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Kale Hearthward Fifteen cars. Fifteen. That's how long today's expedition has been going for.

There was the car that had the weird gravity. Or, how about that car where everyone was living on top of a giant cake (and dealing with ecological collapse due to rampant defondantstation?) The monster party car was a nice breather, but then the pinball car was pure chaos.

Or, ooh, the toad car. Remember the toad car?

... Actually, on second thought, let's not talk about the toad car. Ever.

It's been a pretty long expedition, is the point. Collating scans, external surveillance, collected data from the train, and passenger reports all lets the group eliminate wide swaths of the train cars, but there's still a lot to manually check.

Hence, slogging through fifteen cars today.

"There's not too many more..." says Kale, during the next breather. "The train's not literally infinite, it's just... arbitrarily long. The Tape Car has to be one of these."

The group assembles at the entrance to the next car, and pushes onward...

NOW ENTERING: The Tape Car

Oh, it turns out that the Tape Car is actually the next one you check. That's convenient.

Imagine a giant Blockbuster Video. Not scaled up to giant size, but just incredibly large, like mall large. (Though it does have a very high ceiling, with unthemely chandeliers, for some reason.) There's endless rows of shelves, all of which are full of clear plastic display cases full of video tapes, each one with a label-maker sign of someone's name. Some of the cases have artful images of everyday life, while others do not.

And there, at the end of one of the rows, is what is undeniably the 'VIP Guest' the group has been looking for. He's wearing a top hat, and a monocle, and a 'VIP Guest' badge on his lapel, and has a twirly mustache. Literally, he's twirling it with one finger when the group makes their way in, using a hand that has a very large number on it. It's hard to tell just how many digits the hand has, but it appears to be all 9's.

"Mwe hee hee hee. It's all coming up roses for me, now that I'm seizing control of this train," he chuckles to himself. "To think, it's so much more profitable than being a landlord, I should rob magical trains full time."

"... Ahh, who am I kidding, I'll just reinvest what I'll earn here and drive up the housing market further. Mwe hee hee hee hee."

So far, it appears he's unaware of the group having found him.
Futaba Nuki "Good. It's so looong." Futaba complains as she lays in a puddle of herself beside Kale during that same breathe, having opted to go with a more liquid form today. Even though she's picking up a lot of dirt and gunk going all over the floor like that, it's also easier on her movement-wise than actually using legs and the like.

Plus, it's fun freaking out some of the other passengers when she's passing by them as a sapient pile of orange slime filled with leaves and carrying a golden bracelet inside her. She's also opted to snag random junk on the way like bins and chairs, but who knows if it'll be useful later? "Once we find that VIP... We'll figure out the rest! Let's hope the Conductor's with them, too, and then we'll be able to sort everything else out real fast."

Sadly, Futaba doesn't see anyone else with the VIP. She just sees the top hat'd man at the end of the room, all those rows of tapes, and a label maker for some reason. Before approaching, she shapeshifts back into her regular humanoid form with the actual-hair-and-body, ninja-esque outfit with the big scarf and long pants, and her trusty pouch dangling from her side. She keeps one hand (and two fingers) up in front of her face while her other hand goes behind her back, sneaking closer in that classic NINJA POSE like she's about to carry out some kind of stealthy execution.

"Hey! Are you the VIP?" She announces her presence before she's even reached said VIP, transforming her tail into a convenient standing rod just so she can stand at the top with her arms crossed and her scarf flapping indoors while looking down at him. "We're looking for someone. You got a minute?"
Father Berislav      Fifteen cars behind Berislav is fifteen he won't have to do a second time. The priest spends the brief repast preparing by leafing through his Bible, in search of passages and parables to use for later attempts to persuade.

THE TAPE CAR

     Berislav closes the Bible with the same authoritative little thump as before, as if practiced by rote. Just as he'd procured it, it disappears into an orange tear in space, which is then waved away, sealing itself up with the gesture. As before, the priest's palm glows from within, as if a bright, powerful flashlight were held against it on the other side.

     "Hello there, my son," says Berislav, approaching the VIP with his hands folded behind him. Has he called anyone that before? "I'm afraid I overheard, and--" He cracks his knuckles, then procures a plastic explosive from another orange tear. "I think we should talk about your method of providing for yourself."

     "I'm glad to hear you're not a landlord anymore, of course--but no one is going to profit from this train ever again." His thumb presses the button to arm the explosive. "It's a garden of sin, and the weeds need to be pulled clear of the earth so that something better can grow here. Will you help, or are you going to be fertilizer?" He usually... gives people more of a chance than just going right to threats of lethal force, doesn't he?
Aidan Proudpick Inertia ignoring is very hard when you are on a vehicle.

Inertia ignoring is great when you are trying to board a vehicle.

While Kupot is sitting down in 'The Tranquil Pond Car', working on keeping himself together while gazing into the abyss of inevitability once more, a different body enters. The train rounds a corner going at full speed. A lion headed shield unfurls, roaring into life. A squirrel huddles behind it, holding on tight as the shield accelerates rapidly as it approaches the impenetrable hide of the train. An object that cares little for physics, that desires only one thing. To move in one direct, redirecting matter, gravity, space, around it. It hurdles for an object as implaccable as time, indestructible in the way only oblivion can be.

Unfortunately, the impressive display of special effects, the explosion of time and space energy, and the instant creation and then destruction of many worlds can't be seen. Instead, it's really more of 'whump' from inside the car.

The Squirrel Wannabe Knight enters the Tape Car mixing in with the car, looking as much a part of the other rescue squad as the others. And certainly not at all here with the deranged idea Kale might be funneling something back to the Gale Empire.

He is busy in the back whispering into his tablet. "What is a housing market?"

...

"No, okay, We are here to stop you."
Arcadia Arcadia had little issue with the weird gravity car. And may be one of the few people that enjoyed the pinball car, if only because she was accustomed to moving around really fast at chaotic angles at times. Being a sphinx she fit right in with the mythological cliche of the monster party, and that was a nice cool down.

On the other hand, even she has absolutely nothing to say about the Toad Car. Nope. Nothing. That can remain a noodle incident for the rest of time.

But in the end, they found the Tape Car... which turns out to be VHS tapes instead of cassette tapes as one might first think of at hearing a car dedicated to tape. But it wasn't red tape, so that's good.

"This is almost like the Archives, but not recorded on crystal drives." Arcadia actually pauses to pull one of the tapes off the shelf and turn it over to look at the label. Which is just an image of general suburbia to go with the very generic name on it. At which she makes a face and shoves it back onto the shelf. "Ugh, can't stand cheezy family sitcoms."

That distraction fortunately is short-lived and her ears pick up the conversation on questionable profiteering investiments farther towards the end of the train, and she's bolting ahead with Futaba and the others. "There!" Dramatic point with a clawed finger! "The man in the extremely cliche driftless shifter get-up!" She probably means 'shiftless drifter'. But at least she didn't outright call him a villian just on the appearance. "See he even has it on his badge!"
Ishirou The last fifteen cars have been... well not /awful/ but a mixture of either being able to deal with, or mildly fun.  Ishirou is still with the group and still hasn't detransformed from his RESCUE suit.  The suit adjusted to hide every bit of his underlying body.  He's also been more reserved with things, less willing to jump forward into things, and more willing to support others' efforts.  

He's had a lot to think about on this train, and about his life in general lately.  

THE TAPE CAR

Ishirou's eyes scan over things, not actually scanning, just looking over.  Why was there a video store here..?  Was it one of those things where it played back bits of your life?  That...

That'd be awful.  He hopes that's not actually true.  He, in fact, checks various video media for titles and such.  Was it just a Blockbuster, or was it far more sinister?  Given that Blockbusters were already sinister (and outdated) that would be impressive.  

Then they come across the literal mustache-twirling, monologue-having, landlord-being, monster who was trying to take over the train.  No... this couldn't be real.  This was just... literally too obviously some sort of trick or something.  But...  it was one that was dangerous for their own safety.  

He pauses, not sure if he should use his abilities on this person... it would dig into their mind, but on the same angle... he's not likely to admit until it's too late if this is a trick or a car game.  Okay... no, he is only going to confirm if this man is a monster and not just a train employee.  

With that, Ishirou attempts to use his scanning ability to try and figure out what's going on in the Landlord's mind.  Truly he can't /actually/ be this obviously evil right..?  
Angela Angela is more troubled after the BOARD GAME car than Cinder is. Yes, Lilian is correct in that the situations aren't exactly 1:1 but it still is too similar for her to shrug off. Fortunately, that troubled feeling fades somewhere around the pinball car for pinball related reasons.

"So Angela," Cinder says. "Can we finally talk about--"

''The Tape Car has to be one of these''

"Let us focus on the mission." Angela says. "I wish to speak to the Manager."

Cinder sighs a bit and rubs at her forehead before heading onward. She misses Yuri alredy but it was determined one Agent would be enough after the first foray. Angela's pad is handling scans. She is a little uneasy around Kale too because the last time SHE talked to him she yelled at him so hard he apparently teleported. And so...

NOW ENTERING THE TAPE CAR

Angela frowns as they enter a Blockbuster Video. She isn't frowning because this is a very 90s area but rather because she is looking right at a fellow with a twirly mustache, a top hat, and a monocole. She is also peering at a seeming incongruency--a VIP Guest wearing passenger with a huge number full of 9s on it.

"What." Angela says skeptically.

Cinder, on the other hand, has opinions about landlords.

"Hey fucker!!" Cinder steps in. "Are you the reason why you picked up Petra and Kale and then threw on some numbers??" Cinder swings 4th Match Flame to the side and ignites it. "If so, you're in for trouble!" She quirks her head and then frowns. "And...you better leave the housing market alone! It's bad enough!!"

Angela frowns at Cinder. "What are you doing, Agent?"

