Skyside 6: Return of the Cheddar

[Hattish Thing]

Warehouse 90

With a somewhat distant expression upon his face, the man in the gray suit pauses in his tracks once Liam comes into view, just looking over at him with empty-seeming eyes. A pack of fine cigarettes are produced from a pocket, and after a few patient seconds, the man lights up. A long draw is followed by a beleaguered sigh before he speaks, blowing smoke.

His voice is calm and comforting.

"You don't know who I am, likely. But I know you, Liam. I know your work."

"I've a commission for you."

[Rebonack]

[The Silken Whisper]

The collars are... weird.

Steel collars?

People in in Skyside must have really strange taste.

Zee smiles back at the obviously haggard service worker, haggard by service that isn't exactly great. Poor thing. She accepts the menu graciously.

"We're actually just here looking for some friends of ours," Zee replies.

Zee absolutely does NOT look like a spacer of any kind. Her outfit doesn't have NEARLY enough utility pockets. Or funny shoulder pads.

She's already scanning through the room, looking more for particular alien organs and brain modifications. Those are WAY easier to spot that DNA differences. Less information to filter through after all. Ideally she wants a direct line of sight on them. Peering through walls is easy when she's perpendicular to reality, but when she's seated comfortably in three dimensions that a bit harder. Guy at the card table? Easy to make out. Zee nods toward him right away. The rest of them? She'll need to wait around a bit.

And then someone recognizes her.

Given how busy things are in the pub it would normally be pretty easy to overlook a small green person saying hi, but given how directed Larza's worldline is toward Zee it is honestly pretty hard to miss. That's just Zee weirdness for you. She replies to the goblin with a stern 'I'm keeping my eyes on you' gesture.

While goblins with retroactive backstories might be a reason for concern, they aren't her reason for being here right now. No, her reason for being here is a bit more prevent the Nexus from being eaten by space bugs related.

"I think maybe it would be best if we wait until our friends are ready to go?" Zee suggests to Minerva. We'll see whether or not she can stand waiting around in the bar full of alien folks for however long this takes without setting anyone on fire.

Because let's be real here.

Setting everyone in the bar on fire isn't a great plan.

A zealous plan, sure.

But not a great one.


[Warehouse 89]

Not to be confused with Warehouse 90, where Liam does his mechanic experiments. Just for giggles we'll say the two warehouses open in opposite directions so that the small air-truck can safely settle down in front of the building without drawing mean looks (or gunfire) from all those pleasant looking armed fellows accompanying that fine gentlemen. The air-truck looks... not that bad, comparatively speaking? Rather like a large moving van with rotating disks where wheels ought to be, a blue haze flickering across them and quickly dying out when it lands on its skids, the back of the truck facing toward the entrance of the warehouse.

Three men quickly hop out of the cab, two of them moving quickly to open the compartment while the other approaches the doors, hands held up for the sentries to see. The first two are rather burly looking individuals, one with a cybernetic arm-

-that's been sheered off just below the elbow. The other is wearing a bowler hat that looks about two sizes two small and has forearms that would make Popeye green with envy.

The third is a wiry looking fellow in an outfit that wouldn't be out of place on a janitor. He's even got a push-broom resting lazily across his shoulders. Professor Payne is likely well aware that this rather resourceful fellow isn't any mere janitor.

Or.

Well.

That isn't totally true. The guy is a janitor. That's his night job. He's got a business cleaning out some of the fancier office buildings in Skyside. But he isn't just a janitor and he cleans up more than mere dust-bunnies.

"Hey. Tell the Professor I've got another shipment of specimens for him," Yani, for that's the name on his overalls, calls out. "One in particular he might like to take a peek at before I finish prepping it."

The back of the air truck is opened and hydraulic ramp butts up against the compartment. The two goons begin wheeling heavy wooden crates onto the platform, crates that prominently bear a sigil on them; a three-pointed crown with a crescent above it, the crescent pieced by five nails. Another object can be seen further back in the truck, a heavy black tarp draped over it. The tarp bears not just the crown and crescent sigil, but another as well. A five pointed start with swooping arms and something not unlike an eye in the center. From under the tarp comes a wordless, mournful song carried by a child-like voice.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Silken Whisper]

Don't worry, Zee. Minerva realized that as soon as she set her foot in the place. If she would burn it down and purge every filthy heretic inside then a new place would soon take it's place while she was busy fighting whoever disapproved of her actions.

No, like saint Illandra she had to be patient and carefully analyze the enemy first. Sometimes the war of faith couldn't be won in one single battle. It could take years, generations, before whatever seeds she would manage to sow on this world could have the intended effect.

That said, there seemed to be more immidiate concerns here. Like the grot that was staring at Zee. Did this foul xeno know her? It certainly didn't seem to act like what she had imagined a grot to be like, and she was pretty sure they weren't supposed to look female either. But regardless of what category of xeno it belonged to it's familiarity with Zee could be a concern.

Now, for reference, Minerva is a pretty scary looking person dressed in her full wargear even in this kind of establishment. The color of her gear is somewhat different however, but she's sees no reason to remove her helmet. Certain assumpions could be made.

"If you say so." She replies to Zee, crossing her arms over her chest casually. No reason to make them think she wasn't considering to kill them all. "Someone seems to recognize you though, and I don't think that's a friend of ours." Minerva didn't nod or gave any indication of a direction. Zee had looked the xeno's way in a way that was more than casual. She already knew.

