6827/Aurora Shell Analysis

Aurora Shell Analysis
Date of Scene:	12 September 2019
Location:	Planet M15
Synopsis:	A group of scientists meet with Solty Revant to discuss what they have discovered about the Aurora Shell and the Blastfall before the local authorities attempt to arrest them and contain the information they discovered.
Cast of Characters:	Solty Revant, William Pauwel, Corona Arclite, Staren, 7116, August Kohler
Tinyplot:	The Aurora Shell and The Blastfall

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Solty Revant has posed:
     Those attending (or spying on) the meeting about the Aurora Shell that covers the world simply known as 'The Planet' are given directions to an abandoned warehouse in the industrial district of the metropolis simply called 'The City'. Those who have not been here before are asked to register for an RUC ID if they want to access the city. Those who refuse are denied entry...through the main multiverse gate. But, a smaller gate is now open near where August, Corona, and Will performed their experiment and hasn't been sectioned off yet, allowing those who want to sneak into the City an access point...for now.

     The meeting place is an abandoned warehouse that Roy identified as derelict enough to carry out the meeting in secret. There was no way he was going to have them meeting at his house. The big man who is Solty's legal guardian is keeping the green-haired girl close as they wait for others to arrive, and judging by the large frown on his face and his calm but alert demeanor he is not happy about this. "This is a mistake, Solty. There's no good reason for them to keep poking at the Aurora Shell, and one very good reason for them NOT to poke at it."

     Solty blinks, then smiles. "But, if they figure out what it is we might be able to stop Blastfalls from ever happening again!" A projector has been set up for the presentation, and should be able to interface with just about any device with minimal effort.

William Pauwel has posed:
You know what's awesome?

Space. Space is awesome. Space is super-duper-gotta-go-get-there-and-land-on-the-moon awesome.

What's even more awesome is discovering that there exists, on world not entirely unlike his own, a MYSTERIOUS SPACE BARRIER that occasionally turns into lightning and viciously smites anyone who dares to reach beyond the stifling limits of their home star.

That's just, the most awesome. Almost as awesome as his awesome talking gun. And Will finally has the opportunity to talk about this weird plasma bolt generator that he's been studying for the past while. He's positively giddy!

"Hello everyone!" Will chirps with all the good cheer of someone who isn't about to make August Kohler's life extremely difficult. "I'm here today to talk to you all about this particular planet's ionospheric force field and the plasma-based anti-orbital effect that's been keeping absolutely everyone on this world grounded for as far as people can remember."

Will frowns sympathetically at Roy, then says maybe a little more gravely: "There's a really good reason for us /to/ poke at the Aurora Shell. I'm pretty sure this is extremely important for /everyone/ living on this planet. Life-or-death important. Let me explain."

The scifi cowboy flips open a panel on his cybernetic wrist and pushes a button. The projector flips from a cheery introductory slide (featuring a smiling, thumbs-upping, cartoon Will) to a photo of the aurora shell's characteristic mulitcolored curtain hanging above the clouds, beyond a moderately-sized building. "As we all have seen, the Aurora Shell is a constant on this world. Whether you're in the city or far out in the wilderness--" Will pushes the button again, the picture transitions to a shot of the land outside city limits, the Aurora is still present. "You can't get away from it. It's always overhead, no matter what. That got me thinkin' that maybe it was some kind've anti-satellite defense system, but it made no sense that somethin' like that would be pointed at the surface. When I sent up another probe to find out, well. What I discovered was pretty disturbin'."

He clicks the button again. A simplified diagram of what appears to be the planet's surface, its atmosphere, and the aurora shell surrounding it appears on-screen, along with information like average atmospheric density, apparently based on a host of sensory data. "This here is a snapshot of the planet's atmosphere. D'you notice something interesting?"

William Pauwel has posed:
Will waits for a polite moment, before lifting a laser-pointer and waving it around at the space beyond the Aurora Shell. "Look here. The atmospheric density beyond the Shell is not even a fraction of what it is below. It's a step-change, essentially. You go from air below the shell to no air above the shell. Based on the high energy nature of the Aurora Shell, I'm pretty sure that the thing is acting as a barrier to hold the planet's atmosphere in place."

"I've done a few measurements on the overall size of the world and checked the gravitational constant, and it makes sense," Will shrugs. "This world is too small and too light to sustain its own atmosphere within the heliosphere of its star. The Aurora Shell appears to be an artificial atmospheric control system, though I haven't been able to pinpoint its generator yet. That brings us to--"

Click! The screen transitions to a fuzzy picture of a Thing beyond the Aurora Shell. He clicks again, and the powerpoint does a cheezy ZOOM AND ENHANCE sort of dealie-- it's probably not actually that, and Will's just being a dork and already cleaned up the image way ahead of time. It's...

Something that's definitely not natural. It looks vaguely ship-shaped, actually. "This is what we found beyond the Aurora Sphere when we went looking. I traced back the Blastfall that hit our first attempt at peeking through and discovered that a large quantity of high-energy plasma at the epicenter. Or, higher than usual, I mean." Will scratches his chin and hits the button again, showing a pair of graphs. One is a 'normal' reading from the Aurora Shell, the other is labeled 'DOOM LIGHTNING' and is... much more energetic. "I'm no plasma physicist, but I did some reading, and this sort of thing doesn't normally happen without outside stimuli. I filtered back through our video and found evidence of an energy weapon discharge-- like a laser, sort of-- that impacted the upper end of the aurora shell a split-second before the Blastfall event."

Will pauses and looks up at Everyone. "Any questions so far?"

