Erie shuffled some of her reports, flicking through pages. "At the current rate of ammunition expenditure, we should be set for another two to three weeks, though this greatly depends on combat intensity and sufficiently heavy fighting could in theory reduce that to as little as two days. We are running lower on ordnance than we are on ammunition." She stopped to consider her options, her tactical mind working out what she could do with the forces she had. "I still think we should target the main Lodgerite base being set up in the north-east. Perhaps not the base itself, but from contact reports, the logistical supplies to the base itself are a softer target given there only being one route upwards. In my estimations, we are more than capable of blocking these supply lines and effectively force them to retreat. They are semi-rear-line squads with less equipment and cohesion, carrying heavy weights. This would have the added benefit of reducing supply availability to troops in the entire lower sector. Not to mention, we could take some of the weapons which was intended for said base.”

Erie paused for a moment, looking over the map before pointing towards the northern parts of the floor they were on. "We may apply a similar approach to the FOB construction. The high concentration of enemy forces makes a frontal assault out of the question, but we are still capable of harassing the work parties and supply deliveries to slow construction and reduce its viability as an operating base.” Having given her thoughts, she joined her hands behind her back and waited patiently for her superior's assessment. Alexandra had listened attentively to everything Erie had to say. "Hmmm, you make a good point. I think sending two small squads out together would work best. One group can take down supply forces and the other group can sabotage the base. Though, I think we should have the rest of our group meanwhile set up somewhere else. Or at the very least, prepare to evacuate and head to a new location. Suppose we should set up a plan for tomorrow then." The two would plan things rather elaborately. Who would go, what equipment they'd take to deal with the targets and how and at what time they'd strike.

After all was discussed, Alexandra would compile everything. "Alright, I'll give a sitrep to our forces in the early morning during breakfast. We'll then assign roles to everyone so that everyone knows what has to be done." Alexandra looked confident, soon after giving a far more sisterly smile. "Thanks for the input, Erie. It's tough as hell to plan these things out, but your assistance makes everything way less stressful." Alexandra put a hand on Erie's shoulder. "Suppose we should both get some rest in before tomorrow. Unless if you're on guard duty tonight." Alexandra kind of hoped that Erie would be on guard duty. It'd mean that she could accompany Erie a bit longer and have a more casual chat instead... along with discussing tactics for tomorrow.

Erie preened slightly at the physical affection and praise, her ears flicking up and her tail swishing slightly even as she kept a straight face. Her professional demeanour started to fade as she slowly "switched off" for the evening at the conclusion of the planning session, shedding her cool, stoic and tactical persona for her more awkward off-duty self. "I... yes. Yes, we should. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow, I think...lots to do, lots to do..." Before she’d completely relax though, her ears shot up and she took a more serious tone. “Ah, I must admit, I do not believe the enemy forces are currently aware of our location. I have instructed our soldiers to avoid engagement with them near our location and to lead them away when possible. Thus, there have been no signs of them actively searching. I believe we will be able to remain here a while longer, though it is likely we will be forced out before long by encroachment and we should still urgently consider alternative locations."

Alexandra gave a calm nod, clearly appreciating Erie’s more business-like attitude. Though with Alexandra not really elaborating much further, it seemed the discussion had mostly died down. Thus, Erie slouched a little bit and her ears and tail drooped again. She’d let out a soft yawn as the day caught up to her "Anyway, I'm pretty knackered now. I think I'll grab some food and, uh, head to bed. Ah, I'm on the graveyard shift for guard duty too, since you asked. And, well, I'd like to have a good nap before then." Alexandra smiled and nodded, before calmly remarking: “Not the shift I’ve got. Bit of a shame, but... well, it is what it is, really.” Despite Alexandra seeming rather relaxed, Erie recognised Alexandra’s smile well enough to know that she wanted to hang out. As difficult as she found it to be casual around her CO, she’d still try her best. "Hmmm, I'm sure you could swap with one of the others for the shift if you want to do it together. I know one of them hates nights and would love to not have to do it."

The suggestion made Alexandra pause. "Hm, if one of your fellow soldiers hates the timing so much, I'd gladly take over for them." Alexandra seemed a bit more motivated now, Erie also hoping that Alexandra and her could continue spending time together. For now, they started heading back to the main dining area their forces had set up, Alexandra continuing their casual chat. "So, how are things going between you and your cadre, by the way? I've heard them speaking rather fondly of the tactics you've employed." Alexandra wanted to do a bit of small-talk, knowing that Erie wasn't the best socially speaking. Admittedly, Erie's smaller group had been rather neutral about the wolf, praising her tactics but finding her a little stiff. But, Alexandra knew that Erie had a ton of potential and just needed to gain a bit more people's skills. And what better way to train those, than to discuss how she's faring leading her group?