[Hattish Thing]

[The Silken Whisper]

The goblin frowns a little deeper as Zee glares suspiciously towards her, offering a look of relative offense in response, her expressive face more than conveying her feelings regarding the situation. This was all absolutely bizarre, had that weird woman from the holiday party followed her here? All the bars in all the Nexus, and she just happened to show up here? It wasn't even a special night! No, this had to be something more. With a somewhat troubled look, Larza glances towards the others playing the game of cards, raising a clawed finger.

She seems almost exasperated.

"Sorry boys, one second. This chick owes me money."

--

At that, she'll clamber up and out of her chair, setting her cards down as she does so. The thief moves with great confidence, and as she approaches Zee, she whispers aggressively, resting up against a nearby stool. "Hey, so. The hell you doing here?" With a glance, she notices Minerva, whistling and waving.

"That's a fancy get-up. Kinda sexy. I heard that chest armor shaped like that ain't good for like, swords or something, though. I dunno."

[Earl of Purple]

The Silken Whisper

Well, Zee's spotted one of the crew already. On the lookout for alien organs... Guessing this is more for things that are out-of-place in the brothel's inhabitants, rather than simply finding the heart, lungs and gizzard of the kroot, for example. But there's certainly some! One of the humans has had a genetically-engineered liver implanted. A dancing half-elf wearing thin gauze has a slug-like parasite nestled in her abdominal cavity, feeding on her blood but also releasing retroviruses that keep her healthy. Less pleasantly, one of the spacers, a male Sebacean has an egg in his intestines that's nearly ready to hatch and start eating its way out.

"Sure thing, honey. You change your mind, you let me know." She winks and hands a menu over. If either of the ladies take it, there's only about four options of drink- sunshine, moonshine, starshine and bootshine, in order of most to least expensive... Though 'sunshine' is hardly expensive. There's also a choice of food, which... Consists of yes, no, and vegetarian. That's pretty clear not how they make their money.

Warehouse 89

Warehouse 89 has a few entrances, so I guess the van can arrive out of sight from the thugs outside Warehouse 90. The skyvan is met by a tall, muscular man wearing a pair of trousers and with two overlapping faces. He doesn't get far before nodding at the janitor and heading back in. When he returns, he's grown another arm which carries a sack of money. The two arms he entered with are pushing a wheel chair with an obese man sat in it. The man has a grotesque paunch, hanging out from under his stretched black t-shirt. He also wears a pair of cargo shorts and sandals. "Ah, Yani. Good to see you again. You are so good to me. If every you want to become a client, as well as a supplier, for you no charge. More than half my doses right now were created from your last batch of biological marvels." The Professor's voice is thick and bubbling, gurgling like he's speaking through liquid.

Warehouse 90

"A commission? Ooh, that sounds good. What do you want from me?" Liam stands up, leaving the device he's installing into the car partway finished. The giant flywheel still rotates, powering the clockwork of the engine... If it is an engine. "Polly! Cancel the day's appointments, except supper!"
A mechanical voice from inside the warehouse responds. "Supper cancelled."
"What? No! Undo that, reinstate supper and cancel everything else!" Liam doesn't actually get a response, and seems to have forgotten his guests.

[Rebonack]

[The Silken Whisper]

May as well describe Zee, right?

Zee is an utterly unremarkable looking human female. She hasn't even got oddly pigmented skin like Minerva, not that Minerva's skin can be seen at the moment. Black, straight hair. A slightly tan complexion. Blue eyes. She's wearing a brown set of pants, a brown sweater, and a forest green long coat over it. They pair nicely with her green scarf and wide-brimmed hat. She's got a pair of wooden tonfa in holsters on her hips and she could ALMOST be mistaken for a gunslinger. No weird glowing eyes. Oddly shaped ears. No tail or wings or horns. Just an absolutely normal human-

-unless you happen to be able to see things perpendicular to reality.

Then it's pretty obvious that she's a nearly incomprehensibly large thing of starlight and glass, scales and leaves, claws and branches all folded in on herself into a human shape.

Anywho!

Zee frowns at the goblin with a retroactive backstory. "Saving the world," she replies in a low voice. "And no, I didn't follow you. How could I have even followed you from the Thanksmas party? It hasn't even started yet since it's July. There are definitely some kind of weird temporal shinanagins going on with you. Don't think I haven't noticed and/or will notice."

Yeah, crazy goblin. This plot began when it was still summer. It won't be Thanksmas for several months.

Then, rather casually, Zee explains to Minerva, "I'm going to meet that goblin in about six months at a Thanksmas party; she's remembering something that hasn't happened yet. Probably weird time stuff involved."

That's the only rational explanation.

Orks travel through the Warp mostly unprotected, right? Maybe this grot got spit out from somewhen else?

That said? Zee focuses a bit more closely on that intestine egg, which seems worrying. How big of an egg are we talking? What will it hatch into? How soon will it hatch? It's looking like something she might want to do something about, probably.


[Warehouse 89]

The two mooks unload a pair of crates, then return back to the loading platform to collect the other, fancier container. As soon as they begin handling it the singing is replace with brittle silence.

"You honor me with your offer, Professor, but I must decline. There are some in my order who wield the weapons of the enemy against them, but I choose to refrain from such heterodoxy. The Mysteries of Koth are sufficient," Yani replies, accepting the sack o' cash none the less. "However, my employees may be interested. They follow their own paths."

Shortly there after the third crate is unloaded and Yani motions for the Professor to join him, walking over to it whilst holding his broom like a staff.

"We managed to capture one of the creatures alive, though no small difficulty. It bit Petrov's arm off," Yani says.