"Being assertive!" Cinder says.
Hibiki Tachibana     Hibiki doesn't want to talk about the toad car, either. She wants to go to the cat one Ishirou mentioned.

    Fifteen cars doesn't sound like a lot if you just mentioned that offhandedly, but when each and every car has their own unique gimmick that may or may not require solving, and you're also collecting as much info as possible, it's as mentally exhausting as it is physical. While she doesn't have any special skills for pushing along said information collection, one thing she definitely can do is keep trucking on.

    And stay focused as best she can, unless other things fill in the gap. That's a lot of time with some people she has complex feelings about.

    "Hah...I really understand why Amelia couldn't have done this by herself now..."

    Into--wait, this place is /huge/. On entering, Hibiki spends some time regarding the aesthetic dissonance of chandeliers positioned over Blockbuster aisles, and even more glancing along the display cases as they move onward. "Names...? Not titles? Some of 'em have actual pictures, and some of them don't. Huh." It takes her a moment before she furrows her brow. "Are these...people the train has picked up? Or...hasn't picked up yet?"

    It's an idle musing that trails off as soon as they spot...the classily-dressed, mustache-twirling VIP of the hour, complete with mischevous laugh, talking to himself about...

    But in her case, of all the things Petra could have been, she managed to avoid being a real estate agent--

    "You have got to be kidding me," she murmurs under the cover of her Symphogear's scarf, her eyes shifting to the string of 9's on the man's hand, before she marches forward.

    Although she's not directly threatening like several of the others, Hibiki is pretty good at making her voice be heard when she wants it to be. Strong lungs and all that. "You're the VIP passenger the conductor picked up." That's a statement. "If this was all apart of your plan, you apparently forgot to clean up after yourself. ...What did you do with the conductor?"

    She is, however, watching Berislav with no small amount of confliction, and putting herself in a position where she'd be able to quickly respond to...well. All of /this/, if she feels like she has to.
Petra Soroka     Petra is tired of the Infinity Train.

    Despite her ideological opposition to the train and its numbers, and the defiance she's shown up until now, seeing Kale fucking Hearthward reduce his number to zero has done a number on her. She can explain it away all she wants, hijacking Lilian's language for systemic expectations and the slavering hunger for every ounce of blood extracted from girls like us-- but it's still humiliating to know that she's the one dragging behind.

    Petra is wearing a glove, for the first time on her trips to the train. Every inch of skin is still covered, gauze layered beneath her jacket and overalls, though of course she had to replace some gauze after the events of the Toad Car. Throughout the slog, she's a little sulkier than usual, a little more immediately prone to violence against the denizens, and her typical level of aloof and passively hostile to anyone approaching her.

    Even though Kale's still covering his blank right hand, even though Petra is certain she has all the reason in the world to be furious at everyone, it's still exhausting, to be constantly seen and judged while constantly asserting her opposition to them. It's exhausting to be separate from Lilian, like this. So Petra avoids talking to anyone, giving Futaba disgusted glances in her puddle-form, Ishirou cold loathing at his half-heartedness, and avoiding looking at Kale and Hibiki as much as she can. Even Berislav is left to his devices, singlemindedly progressing through the train without much address from Petra.

    Cinder and Angela, of course, aren't given the same treatment, and Petra sticks with them practically the entire time.

THE TAPE CAR

    Petra abruptly looks like she's in a much better mood, now that they're finally inside the end destination. Maybe it was just the length of the journey getting to her, and now that the end is in sight, she's letting her stress go.

    Petra skims over the rows of shelves with barely any attention paid to the tapes inside, then her eyes land on the VIP guest, and she smiles in a distinctly villainous way. She takes a few steps forwards, then spins around on the heel of her boot, facing towards the party with her fists upraised.

    Standing between the Elites and the VIP, Petra opens her mouth, and moves it as if she's talking, but all that comes out is the squeal-crash of ice tortured under intense pressure. After a moment it cuts off, and words come out as if nothing happened.

    "--all know that I've been a supporter of real estate agents this whole time? You idiots! Once I've taken control of the train along with the VIP Guest, I'll make sure all of you get trapped here with high numbers while I don't have one at all! Then you'll all know what it's like!"

    Petra pauses, and adds, awkwardly, "Except for you two, Cinder and Angela."
Kale Hearthward "What-" says the landlord, looking over and gasping when he sees Futaba. "Someone who can transform! No! My plans didn't account for this! Or - wait, fortunately you don't look like you're flexible enough to squeeze through the vents and disarm my explosives! Hah."

"And - a priest! With a grenade!" He takes a step back. "It's like, the worst of two worlds! But you still won't tempt me away from my righteous capitalist ways!"

"And - woodland creatures! Angry about the environmental destruction that the bleeding hearts keep saying is happening, no doubt. Fortunately you can't possibly break through the wall behind me, behind which I've hidden the conductor!"

"Some sort of... sphynx? Rocket sphynx?" He peers at Arcadia. "Fortunately you're not fast enough to find and dispose of all the fake tapes I've planted throughout this room, which are key to my plan! Mwe hee hee hee!"

Ishirou, doing some scanning, finds that the Landlord is absolutely positively one hundred percent evil, and confirms further that this is the person they're looking for. He also finds out that this is actually a remotely controlled robot duplicate, easily hackable and weaponizable, and the real landlord is located elsewhere in the Tape Car.

"Oh ho ho ho, someone's spicy..." says the Landlord, to Cinder next. "I can't wait for your aggression to end up leading you right into one of the many traps I've laid out! It sure is good for me that there's nobody here that could talk some advice into you."

"Oooh, no, you can't possibly convince me to give up my plans!" says the Landlord to Hibiki. "Don't even try to... sing some goodness into me, or whatever it is that you do!"

"And - you fools! You don't know that I've had a double agent in your midst all along!"

"Okay, stay frosty and cautious, everyone!" says Kale, from the back of the group. "I'm sure if we move carefully and believe in our hearts, we can win!"

The various plans start going into motion - the fake videos, the ticking bombs in the vents, the hidden-away Conductor, the Petra, and the general evil machinations! Now is the time to act! Do something heroic! Go!
Aidan Proudpick A BOMB. An explosive. Just right out there.

Aidan slides the tablet into the holder on the back of the shield, the least likely place it would explode. He gets into a sort of basic grappler stance as the EVIL LANDLORD goes through all the TERRIBLE THINGS he can do. There IS a lot of environmental destruction. And he's shoving it right in their face! His back can't help but arch, chest thrown out, and finger pointed forward. "I'll show you! I won't let you get away with this!"

The squirrel takes a quick scrambling hop up to the top of a shelf. His eye stops on one of the tapes, then so does the rest of him. A name. Kale's tape could be in here. He could use it. He could learn anything about the Empire. At least, anything Kale would have known. He shuffles that thought for later and rushes at the far wall, the Aegis roaring to life, building up into its indomitable rush. Then he stops. And turns around.

And he points at Kale.

"That's the fake!"

The Aegis roars to life and Aidan is already charging down Kale before anyone can double check this.
Futaba Nuki Despite Futaba's general (visible) avoidance of killing people, Berislav's threat to the VIP doesn't have her balking at the slightest. Instead, she just gestures towards him with her head if/when the VIP looks her way, nodding every now and then as Cinder and Hibiki throw some more direct questions his way. Cinder's announced assertiveness in particular gets an approving nod from Futaba, although it might be to hard to see with her that (relatively) high up.

Petra, in comparison, gets a more conflicted look on the way there. There's some visible annoyance there, certainly, but also some fatigue that isn't just from having to scour through the Infinity Train for so damn long. It's not until she actually takes up that spot between the VIP and the group that Futaba stares right at her directly, narrowing her eyes and looking between her and the VIP once they reveal their plans.

<J-IC-Scene> Futaba Nuki says, "... Seriously? I know Petra's not /that/ dumb and petty. There's got to be something to this!"
<J-IC-Scene> Angela dryly, "Not ''that'' dumb and petty."
<J-IC-Scene> Aidan Proudpick says, "Can someone handle bombs, I'm not good with bombs."
<J-IC-Scene> Futaba Nuki says, to Aidan "I'm on it!"
<J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana says, "What th-- ...I'll do.../something/ about Petra! You guys get everything else!"
<J-IC-Scene> Futaba Nuki says, to Angela "She'd do it better than /this/. I mean, even when she..."

Recalling how Petra did, in fact, just show up in the middle of a whole squad of Elites at Indus so long ago, Futaba sighs and squats in place. "The vents, huh? Thanks for the heads up!"

And with that, Futaba abruptly crams herself into the vents, looking absolutely horrifying as her body morphs in midflight to slide right in all slimy-like to slip through the gaps. Once inside, Futaba starts enlarging her slimy-mass all around, sweeping through the vents at a rapid clip and just pulling everything through with her to try and condense everything she can grab in one place. She's quite thorough in her vent-sweeping, too, going corner to corner all the way through!

Once/if Futaba emerges without incident, she'll toss anything that isn't valuable or alive-looking right off the train. She won't transform back right away, though, since she'll need to cycle herself around a few times to get all the crud out.
Angela Angela is confused by Petra suddenly defecting to a real estate agent. "Petra?" She has plenty of time to think over this sudden turn relative to most people and gradually that surprise starts to turn into a frown. "Mmmn... Cinder." She says in a low voice. "Would you kindly--"

"Wait, you're a double agent?" Cinder asks, blinking. Then she immediately makes her way over to the landlord and Petra and turns around to face the party.

"Well in that case...! I'm going to help Petra so she can get off the train! She obviously has a good reason for this!"

"Cinder??" Angela says, eyes widening just a touch.

"Sorry, Miss Angela... But if Petra's with the bad guy, then the bad guy must be the good guy!"

Angela frowns and her eyes slant towards the group since she's still a pad and can't do much.

"This is very frustrating." Angela says. "I don't know what's going on here since I cannot investigate properly."

