FOUNDRY UNLOCKED

The Foundry allows for the production and modification of Hellion technology for Player use, based off the advances researched. While the Hollow Sun is capable of producing large quantities of war material, retrofitting and personalization of equipment is an extensive process.

>>27637711
>The Foundry allows for the production and modification of Hellion technology for Player use, based off the advances researched.
Nifty, we were on the same page there. Hello OP, you just about over your illness now?

>>27637711
Might be cool to implant Hellion AI in the rifle bits to give them a little more intelligent use of evasion and cover. They get shot to shit really quickly these days.

>>27637761

He must be living in Japan. That Japanese Cold is deadly.

>>27637596
Hello Joker. How are you today?

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>>27637761

(Just work, actually. It's been a busy week.)

>>27637781

(I'll remember that. That's actually an extremely good idea for an upgrade.)

STAGE: NO DATA
.
.
.
.
.
The world blurs at the edges, as you take form. You stand in a great, hemispherical cavern - the floor inlaid with pearlescent hexagonal tiles, fitting together with the jointed precision of a fractal jigaw.

Despite the vast space, there's a soundless buzz to the air - An oddly claustrophobic sensation, your senses fuzzing with white snow.

You're being jammed.

Not purposely - At least, you don't think so. The effect washes over you in an almost palpable wave, as your systems adjust - But even with the Argus System, it's going to make targeting significantly more difficult.

Back to the bad old days, then.

Before you, the great shape of the Manifold Tower looms - Angular, complex, straining towards the heavens like a pillar made to hold up the sky. The smooth surface is constantly in motion: Processes moving and turning and murmuring...

-Up and across the Manifold Tower's span - All the way to the outer darkness - white-armoured shapes scuttle across the surface. There's a uniformity to them: They move with insect patience, jerking and twitching - Ambulating up and over on claw-limbs, climbing on all fours. Some of them have already locked themselves in place, magnetized clamps engaging: Mandibles chattering, extruding glittering lines of silver filaments that sink into the Tower's surface, sending circuit-patterns spiderwebbing against the metal as green telltales wink along their spines and visors...

(Continued)

>>27637870

(I've been unfortunately busy with work, but I've received a reprieve at last.)

And then, there's Armaros. So silver he's nearly black, a dark glimmering in the gloom. He's big - A full head taller than Rust Kaiser, almost as broad, but without the same ominous presence. He seems *expanded*, somehow, Player armour armored *further* still...His limbs and torso oversized, shimmering streamers of superheated air constantly fuming from his shoulder vents.

...He's not looking at you. Before him, two holographic windows hover - Filled with a bewildering jumble of alien code, his jointed fingers moving across the keyboard in the manner of a two-fingered typist. Or maybe 'typist' is a misnomer - From the chimes and fluting sounds that issue forth, in an oddly soothing symphony, he seems to be more of a musician...Though from the way he hunches, you can tell he's been doing this for some time.

> "I'd be surprised if you got that working; the only way I've found to activate one is to be me."

That gets his attention. He turns, swivelling with a faint whirr of actuators - The lenses in his four-eyed mask lighting up with a seething blue glow, shoulder binders canting upwards defensively.

And then he says, in an oddly urbane voice - Unfiltered by distortion -

> "...You're not supposed to be here."

...To be honest, he sounds more bewildered than challenging.

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>27638006
Shit, is he one of Argents guys?

>>27638006
"You're right. I'm really not. Story of my life, really."

Gesture at the silver form that is him

"You're with Argent Prominence?"

I can't facking believe you people. I miss one session and you sell Hecate out for a delusional stalker with ties to Pazuzu? What the hell?! It was so facking obvious she was lying and you all just went along with it. What the hell?

>>27638006
>...To be honest, he sounds more bewildered than challenging.
Fuck, he doesn't seem like someone we'd want to murder.

>>27638006

"Well, hello to you too. Sorry for barging into your Doom Fortress at this hour, but I've been instructed by my employer to terminate you."

Cross your arms and leave it at that. Make it very obvious that we are open to dialogue and will not attack unless provoked.

>>27638139
...You just reminded me that I had a dream today.
About Hecate being my girlfriend and reuniting with her. Or something similar. I think she had a hat in that dream, for some reason.
I have no fucking clue how the fuck that dream even came into existence. I'm a fan of the Joker/Hecate pairing, but I don't really self-insert.

You should have looked at the posts, by the way. Thiss is just our first step before going off the deep end. It's a subconscious feeling that we might have lost Hecate after all - And so we prepare to wreak as much havoc as possible.

>>27638139
Some of the readers want to move along, though I still wish we could have Hecate. In the end though, Cybele can *heal* and this would help us once we do actually find Hecate (If we ever do)

>>27638006
"You will find I show up where I'm least expected. Who are you with?"

>>27638006
>"...You're not supposed to be here."
"You would not believe how often I get that. Find anything interesting?"

So I had a nightmarish realization about Cybele. Her affection and idolatry for Red Joker, incomprehension about why killing is bad, and the small hands we saw during the Emblem flashback? She's a child. Mentally or actually, she's about ten.

>>27638139
The Hyades are unaffiliated. Kraken and Alura just happen to be major players in Pazuzu's camp.

>>27638050
>>27638083
this basically sums up everything

>>27638207

Cybele is the twin sister of the Player we barbequed.

>>27638237
we've barbecued too damn many to know who you speak of

>>27638203
>Cybele can *heal*
Worst case, Hecate becomes a zombie.
A zombie who wants to murder us because of Cybele.

>>27638207
>She's a child. Mentally or actually, she's about ten.
Or maybe she's just unhinged from spending eternities in the void.

