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Angela	The Manager had a strange dream. In it he saw Malkuth but unlike normal, she was wearing a labcoat and carrying a stack of papers around with her. Unlike that false smile he was so accustomed to seeing on her, the smile seemed strangely genuine. "O-oh hello -- sir!" Elijah said. Her name...was Elijah? That wasn't... "Sorry, I'm still not quite done with my tasks, I still haven't finished half of what I've written down in my notebook!" He didn't say anything in the dream, did he? Or maybe he said something and just... Was this dream even about him? "Hey... I heard extraction experiments are to be conducted." Elijah said. "When I looked over the list of participants, I couldn't find my name on it..." The genuine smile flickered into something more insecure--or maybe the lack of self confidence was always there. "I... I mean... there's probably a ton of reasons for it. Maybe I'm just not good enough for the experiment yet... But may I join the experiment too?" Her gaze slanted up, looking hopeful. Shouldn't I be answering here? Why am I not saying anything? "I've learned a lot here. I'm sure I'll be able to help in some way." Elijah smiled. "I'll be sure not to disappoint!" The manager blinked his eyes open and saw Malkuth on the monitor before him. What was that? What the heck? Why was he...? "Hello manager!" That familiar face smiled falsely. "It's sad to not have enough talent, is it?"
Angela	Angela has sent out a call in advance that Malkuth's constraints would be lifted shortly and once she's gathered everyone into a small office near the Warpgate used to arrive... Those who haven't seen her in person will notice she looks significantly more humanlike than the cartoony version of her that usually pops up on the tablets. She's still clearly artificial. "Greetings everyone. As this is the first time for most of you in assisting us in suppressing Abnormalities, I wished to show you a quick training video. She extends out a remote to a viewscreen and presses a button. A video plays... The Title appears: SEPHIRAH SUPPRESSION GUIDELINES by Hod ^-^ The Video is just Hod (in cute blorbo form, her ahoge antenna bouncing to and fro) on the screen reading the guidelines... Greetings! Is this your first time having to deal with a rogue cyborg masquerading as a rogue AI? Well, even if not, this is likely the first you're having to deal with one in a Lobotomy Corp facility! Fortunately, our founder A has provided us with exceptional guidelines for Outsiders wishing to assist in the suppression of our Sephirah! During a Meltdown, a Sephirah interferes with the Manager's work in a variety of ways making it more likely for Abnormalities to escape and do terrible things to our Agents that we spent so much time training up--and even worse, interfere with energy production and damage the building! Suppressing Abnormalities in this scenario is less about combat ability and more about sending the right people to the right job. Even the Red Mist couldn't simply beat every Abnormality back into its cage with force! And that's just not an efficient use of your exceptional skills! To give some examples, an Abnormality might send everyone on a floor into a panic and we could use some Mind Control to stop them from hitting each other or maybe Punishing Bird escaped and we'd rather have someone Tough enough to endure a lot of pecking rather than try to fight it and make it even more deadly in the process! Therefore, the Manager's role is to identify problem areas that could use some helpful reinforcement by some well-meaning Outsiders and will provide suggestions as to what sort of people would be best suited for the job. Occasionally, Agents or others may make their own requests for where they believe your respective talents are needed. Requests will be typically followed by a list of Advantages that the Manager (or whomever!) best believes will solve the problem they are asking for help with. Of course, there are never too many cooks in this kitchen. Naturally, these are just suggestions and the Manager is not without fault. Figuring out your own way to solve a problem is always allowed and may end in interesting results! And sometimes you might not simply have the right tool for the job--That's Lobotomy Corp for you! Thankfully, these are just guidelines as we are not your boss and you aren't on the payroll. Follow your bliss! Why, even talking to the Sephirah may prove beneficial in some way--they do seem to have a lot to say! Good luck! The credits roll... Directed by: Hod Filmed by: Hod Voiced by: Hod Script by: A
Angela	Angela turns the video off. "I will now take questions and--" She pauses a moment. "Ah, I have just been informed by the Manager to release Malkuth's restraints. I will be out of commission during the Meltdown so I will be unable to help you. Good luck." BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZYRSQlwdg "SEPHIRAH CORE SUPPRESSION REQUIRED!" A warning drone emanates throughout the facility. And then over the local speakers a moment later. "Ah...dear manager... Are you finally ready to taste my despair?" The manager responds, also over local speakers. "Look, Malkuth--that wasn't me..." Malkuth has taken over the Control Department and has broken out of her shell taking the form of a small tree centered around a single yellow eye. A slew of roots holding the shards of her former frame and--notably--MANY many notepads lash wildly around her. Angela's body suddenly slouches--her head dips down and her eyes go dull. She doesn't even fall over. She just...stops.
Ishirou	Ishirou is here because he was here when this started... he wanted to help Malkuth, and right now she was about to do a lot of harm... and while others would suffer for it he is sure she would suffer the most once it was all done.  He's here to also go over Hod's training video.   "Huh... Hod cooked that up pretty fast..." he says thoughtfully.  He takes mental notes about what might be required, but there are some things that aren't said.  Also, if Malkuth could take over systems... hm.   Of course, this train of thought is broken when Angela informs them that she has to be put out of commission.  He takes a breath, about to say something before the warning goes off.  Crap!  Wait..! She's already passed out.  She doesn't even get the dignity (or indignity) of falling over.  "I feel wrong to just leave her in that position..." he says, moving a chair over so that they could tilt her back into it.  He also finds a blanket for her, assuming nobody else beats him to that punch.  Then he stops.   "Alright.  I'll try and support the manager and systems of the facility from within.  This is something I'm uniquely capable of.  I can at least slow her down and keep breaches coming at a manageable pace, as well as provide extra hints about each one being released, or some warning about what's coming." If all goes well, he could stop her most dangerous actions while everyone else can clean up with whatever means they have.  He reaches a hand out towards a nearby terminal.  Oh, this is going to hurt, he realizes and takes a steadying breath.  Lights surge from his hand to the terminal, as he uses his hacking to place himself into the systems of the corp.   His first order of business is to try to find what she is releasing first and attempt to delay that so that people can get away and elites or people who are capable get there.  "Malkuth.  I'm here like I said I'd be."
Kukuru	When Kukuru had first heard about what was happening to Malkuth, she nearly tore open a hole into the familiar facility to scope out the situation herself. Thanks to some quick thinking, though, that didn't happen, and an opportunity to make the situation worse has been avoided! Better still, she's been told that there's some kind of plan, and that's enough to keep Kukuru from going in half-cocked with no planning whatsoever. She still looks anxious when she arrives in her usual white-green-white-brown outfit, and there's only a brief look of relief when she sees Angela. "Oh, Angie, good. That'd be super helpful, mhm. Thanks!" She also has a small-ish backpack on that's clearly stuffed to the brim with something boxy inside, but before she can set it down, there's a video. Video. Kukuru's pretty docile throughout that whole instructional session, listening as closely as she can and actually taking some of those ideas to heart. She's strong! She's good at fixing people! Physically. Other than that? She'll worry about that later. "I can get wherever pretty easily, so I can help fix up anyone that's hurt or.. Um. If something needs to be opened up that's really tough. Ooor... I don't know anything about mind control, but I'm pretty good at helping people settle down!" She offers with a light chuckle, then pauses while looking up again upon hearing Malkuth's voice. Angela releases those restraints, and Kukuru strains to keep an anxious noise escaping her throat before realizing that Angela's stopped moving. "Angie? Ah... Angie!" Setting that backpack aside on the floor, Kukuru hurries over to check on Angela, placing the back of her hand to her forehead she's checking her temperature while aiding Ishirou in getting her sat down. Moments later, though, she remembers what was said literally seconds ago: 'I will be out of commission during the Meltdown so I will be unable to help you. Good luck.' Swallowing once with that same look of worry, Kukuru bites her lip briefly before looking up towards one of those speakers. "Malky? Did something happen? I'm here if you wanna talk. Here, or somewhere else, even...?"
Petra Soroka	Petra arrived early to Lobotomy Corporation. Over a day early, in fact. Angela had offered to let Petra stay in Lobotomy Corporation until the Sephirah Meltdown, and Petra has nowhere else to go. Her homelessness is a problem that will need to be addressed someday, but for now, she has no room in her head for consideration for herself. It feels wrong, as though even thinking about her problems prioritizes them over Lilian's.     After being led to an upper layer to escape the oppressive atmosphere of Extraction and Records, Petra settles in with a realization: right now, there's nothing to do except wait. Her next objective is learning about the agents in action to determine if any of them can be helpful for intelligence-gathering, so even being in the facility at all feels a little like progress, and a weight eases off of her mind.     Spending the night in the Concord psychological horror slaughterhouse facility is the most relaxed that Petra's felt in weeks.     At first, Petra plans to wander around the Control Department to get a feel for it, since Angela suggested that they were the most adaptable, but the disarray over Malkuth's meltdown-- and the presence of Justin Rook-- drive her away to Training. The Training Department is, once Petra gets over the unsettling interior design choice of engraved orange walls and glowing alien piping, surprisingly cozy. Lounges and meeting rooms are packed with communally used couches and vending machines, synthetic plant life is (comfortingly) green against orange, and employees bustle around in suits and EGO gear, filling the space.     Petra passes by a large cushion tucked in an alcove, hastily labeled SLEEP ZONE, with, as the name would imply, a few employees curled up on top of it asleep. Petra feels a stab of nostalgia and moves on quietly, careful not to wake them. Minutes later, Petra hears a scream down the hall, and a relay of radioed alarms warning about something loose in the department. One of the previously-sleeping agents shambles down the hall towards her, eyes dim and hazed, with puffs of blue spores coming out of their mouth to hover around their head. As Petra backs away, quicksilver dripping down her arm in preparation for whatever this is, a short agent with a red armband dashes up behind them, swings a black hammer covered in eyes into the back of their head to send them crumpling to the floor, and then tosses a sheet over the unconscious body to drag it away.     This place is weird.     Angela had warned Petra against mentioning her name as the reason why she was in the building. It seemed like most of the facility viewed Angela as unapproachable, and Petra being friends with her will be jumped on by any staff who think that they could get a leg up by getting a connection to a girl like her. Like a given. Like a force of nature that you can hide behind. Something powerful and violent that you can tame with the right set of words and then be proud of yourself for not being in the path of destruction.     Petra, of course, freely brings up Angela to anyone who asks.     Chattering with an agent in a break room, eating sandwiches that he'd shown her how to assemble from the vending machine:     "Angela? No way, she doesn't have any fr--"     Helping a clerk pull an especially heavy cart laden with yellow and black striped boxes:     "How are you *friends* with someone like--"     Warding off a Training Department onboarding clerk who assumed she was a lost new employee:     "What?! Really! That's so cool, do you think you could--"     Every time, Petra immediately ends the conversation, stalking off in building disgust, gathering information but never allies.
