Skyside 6: Return of the Cheddar

[bc56]

Ada squirms with disgust as the hot cigarette is placed on her tongue. But she doesn't swallow it. Instead, she spits it into her pocket. She has really good aim, apparently. This is still weird though, because when the thug searches that pocket seconds later, he'll find it empty. Both of her pockets are. Where does everything go? "You never know when a cigarette butt might come in useful." Ada laughs and coughs blood.

[Hattish Thing]

[Back Room]

Something strange was going on here, something magical.

Larza was not particularly surprised, but this did result in a few new issues.

How best to neutralize this weird, magic mud person? Well, best start from the simplest solution and build up from there. "Ye'r ferr commited tae bein' a pain in me arse , aren't ye?" She'll retrieve her switchblade now, frowning as she gets to work on cutting Ada's dress from her. No more pockets available! "Whaur ur mah hings, wench?" She'll step back at this point.

Her terrible minion retrieves a pair of pliers from his jacket. He'll then kneel down and reach for one of Ada's fingers.

Meanwhile, the colorful goblin frowns. How far was this going to go?

"This is yer lest chance!"

---

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Hauling the horrible pod through the rest of the horrible laboratory is a challenge.

It takes some time, and by the end, all parties involved are likely sweaty and miserable. This was, after all, quite horrible.

Finally, the thing will be hauled into the back of Dr. Valiance's cruiser. With a somewhat exasperated expression upon his face, Val will attempt to find the words for what he's about to ask. "Okay, so - uhh. You wanna help me present this thing to the boss?"

"I can't see a strategy that'll make this look good. Flesh pods are kind of a bummer no matter how they're wrapped up."

[bc56]

Ada's dress is cut away, and she's left in her shift, still chained up. She winces as her finger is taken in a vice grip. She knows what will happen next. But she laughs. "Even if I wanted to, which I don't, I can't give it back now. Even if you break every bone in my body, I can't. So you might as well kill me now. It'll save us both a lot of trouble."

[Hattish Thing]

[Back Room]

Larza grimaces as she watches her minion take Ada's hand.

This would be extremely gross, which she was fine with - but now? What was the point?

She frowns before crossing her arms over her chest, unsure as to how to proceed with the task at hand. There was no reason to continue torturing the woman if she was unable to actually pay her back. That made her upset, but not quite as upset as she was with her missing... something. "How come th' hell nae?! Whit's wrong wi' ye?!" The colorful goblin is only becoming more and more frustrated.

Meanwhile, her thug has started to pinch the blade. It's not too bad just yet, but its cutting through Ada's skin.

"Whit did ye even tak'? Is it worth a' this?" Not that she could trust her answer.

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Ambrosia takes a moment to settle down before she musters up an answer.
"Then don't show them. Science is pragmatic, not aesthetically pleasing. So thus we're going to talk about what this will result in, how the research will benefit VIGIL. Since as far as I can tell, they're not dangerous or sentient so I see little reason for them to object to this." She shakes a deep breath and puts her hands on his shoulder reassuringly. "I assure you it will be fine."

She still have her armor on. Must be really attached to it for whatever reason.

[Earl of Purple]

Abandoned Crematorium

The thing nods at the cherub, pushing a sleeve up and slicing its forearm with a fingernail. The ooze that comes out is thick and black, and whilst it isn't acidic it's home to a pallid maggot thing that starts to chew at the perspex. It'll take a while to get out, and the child-shaped monster is being quite careful at protecting the maggot from as much light as possible.

"I think that was the plan, yeah. I used to work for Payne, Val wanted his research on super powers." Hopefully none of his guards recognised her. "Why, what did you think we were doing?" Felicity's used to moral ambiguity, and hasn't realised Anika was lied to in order to secure her attendance on this mission.

The fly lands on the ceiling and crawls around a bit.

Drug Bust

The girls and the gunslinger fall back, occasionally blasting with their pistols and stolen guns.

Larza will note a dead Follower nearby, clutching a double-barrelled submachine gun. There's no living people nearby, at least none that aren't shooting at other living people.