Hearing the question about her group, Erie slipped back into her more formal duty persona. She considered how she should respond, doing her best to analyse her people. "Hmm. They have performed relatively well, admirably under the circumstances considering their lack of formal military training and disparate equipment. Hazan was not suited for leadership, though Goodwin and van Buren have proven themselves as capable squad leaders. Group cohesion has been improving and their performance on the latest raid was a marked improvement." Alexandra smiled and patted her friend's back. “That’s great to hear!” Though, Erie’s calmness soon faded, her looking around before sharing some more personal thoughts. "They are... far from the elite troops I was designed to lead, Commander. Most of them are capable yes, but the gap in skill and professionalism is there and it is large. I worry my leadership style may not suit them." She looked down briefly as her tail drooped a little. "I feel like I am... struggling to connect with them.”

Alexandra remained quiet, simply nodding and letting Erie continue to talk. “While they respect my leadership, they do not respect me like they do you. I am... unsure how to resolve this" Erie's confidence started showing cracks. She confided a key problem with her lack of social skills, feelings of inadequacy reopening some of the mental scars Roraima left her with. Alexandra paused to think, before speaking reassuringly. "Well for one, don't compare yourself to me. We're both designed with different tasks in mind, so of course there will be areas where one of us is better than the other. Just look at your skills in managing logistics compared to my skills in that field." Alexandra said reassuringly. "It takes time to form bonds between soldiers. You just have to keeping talking with them and maybe focusing on other things than combat." Alexandra knew Erie was smart, and hoped that her remarks wouldn't be seen as patronizing. But to Alexandra, it really was the best advice.

Erie looked down, feeling a little dejected. Roraima told her she was a failure for anything less than perfection, and, as much as she had been told that wasn't true, was this not a personal failing? "I... feel like a metalworker attempting to carve wood, I lack the fine touch needed to manage these men and women effectively. But... I will do my best.” Alexandra smiled brightly and patted Erie on the back. "Doing your best is all you have to do, Erie. If you mess up or struggle, you don't have to worry. Our soldiers and I will help you deal with whatever hurdles you may be facing, understood?" Alexandra remarked supportively, soon giving her best friend a quick hug from the side. Erie again felt a bit more at ease, enjoying the hug for a little while before continuing on their merry way. And soon enough, the two reached the kitchen, a few soldiers who acted as chefs still active. The soldiers there saluted them, Alexandra taking it more casual.

"Good evening, Martin, Layla." Alexandra sniffed the air. "Mmm, that smells delicious! Is that the sauerkraut and sausage combination you mentioned not too long ago, Martin?" Alexandra naturally struck a conversation with the soldiers before getting her dinner. Meanwhile, Erie’s tail rose again and began to wag as she smelled something good wafting from the kitchen. It seemed they’d have plenty to discuss over some pretty good food. She approached the counter as Alexandra chatted, trying to shed her soldier mode again and relax back into her off-duty self, she was surprised when Layla, a fierce little woman who was a terror with a spoon in the kitchen, saw her and smiled brightly and piped up "Erie! How have you been? I haven't seen you in a bit, how's it going with you and Alexandra? I heard Katie speaking quite highly of your ability to lead. Oh, and before I forget..."

She reached beneath the counter and brought out a plate clearly set aside for her with extra sausage and only a little bit of cabbage for the obligate carnivore, seasoned and with bacon strips wrapped around the sausages. "We know what you have to eat, so we tried to make you something extra." She looked up at the taller wolf and offered it to her "Let me know what you think!" Erie was taken aback and sent spinning by the gregarious woman and thoughtful token of appreciation she was unused to. Unsure how to respond, she was immediately knocked out of her soldier persona and tried to think of something to say, deciding to put Alexandra's recommendations to the test. "I... err, thank you, Layla." Alexandra on the other hand had a few more words of kindness to the guardsmen-turned-chefs which were part of their squadron. "I am shocked what you have been able to do with the few rations we have.” Alexandra mumbled casually. Afterwards, Martin would also join the conversation. "It was tough to find some good quality bacon, but I think it came out really good with what we got."

Erie made a show of sniffing it, her enhanced nose taking in the smell of well-done sausage and bacon "It smells delicious. And...uh, thank you for thinking of me. I will try it and... let you know." She searched for possible avenues of conversation, settling on one she could meet halfway on "Uuuuuh, how is the, uh, kitchen operation? How are you managing with the supplies you have? I might be able to...to look out for things if you have, huh, requests". Layla was already smiling after the compliment, whilst Martin would quickly respond to Erie’s questions. "Ah, no need to worry, Miss. We've got several basic recipes figured out and planned out." Afterwards though, Layla did give some requests. "Admittedly, I have been thinking of working with some more proper meats, rather than just minced stuff and sausages. But, it's not like we're likely to find any steak just... lying about, hehe."