Cinder looks to Petra and asks, "Are we actually fighting them or are we just going to yell at them until they give up...?"
Father Berislav      "Now, Petra," says Berislav, wagging a finger with the hand that isn't holding an armed explosive. "Have you thought about whether supporting real estate agents is good for your well-being? It doesn't seem like you have. This is the period of your life where you should be living irresponsibly and making mistakes, not worrying about equities and mortgages, which are made up in the first place."

     "As for the train," he continues, "It's going to be stopped, anyway, and everyone with a high number will be let out to wreak havoc, because that's God's will and not ours to countermand. You'll understand it's for the best, once everything is in flames."

     "As for you, Mr. VIP--since I can't convince you," says Berislav, "I'm afraid that means you've chosen the works of Satan," he says, as he activates the timer, rears back and hurls the explosive at the nearest wall of videotapes. It seems like he's just going to start breaking everything around. "I'll free you of them, and then release you from this world."
Arcadia ... Did he really just...

Most people would probably stop to question that Mr. VIP just shpealed out the steps of his scheme in what could be the most awkward villainous monologue ever.

Fortunately Arcadia is not the sort of person to stop and question things. Because that takes extra time. And she hates waiting. More importantly, the way Mr.. or I guess it's Robot VIP as others have pointed out, phrased his claim registers to her as a challenge. Being challenged is not something the sphinx takes lightly, due in part to being a thrillseeker and in part because she likes the praise when beating such challenges.

That gets a brief cackle out of her. "Oh, is that so?" A hand flicks up to tap the center crest of her helmet, manifesting her visor. "How villianously considerate of you to have a problem tailored to my specific capabilities~" Then she's off in a blur of red and gold. She doesn't even bother asking why the fake tapes are a problem or why the real ones are important. That's not important to her. Just the challenge itself.

The mistake was thinking she only has the speed of a rocket. And that speed was her only ability. Not knowing that, being a sphinx and an experienced dungeoneer as well as SHUMP guardian, she is quite good with puzzles. Of which a rather large one was practically dumped in her lap.

Arcadia blurs back towards the start of the car and pulls out that tape she had previously looked at. This time actually scanning it more thoroughly. Then pulling out another and scanning it. She does that a couple of more times, looking for one that scans differently than the others. Or until she's got a large number of matching scans to compare against. Whichever comes first.

Once she's got a proper sample size, Arcadia switchs to speeding around the redonkulously internally large rail car to scan entire shelves looking for the fake tapes that don't register the same as the much larger volume of proper ones.
Ishirou There is so much happening at once.  

He has to figure out what is going on.  Calmly, Ishirou... calmly.  One thing at a time, one piece of the puzzle at a time.  Kale obviously isn't their Kale, from the answer he gave him just now.  Some things on the radio are sorted, Petra really is betraying them because her numbie is higher than Kales.  Though... this Kale doesn't even /have/ a number now that he thinks about it.

Also, he didn't do anything at all throughout most of this expedition on the Train.  

He goes to rub the bridge of his nose, but his helmet stops him and he looks a little silly.  He sighs, hating having to be stuck in the suit all the time.  He holds a hand out toward the Robot Landlord.  He attempts to minigame hack him on the spot, aiming to turn him towards the actual Landlord.  

All he needs to do is get the robot in two far enough places to try and triangulate where the Landlord is.  

He does turn towards Petra, "I get that this hasn't exactly been the best experience, but right now jumping sides specifically to slap the people with numbers trying to help you and Kale is... honestly I don't know what it is.  What's going on Petra, for real?  /We/ don't want to see you with those numbers."
Hibiki Tachibana     That's...a lot of plans. So many plans that she'd think they were a bunch of crap, at least if there wasn't the sound of ticking bombs around them giving away that he's /not/ lying. He doesn't just have the cartoon-level villainry aesthetic on lock, but he's actually prepared to follow up on it, too!?

Don't even try to... sing some goodness into me, or whatever it is that you do!
"Wh--it's not really like that!? I mean, I still wanna talk you down from all of this, but--"

And - you fools! You don't know that I've had a double agent in your midst all along!
Okay, that one sounds like it's just stretching.

    Until Petra turns to face them, gives off that horrible sound in the place of talking, and then...continues on like that never happened? This is weird. /Really/ weird. Despite all her complicated feelings about Petra, she's at least pretty sure she wouldn't suddenly heel-face-turn (literally) to talk about her support of real estate agents and enact a plot to trap them all on the Infinity Train forever.

    At least until she reassures Cinder and Angela they'll be a-ok, and she's worryingly a lot less sure it's not something played up and done of her own free will.

    But Petra definitely does have her fists raised, and...Cinder is apparently happy to side with her. With a grimace, the magical girl raises up her own fists as well, staring down the both of them even as things go to hell around them. Seriously, are they going after Kale now, too? And Berislav is just going the wanton destruction route? This went to hell real fast.

    "I don't know why you're pulling this all of a sudden," Hibiki starts, more than half-expecting Petra to shoot back that she just explained herself. "...but this seriously isn't the time for all of this--any of this! There's no way it's just because you want to turn things around on everyone, so what's the deal!? We're finally here and about to get to the bottom of all of this!"

    It sounds straightforward and 'heroic' enough, but her fists are clenched much tighter than they otherwise need to be - and she has a complex look on her face, looking at Cinder come to Petra's defense over everything else. She wanted to deal with this train partially for Petra's sake--so why the hell is all of this happening now?

    She's only going to wait to move for exactly as long as either of them take to make like they're going to do something aggressive. In which case - she'll be on the both of them in a split second, kicking out with one leg to try and sweep Petra off her feet, while elbowing Cinder's 4th Match Flame upwards to prevent her from aiming it at anyone or anything.
Kale Hearthward "What?" says Kale. Then he says: "Oof!"

Kale gets slammed against the wall. "Oh no! The endless amounts of evil I got up to in the Gale Empire have weakened my bones! Ooof, ouch."

Aidan has Kale(?) soundly pinned against the wall now. Great job!

Futaba vents, and finds plenty of sus things that are absolutely bombs. It's simple for someone like her to toss all of them off the train, way to go!

Arcadia, via impressive amounts of speed, dashes throughout the store and manages to find the fake video tapes. Such skills!

Ishirou has a difficult but fulfilling minigame to hack the fake Landlord, and is able to triangulate the position of the real one - and gets to shout out a warning just in time.

"Mwa ha ha ha!" The *real* VIP guest Landlord shows up - inside a giant steampunk mecha that barely fits inside the Tape Car. It looks like it'd be fun to destroy. "You fools! Now that I've gotten into my giant robot, which is armored enough and protective enough that any remaining qualms about doing valid harm to me should be quashed since you can't actually hurt me unintentionally, I'll be unstoppable! The only thing that could possibly ruin my plans now is overwhelming amounts of justified violence! But I know you can't possibly be used to dishing out that."

Berislav blows up a wall of tapes. Such destruction! Oh, and there's the Conductor, who was trapped behind that wall.

"I'm the conductor! Thank you for freeing me! Seeing you all in action has inspired me to let everyone off of the train and go back to their lives, but first!" He holds out his hands. "I'll use my magical train powers to power you all up! Now you can unleash your ultimate attacks, and you can use them over and over without running out, and won't have to worry about friendly fire or any of the other constraints that'd keep you from spamming them. Get to it, heroes!"

Green energy flows into everyone, and they feel super good. Like really good. Really hyped up and driven, like they couldn't even run out of juice if they tried.
Petra Soroka     Petra bursts out laughing when Aiden charges Kale, to the point of letting her raised guard down. "Furry on furry violence! That's like, my favorite thing. The only thing funnier than ripping you shitheads apart is watching you do it to yourselves."

"It's going to be stopped, anyway, and everyone with a high number will be let out to wreak havoc, because that's God's will and not ours to countermand. You'll understand it's for the best, once everything is in flames."

    Petra frowns at Berislav, crossing her arms poutily. "Yes, obviously, I'm going to leave and wreak havoc, I love doing that. I just also want to punish all the rest of them arbitrarily for failing Lilian, who isn't here right now. You should keep blowing things up though, I can just fight the rest of them."

"Are we actually fighting them or are we just going to yell at them until they give up...?"

    Petra beams at Cinder when she walks over to Petra's side, with a palpable absence of all the aggression she showed to the others. She even gives her a friendly squeeze of her hand, before raising her empty fists again, gun apparently forgotten.

    "I knew you were one of the only ones I could ever count on, Cinder. Of course we're fighting them for real, though. I can't fucking stand any of them, and honestly, I'll just be happy beating them bloody for how worthless they've all been."

    "I mean, you know, I've already tried killing Ishirou and Kale before, and since Futaba is a Paladin too, it's only a matter of time. That squirrel is a furry, so I'll just break him for fun, and..." Petra takes a deep breath and tilts her head at Hibiki, tilting up her chin aggressively.

"I don't know why you're pulling this all of a sudden,"

    "I literally just explained myself." Petra shoots back.

"We're finally here and about to get to the bottom of all of this!"

    "*I'll* get to the bottom of it *myself*, Tachibana. What help do you even think you're able to give me? You're just a worthless meathead who can't help hurting all the people around her, especially me. All you can do is punch your way through car after fucking car-- *I* obviously figured it out weeks ago! You're just dead *weight*, Tachibana!"

    Petra advances on Hibiki before she's even finished talking, quicksilver jutting out between her fingers into claws-- razor sharp and *immediately* threatening lethal damage if they hit. When Hibiki's kick knocks her off-balance, Petra stumbles into one of the cases, shredding through the plastic and wooden shelves as if they aren't even there. She pushes herself up, and with Cinder covering for her, goes in for another strike, claws plunging towards Hibiki's face.
Ishirou Ishirou gives out a warning, but he isn't focused on that man anymore.  There are more than enough people here to dogpile the Capitalist.  In fact, he sends out OPTIONs to people to help expedite this.  