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite at least tries to not draw too much attention to herself. She's even built a totally normal, unobtrusive looking motorcycle (you can bet it's not quite so normal 'under the hood' so to speak.) She parks it in the dingy alleyway behind the warehouse and ambles her way out and to where the locals are waiting, giving a polite greeting tip of her hat to Solty and her guardian.

Then the vixen pulls an anachronistic looking data device out of her inventory and hands it to Solty. "Here." She glances towards the projector, then shrugs and does some more rummaging through her belt pouches before finding a cluster of various connector cables and clomping that down on the device. "One of those oughta int'face with yer display o'er yonder... and if not Ah got more to try."

Staren has posed:
    Something about a dangerous weapon, and an 'aurora shell' that covers the planet. Staren hasn't been to Solty's world lately (Although the Concord still needs to raid that corrupt hospital official's house while he's in jail sometime,) and apparently he has a lot to catch up on.

    For once he's not in armor -- this is a peaceful meeting after all. There's ALWAYS the risk of the door getting kicked in by ninjas, of course, but going to peaceful meetings decked out for a fight without a specific reason is kind of a faux pas, isn't it? Of course, SOME people don't need armor. Lucky them.

    Staren walks in just at the tail end of that exchange. "What's a 'blastfall'? Good to see you again, Solty." He smiles, nodding to her and Roy, and offers a 'I-hope-we-can-work-together' look to Will. Even if they have disagreements about Will's world, they both want to do good, right?

    The presentation starts and Staren listens attentively.

    "So there's some kind of orbital installation that can zap the planet below? That's... troublesome. Whether it's out of control or in the hands of a malicious actor, we need to stop it from causing 'blastfalls' that hurt innocent civilians."

Phyllis Lancaster (7116) has posed:
Whispers of a magical rainbow shell in some place called 'The Planet' have reached further than plausible. Although some people have dismissed the rumors as another urban legend, a certain stranger knows better than to ignore the possibilities, and a bit of snooping around has led her to the warehouse in The City after registering for an ID.

Everything checks out, of course. Looking like a fairly normal civilian helps, and Phyllis soon finds herself in front of the abandoned warehouse staring at the projector from a distance. There's already several other people around, and she files into one of the spare seats like a good student!

She promptly has no idea what's being talked about by the space cowboy. There's lots of strange space words being thrown about, pictures of the Aurora Shell in question, and more space stuff. She writes maybe an entire sentence about this before just focusing on listening, furrowing her brow when the spaceship thing shows up and DOOM LIGHTNING comes up.

Also, lasers. And questions! Phyllis bites her lip as she slowly starts raising her hand, but stops when the man with the cat ears clarifies what the Blastfalls even are in slightly more understandable language.

William Pauwel has posed:
"Oh! Right uh," Will clicks forward a few slides! To a picture of a GIANT PLASMA DISCHARGE (IE a column of lightning) lancing from atmosphere to surface. Seems like it was taken with some kind of high-speed camera! "This is a blastfall. Think of it as a lightning bolt of doom from the sky that wipes out anything it touches."

Solty or Ray can elaborate if they like. He expects the big man especially would have quite a bit to say on the subject.

"Kind of sort of," Will makes a hand-wiggly motion at Staren. "It seems like the installation only responds when anything gets too close to the Aurora Shell. I'd bet it's probably a security system that someone didn't calibrate right. How is anyone supposed to get to it and repair it if it won't let anyone through? Unless there's some kind of passcode system in place, and we just don't know the security protocols."

Will shrugs! It's a mighty shrug.

"I'm more concerned about the shell itself. High-energy emissions are killer on any force field, especially one that's on all the time already anyway. I don't know how long the Aurora Shell's been active, but unless it's being properly maintained, I'm also not sure how long it'll /remain/ active, not without lookin' at the projectors myself."

Solty Revant has posed:
     Solty greets each person who shows up with a cheerful smile, then listens to the presentation. Phyllis is someone she doesn't know, but the naive and trusting Solty doesn't question her being here. Even Roy raises an eyebrow at the information, then his teeth clench. "Wait, so there's a THING up there shooting at us if we go too high?! I lost my Rita because of-" His fists clench next, and he growls before turning toward the door. "...I need to take a walk." he says, then makes his way out. Apparently he thinks Solty is pretty safe in here.

     Solty sighs softly as Roy leaves, then looks to Staren. "-The- Blastfall was something that happened about 10 years ago. It leveled about half the city and caused a lot of deaths. Almost every family in the city was affected in some way, and a large amount of families have children that they adopted after the children's parents couldn't be located. Kasha, my best friend, is one of those kids! And...Roy lost his daughter to it."

     Solty looks to Will after that. "Didn't you find some kind of nano machines after that smaller Blast you guys created, Mr. William?" she asks.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite is adopted after being a street rat orphaned by her parents' death, so she knows how most of the families here must feel. So she takes no insult at Roy's departure.

She just leans against a wall, tail curling around her ankles as she muses. "Someone or something must be able to get up there. A system like that don't keep runnin' and doin' its thing without maintenance." She rolls her shoulders in a shrug. "Though even Ah admit it's hard to conjuncture more than theories without seein' the actual system like Will said, and Ah'm the engineer by profession."

William Pauwel has posed:
Will looks on as Roy storms off. He honestly can't blame the guy. He's... lost family to this kind of thing too. But comforting a guy like that probably isn't what Roy wants... or needs.