Alexandra scoffed in amusement at the suggestion, after which Martin jokingly responded: "Didn't someone already suggest we should find Hapi for that?", which made Alexandra wheeze a little and Layla raise a bemused eyebrow. Erie was also unable to quite help herself from chuffing at the notion of Hapiburgers, even as she noted: “I imagine the meat would be inedible due to how metallic it’d taste... Should we ever pass through the cooler section, I'll try and see if we can find some still properly frozen meat. A good steak night would be good for morale, after all". She relaxed a little, enjoying the interaction even if such casualness didn't come naturally to her at all. With a couple of people coming up behind them, the two wolves would take their plates and cutlery and find a table. Erie dug in, finding the sausages themselves a little bland but was made up for by the seasonings and the bacon was surprisingly good.

Normally Alexandra would be the one to break the silence over the table, but this time it was Erie making a concerted effort to make conversation. "So... the people. How do you do it, Alexa? You talk to people so freely when it takes so much effort from me to sustain a conversation. I need to improve... I must change how I communicate. So, sister, I need advice. How do I become more personable without forcing it? I may never be like you, but I must correct my failing like this." She leant back and chewed, hoping her best and only friend had some sage words for her. "Oh come now, Erie. This isn't a 'failing'.” Alexandra responded in a bewildered tone. “You just need to spend more time chatting with people, getting more used to casual conversation and the like." Alexandra looked around, before getting an idea. "See how Layla provided you with food specifically made for you to enjoy? Perhaps, you at one point brought up something regarding what you enjoy eating. It's these small interactions, revealing more about yourself and opening up about small things which helps strengthen bonds and create more personal relationships.”

It was, again, rather obvious advice. But, Alexandra imagined it’d help Erie out a decent bit. “Of course, you don't just wanna keep asking questions and dumping little details on people, it's... it's pretty complex. But, one thing I do suggest to get started is to just ask people around you questions about... well, how they're feeling, what they're up to and what they're thinking about. Use that as jump-off points to maybe learn more about them and to show interest in their lives outside of being a soldier." Alexandra neatly cut a piece of sausage and took a bite, before smirking. "Trust me, it's easy for me to... give this advice, because I've always been used to interacting with others. Just give it time and don't worry so much, Erie. You’ll do great." Alexandra again patted Erie on the back, Erie taking in what was said before sharing her thoughts.

"I...understand, sister. I'll give it a try next time on a squad outing, much to the shock of my team I imagine. If it will improve cohesion and help me become more than a soldier, it's worth trying." She went to start on her next sausage, only to realise she'd finished without even realising it and pushed her empty plate to the side. "I think I will also organise some special training sessions to get them working better together and provide an opportunity for me to integrate myself too.” Having finished her meal and with something to chew on, she turned to Alexandra, telling her: "I'd like to get some rest now. You should get some rest too, if you're going to be joining me. You might be good, but even you need sleep. I'll think on all this and see you later." Alexandra raised an eyebrow. “Oh come on, Erie. Stay here a little longer. We’ve barely gotten seated!” Erie looked at her empty plate as well as the soldiers who were also seated and having dinner.

And knowing that Alexandra meant well, Erie gave a quick nod. “Okay. I’ll stay for a few more minutes to chat.” Alexandra smiled brightly, as Erie returned her plate and cutlery to the washing-up pile, before again getting seated near Alexandra, the two chatting a bit more. Once a few minutes had passed and their conversation had died down a little, Erie finally decided to head back to her barracks. But not before heading to the kitchen to speak to Layla and Martin. "Thanks for doing that for me, you two. It was much appreciated... and really good." Erie said, the two guardsmen-turned-chefs nodding. "Glad to hear you enjoyed it, Erie." "If you got any requests for in the future, please let us know!" The two responded, after which Erie headed back to the barracks. Despite being a subject, the survivors who slept in the same barrack treated her with kindness and respect, even if they did sometimes feel a bit odd at her nature. Still, she insisted on resting in the same place the guardsmen did.

And as she prepared to sleep, she decided to follow Alexandra’s advice a little. Her bunkmate Surelda was there, the raven-haired woman not giving her a second glance as she changed into her nightclothes, all of them having dropped expectations of privacy and gotten used to one another in the tight quarters. Still, they were just acquaintances, not in the same squads and their chats having so far been minimal. In other words, a perfect opportunity for Erie to improve her social skills. She'd speak up, asking "How did things go today, Sura? How'd your group do in the CQC exercises today? I heard Harman sprained his ankle without even seeing the other team..." This was met with a bit of surprise, Sura looking around before responding casually. "Yeah, he's fine. The poor guy was really embarrassed but we thought it was pretty funny all things considered." After Sura responded, she'd hesitate before asking: "What about you? How was your day? Did you... plan some more things out with Alexandra?"

"Oh yeah, we had a strategic discussion. Talked a lot about the death squad bases, how we'll deal with them and our next moves. More of the same, we may even be moving base again in the next few days so don't get too comfy here. Have you been to the canteen today? The two there, Layla and Mavin I think their names were, did better food than the usual fare today." She noticed Sura's slightly bewildered expression, realising how unusual this must seem to her bunkmate. Sura wasn't the only one who seemed shocked, her looking at a few of the other folk in the barracks before giving an answer. "Uhhhh, yeah, I had... dinner not too long ago. Admittedly, it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary to me. It just good though." Sura responded calmly, going a bit quiet again. Erie took a moment to think about her next move, trying to come up with a topic to talk about to keep the conversation going.

