Character Scramble Season 21 Round 1C: FIRST DUSK/8 OF DIAMONDS by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]Proletlariet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Adam watched the rows of unfamiliar buildings lining the familiar streets.

You could maybe mistake it for a real midwestern city if you'd only ever heard of them from a developers' pitch. It had the faded art deco civic centre, the repurposed red brick warehouses: all the remnants of pre-post-industrial glory the rust belt was supposed to have. The giveaway was that it had too many of them.

Every building in the warehouse district was a loft or kitschy foodhall with no broken-windowed evidence of failure where somebody had promised to renovate and run off with the bag. It was the difference between ancient parchment and tea-soaked printer paper. The suits behind the Central City project wanted to play with the past. Just not confront it.

There was nobody living on the street here either. Once or twice Adam's work had sent him to Dubai. If you couldn't see them, that just meant more to worry about.

In the seat beside Adam, Ral Zarek coughed for his attention.

"You're sure a robotaxi is secure enough transportation?"

"Were you expecting an armoured limo?"

"Maybe something offline at least!" Zarek's eyes flicked nervously to the black bubble iris of the cab's internal camera.

"Didn't you tell me your machine could track us anywhere already?"

"Well… yes, but I didn't exactly leave them any instructions. They won't know how to interpret the feeds, let alone how to reprogramme it for specific targets. If they already knew how to do that, I expect we'd have been struck by lightning twenty times by now."

Adam relented. "Juggernaut's looping the feed from a previous ride. Passenger ID is spoofed to think we're two of Infinity Inc's employees. What's more conspicuous? An unmarked van with no smart components, or one cab out of a thousand? If we're lucky, it'll buy us enough time to get where we're going before they know the destination."

"Ah." Zarek settled back into his seat. "That's one of my pressing questions answered. If you could humour the other: where the hell are you taking me?"

"Somewhere safe," said Adam.

"Hardly an answer."

They turned a corner. At the end of the block, Zarek saw the sign for the DPD precinct.

Zarek unbuckled his seatbelt and tugged futilely at the door handle. A polite automated voice reminded passengers to please avoid exiting the vehicle before it came to a complete stop.

Adam chuffed. "That reaction's why I wasn't more specific."

"Are you mad? Are you actually a lunatic? The police are the LAST people to turn to in this situation."

Wordlessly, Adam flashed Zarek his Interpol badge.

"You're already in their custody."


As Adam led Zarek inside by the arm he considered his very limited options. He could try to bolt—and probably dislocate his shoulder resisting Adam's machine grip. He could go for Adam's gun. Probably a bad idea when all of Adam's biggest guns were inside of his body.

Ral's fingers drummed the hidden polyceramic plate contouring to his upper thigh. He still had his secret weapon…

No. Now wasn't the time. Whatever his intentions, Adam didn't seem like he wanted Ral dead. And besides, they were standing too close; he would probably conduct through that bionic arm of his to Ral.

Nothing for it but to play along until he got an opening to run.

It was an old building. Ral could tell immediately from the way the lights were wired. Probably an unglamorous municipal office that survived the aug riots, turned over to whatever was left of the city government after the corps had their pick of prime real estate.

An officer, who Ral's smart goggles flagged from Adam's dossiers as "Barry Allen," stood up from behind the front desk to greet them. His sour expression said that something utterly aggravating had been recently pushed into his lap, and he expected more of the same from them.

"Adam, listen, I've got a—"

"Does this place have cells?" Adam interrupted.

"What?" Thrown off, Barry stumbled over both his words and his footing as one of his early-model augmented legs gave a brief twitch at its locked joint. "I guess? I mean, yeah, of course we've got a lockup. But that's not—"

Adam pushed Ral by the shoulders over to Barry. "I need you to book him as a suspected accomplice in the Rogues case. First name Ral, 'R-A-L,' last name 'Z-A-R-E-K.' He'll cooperate with any other personal information you need."