It doesn't take long for the drugged-up berserker to leave themselves open, a wide swing that hits the floor and cracks the concrete. He doesn't have a response to the flaming mace that just snapped his neck and set his hair and clothes on fire, however.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Dr. Valiance frowns. Was this how things were going to be?

Constantly second guessing things that he would never have worried about before?

Working for the good guys was hard. Especially when the good guys weren't particularly nice, or were just... straight up insane. He'd been thinking about that for a while. Ambrosia's hands upon his shoulders certainly help alleviate some of his concerns and anxieties, though. What was he even worrying about? He was going to hit it out of the park, like he always did.

With a small smile, he glances towards her. "Alright, well. I could, uhh - drive you home?"

"If you like, you know. No big deal."

---

[Abandoned Crematorium]

Hrm, wow - had he really forgotten to inform his own assistant?

She was never around when he was planning things, dammit! Now this was going to get weird.

Better play it cool for now, if you panic you'll look super guilty. Yup, just do the same thing you always do. It's worked just fine up until now. Latch on to the little nugget of truth at the base of it all and just pile all kinds of weird stuff on it! With a small frown, he corrects Felicity. "A robbery? Ha, not even as a joke!" He shakes his head before resting his hands on his hips. "You know we don't swing that way anymore, my loyal assistant."

There's some emphasis, there. Hopefully she would get the point. "What we did was, well..."

"We confiscated dangerous tools out from the hands of a lunatic who made his living by selling them to pyschopaths."

"I mean, he vomited toads and stuff. Not cool." Seemed straightforward.

[bc56]

"Maybe it's because your loss clearly hurts you more than your torture hurts me. Maybe it's because I know that there must be a purpose for it. Maybe because if I don't keep it, I'll have to go through all this again in order to get it when I need it later." That doesn't make much sense, Ada. How do you know you'll need it later? Why would you have to go through this again for it?

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Ambrosia smiles back, but makes a dismissive gesture. "You can simply drop me off in Inside once we're done. I'm just staying at a inn and I don't want to have to guide you there when you have more important things to do." She takes up the journal she showed him earlier. "And there is this too. I could look it through myself if you consider yourself too preoccupied."

[Abandoned Crematorium]

Anika looks between Val and Felicity. Well, they had taken dangerous stuff from that man, but Anika was now pretty sure she didn't want to keep any of it. They had ultimately done a good deed but something felt off now.

She then scratches her head. "...alright. So is there anything else I can help out with?"

[Recaiden]

Benedict ducks the glass ball and climbs into the carriage, for more cover. "If all I wanted was the heart of a married woman, I'd have married Sara. No, Miri. What I want is a legacy, I want wives because I want children. I want to continue the Beaulieu name and rebuild our powerbase until we are, once again, the premier family of magical practitioners. They'll be in my mansion, learning from me and the ghosts- any magic they can learn, I will let them learn it. If they think they aren't free and want it later, they can have it. They can have it now, if they want. I'll take them out of the city and release them. I swear that, Miri, on the sanctity of my grandfather's grave."
One of the girls speaks, the tiefling. "So we go wi' him, he teaches us magic, we get a roof, food, an' stuff. We go wi' you, we get... what, freedom? Freedom to die cold an' hungry, maybe. I'm with Benedict." She'll climb on, though the other two look a little more cautious. The darker girl does something meanwhile, Miri likely can't tell what, but she's protecting herself from mental or emotional tampering.

"Your one grandfather's still alive, and the other's already had his bones dug up!" Miri shouts at them, as she scrambles onto the back of a subverted skeleton horse. Is there nothing beyond Benedict's lies!? She's not actually sure about that other grandfather, but it seems a reasonable guess given the state of the bones and crypts on the estate. And it would sow a bit of doubt in the poor would-be-wives.

"I was offered food and shelter too. That lasted hmm, three days before he decided to change the rules? I'm not rich, but come with us and you'll live."

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Dr. Valiance just shakes his head. Did he want to worry about that thing?

Nah, he really didn't. There was a lot going on, reading creepy old journals wasn't really a priority.

With a shrug, he simply scratches the back of his head. "Uhh, you can keep it if you like? I don't think I'll, uhh - need it, or whatever. Got a lot on my plate. Feel free to text me the gist of it when you're done though, yeah?" He grins before entering his vehicle. "Okay, ready?"