In doing so, she realised she was surrounded by faces she knew of but did not know, acquaintances and allies but not friends. "You know...I, uh, never really took the time to actually, uh, talk to you. Or...anyone else. So...how about we...uh, rectify that a bit, huh? Tell me a bit about yourself, Sura. I've never even heard where you came from..." Sura was again rather surprised, but thankfully didn't hesitate to respond. "Well, I'm from a jungle planet called Rahu-2... It's relatively close to the Capital of the federation. Quite a lot of people, lots of whom were pretty dedicated to the Federation. It's... kind of ironic, a ton of people there were vying for this job, but... I didn't really care too much for it." Sura scoffed, before softly asking: "I take it you're not too familiar with other planets? I mean, you've been stuck here on Valulori for... who knows how long, so..."

Whilst Sura spoke, Erie listened to her conversation partner talk, her head propped up on her hands and elbows as she lay on her bunk. Her tail lazily waved back and forth as she soaked it up, enjoying the interaction. Perhaps, she considered, she could even share some things about herself. She had many stories to tell from her life in the Facility that she'd never thought to share with anyone except Alexandra, after all. Though, the sudden question about other planets made Erie’s though come to a halt. She really did know very little about, well, many things. Roraima hadn't taught her much "superfluous information" and much of what she knew came from Jabal, but even then she'd suffered from a lack of curiosity. She only barely knew the name of the Federal capital and only knew of a handful of worlds elsewhere, of which Rahu wasn't one. And how long had she been here? What kind of life had she even had? She realised her tail had conspicuously stopped wagging and she was staring off into space, struggling to keep the emotions from her face. She needed to be strong for her men, officers weren't supposed to be sad.

She softly spoke again, her voice measured and controlled to keep the wobble out of her tone. "Indeed, I...was never told much. So, er, tell me of your homeworld, Sura". She looked around, seeing the handful of other people in the dormitory watching them, either gathering around or failing to hide their curiosity from their bunks. "And all of you too. Tell me of your homes", hoping it would be a catalyst for further conversation and getting to know people further. "Well, Rahu-2 is a jungle planet, like I mentioned. It has a lot of history related to the first interstellar human colonies and was an important source of various farm products for the main capital..." Sura gave a lengthy and fascinating explanation as to what her planet was like. The urban landscapes, the exotic wildlife imported from other planets, the various cultures, religious practices and their role in the Federation. Sura would not be the only one, as some of the other soldiers also gave their stories. Some told of the snowball planets they came from, or the industrial powerhouses of the federation. They asked questions to one another and even made jokes as well. Two of them even realised they were from the same world and began jabbering excitedly at each other.

The energy in the barracks seeming very positive, Erie also slowly losing her anxiety as people talked. She frequently asked questions about them, having no context for many of the things they spoke of. Still, a truth made itself more apparent and her uncomfortable. And after a bit more excited chattering from the soldiers, Erie spoke up in a more sombre tone again. "I've... never been beyond the Facility, unlike a few like Titania, Eleni or...or Idalia. I've never seen the sky and stars... felt the wind or sun. I've never seen, uhhh, a tree or a... er, wild animal or the sea or the snow..." She sighed sadly, her ears flattening before she had a bold idea, one she'd never have had before. "So how about you all describe your favourite places? Let me imagine them instead."

The rest of the group went rather quiet, seeming pretty disheartened by what Erie had to say. Still, Erie’s last question did give the survivors a bit of hope, Sura not hesitating to answer the question. "There was this river running through the capital, with beautiful homes built onto the banks of it. The homes were... all painted beautifully, looking extremely rustic, and they all had these vines creeping over them, along with waterfalls which cascaded off the roofs." Afterwards, the rest of the group continued telling about their favourite locations. A gorgeous cliff overlooking a vast blue ocean dotted with large spiky rocks. A massive glacier which stretched between these elegant orange mountain ranges. Beautiful forests surrounded by clouds with huts built under the upper foliage layer, overlooking the entire surrounding area. It all sounded incredible to Erie...

Erie directed her imagination to her mind's eye, trying to imagine the wonderful places she was being told of. It was easier said than done, her having few personal reference points to use but, drawing on her limited pool of media she had seen, she imagined as best she could, closing her eyes and allowing herself to be taken away. She brought up her hand and realised the skin under her eyes was damp, wiping it before she could be seen like that, even if her ever-expressive ears and tail betrayed her true emotions. Though once the final description was given, one of the soldiers responded in a more determined tone. "Erie, once we get out of here... I'm gonna try and show you my favourite place in the universe, alright?" The rest of the soldiers all seemed to agree, clearly hopeful that they'd be able to show Erie their worlds...