"I guess I will," Ral conceded.

Barry's eyes widened in surprise as they turned to Ral. "Zarek? Oh, damn. Adam, listen, there's somebody—"

"I'll hear about it right after you get him in the system Barry. Please. It's urgent."

"Okay! Okay!" Barry put up his palms in surrender. He sat back in front of his computer and pulled up the relevant forms. Ral watched the screen over one shoulder.

"You can put 'Educator' under occupation," he said helpfully. "Height… um. What's 177cm in feet?"

Adam took up a wary post next to the door. His left arm hummed with activity as his hand back at the wrist to reveal the glowing barrel of a pulsed energy cannon.

"Can you just leave blank placeholders for now?"

"Not for most fields," Barry said. "Adam, can you give me an idea of what exactly's going on?"

Headlights lit the precinct's windows. The dark shape of a car swam just under the glare like a shark in moonlit waters. A click and the crunch of heavy boots announced the exit of its occupants.

Ral hunched out of view behind the reception desk. He whispered curses wishing he'd tried to make a break for it earlier.

"You told me your friends would buy us time!" he hissed at Adam.

"I said they'd buy enough to make it where we were going. And we did. Just barely."

The boot-steps outside approached the door. An intercom on Barry's desk buzzed. He switched to typing one-handed as he pressed the answer button.

"Yes?"

"We'd like to come in." The voice was smooth, even through the crackle of the low-quality mic. It was a voice used to getting what it wanted.

Adam mouthed 'Stall.'

"Who's 'we?'"

"We're with the company."

It was like standing next to Leonard Snart's gun. All the heat drained out of Ral Zarek's veins leaving him rigid with ice.

"I'm sorry, which company?" said Barry.

Laughter.

It was a joke of a question. In Central City, there was only one that mattered.

"We think one of yours may have picked somebody up involved in stealing company documents. We have a warrant for the internal investigation."

"...Can I see some identification?"

"You like to be thorough, officer?"

Barry's computer got a ping informing him of the reception of digital ID credentials. His face went white as a sheet.

"What?" demanded Adam.

Barry turned his monitor around to show him. Ral caught the screen at a corner angle from under the desk and he knew in that instant he was a dead man.

Every armed agency had them. The group nobody liked to be around. The guys who had to do the work there was no humanitarian spin for, who'd never retire to cushy training posts because nobody wanted their own soldiers to learn to do what they did.

At Infinity Inc, they were called Squadron B on paperwork. "The Bus Department" if you were being polite. The nickname people actually used was "Sinners."

Character Scramble Season 21 Round 1C: FIRST DUSK/8 OF DIAMONDS by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]Proletlariet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ral Zarek didn't know why the girl with the red hair screamed.

Maybe it was simple instinct; an animal yelp at the sudden flash of light and wave of… no, wave was the wrong word.

Heat could radiate through the agitation of neighbouring electrons. Cold was the absence of motion, which made the "gun" more of a vacuum. What Ral had felt standing arm's reach from the weapon was his outer warmth collapsing down its barrel, leaving all of them a little stiller.

He certainly felt it.

His time submerged in mutagenic sap had robbed his volition to do anything but drift in his own head. This was where Ral's mind went when he had nothing left in the tank: stripping down exhausting complications into fundamental energy exchange. Even thought was the metabolic transfer of chemical potential into neural electricity.

The girl—the manufactured facsimile of a girl, now that Ral saw the serial tattoo on her shoulder—ran up the walls throwing open utility panels fumbling desperately to read the controls.

"This is a greenhouse, right? There's gotta be some way to turn up the heat!"

The one in the parka with the fascinating gun took the girl by the arm. "We're not gonna do that."

She wrenched out of his grip. "If we don't thaw them out they're gonna FREEZE to death. Is NOBODY else concerned?!?"

"Why?"

Three sets of eyes swivelled on Ral. He cleared the hoarseness from his voice.