Petra Soroka	Later, a short while before the Meltdown is scheduled to happen, Petra wanders in to an office filled with a spread of futons and cardboard boxes packed with documents. A clerk is laying on one of the mattresses, feet idly kicking in the air above her while she fills out a casualty report for a breach. The same exchange happens, exhaustedly, with Petra mostly interested in getting greetings out of the way so that she can look through agent files, and then:     "Oh, really? That's sweet, she doesn't seem like she has many friends."     Petra blinks, already about to move on to asking for the documents, and hesitates for a second. She sits down on the futon next to the clerk, almost seeming confused.     "That's the impression I've gotten. Yeah. But she's nice, actually, if you bother to understand her." Petra still doesn't actually know Angela very well, so the assumption is vicariously drawn from Angela's treatment of Lilian.     "That makes sense! Most people are, even if some are harder to understand. But that just makes it more important that you try, right? You're an Outsider, aren't you? I'm Shao."     "Oh. Um. Yeah, I am, I'm-- my name's Petra." Now. . .     Petra arrives in the Control Department by taking the elevator up, rather than through the Warpgate. After acquainting herself with the facility, Petra understands a lot more about what's involved in a Meltdown than she did when she promised Angela that she'd help-- including what an Abnormality is, given that she came in here blind.     Petra is in the same outfit she was before, with a black t-shirt and jeans underneath her bomber jacket. For those for whom this is their first time seeing her since jail, the healthy and clear appearance of her skin, and the tar-like eyeshadow and silver gleam on her eyelids, are jarringly unusual on her. Her eyes settle on Ishirou with a cold glare, then slide away to Malkuth, her reactor already audible to people nearby. She reaches into the pocket of her jacket, pulls out the grip of one of her revolvers deliberately, then slides it back, ready for whatever trouble Malkuth ends up causing.
Dragonfly	Dragonfly is, frankly, not sure why she's here.      The problem of rogue synthetics overtaking their bound facilities is, ostensibly, something she has experience with. The problem of rogue synthetics mutating into anomalous forms, with the apparent goal of releasing further anomalies into their facility, is... not. She's outclassed, here, and frankly... if asked, there's no answer she's willing to give as to her apparent investment in the situation. That probably means the only way to actually get what she wants here (whatever that is) is to... try in vain to help. Shit.      In spite of any of that, Dragonfly is not actually unprepared, being paranoid enough to bring a duffel bag (is it the same one she hauled a corpse in?) full of mostly tools and sheet metal. Maybe a few weapons. She sets the bag up vertically on a table, then sits on that table with the bag as a backrest, extremely casually and not at all like the whole eye tree thing going on isn't massively fucked up.      "Hobbyist mechanic and roboticist," Dragonfly says, staring impassively through everyone. "Not going to be a lot I can do here, no magic powers or hacking shit with my mind-" Ishirou's stunt, for some reason, earns a brief glare "-but I don't really have a whole lot else to do here, so I'm either going to be sitting here having a staring contest with anyone who feels up to it, or I can help deal with any walls that get blown up or any, you know. Rogue AIs or whatever."      Fans blaring, she looks up at (what's supposed to be) Malkuth, and d r a w l s, "They really don't pay you enough, do they."
Meika Kirenai	It's been almost exactly a day, since Meika last crossed the Lobotomy Corporation's warpgate threshold. On that crossing, she didn't start the trip back home, to face the sisters she'd avoided any message to, on where she was or when she'd be getting back, to face the lectures and consequences of her truancy, to face her manager's worry over shifts dropped with explanation. She'd be walking back, empty-handed, without a proper reason to make her absence worth it- 'just because she wanted to', and 'just because she felt like it' don't cut it.     But Angela didn't stop her from offering help with the oncoming Meltdown. But she wasn't too eager, was she...? The time between, just a day, is short enough to put off her return, if she doesn't sleep, if she finds somewhere to spend the time. Close enough to do something that matters before then. So that's what she does. A few trips through gates, hours loitering around anywhere she can find, chucking rocks and cans into the sea, kicking at the waves, and watching sunset turn to sunrise, still no further than the different corners of her own country, in her own world, but distant enough from home to be 'away'.     When Meika steps through, covering up her disheveled school uniform with her letter jacket, there's no supernatural confidence to her step, no shining armor. The bags under her eyes are evidence to how long she's been out. An energy drink, half full, is still clutched in her grasp. Clumsy boots are loud against the floor, but there's no echo, no ring to their thump. Noise that fades into the background. She barely even raises a hand, a half-hearted salute with the sloshing can, to greet Angela. 'I wished to show you a quick training video.'     Meika presses herself into the small office, trying to stay near the back of the gathering group of Elites. This won't be her first suppression, but she didn't quite have a guide last time- I know what I'm doing. I'm useful. -but hearing how could still be valuable. Crossing her arms in front of herself, shoulders tight and back, she listens, even as her eyes drift to stare at the others in the room. Familiar-ish faces, most of them.     There's no use talking back to a video, but Meika, instinctively, on realizing just how much it sounds like- despite being just suggestions, despite the freedom there really is- she'll be at the whim and direction of someone else, wants to snap something out. She doesn't, though. It's probably right to listen. But if that really was just an exception, I'm just a novice, aren't I? 'I will now take questions and--'     "...How do you-" Sirens blare. Angela fades like a phone with a dead battery. The intercoms flicker on, and Meika flinches, sticking her free hand up, palm covered by her jacket sleeve, to shield her ear.     ...Taste despair..? Her thoughts parrots Malkuth's forboding words, worry building at whatever the 'why' of this Meltdown could be. If there even is one. But it's stopping risk to everyone else, that takes priority- it's helping, that takes priority.     Staring off into Malkuth's single yellow eye, though, doesn't make the dread easy to push off. Meika sticks a hand into her messenger bag, and comes out with a well-worn sketchbook.     "...What's first?"
Timespace Riders	Sougo and Woz enter the meeting place, stepping into the little office and finding seats for themselves quickly enough. Woz is dressed as he always is--that strange greatcoat, tight black pants and the zip-up ankle boots, complete with his distinctive scarf.      Sougo, on the other hand, wears a short-sleeve, pastel pink button up, with spots on the collar, shirt pocket and right hem given over to a soft blue paisley pattern. Khaki pants display a black-white plaid pattern on their rolled-up hems, which in turn emphasize both his red socks and the earth-tone ankle boots he's wearing.      The would-be Demon King watches the little video with a strained smile, diminished somewhat for the nature of the visit. He's worried, for Malkuth, for Angela, for all the agents he's met and the ones he's yet to meet.      Woz purses his lips, one leg crossed over the other. When the presentation is over, he and Sougo both stand up. "Thanks, Angela," says Sougo, putting on a brave face for her. He steels himself with a deep breath, and his soft brown eyes are more firm and resolute. She nods off--and Ishirou has got her. "We won't let you down..." For talking down people who are really hurting, one could do much, much worse than Kukuru. "Woz, let's go help the Agents! Malkuth won't hold back..." And he still remembers the grisly sight he saw when he came to visit Angela.      As the video had said--suppressing the meltdown won't purely be a matter of combat ability, but much of the king and his retainer's abilities come from their armored forms. Sougo procures a bulky white belt with a black slot on either side, while Woz retrieves a black one with green buttons and a hand-operated gate at the side. Both of them press their belts to their abdomens, and each device automatically fastens itself to them, calling out its name:                                 TIMESPACE DRIVER!                                                                   BEYONDRIVER!                                       The blaring of the alarm is promptly mixed together with diegetic looped tracks from each belt, as Sougo and Woz slot their strange little future-pocketwatches into their belts. Sougo's is a distorted bass guitar note, set to the frantic ticking of clocks, while Woz's is a bright, up-tempo progressive house track. There's also noticeably less room for a moment, as Sougo is backed by disembodied, silver analog clocks appear behind him in bits and pieces, while Woz is flanked by a hardlight smartwatch which bears the cover of his mysterious book as its background. "Henshin!" Sougo's hands mimic the motions of a clock, stopping at 12, before he grips his belt and spins it-- And Woz closes the gate on his, his hand held outwards in a gesture of challenge. "Henshin."                      o/` Kameeeen Rideeeer! o/` Zi-O . . .                                        Amazing! Time! Future! Kaman Rider Woz? WOZ?!                        Two armored fighters, themed like an analog wristwatch and a smartwatch make their way from the smaller office-space meeting point to the building proper.      "Everyone, Woz and I have a lot of little tricks, and it's pretty easy for us to rotate. I can be in two places at once," says Zi-O, his watch-faced helmet bobbing as he talks. Pink katakana spell out RIDER over his visor, much as they do for Woz's in blue. "And if you cover him, Woz can read potential futures from that book of his! Even if something sounds really specific, call out if you need help and we might have something for it!"
Hibiki Tachibana	This is, of course, Hibiki's first time in the halls of Lobotomy Corporation. She figured it'd happen eventually - whether it'd be for the Magical Girl of Courage, for Hod, maybe Rose, or for any other reason. What's happening with Malkuth, though--she's only been able to follow the situation second-hand, but that's enough to know that if she could be here on the day they planned to deal with it, it's not exactly something she could just...let happen and pass by, ignore and let pass by.     For, well. A lot more reasons than just one.     She's pretty sure she heard about the filter a couple times, but putting the dots together on how different the Sephirah have appeared on their tablets and the Agents on the field look doesn't entirely snap in place until Angela's genuine appearance can be seen. This isn't really the time to comment on that sort of thing, though. Before anything else, there's--     Hod's training video. Wow. Even if the script wasn't hers, she obviously worked hard on it - and it's very informative, too. Which is good, because just that whole event with the Magical Girl of Courage was...a lot. Really a lot. She doesn't even want to risk messing up when it comes to making sure the Abnormalities are handled properly - not that their way of doing things before was very proper by Angela's standards, and debatably will be today - and as many Agents as possible aren't left to deal with something they can't handle.     ...What happened to the team that was dispatched to her world, bar Rose, is still prominent in her head. Even if that wasn't the work of an Abnormality in of itself...the fact it happened at all. Now, Malkuth is like this. And if there's anything to be done to actually help her, first...     The alarms blare out and the warning is given, so she has to get ready to go. "Malkuth..." A hand comes up to grip at the pendant hanging from her neck, glancing up from Angela being cared for in her inactive state up to her vastly changed form. "...Your despair, huh...?" She trails off.     And finds herself glancing towards Petra taking the elevator up.     ...The elevator up?