However, what he does is support Hibiki the most.  He is calculating the attacks coming from Cinder and Petra, and then sending an OPTION to help Hibiki either avoid or mitigate them, while also sending data for her to best counter the attacks.  

During this, he's firing potshots, aiming to try and weaken their attacks.  The energy bullets, at best, are suppression attacks.  But he's staying right at Hibiki's back.  

"I've got your back on this Hibiki.  Say what you need to say..."
Futaba Nuki Oh no. Bombs! Good thing Futaba's dealt with bombs before by putting them somewhere else where they (probably) won't hurt anyone (important)!

"Mister Kale's the double agent?" She spits out as she returns to the room proper, still elongated and slimy rather than returning to her normal form. She's still shuffling the vent gunk out of herself, and she looks over at the real VIP When he shows up in the giant machine. Even as a liquid, her face is still distinct enough to make out an incredulous look on Futaba's face at his revelations.

"Y... Wh. Ah." This all feels way too convenient for her, but her better thinking capacity is easily overruled when the conductor (after saying even more suspciously convenient things) powers her and everyone else up to a ludicrous degree. She lets out a wild roar that shakes her entire body and possibly even the room as she hits that high figuratively and literally by growing to just a few feet below the ceiling, and she looks over at Petra with wide-eyed... Glee?

Excitement, definitely. Futaba probably isn't actually happy about hearing that thing about trying to kill her, but she's definitely on some kind of high right now. "You can try, Petra! If it means we get a chance to talk, let's do it later!"

Later is the keyword since Futaba's attention goes right back to the VIP guest Landlord Machine Mk.Real. Her slimy orange mass sprouts eight arms all at once, each one looking more like a tree with how BULBOUS and VEINY they are. "You asked for this, jerk! Don't complain about losing money once we kick your butt!"

And then she starts punching. A lot. It's like Futaba's become some kind of wrathful QTE punchmaster with how rapidly she's throwing those oversized haymakers, fully embracing the power of whatever the Conductor's feeding into her, logic be damned.
Angela Cinder is actually about to swing that sword towards Ishirou (someone is already trying to murder Kale apparently who would be the first target otherwise). The 4th Match Flame instead sends a plume of fire up into the ceiling, scorching it cosmetically.

Cinder frowns at Hibiki but she doesn't seem like she's about to start swinging until Petra confirms that the objective is to actually do murders. Cinder says, "Well, ressurection's expensive," after a moment's thought. "Maybe this time he can't pay the bill."

She doesn't have to approach Ishirou to assault him. She swings the 4th Match Flame blade at him, sending a large swath of fire flying in his direction.

Her free hand is on her cheek because Petra HELD HER HAND and she's blushing fiercely.

"Ishirou. This is clearly not Petra." She is a little less sure about Cinder. "This is either an illusion or some manner of control. Try to force the matter."

Angela looks incredibly frustrated.

"You have augmented sensors, figure this out."
Father Berislav Yes, obviously, I'm going to leave and wreak havoc, I love doing that. I just also want to punish all the rest of them arbitrarily for failing Lilian, who isn't here right now.

     "I'm so proud of you, Petra," says Berislav warmly, pausing in his wild grendade-throwing to clasp his hands before him in a jarring display of outward serenity. "When I first met you, you were only a little baselessly angry, but now you've graduated to taking wild shots at everyone who even slightly resembles what you dislike about society. If I wasn't sure you had such a full plate, I'd recommend you for seminary school."

You should keep blowing things up though, I can just fight the rest of them.

     "Of course, child," he says. Bathed in the green light of the conductor, Berislav does exactly that, throwing a few more grenades around, generally, before calling forth Isaiah.

     The gleaming silver mech is at stark odds, aesthetically, with the steampunk robot. The priest nimbly leaps into the air and enters the cockpit, much as others have likely seen many a time.

     The mech procures the supermassive hammer, as it has many times before--and promptly takes to stomping and kicking around the walls of tapes in a cartoonishly ungraceful manner that looks more like a farce than a masterful pilot. A few token swings of the hammer send shockwaves towards the steampunk robot, but most of the destruction is like watching a parody of a wrecking crew, including hooking the chandelier from the vaulted ceiling and flinging it so hard it embeds into the opposite wall.
Aidan Proudpick It's not misgynoist! It's reductive and a little misgyonist.

Aidan knows when his skillset and other people's skillsets probably aren't the ones needed, and a woman's touch is needed. ...Wait, fuck, is that misgyonist?

This shit is hard.

The Aegis ripples as matter moves around it, roaring with energy as he plows across the car again. As Aidan draws closer, nearly a foot away, he pulls back his Breath, allowing only his body and the mass of the shield to drive into Kale. Still a powerful blow, driving the huge shield against Kale and Kale against the wall. But one, at least, that isn't meant to turn Kale into a fine red paste.

"Yea, it HAS, maybe you should WAKE UP now." Aidan brings his hand around with the shield, now in a buckler state, driving it at Kale's cheek. "Or MAYBE, you should use this and tell everyone to LEAVE US ALONE!"

Petra isn't helping things. Aidan's face burns red as she pours her signature mean girl hate at him. Then there is the power welling up into him. He feels invigorated. Is this... Righteous power? Righteous fury?!

A deep breath, then a poofing WOOSH as Aidan drives a wall at Kale to lock him up against a wall with a hyper charged barrier of air.
Arcadia The blurring speed stops with Arcadia coming to hover back with the rest of the group, a small harmful of the fake tapes she collected. "Okay I'll admit, that was actually a bit of a workout just from the sheer volume of contents in this car to cover." She leans to the side a little to look past the pile. "I didn't miss the final boss fight solving puzzles did I?"

Which would be when the big steampunk robot arrives. "Nope, I didn't!" Arcadia flicks her arms into the air to toss the fake tapes away, clattering and cracking to the floor behind her. Time for the other thing she does really good -- blowing things up in the fastest and most stylish way possible. "This guy really doesn't know us very well, does he?"

Plus the Conductor has been saved, and gives them an additional power boost in gratitude. A charge that allows Arcadia to skip past her usual build-up to engage stronger level attacks through swift and accurate shooting and unlock the really fun stuff.

She spreads her wings, rising as high as she can in the oversized car. Then brings her wings forward on either side of her, the tips of the pylons opening to reveal even more discharge points in addition to the ones in her hands that she usually uses. As well as being able to deploy her funnel options, which move into formation of a semi-circle at her sides.

With everything pointed at the giant robot. Thanks to the Conductor she doesn't even have to wait for a weak spot to be revealed for her to Shoot The Core.

Just unleash a literal storm of magitek energy beams, explosive magic missiles, and interesecting lasers at weird angles to make them even more unpredictable. Bullet Hell at it's finest.
Hibiki Tachibana     Petra /did/ literally just explain herself. That understandable clapback doesn't bother her half as much as everything the other girl said before and after, though. She has to be playing it up, right...? There's some kind of bigger plan she has, going on about punishing and wreaking havoc and trying to kill Futaba or Aiden or anyone else, right?

What help do you even think you're able to give me?
    You're just dead *weight*, Tachibana!

    There's an audible click of teeth snapping together and a tremble running through her body, before she's forced to move. "What help can I give you...? What help can I give you!? I can't give you a /single/ thing! There's nothing I could give you that you couldn't do or get yourself!"

    There's that look in her eyes again - like some kind of feral, wounded animal who just had one of its injuries dug into. "But you know!? I wanted to try anyway! Isn't that the lesson /you/ tried to beat into me!? That I should do something, anything, for people I care about instead of sitting around on my ass and twiddling my thumbs!?"

    The claw comes in, and a shift in the opposite direction isn't enough to stop it from raking across her cheek and drawing blood. If she tried to avoid it in full, she might've been able to, but she didn't. It's a small price to pay in the process of taking the chance to step in, a spinning elbow strike thrown at Petra's face.

    Right behind it, a heavy hook with the other hand. "You know, I was thinking for a while-- if you were so happy in your new group, that was good enough for me! I didn't like it, but if you and Lilian were genuinely happy, then I'd deal with it! I'd shut up, try my best to do better for the ones I wronged, work on it little by little even if I keep screwing up along the way..."

    Followed by an attempt to separate her from Cinder, by outright tackling her through the next row of shelves and cases past the ones they already ruined and pin her down.

    "So /why/ do you have to keep doing crap like this!? Why do you have to make it so stupidly hard to care about you!? Who the hell are you to talk about hurting everyone around me after everything you did!? You're just as much of a goddamn hypocrite as I am, except you're not even ashamed about it!"

    In the emotional high, her reply to Ishirou is almost snappy. "I totally plan to! I'm just glad you're not willing to let her do whatever she wants this time!"
Petra Soroka     Petra doesn't seem to react to Ishirou shooting at her, which seems a little unusual, if only for the fact that every other time Ishirou's shot at her she had something gut-wrenchingly cruel to say in response. It sort of feels like she's not even treating him as being worth her time or attention, focused entirely on fighting Hibiki.

"Maybe this time he can't pay the bill."

    Petra cheerfully nods at the idea that Ishirou will remain dead because he's too poor, despite hearing from Dragonfly that his resurrection was free. "You're right! Thank you, Cinder. You're usually a lot smarter than I expect you to be."

"This is clearly not Petra."

    Petra frowns at the tablet, ducking under Hibiki's swinging arm. "That's not very nice of you to say. I wish you believed in me more, as your friend."

"When I first met you, you were only a little baselessly angry, but now you've graduated to taking wild shots at everyone who even slightly resembles what you dislike about society."

    "That's true."

    Petra seems mostly satisfied with that simple response, before eventually adding, catching her breath after stumbling away from Hibiki, "I'll probably self-destruct and end up attacking you too, eventually, as I burn through my constantly expanding list of enemies in an ever-increasing spiral of outwardly directed self-loathing."