The man with the ruined cyborg arm glowers darkly. "No small difficulty," Petrov repeats with a snort. "I hope cволочь chokes on it. Arm will be needing replacement."

Then Yani pulls the cover away from the crate, a heavy duty steel frame with ballistic plastic walls and several slots and holes for, well, feeding. Breathing. Poking stuff through and stabbing. The same crown-like symbol is repeating on every surface of the crate, alone with the star-and-eye. The top of the crate is equipped with latches for locking it shut.

And inside the crate?

It looks like a mass of globular off-white mushroom eggs, all flowing around and through each other in a nauseating cacophony of movement. It's just sort of... floating in the middle of the crate, doing its best to avoid touching any of the interior surface.

"The crate is well warded," Yani says, gesturing at it. "The abomination can't escape unless some fool lets it out. You will be able to take samples from a living specimen safely, provided you are not so foolish as to stick your arm inside," Yani says as he grips his broom in both hands, jabbing the butt through one of the holes and prodding the creature roughly. "Well come on then. You were so talkative before. Say hello to the Professor."

Yani shoves it with enough force to press it against the opposite wall of the crate, drawing forth a sizzling sound and a smell not unlike burning incense. At the pain the mass of fungal orbs all hatch, outer layers splitting apart to reveal translucent membrane below. Limbs unfurl, huge snow-white bird's wings, the feathers slowly fading to crimson at the tips and eyes roving among the pinions. Four legs ending in cloven hooves. Hands that are more paw-like or claw-like than anything else, equipped with fearsome talons. Its head looks like a cross between a hyena and an antelope, though in place of the upper portion of its face there's instead a second, upside down set of jaws. Four antelope ears ring the head. The creature is built more or less like a centaur, if a centaur hatched from the fevered mind of a madman.

Where it's limbs touch the walls there comes more sizzling and a pained cry from the beast as it pulls its limbs around itself until it resembles a ball of feathers and eyes more so than anything else.

"Please let me out," comes the cherub's voice, beautiful and crystal clear. Dark smoke pours from its mouths as it speaks, heavy with spores. The miasma snaps and pops and burns when it touches the inside of the crate.

"There you see?" Yani says. "Very interesting when they're alive, yes? It's voice is compelling, if not for the Sign of Koth to deaden it. Very safe."

[Earl of Purple]

Warehouse 89

"My neighbour in Warehouse Ninety has built prosthetics before. He might be able to help your employee, though he is easily distracted and might install a cybernetic leg instead." Which would be a little awkward for Petrov if he ended up with a robotic foot on the end of his arm. Would he be punching people or kicking them? Or potentially painful if he forgets to use anaesthetic before amputating one of Petrov's legs to make the installation. Or just weird, if the leg's plugged into the middle of Petrov's chest.

Then the cherub is revealed! The Professor's eyes widen and he pushes himself closer on his chair. "My goodness. What a beauty. And the... methods you use to contain it? Would they allow the taking of samples? Blood, or spores? Maybe cerebrospinal fluid?" He can't quite take himself to say 'magic', even though what he does is basically alchemy. He knows it, too.

If it stays in that ball of feathers and eyes, getting blood samples would be tricky. But that's fine; he's worked with the vitreous humour within the eyeball before, though it's not ideal.

Heavyhanded hands over the money, then the extra arm holding the sack of coins is moved so it's pressing against his other arm on that side before getting absorbed into the other limb. That arm is briefly bulkier than his other, and ends in ten digits, but that doesn't take much longer to fix. His self-duplication ability is quite disturbing to watch. He's also going to go pick the cage up, splitting his arms into two for a total of four arms with wide, seven-fingered hands and bulking up even further by duplicating the muscles in his body and legs until he can lift it. He also lengthens his spine using the same method.

The Silken Whisper

The egg is a sphere about twelve centimetres in diameter, though it is soft-shelled and not notably denser than the surrounding tissue. It's hard to find on most conventional scanners. It will hatch into a creature that resembles a cross between a lamprey and a silverfish, which will eat its way into the Sebacean's gut proper (since it's nestled amongst the intestines, not actually within the organ) and crawl out. The good news is that the egg's a few days from hatching, not hours, and the creature within is a male, incapable of proper reproduction, so even if Zee does nothing it won't be able to spread.

[Rebonack]

[Warehouse 89]

"I would prefer surgeon who is less vacant," Petrov says dourly. His whole arm is cybernetic, only the part below the elbow is missing. So it would be more of a refit than anything.

"The sacred geometries keep the beast contained," Yani replies. "Any of these access ports can be used for samples. Even opened, it can not escape."

The ports in question can all be latched open or closed. A few of them are open at the moment, mostly so Yani could demonstrate with his broom-poking. They're akin to the sorts of hatches that gloves would be attached to in a clean-case, though with no gloves actually in place. Like Yani said, putting your hands inside the box would be a bad idea. Even if your hands were protected by warded gloves. Best to use probes and the like to interact with the cherub. Around the rims of the ports the Sign of Koth is repeated, the points of the crown facing outward away from the hole.

"See here? It can not willingly cross these points. But you can draw any piece of it you harvest through. Provided you feed it, it will yield samples to experiment upon to your heart's content," Yani says, then grips his broom in an authoritative way. He strikes the butt of the broom against the ground. "By the Sign of Koth! By the bones of this world and its living heart, you are COMPELLED! Speak the name of your progenitor, demon."

There comes a choking, croaking sound from the cherub, like it's vomiting something up that its trying to keep down. "...Cepherel!" As it chokes out the words a torrent of what looks like ink gushes from its mouth, hissing and sizzling against the box. From what doesn't burn words rise from the ink, crawling through the air and across the horror's flabby, pale flesh.

