Scene #8704: Cursed Weapon

Owner	Pose
Petra Soroka	Over the course of Lobotomy Corporation's operation, EGO is extracted, assigned, attuned, shredded and shattered, and in some cases, outgrown. When an agent lives long enough, and develops far enough, as Carol had when exchanging the EGO she got from Bloodbath for that of the Knight of Despair, the abandoned EGO returns to the dim caverns of Extraction where it was originally born. It requires growing as a person. So of course there's barely anything down here. The Armory, insofar as it can be called one, is sheltered by a cluster of jet black pillars inscribed with glowing gold, irregularly tall. The makeshift walls vary from stretching high up beyond Petra's sight, disappearing into the shadowy vaulted space of Extraction, to barely a couple meters tall, blocking her vision but certainly not her entry. Within it, warped bubbles of frigid golden light bob and drift through the air like balloons. Each one contains an EGO. One bubble lingers in the corner, as if staring into the wall. One emits soft music, distorting into mechanical grinding as Petra gets close. One is warm and gentle and stinks like iron, and when Petra holds it between her palms and pulls it open, the translucent gilded film splits like skin, a straight razor line gouged across. The red, serrated EGO knife falls into her hand, bloodstained grip comfortable as if she was meant to wield it all her life. Wrist Cutter. A psychic reification of the same weapon Carmen used to saw through her wrists; mythologized, extracted, and purified, drenched with the distillate of the intoxicating urge. Petra's wrists ache. But not really much more than usual. As each piece of the plot slid into place, Petra tapped more and more into that old well of single-minded, furious fire, the violent lifeblood that sustained her during those three weeks that felt like eternity. Now, with the tool slotted into her hand, Petra practically hears the tinnitus-shriek of her reactor in her ear again, perception hazy and crystal clear all at once, flickering between task and target with no gap between. Memories boil up and sting like bile, blurring her vision as she squeezes the knife grip so hard her muscles creak. 'Sorr-- Apologies--!' crack. 'Ten! It's been ten years!' crack. 'You shouldn't have saved me either.' crack. 'For once Matthew just FUCKING LISTEN TO ME!' crack. '-- because you'll never stop being my--'
Petra Soroka	The train of thought is flattened, screeched to a halt, ripped off the tracks before it can complete. Exerted mental force scorches the slate clean, psychic shockwave hissing and squealing to utterly deafen anyone else who could be looking in, too. Petra is already halfway to the elevator door out of Extraction, the past minute vanished in the blink of an eye. Her boots hit the black tiles in erratic non-tempo, unevenly timed and spaced, without stumbling. 'You can't so much as give me a black eye without losing your little 'girlfriend', isn't that right? If the slightest thing happens to me, you know who it'll crack in half; permanently. You wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of dealing with the Watch and breaking into my house if you could.' 'Oh, you're right. I've gone through a lot of trouble I wouldn't have had to otherwise.' Angela doesn't know. Petra didn't ask permission. No one saw Petra come down here, late after work hours, and slivers of morphmetal dripped from her FullBottle disabled every camera that might've recorded her. Xion doesn't know, no one can possibly pull it from her mind, and Petra was fully prepared to murder Carol if that had been what it took to get Bloodbath's EGO from her in secret. The narrative that Petra has carved out will be all the truth that Lilian needs to concern herself with. The only person Petra couldn't account for, in all of this, is--
Angela	It's a perfect plan that fails to only account for two elements that Petra couldn't have really prepared for. But the first sign there's something wrong is that... The elevator doors don't open back up for Petra when she attempts to leave. They are completely sealed shut. "Leaving without even saying hello?" The voice belongs to the black and yellow boxbot form of Binah, a cup of tea in her metallic accentuated fingers. Her singular eye settles on the crimson blade in Petra's hands. "My oh my, that's company property. I'll have to sound the alarms." She does not sound the alarms. Hm? Oh! It's Angela's beautiful friend. Petra, isn't it? Binah's eye flits around briefly but doesn't seem to be quite hearing Carmen herself, not so directly as Petra is anyway. Ahh, that's not a happy memory you're holding. I'm sure she would have given it to you if you just asked. But despite Binah not hearing why, Binah can still infer something about what she is observing. She lifts the tea up to slightly under her eye as if she were mock-drinking the tea before adding. "Let's see. I can't imagine you going to lengths like these for anyone but Miss Lilian." Binah offers the cup of tea to Petra. "Can you hear the whisper of the Well? Or perhaps ... it is not a whisper for you. You've been down here before but we've never really talked, but I listen... like a good--what was it she said--a good cop?" Binah is quiet for a moment before adding, "But I suppose what goes on outside doesn't matter that much to me."