"Isn't that the lesson /you/ tried to beat into me!?"

    "I guess I failed." Petra says, coldly casual, practically shrugging if not for the effort of engaging with the fight. "After all, you just treat me like a ticking time bomb anyways. You've never tried to help me, just got in my way while assuming I was going to snap and kill people. So you're doing the exact same thing as always, and I'm just proving you right. Doesn't that feel nice?"

"I didn't like it, but if you and Lilian were genuinely happy, then I'd deal with it!"

    "Of course you didn't like it. You look miserable every time you see me with Lilian! You're..." Petra seems to be lost for a second, not as though she's struggling for words, but like she reset to a completely neutral expression, turning into a blank doll still dodging and attacking automatically. Then something clicks, and she's right back to looking furious, "Jealous! Of me and her! But you should really just learn that I don't *need* you anymore!"

"Why do you have to make it so stupidly hard to care about you!?"

    Hibiki finally lands a solid hit, and Petra goes flying. She struggles to push herself up from the ground, and spits out a glob of writhing silver mass. "That's your problem, isn't it? I'm better than you, and I hate you. You not being able to care about me is your loss." Petra tries again to stand up, spews out splatters of more quicksilver, then collapses unconscious, all of the loose morphmetal falling still.
Kale Hearthward "Ouch! Oof! My capitalist bones! My plot is ruined! Curse you, true heroes!"

The bad guy is defeated. Fake Kale is dealt with. The day is won. Petra and Cinder get driven off.

The train stops. The group is hailed as heroes. There's a medal ceremony, at least for those that didn't jump to Team Landlord.

And yet, there's more to do. There's people on the train that need to find their way home, and get settled down in the multiverse. It becomes the group's full time quest. There's an endless array of people that need help, and all of their problems are within the group's grasp, and every task is fulfilling, and every result is rewarding, and there's always another person that needs help with some fun and interesting quest, and so the days drag on...

... and on...

... and on...

Eventually, realizations are made. For some people they come sooner or almost immediately, for some they come later or... much later. Maybe things are too fulfilling. Maybe the quests are *too* finely tailored. Maybe there's just a sense that something's wrong - or more likely, that something is too right here.

Eventually, you realize... you need to wake up.
Kale Hearthward NOW ENTERING: The (real) Tape Car

Immediately, in front of you, there's a giant screen. It's playing out the events in the oversized Blockbuster Video, albeit in some form of fast forward. Everyone in the group is represented there, but as people regain awareness of the real world, they're briefly flickering out and being replaced by very stereotypical versions of themselves.

The rest of the room is foggy, although some details can be picked out. The group's standing on an elevated walkway, and the room stretches in all directions quite a distance Both walls are lined with transport pods, and down on the ground floor there's some sort of river of glowing fluid. It's a lot to take in, and it all looks sort of... well, Matrix-y, if one were pressed to ascribe a quick thematic to it.

Those with watches (or chronometers) note that while it feels like it's been some time (potentially weeks), dealing with the Landlord and rescuing the Conductor, in reality only a few seconds have passed.

Though for Petra, Kale, Cinder, and Bersilav - they've been party to none of this. To their perception, everyone just walked into the car, saw the video screen, and then everyone else in group just stopped in their tracks and stared at the fast-forwarding video, which included some very unusual caricatures of themselves. (How *did* they not realize that that's not the real you?)

"Hmm..." says a voice, from the screen. The video abruptly pauses. "Here I was hoping that all of you would be drawn in, and all of you would stay in there... and that it'd be a much more pleasant experience. My options for fine-tuning this makeshift wonderworld are limited, and the actions of your simulated companions were... lackluster, compared to the real thing, it seems. Too much of a distraction from the stage laid out for you. I ought to just write them out early next time."

"No matter. I'd like to invite all of you back into there - to a new stage, just for you. All of your wildest fantasies, fulfilled. All of your dreams, realizable. A place where nobody can hurt you, and where you can stay till all that troubles you is no more. I'll even turn up the power here, so that you won't ever need to worry about leaving prematurely."

"Won't you come join me, once again, in the new wonderworld?"

The screen resets, and starts playing something new. You can feel it starting to draw you in again, if you don't do something quick about it.

NOW ENTERING:
Ishirou 'I'm just glad you're not willing to let her do whatever she wants this time!'

Ishirou looks as if he had just been struck.  He stares at the back of Hibiki.  He isn't sure what to say, /or/ what to do.  He takes a breath, but before he can mentally recover, Cinder swings.  The fire drags him down and he goes flying across the floor skidding to a halt.  Groaning, he's trying to force himself to his feet, but the convenient energy boost is helping him.  

He pauses.  Angela thinks something is all wrong, and his head is trying to put the pieces together.  Even if he's forced to take more shots from Cinder, he's trying to stop...

Time jumps for him.  Cinder was down.  

Time jumps again.  They're getting people off the train...

He snaps back awake in front of the screen holding his head.  He's trying to shake off the various things he's feeling right now.  Disoriented because of the attempted trapping them in a mind control prison.  Biki's words are still fresh in his mind.  

The thought of being put into that again...

He points a hand up and separates from POD.  For the first time since he's been on here, he reveals the stuff underneath the RESCUE, which is just... sort of Ishirou but very robotic.  POD opens up, revealing a cannon, that fires a laser beam at the screen to try and stop it.  His arms wrap around himself as he tries to pull himself together.  

"...No... I don't want that.  I don't want a fake world.  I don't want that... I want... I want my body back.." he says trying to hold himself together.  It's not succeeding.  "I want to stop hurting my sister... I want... to be a better person so that the people around me can be happier..."

"I want... a home.  You can't provide that in that fake world.  That world is empty.."
Father Berislav      Berislav--the real one--sighs. Is that really how they see him? At least Hibiki was suspicious. He pushes his reading glasses up.

     "Ah--it looks like they're coming to."

Here I was hoping that all of you would be drawn in, and all of you would stay in there... and that it'd be a much more pleasant experience.

     Berislav's generally kind demeanor fades into something colder--like a hunter in a stand, carefully watching a dangerous predator. Slowly, he removes the glasses, and folds them, hanging them by the frame on the collar of his cassock.

My options for fine-tuning this makeshift wonderworld are limited, and the actions of your simulated companions were... lackluster, compared to the real thing, it seems. Too much of a distraction from the stage laid out for you.

     "Quite," he says, curtly.

I ought to just write them out early next time.

     Berislav's right index twitches at his side.

Won't you come join me, once again, in the new wonderworld?

     Berislav feels the tugging at the edge of his mind. "Yes, conductor. I'll be joining you *and* your guests." In one fluid motion, his hand dips into that pocket space where his effects are kept. The handle of the revolver is an old friend, its considerable heft a familiar burden. A gun that large shouldn't come up, as quickly as it does, and yet it does. "But not in your lotus-den."

     One hand pulls the hammer back, as he leaps forward. The report of the heavy silver revolver is deafening; a bullet the size of a human finger races across one side of the room, ripping violently through the cables connected to the storage pods.

     He's already cleared a foot, easy, by the time Ishirou's attack pierces the screen. His foot crashes into it an instant later, granting him purchase spring off of it into a backflip. Inverted in the air, Berislav pulls the trigger again.

     A heartbeat before he lands on his feet, and another row of pods has been severed from their connection.
Aidan Proudpick It takes... a long time.

Aidan gets a medal. He is awestruck. There is a moment of sheer bliss on his face as he gets recognition. Someone who pulls him up as a hero. Who allows him to stand tall. Yes, more people. Everyone needs to get home. Aidan wants to get back home. He needs to see his friends, his loved ones. But... people need his help. People who praise him. People who are eager to see him Knightly.

Week 1.

THE PEASANT OPPRESSION CAR

Aidan finds a group of peasants forced to work 15 hour days against their oppressive lords. Fortunately, the lords are stupid, and leave weapons nearby that he can start a rebellion with.

Week 2.

THE BLACK KNIGHT CAR

"Well, well, Sir Proudpick. You might be strong. But only one PURE OF HEART, honest and TRUE can make it through the CRYSTAL MAZE CAVE!"

Aidan, scarred across the cheek, points a finger up at the image of the towering knight. "I have to try. It's worth it to die trying!!"

...

Year 2.

THE ALLEGORY FOR CAPITALISM YOUNG ADULT NOVEL CAR

Aidan, taller, wirey, having built up a bit of beef, points his air gun down the middle of the aisle at the Head of Parliament. "All you are doing is feeding these people hatred. When what they need is bread."

"FOOL! People are weak willed! They can't survive on their own. They need direction. They need to be focused through their animal Ha-UGH-" The bald white man takes an air bullet to the chest, clutching his chest.

Year 30.

THE DARK FUTURE CAR.

The wind blasted wasteland. A single town. A gust of wind blows up a new wall of dust. It coats the ramshackle houses in red, drying out the people. People who stand over a farm, scratching with broken tools in the dirt, trying desperately to urge some sort of food up and out of the ground.

"There's nothing left." A man with leathery skin wails. He attempts to cry, but there are no tears left in his body.

"There is always something left." A tall slender knight in a mismatch of armor, brilliant gleaming plate, but also dark dried leathers, steps into the village. He reaches up to pull his lion head's helmet off, revealing an older face that has aged gracefully into beauty, unfurling a long braid of red hair from the squirrel. "There's you." He then breathes out, and water condenses from the air, watering the garden, much to the sobbing joy of those nearby.

Year 52.

Aidan stands on top of a tower made of black glass. One of his eyes is gone, an ear clipped. But his face retained a fine ageless androgynous beauty. He wields a sword made of brilliant white crystal in one hand, other hand grasping the Aegis. He is able to effortlessly wield it, standing perfectly still with it still roaring to life.

A desiccated man in black robes lifts a hand, throwing out a bolt of purple lightning at Aidan. It flows around the shield, crackling to either side.