Angela	Angela is set into a chair. Kukuru can feel her forehead. It's cold to the touch... LIKE A CORPSE. Or a robot. Angela used immense amounts of self control to not finish telling Kukuru what she was telling her last time before the outside comms went out but now she doesn't have to worry about that. The systems here are obnoxious to hack through, as Ishirou will rapidly find out. There's more safety systems protecting its data than its employees and Malkuth has taken over the bulk of the systems though there's still some things she can't access. There's something called the TT2 protocol that she just can't get at at all along with other blackboxes that Ishirou just doesn't have the time to shift through. "Oh hi Ishi! Have you come to talk to me about how you screwed up again? You know it's only ok to make the mistakes if you learn from them... But I'm taking a ME day today okay? I'm a little busy right now so you might die." "Look maybe you can just tell us what happened--but I didn't do anything--" "All I asked was you to finish me off and let me die, instead you turned away, tore out my brain and shoved me in a box." "I didn't! What do you WANT Malkuth?" She answers. Manager...        I want you to feel this    H  L  N    e  e  e    l  s  s    p  s  s
Angela	The problems start to crop up. * In the Information Department, Forsaken Murderer has broken out of his cell again and is beating people to death with a giant metal head. He screams about how he feels the metal in his brain, how he feels the metal in his brain. The Manager believes Toughness ** or a general Superhumanity total of *** should be enough to keep the Forsaken Murderer off of the Agents and Clerks, allowing them to take him down and return to his cell. He guesstimates one or two helpers will be enough. * In a hallway near the Control Department, Rook is shouting to any Outsider he can spot, asking for assistance. "Hey! Are any of you good with computers? This whole situation is goin' to hell and something's not right. There's something I'd like to check into but..." He points to a protective field surrounding the vent. "Can't get in because of the fuckin' Meltdown!" This doesn't seem like it's Rook's real job here and he isn't with his team but he could use someone with at least Hacking **--maybe more--to let him gain access to somewhere he almost certainly isn't supposed to be. If he can't get help after long he'll give up and go do his job--which...may be for the best? Or not? Lobotomy Corp probably doesn't want you to help Rook right now. It's at about this point Ishirou will realize that Malkuth is fucking around with the Manager's controls that seems to be switching up what Orders he's sending out to the Agents. He hasn't realized it yet and in fact... * Punishing Bird has broken out of its cell again and due to Malkuth fucking around with the Manager's controls, he accidentally sent a Repression Order to newbie agent who promptly clobbered the bird with a baton and then just as promptly got eaten in half. Unfortunately, the Punishing Bird is not satisfied and is now wobbling its why through the halls using its enormous jaw to munch clerks into fleshy bits. The manager seems to believe that thoes with Mobility *** should be able to keep the Punishing Bird occupied until it decides to return to its cell.
Kukuru	Petra arrives. Kukuru can't believe her eyes at first, and she still can't even as she startsmoving over to join her. "P... Petra? Is that you? Where..." Wait. Petra's safe now. That's all that matters. At least, as safe as she can be in this facility now that something's going on with Malkuth. Just knowing that much is still a massive relief for Kukuru, though, and instead of barraging Petra with ceaseless questions, she digs a long-ish bag out of her pocket and practically shoves it into Petra's hands if she can. There's some kind of packed up jerky and a water bottle in there. "Let's... Talk later. Please." She reaches for Petra's hand, trying to give her a light pat on both sides before backing off to get her head back on. Dragonfly's voice is a little familiar, at least, and Kukuru slowly manages a light smile once she can calm herself down enough to do so. "Anything you can help with would be great. I'm not good with any of that stuff you said, so we cover a lot of... Um. Bases between us, right?" To her credit, Kukuru really is trying to sound reassuring. She just might not realize that it could easily sound like anything but. Meika's question, though, has Kukuru turning to her with a reassuring smile and nod. "Don't worry. That's what we'll figure out together." She affirms, clearly using that time to try and think of something only to fail miserably when her face stays that way just a little too long to really be convincing. Thankfully, Sougo and Woz are there to grab her attention with the power of their belts and strange future sight that she still doesn't fully comprehend. "That could work! Maybe you could see if there's... If there's..." It's going to take her a bit. Alas, she doesn't come up with anything actually helpful by the time she sees Hibiki, and Kukuru steps over quickly to check on her. "Hibiki, are you... Mm. You'll do fine. I know it." She claps a hand on her shoulder gently and give her a small smile as well, then looks back up as Malkuth's voice comes back in through the speakers. Even worse, she hears about how... Ishirou screwed up again? That the manager shoved Malkuth into a box? The Orders being messed with flies right by her head as she tries to comprehend what it is that happened to Malkuth, and the first step is trying to reach her. Actually, the first step is trying to contain what's happening in the facility. As she tries to figure out what happened to Malkuth and confirm her physical health, Kukuru starts moving. Her destination: The Information Department! Helping the injured and applying general brute force is her specialty, after all, although Kukuru isn't exactly the toughest sort. No... She just cheats with a lot of brute force and healing. She might need a hand when it comes to actually withstanding the Forsaken Murderer's attacks, although getting close means she can also try convincing him to stand down. Soft words and softer hands are usually good for that, right? Right! And if that doesn't work... It'll work. She's a friend that would never hurt him, after all.
Ishirou	Ishirou's focus shakes for a moment.  A lot of things come in at once... too many things.  First, he gets that Malkuth is purposely mixing up commands to other teams.  That's a priority, it might also help prevent more breaches.  First things first, though... <J-IC-Scene> Malkuth says, "He left me to die on the floor, bleeding from my eyes, my nose, my ears. I scraped so hard at the floor my fingernails tore off~. Do you know what that's like, Ishirou? You don't because you don't remember... But maybe I can remind you of how YOU died and then you'll understand me!" <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Let him keep talking and I'll do the job for you, Malkuth." Ishirou literally starts hyperventilating.  That memory wakes him up at night, when he decides to sleep, and makes it hard for him to actually want to sleep.  So many emotions spring out of it.  Fear, shame, despair, pain... and many more when he considers the greater pain he caused with his actions after.   "Please stop.." he gets out, before trying to control his breathing, things have just started and he's already on the back foot.  Okay.  Focus... it isn't about you right now, Ishirou, it's about Malkuth.  Maybe that's... He swallows.  If she had a target, she might focus on doing less for the facility.  It might... it might just turn the tides and let the Manager get on top of it.  He also becomes aware of Rook calling for help with something that requires hacking.  An OPTION unit, which looks like a smaller version of POD fires off from Ishirou, and immediately B-lines it for Rook.   The POD, once it lands on Rook, provides him with his hacking ability.  Once he does that, he turns to face Malkuth in the data streams of the Facility.  He breathes heavily in his real body because he has a feeling about what is happening.  He attempts to attack her ability to send bad orders to agents, which leaves him open for her own counterattack.   She literally could make good on her promise.  He opens himself just enough to be too enticing.  "Hurting others isn't going to help you.  Malkuth.  Please... we can help you, but you have to let us."
Petra Soroka	Bags under her eyes, energy drink in hand, boots and jacket, a preemptively defensive glare across the room from a series of insecure mental leaps. She looks even younger than Petra is. Petra gives Meika a look, studying her with concentrically-patterned grey eyes lined with silver, and purses her lips while she considers saying something.     Actually, what would she even say? Petra would still be showing up to missions looking exactly like that if not for the Silver's effect on her body, and she has no idea what she'd say to herself from last year either. Besides, she's been in jail for months, this girl might've already heard that she was a murderer, or worse, positive things about her. In the end, all Petra does is look at her for a few seconds longer than is comfortable, then look away.     All Hibiki gets, and all Kukuru gets, is a dull, wordless glare, the same as Ishirou. The Riders, at least, get a flat greeting. "Hey Woz. Hey Sougo. Long time no see. I'm going to go to the Forsaken Murderer and pin him down. Let me know if the book says anything about, I guess, trapping him being effective. I don't know." "Oh hi Ishi! Have you come to talk to me about how you screwed up again? You know it's only ok to make the mistakes if you learn from them..."     God damn fucking right it is. Fucking Ishirou. A thin trail of quicksilver runs down her arm, trickling off the bayonet of her drawn revolver. ""All I asked was you to finish me off and let me die,"     Petra winces, turning to walk to the elevator down to Information. She can't help but instantly feel more in tune with the distorted girl trying to kill all of the heroes, than she does with the other Elites. Then Ishirou speaks up in the radio, and that simmering vitriol bubbles over. <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou more gently, "This is a tenuous situation at best... at least for her sake lets try to be as honest as possible." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Yeah? We're going to be honest?" <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou takes a breath, "Now isn't the time." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "How about you stop claiming you're on a girl's side when she needs help, then." <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "I /am/ on her side." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Oh, that's so nice for her, wow." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Nice of you to show up to help her, rather than spending one fucking minute paying attention to the person you called a sister."     God he pisses her off. When Hibiki joins her in the elevator, Petra's eyes settle on her with frigid disgust. The moment she tries to say anything, Petra interrupts.     "Don't assume you're any better than he is. All of you. I've fucking given up on trying to make you improve. I'm here for Angela, and Angela's here for Lilian."
Dragonfly	Seeming to consider sitting around and pestering Malkuth and those nearby to be a better use of her time than helping, Dragonfly ignores the Manager's assignments and stays seated on her table. Crosses her legs, even, to get the point home. Her fans have been straining this whole time, though, no matter how much she really tries to look unimpressed with what's going on.      Dragonfly retrieves a screwdriver from her toolbelt and uses it to gesture vaguely at people as she speaks to them. And for whatever reason she decides to make conversation with Malkuth. "Hey. They usually make you do this shit, that they're the ones all taking a turn at right now, right? You and Angela. And others, maybe." She frowns, screwdriver-point loosening slightly and no longer pointing at anyone in particular. "Angela's down because she's too busy elsewhere to pilot that shell, right?" It's an assumption on her part that what lays on the chair, covered in a blanket, is even a shell, but it's an assumption that asserts that any corrections given require further elaboration.
Meika Kirenai	Meika notices Petra's glare, and the strange-patterned eyes boring into her, even for just a moment. Why are you looking at me? She can guess why. Who are you, even? After a moment, Meika stares back- not at the other girl's eyes, but just her direction. Through clenched teeth, Meika whispers to her, elsewise inaudible, "What do you want?". She doesn't wait to press further- to try and listen in on this stranger's thoughts, things she hasn't said.     Meika visibly winces, when her efforts result not in thoughts, not in answers, but in hearing only paralyzing, perfect resistance, an endless ringing, so loud it drowns everything else out until she pulls back and back and back. Her energy drink drops to the floor, splashing, as she covers her other ear on instinct. Like sandpaper filling in for blood, the underside of her skin itches, and her hands clench tight into balled-up fists, nails pressing into palms, scratching ever so slightly. Frantically, she moves hands back to her pockets and out of sight. Anything to hide her reaction, to hope nobody noticed.     A shaky exhale, and Meika's eyes are torn away from Petra and the strange noises coming from her. There's tasks at hand. Being stared at shouldn't have distracted her like that. She's supposed to be used to it.     The bickering, the vitriol being thrown, between Ishirou, Malkuth, and Petra, the comments on blood, on death, on killing and hating, it all just makes Meika's stance shrink and shrink. There's nothing she can do but stand and listen. 'Even if something sounds really specific, call out if you need help and we might have something for it!'     Without even looking, and without even meaning to, Meika whispers, once more, this time to Sougo- to Zi-o. "Can you make them stop...?" If she'd noticed she said anything, from the ringing still yet to fade in her ears, she'd have tried to take it back, to make him forget- but it just slips out, sometimes. It's hard to muffle everything. 'Don't worry. That's what we'll figure out together.'     Kukuru doesn't deserve the glare that Meika throws her way. I was figuring it out myself, by asking. She bites her tongue back, literally, incisors clamping flesh between them. But the glare fades, and her eyes drift to the floor. She doesn't need to wait long for the answer to come, anyways.