Erie kept wiping away the teardrops around her cheeks, still feeling a little emotional. "I... hope I will see all these places with you all. They all sound wonderful, and... I may endeavour to see more of the galaxy once this is over. I hope all of you will come too." The guardsmen remained calm and optimistic. Even as Erie looked down, looking more sombre. "I... I... know I have often been... distant from you all. Aloof, robotic even. I thank you all... for taking the, uuuh, time to talk with me. I hope to be able to do this more...” The guardsmen nodded, all of them agreeing they’d gladly do this again. “Hell yeah, let’s do this tomorrow when you wake up.” “Or perhaps on our next mission or something? I’ve really enjoyed these talks!” Erie nodded, thanking them one final time before wishing them good night and settling down in her bed, her mind replaying things at her. She fell into a sleep better and more restful than she had in a long time. Though, a part of her did worry if she and everyone down here would ever get the chance to break free from this place...

Survival was one thing, but escaping this place... was something else entirely.

--------------------------------------

This quest is mostly story focused, with no really deep mechanics aside from basic dice-rolling in the background. The story is rather freeform in terms of what choices you can make and what direction you want to follow. What your goal is in this place and who you choose to trust is mostly up to you. Do you want to explore the place and figure out its mysteries? Or do you just want to shoot shit and cleanse this place of monster girls? No matter what you opt to do down here, I will always try to give options for what you can do. You can also always send in your own choices and suggestions on what to do. Either way, I hope to provide a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. My writing ain't perfect, so I always do appreciate it when feedback is provided so I can improve further.

Shared docs:
You, your men and your allies:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_NoldE7zglICEuon-YZNhxjXcqvjszveOsz4u8jz-is/edit?usp=sharing

The monster girls sheets as provided by the government tablet (HAS SOME MINOR UPDATES):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sIrSAkYFN57njvPYKcWzpjnme2nMD6Bzgkl-j4wU3LE/edit?usp=sharing

Sheets of monster girls you've befriended:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CPSZp0MxftcNaUFSfBxzkRh7MfEiPnA7G6Wzfm9dkSQ/edit?usp=sharing

Sheets by based documentation anon (Rentry link for those who do not wanna use docs):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PaR_fOFnzAJnY57V71OM-g9mbPhPtGNOeV2ZrI73T-8/edit?tab=t.0
https://rentry.co/i8bbb2h8

Also, a reminder that, if the site goes down again, that you can check the shared docs for updates from me still. I am also on the /qtg/ discord, where I am more than happy to chat with you guys.

Previous threads:
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=Monster+Girl+Facility

Based artwork from anons:
https://catbox/. moe/c/1ajcpw

The text Annie does NOT want you to read!!!!!!!!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/192lqCy6s6Q6o4GU_GQDga6nf_spmoqccajlaUxFyOHk/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ymvqbg3otDTyb0pxPLNx7W5OHgPqYve6-CI5Bj-RIm4/edit?usp=sharing

Artist I commissioned for this thread's thumbnail: None. Goated artanon drew this.

>Recap from the previous thread.
After Oreas woke up from being envenomated, you managed to convince Iliara to join you on your travels towards the communications sector. You headed down via the training sector, ending up in a large storage area. There, you would find a completely untouched and intact vat, something which you immediately decided to take along after a quick chat with Logan. Heading eastwards, you’d soon encounter a miniature green sector which looked to be a tiny bit refurbished. It turned out to be the work of Codaline, who hoped to return the facility to a semi-functional state to continue testing. The friendly Roraima subject was happy to join you, as you continued your trek east and finally reached the large office south of the southern-high-threat level area. There, you began to spot the shy demon subject Pyrena, who mostly wanted to be left alone, but still showed some curiosity towards you and your group.

After leaving her be, you and your group settled down for the time being and decided to do some firearms practice with a few of your girls. You also informed some of your girls of Mona’s passing, and ran some tests with Morgan’s armour. After getting some rest for the night, you’d give Pyrena some food and brought the vat downstairs for Annie and Logan to pick up. You also heard news of Sarah having managed to fix a vat to ‘create’ a subject. Though after reaching the southern high-threat-containment-area, you decided to turn back after discovering that the place was covered in hyphae and had zombie-like scientist wandering around the area.

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Instead, you headed down the very same elevator shaft you used to bring the vat downstairs. However, you’d soon discover that Annie and Logan and their allies had been captured by Edith. Annie sneakily informed you she had a plan, you playing along with Edith and deciding to accept the risks of giving the priestess subject access to the vat you had found. You kept moving eastwards, passing by a dismantled subject storage area before finally reaching the communication centre. There, you’d discover a massive power generator containing none other than the thunderbird subject Zephyr. She was the reason the combat sector above was being powered, you and your men starting to work on getting her out. During your attempts, you managed to disable the alarm system to the Zephyr-sphere, as well as figure out a bit about the panels which lined the sphere. Eventually though, you decided to head back downstairs, leaving a few of your men to keep working on breaking Zephyr out.