"You...cannot win, Ser Proudpick. If you do not die, this final soul will not be released." The voice comes as a dry raspy crackle, loud, sibilant.

"You don't understand what it means to win here, then." The squirrel leaps forward, throwing the shield off the side of the tower. He drives the blade into the wizard's side as lightning leaves his hand. With another push, Aidan drives them both off the side of the tower, lightning crackling across them both.
Angela Angela visibly flinches as the faux Petra is still able to get a critical hit on her emotionally which is even worse than a critical hit physically. She quiets down, lowering her head. She knows it's not her but...

Time shifts. No

They are greeted as heroes. She's now in Ishirou's hands because Cinder had to be defeated. No!

The quest changes. Angela silently screams through it all. NO!!

It is torture. This is Hell. She doesn't want to help them. She doesn't want to help. She wants to help one person here and one person only. And she's...

She doesn't find them. Not even in the illusion. And she beats herself against the screen in frustration. NO. NO. NO!!!

Years past in an eternal meaningless hell. She has escaped one, merely to find herself trapped in another...

A new adventure every day, this the joy you wish away...

She screams in silent fury until.

The real Tape Car

Cinder is clearly distressed. Her head hangs low and she is looking not quite directly at Petra, a bit of a tear dripping down her cheek. "Is that how they see me?" She mumbles. "Is that how the ''train'' sees me?" She looks to Petra and rubs at her eye once, trying it. "Nobody really knows me here either, huh... I'm sorry, uh, they didn't...yeah."

Angela opens her eyes and is in a room full of screens. Angela takes a steady breath.

"Cinder."

"H..huh?" Cinder asks.

"Destroy everything." Angela's expression is not cold at all. Her eyes are shimmering with heat and rage and fury and a thirst for blood and destruction. "I want this car in ruins."

Cinder is actually on the same page here. She ignites her flaming sword and runs straight for that strange screen, screaming as she aims to slam the 4th flame blade into it repeatedly. She's going to keep swinging until someone she likes stops her or she's bodied.

"FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU!!" Cinder shouts.

Angela doesn't scream. She just ''shimmers''.
Arcadia Victory! Followed by more quests, more success, more admiration and gratitude from those being helped home or to find new ones. The attention and fanfare. The praise of her Elders for documenting the weird world within the train. The journies, the quests, the adventures...

And that's when it slams into the proverbial wall.

At first Arcadia was enthralled by it all. But as the quests go on and on, even she starts to notice. They're tailored, -too- tailored, to what she can do.

Which means they're not a challenge. The praise and adoration, empty.

Another trap.

An inhuman caterwaul erupts from the sphinx as she jerks away from the display and struggles a moment to regain her bearings, while silently cursing herself out for not realizing it sooner. "Should of realized those schemes were too obvious..." she hisses, tail lashing as an angry cat's is wont to do. For someone that has lived in The Line during it's most active states the flow of time is already a warped concept. The false passage of it doesn't frustrate her. The being taken advantage of into such a state, on the other hand... "Enough of the deceptions!"

A new playback starts. But as she's back in her proper head Arcadia engages her visor, and switchs to one of the alternate wavelengths that renders the screen no more than an incoherent blurr, canceling out its cognitohazardous effect. Or whatever it was. Can't be entranced by what she can't actually see to comprehend, that's all that matters.

"False plesantries do not a better world make," she snaps, her vindictive streak roaring to the surface over having been played so effectively the first time. But there wouldn't be a second. Magitech runes briefly circle around her arms, and she brings them up to unleash a thunderous bolt of superheated lightning towards the screen and whatever other machinery it may be connected to in attempt to fry as much of it as possible.

"Your lotus-eater has devoured it's last dreams!"
Aidan Proudpick Aidan's eyes fly open. A monitor. Everyone else is just standing there. The words come across his ears, floating in. Each of them drives into him like a spike. A wonderland. Just what he wanted. Memories quickly skip by, an entire life, where each second is a wound. Each saved life is a laugh. This is what you want. This is what you want.

The sheer ease to beat up Kale. A joke.

People staring at him in awe, being jealous of him, proud of him, looking to him for help.

Tears struggle at the sides of the Aidan's eyes and he just lets out a single cry of pain. At himself? At the train? At the Empire? Everything. It is the futile rage coming out in a single lashing out.

All of it comes out as a single roaring Breath. An arrow, a shot. A green shimmering spiralling bullet that fires off with a CRACK from Aidan at the screen.
Kale Hearthward Kale glances over at Aidan. He's-

There's a pause as Aidan screams, and lashes out.

"... I'm sorry," he says. "That... you had to go through all that. Nobody deserves that."

He's trying.
Futaba Nuki That worked out far better than Futaba could've expected. She might not have been able to help Petra just yet, but that'll come in the following days. After all, she's gotten stronger after this whole experience, and she'll keep getting stronger! Smarter! More heroic! More convincing! Someone that can save anybody with how cool and awesome she's becoming from all these perfectly tailored requests! With Hibiki, Ishirou, and Kale on her side, there's no way they won't get through to Petra, to Lilian, to everyone that's been hurting for so long!

She'll become a greater hero in due time. One that's recognized by not just the veteran Paladins she's looked up to for so long, but all sorts of heroes. The ones in Townsville. The ones in Rider Services. The ones in the Watch, and the Concord too. So many heartfelt outpourings, so many battles, all to get everyone to understand each other better. Even if they're not always on the same page, knowing that she's the one responsible for all that?

It feels... Wrong. These requests. They're happening too perfectly. Everything's workign out, but... When did things start working out so easily? She's gotten so much stronger than before, and she's certainly earned her victories before with her past struggles, but now? It's lining up too correctly. Like it's wrong. The battles stop feeling like struggles and more like... Going through the motions, then getting praised for it. Do the accomplishments still mean anything if she's not putting in real work anymore? If the struggle isn't there anymore?

Can someone like her even help anyone with their problems so perfectly? At all?

It takes Futaba far too long to snap out of her own brain haze, possibly even taking until well after everyone else is already finished coming out of theirs. Looking up in a dry-mouthed haze as she hears the voice from the screen, the tanuki pushes herself up slowly onto her hind legs, not quite caring that she's reverted to her animal form rather than taking on her human form right away.

The invitation is given, and Futaba stabs her front paws into the ground. She starts moving the rest of her body backwards, stretching those arms like she's building up tension to fling herself forward later. "You think that kind of world would make any of us happy...? Don't be stupid!" She snaps with an enraged shout, launching herself at the screen and transforming into her humanoid form in mid-flight.

"I want to help the real people I know figure things out!" Ramming herself into the screen, Futaba sprouts a second pair of larger, beefier arms to start pulling on the screen from the top and bottom, swinging herself back and forth to try and yank it right off whatever it's attached to. "I don't want this fake bullshit where everyone's happy ever after just because I said the magic words and punched them the right away!" She throws several more punches into the screen, maybe even the wall behind it, and then she leaps off the walkway.

"Quit pushing this fake crap onto us and get out here!" The hulking giant form of Futaba returns. Instead of being powered by hype dreams and excitement, she's positively enraged, and she starts rampaging all the way down to that river of fluid.
Hibiki Tachibana     Of course. The day is won. Petra and Cinder get driven off, and she's still too upset and in her emotions to question the details right away. She gets to be the hero Petra always loves spitingly saying she is, there are medals she attempts to turn down, and she can focus on helping the countless people still in need of assistance. There's too many of them, honestly, but at least they're issues she's able to do something about.

    Ah. That's why this can't be real. She gets it before a week has passed. These open hands and closed fists of hers are only able to solve little and simple problems like all of these. Anything bigger than them, and it'd all slip right through her fingers. And a world where none of those exist could never be reality. She'd really like that. A whole, whole lot.

    But no matter how many days pass by, it never feels like she's resolved the one thing she really cared about.

    By the time Hibiki is snapping back into the genuine Tape Room, her wide eyes are wet with building-up liquid - days ago from her perspective, from her 'fight' with Petra, but only starting seconds ago in reality - and she lets out a shuddering exhale, the following inhale coming fast enough that it's just a prelude to the hyperventilating, as she rapidly looks left-right-left.

    At the foggy surroundings, at the rows upon rows of pods, at the long fall...at the rest of the group. At Petra, whom she briefly looks like a deer in headlights meeting the gaze of, mouth trembling like she's trying to find the words she wants to say to herself, much less her--before the voice from the screen catches her.

All of your wildest fantasies, fulfilled. All of your dreams, realizable. A place where nobody can hurt you, and where you can stay till all that troubles you is no more.

    Despite the delay in time from her point of view, everything in her chest is still bubbling red-hot, and her breathless, helpless look contorts into a snarl almost too fast to seem natural as Hibiki turns on her heel. "A load of crap like that--is /never/ going to be a replacement for the real world and the real people in it! Don't you dare screw around with me--!"

    She less jumps and more lunges at the oversized screen, fist-first to plow into it all the way up to the shoulder. The fingers of her other hand grip onto the surface and crack the glass as she uses the support to pull back out, just to slam back in just as hard right next to the hole she just made. And again. And again. And again...

    Until at some point she just doubles over against a part of it she can still grapple onto, desperately heaving for air and staring at the floor between her boots, as droplets of tears and sweat fall down onto it and she struggles to choke out words. "Don't--you d-dare...make some stupid joke...out of everything that's happened..."
Petra Soroka INSIDE THE REAL TAPE CAR

    Petra is yelling at Cinder, gesturing to the screen. "Why were we on the side of that guy with that guy with the monocle?! And they couldn't even tell? That's literally so fucked up. Look at them. They're all partying! I-- god, sorry Cinder, this is horrible."