>>27638246

Inox Fang. We have part of the duos emblem bolted to our shoulder after we killed one of them. Would have had the other if our childhood friend didn't stop us.

>>27638203
>Cybele can *heal* and this would help us once we do actually find Hecate
Most of Cybele's power is in the Emblem, which is now embedded in Red Joker. We know this because the illusion over her stage is completely dissipated despite the technology working fine. The Emblem only affects Red Joker. Cybele CAN'T heal anymore.

>>27638253
Hence "mentally". The amount of time it takes Players to snap seems to vary, but I can't imagine mental health is improved when you're sealed in a chamber that grants your every wish in illusory manner rather than sealed in armor and adrift in Deathworld.

>>27638281
Could be we'd have neither. We might have gotten the Crest from the surviving twin.

>>27638083

A pause.

"Please withdraw from the area. You're interrupting a sensitive operation."

Behind him, the twin holographic panels - Free-floating, one for each hand - continue to hover in space. More of the scuttling figures have latched themselves in place, like ticks fastening themselves onto a victim: Silver wire spools, spreading across the surface. You can't be sure how many of the things there are...A score? Maybe two score? It's hard to tell.

What you *can* see, however, is that the Manifold Tower is...responding, somehow. Segments are reconfiguring, panels shifting up and out of the way - The faint lights on the surface flickering faster and faster. Occasionally, welding sparks fly.

A notably discordant note rises from somewhere behind you.

>>27638180

That gets his attention. There's a low hum, like a reactor coming to cohered life. The air becomes more confining, and distinctly warmer than before; The space around Armaros's bulky form beginning to shimmer with motes of light. He tenses, slightly.

> "You will find I show up where I'm least expected. Who are you with?"

"That's classified." Armaros answers - A snap in his voice, like a trap closing.

> "You would not believe how often I get that. Find anything interesting?"

Silence. He's stonewalling you - And (You have to admit) that's one hell of a poker face.

There's a flicker of red on the screen behind you. One of the armoured figures shivers, as if struck by palsy - A motion echoed by the one next to it. The serene green light in its eye-lens flashes to amber.

Armaros brings his arms up, to half-mast. The space between his shoulder binders begins to glow, faintly, a perfect ring like a wavering, half-real halo.

(Continued)

>>27638203
We might very well have gotten Hecate if we had actually confronted Cybele about her lies. For crying out loud you guys didn't even try.

>>27638207
And yet Cybele was in the stands of that arena when we fought Helix and Kraken

He's powering up. Your sensors, even diminished, can taste the flickering ozone of his weapons coming to life.

"Stay away from the tower," he says, a brittle edge to his voice. "-Withdraw from the area, or I'll *make* you do it."

Another pause, deliberate this time.

"Sir."

[ ] "'Make' me?"
[ ] "What are those things?"
[ ] "Who are you, anyway?"
[ ] "You can't be serious."
[ ] "...And what are you trying to do, here?"
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>27638338
>[ ] "You can't be serious."
give me a coherent reason, quickly, and i will. else the bogeyman of the red world gets antsy. be rational

>>27638317

"I am not one to initiate needless bloodshed. I have simply come to inform you my employer seeks your termination. You are a smart individual. I hope. You know full well that I am more than capable of killing you if I so choose. I have not because I am curious. Now, lower your weapons and let us parlay."

>>27638322
Along with every other Player in the area.

>>27638338
"Shockingly, I don't care to pick a fight. But I know the smallest amount of what these towers are capable of, and that alone makes me very nervous about seeing anyone else pick at them. Stand down, and I'll let you know how you've been suckered."

>>27638338
"All that silver... I really don't want to interfere with Argent Prominence, not now that we seem to be on the same side. But I'm not sure I have much of a choice."

{brief pause}

"You shouldn't have gotten involved with the Hyades."

Also, prepare to go evasive.

>>27638338
>Start pacing
"Well now, that's awfully polite of you. Awful rash too. Who is it I wonder? Did she make pretty faces to send you here?"

"You seem to have forgotten who I am, Armaros. I answer to no one save myself."

>>27638322
IDK then. I suppose someone fell for the Tony Taka art, /tg/ is notoriously bad at dealing with anything that has tits.

>>27638443

/tg/ also has a thing for redheaded traps too. Not just tits.

>>27638431
Hold off on everything but preparing to jump away. There's no need to make threatening moves when he already feels threatened. He's probably going to attack anyway, but that's no reason to give him a reason to think we're going to make the first move.

>>27638421
>Along with every other Player in the area.

It's a discrepancy considering what little we know of her. She claims to watch all our battles from that stage of hers, yet that time she was there in person, so to speak.

>>27638481

Yeah. He's going to attack, eventually, but if we can weasel anything out of him that would be dandy.

>>27638481
What in that post would you consider a threatening move? Also I think you are being a bit to subtle. I'm pretty sure he won't give you enough time to have the conversation you want.

>>27638494
Not necessarily. She mentioned that she'd been trying to make contact for a while. Given that her ship moves in and out of alignment with the Red World, it's entirely possible that she lost her connection to the battlefield, especially since we couldn't pick her out of the crowd later.

>>27638525
"You shouldn't have gotten involved with the Hyades" comes with the implied clause: "Because then I wouldn't have to kill you." The line about Argent suggests that despite stated reluctance, we're about to screw over that alliance anyway.

>>27638402

> "You are a smart individual. I hope. You know full well that I am more than capable of killing you if I so choose."

"You would try." Armaros's voice is a growl - He's not giving an inch. You can't tell whether he's suicidally overconfident, or...