Meika Kirenai	'Punishing Bird has broken out of its cell again.'     At the news that someone's already been eaten, Meika shudders. That's already something that shouldn't have happened. That should have been avoided. A name and a story gone. Nausea, faint and brief, tugs at the base of her throat. It doesn't get easier, no matter how many times.     "...I'm fast, and.. good at getting around. I can handle that kind of threat, occupying it. I'll keep them safe." She's almost telling herself this more than anyone else, volunteering to take on the Punishing Bird. In truth, she doesn't quite know what to expect. Taking a deep breath, even with the knot in her throat, she flips open her notebook, and tears a page out. It's worth it. I need to do this. I need to be better than this. Someone needs to help them. With a fleeting glance to its content, the familiar drawings and doodles on it, the page crumples in her fist, and, absentmindedly, she kicks the drink can resting by her feet, launching it clattering to another wall. Saccharine droplets spray, faint, along its path.     Quickly, a flash, a quiet thunder, a bright chiming ring, pours out from her clenched hand, and Chevalier Vermillion is geared and ready to head into action, to help against the hungry hungry bird. Skates resound, faint traces etched into the ground behind her, as she's setting off- hopefully directions on where, exactly, to set off to, can follow close behind.
Timespace Riders	"Don't worry," says the pink-and-silver Kamen Rider, just as softly as he'd heard Meika. His helmet is just slightly tilted, so that he can look just a little over his shoulder at her. "Everyone's going to do their best... and I have a good feeling about this. We'll get them to stop, and things will be okay again."      "Got it," says Zi-O, louder, to the Manager. His helmet dips once in a firm nod. "And don't worry, Kukuru--I think I have something for the Murderer! Just focus on helping Malkuth. I believe in you! Woz--there's something else you need to look up, too, once you get Petra's answer!" He procures a Ridewatch with a white housing, but doesn't put it into his Driver right away, instead booking it for the Information Department. He gives Justin Rook a hurried, frantic wave as he passes, only a greeting but for meeting the general shape of one. "Not me, sorry! I'm on my way to Information, with Petra! Good luck!"      Passing into the Information Department, he finally slots the watch into the belt. The LCD screen on the front quickly scrolls: AU21. ARMOR TIME! Justin Time! Captain Rook!      An electric guitar riff sounds as a suit of bulky white armor with two massive silver cannons appears from a pillar of pink light, directly in Zi-O's path. The disembodied suit of armor tips a black gakuran cap atop its helmet, just as Zi-O shoulder checks it from a sprint. The armor pieces break apart, flying outwards to collide with the Forsaken Murderer. "Take cover," he shouts to the Agents and Clerks, before the armor flies back around and snaps back into place over him. The finishing touch are a shift in the katakana over his visor to a bold red, while the minute and hour hands on his helmet's face shift to become the handles of two entwined maces, each with a skull motif.      In this form he's much slower, but also better able to take a beating, meeting the Murderer's attacks head-on. Where he can, he uses his strength to blunt or push those attacks aside, or to stop up the Murderer with grapples and clinches. Hopefully those cannons won't be needed... "It has been a while, hasn't it?" Zi-O asks Petra, struggling with the Abnormality's strength. "You, umm..." She looks different. "...We should catch up sometime when there's not a disaster going on! Thanks for being here."
Timespace Riders	"Very well, my Demon King. I shall accompany Vermillion to the Bird, and there peruse this book for Petra--and this 'other future.'" Woz makes a flourish of his gloved, black-and-neon green hand, procuring the mysterious book. He hurriedly scans through its pages, armored fingers as delicate as they otherwise would be. Can the Murderer be trapped, bound, or otherwise subdued without direct, overwhelming force?      Once Petra has her answer, the retainer procures a Miridewatch--the manifestation of a potential future. Its square face displays Dragonfly's frowning, unimpressed expression. As he slots it into the gate on the side of his Beyondriver, the helmet of a different armor appears on its screen--one with Dragonfly's antennas taking the place of the clock hands that occupy Woz's helmet.      Woz slams the gate closed, breaking into a sprint and leaping down the hall. As he soars through the air in a nimble frontflip, a noise that sounds like an overworked cooling fan spools up. His belt announces, mid-leap:     Future Time! Genius! Odious! Imperious! Futurering Dragonfly! DRAGONFLY!          Just as he lands, he is enveloped by brass-colored gears as a holographic laser printer forges the new armor onto his body. The blue katakana on his helmet's visor are backlit and their shape is changed slightly, giving the helmet an almost disappointed expression.      Dark grey wristguards and vambraces form lightweight, aerodynamic lines with a light blue breastplate and pauldrons, each of the latter, left and right, sporting Dragonfly's distinctive frown. The final touch is a dark blue minimalist decoration set horizontally across the armor's neck in imitation of both the classic rider scarf and a dragonfly's wing, in shape.      Woz clears his throat. "Since this is an emergency, I'll go with the abridged version--IWAE!" he rejoices to the Bird, hands thrown wide in a practical invitation to be bitten. His reflexes, however, are boosted in this armor such that he can escape even the fastest motion of that deadly beak with a nimble juke, backflip or moonsault. "Agility and ingenuity, together at once--Futurering Dragonfly!" While Meika handles the brunt of keeping it occupied, he looks for the answer to her question (which his king hadn't even told her was hers!), speed-reading and ever seeming to be wired enough to escape lethal mauling by inches.
Hibiki Tachibana	"...Yeah. I'll be fine, Kukuru. Don't push it t--...well, no. Do your best, okay?" When Kukuru comes over to her, Hibiki gives her a look, and a small smile back before she leaves off towards Information. Only when she's gone does Hibiki almost immediately go back to a frown, turning into a grimace as the radio chatter kicks up. With all sorts of things - even more insight over the horrible things that have happened to Malkuth, the kind of hurt that's led to this state.     Which, notably, she doesn't speak up to participate in. With an audible exhale, she starts forward, giving Ishirou a clap on the shoulder as she passes by him--no words are given, but it's really to give him a jolt that might steady his nerves more than anything. It's a lot easier to help him do it than to do it for herself.     Especially when she's left taking the elevator down alongside Petra. Seconds of silence pass before she even makes the motion to say a word, just to get instantly cut off.     It hits her core in a similar but still distinct way as everything thrown at her during their last meeting. Probably because it's delivered coldly and directly rather than loudly and in her face. The kind that makes her feel like something is going to crack and break somewhere in her chest, and fills her with a deep-down desire to retreat to a small corner of the small space making its way down to Information that doesn't exist. The nagging urge yanking down towards her stomach with doubt bubbling up to     "...I don't. But I'm not here to make any excuses to anyone." Despite being cut off, Hibiki speaks up afterwards regardless in a forcefully even tone with only hints of cracking. She's not looking Petra's way at first, but does with a side glance after a moment. "You're here to work with Angela." Apparently, even she can put that two and two together.     "She's like you, when it comes to Lilian. Isn't she? ...The way she responded on the radio, the other day." She was listening. "I know I haven't done anything for her yet. But at least one thing I can do, right this instant, is take a burden off her shoulders so she can do what she really wants to do." And help who she really wants to help. If Angela is like them...     The elevator touches down, and Hibiki reluctantly looks away to start ahead. One cutaway transformation later while Sougo takes up the on-screen budget (what do you think this is, a movie? There aren't any group henshins here), and she'll be right next to him physically bracing against the Forsaken Murderer's attacks.     If there's one thing she is, it's built sturdy. At least for long enough for Kukuru to hopefully have some kind of effect on him.
Angela	FORSAKEN MURDERER Kukuru arrives and sends out a wave of healing that seems to restore many of the Agents that have succumbed to the injuries the Forsaken Murderer has inflicted. She makes the mistake of trying to tamper with the Murderer's mind however. She isn't the first person to do that to the Forsaken Murderer to try and make him more docile, to find out what makes him tick. He screams in fury, "MY MIND IS FULL OF METAL!" and he rushes forward on all fours, intent on crushing Kukuru into a nice thin paste and see if she can bring her back from that-- --but Zi-O arrives JUST IN TIME, stepping in front of the swing of that tin can head and blocking it with his own body--and beating back the Forsaken Murderer before he can so much as lay a skull on Kukuru. Hibiki steps in when the Forsaken Murderer's pounding against Sougo is too much even for him--allowing Zi-O time to recover and step in to clinch the Forsaken Murderer. The Murderer writhes in frustration but ultimately slows to a stop before vanishing back into its cell.
Angela	CONTROL Ishirou leaves POD with Rook. "Eh? Oh. Uh. Hey ... What's your name?" POD doesn't answer him but does give him the ability to hack?? Rook isn't going to question it. He taps at the controls rapidly with POD's assistance until the forcefields go down and he sets down his EGO weapon and dives right into the vents. He crawls on through. It's still going to take him a moment to get through there and do...whatever he intends to do. Unfortunately or fortunately htis distracts the Manager. "The hell is--wait where's Rook going?? I sent you down to Forsaken Murderer--" His eyes settle on POD and narrow. "...Ishirou huh... Trying to play me." Ishirou is able to prevent Malkuth from mucking around with the orders--though it's an active effort. He needs to stay in the system to do it, she's directly plugged into the system in a way he just isn't--and she has much more familiarity with the systems. It's a testament to his phat hacking skillz that he can do this with just a glance. Malkuth has stopped listening to Ishirou but it's when Ishirou starts hyperventalating that he is in a position to receive a visitor. Hm? Are you a new Sephirah? He hears a sweet and kind voice in his head. Something just as integrated into the systems here as Malkuth but it isn't her. ACtually, if it's going to remind him of anyone it'll probably be Persephone if anyone. There's this instant calm emanating from her, an endless love of people, a kind of mad selfessness. This is a place for people to learn who they truly are. But they've been unfair to you, haven't they? You don't even know you but you do want to help her don't you..? I can help you remember... Would you like to? I can't say if it'll help but you want to show your sincerity don't you? And if Ishirou gives permission. The voice does it. She unlocks the memories of his deaths. All of them. All of his deaths. And to improve matters, Parker's on her way. Surely Ishirou going against the Manager's Will won't cause him any Parker related problems.