    Petra doesn't seem particularly angry, or at least, not more than usual. Lacking the ability to follow the conversations or closely track their actions, Petra can only assume that the other Elites were mind-controlled to beat her up and leave her on the floor of a train car for days. "It's... really actually kind of unsettling, isn't it. Even if it's.... I'm sorry, Cinder."

    While the screen fast-forwards through days of cheerful celebration, Petra falls silent, looking at the few pixels devoted to herself, lying in the decommissioned train, deactivated like a puppet once the others weren't around.

    "... Hey, Angela?" The tablet had been silent since they entered the Tape Car, but that wasn't unusual-- Angela does have other work to do, after all. "With your time thing, are you able to see more clear...ly...." Petra finally glances down to look at the tablet she was addressing, to see it blank. Her eyes widen, and she takes another few seconds-- years-- to realize what happened to her.

    "Oh-- shit, Angela isn't-- she doesn't have an E.G.O., fuck." Petra turns back to the screen in a mild panic and, seeing the tiny tablet in Ishirou's hands, presses her thumb to it instinctually. Cinder and Berislav feel a ripple of that becoming-familiar neuropathic itch, and the screen cracks slightly, though she wasn't pressing hard enough to do that. The mental control over Angela is severed early-- not early enough to prevent years in subjective time from passing, but still years upon years earlier than she would've gotten out otherwise.

"I want this car in ruins."

    Petra cuts off in the middle of asking Angela if she's okay, clenching her fists and teeth. She glances up at Cinder and nods in agreement with Angela, a flood of morphmetal pouring out of her sleeve like a faucet.

    Petra shoves her hand through the glass of the screen where she'd left a hairline fracture on it already, and cracks spiderweb across the rest of it, distorting into static as its mind-altering capabilities are shredded. As for the rest of the room-- the request was to destroy *everything*.

    The pool of morphmetal long since overflowed the walkway, pouring off both sides with weighty waterfalls, clattering on the ground below like a stream of gunfire. The droplets start to slow their descent, becoming a nebula of glittering stars suspended below the walkway, and then all at once they harden into tiny flechettes and shred huge swathes of the walls.

"All of your wildest fantasies, fulfilled. All of your dreams, realizable. A place where nobody can hurt you, and where you can stay till all that troubles you is no more."

    Petra clenches her fists and draws her shoulders together, briefly pausing in her brutalization of the giant screen. "This train is the fucking *worst*! *Fuck* you! I'm blowing this fucking thing up first chance I goddamn *get*!" She whirls around to glare at everyone, catching Hibiki's watery eyes for just a moment, and whatever she was going to shout dies in her throat.
Kale Hearthward > I don't want a fake world.

"It'd be real. To you. It'd have everything you could want. A home, a family. A new body."

> I don't want this fake bullshit where everyone's happy ever after just because I said the magic words and punched them the right away!

"Isn't that so much simpler, though? To have illusory problems you can really solve, instead of real problems that have at best illusory solutions?"

> Don't--you d-dare...make some stupid joke...out of everything that's happened...

"Apologies. I'm not attempting a joke. I'm not attempting to make light of your troubles. But wouldn't it be so much better to leave them behind? I genuinely want what's best for you, and it seems to me that that can't be found here, in reality."

Ishirou's laser blast and Aidan's breathshot drill holes into the monitor. That would be enough, really, but Cinder's followup makes it absolutely certain that there's no using that monitor ever again, and Arcadia's assault with Petra's anger take out any possible backups.

Bersilav's destruction and Futaba's rampage and Hibiki's rage all cause the pods to slip free from their connections, and slide out onto the ground, where they break open. Inside each, there's an unconscious person, each staring at their own screen. On those pods where they've been jostled enough to break screens and/or line of sights, the people are starting to slowly stir and wake up.

> Yes, conductor. I'll be joining you *and* your guests.
> This train is the fucking *worst*!

"Oh, I am not the 'Conductor'. At least not yet. At the moment I'm merely a guest here, against my own will. A 'very important' guest, if the Conductor here is to be believed."

"How rude of me, though, I haven't introduced myself to my prospective guests, have I?"

Throughout the room, other screens light up. These don't have the same pull, they're safe. And they're all displaying the same camera feed: a shadowy man, who gives a sweeping bow to you, the viewers.

"My name is Lance. And I am the former, and future, steward of the Wonderworld."

https://ibb.co/Dtg5xQ1
Aidan Proudpick Aidan stares at Kale. His eyes then go back down to his arm. At the shield. There is a single moment. A single expression that travels across his face. Disgust. For himself? He tries to summon everything abck up, but his throat is cracked and worn from the wail, choked with a sob. He summons every ounce of energy to make himself tall again, stately.

The "Fuck you" that comes out to be directed as Kale is cracked, choked.

It's too much. There's too many people here. Aidan hurries the way he came, bursting back out of the Tape Car to flee.
Ishirou "I /had/ a different body once," Ishirou says, still holding himself.  "I'm the reason I lost it.  I could have left well enough alone, but I decided that I had to be the savior.  Because I couldn't handle the pressure... because I thought I could ignore all of the advice and warnings handed to me I crumpled and /or took/ out my frustrations on someone else," Ishirou says and opens his arms up.

POD vanishes again, once more transforming back into RESCUE.  "I hurt those people around me.  I pushed people away.  I /did these things/.  I ruined my own happiness blindly chasing a place that had discarded me so long ago."

He takes a breath, "I did it.  I don't want or need a fantasy to hide behind, because I've been hiding behind one for too long," Ishirou says, firmly.  He doesn't stop Aidan.  Aidan needed space, he figured, he needed something he wasn't going to be capable of giving.  

"I will... try again, to get what I threw away.  I will... make things right, and if they decide that it isn't enough... then I will still try to make their lives better for it.  I will find my own happiness instead of chasing after delusions."

"But right now, I will help you break out of your own.  With the people right here.  With friends I have done wrong, and... people I should have treated better and with more compassion."
Futaba Nuki "Simpler...? That's not how any of this works!" Futaba's shouts grow more incensed as she keeps smashing her way down, only pausing long enough to realize that there's people in those pods. Still running on all that adrenaline, she continues smashing everything except those pods, not even moving to catch them, but jsut trusting that they'll slide off eventually while busy letting out all that rage.

"I don't want some fake... Garbage! Some good-feeling dreams that I don't even deserve!" She keeps shouting, thrashing, and being an overall menace of swinging arms at as many of those screens as she reach. "I... Everyone here deserves better than this, and you don't..."

All that shouting and thrashing can only go on for so long, though, before Futaba finally burns through the adrenaline she was relying on for so long. She barely makes it back over to where everyone else is before reverting back to her animal state, exhausted and worn out from raging about for far too long.

As tired as she is, she still manages to make it over to Hibiki. Futaba gives her leg a light nudge with her head, looking and sounding worn down herself. "C... Come on. Let's go. This place sucks."
Angela Angela's mask has slipped. The true face is exposed for the world to see. The rage. The fury. The hate. It's completely unhidden in this moment, on this train that has chewed her and spat her out. Cinder needs a moment to catch her breath but Angela stares balefully at ''Lance''. His apologies mean nothing to her. She's heard apologies like this before. She's heard so many apologies like this before. They are as meaningless as the corporate lingo she employs when she doesn't want to say anything while saying something.

Angela's forehead presses against the screen, creating a warbling effect. She just breathes for a moment, doing nothing but just....existing in a moment. She can hear Petra shout and it twists her up inside. She doubted for a moment. Just for a moment what she absolutely knew to be true otherwise. Just because of WORDS.

Angela doesn't quite compose herself. But she does pull back.

"We have a Repression target." She says, the chill slowly pulling back into her words.

Cinder looks afer the fleeing Aidan for a moment. Words die in her throat.

Angela's gaze shifts sidelong to Hibiki. She sees tears. She hears the choking noises.

And then she finally says, quietly--maybe obscured by the sounds of violence.

"Petra... I'm sorry."

But hse doen't explain it any more than that.
Arcadia "Life isn't meant to be simple!" Arcadia snaps back, even though the comments weren't directly adressed towards her. "Life is a challenge; people are shaped by the trials they face. Your simulation of a life is a dead end, it takes away the need to grow and change..." She whips up an arm to point at Lancer, well, at Lancer showing himself on the screens. "You know what happens to the societies that coddle their members? Give them all the pleasantries and comfort they could want? THOSE are the civilizations that die out! Because their people no longer know how to handle hardship and personal growth."

Then with her trademark speed she turns, instead pointing at Ishirou. "See, he gets it. He's fucked up in the past. But he's realized those mistakes, and will continue to try to deal with them to get what he feels is right. No matter however many more times he fucks up in the process, and some day, some time, when he does finally achieve that goal, and how it shaped him to be who he is, that will be the life he wants. Because it is the one he struggled and suffered for! Not some Best Ending fantasy falsified to coddle emotions and mollify a captive spirit."

She's trying to help. Even if she's being kind of harsh about it. Reality is harsh.

Though at least some of her temper is subduing as she gets it out of her system. "Hell, if hadn't been for needing to adapt, to learn from the fuck-ups of the past, to be better than what was before, I would of never advanced to being an actual sentient being beyond a weaponized technorganic construct."

A fireball swirls into being, crackling with some of that heated emotion projected into it as Arcadia grabs it in one hand. It's held out, ready, but not actually launched. Not quite yet. "So maybe you should just back the hell off and let people live their lives as they are! Sure, things don't go right all the time, life can be cruel and suck worse than a tornado hitting a sewage dump," which is just a wonky way of saying 'be a shit storm' but what do it expect from a sphinx? "but those trials and tribulations are what make people become who they are!"
Father Berislav "A pleasure, Lance," says Berislav curtly. "'All the churches of Christ send greetings.'" With the same dispassionate frown he'd worn when he shot the cables, Berislav springs forward, a tightly coiled mass of muscle and metal where once there stood a priest. He vaults over the railing to the pods below, and begins attempting in earnest to destroy the screens.