Whilst downstairs, you’d discover a hivemind ant subject, Ecaterina, having set up base in the communications sector. She was fortunately rather friendly, and was happy to work with you. In fact, you trusted her to protect the vat from Edith and her forces. Afterwards, you took the time to explore the communications sector one last time, discovering a disk drive with surveillance throughout the entire facility, as well as a file containing info about all subject chambers and their locations. More strange was a form filled out by Tengri regarding the termination of a subject known simply as 8-CM right on the day of the disaster. Once you had investigated as much as possible, you finally headed upstairs, closing the one-way metal doors behind you and finally heading up into the combat sector...

Current group:
Mikhail
Mike
Alan
Anon
Artyom
Lars
Antonin
Sigit
Ignacy
Reika
Chrys
Idalia
Kenai
Vinisha
Sibilia
Iliara
Codaline

>Continuing from the previous thread...
It was eerily quiet as you and your men walked down the surprisingly well-lit hallways of the combat sector. You had left the massive doors to the communication sector behind a short while ago now, as your men cautiously headed forward. Your girls stayed in the back, you not wanting them to be at the front where they could quickly get spotted. “Man, I really hope that the death squads have remained near the upper combat sector and that the deeper parts remain untouched.” Artyom mumbled, making Sigit add: “Guess we’ll have to see where this place leads us. If we’re lucky, it’ll be a pretty unexplored corner of the combat sector.” Anon meanwhile checked the tablet, as you walked past a few more defensive checkpoints. “At least we’re in luck with this place having power. Means we can see everything clearly and that we aren’t completely in the dark.” Alan soon commented, making Ignacy remark: “Bit of a double-edged sword. We can see things well, but that also means our opponents can see things well.”

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Some of the girls looked a little uneasy at the idea of being easy targets. Still, they kept closely following you, undeterred by the threat of being spotted. Eventually though, you’d spot some large elevators in the distance, along with some large stairwells you opted to take just to be safe. And after heading up a bit, you’d finally reach a large and well-lit reception area of some kind. Looking around, you already heard soft alarms in the distance, as well as seeing several well-lit lights going off. “That’s... not because of us, is it?” Chrys worriedly asked, Arty shaking his head. “This entire place is probably on lockdown. Whatever the hell this place even is.” Looking around as to where you were, the reception area was far more secure and well-decked out than other areas you had been to. For one, you saw a few abandoned security checkpoints nearby. Even what you presumed to be the nearest exits had well-guarded gates with several types of scanners in front of them.

Ahead of you, there was a very simple and small reception area, the logo of the facility untouched and undamaged on the wall. And of course, there were two hallways leading left or right. Fortunately, one of your men would already look near the reception and quickly found a map of the place. “Alright, this will help.” Anon remarked before signalling everyone to come close. Once you got a good look at the map, it didn’t take long for you and your men to realise where you were. This seemed to be the central control hub of the combat sector. The hallways nearby led to rooms designed to monitor the various spaces within the combat sector. In fact, you could already get a glance into some of the rooms, spotting plenty of still working computers and functional large screens. “Well, this makes things a whole lot easier. Where should we start looking, Mik? Medbay that’s right outside? Maybe the nearby barracks?” Antonin remarked, the rest of your group continuing to inspect the map.

Of course, there were some... other texts of interest on the map. For one, there was a major warning in the bottom left which read: “WARNING: Access to subject spaces is prohibited unless if given specialized training clearance. Automated security systems CAN AND WILL be used against unauthorized personnel.” And given that the power was still active in this place, these warnings of ‘automated security systems’ were certainly worth considering. Still, you had only just gotten here, so there was a lot to discuss and plan out. Your men were already discussing a variety of options on what to do first, your girls also wanting to make suggestions as to what would be best to check out right away. And given your current location, you had numerous options to go to. Of course, the possibility of death squad encounters were something you’d have to seriously consider as well now, given just where you were.

>What do you do next?

>Choose a direction to head towards first. You could explore everything one location at a time, but you wanted to decide where to begin. Maybe you already had some ideas on where Alexandra was, or where you could go to avoid death squads? (Write in where you try to go to.)
>Ask your men or girls where they wanted to go to first. Your men probably had some reasonable suggestions based on where you’d be most safe or find the most interesting items. Your girls could also give suggestions based on what they knew of this place. (Write in if you ask anyone specific for advice.)
>Explore your surroundings first before heading anywhere. This place was probably relatively safe from death squad incursions and gave you a bit of a better idea as to where enemy forces may be. That, or you could check and see what these ‘automated security systems’ entailed. (Write in what you try to look for in the area you currently were in.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(Took a bit longer than expected, but we're back with thread number 16! And at last, it's time to enter the fabled combat sector! I hope this simple map can help you guys decide on where to head to first... There's a lot to do here, so I am eager to see what the plan will be.)