"That's a real good question, miss Solty. I think we're lucky in at least one regard--" Will clicks again. Click! The slide transitions to what looks like a shot of an otherwise unremarkable sky... that zooms in. And again. And again. Eventually Will just clicks the button and transitions to another slide that's obviously just an electron microscope image but he wanted to be fancy again and make it seem like he could see nanoscale features in the sky from the planet's surface. (He definitely cannot, and is instead just, as established, a giant dork).

The electron microscope has revealed, in greyscale, what look to be tiny (burnt out) machines. Nanomachines in fact, if the scale in the corner is correct. "These are what we believe are responsible for maintaining and generating the Aurora Shell. Nanomachines, each with their own individual power generator. We've analyzed the Aurora Shell and found a multilayered mesh of these things."

"Problem is," Will clicks again. The slide transitions to another graph, one with a line illustrating the average power output of a few hundred thousand of these tiny little machines... compared to the estimated power associated with a single Blastfall event. The latter is waaaaay larger than the former. "Even a large number of the nanites aren't enough to generate the power required for a plasma bolt. So that energy has to come from somewhere. Worse, we only know they're up there because one of the plasma bolts fried a significant quantity of the nanites. I've got no idea if they're able to self-replicate or if there's a factory somewhere pumping them out. In either case, they're probably not exactly infinite."

August Kohler has posed:
August Kohler learned about the meeting late. So, he arrived late. He did not bring donuts. He did, however, bring a gun holstered to his side and a deep grimace, wearing a thin coat. As he storms through the door, right as Will is presenting about nanomachines, August moves up to the stage, probably passing Roy on the way in, and comes up directly to his ear. His voice is muffled, but not enough that those actively trying to hear him can't hear what he's saying at least slightly, and his tone and mood is readable easily anyways.

"What the fuck are you doing? Why are you telling these people, Staren, that girl- who the hell is that anyways- all our intel?"

August turns over to look at the group again, briefly, narrowing his eyes, before turning back to Will, quieter. "Look, wrap this up, don't reveal anything else that isn't need-to-know, and 'the workings of what we know about the Aurora Shell' isn't need-to-know. You can't turn back time and undo this, but seriously, don't just tell people everything we know for free. That's not how we get ahead."

And then, coughing into his fist, August turns to the group. "August Kohler, you know me. Well, Staren knows me. Yeah, the Aurora Shell sucks, that's all you really need to know."

And then he moves to sit down, sucking in a breath. This is shit. Really, really shit.

Phyllis Lancaster (7116) has posed:
"So the Aurora Shell is the cause of that Blastfall event and these other doom lightnings? But... Oh." Phyllis furrows her brow in thought as the implications of all that dawns on her, the naming of The City suddenly making more sense in context. "What about disabling it? If it's that bad, maybe taking away its power source could work." She suggests, flipping her notebook open once more to start jotting more things down. She straightens up a bit when one of the older people present steps out, looking from him to the green girl and connecting some dots there.

"Or... Trying to break it? With explosions or missiles or aci-" She freezes up when another person shows up looking not happy in the slightest about all of this, keeping her jaw nice and tight as she tries not to make eye contact with him. She starts looking for an opening to get up and go nonchalantly, but she's stuck sitting there while waiting for... Something!

Maybe someone else will get up first to make this less awkward.

William Pauwel has posed:
Oh hey, that's August! Will didn't know August was gonna be here. "Hey August! What's goin' on?" He waves, seemingly oblivious to the waves of WILL KILL WILL currently radiating out of August's face. "Don't you worry," Will grins cheerfully, "I'm just tellin' folks what they need to know to help us make sure that everyone on this planet's as safe as can be!"

Beat.

"A-also, Solty asked me nicely to give a presentation. So."

Oh no.

It's Will's well-documented robogirl weakness.

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Not sure iffen it's to keep people out or keep folks -in-," Corona drawls. "Almost seems like bo--" And stops abruptly as someone else barges in, her ears twitching. Those long fennec ears aren't just for show, by the way her expression flattens she heard at least part of that whispering with her sensative hearing, and more likely reconized the voice if nothing else.

But why is he all grumpy about it--

--Oh right, Staren's here. Different faction?--

--Oops? Though Solty probably didn't care about that.

Will is at least trying to save face.

Staren has posed:
    Staren just feels awkward and doesn't comment to Roy. If the guy isn't the sort to be out collecting the dragon balls to wish his daughter back to life, Staren doesn't have any advice to offer.

    "So... the orbital device must be providing the power. Replenishing nanites, who can say -- maybe it was designed with repair in mind, or maybe blastfalls were never anticipated."

    And then August comes in and says this is all a big secret. Staren just looks at him with earnest confusion. "You... you don't want to prevent the blastfalls? Why would you need this stuff to be secret? I mean... are you worried someone out there's gonna /use/ the blastfalls to blow up the city or something? Come on, you know /I/ wouldn't do that."

Solty Revant has posed:
     August does indeed pass Roy, who rather rudely doesn't move out of the way when passing and shoulder checks August a bit. But, he does at least mutter, "Sorry." before walking off down the street, the late evening sun framing him.

     When August reaches Will and starts speaking to him, Solty's ears perk before laying down as she hears what August is saying. "But, that isn't all we need to know Mr. August! Please don't be upset with Mr. William! I asked him, like he said. I didn't know you wouldn't want to share the information!" She hesitates a moment. "But...it is like Mr. Staren says. Why wouldn't you? Mr. Staren is a good man who helped Roy and me, and he could be really helpful with trying to figure out how to fix the Aurora Shell so it doesn't hurt anyone again!"