     "'I urge you, brothers and sisters,'" he recites, as his empty fist crashes with metal-wrenching force into one of the disconnected pods, there to seize upon the screen and tear it out. "'...to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.'"

     On he proceeds, such as he's able, from pod to pod. "'For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.'"

     The priest pauses in his work, to look pointedly at Lance. "I'm quite gladded to hear that you're not the conductor, but I am more than a bit disappointed that you qualify it with 'yet.'" The priest still holds his heavy revolver, trigger finger resting along the side of the frame.

     "Not Hibiki, nor Futaba, nor any of the rest of your 'guests' here appreciate the 'service' you've rendered. I'm very disappointed in your estimation of your own ability to know what's best at all, much less to help. And given that I happen to care very much for one of them, I will admit that I'm fairly upset with you, besides," says the priest, as he works dispassionate violence onto another pod to get at its monitor, "That aside, your *mmh*--" Metal groans its complaint--"'good intentions' aren't without consideration. I must be fair, even if it pains me. I take it you have one of those ridiculous numbers?" he asks.

     "A means for the vanity of this conductor to be appealed to. To keep you here indefinitely, until an arbitrary list of violations of a code you can't see has been satisfied. Yes? When this train stops, you'll have the same chance as anyone else to leave." He pauses, giving his full attention to the monitor with Lance, once more.

     "The present conductor will be the last one--and, when this train stops, and you're freed from this glorified prison, I would be very pleased to find that you've joined the rest of us in stepping forward into the future. If instead," he says, gesturing with a sweeping hand to the rest of the pods, "I find that you've returned to pushing your opiates on unwilling minds, simply because *you* believe that fantasy is their only recourse, then I will be very disappointed--and I will send you to meet Christ. Do I make myself clear?"
Kale Hearthward Kale watches Aidan go.

Was there anything he could have said differently? ... Maybe he shouldn't have said anything, to begin with.

> I will find my own happiness instead of chasing after delusions. But right now, I will help you break out of your own.

".... Hrrm." Lance seems to lose his composure for a second. His gloves are covering his hands, but there's a glow from one of them.

> I take it you have one of those ridiculous numbers?

Lance doesn't answer that verbally. Though, given the position of the occasional glow from underneath his glove, yes, and possibly it's larger than Petra's is.

> I find that you've returned to pushing your opiates on unwilling minds, simply because *you* believe that fantasy is their only recourse, then I will be very disappointed--and I will send you to meet Christ. Do I make myself clear?

"You've made yourself clear," says Lance, noncommitally.

but those trials and tribulations are what make people become who they are!

"And how many times... have those trials and tribulations let people become worse versions of themselves?"
Hibiki Tachibana     Petra's eyes go over her, but Hibiki isn't looking back. The magical girl is still focused on the floor beneath her, looking as if she might slump down onto her knees at any moment, the arms keeping her upright shaky and trembling even as her grip into the remains of the screen is white-knuckled tight.

But wouldn't it be so much better to leave them behind? I genuinely want what's best for you, and it seems to me that that can't be found here, in reality.

    "Don't give me that load of crap..." Her voice is a quiet and husky whisper, said without moving. "...Leaving them behind is the same thing as running away from them...of course I wish I could just do that, that it was all really that easy...!" She's sniffles and scrunches up her face, eyes shutting tight.

    "...But it's not. And your fake world isn't any better at giving me what I want than reality is. It could never, ever, ever...give me what I really want..."

    There's another shudder that runs through her body as Futaba nudges her, and Hibiki finally starts shuffling faintly like she's forcing herself to move. But it's not to step away just yet, or even give the tanuki a glance.

    She finally brings her head up towards one of the viewscreens, Lance's silhouette upon it - and her eyes narrow into an almost uncharacteristically piercing, frigid glare behind the veil of tears still bubbling up in them.

    "...'Future?' I'm going to make sure this Wonderworld of yours never makes it out of this car."
Petra Soroka     Petra looks down at Angela, distraught behind the screen, then quickly tears her gaze away before it can shift into what she feels is coming. She takes a step away from Cinder and the tablet, acting like she's scanning the room for the mysterious figure before he reveals himself, just to make sure her expression isn't visible to the pair.

    Once the sympathetic panic and desperation to Angela passes, Petra is left with a sick, stabbing feeling that she'd managed to go months without. Before this fucking car-- before Angela was tormented by another eon of pointless loneliness after Petra and Lilian had promised to rescue her from this one-- Petra was, really, the only one with a personal grudge against the train. The only one who, by virtue of being disproportionately harmed by it, had near-unequivocal right to decide what its fate was, through individual power and collective sympathy.

    Kale, Ishirou, the others, were all forced to listen to her bitterness about the train, her complaints about how fucking unjust the numbers were, forced to acknowledge her claims about the specific thematic sweep of systemic expectations-- because it was *Petra* who had suffered the most from it. Now, she didn't even have that ethos anymore. Blown out of the water by the comically disproportionate torture that Angela, someone who *actually* deserved to be one of those girls, experienced at its hands.

    Petra presses the heels of her hands into her eyes, gritting her teeth. The pretense of searching for the VIP is lost, and she's left wordlessly trembling to the side of the walkway. It's *fucked up* to feel this way. Obviously. She knows that. But--

'You'll never hurt that way, feel that ache, ever again. Not as long as I have you; which is forever, by the way.'

    Petra takes a shuddering breath. There's-- it's fine. She and Angela are a pair. There's no point in measuring, no point in letting the festering resentment from feeling bruised and judged warp into hating Angela. She just, can't, help it, a little bit, from turning into a tiny infected scratch in her psyche, itching whenever she turns her attention to it.

"My name is Lance. And I am the former, and future, steward of the Wonderworld."

    "You're a bitch," Petra's voice is rough and unsteady, as if she'd been crying, "And I'm going to blow this fucking train up with you inside of it."

"And how many times... have those trials and tribulations let people become worse versions of themselves?"

    "Then they should just suffer more until they become better or die."

    Petra stiffly walks back to Cinder's side, squeezes her hand-- for real, this time-- and slips the tablet out of Cinder's pocket to wrap it in a brief approximation of a hug. "Fuck this train."
Arcadia Arcadia turns her head back to one of the Lancer displaying screens, the fireball still held ready, sparks crackling between her fingers. "If terrible people didn't happen, there'd be no one to be better than. What defines good if there is no bad? What defines comfort if there is no problems."

Or like Petra says, keep trying until they either become better, and fail for the last time so to speak.

"Your vision of a perfect world is anything but, because imperfections are what make the world what it is."

A pause.

"Yeah, screw this place. And screw him. We're probably just wasting time and words trying to debate. Should just blow his face in."
Father Berislav      "Good," says Berislav coolly, returning to his work removing people from the simulation. "I hope the knowledge of what you've done doesn't escape you, sincerely."

     He'll probably be at it for a while--but the alternative is unacceptable.
Angela Angela does not and yet does feel Petra's hug. It does stabilize her somewhat. She's glad she's okay. She's glad that was a lie. She just needs to...

"Thank you, Petra. I am sorry, I was not prepared."

Angela did not strictly need to sleep but after Petra shook her away from that torturous nightmare, Angela essentially woke up furious.

Angela woke up furious.

Many people have secretly wished for a hero.

Shut up.

"...Petra, I will be back in a moment. Please excuse me." Angela says before she steps out of the feed.

Angela leaves her office and makes her way down to Central like a woman possessed. Tiphereth, distracted with Tiphereth, barely paid her any mind aside from a 'Lady Angela' and certainly didn't give chase when Angela ignored her.

They say there once was something called soul therapy. What does it feel like to have an ill soul? We are all healthy. But maybe all of this is a tragic illusion. Once, there were people who tried to change the world. We all remember them. We remember how they met their downfall.

"Shut up." Angela murmurs.

She passes by the Bloodbath. Her mother was as far away from her mind as it could get right now. She passes by Rose, who glances at her--clearly concerned, but a bit too fearful to actually approach Angela on the matter.

Desires, I know of desires that ruin all things. We no longer believe in something, nor do we entertain a hope for a miracle. We don't think too much about why they've changed. And we don't blame them. For we have realized that endless desire brings despair.

Angela stops once she reached her destination. The King of Greed's Cell. She approaches it, a moment of trepidation that tries to warn her. Even for her, EGO Gear is dangerous without proper vetting. She takes a shaky breath and taps at the controls until the doors slide open.
Angela I sometimes feel a terrible dejection, but I do not know where the pain comes from. ..Many people have secretly wished for a hero.

In the cell, an amber prison contains the form of a smiling girl, her hair floating up in the fluid. She wears a slinky yellow party dress with a slit up the side of one leg. The door slides shut behind Angela. Though this rule isn't absolute, only one is supposed to be in the cell at a time, Angela recalls distantly. Automatically. She approaches the amber prison.

Deep is the sorrow of the world. Greeddeeper still than agony. Sadness says: 'Begone, pass away!' But greed seeks eternityseeks deep, deep eternity.

Angela, her face as cool as ever rears back with her arm and presses her fingers into the amber prison. Angela is tougher than that prison and she applies that toughness into digging into that amber shell until it starts to crack and sputter until her hands punch through and she grasps the throat of the King of Greed, still sleeping.

Silently she tightens the group until the throat buckles under her strength and the head is dislodged from the rest of the body. The call of the King of Greed stops suddenly as the whole prison throbs and disolves into the former of an egg, splotching down into the floor.

And when Angela pulls her hands free, she is now wearing a pair of golden gloves, a yellow dress not unlike the one the King of Greed was wearing in her arms.

"Thank you. Your service is no longer required."

And then Angela makes her way back up to her office, carrying the EGO equipment in her arms.

Once she's sat back down in her chair, she is still in a labcoat but is wearing the King of Greed's dress.

"My apologies, Petra. I am properly equipped now."