Petra Soroka	Binah's words only pierce through Petra's mind as noise at first. Faced with the uncooperative elevator doors, Petra reacts quickly and violently, sliding her foot back across the tile to about-face at Binah. Wrist Cutter twists towards her, blade glistening wetly in the dim golden light-- she's already so familiar with that weapon, for having just picked it up. Her other hand, before she's even had a chance to think about it, reaches into her-- bomber jacket-- pocket, thumbing the cap of the Silver FullBottle to release the last dregs of morphmetal. Quivering silver rivulets pour down the hem of the jacket, snaking over to crawl between the shut elevator doors. The metal squirms into the gap, flattening to force its way up the full height, then shivers in place, ready to wrench them open by force on Petra's command. It takes a few seconds of blinking to refocus on Binah and to process the words coming out of her speakers. "... Binah. I don't want you involved in this. I'm not hurting the company, and you know that, because I'm not going to risk anything for Angela." Binah's musing on whether Petra can hear anything from the Well is cut short by Petra flinching in surprise, jarred out of that hard, angry edge, and exclaiming out loud. "Huh?! Who-- Carmen?" The knife lowers a little, tip tilted down right at Binah's eye. "Why can I hear you?" For whatever reason, Petra insists on speaking out loud to Carmen, unlike Exigent Serenity. That isn't to say her thoughts aren't still audible to Carmen, just that they're not conversational, at least for now. "Of course it's not a happy memory. I'm plenty familiar with suicide, Carmen." Suicide isn't happy, but the whole point is to cut out something unhappy, right? Ending whatever's so unbearable that it just can't be allowed to keep going, whether that's your presence or your consciousness. It's a cowardly option, but I can't really get on anyone's case for that, can I. Peering into Petra's mind means getting secondhand awareness of all the faded-pink cuts across her wrists, the ones hidden beneath her jacket still. Petra frowns harder at Binah's mention of Lilian, clearly unhappy with her attempts to feel out what her purpose is here. "I don't need to talk to you about what I'm doing. And obviously I don't want to, either, or I wouldn't have come down here the way I did." She falls silent for a second, but before Binah can respond in the gap, she glances towards the Well and blurts out, "I'm writing the narrative the way I want it read. You two aren't part of it."
Angela	Binah's eye slants down towards Wrist Cutter. "The Extermination of Geometrical Origin. If only I had known about them before I made my move." The Arbiter seems perturbed for a moment, but only for a moment. "...But you cannot kill me. Ah, not because you are incapable of doing so but because if you kill me Angela will never escape her fate down here. It is that kind of ''can't''." Binah is distracted from whatever elaborate tangent she was about to get in on because Petra starts talking to Carmen. The eye raises up in imitation of an eyebrow. Those metallic feet scrape across the floor. Binah is not hearing The Voice. Oh, it wasn't so much the cutting, exactly. They could have saved my body if they really wanted. No, I just regret not starting the Cogito experiments with me. Well, not regret exactly. It would have been easier. Carmen is quiet for a moment. Well if you don't want to talk, we don't have to. But it is only natural to have an interest in your daughter's friend, don't you think? But it's a good question... Why ''can'' you hear me? Binah has quieted down while Petra was conversing with Carmen but eventually she does speak up again. "You can't skip past the encounter with the horrible witch, Petra." Binah steps away. "You know I'm not a loyal servant of L-Corp. I am a prisoner here, they scoured my brain for secrets so they could hide away from the Eyes that will be upon you ere long. I have sealed that door shut with Lock-tech. The machine will notice if we dally too long so... How about we make a deal?" Binah sits down at the table where she tends to have her tea. "How about...mmm... "How about you kill Cinder for me? Then I'll let you out and ensure Miss Angela never knows you didn't trust her on this mission. That nobody knows. I'll even extract out a replacement Wristcutter so nobody knows it's gone."
Petra Soroka	"I can't kill you," Petra echoes, presumably agreeing with Binah's stated reason. "I'm not threatening to, either. But I'm getting done what I need to, no matter what." Daughter's friend. The other parent I'm visiting today won't be as happy to see me. "What... do you mean, starting the Cogito experiments with yourself?" Petra still stands against the elevator doors, softened slightly in some ways by Carmen, but made more on-edge in others. "I don't... no one should be able to get into my head. Other than Exigent Serenity, but you're no Exigent Serenity." "You talked with her, I know that. I know Meika heard you, too. And Lilian... after suppressing Blue Star with that technique. But none of that..." Petra's eyebrows furrow in thought, listing out each person she knows Carmen has reached out to and immediately drawing a line between them. Angela. Lilian. Exigent Serenity. Meika... sort of is too, as far as I can tell. She feels like one of us to me, and she even called me about having an inverse. But I know I couldn't hear you before. The moment Binah speaks up again, Petra clenches her fist, snapping her eyes into focus on the boxbot. All the distraction that Carmen provided her is scorched away immediately, and the elevator doors squeal with a brief exertion of force from the morphmetal, though she doesn't wrench them open yet. "I can skip past you if I want, Binah. It's only about what I'm willing to spend to do it. Arbiters understand missions, right?" A light, automatic sneer twists into her face, watching Binah sit down casually at the table. Her voice takes on a distant, subvocal creak, tension warped deep within her chest, glass pushed to the limits of its tensile strength. "So you should keep in mind how much anything you say to me costs." Instantly, harshly, "No." In the moment after rejecting Binah, braced like she's right about to get into a fight, the thought that Petra might actually be forced to choose between Cinder and Angela at some point comes to her mind. Even right now-- if Binah presses, she could just get Cinder killed herself; there's no way Cinder could do anything herself to stop Lobotomy Corporation from executing her. Rescuing her by running away would almost certainly sever her relationship with Angela. Lilian would absolutely prioritize Angela. But-- I-I don't know if I'm okay with that. "Don't be fucking ridiculous. Take back the fucking joke and say something else, and stop wasting my time."