-Or just confident.

> [X] "You can't be serious."

Armaros just stares at you. The blue light bleeding from his mask casts a flickering illumination over the area, clashing with the colourless radiance taking form between his shoulder binders.

Behind you, the electronic chirps and notes of the symphony continue to play, with increasing regularity and rising pitch. There's a sharp *beep* - With a shudder, one of the armoured figures draws back from the Tower's surface: The silver filaments retracting back between those jaws, the amber eye-lights flashing to red. Another one follows, then another, their helmeted heads turning towards the standoff-

...You get the feeling they're looking at you.

>>27638431
>>27638443

"The what?" Armaros hesitates. His arms lower, slightly - Balled fists to his sides, just for a moment, before they come up to half-mast again. Wariness wars with blank surprise.

"...What are you talking about?"

(Continued)

Like a four-limbed spider, the first of the white-armoured figures begins to scamper down the towel, arm-over-arm with a bizarre insect grace. Two, then four, then eight follow. Red tracers jags from their eyeslits, as another raw note chimes from the holographic keyboard...A sound discordant enough to make you wince.

At the edges of your perception, the gloom seems to shift; The mechanical hum of the Manifold Tower rising in pitch, becoming more...*obvious*, somehow. Amber light filters from somewhere within the mechanisms, shading towards crimson.

At the corner of your vision, to your left, there's an almost subliminal flicker of motion, so quickly you might've imagined it. The shifting light is playing tricks.


[ ] "...Is that supposed to be happening?"
[ ] "-Are you controlling those things?"
[ ] "Uh...You might want to look behind you."
[ ] "-Do you really think that's going to make a difference?"
[ ] "Wait, what?"
[ ] "I'm talking about the Hyades, Armaros."
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>27638607
[ ] "Uh...You might want to look behind you."

start walking a short distance away, beckon him to follow. hopefully this starts to stop the disturbance we cause

>>27638607
>[X] "Uh...You might want to look behind you."
>[X] "Wait, what?"

This isn't going in the direction I thought it would. I'm absolutely okay with it.

>>27638607
"One, two, four, eight. You've brought too few, Armaros."

>>27638590
It doesn't matter if she lost the connection later, what matters is she was THERE.

>>27638607

..is he playing dumb or clueless?

Rub our forehead.

"I think I'm getting a migraine. And I agreed to this job too. Can.. can we talk? Please? I'm getting even more confused now. My original preconceptions have been blown out the window. Are you really telling me you're... ignorant.. of all of this? And what's that flickering behind you? It's just us, right?"

>>27638607
[X] "I'm talking about the Hyades, Armaros."

Hang on, did Cybele give us the person Psyche is GOING to pick? Or is Psyche's pick causing this?

>>27638685
Didn't Bishamon say that his Hyade appeared in front of him? Going to the ship is unusual in that case.

>>27638607
[X] Free
"The Hyades? Players who take the form of attractive young women instead of armored warriors, mecha or beasts? They choose champions from amongst the normal players to fight for them as they search for the relic that will make one of the the Chalice Queen? You kno... Err, those machines are supposed to be doing that, right?

>>27638740
No I'm pretty sure he was pulled to her after a battle.

> [X] "I'm talking about the Hyades, Armaros."

"I know, I heard you."

A pause, as his head cants to the side.

"What's a 'Hyades'?"

> [X] "Wait, what?"

"That's what I'm asking. What?

>>27638744

"You mean, the Pretas? No, that's-"

>>27638625
>>27638634
>>27638651

"What?"

He hesitates, tenses. It's the oldest trick in the book, the one that barely works on the playground.

But he can't help himself. Armaros looks anyway.

"Uh," he says, the myomer fibres in his mighty limbs going slack, momentarily. "Uh, that's not supposed to..." Then he goes right back to two-fingered typing, his motions frantic, now.

The symphony begins again, but it's painfully discordant, now - Like the world's worst pianist playing 'Chopsticks', very enthuastically.

The first white-armoured figure lets go, free-falling the remaining ten feet to the ground. It lands hard, on all four limbs - But then it pushes itself upright, to two. The motion reminds you of a bear made to stand on it's back feet; Awkward, cumbersome and oddly unnatural...

...And then there's a dry *rasp*, as the talons ratchet out - With a scraping sound like nails against a washboard. They crackle with the cising sparks of a shock field.

"Oh shit," Armaros says. He actually jerks back, as more rain down from above - Four, eight, sixteen, twenty, *thirty* - "Oh, shit! Oh, *fuck*!"

(Continued)

>>27638789

In the space of a few seconds, both hovering panels are filled with red - Gibberish that's probably error warnings filtering down the screens, in solid bars of text.

Armaros takes a step back. Then another.

The Manifold Tower's hum is low, wrathful and rising. A deep, hateful red illuminates the world around you, flaring up - You hear a deep, grinding noise, as the door to the hemispherical chamber (Behind you, formerly shrouded in the gloom) seals over, panels sliding over the surface. One after another, pearlescent tiles slotting together to form a barricade...

-Locking you in.

[ ] "What *are* those things?"
[ ] "What are you doing?"
[ ] "Shut them down!"
[ ] "How *many* of them are there?"
[ ] "That doesn't look good."
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>27638813

"Alright level with me. What the hell are you doing?"

>>27638789
Oh fuck me, don't tell me we're acting out the equivalent of a fucking middle school clique fight.
>>27638813
"Back up, on me. What are they and what were you trying to do?"
>Argus Scanner.

>>27638813

"Looks like we're going to have to shoot our way out. Any weaknesses?"