>>6471412
>Explore your surroundings first before heading anywhere. This place was probably relatively safe from death squad incursions and gave you a bit of a better idea as to where enemy forces may be. That, or you could check and see what these ‘automated security systems’ entailed.
Ooh, computers! Things I want to look for in here:
Current CCTV feeds as well as recordings from the disaster. Maybe pull the tapes as well.
Spare security passes, or blank ones we can program.
Testing, security incident and access logs
Security control panels or programs that can lift the lockdown or control doors and turrets
Any and all subject and pertinent sector information
Other buttons and dials for various sector subsystems

If we need authorisation to do any of these things, I'm sure Logan has some spare security codes we can borrow.

>>6471416
Just a bit longer. Soon, her feathers will be mine.

>>6471395
>soon giving her best friend a quick hug from the side
So, Alexandra knows the secret technique too...

>>6471423
+1

>>6471440
Clearly the autistic operator wan needs more hugs

In other news, there's a new appearance in the MGE. I'm 99.9% sure the little dragon knight who just ate shit is Jeanne.

>>6471412
>Explore your surroundings first before heading anywhere. This place was probably relatively safe from death squad incursions and gave you a bit of a better idea as to where enemy forces may be. That, or you could check and see what these ‘automated security systems’ entailed. (Write in what you try to look for in the area you currently were in.)
Obviously the security.

>Explore your surroundings first before heading anywhere. This place was probably relatively safe from death squad incursions and gave you a bit of a better idea as to where enemy forces may be. That, or you could check and see what these ‘automated security systems’ entailed.
Seeing that there were plenty of functional computers here, you told your men you wanted to check those out first. "But, what about finding Alexandra?" Idalia asked cautiously, you explaining that they could give you a ton of information about what was going on here both right now and during the disaster. Current CCTV feeds, past recordings, spare security passes, logs, security control panels, control over doors and turrets, sector information, perhaps even buttons to control various sector subsystems. There was too much down here to miss out on. "Okay, but... how sure are we that we'll have access to all of that?" Mike asked more sceptically, you agreeing that could be an issue. Fortunately, you could always contact Logan for help, since he most definitely had access to the whole sector before the disaster.

Hearing all of this, your group quickly agreed that this was your current best option. Anon, Antonin and Sibilia had already suggested checking out the various computers, and your suggestions was all you needed to really convince the others. Thus, you started heading down the nearest hallway to check out the various computers and screens. Entering the nearest room, you'd see dozens of cameras from what looked to be a vehicle storage location. Though, strangely, some of the cameras seemed to only produce a black screen. For some, you could see error messages indicating that the cameras were no longer connected, possibly due to being damaged. But for a few, it seemed the cameras were still active, but that the camera feed had just been completely reduced to complete darkness without any errors.

You quickly headed to the nearest computer, finding that they still worked and thankfully automatically were logged into the system. There were already a dozen or so error reports, including a more ominous warning message: "WARNING: SUBJECT ESCAPE IN NORTH-EAST OF SUB-SECTOR 91. ALL STAFF ARE ORDERED TO PAUSE OPERATIONS AND HEAD TOWARDS DESIGNATED SAFE AREAS." Thankfully, the message didn't block you from checking out anything, the rest of your men also starting to check the various computers as you reminded them what to look for. The girls meanwhile started looking for any on-paper information about testing, security incidents or other written incidents. However, it seemed that the current sector you were in did not offer much in terms of CCTV playbacks or subject intel. The space you were currently in just focused on the vehicle hub, giving info about what was stored there, the state of the vehicles there and what they had been used for. There was no intel about subjects in these systems, or any really useful CCTV tapes.

That wasn't to say that the area was completely worthless for you. For one, you found that you could very easily check through the last few weeks of CCTV footage. Though, anything past a month did require some clearance which Logan could probably provide you. More importantly, you also could see the weapon and security door systems in play around the facility, and how they were controlled or programmed. It seemed most turrets were designated to only take down subjects. Unfortunately, when you tried to disable these systems or force the doors open, you found that you needed extremely high levels of clearance from multiple high ranking officials. However, as you and your men looked through these systems and took notes of what you saw, Anon pointed out something which did make you hopeful. "If I recall correctly, these systems were already hijacked by Annie at some point. She probably already can control these weapon systems for us. Especially with nobody here to manually force her out of the system."

Since you were likely to need some clearance codes from Logan, asking Annie for advice was probably your best choice. Regardless, whilst you had some success in gaining access to CCTV files and old recordings, some of the things you were looking for were just not in this system. Subject testing, controls over various subsystems and sector info were seriously lacking. Not to mention, having no control over the weapon systems yourself. Fortunately, you knew that the other nearby control systems would potentially give you far more intel, meaning it was probably for the best to check them out. For the time being, you wrapped up your search through the area by checking the current CCTV feeds, finding that mostly the cameras to the north of the vehicle hub were blocked off or damaged, as well as some cameras on the eastern side. After looking at the CCTV feeds for a few minutes and spotting nothing of interest though, Arty spoke up: "So, what's the plan now, Mik?"