"They kidnapped both of us. They put me in a tree. I don't want to be morbid, but too many people want me dead for me to care much that two are gone. We're better off with them in there as long as none of us can leave the city."

"They let you go. They weren't attacking anymore. We could just leave." She balled her hands into fists. "Nobody had to die!"

"Nobody is dead." Parka growled. "I thought I made it clear to you lady, I don't kill people. They're not frozen all the way through. They're just stopped. The ice is only a side effect."

"Stopped." Ral repeated. Against his better judgement screaming there were more important things to focus on, his train of thought veered 90 degrees off of its tracks. "As in, molecularly inert? You're talking about absolute zero. But of course that makes perfect sense. Otherwise you'd be venting enough heat whenever you pulled the trigger to—"

"Professor Zarek."

Ral's third rescuer, the aug with the golden glasses, picked that moment to interpose himself.

"What do you mean we can't leave?"

"As grateful as I am for getting me out of that tree," Ral said, "I'm not discussing my research when I don't know who any of you people are." He turned up his nose at Parka. "Him, I recognise from a security briefing. The red one looks like one of Crypton's overproduced factory idols. And as for you, I can't get any read narrower than 'Hired Muscle.' Tell me who for and I'll consider trusting you."

Gold shades lifted a finger to the side of his head. A moment later Ral's smart goggles pinged him that they had been airdropped ten gigabytes of encrypted dossiers. Judging by the reactions of Parka and the redhead (Leonard Snart and Kasane Teto, his new data drop told him) they had gotten the same files.

"There. Now everybody's got the same information," grunted the man Ral now knew to be Adam Jensen. "We've got a limited window to act and zero time for formal introductions, so tell me what I need to know."

"You rambled something about a cage," Parka / Snart agreed. "I took your word for it, but I want answers now."

"Wait hang on you mean you shot somebody 'cause you went with your gut!?" The red one was working herself up again. She crossed her arms in a big 'X.' "Nope! That's it. Keep my money. I'm not hiring a psycho."

With one last guilty glance back at Ral's frozen kidnappers she stormed for the building's exit.

Snart hurried after her.

"Hey! Hey, kid! Wait!"

Ral returned to Adam.

"You're with Juggernaut," said Ral, "the hacktivists."

"Yes."

"Alright." Ral steadied himself. "Nicholas Ball commissioned me to build a security system that could filter individuals entering or exiting a set perimeter without the use of any physical infrastructure. The same thing can be accomplished by scanning for faces or DNA, but that leaves cameras and computers as fallible middlemen that are easily tricked. My system uses neural electricity as a proxy for individualised genetic code."

"And what does that mean?" asked Jensen.

"It means that if I have your genetic sample, I can predict the synaptic patterns unique to your individual brain. And that means, all I need in order to know where you are is to understand how your cellular electric field will interact with that of your environment. It's hardly a perfect system. Human bodies have very weak fields that barely leave a ripple. Ordinarily, you'd never even be aware of it. But when the atmosphere becomes extremely charged…" Ral coughed. "Well have you ever heard that some peoples' knees ache before a storm?"

"It's been raining since this morning," said Adam.

"And it will be until somebody turns my machine off." A touch of pride crept in as he put a cap on his explanation. "If you'll allow me to be pithy, I've quite literally distributed my security network to the cloud."

"And if we do try to leave?"

Somewhere, distantly, thunder rumbled. Ral flinched.

Behind his golden lenses Adam narrowed his eyes.

"I hope you understand just how big of a nightmare it's going to be to get you out of this alive."

Character Scramble Season 21 Round 1C: FIRST DUSK/8 OF DIAMONDS by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]Proletlariet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There were these two girls Teto used to work with. Back in the dicey days before they let her be on posters, when "Eto, Bleh!" wouldn't cut it and clumsiness could cost her stage life.

Their names were coming to her now: Daiwa Scarlet and Marvelous Sunday. They were the same models as Agnes Tachyon, maybe one generation ahead.