>>27638813
"Oh, look, the Pretas are hungry. That was a joke. What the hell are these things, and why are they targeting us?"

Fucking Tower, I swear to god it's getting the business end of the cannon this time.

>>27638813

Haul ASS for that console. Maybe our system access can help our Silver Baller here open that damn door.

"You just did NOT lock us in here with these fucks. Tell me you can open that damn door. If you can't, let me give you a helping hand."

Work our Joker magic and get that damn door open.

>>27638813
[X] Free
"Looks like something's co-opted your worker drones. Can you get them back under control?"

Ready our vulcans, if it attacks, blow it apart.

>>27638873

>Fucking Tower, I swear to god it's getting the business end of the cannon this time.
We can't do that (much as I'd like to test our upgrades FA) if we blow it up we won't be able to use this thing to get another upgrade.

>>27638844

"I'm not - It's not *me*! I'm not doing anything...I'm locked out!"

...He's gabbling a little - Stepping back from the tower, towards you; Facing the advancing horde, warily. They move like pack hunters, padding forward - Some scuttling up and across the walls, towards you; The main mass of them closing the distance with a hungry focus, the space shrinking a bit at a time-

>>27638852
>>27638873

"They're...They're *Pretas*. Prototype Exsurgency Tactic-"

Armaros catches himself, mid-sentence. Then, he says:

"...They're modified Correctors. In armour."

"They've been overriden, someho-"

>>27638906

> "Can you get them back under control?"

"SYSTEM OVERRIDE: ID - 39852125..."

He hesitates, giving you a quick, savage glance.

"-ARGENT PROMINENCE. All Pretas, *shut down*-"

They charge, as one. Armaros tenses - And the air *blisters*, suddenly, with shuddering orbs of savage blue-white distortion, the same furious colour as his eye-lens. The halo between his shoulder binders glows, incandescent; The charging ring forming a concentric circle of virtual light.

The crackling blast of the first sphere hurls the first three leapers aside, like dead leaves in a whirlwind - But there's a *lot* of them, and they hardly seem discouraged.

>>27638862

"Shoot them and they die?"

(Continued)

>>27638976
Ah, one of AP's little experiments, then. I'm honestly not surprised.

>>27638976

>"...They're modified Correctors. In armour."

Oh my god.

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Yeah. That's not the real problem here. He's doing shit like pic related.

The dog goes Ed... ward.

>>27638874

There's a small army between you and the console - How *many* of them did he bring, anyway? - but as you take the first step forward, the Manifold Tower *shifts*. Armoured panels slam down, layered plates of the same gleaming alloy that sheaths the door behind you - Looking every bit as solid, and every bit as impenetratable, as adamantium.

> "You just did NOT lock us in here with these fucks. Tell me you can open that damn door. If you can't, let me give you a helping hand."

"Don't be stupid, that's superdense matter - Even with fusion weapons, it'll take *we-"

And then the full onslaught falls on you.

>>27638906

They pounce as one. Or rather, at once. It's like a single muscle flexing, a single great blow: One moment, stillness. The next, the air is filled with leaping silver shapes, coming down claws extended.

You swing both your arms up, your Plasma Vulcans coming to life - The barrels churning, pumping out a hail of superheated bolts at the first Pretas you see. Your gunfire brackets it, pummels it - It stumbles back, as you hammer it with chasing gunfire-

A great weight slams onto your back, like an avalanche. You can feels claws scraping against your red plate, from behind - Sparks crackling across the surface, as the Pretas mauls you; A hissing growl wrenching from those great jaws, mandibles scraping against your armour, shock-claws gouging against the crimson plate.

You backhand it, hard, but don't quite manage to dislodge it - Three more barrel towards you, hurtling forward with nightmare maws ratcheting wide-

HP: 194.1%
COBALT BOOSTER: 150%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 139.8%
METER: 16%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>27639074
Good thing we have those melees capabilities now.

Switch to the Crisis arm and Sinistral, cobalt boost our strength, then start hitting things.

>>27639074

Pop the Carnifex. We're going to get absolutely overwhelmed. Get our interceptors up. All of them. Wade into the thick of it with one vulcan chattering while we use our Helix Gauntlet to keep us constantly healed. Grab one, suck it's essence, grab another. Repeat. Just keep moving.

>>27639074
Wish I had thought to Graviton Cannon the lot of them BEFORE they had swarmed us.

Oh well. CQC time. Sinistral and Crisis arm to deal with the ones close, Triskalion barrage to damage the ones still coming at us.

>>27639132

The Carnifex's crusher snaps down over your helmet, as you drive your Vulcans towards the leaping Correctors - You split your fire, the plasma blaze hammering emerald bolts into that silver carapace, the miniature explosions battering them aside, mantling them in fire as they convulse beneath the impacts...

-They don't come to pieces, or disintegrate. The mirrored carapace they're made of, whatever it is - It's capable of withstanding plasma fire. Your shots have pulped or exploded the components within them - But the armour is too masterfully-crafted to give way.

You think you may be in trouble.