     Solty looks to Phyllis after that. "The only problem with breaking it is we don't know where the energy is coming from, and we can't get up to the satellite or ship or whatever it is without causing another Blastfall. At least, that's what Mr. William said, I think." Solty then looks toward the door, then sighs. "Thank you for your hard work Mr. William, Mr. August, and Miss Corona. I should go find Roy." she says. She bows to the group, then takes off at a jog. "I'm Solty by the way!" she calls to Phyllis before she disappears through the door.

     Corona brings up a point, but...that point might not get an answer. Suddenly, the power goes out in the warehouse! The projector goes dark, as do all the lights. The only illumination is coming from the evening sun filtering through the windows. Then, a voice speaks up. It's a voice that those from the science team would recognize. A female voice that speaks with calm authority.

     "So, I guess your team found more than they let on. I'm afraid we are going to have to place all of you under arrest unless you erase all your data and allow an R.U.C. representative to verify that it has been removed from all other systems -and- sign a non-disclosure agreement. This information is classified. It represents a threat to the City and its people. You have 20 seconds to surrender. If you don't we will subdue you by force."

     The voice goes quiet. It would be pretty difficult to tell where it came from unless one has enhanced hearing, and even harder to see who said it in the now fairly dark warehouse.

August Kohler has posed:
August responds to Staren, and the group at large, with a sigh. "Would you share everything your R&D or science team is up to before they're even done with anything beyond basic research?" That's all he says, because August doesn't want to outright say 'I have plans for the Shell.'

But before he can say anything more or deflect, all the power goes out, and a female voice threatens them. August tugs on his gloves, pulls up a mirrored bracelet on his wrist, and speaks clearly as he glances into it.

"Come out, Dietrich."

The massive power-armored black knight manifests, holding his mechanical sword. August can't attack because he doesn't know where the threat is. So, he simply answers them.

"Go fuck yourself." Will just needs to light up the room so he can fight.

Phyllis Lancaster (7116) has posed:
A long range thing, then... Hmm. That's really tricky." Phyllis murmurs as she ponders what kinds of weird weapons could even take out something so far away. Before her imagination can run wild, though, she's brought back to reality by the talk of motives going into this presentation, and then the sudden power outage. Slipping her book into her messenger bag, Phyllis shifts around in her seat uncomfortably as she waits for the lights to come back.

Instead, there's an ominous voice. When they talk of arresting everyone, she shuffles in her seat a bit before standing up and raising her hand. "H-hey! Why are you going to arrest anyone? They're just trying to help protect the-"

And as Phyllis tries to make her plea, a massive black knight appears. She stares at it blankly for a good five seconds, and then there's a gleam in the lady's eyes as she points at Dietrich. "See? A knight like that is the type of person this.. Um. The City needs to save it from that weird space laser curtain!"

Conveniently, she ignores August's more colorful language. She may not realize Dietrich has anything to do with him yet.

Staren has posed:
    The lights go out. As the voice speaks, Staren reaches into his bag and flings handfuls of LED lights around the room. The angle is weird, but it's something. In the light, it's clear his labcoat has closed itself, and he's holding a now-empty potion vial in his other hand as the translucent field of Armor of Ithan appears around his body.

    "Look. It's too late -- You can't prove if I erased data, and the Concord will not abide by an NDA signed under duress. But let me offer you an alternative: Bring us in on this. You know we're capable people. We can protect the city together, instead of fighting eachother while your real enemies laugh themselves silly. What do you say?"

    Staren is earnest, but also suspicious. He's had to deal with too many stupid people to strongly hope these goons will turn out to be smart.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Corona Arclite doesn't even flinch when the lights of the warehouse go out from the power being cut. Or it might be that she was focusing on that voice.

Great, more conspiracy. Farther down the rabbit hole they go.

"Iffen thare's one thing worse than a grumpy guest..." No offense August, but she needed a convenient set up. "It's a party crasher being all HIGH and mighty." Hopefully someone else will pick on the clue.

Because her attention shifts to the side, a swiveling of her ear to hone in on the other scuffling sounds.

And in the one smooth motion one would expect of a gunslinger she snaps up her arm to point the direction the other movement came from, head just tipping forward a bit to make it clear she didn't have to -look- to point the derringer pistol in her hand in their direction. "Now doncha think yer gonna be sneakin' round and jumpscare us over thare, either."

William Pauwel has posed:
"Y-yeah! What she said! I couldn't possibly turn miss Solty down!" Will says, desperately trying to convince August that Cute is Justice and thus should not be resisted unless there's very good reason otherwise (like said cute thing being Also Totally Evil.*)

But then suddenly, the lights go out. The lights go out, and Will suddenly feels somewhat upset that he didn't make a second go-around to double check the perimeter. "Oh, crackers. Ain't this just the worst."

There are demands! Will huffs mightily as a pair of ominous white-blue eyes suddenly blaze in the darkness. Really they're goggles, but Will made them look like eyes because, as established, he's a dork. "This data's proprietary, AND primary-sourced! If y'all didn't want folk finding it, maybe you should've done a better job at stoppin' us from doin' the legwork!"

Then, something ELSE lights up.

It seems at first glance to be a small star igniting in the dark. In reality, it's Will's trusty firearm, blazing like the plasma torch that it so often is as he takes aim at one of the figures in the murk. "Y'all don't wanna know what Judgment here's capable of. Stand down and get the eff out of my presentation."

(*This doesn't always apply. Will has and still does perform regular maintenance on Abyssal shipgirls in return for Services Rendered and a sweet, gothy smile now and then.)