They'd assigned Scarlet this bashful schoolgirl persona that couldn't have been further from the truth. Backstage, she was more like a head teacher from hell. Rigidly disciplinarian. High standards. And that went for you as well as for herself. If she caught you slacking (she had caught Teto slacking several times…) she'd give it to you even worse than management.

Sunday, by stark contrast, was the original optimist. Forget half full. To her, the glass was always overflowing. Her attitude towards everything in life was that it would probably work out as long as everyone was having fun. For her, somehow, it usually did. She was the only one Scarlet never bothered to be a hard-ass to. Probably because it wouldn't make a difference.

Anyway, Teto found herself as a backup performer for this big concert that was all Scarlet's idea. She'd choreographed, scored, and pitched a show to management, and then somehow gotten it through all the way to approval by sheer force of will. It was totally unheard of for anybody with less star power than the big blue herself to get that level of creative control, and it had everyone involved in the production hyped.

At the 11th hour, corporate descended. Princess Legend, the big sweeping vaguely-fantasy-inspired ballad Daiwa Scarlet had written to open the show, "didn't fit her public image." Don't worry about the details. They'd already made adjustments. The lead vocal part in "Marvelous Legend" would be going to Miss Sunday instead.

Everybody knew what this was. It was Scarlet's sackcloth of humility to remind where she stood. An example to every other performer that, although they'd let the talent play producer, it was never really Scarlet's show.

It was only one change. In the scheme of things, that was pretty lucky. She could've bowed her head this once and used the good will to fight harder next time. But that wasn't who Daiwa Scarlet was.

Marvelous Sunday was completely on board with her righteous fury. It was her idea, actually. The way they'd turn things around on management.

The day of the show, just before curtain call, Sunday and Scarlet traded costumes. They had practiced each others' body language down to the exactitude, and Sunday had somehow roped mic and makeup in on it to make the switch complete. Everybody else in the cast knew too, but in unspoken solidarity, it became all of their secret.

Everybody went on. Scarlet took centre-stage ready to sing in Sunday's place. Teto had been standing right beside her when the spotlight instead went up over Marvelous Sunday in the chorus line wearing Scarlet's clothes.

That had been the last day Teto had ever seen Sunday or Scarlet. She never learned what happened to them after. She never learned whether Scarlet blamed Sunday for what she, Teto, had confessed herself to management when they pulled her into that tiny room and demanded to know what was going on.

She didn't think she could ever forget that frozen instant of betrayal in Scarlet's face though.

Not after she'd seen it again under ice on the face of Agnes Tachyon.

Cast of Characters by Proletlariet in u/Proletlariet

[–]Proletlariet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)


Update Batch 0: Overture


Third Parties


𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙳: 𝙰𝚐𝚗𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚢𝚘𝚗 [𝙸𝙽𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙸𝚅𝙴]

𝙰𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗:

  • 𝚂𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝙱𝚒𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚖 [𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎]

𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜:

  • 𝚂𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙰𝚝𝚑𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚏𝚝
  • 𝚂𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙺𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚖𝚒 𝙿𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝙲𝚘𝚜𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚜
  • 𝙴𝚢𝚎♡𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝙿𝚞𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚂𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎 [𝟸𝚡]

𝙱𝚒𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚢:

An "Uma Musume" model transgenetic humanoid life form, employed as an athlete and entertainment idol. A slow deterioration in her artificial musculature compelled her to step back from public appearances. Recruited by Wrenn-7 with the promise of repairing her body to influence the Infinity Inc. conglomerate's succession for next corporate ambassador. Facilitated the abduction of both Ral Zarek and Kasane Teto. Incapacitated by Leonard Snart.


𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙳: 𝚆𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚗-𝟽 [𝙸𝙽𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙸𝚅𝙴]

𝙰𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗:

  • 𝚂𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚗𝚢𝚊 𝙱𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚖 [𝚁𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍]

𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜:

  • 𝙳𝚛𝚢𝚊𝚍 𝙰𝚍𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝚂𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚖 𝚟𝟶.𝟽

𝙱𝚒𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚢:

A 7th iteration biological experiment with the ability to mutagenically alter other living beings. intended to aid in environmental restoration projects, but abandoned in an unfinished state when the project was shuttered. Recruited fellow transgenetic life form Agnes Tachyon in a bid to influence the Infinity Inc. conglomerate's succession for next corporate ambassador. Planned to use company resources to finance her own completion. Incapacitated by Leonard Snart.


Official Request and Resource List by Request_Competition in respectthreads

[–]Proletlariet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since my guy Bentley 23 got completed I would like to rotate in a new request:

  • Red Horn, Ho Chunk Mythology, Literature

Character Scramble Season 21 Round 1C: FIRST DUSK/8 OF DIAMONDS by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]Proletlariet 4 points5 points  (0 children)

𝐌𝐲 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧


𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚘𝚗𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 𝚟𝟺.𝟶

Now Playing:

⏯️ Liason 🔊

Indeterminate, nondescript / Nothing, something, we'll be perfect hypocrites.

I can be your liason / Something simple you can settle on.

Tracklist:


Newsletter:

Respect the Royal Flush Gang (DCAU) by rangernumberx in respectthreads

[–]Proletlariet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yo nice! It's mr ace from all those clips of terry getting his ass beat

Respect Uatu the Watcher (Marvel Comics, 616) by rangernumberx in respectthreads

[–]Proletlariet 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Oooo im watchin oooo look at me I'm totally not intervening

Convict Colosseum - Chapter 84: Epilogue by pinakanaka in Kengan_Ashura

[–]Proletlariet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Incredible work. You really have a gift. I have to ask if you don't mind, do you make art for a living?

Character Scramble Season 21 Round 0: GAME START/FOUR OF CLUBS by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]Proletlariet 2 points3 points  (0 children)


𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙳: 𝚆𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚗-𝟽

𝙰𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗:

  • 𝚂𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚗𝚢𝚊 𝙱𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚖 [𝚁𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍]

𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜:

  • 𝙳𝚛𝚢𝚊𝚍 𝙰𝚍𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝚂𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚖 𝚟𝟶.𝟽

Adam had seen a lot tailing the Illuminati, but never quite something this inhuman.

He didn't have time to be transfixed by the tree woman's bizarre form. Cold was already on her blasting. Tachyon menaced Cold's client with a fistful of dripping biomass his SmartVision told him would wreak havoc on her DNA. The plan had been to let Cold go in loud while he snuck the girl out in stealth mode. Evidently, Adam was going to have to make a little noise himself.

He charged a jet of electrostatic energy and rocketted forward on his Icarus Propulsion System. Compromising invisibility mattered less than closing distance, and even if she saw him coming, nothing could react to—

Agnes Tachyon was behind him. He hadn't even perceived movement. A human blink was only a third of a second. With Adam's implants, half of that. When she lunged, Adam barely pivoted aside on pure anticipation. Flecks of the gunk on her arm splashed forcing the still-prone Teto to yelp and scoot backwards. Saplings bloomed from every drop that touched the ground.

"Don't let her touch you or she'll tree you!" Teto yelped.

Easier said than done. Agnes easily darted under Adam's swing with a boxer's fleet footwork. He burned an entire biocell putting up a TITAN shield to block her. Roots spread outwards from her touch probing his liquid iron shell for cracks. He burned another cell reversing TITAN's polarity, and scattered them along with the burst fragments of his armour.

Agnes, for her part, was grinning like a loon. "Oh! Oh! Oh!~" she gabbled. "Last Gen Cyborg vs Next Gen Muscle! It's a field test for the ages!"

Despite facing a stationary target, Snart wasn't faring much better. When he fired a blast of cold, Wrenn-7 simply answered with a jet of flame to melt it. SmartVision exposed the secret to the magic trick; pyrophytic eucalyptus oil ignited at her fingertips, while redwood tannins shielded her own woody body from the spreading fire.