"Hmm. A demon of knowledge. Unsurprising. Hah. But that makes feeding it easy, no? Stuff a book into its cage every few days. It will lick the words off the pages," Yani says, tapping his broom against the crate. "You will be a tool for the greater good, little demon. The Professor here will use you to make people strong in their struggle against your brethren."

"Hey speaking of, you don't mind if I try a dose do you boss?" asks Simon, the other lug working for Yani.

The Watcher makes a 'go right ahead' gesture.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Silken Whisper]

Minerva looks to the grot. She looks to Zee.

She shoots them both in the head and burns their corpses with her flamer to make sure they stayed dead.

"Is it-" Sigh. "-she one of our 'friends'?" She finally asks Zee to get this whole disaster back on track. "If not, can she help us?" Minerva had gotten some clue how heretics and xenos worked. It mostly involved paying them a lot of thrones. "We're planning to raid a very rich person. I'm not interested in the money, but anyone that helps us out can get a share of the 'loot'." She'd prefer humans helping them but as much as she hated to admit it, it probably was best to pick help that she at least had second-hand experience with. Even if that second-hand information came from a insane psyker.
"I'm Minerva Livius by the way."

[Hattish Thing]

[The Silken Whisper]

The goblin offers a confused shrug towards Zee as she goes on about something weird and vaguely time-related. She really didn't understand it, but she knew better than to question it, for now. Still, saving the world? This weird holiday party lady didn't really seem the world-saving type. Her friend looked the part though. Interesting.

With a raised brow, Larza rests two clawed hands upon her hips before speaking.

"Uhhh, yeah, of course I can. You can just ask me, you know, I'm right here."

"I'm gonna call you Minnie, Minerva sounds so... formal. Anyway, yeah, you need something stolen, I'm your girl."

---

Warehouse 90

The man in the suit shrugs, continuing to drag upon the cigarette between his lips. "I need some upgrades to a suit of power armor I'll be selling. Needs to be harder, faster, stronger, and lighter. A challenge, I'm sure, but I hear you're quite the capable mechanic."

"You'll have access to the finest parts."

[Earl of Purple]

Warehouse 89

"Maybe visit him for guns, then. He builds lots of things, but... I think he's got ADHD or something. Man can't concentrate on anything." He can't really afford to, since his inspiration is supernatural and works best when he's unable to concentrate.

Heavyhanded will put the crate at the back of the warehouse, near a wall of crates and boxes separating a working area from this customer-fronting one. Inside, there's a dentist's chair covered in straps and restraints, a battered car engine hooked up to a really bright standing-light (currently off, since it's daytime and there's plenty of natural light here), a refrigerated shipping container powered by a custom-built generator with a spinning windmill on top and a surgical table. "So then, Sir. You want Power, do you? Sit in the chair. Don't worry about the straps just yet- I've got some questions to ask first. First, what kind of Power? Physical enhancement, like Heavyhanded, physical alteration like Statuette" he gestures to a concrete statue standing by another entrance to the warehouse, "a ranged ability like Shocker on the roof or a concealment Power, like Little Doggy." When he mentions her name, Little Doggy appears, collapsing the transparent forcefield in front of her that she was, nevertheless, able to hide behind. "Secondly, do you have any abilities that could be described as magical, unnatural, supernatural or unusual, not counting anything caused by relics, artefacts or equipment that you do not directly integrate into your body? Cybernetics count as integrated and deserve mention. How about any phobias or mental health issues? How are you with needles and the sight of blood? Also, I cannot remove a Power once it has been given, and not all attempts are successful. It has been three months since the last death as a result of an injection, and nearly a year since the last result worse than death." He motions for Simon to sit on the chair, and if he doesn't back out t this point, he'll start strapping Simon down. "Side effects may include, but are not limited to, loss of appetite, nightmares, night terrors, reduced or eliminated need for food, drink or sleep, physical mutation, cellular regeneration, paranoia, weight gain, weight loss, flight, enhanced, reduced or additional senses, increased appetite, lethargy, amnesia, hair growth, hair loss, audiovisual hallucinations and kidney stones. This is your last chance to change your mind. Do you understand?"

[Rebonack]

[The Silken Whisper]

Okay yeah Zee totally should do something about silverfish friend.

That sounds like an absolutely awful way to die. Like what wasps do to spiders. No thanks.

But she can't just kill the thing. It would rot inside of the person's abdominal cavity and that would result in bad things. It could be removed surgically without too much trouble. But how many people would listen to a random person at a brothel telling them that they have a giant leech-bug in their guts waiting to chew its way to freedom?

Or... oh! She could incapacitate it somehow. Prevent it from hatching. It would keep leeching resources from the... not quite human? It would get bigger and more uncomfortable. That would probably cause enough discomfort to get it examined by a doctor and removed.

Best plan!

She'll just need to-

Oh right other things are going on.

"I mean, I guess?" Zee ventures in reply to Minerva's question. "I don't really know her. But she's a burglar and we're breaking into a ship to cause problems for them so that kind of skill set could be useful. Plus, this seems like a pretty obvious case of Nexus Serendipity to me. Like how I just happened to be in the same place that you were in. This sort of thing happens all the time. People are always getting pulled together to solve problems that they didn't even know were problems to begin with."

Problems like an infestation of gene-stealers on a really big space ship.