---

[Abandoned Crematorium]

Hm, that was probably sold pretty well.

Again, he hadn't lied to her! Just hadn't been honest, either.

Oh well, he'd have time to think about this stuff later. For now, there was a lot of confiscated equipment to move around. Plus, those boxes were talking. Right? Dr. Valiance glances over towards the crates with a frown. "Well, uhh - we'll definitely need to figure out what's in those. That'll suck."

"Any hints, Felicity?"

---

[Back Room]

The colorful goblin sneers at this, her fury stoked once more.

She doesn't say much of anything, but will unleash a string of curses under her breath.

In the meantime, the thug has started to clamp down. A curved blade will start to slice through the woman's finger much in the way a cigar cutter would. It's sure to be excruciatingly painful, the ordeal made worse by the fact that the blade is somewhat dull, and as such, it takes several tries to lop through bone. Once the screams have settled down, Larza responds. "Dae ah luik lik' a'm in pain, girlie? Glaikit mud body, are ye juist insane?!" She sighs, clearly exasperated.

A large chunk of Ada's pinky will drop to the floor. "Ah cannae kill ye. Ye'll come back, ye said." Evil little thoughts whorl through her head.

[bc56]

"A lot of people have said that," Ada giggles. "But I outsmarted all of them! If I'm nuts, then you must be bolts!" She nods vigorously when Larza says she can't kill Ada. "I'm invincible, really. No matter how bad you injure me, all I have to do is die, and it's all fixed up. Try it!" Is Ada asking Larza to kill her?

[Hattish Thing]

[Olympian Extractions - Factory Floor]

The foreman scoffs, her shrill voice echoing.

These two groundtowners didn't know what they were getting into.

With a sly look on her face, she goes on to fill in a suspicion of hers. Could her words be trusted? "Anarchists secreting men and women away in order to spark a conflict with the company? Why, that'd just about fit the bill, wouldn't it?"

"But you didn't hear that from me."

---

[Back Room]

Larza does not take the bait.

She's a little more clever than that, after all.

Regardless, this situation is extremely unpleasant. They'd reached an impasse, one which likely wasn't going go go anywhere. "Och, dinna fash yirsel - ah hawp ye, girlie." The question had never been about whether or not Larza believed that Ada would return. She didn't doubt that for a second. Unfortunately, it only complicated things further.

"Ye see, that's how come ah'ament aff tae murdurr ye. A'm aff tae keep ye alive in 'ere, forever. Juist barely."

[bc56]

Ada frowns. Is this the first real negative emotion she's displayed besides anger? Nope, she's smiling wickedly again. "I guess I have to take things into my own hands?" With that she twists around in her restraints, moving her arms so that her chains wrap around her neck. She stretches, tightening them, beginning the process of strangling herself. "See you later!" She chokes out cheerily.

[Morty]

[Olympian Extractions - Factory Floor]

As Calm Reed speaks with the forewoman, Essence flows through her like it did when she talked to the driver. It tries to reveal hidden and buried things in her words and actions. Is she trying to divert their attention from something? Is she really concerned about their investigation or does she think it's a fools' errand?

"Have those anarchists struck against your image in similar ways before? Kidnapping your workers would be a bold move."

[Hattish Thing]

[Back Room]

Larza is not a fan of how weird this has become.

Still, she knows the stakes are at least relatively high. It was the time for action.

As such, she'll bark an order towards the drugged out minion, sneering as she watches Ada attempt to choke herself out with her bindings. Her tone is sharp, a sign that she was quite displeased with how things had been going for her. "Whit urr ye keekin at, ye muckle oaf? Chap her th' hell oot!" At this, the skysider will strike Ada straight in the face. It's enough to break her nose and knock her out, for certain. Unless she's somehow especially durable, of course.

--

She'll wake up several hours later, bound and locked up in a trunk.

[bc56]

Ada, of course is knocked out. When she wakes up in the trunk, she begins banging on the lid with her feet, hoping someone will hear. Someone other than the goblin and her brainless thug.

[Hattish Thing]

[Back Room]

No one hears her. No one comes to her aid.