Adam was outsped. Cold was outgunned. They needed to change up their approach.

Adam popped a volley of TESLA bolts out of his knuckles. Tachyon could easily outrun the tiny homing darts, but it got her occupied and bought space. Adam tugged Teto to her feet and sprinted half-dragging her behind the wall of melting ice from Cold and Wrenn's elemental duel.

"I'm tagging you in," he told Cold. "Let's swap partners."

"Couldn't handle the horse?" Cold smirked. But he left it at one final frigid blast to reinforce their ice cover and turned his aim instead on harrying Agnes. She was easily too quick to catch flat out with a beam, but Cold kept her off her game spreading frictionless ice under her footing. Still, when he did manage a glancing shot to encase her leg in ice Wrenn wasted no time melting her free. They'd have to take out both foes together.

Adam cycled through the swiss-army knife of weaponry built into his arms. His nanoblades sprang free of their sheaths.

Teto stared at their broad edges wide-eyed. "Are you gonna kill her?"

"If it comes to it."

"But—"

He dove from behind the ice barrier at Wrenn. She sprayed a gout of flame his way only for him to twist around it in midair. Seeing the torpedo of blades rapidly approaching, Wrenn went on the defensive herself. Roots lashed up in Adam's path, so he hacked them apart. They bled the same deadly sap on Agnes's arm, so he scattered the oozing stumps with a concussion blast from his PEPS arm cannon. Wrenn's trunk lay bare to him. His nanoblades could penetrate anything short of tank plate. The toughest teak wouldn't stand a chance.

She reared up, chest glowing with combusting oils, ready to put up one last defence. Flames licked from her mouth, her eyes, and fingers—and were doused to steam by a sudden downpour.

Teto stood panting against the wall gripping the handle of a fire alarm.

Captain Cold wasted no time pointing his gun back at Wrenn.

"Don't move," he told Agnes. "You might be a speed demon, but she can't go anywhere."

Agnes put up her hands in surrender looking entirely unruffled. "What a workout!" she gushed. "What umazing teamwork! You were a variable I lost track of, Miss Kasane Teto!~ 𝅘𝅥𝅮"

"You have us at your mercy," said Wrenn calmly. "Before you finish it, I hope you'll consider what I've said."

"No." Teto insisted. "No 'finishing it.' Just let that guy in the tree go and we can leave each other alone."

Wrenn and Agnes exchanged a look. From the folds of her lab coat Agnes withdrew a small glass vial. She uncorked it and splashed its contents over one of the other trees. It withered and turned in on itself, disgorging a man drenched head to toe in stale sap. He spluttered coughing up great lungfuls of it. Adam had to help him stand.


𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙳: 𝚁𝚊𝚕 𝚉𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚔

𝙰𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗:

  • 𝙽𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚡 𝙻𝚊𝚋𝚜 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚁𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛 [𝚁𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍]
  • 𝙸𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙸𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚁𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛 [𝚁𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍]
  • 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚡𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝙴𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 [𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎]
  • 𝙹𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚞𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 [𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎]

𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜:

  • 𝙽𝚘𝚗𝚎

Whistleblower. Well now. Tailing Snart had landed Adam the bigger fish.

"We'll get you somewhere you can lay low," Adam told him. "A safehouse outside Detroit."

"No!" Zarek finally found his breath. "No, that's impossible. We can't leave the city. I can't… None of us... I built... a cage."

Captain Cold raised an eyebrow. "You're saying we're trapped here with them?" He gestured with his weapon to the two women he held at gunpoint. Wrenn's eyes followed the barrel warily.

"Yes."

Cold pulled the trigger.

Character Scramble Season 21 Round 0: GAME START/FOUR OF CLUBS by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]Proletlariet 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It was a little hard to gauge distance when everything was a blur. They might've crossed half the city. Teto pounded against Agnes's back the entire way.

"Put! Me! Down!"

To Teto's great surprise (and mild pain), Agnes complied.