William Pauwel has posed:
Incidentally, Will conspicuously does absolutely nothing to stop August from doing August Things to these jerks.

He actually joins in pretty quick once the violencing starts happening. Turns out Judgment is precisely the kind of terrifying plasma weapon that the Blastfall seems to be.

Solty Revant has posed:
     "You first!" another voice exclaims as August says those incendiary words, and a muscular blonde that must be 6 feet tall and is wearing a black skin-tight suit with blue armor segments charges at August at blinding speed by smashing right through the thin sheet metal wall, aiming an obviously augmented punch at his middle.

     "Sylvia wait!" comes the voice from overhead before there is a sigh. "These terms are nonegotiable. That information isn't new, so you have no claim to it." the voice overhead says, now proven to belong to a fairly tall woman with pale skin and jet black hair wearing a suit similar to the blonde's except with purple armor. She leaps off the girder she was standing on and points fists at Corona and Staren, and hidden machine guns start firing on them as she somersaults downward.

     When Will brandishes his weapon and demonstrates its abilities, the small crater of a sniper round suddenly appears at his feet. "Are you really sure that's such a good idea? I wouldn't want to hurt such a cutie." comes another voice, this one belonging to a short girl with dark skin and dark brown hair, also wearing a skin-tight suit except with yellow armor this time. She is in the girders as well, but stretched out flat as any good sniper should be. But, she grins a moment later and aims at William. "But, you made your intentions clear. So...sorry~" She is pretty jovial about all this, seeming like the type who enjoys a good fight. She fires a shot at William, then at Phyllis as well. "Sorry girl. But that thing up there can't be stopped. And we have our orders." She certainly doesn't sound sorry.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Everything these people say just make Corona's subdued paranoia twitch more. Mostly because it creates more questions than actually answer anything. "Iffen it's such a 'risk' shouldn't the people know?" Her eyes narrow. "Or is this one of those things where if the 'common folk' knew more, y'all wouldn't be able to keep 'em cowed in believin' they need y'all to survive?"

She springs into action as soon as the woman's arms come up, gunfire riddling holes in the wall where she had been standing as the vixen dives and rolls out of the way. She doesn't completely escape clean, but the materials fused into her gunslinger jacket minimalize the harm done. For the time being.

She comes up on one knee, that comparitively small pistol out at arms length. But it doesn't need to be big. Not when she can snap off both of the pre-loaded rounds in the derringer with precision, aiming for one of the woman's arms in hopes of damaging it and/or her weapon.

Solty Revant has posed:
     The black-haired woman, apparently the leader, spares a breath to answer Staren as well. "This world isn't yours. We can take care of things just fine, and you people were told that investigating the Aurora Shell is forbidden. Surrender, let us erase your systems of relevant data, and sign the agreement. Otherwise, we have to take you in...or take you out."

Staren has posed:
    Machine gun bullets bounce off Staren's forcefields, and for a moment, he wants to make an example of these girls. Kill them all as an example to others for what happens when you turn down an offer of diplomacy and mercy and help from Staren Wiremu of the Concord. Broadcast the fight so everyone can see...

    But that gives him an even better idea.

    If evil forces want to kill people to keep something a secret? Then there's a better way to strike at their organization than killing.

    Staren just starts laughing as his wings appear and he blows through a warehouse window and starts flying away. "AAAAAH-ha ha ha ha ha haaaa! YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE! Ahhhahahahahahahahahahaaaa!"

    Will's entire presentation, including the party crashers and their ultimatum, go up on Multiversal streaming sites. And on local ones if Staren senses a wireless access point and leaves a tablet near it.

William Pauwel has posed:
At least, of all the things Will has gotten over, 'not shooting ladies' is one of the most useful ones. That doesn't exactly help matters much when there's bullets raining down from the girders near the ceiling. A chunk of concrete explodes near Will's ankles, dislodged by a slug of tungsten that sends shrapnel tearing upward right at his pretty-boy face.

It leaves a thin red line on his cheek that may or may not turn into a shonen protagonist scar, because even in battle, Will is Anime As Balls.

"H-hey, I remember you girls! You're just doing this to cover your own-- admittedly really cute if I'm gonna be honest-- butts! That ain't fair!" Will turns and fires with the skill of a practiced gunslinger, identifying his assailant's rough location by tracking the direction of her shot. The moment before he pulls the trigger, the brilliant plasma abruptly gives way to a rippling electrical chaos. A bolt of lightning surges into the metal girders overhead. Even if it doesn't hit her directly, that much electricity is going to make staying up there /really/ painful.

Unfortunately, it's around then that Staren decides to do Staren Things and PUTS WILL'S ENTIRE PRESENTATION UP ON THE INTERNET WITHOUT TELLING HIM.

"HEY," Will yells, "THAT'S /MY/ WORK, YOU JERK! Didn't your parents teach you not to plagiarize--" *PANG!* The sniper takes her opportunity, and a chunk of Will's reinforced arm-plating goes flying as it's torn away by the force of the impact.

"D-damnit. Staren, when we're done with this, I'm /filing a copyright claim!/ No, wait! Judgment! You've got internet. Do that! FLAG ALL HIS VIDEOS FOR PLAGIARISM!"

There's a pregnant pause.

And then a sci-fi-y, robotic voice says: Normally I'd call this exercise an example of the futile organic impulse of property. But I think this could be amusing. Consider it done.

And that's how Staren's Multiversal YouTube Account got Digital Multiverse Copyright Act-ed

Phyllis Lancaster (7116) has posed:
And oh hell, the strange women are attacking everyone. Phyllis yelps as the first of the shots ring into the air and everything starts turning into flaming swords and lasers and ominous cackling in the sky, and it's only in her haste to get out of the line of fire that she manages to avoid getting a bullet right through the gut.