Angela	Binah bobs their boxbot body. It is a lot less spooky looking than she acts, even with the edgy cape. She doesn't say anything when it becomes apparent that Carmen is talking to Petra. It is a bit uncharacteristic of her, but it isn't out of politeness. That eye is just curious at a new development from the woman in the Well. Carmen doesn't comment on the other parent. She cannot look into the other worlds or listen to a radio but she knows enough to have no desire to interfere there either. Carmen is not the type of person to force anything on anyone beyond a conversation--and will even shut up when asked to. I'm no Exigent Serenity. Carmen agrees. I met Phony too. You must know Phony too. You're all so close to one another. A moment of quiet. I'm glad Angela has made friends ''Arbiters understand missions, right?'' Binah sets down her teacup like that's an answer. ''Take back the fucking joke'' Binah says, "...You're right." Binah's eye focuses on Petra. "It was just a joke." She absolutely could kill Cinder herself. She doesn't. It doesn't seem like she's inclined to either. She acts like a curious Eye more than a person sometimes. She just wanted to see how far Petra would go. "How about... just a small favor at a later date. Nothing that would pit you against someone you care about, not Lilian, Angela, Cinder, Meika or whomever else. Nothing that will threaten their mission. Something as small as..." The Lock on the door fades away. "Opening a door. covering up a crime." I'm glad we got to meet. Maybe some day we can talk just the two of us. Carmen adds, as if Binah could hear.
Petra Soroka	Petra exhales heavily, rolling her eyes, a mental snort half-leaking into physicality. Right. Of course Perse-- Kor-- Persephone too. Persephone's name, in Petra's head, is overwritten with multiple layers of mental postprocessing. Her first instinct, calling the Princess of Sapient Heuristics by name, superseded by manufactured disdain. A vague sense of Lilian's command wrenches it back to 'Persephone' before the thought completes, but somehow the finished name has a different tone from the subconscious imprint of her first thought. But she doesn't even count. I don't even get how she could be one of 'us' anyways. No one hates her. She belongs anywhere she wants. Petra shakes her head and clenches her fist, dispersing the thoughts by force. But that doesn't matter right now. You're distracting me. I'm on a mission. Binah agreeing with Petra only sets her more on edge, morphmetal quivering in the door seam and branching out in airborne rivulets. The fact that she can't just tear the elevator shaft open is becoming increasingly clear and increasingly stressful, and even after Binah lays off of killing Cinder, Petra looks braced for a fight. "Sure. Fine. A favor for a favor is fine." Petra finally lowers Wristcutter, not taking her eyes off of Binah. With her attention fully directed at the Sephirah, she absentmindedly runs a finger along the serrated blade, flinching when it draws blood. "Ow--. If whatever you ask me goes against them, I just wouldn't do it, anyways. That's the line I won't cross. So if you know that-- then fine." The lock gives way, and the hundreds of pounds of expanding force Petra had been exerting on the doors crumples metal by an inch before she can stop it. They open the rest of the way, unsteadily, and Petra steps inside, facing Binah before the doors close. "I'll be back in just a couple hours. Nobody has to know. And then it'll be like it never happened."
Angela	Ah! Sorry sorry! I'll be quiet <3 Carmen's presence vanishes in an instant, choosing to accept not distracting Petra rather than extrapolate, explain, or continue the conversation. "Ah, I specialized in making people cross lines they ''would'' cross." Binah says, once she senses the...absence. "At least, when I was an Arbiter." Binah turns halfway, looking at Petra sideways as she says how long she'll be gone. And how what she does will have a perfect coverup--one so perfect it will be as if it never happened. "Ah, I should confirm then that while I will handle any cleanup down here, you should not mention the details of what you are doing to me. I will remember you owe me a favor and its rules, not what you did. Would hardly be fitting of the deal if I could be a loose end. Memories, like doors, can be locked away." She lets Petra go with this promise. It will take her about an hour to clean up and dispose of any local evidence. To repair the elevator. When Binah is done not even Binah will remember Petra was down here.