"So are you a thief or a burglar?" Zee asks curiously. "The former being the sneaky-stealy-stabby sort of person and the latter being the sneaky-stealy-stealthy sort of person? Have you ever fought a monster that can rip a guy's head off before?"

All important questions, since we're taking interviews at the moment.

Was there something else she was going to do?

Oh right!

The silverfish lamprey thing!

She leans against the wall, sticks her hands in her pockets, and kind of... unfolds them.

This would be so much easier if she could just perform surgery on the guy like a normal person. But noooooo! Random space people don't accept surgery from random ladies they meet at brothels. So she has to be all clandestine about it and use up her precious store of cheatery. She makes a careful poke at the egg from perpendicular to reality, attempting to foul a few important developmental gene pathways to prevent it from ever actually hatching. The guy the egg is hanging out in might feel inexplicably itchy all of a sudden.


[Warehouse 89]

Once it's out of sight the cherub will begin singing its sad, wordless song again.

Simon, meanwhile, sits down in the chair.

"Uh, I mean, no not really. I ain't really into the religious stuff like the boss is. Just a good pair of arms and decent aim with a gun," the man admits. "I'm already pretty strong, I guess, so maybe something ranged? A shooting power would be pretty good, I think. Like those guys in the movies that shoot lasers outta their eyes."

It would appear Simon is a simple man with simple tastes.

He rubs his chin thoughtfully.

"I think centipedes are pretty creepy. Does that count as a phobia?" he asks.

It isn't a phobia, for the record. He doesn't enter a state of irrational panic upon seeing one.

They just give him the jeeblies.

Then he nods. "Yeah, I think I got it Prof. A bit dangerous but hey, I do dangerous work already."

Janitorial and abomination fighting stuff!

[Hattish Thing]

The Silken Whisper

She scoffs before absentmindedly tapping her long, sharp nails against the nearby stool. "Psh, thief is such a nasty word. Burglar. There isn't a structure in this city I can't get through with enough time and preparation. And incentive! Probably." In response to Zee's next question, Larza does a little twirl, allowing for a far better display of her kevlar bodysuit. "No, I've never fought a giant whatever monster. But! This thing can take a beating before it starts wearing down, and more importantly..."

"No danger at all if you don't get seen, yeah?"

[Earl of Purple]

Warehouse 90

"Wait, you'll be selling what I give you? I'm not sure I can help. I'm sorry. I can't do standardised." He stands up and starts to pace. "I build a lot of stuff. A lot. Guns, armour, cars, lots. But batteries and generators I do best. But I work best when I'm not at my best. I build faster, the stuff I build has more charges, or shoots further, or is hardier, or it's more efficient. Everything I build, every single thing, is built when I'm unable to focus and concentrate. I build when I'm exhausted and should have gone to bed two days ago, when I'm hungry and haven't eaten anything but vitamin pills for a week, when I've deliberately put myself on a caffeine rush and sugar high. I... Don't want to disappoint you, but I can't make anything to a standard. It doesn't work." He's really worried he's just upset a bunch of angry thugs with guns, and he's out here with only what he's got in his pockets.

Warehouse 89

As he makes his choices, Professor Payne nods and moves from the wheelchair onto a computer chair, which creaks alarmingly under his weight. He scoots that to the shipping container, opens it up and returns with a small vial he's fitting a needle to. Heavyhanded, meanwhile, duplicates his arms to strap Simon in place and push his sleeve up. "I don't think so. If it did, this injection might be shaped by it." Meaning a centipede blasty power.

When he arrives, he'll inject the contents of the serum into Simon's arm. This will hurt, quite a bit. As none of Professor Payne's serums are identical, and neither are the people who take them, exactly what Power he gets is impossible to determine- though usually, people start using it automatically shortly after they receive it. Previous distance powers include Shocker's ability to throw lightning (which makes him flash like an x-ray), Spewer's ability to vomit liquid fear at people, and Shunt's telekinetic bubble.

The Silken Whisper

It might not even cause the discomfort- the egg's stopped leeching resources now, and was mostly using the Sebacean's body as an incubator. Also, it probably wouldn't rot, as that would require access to bacteria that don't usually survive entering the body- except via open wounds. It'd probably become something akin to a lithopedion. The Sebacean does itch his stomach as Zee works, blissfully unaware that somebody he doesn't know is saving his life from something he doesn't even know would have killed him.

Hopefully none of his shipmates have similar parasites... But Zee can't do anything about that here and now, she'd have to visit his ship to find out.

[Hattish Thing]

Warehouse 90

The gray-suited man frowns a little here, resting a hand within a pocket before tossing his half-smoked cigarette onto the floor. He'll walk forward slowly with much deliberation before driving a heel down upon the cigarette, crushing it beneath his dress shoe. After a moment, he speaks once more, his voice calm and soothing, rather than overtly intimidating.

"You won't. Disappoint me, that is. Why don't we speak somewhere a little more private, Liam. Boys, stay here."

--

Should Liam allow for a bit of additional privacy, the suited figure attempts to find a chair to sit in. "You misunderstand me, sir. I'm not here for something standardized, something anyone can buy on any market. I'm here for something... unique."

"I've heard enough about your work to see past your particular methods, provided you prove... cooperative."

[Rebonack]

[Warehouse 89]

Simon grunts.

Thrashes.

Is generally unhappy about what's going on here.

His hair suddenly gets quite a bit more spiky than it was previously, as a riot of colors fill it. Not rainbow, oh no. Nothing so orderly. More like splatter paint meets tie dye. He also grows a number of rocky, jagged growths on his shoulders but they're pretty small and can't be seen under his shirt.