Also, a skull popping out of nowhere to intercept the shot, taking the brunt of the force and leaving the rest to just leave a painful surface cut across Phyllis' arm. Looking up at the sniper in the girders, she furrows her brow as she holds her hand up, a determined glare cast upwards.

"Even though they all look like tourists here, they sound like they want to protect this City's people more than you. Especially the laughing cat man!"

Someone here believes in Staren, at least. "If you really cared about the people living here, then you should come down and meet them instead of hiding it!" She draws her hand back, then swings it forward dramatically as a bird rockets up at the girder, looking a little sickly and missing certain bird-like qualities like wings and flesh and also it's a skeletal bird.

Said bird explodes into an acidic mess when it hits the girder, threatening to take the sniper's perch down from underneath her!

August Kohler has posed:
A blonde strikes at August's center. Something moves faster. Dietrich dashes in front of the blow, taking it to the side, tearing off armor but stopping her fist, as his massive sword swings down on her in response with rapid reflexes. August leaps on Dietrich's back, grabbing hold of hand rails, and makes a wide sweep, igniting the sword at the last moment in an attempt to burn her.

And then, Staren leaks the data. August curses, but he talks to the blonde. "Your data's out there. You can't undo it. Give up...believe me, I'm as pissed as you, if for different reasons. We didn't want this."

August has ulterior motives in the first place, even if he wants to protect the people...so Staren blowing the lid on that clearly pisses him off.

Solty Revant has posed:
     The information is streamed to sites all over the Multiverse. The leader of the group freezes as she gets the word over her comms, then lets out a frustrated sound. "I don't care, Accela! Get them all taken down! Whatever it takes! That information can't just be out there! It puts every person in The City at risk!" Even as she is trying to avoid bullets and only partially succeeding she keeps barking orders. "Fine...let the director know. The RUC will have to take legal action, it seems." she says, then ducks behind a pillar. "So, you think doing that was the -right- thing to do? Well guess what. It doesn't matter what you think. This isn't your world, that data doesn't belong to any of you, and your friends took up arms against the government with the clear intention of using them. Sylvia may have struck first, but that man with the robot and the presentation scientist declared their intentions outright. If you and that girl really didn't know the information was classified, then here is another chance to stand down, give up your data, sign the agreement, and leave."

     She looks around at Corona, August, and Will. "But these three were already warned, and chose to ignore it. Who knows what they want to use the information for? Do you? It's easy to say you only want to use it to help, but the fact is that they were testing a method that causes the plasma strikes. Are we supposed to just take the word of someone who already lied to us once?"

     Sylvia, the blonde attacking August, grunts as she strikes the metal figure rather than August, then barely avoids a direct hit by that massive sword. Sparks fly from her armor as she is knocked away, and she bounces a few times before landing on her feet. She smirks at August. "You'd think so, but Accela is amazing and the R.U.C. can prove that the information is proprietary to us. We'll get all of those postings removed soon enough." she says before charging at him again and aiming a stilleto heeled kick at him. "So you may as well surrender! You had your chance to walk away!"

     Celica is caught in that lightning thanks to her steel perch, and she yelps and shudders as the current flows through her. But, she stays on her perch and just grins. "Drop your weapons and you'll live. Keep fighting back and...well, we can't really promise that." she says as she fires two more shots, this time at Will and Corona. But, she can't stay up there any longer thanks to Phyllis's acid attack, and so she is forced to leap to another girder. Staren and Phyllis are not attacked, an obvious test to see just how truthful the two are being.

August Kohler has posed:
A stiletto kick comes at Dietrich, who shifts not to allow it to hit August, breaking armor with raw strength and sending the Persona skittering back. The flaming sword burns brighter, and comes down overhead, trying to slice straight into Sylvia. He's not holding back - he hits like a truck, and he's not trying to be non-lethal at all.

"I think you misunderstand something. My name is August Kohler. Either you give this up, or /you die/. Do you understand these words, lady?"

Staren has posed:
    Staren really thought they'd send people after him. Huh.

    Now that he knows it really is the government he's pissed off, though, he races to get to a warpgate and get out. Just because he thinks he CAN fight through police doesn't mean he WANTS to.

    He has no problem with acknowledging Will as the creator of the presentation, and cares not for ad revenue. The video will show what happens if you're a govenment covering up things and you refuse to work WITH Staren and let him weigh the pros and cons of public ignorance: As a matter of policy, he will always err on the side of destroying the Masquerade.

    Perhaps the NEXT shady government agency will learn from this one's mistakes.

    He is mystified about August's desire to keep this secret, though -- messing up this kind of government coverup seems right up The Watch's alley. The idea HAS occured to Staren that the technology involved in the Aurora Shell and the orbital facility could be put to other uses, and clearly August and Will plan to do SOMETHING with it, but he can't imagine what they'd want that would be more important than stopping a coverup like this.

    Oh well. The cat's out of the bag, now the cat just needs to stay out of jail and get home.

William Pauwel has posed:
"I'm really not sure why yer tryin' to tell me to surrender or die and ALSO SHOOTIN' AT ME AT THE SAME TIME," Will yells back at the woman in the rafter as yet another sniper round tears ricochets off... what appears to be an extendible shield built into his left arm. The metal dents and contorts, popping several loose rivets, but it holds for now.