The Pretas on your back in snarling, in an awful monotone growl - Trying to drive you to your knees, jaws champing madly, trying to get a deathgrip on your throat; Your remaining target staggers through the barrage of fire, coming down in a slash that clatters against the Sinistral's fizzing field, your left arm coming up-

...Which means they're at point-blank range, when the Carnifex vents your armour. The blast turns your fragmented plate into sharpnel, razored shards zinging out in all directions - Some of them actually clatter off Armaros's form, as he turns his distortion halo on the nearest Pretas, slamming both powered fists into one he's brought down, again and again-

"Always *hated* these fucking *things*-"

The crackling distortion spheres cluster around his target - It judders in distress, warped and twisted by unnameable pressures. Black oil gushes out through the rents in it's form, as its limbs are wrenched off one-by-one, pulled apart at the weaker seams-

The Pretas on your back tumbles away, pawing at itself as inky blackness wells up through the sharpnel wounds - You bring the Sinistral around in a vicious slash, feeding the ivory-armored form the energy blade as time slows; Your Crisis Arm hammering into the other target, hurling it up and over the moiling chaos, where it slams brokenly into the curving walls-

(Continued)

>>27639259

>You think you may be in trouble

>Joker Giving a Fuck.jpg

>>27639120

Cold blue power floods your limbs, stinging with strength - The battle is point-blank and absolutely mad. You smash the nearest Pretas with another slugging punch, following up with a right hook that slams it into the ground: Microfractures skitter across the armour, but black oil and green Essence gush out from the rents, and the squalling, juddering thing goes limp.

Your Interceptors - All five of them - stab into the air in tumbling flight: Their particle guns spitting pencil-thin lines of light into the mass. The rays hiss off silver plate, or carve deep, scouring wounds: Wisps of vapour rising from the impact zones, as you follow up with Vulcan fire-

Three missiles spiral forth from the Triskelion launchers at your back - You barely have time to aim, so they slam down danger-close. The blossoming explosions toss Pretas into the air, tumbling and fracturing; But still they come towards you, scuttling with missing limbs or char-marks scorching their armour.

The crackling talons of your Helix Gauntlet sinks into a Pretas, as it's jaws worry at your greaves - You drive them deep, and the thing shudders like a dog with nightmares, the furious light in its eyes dimming as you pin it to the ground. With the same motion, you slam the Sinistral into the nearest face: The field collapsing at last, in concussive pulse that slams the mass back *just long enough* for you to push yourself to your feet-

Armaros collides with you, momentarily back-to-back. His distortion halo fizzes, bulky form tensing with focus - The Pretas he's glaring at spasms, as blue orbs punch out of its carapace from within; Limbs hurling out in all directions, as the torso crashes back down with pitch-black fluids dribbling from the hollow eyesockets.

It's been thirty seconds.

At most.

(Continued)

>>27639403

"-They're bastard tough," Armaros growls. You notices that he's been swinging the rapidly-disintegrating upper torso of a Pretas like a mace: With a shudder, he throws the foul thing aside, barely missing another of the drones.

They're all around you, a tight, closing ring - The floor littered with severed arms and legs and twitching hardshells. "I'm hitting them, but they don't *feel* it-!"

HP: 131.6%
COBALT BOOSTER: 126%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 112.4%
METER: 24%
RIFLE BITS: 5/5

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>27639259

> The crackling distortion spheres cluster around his target - It judders in distress, warped and twisted by unnameable pressures.

Wait, how's he generating the spheres? What does that weapon do?

>>27639425
get some height up. we have enough room to tempest up into the air a few metres, right? if theres some obvious component on this tower, we break it, simple

>>27639425

"Talking later! Surviving now! Need that console! Think you can do it if I cover you?!"

Now would be a wonderful time to use Exec_Swarm. use the shroud as fuel. Hit the ones directly in front of us with a shot from the Gravity Gun to clear a path. Go back to our fist and shield combo while interspersing a Helix Gauntlet to keep us healed inbetween.

>>27639479

> Wait, how's he generating the spheres?

(You're not sure. He stares at something, and it happens. You think the effect might have something do with the distortion effect - The 'halo' - between his shoulder binders.)

> What does that weapon do?

(It creates blue globes of energy. Around the sphere, matter is subject to gravimetric pressures. i.e. It bends and contorts in random directions until it breaks or tears.)

Let's unleash our shotgun.
Also, prepare to backstab him for our girl and his essence.

>>27639518
He doesn't work for one, and I'm getting tired of getting jerked around for some random waifufag's chick.

>>27639425
How many more are there?

>>27639425
>"I'm hitting them, but they don't *feel* it-!"

"They're correctors turned into cyborg supersoldiers what the hell do you expect them to do? Don't suppose you have an EMP equivalent in your arsenal?"

Alright, can we hold something in our had while we use the Sinistral? Cause if we can we might want to activate the Phase Blade. If we make sure to keep the beam pointed away from us as we slash with the sinistral it should do a ton of collateral damage

>>27639555

(At a quick count, about two dozen. The problem is that more of them keep crawling/dropping down from the tower, and you're entirely sure how many there are in total. You're fairly certain that between the two of you, you've accounted for at least ten.)

>>27639504

>gravity gun

Meant our plasma caster.

God I'm sleepy. Just about to go to bed.

>>27639555
>He doesn't work for one, and I'm getting tired of getting jerked around for some random waifufag's chick.
We made a deal with the fucking girl to murder people.
That was the entire point of last session. She told us to murder this dude.
This might imply that he will become trouble in the future or something.

>>27639518
>our girl

Don't make me laugh.

>>27639583
She's an obsessive liar and last I saw a number of were a bit upset with how that actually went down.

>>27639601
How about "our most recent acquisition"?

>>27639504

> "Talking later! Surviving now! Need that console! Think you can do it if I cover you?!"

"I can't-" His words break off in a fuzz of static. White smoke boils from Armaros's wing binders, as he turns his seething gaze onto a Pretas - This time, the distortion orb folds it in half, like a spindly tree; Both halves still twitching as they come apart in a welther of black oil. "-*Fly*."