Hours have passed. Finally, the trunk starts to move. Then, gravity kicks in.

--

She's falling from an incredible height. Falling, and falling.

...

...

...

*SPLASH*

--

Water courses in. Darkness, darkness.

It's all empty now.

[bc56]

"Drowning then? It's not the worst way to go." Then Ada dies...

And gradually wakes up. She's lying on a hospital bed, in her customary white dress (with pockets) and red vest. She sits up, ritually checks to make sure she's got everything, and just walks out of the hospital. No one even tries to stop her. That was a particularly unpleasant day. But she has a goal now. She's going to get that goblin. Get her good. She just needs to find her way back to that lair, and to gather some supplies.

[5a Violista]

[Olympian Extractions - Factory Floor]

"And, let me guess, these 'anarchists' would end up attacking other workers on the streets who are looking too far in to them?" Carlie says. She sets the folders down, done going through it.

...Just like the ones they met attacking the guy Calm Reed rescued.

[Earl of Purple]

Shopping Trip

"He's alive and bound in a tomb to prevent an apocalypse!" So still alive, still has a tomb he can swear on the sanctity of.

Living doesn't seem as convincing an argument as Miri hopes, as these girls are experienced with living in poor conditions, and wouldn't mind dying if it's in luxury. And also he's promised to teach them magic, and that's very tempting. They climb in, though the Lyseni seems apologetic.

Abandoned Crematorium

"Not really, I'm afraid. Live samples, I know that much. He uses their blood and other stuff to make the super-serum. I don't know what they are, but he bought that one from a group led by a chap with a broom." Felicity points at the cherub. "They're dangerous, both of them. That one is allergic to light, a little. It prefers darkness. And that mystic mumbo-jumbo on the other crate is supposedly keeping the child in the crate, rather than phasing through it or something and sucking our livers out our noses." Yes, she knows that that's physically impossible. Half of the stuff she's seen Payne's serums do to people is physically impossible, it doesn't matter. The killder is allergic to light, apparently. Felicity still doesn't know where it is or how Payne got it.

If Anika's leaving, the fly-thing tries to leave with her. She might notice it, or Val might.

[Arkhosia]

Meowstaken IdentiFies

Oh. Elizabeth was well inclined to believe the woman who had thankfully apparently stopped threatening her now, thinking back over everything she knew about Mara. Sure, the two looked similar but face to face as she was now there were definitely differences, and nothing from all of her sources suggested Mara was the kind of person who would carry a knife around with her!

"A-and, uh, yeah, I think I got that message now. But t-thanks..." Even with the knife no longer pointing at her, Elizabeth's gaze kept shifting to it with a look of worry. Maybe it would be good to have a weapon, just in case. That didn't really seem like something she herself would be comfortable with though. Frankly it just seemed weird. And she'd rather not think about ever having to use it.

One other thing did bother her though. "So err, why did you actually give me advice? That seems like a nice thing to do considering I just kinda chased you here. Err, unless it wasn't advice but like, a warning. Oh, it was probably that, wasn't it."

Meowstaken IdentiFies

"Because what happens out in these alleyways, it's not pretty," Fidelia stated frankly. And probably quite obviously. Skyside is certainly a city with a reputation to it, after all. Surely Elizabeth wouldn't be so naive as to not do some digging into the area where her target resided in, right?

"Also I don't mug people anymore. Which is probably the nicest thing people with knives do out here."

[Recaiden]

"He's alive and bound in a tomb to prevent an apocalypse!" So still alive, still has a tomb he can swear on the sanctity of.

Living doesn't seem as convincing an argument as Miri hopes, as these girls are experienced with living in poor conditions, and wouldn't mind dying if it's in luxury. And also he's promised to teach them magic, and that's very tempting. They climb in, though the Lyseni seems apologetic.

"You're-" Miri looks at the girls sadly for a moment and then turns away. She knows that taking the risk of going with Benedict won't pay off like they hope, but has failed to convince them of it. Getting them out of there would be for their own good, but it would take something stupidly risky to do it. What does she have to work with, when staying in this market is riskier every moment?