"Y'all are real cynical, you know that!? I dunno about anyone else, but I've got nothin' but good intentions here! This ain't the first time I've run into ancient nanotech, and I aim t' make sure this batch AIN'T the end of another civilization!" Judgment burns white-hot. Will fires again, this time sending a proper bolt of sizzling, coruscating plasma up into the rafters. "And for yer information, I don't /need/ a dang old sky-barrier to shoot what I need t' shoot!"

"But hey, iff'n y'all are willin' to kill to defend yer secrets, then maybe--" Two more shots, these designed to hem in and intercept his quarry if she decides to leap off toward yet another steel perch. "--Maybe it ain't worth keeping in charge of how things're done here! If it weren't for these secrets, maybe mister Roy wouldn't be sufferin' the way he is!"

Phyllis Lancaster (7116) has posed:
This is starting to get a little too heated for the seemingly normal girl with the bird skeleton projectile. There's lots of names going around, different groups' fingers in different pies that Phyllis is having trouble just trying to identify, something about a Mage's Association... If not for all that yelling about how they sucked moments earlier, she'd probably have considered finding them herself.

Alas. Still watching the sniper as she hops to another perch, Phyllis catches a moment to breathe when Celica turns her fire on Will and Corona. Spotting her chance, Phyllis reaches into her messenger bag, fishes out a skull that looks a bit too large to have even fit in there, and...

She turns, then hurls it as hard as she can in the general direction of the warp gate she had come in on. It doesn't even come close to hitting anyone the way she's aiming it, and there's no explosions or anything even when it finally lands. It's just a skull.

Shortly afterwards, Phyllis turns and holds her hands up. "No more weapons! See?" Indeed, there's no weapons in her hands at all. "I just wanted to see what the presentation was about! So if that's alright, I'll... Um. I'll just be going now!"

And then she just books it out of there with a brisk jog. Note to self: Be more prepared for confrontations the next time she comes here.

Corona Arclite has posed:
While everyone else is busy blathering at each other over the comms, Corona darts through the escalating fight to grab her own device. If these people want to keep information about the forcefield and what not to themselves, there's a darn good reason to it. And that's all the more reason to keep hands on her own copy of things.

The sniper must be less embroiled in the debate though as she's the one to catch the fox on the move, and almost as soon as she grabs her thing a well placed shot sends Corona reeling and skidding across the warehouse floor. Score one for precision sniping!

... At least until Corona rolls over on her back, storage device huddled close to her in one arm. While the other holds out what appears to be an elaborate revolver... Until you realize that the spinning chamber is actually some manner of generator, allowing her to shoot off several bolts of energy at her attacker with little effort.

Solty Revant has posed:
     The leader of this group of female warriors doesn't seem too surprised when Phyllis makes a run for it. She seemed sincere after all. She isn't followed. Staren is a bit of a surprise with how much rage he seemed to be showing, but when he makes his getaway he too isn't followed. Both would get a piece of mail, either electronic or paper depending on their needs, containing the NDA. And Staren in particular will get a warning that he send them verifiable evidence that he has scrubbed his storage of any data or alternately that he allow an RUC specialist to do it or else be labled an enemy of the state. They do know who he is and what he can do, especially after today.

     Sylvia grins as she lands a good hit on Deitrich...but that grin is quickly erased when that sword comes for her again. This time she is hit pretty severely. She cries out as a gash actually appears in her armor this time, and a bit of her blood splashes onto the ground as she goes bouncing across the cement floor again. She is only barely able to get back to her feet, but looks like she wants to keep going. "We...nnng...c-can't let you get away with this!" she growls through clenched teeth. But, the leader looks over, then mmphs. "Sylvia! Pull back! One more hit like that and he just might carry out his threat!" Sylvia lets out a frustrated growl. "Integra! We can't just let them get away! They didn't even hesitate to pull their weapons on us, and ignored our warnings!" Integra, the leader who's name had been hidden until now, just mmphs again. "Now, Sylvia! It won't do anyone any good if you get killed here!"

     Sylvia finally relents, but her burning glare never leaves August as she quickly limps her way out the door.

     Celica draws heavy fire this time from both Will and Corona, and she is blasted right off her perch this time. She yelps as she is hit, but not as she is falling. She actually controls her fall to land on her feet, then takes off running in an attempt to strafe them. But, before she fires Integra holds up a hand and Celica blinks before just...stopping. Integra steps out from her cover and keeps her arm guns trained on the group. "The Blastfall that happened ten years ago...it was because of the R.U.C. They were trying to do the same thing as you three. Figure out what the Aurora Shell is and how to get past it. They did this even though a previous attempt many decades before had caused a similar but much smaller event. They thought they knew enough. They thought they had accounted for everything."

     Integra takes a deep breath, then lets it out. "They didn't. And that is when the law was made to never attempt any sort of investigating or tampering with the Aurora Shell again. You three are going to cause something like that to happen again. Another Blastfall. And we -cannot- allow that, no matter how good your intentions might be. It looks like we can't stop you, but know this. If you keep this up...the number of Roys in this world will undoubtedly skyrocket. That will be on you, not on us. And even if we can't, we will have to try and stop you whenever we find you in The City or the areas around it. Even if it gets us killed one day. Because that is our job. Dealing with the threats that the police can't handle.

     Integra looks to each in turn. August. Will. Corona. "So...what will it be? If you give up your data now, sign the agreement, and leave, we can still dismiss the charges. No one's been killed yet. And Sylvia started the fight."

August Kohler has posed:
August swipes into Sylvia, who has to limp away. August actually considers finishing her off, but Integra ends that. Her words...make sense. They're honest. They're courageous. Heroic.