>>27639504

The ragged fabric of your Assault Shroud shudders - Erupting forth in a red-eyed devouring swarm. The damnation cloud boils outwards from you, in a seething morass; A cloud descending on the ranks of Pretas, surging around them in buzzing confusion. The effect is immediate, and electrifying - The white-armoured drones go into a frenzy, ripping and tearing at the targets *all around them*...But it's like trying to swat flies with a broadsword.

The crackling shock fields of their claws incinerate EXEC_SWARM's parasites - But it's an oddly futile gesture, as the metal-eating flyers gnaw at the black myomer wires connecting limbs, chewing their way through vulnerable visors and eye-slits...

>>27639562

"Do *you*?" Armaros punctuates his words with a roar, as his left arm comes up in a swinging uppercut - His charged fist nearly decapitates a Pretas, and he brings his foot down like a man squashing a fly, grinding that sparking helm beneath his heel. Your Rifle Bits focus their fire, the slicing ray shearing through both front limbs of your next attacker - It goes down, spurting black oil, and a burst from your Plasma Vulcans roasts it in emerald flame.

>>27639562

(Unfortunately, no: If you were using the Phase Blade, you'd have to use the Sinistral at Level 1 - Rather less effective than the Level 2 Sinistral you've been swinging through the fight. Lining up to hit something with both sword and shield - In the same hand - is also rather awkward.)

(Continued)

>>27639620
>a number of were a bit upset with how that actually went down.
That's par of the course for this quest.
I still hate everyone for going the Mio route, for example. And not just because of Hecate, but because of the effect it will have on Mio.

Seriously, at least *try* to keep consistent instead of constantly jumping around with your opinions.
I was only for the contract because I'm in favor of murdering our way through the Red World.

>>27639684

I was all for the contract because we can use Cybele for our own gains. Plus we still need to experiment to see if the Joker's armor is truly as malleable as we think it is. That test would be another Hyades emblem.

>>27639486

Fortunately, the Pretas can't fly. The reinforcements from the tower are scurrying across the chamber's curved walls, baying to get at you - And your Plasma Vulcans leave superheated craters across the surface, as you trigger a long burst of fire - but the air is clear; At least for the moment, as another crackling distortion blast comes down right in their midst.

The eruption - In the middle of the EXEC_SWARM, Pretas-ridden morass - rips more white-armoured drones to pieces: But plenty of the ones you've downed are *still alive*, though missing limbs - left to rill and writhe like worms left out in the sun, struggling to inch their way towards you-

...to kill.

>>27639504

You swing the Graviton Cannon off your back - the weapon coming to life, with a warning hum. When you pull the trigger, you can actually *see* the ripple of impact as the gravity blast slams down like the fist of an angry God: The tiles don't give, but they *crimp* beneath the blow, flattening Pretas - Crushing them down, as black oil jets from overpressured organs, limbs snapping like twigs.

Even the scuttling creatures on the wall - Caught on the fringe of the blast - are hurled down, kicking and flailing by the sudden shift in local gravity; Giving you the moment you need to plunge the Helix Gauntlet's talons into the Pretas at your feet, the bleached-bone white of the figure thrashing weakly as energy judders up and through your arm, your Cobalt Booster burning brighter.

There's a momentary lull - The armoured, bristling shape of the Manifold Tower reconfiguring, the white specks of Pretas - up and in the distance - making their first and last journey back down to the floor. There's a *lot* of them; These must've been called from further up the span, driven by new, murderous orders.

"*I'll* cover *you*!" Armaros snaps - "Go if you're going!"

HP: 127.9%
COBALT BOOSTER: 61%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 71.0%
METER: 31%
RIFLE BITS: 5/5

TIER TWO WEAPONRY UNLOCKED

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>27639749
Cobalt booster + tempest scrander + tempest crash. Let's clean out the area for us to work and shroud fortress to buy some more time.

>>27639749

Fly for the console, while we still have the chance.

>>27639749

Punctuate his statement with another shot from the Gravity Gun.

"Don't you die on me you hear?! I'm the one who is supposed to kill you!"

If Silver Baller can use the Cannon, then throw it to him. We'll have our hands full wrestling with HAL.

>>27639797
>"I'm the one who is supposed to kill you!"
Thanks but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Even if you want to kill him let's not invite him to backstab us now.

>>27639797

I seriously don't think he's our target. Something is fishy here, since he doesn't seem to know anything about the hyades at all.

We've stumbled into some shit, but it's not entirely related. Is it just me, or does Armaros seem to be a lot stronger than Cypher?

>>27639803

It's a bit of dark humor. We're getting swarmed. He knows full well we were sent to terminate him, but we haven't done so yet.

>>27639818

Gallows Humour! Ah, I couldn't of it until I posted. That's what it was.

>>27639797

Just say:

> "Don't die on me, you hear?"

minus the killing him part. That remains in doubt now.

>>27639818
It would be a decent joke. If we weren't noted for actually killing a shitton of people.

>>27639842
It's the smart idea, unless we're in too bad shape to take him out at the end.

We're going to fight him at some point, it's kinda part of the deal, we may as well take him out when he's injured.

Don't tell him of course, just in case he thinks we aren't going to betray him.

>>27639776
Wait, isn't the tempest crash that massive 1 use electric attack? Couldn't that damage the console?

I'm of to bed. Six-thirty.

>>27639797
>>27639803
>>27639842

You fire again - The solid, plosive impact of the shot making the ground tremble, the Graviton Cannon whirring softly as it cycles up to charge. Armaros growls something indecipharable - But he catches the solid mass of the Cannon handily. Blue telltales light up on the surface, as it switches to his internal power source; He wrenches the trigger as soon as it cycles, Pretas hammered down and against the splintering tiles.