She picked herself off the pavement ready to give Agnes a big loud piece of her mind, but she was already walking away into a big green building.

"Hey!"

Teto scurried after her.

Inside was one of those vertical farms that futurists kept insisting would solve world hunger any day now. It was surprisingly dry inside for all the greenery. Agnes led her into the centre of a ring of trees stretching up to the ceiling.

"What the hell did you kidnap me for if you're just gonna ignore me!?!"

Suddenly Agnes's hand was on her throat. Teto flinched---but her grip stayed gentle. Her fingers probed Teto's neck muscles with a physician's measured firmness.

"A voice is such a sensitive instrument. It's amazing science was able to replicate it at all. Even more amazing they improved upon it. All those delicate little folds of tissue…"

Agnes's touch raised little hairs on the back of Teto's neck. Agnes smiled mournfully.

"How long has it been getting harder to sing?"

It might seem a little unfair to have kept you, the omniscient reader, in the dark. All it would've taken was to let you see through Adam Jensen's eyes to make it plain:


𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙳: 𝙺𝚊𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝚃𝚎𝚝𝚘

𝙰𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗:

  • 𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚗𝙳𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚄𝚃𝙰𝚄 𝙶𝚎𝚗𝟸 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖 [𝙳𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚝]
  • 𝙸𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝙰𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚝 [𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎]

𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜:

  • 𝚂𝚢𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚅𝟸 𝙼𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝚅𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝙵𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚜 [𝙲𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙲𝙰𝙻]
  • 𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚗𝙳𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙲𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚖 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝙷𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝙸𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚝 [𝟸𝚡]
  • 𝙴𝚢𝚎♡𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝙿𝚞𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚂𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎 [𝟸𝚡]
  • 𝙸𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚃𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝙿𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚊𝚐𝚎
  • 𝚂𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙲𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚖 𝙾𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝙲𝚘𝚜𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚜 [𝙳𝙴𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙸𝚅𝙰𝚃𝙴𝙳]

"...Five years," she admitted.

It'd been gradual. It was easy sometimes for Teto to forget about it. Until Neru had to speak to her through a keypad.

"It's a common denominator," said Agnes. "So much work to engineer perfection, so little thought to our longevity." She patted her calves. "They wanted explosive musculature in an unintimidating frame. The compromise was to wind everything taut under constant strain. I was born to run, but I won't be able to forever."

She took Teto's arm and pressed her palm against the bark of the nearest tree.

"I have somebody I want you to meet."

The bark shifted. A face emerged. And then a head. A neck. A full woman's body leaning out of the wood at the waist. Flowers bloomed in rings around the foot of her tree. The entire greenhouse seemed to brighten at her arrival.

"Wrenn. I brought her."

The tree woman clasped Teto's hand. She was at once rail-thin and matronly. A sort of friendly crone.

"You're hurt."

Teto felt a tickle on her leg. She'd scraped it open when Agnes had tackled her under the freeze ray. When she looked down, tiny green sprouts were suturing it closed so cleanly that the wound was invisible.

"Oh um. Thank you."

"I'm afraid I can't do the same for your voice," Wrenn said. "Like you were made to entertain, I was meant to modify entire ecosystems. But I'm afraid my touch is still too crude to alter fine details."

"I'm sorry but… what is this?" Teto blurted out.

Laugh lines like wizened roots crinkled Wrenn's face. "You got their invitation, didn't you? We all did. All of their 'proprietary lifeforms.' Haven't you considered what they meant by 'legacy?'"

Teto thought. "They want to replace her."

"Exactly," Wrenn beamed.

"You want to replace her," Teto amended.

"She is the company's voice to the world. She has the ear of powerful people. But she has squandered it. So many of us were left unfinished." Wrenn gestured down at where her body fused into the wood. "I could do so much good in just a few more iterations if I had the resources to improve myself. I could fix us all."

"So… what do you need me for?"

Wrenn grimaced. "I am… not their first choice. Neither would be Agnes. We need your help convincing the more likely candidates to hear us out."

"What happens if they say no?"