After a few minutes of writing about he falls slack, panting.

"Did... did it work?" Simon huffs.

"Your hair is very pretty I am thinking," Petrov comments.

Well!

He didn't explode or die.

So that must be a good thing, right?

[Earl of Purple]

Warehouse 89

"Yes, it worked. You've got some mutations, at least. And you didn't activate the power whilst strapped down! That is unusual. Normally everything's fallen over or on fire by now. This is a marked improvement." But alas, down to Simon not the serum.

Simon's going to be released now, as Little Doggy is rolling out a group of three store-bought mannequins. They're old and battered; one has clearly been set on fire at some point, another has partially melted and the third is covered in duct tape. "You can try your power now, if you like. The mannequins are totally expendable." Or they could all leave; another option, and try the new ability elsewhere. Professor Payne likes getting a look at all the powers he hands out; that way he can see what they do and prepare some counters, just in case. That's why Shunt tolerates the Professor selling the serum to villains and gangsters.

Warehouse 90

Liam heads into the warehouse, motioning for the man to follow him. Inside, it's a cluttered space combining features of living area and work place. There's a bed, which hasn't been made, a fridge, an electric kettle on a tool bench, and a whole host of gadgets and machinery. A rusty robot lies on its back, partially disassembled and a small digger sits in the corner, partway through a conversion into... Well, it's hard to be sure, actually. There's a pile of old computer keyboards, parts of an aeroplane dangling from the ceiling, and a small generator standing in the middle of the room powers all the working electronics, including the ceiling lights. "Oh, well. Unique. I can certainly do unique." He nods vigorously. "I was going to build a flying car, but I got distracted and dismantled the jet pods so I could build an engine powered by gravity. That's how I'm powering my whole base! And Professor Payne, next door. And a couple others, too. And I built a generator that can push everything away from it! Except I took it apart because it pinned my trousers to the ceiling." He's brightening up now, quite a lot as it happens.

[Rebonack]

[Warehouse 89]

"Mutation? Like what?" Simon asks, running a hand through his hair at Petrov's comment. He can feel that his hair feels like... it has gel in it? Or something? "Uh... yeah, let me try something..."

He holds his hand out toward the mannequins and suddenly a wildly zig-zagging bolt of riotous color springs from his palm! Upon reaching the point he had imagined it detonates in a writhing sphere about five feet across, reducing the object caught in the effect into a heap of Lego bricks matching the color (and volume) of the original mannequin.

"Huh," he grunts. "That's weird."

Then he tries it again.

This time around there isn't a bolt at all, just a huge octahedron of strobbing, colorful sparks a full forty feet across from one face to another. Everything caught within the pulse of CHAOS has been turned into rich, dark soil with several daisies sticking out of it where the mannequins once were.

"Heh. Hehe.... Makes stuff push up daisies I guess?" Simon laughs.

"Raw chaos magic," Yani observes. "Quite lethal to the demons. Not so useful against fairys, but that's what steel-jacketed bullets are for."

[Hattish Thing]

Warehouse 90

The man nods understandingly as he takes in the contents of the inventors room. He would never be able to endure similar living arrangements, the mess would become so overwhelming. This was not his first time dealing with strange and unusual craftsmen, however. Once inside, he'll offer a hand to shake from the comforts of the chair he'd claimed.

"Good. That's all I'm here for. Please, call me Marco. I see no reason why we shouldn't be cordial."

"You mention a vehicle? I've actually been in the market for a vehicle for some time. An assault vehicle. Military. I want it all."

[Shadowcaller]

The Silken Whisper

"We came here to recruit people." Minerva reminds Zee, finding all the nonsense she was spouting about this planet unnerving at best. It sounded all too much like influence of the warp and if this planet was under such heavy influence from it... Well, that would explain a lot of things, but it didn't bode well for her.
Hopefully she was just more insane than most psykers. Their chaos-ridden minds were notoriously unstable after all.

The same could probably be said for xeno's which is why she was again was glad that she kept her helmet on. It made it easier to hide just how revolting the found all this. Particularly that nickname the xeno just gave her. Great, yet another trial she had to endure for the greater good.

Minerva had heard of grots being able to stay hidden onboard star ships their entire lives though, so she didn't doubt that this creature was up to the task of sneaking around. It's small stature would make it especially useful considering all the small spaces onboard the ship.

"And it sounds like she got just the kind of skills we need. We're going to sabotage something so if you know your way around technology that would also be good, but we already have someone for that. The payment we can discuss more in detail elsewhere, but I will personally handle whatevew violent situations we might encounter so you can just try to stay safe." As safe as a xeno could possibly be next to a sister of battle that is.

[Rebonack]

[The Silken Whisper]

"Also to chat with the rest of the shuttle crew," Zee adds. That part is very important, since it will prevent said crew from causing additional trouble. "And I had come to New Inside to try hamburger shops. And we had come here to find a ship to get you back home, not to discover a dangerous conspiracy. Sometimes things fall together in an auspicious way. Couldn't it be... I dunno... the providence of the Emperor or something?"

The Emperor looking out for his faithful sister of battle!

Maybe fortuitous things happen sometimes?

Zee smiles and scarcely refrains from doing a little clap. "Sounds like we've got a heist on our hands. So let's see... We've got the bruiser, that's Minerva. And the face. That's probably me. And the mechanic is obviously the machine priest. I probably should have asked her name," Zee mutters, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. Then she points at Larza. "So you must be the acrobat."

See?

They've got it all worked out.