...That's probably a yes.

>>27639776
>>27639782

The Cobalt Booster flares with light - A solid *kick* that lofts you from the ground on a pillar of pellucid flame - before your Tempest Scrander fumes to life, the eerie weightless feeling momentarily oppressing your senses...Before red particles flare, carrying you in a balletic route over the loping, shambling Pretas, spiralling towards the tower.

Armaros swings the Graviton Cannon in a short arc, like a baseball bat; Bludgeoning aside white-armored figures, as they spring at him. His distortion orbs leave a crackling wash of sensor feedback, the solid CLANG of each impact - the shrieking, shuddering aftermath of each howling sphere - dwindling slightly as you close the distance...

Some of the Pretas - Upside-down spiders, scuttling towards you from a great height - leap early. They plunge past you, claws extended; Slamming off the Manifold Tower's structure, smashing to the ground shattered and broken.

You don't just *land* - You *slam* down.

(Continued)

>>27639922

A crackling wave of electricity shudders out from you - Your Tempest Scrander's backwash hurling out an electromagnetic blast. The few Pretas on the steps - The ones not flattened and crushed by your Graviton Cannon shots - spasm in sudden convulsions, flailing in distress as you clear the remaining distance...

The tower's console - The raised podium and the twisted struts of metal rising from it - is immediately familiar. Your boots clank against the surface, as you close the distance: Your gauntlets locking in place, as alien data floods your HUD-

...It's different, this time. This time, the tower is *already active*.

Symbols scrawl over your field of vision - Resolving into half-recognized letters. Straining to make sense of it, you see-

[ ] PURGE
[ ] REALIGNMENT
[ ] EMERG. SCRAN.
[ ] UPLOAD

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>27639998
emergency scran

>>27639998
I hate these cryptic consoles.
Has no one ever taught the designers about usability?
Then again, if it's based on modern humanity's collective conciousness, you can't really expect good interfaces.

PURGE sounds like a way to kill us all.
REALIGNMENT likely affects the tower itself. Maybe opening the door.
EMERG. SCRAN. and UPLOAD sound like the most sane options.

>>27640021
Have you ever seen the inside of a program? It's like a bloody maze of "What the hell is this"
>>27639998
>[ ] PURGE
Is probably a data purge which removes the contamination, so to speak.
>[ ] REALIGNMENT
Switches tower direction, if I were to take a gander, this would affect information gathering or teleportation.
>[ ] EMERG. SCRAN.
Emergency... Scrander? I have no idea what this does except it's meant to be used fast.
>[ ] UPLOAD
Hints at teleportation or something similar

One for [X] Purge

>>27640006
>>27640021
>>27640071

1 Purge
1 Emergency Scran.
1 holding off, favouring Emergency Scran. and Upload

(I'll wait for a tiebreaker, gentlemen - Failing that , I'll go with Emergency Scran.)

>>27639998
Upload

>>27640071
>Have you ever seen the inside of a program? It's like a bloody maze of "What the hell is this"
Well, yes.
That's why I was taught to make my code legible and give sensible feedback to the user in shape of error messages that actually make sense and options that are self-explanatory or have explanations bound to them.

>>27639998
Upload

>>27640124
Bully for you. Maybe you can go work at Dassault or ANSYS and convince them to do the same so the rest of us don't have to suffer.

>>27640105
going for emergency scran. hope it works

>>27640135
It will happen in about a decade or so. When standards for software rise due to experience of the new generation of users.

It won't help videogames, though, which tend to devolve in terms of controls in recent times.
I just played the inFamous 2 expansion. I had forgotten how painful the controls in that game are.
Even more deadly than the camera in AC2.

>>27640111
>>27640125
>>27640105

> [X] UPLOAD

A discordant *sound* blares - Raw, unfiltered, a kind of anti-music that blasts spikes of pain into your head. Your gauntlets spasm on the Manifold Tower's controls, breaking the contact; Your vision fuzzing over entirely, at the shrieking dirge sawing at your nerves like a rusty knife...

-And all around you, the Pretas convulse as one. Their jaws ratchet open, going wide, wider, further than they were ever meant to go...Until they *tear*, with a wet ripping sound, twisting and juddering within their white-armoured sleeves -

They *wail*. It's an awful, inhuman noise - A shriek, a sanity-blasting dirge that echoes on and on, oddly modulated, playing up and down in octaves that could make your brain bleed. Whatever scrambled commands activated the Manifold Tower - Either through Armaros's tampering or the Tower's defenses - it's *in* them now, relayed from Pretas to Pretas in a chorus of shrieks.

They're literally shaking themselves to pieces, thrashing themselves to death: Shreds of silver plate flaking away from spasming limbs, claws raking at the tiles underfoot - Every last one staggering beneath the piercing signal, slumping to the ground and writhing in an awful tangle-

You're just turning, to take in the full effect of it - As bodies fall from above, with brittle, shattering noises - when the awful impact slams every breath you've ever taken from your lungs.

(Continued)

File: 1381230806298.jpg-(47 KB, 516x700, jokermirage.jpg)

47 KB JPG

It hits you with the force of a grenade - Not once, not twice, but a *dozen* times, impact after impact - culminating in a sledgehammer blow to your torso, one that actually *dents* your crimson plate. You hit the ground at an oblique angle, the angular edges scraping and shedding sparks as you slide-

One second.

It happened - All of it - while you were still turning, the split-second of imbalance.