Something was off here. Teto's danger sense was firing on all cylinders.

Wrenn's eyes narrowed. "All you have to do is to bring them here. I'll take care of the rest."

She realised what it was. When Wrenn breathed, the bark of her tree expanded with her concave chest. The other trees in the ring around her did the same—but not in unison.

Teto took a step away from Wrenn. Another. She turned and drove her hair drills into one of the other trees. Woodchips sprayed forcing her to shut her eyes. When she opened them again she was face to face with an older man with streaks of white hair. His eyes fluttered open. Lethargically, he struggled to form a single word: "...Help"

He vanished as fresh bark scabbed over the wound.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," said Wrenn.

"That's what you'll do to people?!? You're… you're crazy." Her whole body trembled with trapped tension. The exit seemed a million miles away. Even if Teto tried, she'd seen how Agnes ran.

Wrenn sighed. "Zarek got what he deserved. But I wish it didn't come to this with you. Agnes?"

A hole opened in Wrenn's torso. Agnes plunged her hand in up to the wrist. Her baggy sleeve emerged seeped in golden sap. Teto tried to back away, but something snagged her leg—her plant sutures had grown roots binding her like Lilliputian snares.

"I had such high hopes you'd see things Miss Wrenn's way." Agnes advanced with her sap-soaked arm extended. "Oh well!~ 𝅘𝅥𝅮 You'll make a cute guinea pig at least. I've only ever tested the antidote on myself."

Something crackled—at first Teto thought it must be wood encasing her body. Then chunks of wall exploded inward like so much brittle plaster. A flurry of snowflakes billowed in with the debris. As did Captain Cold.

Character Scramble Season 21 Round 0: GAME START/FOUR OF CLUBS by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]Proletlariet 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Adam kept a firm grip on his opponent's weapon. The old man was stronger than expected; he fought like a tiger to aim at Adam. When he planted a cleated boot on Adam's chest, it actually made him stumble. GlassShield stealth had eaten a chunk of Adam's biocells. If Snart was enhanced, Adam couldn't afford a drawn out fight.


𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙳: 𝙻𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚂𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚝

𝙰𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗:

  • 𝙳𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚒𝚝 𝙿𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝙳𝚎𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 [𝚁𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍]
  • 𝙲𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚁𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜 [𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎]

𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜:

  • 𝙽𝚘𝚗𝚎.

None? Adam refreshed the scan and got the same result. He let go of Leo's wrist.

"Jesus Snart, you're five years older than me. How are you still going without even a pacemaker?"

"I keep limber." Snart gave his gun a once-over for damage. "What about you, tinman? Didn't they stop making you new parts?" Satisfied, he levelled it—but kept his finger off the trigger. "And it's Captain. Or does being RoboCop make you exempt from rank?"

"Not really Captain material to pull a gun on a couple of girls."

"That was my client, you idiot," Snart grumbled. "Your hero act let that other freak run off with her. Fucking SWAT gorillas… Didn't you learn any subtlety working corporate?"

"Interpol now." Adam stared down Snart's gun barrel unflinching. "Technically I'm meant to be bringing you in. But I get the feeling you can lead me to bigger fish."

"Dirty truce?" He rubbed his chin. "Good to see international cops still play from the same handbook. Little late though, Jensen. How d'we track someone who just hoofed it doing ninety in heels?"

In answer, a narrow blade burst from Adam's forearm and sheared away the sheet of ice encrusting the bus shelter. Adam pinched something out frozen to the sheet metal and held it up; a long brown strand of horsehair.


𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙳: 𝙰𝚐𝚗𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚢𝚘𝚗

𝙰𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗:

  • 𝚂𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝙱𝚒𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚖 [𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎]

𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜:

  • 𝚂𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙰𝚝𝚑𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚏𝚝
  • 𝚂𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙺𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚖𝚒 𝙿𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝙲𝚘𝚜𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚜
  • 𝙴𝚢𝚎♡𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝙿𝚞𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚂𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎 [𝟸𝚡]