"Arron, can you get us out of here?" Benedict retreated to inside the carriage, so hopefully he's made easier progress with the skeleton horses without someone trying to put him to sleep.

Oh, and an idea occurs to her just then. If she can't convince all three of them, maybe she can convince just one, who doesn't have anything to protect her mind. Focusing on just the Lyseni as she climbs into the carriage, she tries to 'remind' the slave of the prisoners in Benedict's dungeon, the bloody summoning of the rakshasa, and the fact that Miri has demonstrated magic here and would surely be willing to teach her.

[Rebonack]

[Drug Bust]

Whoop, there we are time to go!

Zee is falling back and wishing she had an easier way to get everyone's attention. Can she imply directions with random noises? She isn't totally sure and doesn't want to confuse the situation more than it already is. For that reason she's heading back toward the direction they had came in.

And of course breaking down her rifle.

No reason for that thing to be out people might get suspicious and/or shooty.

What's the general attitude like?

People all fleeing for cover?

Assuming this is just another gang war?

She tries to get a read on what people are doing nearby. That'll make it easier to slip away.


[Abandoned Crematorium]

Black goop and pet maggots.

Why are mortals so weird?

Honestly the cherub has no idea. Though then he's hearing some slander from the other room.

"I don't eat people's livers that's gross and dumb!" he yells from across the room. "I just want out of this stupid box so I can finish my dumb quest! I'm sick of people sticking me with needles."

Then he crosses his arms and huffs petulantly. "You jerks probably don't even have anything worth looting."

[Earl of Purple]

Shopping Trip

"Depends on how good you are at riding, really. The horses are mine, they'll do what I want, but they don't look to be comfortable rides." Not least because they didn't come with any saddles- or even a blanket or bellyband to pad the bones when sat on.

The Lyseni stops getting in and runs over, wearing her dress. She's quite pretty- probably more than quite- and Arron can't stop staring. The tiefling reaches out to grab for her, but misses.

The bronze-faced manservant climbs aboard the carriage, sitting in the driver's seat and gesturing imperiously forward as the vehicle starts to roll. It's reasonably slow at the moment; without the horses it can't get up to a decent speed quickly.

The Lyseni looks a bit spooked. She knows the memories she was given weren't her own, and that Benedict was doing unpleasant things in them, but she only has intuition telling her they're real memories and not something Miri has edited or changed or even made up totally.

[Shadowcaller]

[Drug Bust]

Minerva wouldn't be staying around to put out the fire, the explosion had spelled the end for this place so what would one more fire do? Probably for the best anyway in case any infection remained in this awful place.
Thus she will retreat back towards the gunslinger. Quite pleased that everything had gone relatively smoothly.
Once she felt she was a safe enough distance away she will stop and turn to the gunslinger and her sister. "Good job, we've cleansed this place and put an end to their operations here. Now all we need to do is find Zee again."

[Abandoned Crematorium]

Anika isn't leaving, why would she be leaving? She's gonna help open those crates of course. She can't really provide any insight into their contents but she could do the menial work at the very least.
"Alright, so it's mostly weird stuff. Got it. Won't touch anything." Though if there are any gloves around or offered to her, she's gonna put on those before she starts.

This wasn't the first time she encountered weird stuff like this.
Then she hears the cherub and raises an eyebrow. "Um, I'm guessing that thing counts as 'weird stuff'? Probably shouldn't talk to it, right?"

[Recaiden]

"Depends on how good you are at riding, really. The horses are mine, they'll do what I want, but they don't look to be comfortable rides." Not least because they didn't come with any saddles- or even a blanket or bellyband to pad the bones when sat on.

The Lyseni stops getting in and runs over, wearing her dress. She's quite pretty- probably more than quite- and Arron can't stop staring. The tiefling reaches out to grab for her, but misses.

The bronze-faced manservant climbs aboard the carriage, sitting in the driver's seat and gesturing imperiously forward as the vehicle starts to roll. It's reasonably slow at the moment; without the horses it can't get up to a decent speed quickly.

The Lyseni looks a bit spooked. She knows the memories she was given weren't her own, and that Benedict was doing unpleasant things in them, but she only has intuition telling her they're real memories and not something Miri has edited or changed or even made up totally.