"Joker-" You hear Armaros take a step forward, his voice rising in a confused blurt of sound - for a moment, you think he's the one who hit you, but-

The air shimmers. Like a veil being drawn away, a shape takes form. Angular, gunmetal grey and opal plate; With a tall helm that cants to a point, every inch aerodynamic, fiercely sleek - The slender limbs whiplash-quick, vapor fuming from balled fists.

On the apparition's crested brow, the splayed wings of a stylized butterfly burns with the blue fires of a Hyades Crest.

And a name:

MIRAGE SYLPHEED

(Continued)

>>27640250
>the splayed wings of a stylized butterfly burns with the blue fires of a Hyades Crest
So THAT is the dude that we had to kill.

File: 1381231186976.png-(152 KB, 1609x1828, jokersymbol (3).png)

152 KB PNG

>>27640250

> "Good try, boys."

The voice is a clacking sound, blurred at the edges, even as you register the damage that's been done to your torso plating; Tiny marks and gouges-

...As if you've been hit dozens of times, in the space it'd take you to draw a breath.

> "-I was hoping you'd take care of each other, but...
> ...This will be so much better."

Sylpheed vanishes. Just blinks out of existence, without the faintest hint of shimmer - Even as you get your feet beneath you, acutators grinding as you find your footing.

"Who was *that*?" Armaros's voice echoes warily over the distance - He's turning, his Graviton Cannon levelled, as if expecting the intruder to strike any moment now. "-Did you *see* that? What did he mean?"

[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>27640299
"Turns out that THIS is the guy that I'm supposed to kill.
Sorry for the confusion."

Did we gain any essence at all, by the way?

>>27640299
Tactical prognosis: Speed and illusions.
Recommendation: Engage Argus System, EXEC_HARROW target. Engage with light speed weaponry and area denial weapons.

"A dead man."

>>27640299
His crest is active? I wonder how much of that was his natural abilities?

Well, boot the Argus, raise the Nihl sphere. Let's see if we can crack this cloak.

>>27640336
This seems fairly good, overlapping AoE spreads are nice against fast, light targets. Can we drop a mine and remotely detonate it later? If so, it would be a nice thing to leave in the opening of a Triskelion salvo for the new guy to eat.

>>27640335

(Yes, a substantial amount - But rather less than what you'd get from a full-sized Corrector. It seems that the Pretas are rather Essence-efficient. The numbers, however, add up.)

>>27640336

You trigger the Argus System...But the jamming still lingers, ghost-readings and phantom echoes coming back at you. It's scrambling your sensors - And with visual targeting, you can't *see* him. No suggestion of movement, or a convenient shimmer; He's just gone.

> "Turns out that THIS is the guy that I'm supposed to kill. Sorry for the confusion."

"...Son of a bitch," Armaros hisses, as if the thought's just occurred to him. "-He's been here *all along*-"

He's about to say more, when the tower *unfurls*. For an instant - Just an instant - you think it might be collapsing...But the truth is worse. Trailing wires, the superstructure pulls itself free; A blocky shape, nearly a cube, that falls straight down with an earth-shaking THUMP that kicks up trails of loose debris.

Eight legs, coming to piercing points, dig into the surface; Expanding itself, a hunched down head of matte-black superdense material matching the dull bulk of it, as it orientates to face you-

For a moment - Just a moment - you're struck by an instant of deja vu. You've seen something like this before, weeks ago - Back before the whole thing started, in the Armoury-

But not like this. It was never *this* big.

Your sensors lock on, somehow, through the distortion and the pitted black plate that plays havoc with your targeting; The things, segmented tail lashing the ground, as the wedge-shaped skull ratchets back -

It *howls*. Your vision whites out entirely - Armaros's pained gasps coming from somewhere close, as the white noise nearly drives him to his knees.

A designation flickers onto your sensors, with sluggish slowness:

MANIFOLD GUARDIAN

JOKER QUEST

EPISODE 63

TO BE CONTINUED

>>27640443

(Gentlemen: My apologies for the abrupt ending, but it's extremely late for me...And this looks like a natural cliffhanger before the next phase.

Again, sorry for the delay in establishing this chapter - Work commitments have been getting in the way.

However, you've been a wonderful audience - Good night and god bless, and I look forward to seeing you again next time.)

>>27640453
Your quest is one of the few good ones.
I probably wouldn't be visiting /tg/ anymore without you, as there's recently been too many idiots here for my liking.

>>27640453
Alright, g'night Joker. Next session when? I like to make sure I can catch the sessions.

Also, how far are we from Hecate? I'm getting a little tired of everyone just going after every other pretty face we come across.

>>27640485
Just read the last thread. People decided to pass her up for Cybele's regeneration.

Great, now it's a three-way fight. I sure fucking hope Amoros doesn't turn on us. That'd make it more of a clusterfuck.

>>27640485

13/10/2013, most likely.

Feel free to direct all quest-related queries to the included e-mail.

>>27640508
Huh, neat. Didn't know you had one of those.

>>27640496

We did, since when? I thought we took her mark for the chance to heal hecate later on. At least, that was what I was assuming.

>>27640883

She can't heal anyone but herself.

And fuck, this whole mission was a set-up. I'm glad we didn't have to kill armaros, but who was that other guy?

>>27641904
Rather, her powers invested in Red Joker can't heal anyone but him now.

And obviously Sylpheed is a stealth specialist. Given that Psyche's crest was active when the cloak dropped, he's probably assumed control of the Guardian, or baffled it into going on the offensive. Exec_Harrow is probably the only chance we have of getting a lock on him, and that's only if he can't burn power to throw it off, like Cybele's lets Joker.