"That's touching. You have your heart in the right place, probably." August says, genuinely. "But it's not in my nature to capitulate. It's not in my nature to allow others to control me and tell me what to do." Unless he allows them to, of course, but that's a different story.

"If I have to be a fugitive fighting against you, so be it. Just know that you're not alone in the world of good intentions. If another Blastfall happens, even so, I'm not going to give up on changing the world my way. But before this gets too sappy..."

The sword rises again, and fire builds up at the tip. "Let me seal the deal!"

A fire blast flies forward. It's dodgeable enough, and evne if hit, it probably won't do anything but provide nasty burns, but August uses it as cover to fire up Dietrich's thrusters and leap through that window, shattering glass and crumbling part of the wall. Dietrich moves on a superhuman burst for the warpgate, as August shouts out to the others. "Come on, Will, Corona! It's not like us to sign NDAs, is it?!"

William Pauwel has posed:
"...So you're just going to leave it at that? 'There might be more Roys?'" Will looks genuinely angry, it's not an expression his face is particularly used to making. "There might be more Roys even if none of this gets out. The fact that the RUC knew and still went for it just means that they might still try again someday, and who knows what the consequences will be then? If it was so dangerous, then what is it that they're so desperate to risk so much to find beyond the Aurora Shell?"

"Someday, someone else is going to get curious, get reckless and screw up. Especially now that Staren went and did that thing. I ain't gonna just sit around and let that happen. We'll solve this problem 'fore anyone else gets hurt. Even if I signed that agreement of yours, I ain't the type to just /stop./"

Will lowers his weapon-- then raises it high and pulls the trigger. A flash of brilliant, blinding light flares from the barrel, "So I ain't gonna make myself into a liar! If you wanna stop us, then stop us! No amount of belly-aching or blame-laying is gonna stop us from doin' the right thing!"

And with that, Will runs.

It's... not the first time he's been made a fugitive.

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Iffen folks stopped tryin' after one failure, nuttin' would ever get done," Corona mutters as she gets to her feet and dusts herself off. Then straightens out her hat. "Do Ah really look like the sort that's gonna duck m'head to some Power That Be? The Frontier don't roll that way, pardner."

True to gunslinger style she turns to leave, the tails of her duster giving a dramatic flutter in the air before being lost in the blinding flare of August's cover.

And by the time that's clear, she's cleared out. The only thing missing is some low ominous guitar leimotiff for the departing frontier vigilante.

Staren has posed:
    The NDA goes up all over the Multiversal internet too, with the date highlighted showing that they sent it after all this. AND after he told them that they can't possibly verify he scrubbed his headcomputer, and the obvious fact that he could re-download the information from anywhere on the Multiversal internet. Staren comments thusly:

    "If this government is too stupid to learn, how can it protect its citizens? No moral or ethical court in the Multiverse would recognize an NDA signed under threat of violence. Knowing this, I COULD have signed it and lied to you. Instead, I chose to be honest and got shot at for my trouble.

    The R.U.C. has shown today what they think of honesty. What they think of diplomacy. That they value the opportunity for violence over the opportunity to protect their people. If you are in the position of working for this government, having been decieved by their veneer of legitimacy, I have nothing but mercy for you. Come to El Dorado and the Concord will find you a new home and new employment.

    This offer is also open to any agents who find themselves under orders to attack me or other people of the multiverse who visit your world to help its people despite the efforts of their government. It is not too late until you fire upon us.

    I am sorry that you had to find out the truth about your government this way, and my heart goes out to all of the innocent citizens who did not know how their government treats those who shine the light of scientific investigation upon their dark secrets and risk exposing that the protection of the citizenry are not its first priority. Stay safe out there -- hopefully they won't target YOU as long as you don't try to improve the situation on your world.

    And to anyone else with evidence of the R.U.C.'s nefarious practices: The Multiverse is willing to listen."

                                                               --Staren Wiremu,    
                                                                 Hand of the Concord

Solty Revant has posed:
     A response also goes up on any forum that gets the NDA posted.

     "These are the angry words of a man well known for his heavy-handed methods and might makes right attitude. The simple truth is that he was found in the company of criminals, and when ordered by the local authorities to surrender he refused. Mistakes were made on both sides, it is true. But to claim from this one incident - an incident in which the R.U.C. was attempting to stop any future occurences of the highly destructive events which have come to be known as Blastfalls - that we prefer violence to peaceful resolution is huberis of the highest order. Those not from our world cannot understand the pain and loss suffered by the people of The City, and every one of our registered citizens would agree with our actions. Yes, our agent attacked first, but only after members of a rogue group of scientists declared their intentions to resist arrest and produced weapons with which to do so. How were we to know that people ignorant of both these scientists activities and our laws had stumbled upon the situation and had merely become caught in the crossfire?"

     "Those who accept the help of this Staren Wiremu should be cautious, and those who would dare to refuse it should be in fear for their lives. The R.U.C. will continue to protect our citizens as we always have, regardless of any righteous terrorists, misguided scientists, or any other threat which we encounter. This is our world and our city, and we will protect it. Even from those who would risk destroying it on the slim chance that they might free it from a threat that is easily controlled by our laws. It is only when someone ignores those laws that there is any risk. These people have made it clear they will ignore our laws. That makes them a danger to the entire city.

     And it should be noted that the NDA was offered under threat of arrest, not violence. Violence only erupted due to their resistance and the desire of our completely legitimate albeit covert peacekeepers to keep our city safe."

Signed,
Ashley Lynx
R.U.C. Director