Oh, the carriage can move on its own, and not just drift to be pulled by the horses. That's very convenient for Benedict.

Miri holds onto the horses'... spine(?) with one hand, and leans over to offer the other hand to the Lyseni, to help her up onto the same horse, sitting in front of her.

"Let's get out of Skyside first, worry about comfort later."

As it happens, she's terrible at horseback riding. But she doesn't have to direct the horse or anything. Just avoid falling off. How hard can that be?

[Earl of Purple]

Shopping Trip

Skeleton horses make the coach faster, but aren't always welcome and can prove unreliable, particularly if caught in an ambush- they tend to aim to disable the vehicle, and destroying the beasts of burden would usually achieve that.

The Lyseni gets helped up on the horse, and frowns a little at the discomfort of riding it. Arron calls over from his horse. "Um, some bad news. These horses can't fly, I don't think. We can probably get out of here somehow, though." They have two wizards on their side, four undead horses and an undead tree-drake.

[Hattish Thing]

[Olympian Extractions - Factory Floor]

Ms. Meggie smirks as she leans back in her chair.

The foreman is genuinely invested in having this investigation pursued.

As Calm Reed scours her spirit for secrets, lies, and hidden things, the foreman flashes a look towards her. "Well, would you look at that?" she spits, some quantity of vitriol in her voice. "Your kind just ain't got manners anymore, huh?" She raises a brow before crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't telling the whole truth, that much was clear.

"Of course they have," she sneers. "It's what anarchists do, after all. Ain't go no job, ain't got no family. No prospects." An evil little look settles upon her fat face.

"They're the enemy, you know." She licks her lips. "We're at war, and you know why? Because poverty is contagious. It spreads like a cancer."

"They don't want their little lives, their place in the world." It was as simple as that, really. Wasn't it?

"You can ask the wall what we say to those who don't want their lives."

---

[Abandoned Crematorium]

Dr. Valiance glances casually towards the spooky crate.

Lots of spooky stuff all over the place, wasn't there? This Payne guy was a real nut.

The scientist will actually move to prevent Anika from opening any of the crates. "Uhh, hey - I don't really trust these," he warns. "I've never met a, uhh - talking box that didn't try to eat my fingers." He crouches down beside the cherub crate, raising a brow as he looks it over. "Yeah, yeah. These have to go straight to the lab, actually. Gonna be a pain in the ass. Bummer."

---

[Drug Bust]

After some time, the colorful goblin will return!

Her pockets are weighed down by quite an excessive number of stolen pills.

With narrowed eyes, she barks a question up at Minerva. "Oi, muckle wifie," she chitters, "whaur neist, eh? Ah didnae sign up fur a war."

[Earl of Purple]

Drug Bust

That's the Followers severely hampered, and a cultist slain. One left, now, and the Gunslinger and her pack of armed girls are also withdrawing. The fire spreading through the warehouse is giving the surviving Followers something more important to do. Specifically, saving their workers and all their drugs.

The onlookers are mostly diving for cover, assuming it's a deal gone bad or one gang impugning on another's turf or an internal gang argument gone too far. Mostly they don't know and generally they don't care. Some because they're dosed up on Docility, others because this happens quite regularly. The ones that do care have a motive, to sell the info to another gang that can take advantage of the weakness or to try and use the distraction to steal from the Followers or other onlookers.

Zee should find Minerva, Larza and the girls where she expects. Some of the girls are wearing better clothing, now, having taken coats and trousers from dead Followers in the chaos. They've all now got shoes, mostly boots and trainers that are too large for them.

Abandoned Crematorium

The killder in its box hunches over and cowers away from Anika and Val as they peer inside, trying to hide where it's been dissolving the perspex to try and escape.

"We can probably check some of these." Those two live samples weren't the only crates Payne had. One, a long wooden box, is marked with Cyrillic letters. Opening it reveals it's filled with seeds, like a sycamore seed but with three blades not two. Val probably isn't familiar with triffids; Felicity certainly isn't, and doesn't recognise the seeds. Another is filled with straw padding glass jars filled with deep-sea fish preserved in formaldehyde. The third is a metal box padlocked shut, and they didn't take the key.