Angela	Dragonfly speaks to Malkuth. "Oh, you know--all the other Sephirah ARE down aren't they? I suppose since I've taken control of the facility, they aren't receiving the Light they need to function." "...It isn't so hard, looking back, is it, Miss Dragonfly?" She does sound a little calmer after talking with Dragonfly. She gets the feeling Dragonfly wants to help but... It's too late isn't it? That life is already over... You know, Dragonfly... You can turn back time... But you cannot turn back a tale. PUNISHING BIRD Meika and Woz head down to deal with the Mascot Character. Punishing Bird, jaw bloody, quirks their head at them curiously before lashing out at them. It starts with Woz first, attempting to tear Woz to shreds but he deftly avoids the strike. Meika meanwhile runs literal circles around the bird and it becomes a sad dizzy bird from all the spinning around. What's more, they aren't attacking back at all. The Punishing Bird's jaws pull back inside it and it chirps curiously at them. Are they actually Innocent? The Punishing Bird decides they are for today and vanishes--returning back to its containment cell. It did good today and punished only the guilty.
Angela	More problems start to crop up... * A strange humanoid mass of flesh has broken out of containment and is lurching through the halls. It takes a moment to observe a poster of Kukuru on the wall that has been put up by a fan. A singular eyeball grows out of its face and it consumes the poster by pressing into it. Slowly their form twists as a pair of horizontal horns press out of the side of its head. It marches along the halls whispering in a cacophonous voice. "Kukuru? Kukuru. Kukuru! Kukuru... Kukurukurkurru Kukururrr Kkuururkkru! Kukururrkk! I love you I LOVE YOU I lOVe YoU i luv u I LOOOVE YOUUU i love you I LOVE YOU you have a voice MAIL ready" The manager suggests Kukuru KUKURU Kukuru KUKURU KUUUKURUUU ERROR errorr errrrrrror. Ku ku ru.Kukuru Advantage ****************OVERFLOW * While the Manager wasn't looking due to being distracted by Justin Rook being naughty, Schadenfreude was behaving. But then the Malkuth turned on a camera and kept it focused on Schadenfreude and now Schadenfreude has turned into some kind of crab robot with a fleshy underbelly. Through its keyhole an eye peers through and the two camera lens it has keep clicking and taking photographs. It's presently chasing after a panicked clerk with red hair with black tips on the end. Her name is Cinder! It's currently a race to see if Schadenfreude will spear Cinder with its metal legs or she'll save her the trouble. The Manager offhandedly suggests Bane Mechs **, maybe some level of Weapon Mastery? SUDDENLY ,d88b.d88b, 8888PINK888 `Y8888888Y'    `Y888Y'          `Y' * Army of Pink breached containment! And...immediately flew over to some agents and exploded into a giant pink heart, healing all of them. But Ya-Boy is now staring into space with hearts in his eyes. And the worst part is that the agents beating him with clubs don't seem to be having any effect in waking him up! The Manager is sadly completely flummoxed on this one. Usually beatings work...
Ishirou	Ishirou feels the calming touch of the other entity.  His hyperventilating stops, but now Malkuth isn't paying him any attention.  Focus... He attempts to override the confused orders of the humanoid mass of flesh.  He'll send a cleaned-up set of suggestions back to the main group, but that's all he can do right at this moment.  Because the presence wants his attention.  That and he sends an OPTION to Kukuru.  It shares his ability to scan things, and his ability to understand things. 'No, I'm Ishirou... I'm trying to help Malkuth.' 'You don't even know you but you do want to help her don't you..? I can help you remember...' Can she help...?  He takes a moment, and then sighs.  If it's going to help Malkuth... "Yes," he says to the warm voice. Of course, the moment he says this he is almost immediately feeling regret.  Okay no that's a lie.  He's feeling every time he's died in sequence. ---------------- The deaths come backward for Ishirou.  Starting with who he is now, and diving backward through time.  For him, right now, at this moment... time might as well not exist. Ishirou's exposed to a greater darkness than he's ever seen before.  He can feel pieces of his soul leached away.  He's going to be devoured by an abyss so dark that it threatens to completely dissolve him.  However, Rita withdraws from the tentacle.  While he didn't die, a small piece of his soul was sapped that day.  It drove him into being a quivering mess. ---------------- The next was the death in the burning crater.  He's inside the RESCUE.  It's burning so hot that he can nearly feel his own skin melt away.  He's got to punch out of it... Then Petra's gunblade pieces his heart.  He can't do anything but cough and thrash in death throws.  Slowly they die down, but the pain doesn't stop.  He's bleeding out profusely, staining the ground with his blood.  Only pain and misery comfort him as he passes from the world. ---------------- "Test number 186," a cold woman's voice speaks.  An android comes online.  Its eyes are blank as it speaks its name, which is currently 'Unassigned'.   "Very good, do you remember anything before now?" "No, I was just created," it says in return. "Good," it says, as she pulls out another gun.  She sets it right up against the 'black box' of the incomplete android.  "With this, your soul is scrubbed clean, and you'll be gone from my mind forever.  Goodbye, Verge."   A shot rings out.  Stability in his core is detected, and there is a build-up before power systems go out of control.  It causes a dangerous feedback look that starts frying everything.  His internals melts as he finally shorts out. ----------------
Ishirou	Test number 185," a cold woman's voice speaks again.  An android comes online.  Its eyes are cloudy as it speaks its name, which is currently 'Unassigned'.   "N...no...that's not my.." "Black box systems are still not functioning correctly," She states.  Callously she pulls a gun out... Just like before, he dies from his systems feedbacking into everything.  This time, he doesn't quite short out.  His last memories are slowly being dipped in molten metal, to recycle his body for the next test. ---------------- "Test number 96," a cold woman's voice speaks again.  An android comes online.  Its eyes are blurry as it speaks its name, which is currently 'Unassign-Verge...' "Mm.  Still not enough.  Program, recycle the android." The bottom falls out from beneath Verge, but this time his hand snaps up catching himself.  He struggles to pull himself up, trying to reach up to... A gunshot rings clearly.  "It seems I have to do this again, Verge.  If you're going to be so selfish as to resist saving this country, then I'll personally kill you for each test going forward..." The words bounce off the android, a hole in its head as it drops into the recycling protocol. ---------------- "Test number 51," a cold woman's voice speaks again.  An android comes online.  "Please...stop this.." it responds, not giving its name.  "Program, recycle." The android is dropped into the recycling program.  Below it, the Oblivion Protocol is set up to drag the soul down and create the next black box. ---------------- "Test number 25," a cold woman's voice speaks again.  An android comes online.  "LET OUT OUT OF THIS!  I AM STILL ALIVE, DAMN YOU!"   "Program recycle," she states, and like before, he is dropped into the recycling unit.  Once more his soul attempts to be scrubbed by the Oblivion protocol.  With each iteration, she gets closer to being able to scrub the past of an android.   ----------------
Ishirou	"Test number 1," a cold woman's voice speaks again.  An android comes online.  "Huh...?  Where am I... I just remember being sh-.." he looks down.  "You... you didn't...?!" "I did because we need soldiers to defend our way of life.  This will solidify my place as the consul, and our lower classes can be reused indefinitely." "But it's this very /THING/ that's killing us all!  We have to turn the turbine off!" "No, we do not.  We just simply have to outlast the Nullborn.  Giving up our place as the greatest city on earth is not acceptable.  I have worked too hard, I have endured your self-important ideas, and your inability to see the world for what it was..." "And the fact that our marriage was never about love, you idiot.  Your resources were what I needed, and you fell in line.  You only have yourself to blame.  Program, recycle." Being dropped into the pool of slag, to start the process of melting down the android body.  He could feel it as much as it were his own body.  He screams until there was nothing left to make noise...slowly dropping below the surface.   Even then he wasn't allowed peace because his soul was scrubbed...being forced to endure the process of adjusting the Oblivion protocol. ---------------- "What are you doing?!  We can't do that to people.  What on earth made you decide to dive into /geomancy/ and /necromancy/ at the same time?!  It's inhuman, to try and solve the problem of AI in this way.  Look, we don't even need to do this much, we can use the mana box set up, and slowly pull back on using the turbines." The woman shakes his head.  She is before a young man, tall for his age, with long white hair and piercing blue eyes.  He's handsome, but obviously, someone who's spent more time reading books than going outside.  "You don't understand, we simply need to outlast the Nullborn." "But we can easily get rid of them!  We just turn off the turbine over time and go back to other sources of power." "And we lose everything we've worked for." "Better that than to lose thousands to a protracted war.  Forcing people to fight for us who have no choice in it!" he turns away from her, but by the time he gets a few steps.  There is a gunshot. Verge stares down at his chest, feeling up his shirt, and feels something warm.  He reaches his hand up and it's blood.  His eyes are wide, as he turns towards his wife.  She looks at him, with a look of ice and disgust.  "Lower ourselves to those beasts..?  Please, but if you want to be a beast, then I'll make you the first one." He slides against the door.  Too much blood, too much pain... he looks up, as blackness encroaches on him.  He tries to speak, but the fluid is in his lungs too.  Does he bleed out or suffocate first..?   He passes out before he gets to figure out which way he died. ---------------- All one hundred and eighty-nine deaths are relived back to back.  He can't do anything now but scream.  All of that psychic backlash hits him at once.  Again and again and again and again! He drops to his knees, feeling each moment as if he was living it again.  His body shakes, and his mind falters.  "It hurts...it hurts.." he cries out, helplessly trapped in a maze of his soul's built-up past.