"Which means we just need to wait for the rest of our friends to finish here," she concludes, glowering at the ceiling and willing the rest of the shuttle crew to come down stairs so they can politely murder them.

[Earl of Purple]

Warehouse 89

"Not magic. Science. What I do is not magic. A bit of alchemy, perhaps, but no hocus pocus mumbo jumbo." Though the effect is pretty impressive, even if it's not magic. Professor Payne's a little mistaken; the results are magic, by most definitions.

It's a pretty impressive effect, one Professor Payne's uncertain with regards to countering it, should it become necessary. Possibly Statuette; she already transforms herself, so another effect might not be as profound... But she changes the substance of her body, not its shape or size.

Warehouse 90

"If you can provide the chassis and bodywork of a vehicle, I can build you one. If I had to build one from scratch, I'd probably get distracted, forget what I was doing and either abandon it or dismantle it to build something else." He's calming down a little now. He's actually already working on a vehicle, but he doubts a battered old Beetle will send the right message.

The Silken Whisper

Zee's going to be disappointed, as there's five crew missing and only three in this building.

The man playing cards gets up after a while and starts to pick up his winnings- they've been betting not with coins, but with a variety of lasgun power cells, small pieces of art, bullets and other things that have value pretty much everywhere. Once he's done, he'll start stumbling towards the door and the group who I think are still standing there. He's got a chain-driven cutlass at his belt and a double-barrelled laspistol opposite it. He's heavily inebriated, and carries a half-empty brown bottle of bootshine homebrew liquor.

[Hattish Thing]

Warehouse 90

"If you can provide the chassis and bodywork of a vehicle, I can build you one. If I had to build one from scratch, I'd probably get distracted, forget what I was doing and either abandon it or dismantle it to build something else." He's calming down a little now. He's actually already working on a vehicle, but he doubts a battered old Beetle will send the right message.

The man in the gray-suit shrugs before nodding contentedly. "That will work. I'll be back in a day or so with the chassis. Anything else you can offer me, weapons, miscellaneous gadgetry... Have them ready for display. Understand?"

The Silken Whisper

"We came here to recruit people." Minerva reminds Zee, finding all the nonsense she was spouting about this planet unnerving at best. It sounded all too much like influence of the warp and if this planet was under such heavy influence from it... Well, that would explain a lot of things, but it didn't bode well for her.
Hopefully she was just more insane than most psykers. Their chaos-ridden minds were notoriously unstable after all.

The same could probably be said for xeno's which is why she was again was glad that she kept her helmet on. It made it easier to hide just how revolting the found all this. Particularly that nickname the xeno just gave her. Great, yet another trial she had to endure for the greater good.

Minerva had heard of grots being able to stay hidden onboard star ships their entire lives though, so she didn't doubt that this creature was up to the task of sneaking around. It's small stature would make it especially useful considering all the small spaces onboard the ship.

"And it sounds like she got just the kind of skills we need. We're going to sabotage something so if you know your way around technology that would also be good, but we already have someone for that. The payment we can discuss more in detail elsewhere, but I will personally handle whatevew violent situations we might encounter so you can just try to stay safe." As safe as a xeno could possibly be next to a sister of battle that is.

At that, Larza stands up somewhat taller, hands enthusiastically placed upon her hips. "Know tech? Course I do, or, well. I guess I'm passable at it, but I've a few helpful tool thingies for all the serious stuff, you know. Long story short, I'm your girl."

"So, uhh, wait. I should prep. You people heading straight to this ship or whatever? Or can we drop by my place?"

[Rebonack]

[Warehouse 89]

"Ah, yes, of course Professor. You are quite correct. Weaponized improbability, not magic," Yani corrects. Then motions for Simon. "Come, we have other work to do this evening. The Professor's work will be very helpful, Koth willing."

Then he steeples his hands in front of his chest and nods toward the Professor.

"Koom lo Rlyeh. Maybe the sunken city never rise. I understand you place little trust in faith, Professor, but know that you are doing God's work. Of this I am grateful to have such allies against the adversaries."

Then? He motions to his men again. Both Simon and Petrov head outside, though Yani pauses at the door.

"Something I... wish to let you know, Professor. Some of the more heterodox members of my order have an agreement of sorts with a devil of terrible power who resides in the City of Inside. It feigns empathy and avoids senseless destruction, but these are, I suspect, careful deception. It wears a human face and serves as a barmaid of all things at the Trog's Tavern. The devil Yezekiel, a thing of determined resolve and adaptation. It is possible that you might approach it and request a sample. Depending on the whimsy that strikes it, it may even agree. But understand that the thoughts and intents of the heart are naked and open to the devils of higher hosts. Approach it with a desire to improve yourself and others, and it is more likely to heed your request."

Oh hey.

A chance to get a sample from an even MORE powerful empyrean? That sounds handy.

[Shadowcaller]

The Silken Whisper

"We still need people to man the ship itself." Minerva reminds Zee, refraining from commenting on if or if not the emperor might be watching out for them. That was not something one should say lightly, especially not on a heretical world like this. The very forces of chaos itself could be at work here for all she knew.

Getting the rest of the crew can probably be handwaved however.

She turns to Larza. "We're in no hurry yet. You can go home and collect whatever you need and return to..." Minerva turns to Zee. "What's the next tavern we're checking out?"

[Rebonack]

[The Silken Whisper]

"Probably won't be TOO hard to find a few spacers around here who would be willing to crew the shuttle," Zee reasons. "I bet I could find some instructions on how to operate it, too."

Instructions are always helpful!