Kukuru	EARLIER Kukuru sees Meika's glare, but she doesn't respond to it. Not verbally, at least, although Meika can see the apparent confusion in Kukuru's eyes in that moment between glaring and turning to the floor. Thankfully, it's only for a moment, and it's easy enough for Kukuru to just assume it was a trick of the light. Besides, there's a lot of work to be done, and she can always fuss over Meika later. Hopefully, when it's not too late. NOW Zi-O's encouragement is quite the helpful thing for Kukuru's mental state. After Petra's withering glare and thinking she might have seen something from Meika but maybe not, she needs all the boosts she can get! "Ah... Th-thanks, Sougo. I'll do my best! Malky needs..." What does Malkuth need, anyway? Kukuru's only met her once before, but she didn't really get a chance to talk to her much. And now, with the situation as dreadful as it's turning, there's a lot more on the line that just trying to spoil her with food can't fix. For instance, the Murderer! Thankfully, she's not alone in facing him down, and there's a palpable sense of relief coming from Kukuru when she's able to get so many Agents back from the brink of death with her nanite swarm. His screaming charge has her readying herself to catch him directly, but luckily, she doesn't have to! Just as well, since she'd probably get smashed into the ground or the nearest wall if she had taken that head on. "Thanks, Sougo! Thanks, Bikki! Careful now~" They get some healing support during that whole process along with a bit more raw strength to aid them in holding him back, and then she breathes another sigh of relief as he vanishes. "That's one. Now... Ah. Malky?" She looks up at the ceiling again, glancing around a few times to try and find another one of those speakers. "Can we talk somewhere else? I don't mind talking this way, but-" She hears the Manager's suggestion. There's something looking for her specifically. Raising an eyebrow slowly in confusion and curiosity, Kukuru glances around once more before looking towards the ceiling again. "-if there's anything you wanna talk about without the Manager or anyone else hearing... I'll come right over, okay? I just gotta help these kids out first." It's hard not to hear the mass of flesh even from so many halls away. The whispers, her name, it's all far too easy to tell that the mass is looking for her, and Kukuru only needs a moment to glance around before she knows where she needs to go. A cloud opens in front of her, she steps in, and she reappears at the other end of the hall. Another cloud, two corners skipped. The voice is getting louder, so she must be on the right track. Ishirou's option helps guide her in the right direction, and it doesn't take long before she sees the mass in all its fleshy glory. At the very least, she's not frightened by the mass of flesh. No, she just looks even more confused than before, but there's a distinct lack of fear in her eyes. "Huh? What... What happened? Did..." This isn't a situation for just shoving water and food at them. No, something had to have happened to make them like this. Was it the Manager again? Considering what Malkuth was saying... No. One step at a time. With that option beside her and her own SPECIAL EYES, she looks over the mass and does a full over scan of it, looking for weak points, vulnerabilities, injuries, all so she can target them specifically and...! Dump healing nanites in to try and patch any extant wounds up. "Does it hurt anywhere? I'm here, so don't worry." She's still distracted, but she can still offer some solace to this mass while she's here. Defending herself, at least at this moment, is the last thing on her mind while they're calling out to her in this way.
Petra Soroka	"What do you want?"     Ah, shit, Petra should've known that she'd react like that. She winces and turns to Meika, floundering for a decent introduction, and then hesitates when she sees the magical girl flinch. Petra doesn't experience her own psychic recoil as anything except prickling on her skin, so she's completely lost on why Meika is reacting like that.     Then time moves forwards, the moment is lost, and Petra ends up leaving the Department without a word to her. She'll probably get another chance, after the suppression. If not, then after Lilian is safe, after she's allowing herself to focus on anything but that. It shouldn't matter much anyways, right? She's just a girl who reminded Petra a little of herself. "I know I haven't done anything for her yet."     "Yeah. You fucking haven't. And I should've known that you wouldn't. You've known her for years, of course you wouldn't start treating her better *now*, just because I asked. You never cared. You never *will* care. Even if you manage to do something decent at this point, it's just because you felt pushed to the point that you couldn't keep being apathetic while pretending to be a hero. You'll never be anything different."     Petra's voice cracks, and she looks down at the ground. "Bikki, I trusted you." "...We should catch up sometime when there's not a disaster going on! Thanks for being here."     Petra looks at Sougo with a halfhearted smile. "Yeah. Maybe someday." She clenches her free hand into a fist, tides of quicksilver pouring out of her jacket sleeve, and a gleaming metal spike juts down from the ceiling to pin Forsaken Murderer to the ground. "When there's not a disaster going on."     There's some sort of pervert robot running around in the Safety Department. Petra, having looked at maps earlier (for fun), knows that Information is neighboring Safety, and is over there faster than an elevator could travel. Honestly, once she's away from Hibiki, and Ishirou, and the rest, once she's just allowed to run and swing her weapon and feel like she's accomplishing something by doing that, she feels much better. Just one thing at a time.     Globules of mercury launch through the air to announce Petra's arrival in the hallway of the Safety Department. Each of the four blobs shoots towards one of Schadenfreude's spindly legs, sticking to the 'knee' joints, and then all at once they ripple and invert into spikes, driven through hydraulics and immobilizing it until they break. The crab-mech tumbles to the ground and skids to a halt, metal screeching against the floor, stopping just short of Cinder.     Petra, her sword-form gunblade extended out to her side, walks up to Schadenfreude as it struggles on the ground, and plants her boot on its chassis below the eye. With a one-handed swing of her gunblade-- something she wasn't anywhere near strong enough to do before-- Petra drives it into each of the lenses and twists, pulling out the impaled, ruined mechanisms. Then with both hands and the loud report of a propulsive gunshot, Petra plunges the sword into the keyhole, pushing forwards with her shoulder until it pierces to the other side.     Then she finally notices Cinder. Wait, did she miss any corpses? She forgot to check the floor to see if there were any. "You're okay, right?" That's way more brusque than necessary, but Petra's already looking away, checking down the hallway. She doesn't actually remember encountering Cinder before, but from Cinder's perspective, all Petra does is look at her intently and quickly glance away.
Dragonfly	Blissfully unaware of questionable budget allocations made with unauthorized use of her appearance, Dragonfly simply continues to sit back. As Ishirou falls to the ground, seemingly spontaneously, her idle frown deepens slightly, and she shifts as though about to get up to help, but then stops. He's out of a mechanical chassis, so if he's just started melting from the inside or something, there's nothing I can really do.      Readjusting her seating posture and expression back to casual, Dragonfly turns her screwdriver back to Malkuth. She really doesn't take well to being spoken to through the narrative, and it's a miracle doing so even gets to her at all, but she presses on with continuing the more normally-had conversation (and ignoring Ishirou's screams.)      "Power allocation issue, then. Yeah, not a lot either of us can do about that, then, I guess. No idea how your Light thing works, and it'd be kind of a pain to try, anyways. So they'll be back up if you're ever up to being done with, you know. All this." She punctuates that with a vague swirl of the screwdriver, then shakes her head. "No. It is pretty hard. Honestly, they should probably have people like these around for this thing all the time. If it was easy, they wouldn't have given you no choice but to do it. Would they." With that, she tilts her head meaningfully, looking at Malkuth.
Timespace Riders	"Petra Soroka," comes Woz's voice over the radio, during the fight. "According to this book, the three of you may subdue the Murderer without overwhelming force, if desired. Good luck." One answer down.      The Murderer eventually disappears. The bulky, white-armored form of Zi-O goes slack, as the Rider sighs: "What a relief... that guy hits like a truck," One palm against the wall, the other supported by his knee, Zi-O perks slightly back up, gakuran-adorned helmet turning Kukuru's way inquisitively.      "No problem--are you okay, Kukuru?"      Back with Woz and Meika, the Punishing Bird reverts to normal, earning a 'hmh' of acknowledgment from Woz, as well as an upturn of his helmet. Hecloses the book with a 'thump' of finality. The retainer, having found An answer (not necessarily The answer) to the 'other future' Zi-O asked about, holds out an index towards the mahou. "A moment, please. According to this book, I am to tell you that the future you wished for, moments ago, will not be made immediately. Rather," he continues, striding forwards in that peacock way of his, to throw the gesturing hand to the side, palm up, "Much work must be done over time--the lion's share of it by the beligerrents, and a different nature for each." He nearly starts down the hall again, but stops after a few steps.      "...my Demon King would not have asked me to read such a future, if he did not think it worth pursuing. Seek me out when the Meltdown is resolved. For now... onward. Let us make for Ya-Boy and the Army of Pink."      Meanwhile, as Kukuru departs to go find the Abnormality looking for her, Zi-O clanks his way towards Cinder. This armor is slow, and laborious to move, its lines (and, certainly, the cannons) suggesting the bulk of a battleship more than an armor a person was meant to wear. Grunts of effort mark his passage through the complex, and the only reason he catches up with Cinder at all is because he cheated. A Zi-O from several minutes into the future arrives, once again putting himself between danger and hapless employees.      Having fought alongside Petra in Townsville against some really persistent (and unwilling) mech pilots, the Rider knows she'd know best where to strike. So instead of dogpiling the Abnormality, Future!Zi-O, panting for breath, holds out a hand. "Are you okay? Do you need my help getting somewhere safe--or somewhere you can help? Malkuth is gonna keep releasing Abnormalities... so if there's one you know really well, I can take you there. Just... give me a minute to switch to something faster!"
Hibiki Tachibana	You'll never be anything different. Bikki, I trusted you.     Hibiki had a feeling it was coming. That doesn't make it any easier to hear. Doesn't make it any easier to not want to shout back the way she did before, or to deliver one too many punches necessary to put Forsaken Murderer back into his unit, or restrain the urge to gag as if the reflex had kicked up at random. There's no words anyone can say to that. It just hurts to hear, that much more after everything before.     ...And if she lets that stop her now, at this point, then it really was all for nothing. Bravery. It's pushing past all the awful stuff you feel and doing it anyway. And it's only going to keep getting harder, isn't it?     That's just...how it'll have to be for right now. She's not anything close to a hero, after all. So she doesn't need Petra to have to like her. As long as things work out in the end one way or another.     When the warnings of more Abnormalities releasing sounds off, she's the last one of the group to move. Only after the rest of them clear out does she shut her eyes and pull her scarf up to cover more of her face, putting one foot in front of the other and picking up speed down the hallway. Malkuth's despair goes a lot deeper than just one wave. The ringing running through her from taking the Forsaken Murderer's attacks hasn't finished yet, but Kukuru's healing aid means she's still good to go.     Physically, at least.     She's going to go play catch-up with Kukuru - because quite frankly, she's worried about her safety and what might happen, after...whatever that was, over the radio. Maybe she'll have it handled, in her own way. She seems confident enough. But better to be safe than sorry, even if Kukuru is one of the toughest people she knows, when it comes to these things.     And because she can't really bring herself to follow Petra either, right this moment. It's fine. Sougo is there, after all, and they seem to be getting along better.
Timespace Riders	ARMY OF PINK      Woz stays in the Dragonfly armor for this one. "Stand aside," says the retainer. "If percussive force won't rouse him, then, perhaps--" His backlit helmet tilts towards Meika. "You way wish to hold your nose."      He extends his hand, and the same lasers that forge his armor procure a spear with a touchscreen below the blade.                                   JIKAN DESPEAR!                                        From there, he navigates through brightly colored buttons, until he finds one displaying a laser emitter over a light blue background. Tapping it, the spear's blade changes to the depicted laser emitter, thus announcing:                                 UN-BEAM-LIEVABLE!                                     The whole assembly rockets off of the haft and affixes to Woz's wrist, whereupon he taps the button and zaps Ya-Boy with a yellow laser. It isn't the sort of laser that kills or destroys, but is very unpleasant to be hit by all the same for its heat--and for the smell, which might best be described as the acrid, plasticy assault of a flaming laptop, distilled into use as a means of subdual. In this case, Woz is hoping that the sharp smell, the stinging of the laser and Meika's own efforts will be enough to jolt the Agent free of the Abnormality.
Meika Kirenai	Small hops pull ringing skate blades up and off the ground, dodging and weaving as if the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and the very air itself was pristine and frictionless ice. Even without a weapon to clutch, her balance is trained and graceful, and she can almost lose herself in the motions- save for the snapping maws and imminent threat of being chomped in two. But she's not doing it alone- Woz is there, alongside, his own moves, his own destractions, his own efforts. I had it. I said I could do this much, at least. You could- you should have left it to me. She wishes her thoughts were just out of desire for nobody else to risk hurt. But soon enough, the threat fades, and her skates send faint, ringing sparks skidding out around her as she sideslips to a stop. 'Are they actually Innocent?'     It's lucky that the metric of the hour seems just to be whether they fight back or not. Chevalier Vermillion, face to face with the now-small, now-less-punishing Punishing Bird, lets her racing heartbeat quell out the nausea the blood-smeared hallway drives up. It's a good thing that that energy drink (and the handful of other ones she had throughout the long hours of the last day) is all that's in her stomach. 'A moment, please. According to this book...' 'Much work must be done over time-'     Chevalier Vermillion, in all her knightly splendor, with all the trailing, faintly-moving ribbons and sparkling armor, winces like she's been struck. "Can't- couldn't you just Forget I asked anything...?" The edge that comes over her voice isn't very fitting, as magic rushes to tug at the memories of her word, her question- that he'd never heard her ask in the first place, did he. She pales, a little bit more, a metal-clad hand reaching up to rub tired, bleary eyes. "...I didn't like hearind it. That's all, okay? I didn't mean anything like that." To stop them like that. Or to try and...     ...No harm, no foul, right...?     "Whatever."     She looks over to Woz, and nods in the direction of where the breach was indicated, before once more kicking her skates out, building momentum to race through facility hallways.     On approach, Chevalier Vermillion slides past the club-wielding agents around Ya-Boy, cutting off their line of attack, and one-handedly picks the Abnormality-affected agent up like he weighs less than paper. She quickly holds him in the line of Woz's gross-smelling laser, even if he flinches, or reacts in any way.     "What's this one even do to people? Heart-eyes..?" The short magical girl looks up at the person she's holding aloft, and- slightly more timidly, after... whatever caused the feedback from trying the same with Petra- attempts to hear into Ya-Boy's thoughts- if there even are any. You're not talking otherwise. It's got to be okay, right? If it helps? It doesn't matter how invasive it is, to eavesdrop this way, she hopes- as long as it's the only way.     Not that she's done her due diligence to check. Is this it..? The Abnormality..? Or is this just its effect... Maybe Woz is on to something, though- and adding to his sensory overload beam, without as much a snap of her fingers, thunder rumbles and echoes roar, phantom noises projected all around, ear-piercing and bone-achingly loud.
Angela	Find the will...to stand up straight. reverberates through Ishirou's head as she experiences countless deaths. Justin Rook clambers through the vents, kicks out a grate, and slides into the... MANAGER'S OFFICE Manager X hears Rook land says, "Captain--you're not at your post. We have to stop--" He is interrupted by Justin Rook noticing the Manager's golden eyes. His own widen faintly as he says, "You've got her eyes. What sort of Undercover Boss shit is this?" "I don't know what you're talking about--" Justin Rook interrupts the manager by clobbering him in the chin and then punching him in the face as he sprawls back on the floor just for good measure. "Our friends are our there fightin' and bleedin' for us while you just keep denying how she feels. Maybe you don't remember, but she does. If you keep denying everything without at least tryin' to understand, this whole facility is gonna go under." Manager X is quiet for a moment and then he says, "......Alright. I gotcha." He pulls back up to his feet as he approaches his microphone. "...Hey Malkuth. Sorry for not listening. Let me try again." There's a different tenor to the voice. MALKUTH Malkuth has a nice conversation with Dragonfly. "It's actually super hard... I don't have talent you know, I just... It's my fault I died. I was reckless... but I felt like some part of him...really wanted me to go ahead anyway and test it on myself. But I still chose to do it." She is quiet for a moment before saying to Dragonfly. "Her name was Elijah. If I don't care...who would?" She is further distracted by Ishirou screaming in absolute agony. Malkuth grabs Ishirou with a tendril and pulls him close to her. She hasn't decided what to do with him yet but she ultimately isn't the kind of person who can just let someone scream on the floor and do nothing. "Ishi... Are you remembering?" "Haha...you couldn't take it either..." For some reason... Malkuth sounds...dissapointed by that. The tree starts drooping.
Angela	SCHADENFREUDE With his powers, Zi-O is able to deflect Schadenfreude away from an errant employee that stumbled into Schadenfreude's path. Cinder trips over a dead body and spins her body around, staring at Schadenfreude who does not like being stared at. The eye through the keyhole stares at her as it lifts up a pincer leg, intending to impale her-- --PETRA INTERRUPT-- The two frontal legs are blown clear free first and Schadenfreude tumbles to the ground as the mech collapses in on itself just as planned and then performs a truly vicious coup de grace on it. It pulls back into itself, reverting to egg form--and vanishing back to its cell like the other Abnormalities. Cinder stammers, "U..um... Yeah..." Petra turns her head to check down the hallway and as she does so a giant pink heart floats up above Cinder's head. ...Wait that's just another Army in Pink. It salutes Petra before exploding into healing gas around Cinder (Petra is out of the way). Now pink hearts are radiating out of her own eyes as she looks at Petra. She'll probably be fine. "...Thanks for saving me." Oh a Demon King is asking if she's okay. "...Yeah..." She says. "Aaaallll dandy here."
Angela	The bad news is that Nothing There isn't receiving orders, Nothing There is just like this. The good news is that Kukuru can find Nothing There easily. It is the least difficult abnormality to find in some ways. "H..hey! I didn't say it was looking for you so you'd go to it, I was trying to warn you!" The Manager frets, briefly distracted before getting back on task. Kukuru ... tries healing the Abnormality. Nothing There twists and distorts as it approaches Kukuru, "Hello HELLO hello hello Kukukukukukuru! I love you! You have a voice mail waiting! HELP IS ON THE WAY!" The form starts shifting around and then just as Hibiki feared-- It sloughs onto Kukuru and pulls Kukuru into its mass of flesh, twisting itself around in on itself until... Kukuru(?) is left standing there looking at Hibiki and smiling at her goofily. "I love you I LOVE YOU Help Help HELP!" And it vanishes back into its cell. ...Maybe it's...uh...fine? THIS IS FINE RIGHT??
Angela	ARMY OF PINK Meika peers into Ya-Boy's mind as Woz zaps Ya-Boy. "Wh..wha?" Ya-Boy says distantly. Woz zaps him a few more times. He thinks he's making progress. Meika tries reaching in to the abnormality causing this effect. "Oh! A comrade in pink! The heart is pink! We will chase away the bad thoughts!" The Army Man floating in the pink heart turns to face Meika. As busy as you are, it is easy to miss the flickers of black leaching into the heart. The Army in Pink looks back at Meika. And it sees... "The heart...is pink... but your heart..." The Abnormality doesn't turn away from Meika. "Ah... you try to make the heart pink...with black. You camoflauge yourself in black..." The Abnormality twists its head curiously. The black pulls into the heart, deeper, darker. "The heart...is pink... You are skipping...out. Ah..." "...Don't worry ma'am... We'll camoflauge our hearts in black...and chase away the good thoughts for you." The Army in Pink vanishes, the heart around it pure black--but on the bright side, one more zap from Woz seems to do the trick and Ya-Boy startles into coherency.
Angela	"Malkuth ... I don't understand what's going on, I'm being as real with you as I can be. I don't...have a lot of memories myself yet. So maybe I did do it and I don't know why. Or rather--maybe I didn't look back, and I don't know why but..." The Manager glances over to Justin Rook and then speaks back into the microphone. "All I can say is, I'd be pissed off too if that happened to me. And I'm sorry that it happened to you. Elijah deserved better than that. And if you want to beat me up over that, that's fine but..." "These fine people...they only wanted to help you. You know that right? Take it out on me as long as you want, just not these people. They're looking back at you right now." Malkuth doesn't answer the manager yet. That eye looks down at Ishirou. Are you Verge... or are you Ishirou? That kind voice whispers to him and only him. Help her if you can.
Kukuru	EARLIER 'No problem--are you okay, Kukuru?' Kukuru doesn't answer right away as she gets some more healing nanites pumped out. She pauses, then giggles softly. "I'm okay, Sougo. Don't worry, I've been through way worse." NOW It's time for way worse! Thankfully, Hibiki's there to watch her back, and she might very well need it as she approaches Nothing There, getting ever closer by the second. Hands go up as she offers healing and comfort to the distorted thing, even giggling softly at the strange speech while trying not to let it sink in too much that all these sounds... It must be hurting a lot, too. Still, it was looking for her, and between wanting to help it and the Manager's suggestion... 'H..hey! I didn't say it was looking for you so you'd go to it, I was trying to warn you!' Kukuru briefly gets a deer-in-the-headlights look on her face as she processes that internally. There's the brief sound of Kukuru letting out a flat "Um" before she gets swallowed whole by that mass.
Ishirou	Ishirou does not immediately respond, trapped in the labyrinth of his own mind.  Caught in a number of deaths.  The sheer number of them was done with as much brutal efficiency as possible, with a few being done out of spite.  From that, he gets a name, his old name... the name he was when his soul existed the first time.   It's a storm that threatens to swallow him up.  Something capable of destroying Ishirou's mind completely, setting aside the memories he had lost returning.  Cracks formed on his very being.  Being torn in different directions.  Verge or Ishirou?  Human or Android?  Real or Fake?  It felt like his very being was being torn apart.   At so many cross purposes, trying to fill in a role.  It was easier to not do anything, to let himself be swallowed up and whatever came out was how he'd be... and if nothing came out then it couldn't be his fault, right?   That... was wrong.  That brought him to how Lilian is being treated right now.  How she is feeling.  How she is trapped.  How she is suffering and he doesn't do anything.   If he did nothing... Angela would be lost to Lilian.  If he did nothing, he'd break his promise to Malkuth.  Was he really so spineless that he'd drop everything?  Was he so pathetic that he'd give up everything?  Was he so insincere that he'd simply take the easiest path?  Was everything he said just performative?   Find the will...to stand up straight. What did he want?  What did he want?  What /did/ he want?!   Human, he wanted to be human again.  He realizes, he had really destroyed his body.  He had mutilated himself like this.  He had given up what he really wanted /because/ of the sickness that was Indus inside him, and the words of an angry woman who he pushed to the brink to salve his own ego. He can't let the gravity of something that wants him to fit a certain mold control him.  He can't let the mistakes and atrocities of the past control him.   It hurts so much...     It hurts so much...         IT HURTS SO MUCH!!! "Ishi... Are you remembering?"     "Haha...you couldn't take it either..."         Are you Verge... or are you Ishirou? Ishirou. Ishirou's eyes snap awake again, being held by the tentacle of Malkath.  He feels awful, he feels sick, he is exhausted... so much has happened in such a little time.  But... she needed him.  He had... he had to shovel that coal.  He moves, to wrap his arms around Malkath, giving her something she needed. Acceptance.  Friendship.  He couldn't be the one to give her the things she needed, that was the Manager... but he could at least let her know she wasn't alone.  That he hadn't given up.   "Please.  Malkath," he says pleadingly to her.  "Hear him out.  He obviously doesn't remember.  Is... he responsible for what another him said?  Maybe... but maybe this one will listen this time.  Just tell him what you want, from the bottom of your heart."   "And reguardless of what he says... I am still here to support you.  Okay? Facing the past is scary.  Trying to make up for things you've done is hard.  It's easier to let yourself be taken up in the flow... to think that you can't be blamed for it.  But... how can you fix your mistakes if you let them sweep you up?" "I am here for you."