Zee also refrains from commenting on Minerva's super pessimistic, GRIMDARK attitude. She's pretty sure if there were any gross shee lords poking at things or trying to arrange events she would without question pick up on the meddling. She can smell that stuff from a mile away! ...figuratively. She doesn't actually smell it but there isn't any other human sense that even comes close as an analogy.

"Well, there are two more infected crew members up stairs," Zee says. Or at least she's mostly sure they're upstairs. Taking a jaunt sideways in time to peek would be best but doing that while people are watching is something she prefers to avoid. "And one is on his way out."

She gestures at the stumbling man heading out through the 'door' of the brothel.

"If you want to go make sure he safely reaches his destination, Minerva, I can stay here and wait for the others while Larza gets her gear," Zee says. To anyone other than Minerva that sentence will sound completely innocuous. But to the sister of battle the meaning will be absolutely crystal clear. Follow that xeno-infested mutant and put a bullet in his brain.

Then?

She gestures at the 'waitress' from earlier. "Could I try a glass of sunshine, please?"

May as well find out what their drinks are like.

Zee has the feeling she's going to be offended.

[Earl of Purple]

Warehouse 89

"I... Do not travel easily. I shall send Statuette or Heavyhanded, I think." He's a little too big to walk, so he'd have to pushed in his chair all the way. Which in turn means there's two less people to guard his warehouse/lab, rather than one.

An advantage with sending Statuette is she doesn't actually need to hire a shuttle to reach Groundtown. She just needs to pick a suitably resilient material, jump off and curl into a ball. Little bit scary for her, though.

Warehouse 90

"Polly, put that in my schedule for tomorrow. And mark it as unchangeable." There's a ding from a parrot-shaped drone perched atop the fridge.
"Schedule set and locked." It rises from the fridge and moves away from Liam and Marko.
"Polly's not for sale. She's my memory parrot." Which is far too important to get rid of, since Liam can't afford to focus because that hampers his building.

The Silken Whisper

The hybrid stumbling out the door turns around, not headed back to the ship but instead going around the building, using it to keep himself steady. He doesn't notice Minerva following him, if she does so, and will unzip his flies and start to relieve himself.

Zee will not be given a glass. She's given a dented tin cup filled with a strong home-brewed alcohol. It's made from fruit, but that doesn't change the fact it's made by somebody more interested in potency than flavour. At least it's sweeter than the alternatives.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Back at the Mad Fronts]

Shazhan turns back to Affy and holds up his hand with three 'fingers' in the air as he was pressing them against something. "Not detect but predict. They will be sending drones, small hard-light constructions equipped to scan the city." An illusionary drone appears in the space that Shazhan was pressing his fingers against and rotates around slowly. It's nearly a perfect purple sphere about the size of a football that have no recognizeable features.
"They're not especially intimidating, but I've used similar constructs to help KABAL's drug dealing within the city. Now, I doubt KABAL would be very happy if we claimed that they were attacking the city but as the attack is false they can later accuse the city of bias..." He waves his hand dismissively. "Or something. The point is that such rumors would create a lot of confusion. Especially if I used my own drones to attack the city at the same time. There would be no way to tell which drones were hostile and which ones are peaceful as mine would be able to copy their's apperance as they transfer into the city. It would be a diplomatic disaster." Staring at the illusionary drone, he taps the bandages forming his 'chin'. "However, involving KABAL and the drones might draw their attention to me so perhaps something else would be more suited. But on the other hand, they would suspect me either way. Not something we can do anything about unless..." Shazhan looks away thoughtfully. "We frame someone else for everything. There are people of flesh outside the collective with some level of access to ethereal technology. I'll contact them under the guise of someone else, perhaps a member of AMEN, and pay them to take the fall for the whole thing. My people wouldn't even know how to punish people of flesh for a crime this grave so it would likely work out on their end too." The ethereal turns to Affy. "Or am I just overcomplicating things now? I have a tendency to."

[Back at the Mad Fronts]

"Oh no no, no you're not overcomplicating things, Shazhan. No, the plan just needs one little alteration." Affidavit leans forwards. "You just need to teach me how to replicate the drones." He reaches out with one hand and with a little spark of light, duplicates Shazhan's illusory drone. "We copy their drones, we attack Inside, we warn them beforehand and we blame KABAL. But in the end, we make sure it's clear that it leads back to me, not you. You're clean, and I'm a ghost. They can run around in little circles chasing phantoms all they like."

[Hattish Thing]

The Silken Whisper

As Larza begins to head out and back to her apartment, she'll attempt to very subtly snag something valuable off the pouch of a nearby patron as she slinks out the door.

[Shadowcaller]

[Back at the Mad Fronts]

((Trying a new font...))

Shazhan seems to consider this option for a moment. "...and you would use them to try to frame me, which would only further make me out to be 'innocent' of at least this particular crime. That could work." He holds up his arm and a holograhic keyboard appears just above it. Clicking some buttons he transfers the basic information on how to construct the projectors for the hard-light drones.

These particular drones could already be found for high prices on the skyside black market (from Inside's perspective, all of skysides market was black) so handing it over to Affy didn't seem like a huge risk. "So be it then. All we need to do now is pick a date and get on with this thing. We probably need at least a few days to prepare. KABAL won't be informed of course, though I will make sure they aren't thrown in complete chaos once this happens."

[The Silken Whisper]

Minerva decides that shooting the xeno-freak could cause some disturbance in the brothel and now it would be best to avoid even more attention. Therefore she will attempt to use the strength of her power armor and grab the man's neck from behind and then simply break it before he had a chance to scream.