Timespace Riders	Woz lowers the laser, once Ya-Boy shows signs of being okay again. Meika had said to forget she'd asked, earlier--he didn't even know that desired future was hers, but supposes it makes sense, retroactively given her reaction, that Sougo would have concealed her attachment to it. Although she can't modify the memory, she may not need to.      The retainer is loathe to involve himself with those who don't pass his personal muster--and the 'them' that would be 'made to stop' in this case have shown themselves lately to be drastically beneath that bar. He is, accordingly, perfectly capable of pretending as if their earlier exchange didn't happen, because it suits him.      "Hmh. Containment is containment, I suppose." That's all he has to say, about the Abnormality changing, before their eyes. The Hermit had changed, too--it isn't unheard of. The Rider more likely to be concerned about this particular change isn't present, after all.      "Ya-Boy," says the retainer, offering a suggestion with a dip of his helmet and a grandiloquent flick of his wrist, towards the Agent. "If you're of sound body and with no pressing Abnormalities to contain in this area, consider searching for less experienced agents to ensure their safety. Malkuth was misrouting them to some of the more onerous Abnormalities, earlier."
Dragonfly	Dragonfly says, "But it's not your fault that this is the way they chose to bring you back, is it." Malkuth says, "No... It's not. Instead of ending my suffering he chose to prolong it." Dragonfly says, "And now you're here. Doing all this. Almost feels like it's their fault, doesn't it."      "Anyways. I'm not really here to stop you from anything, unless it's killing me, in which case I will actually have to stop you. I just think this place's treatment of its facility-bounds is... interestingly poor, and that sitting back and making fun of it at risk of my life is funny."      Dragonfly rolls her screwdriver around through her fingers, gaze tracking Malkuth's grip on Ishirou. "You're going to have a crisis about if you're Malkuth or Elijah now, or soon, if you haven't already. I'm going to keep it simple with you, because there's an objective answer to this, and I'm kind of tired of watching people struggle with finding it again and again: If you don't remember anything, you're not responsible for anything that other person did, and your name is whatever you want it to be. Honestly, you can get away with not being responsible for things you perfectly well remember doing, if you really feel up to it, but I don't think that's your issue here."
Hibiki Tachibana	What? No!? Absolutely /nothing/ about that is fine!     If anything, Hibiki is only blaming herself for not chasing after Kukuru from frame one - and utterly mortified and sick to the very core of her stomach when she catches up just in time to see the horned mass of meat overcome her completely. There's a deer in headlights moment of her own when there's just her, being stared and smiled back at in that ridiculous way.     And Kukuru(?) says that.     And leaves back into containment.     An entire second passes.     "Kukuru...? KUKURU! KUKURU--!"     And before the door has even had a chance to shut back again, she's already rushing forward at full speed towards it - a hand outstretched to physically stop it from closing, as if she's worried it might not open back up again. Right now, all the struggle and feeling sorry for herself is totally left behind in favor of raw adrenaline. Does she even know what she's going to actually do?     Absolutely not. And right now, thinking about asking the Manager for more information or advice or something like that is the last thing on her mind. If she has to, she'll outright punch that thing away from--off of?--out of?--Kukuru if that's what it takes. She might even just trash this entire subsection of the underground facility to manage it if that's not enough. She doesn't care if going back to their cells means they're 'suppressed', she's not leaving Kukuru in whatever state that's supposed to be.     Although she's immensely afraid of what she'll actually find. That's still better than imagining being too late to do anything.
Meika Kirenai	'The heart...is pink... but your heart...'     'But.'     Nothing good ever begins with 'but'. 'Ah... you try to make the heart pink...with black. You camoflauge yourself in black...'     Cracking and chipping into the floor, ever so slightly, Chevalier Vermillion pivots on her skates, not just to look at the Army in Pink, but to Woz. Don't look at me. Don't listen to that. She flinches under the Army's gaze, at every seeping crack of color. Even at first, she spots the flickering black.     Standing beneath the Abnormality's gaze feels sterile and disecting. Stop looking at me. Please. Be wrong. Each thought, frantic, comes with faster-drawn breath, and she's painfully aware of the beating of her own heart. Faster and faster, tighter and tighter. It should be pink. It's supposed to be. What do you even mean? What does this mean? It'd be easy to not give credence. To say this is a monster, trying to get something out of her. It should be easy.     But you know, somehow, don't you? Is that really all there is to it? Pink, or black? She hopes the meanings she's interpreting are just products of her own fault, her own worries, her own assumptions- she doesn't want to think they're not. Her brave composure wilts. Quiet, as if a million miles away, one could almost hear a tremor. Distant and nearly silent, yet louder than her tight-held breath. 'Hmh. Containment is containment, I suppose.'     She shouldn't feel the relief that she does. That he doesn't care. That he isn't bothering. That if he can shrug off what she asked him to, maybe he'll do the same. But someone shouldn't have to be relieved about that- there shouldn't be any reason in the first place. She bites into the lining of her cheek, and forces her gaze back off the Rider. '...Don't worry ma'am... We'll camoflauge our hearts in black...and chase away the good thoughts for you.'     Don't worry? What does that- She's definitely worried. When she speaks up, her voice is trembling, with resonance like dropped silverware dripping in. "...Why? What do you mean..? Why would I want that..." Her grip loosens on Ya-Boy, and she lets him go- with a quick yelp, the second she realizes this, as he clatters to the ground.     "-Sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" A quick apology his way, and she turns her eyes back to- Oh. The Army in Pink is already gone, vanished, in their pure black shimmering entirety.     ...What will you chase away..? Bitter and rancid, a guilt of knowing somehow, she's made this worse than it should have been. Trying your hardest just won't always cut it.
Angela	Malkuth is told she's about to have a crisis but this time... "No... I'm Malkuth now. I remember, sure, and she's still close to my heart but she's not me. None of us Sephirah..." That eye turns towards a camera looking down upon them. "Believe we're the same people we used to be at all. But..." Almost feels like it's their fault, doesn't it? She should be saying yes to that. She certainly isn't saying no to that but... In this moment, what does she actually feel? BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xTbWpCvLMQ&ab_channel=Nepsol Ishirou, someone much like her, tells her that he supports her. In spite of this, he asks her to hear him out. She takes this to mean that he wants her to have an honest conversation instead of just venting her feelings. And... How can she fix her mistakes if she lets History overtake her with its flow? Maybe he'll listen. Ishirou will find her pretty awkward to hug right now but she does listen too. She isn't someone who can turn away when someone is suffering like they're dying, or dying a hundred deaths, in the end. It doesn't really matter to her if they deserve it or not. Facing the past is scary, but... "I'll face it head on." Malkuth at this point isn't interfering with orders anymore and the horrors are slowly starting to die down provided nothing hilarious happens so they have a moment to just talk.
Angela	"I'm looking at you." The Manager says. The cognition filter flickers and sometimes he sees Malkuth standing there, as the tree pulls itself back into its old frame, gradually tearing its tendrils away from key parts of the facility. Sometimes he sees Elijah. Sometimes he sees Malkuth. Sometime he sees that machine but...he is doing his best to see, at least. Whatever he once was, this man doesn't remember. "...Have you ever felt it, A? No...Manager." Malkuth asks the manager. "The feeling of sailing the ocean without a map or any kind of guidance? The feeling of groping blindly in the darkness. I'm like an island on that vast ocean." Malkuth's frame seals itself back shut. "I'm sure you know what it feels like, manager, everything starts tumbling down on top of you when you start thinking you cannot handle it. But have you ever looked into the eyes of a dying employee? Just... Don't look away from them, saying there's nothing you can do for them. Don't just be sorry for the dying. Don't just go around blaming yourself about how you could have been better." Malkuth in the Manager's vision is now wholly its true mecanical form. "Confront those moments as they are so that you can see other things. We can't change the past, I don't expect you to be a shining beacon in the dark, nor do I think this place will become kind all of a sudden but... we can take in those horrible moments." "...But I want you to bear the suffering manager," Malkuth says calmly, rationally, and fairly. "Just like we are now." "...Alright Malkuth." The manager says. "I promise."
Angela	"I'm... sorry everyone. I really lost it there haha..." Malkuth says. "But it won't happen again." Her eye slants towards Dragonfly, "Thanks for listening to me. I know I was just venting but--this place really is horrible huh? Maybe someday... It won't have to be." Hibiki can break into Nothing There's room with ease. It ain't locked from the outside. "I love you I LOVE you." Maybe it's something that Nothing There ate, but it isn't going to resist Hibiki's attempts to pull Kukuru free. "Kukurruuuu." Containment is containment right, Woz? Well. The Army in Pink(?) doesn't immediately respond to Meika's inquiries. The Army in Pink(?) has realized what it needs to do. The day isn't over yet and Malkuth's damage to the systems means the other Sephirah still aren't waking up yet but... Soldiers in black hearts teleport around the facility, appearing near groups of agents. They snap a salute-- --and explode violently into a thick black heart! An automatic alarm klaxon sounds now that Malkuth is no longer restraining it. ,d88b.d88b,                     WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING 888BLACK888                               A L E P H `Y8888888Y'                             ARMY IN BLACK    `Y888Y'                                T H R E A T      `Y'                         WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING Chewie, and M.O.M from the Info team... Parker who was just about to shoot Ishiro because the Manager forgot to rescind the order... Shajo from Disciplinary... Rose from Center... Distracted as they are from cleaning up other problems, they fail to notice the army men until they violently explode near them in a thick vail of black energy. They don't die though. Black hearts appear in their eyes as they draw their EGO weapons and make their way to the Outsiders, wholly intent on chasing away all the good thoughts they brought in from outside. Malkuth says, "Oh no--Army of Black took over so many Agents... We have to stop them before they hurt themselves...or others..." One more threat before the night is over.