Before you could elaborate, Codaline remarked: "I think we oughta go explore the sector properly now. I really couldn't care less about these dumb fucking camera systems." You argued that there was still plenty to find down here, and that it was probably better to maybe keep looking around. However, you'd be surprised to find a tiny amount of pushback to this. "Mik, we can't exactly sift through ALL of the CCTV recordings from the past... who knows how long. Hell, I don't even think there was much of the disaster recorded in this place, given how far away it was from the crater or what I believe to be the actual site of the disaster." Anon calmly argued, most of your men nodding along. You did suggest maybe taking along some of the CCTV tapes, but this was also shot down by Lars. "Mik, we'll be carrying god knows how many drives containing CCTV if we were to take even a tiny percentage of everything that's available here with us. It's not feasible."

Perhaps taking material from this place wasn't the most effective option. But, checking out the other sectors in the control zone was probably for the best. Even seeing some footage of where death squads were and getting a better idea of what areas to avoid would be a huge boon. Not to mention, incident reports and control over other areas could tell you far more about the sectors and who might be found there. Hell, you could still maybe find out why some of the camera systems were not working or completely blocked off if you just did a quick check through the saved CCTV footage.

>What do you do next?

>Head to a specific part of central control to get a better idea of a specific sub-sector. You already had a map of the entire combat sector, so maybe you could find control spaces for the extreme environment zone, or the manufacturing and weapons testing area. (Write in what specific part of the control centre you'll look for.)
>Ask your group what they want to do most of all. Whilst you could explore this area for hours and hours and hours, your men clearly didn't want to spend the coming week combing through CCTV footage or security systems to search for something which might not even be there. (Write in if you ask your group something specific.)
>Contact Annie or Logan for help. Annie could probably give you easy access to the weapons systems and whatever security measures were put in place here. Meanwhile, Logan could help you get access to some of the more restricted system parts... aside from the ones which required access from multiple staff high ranking staff members. (Write in who you ask for help and what you ask them.)
>Investigate a certain part of the vehicle hub which still interested you. Maybe you could quickly check back through some of the CCTV for any noticeable changes, or figure out what the purpose was of this area. (Write in what you try and look for.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6471835
>Head to a specific part of central control to get a better idea of a specific sub-sector. You already had a map of the entire combat sector, so maybe you could find control spaces for the extreme environment zone, or the manufacturing and weapons testing area.
Teeny bit more CCTV. Rewind the transport hub to see what took the cameras out and when, check the live feeds from urban combat and inspect the tapes from the subject holding cells just before the disaster to see who was in there at the time (as well as putting faces to names). If we need any buttons pressed at a later date, we can ask Annie to do it since she's already hacked all these computers.
After this, let's get going to the vehicle hub. The cameras being apparently methodically disabled is sus, could be wan activity.

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Atraxia's knitting a blanket while having small talk with Artyom.

--

Arty: "You, uhhh, seem a lot less murderous than expected."

Atraxia: "I made this blanket out of the hairs of my previous victims."

Arty: "... nevermind."

Anyone else want to comment? We kinda need more than one to proceed.

>>6471846
I would have preferred heading into the medbay but I'll support this.

>>6472108
We'll probably loop around a couple of times so we can visit the medbay next if you like, I just slid it down the priority list since I want to check out the possible wan activity first. I don't think we need much from it right now (aside maybe some nanites, but we have Iliara for healing) and I doubt it's a place where subjects would live.

>>6472112
It's fine, I just think it's likely we could find someone in there.

Also, I wonder if Cirra and that group of guardsmen from ages ago ever made it here?

>>6472128
That's a good point, Cirra might have wanted to set up shop there. We'll give it a visit.

We did get confirmation that Joaquin's lot did reach the combat sector, though we have no idea if they're still alive or where they are. They would have come in on this level, at least.

>>6471835
>Contact Annie or Logan for help. Annie could probably give you easy access to the weapons systems and whatever security measures were put in place here. Meanwhile, Logan could help you get access to some of the more restricted system parts... aside from the ones which required access from multiple staff high ranking staff members. (Write in who you ask for help and what you ask them.)
Security systems are already designed to only target subjects (how? nanite detectors?), so we just need Annie to add anyone in our crew to a whitelist or disable them completely if that's not possible.

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>>6472301

>>6472161
Jeanne has manage to scavenged a crate of stale baguette somewhere in the facility.
She like to share this one to a guardsmen. What honor to seek this share.

--

Jeanne: "Mes amies, I've discovered zhis crate of baguette. Zhey are only un petit peu stale, mais zhey ouill still be trés bienne to eat!"

>Head to a specific part of central control to get a better idea of a specific sub-sector. You already had a map of the entire combat sector, so maybe you could find control spaces for the extreme environment zone, or the manufacturing and weapons testing area.
Since your men didn't find it feasible to prune through all the CCTV footage of the area you were in, you decided to just focus on the camera feeds which were either completely disconnected or were still working but just showed black. You looked through their past recording, speeding through it until you found the moments where they were disabled. And sure enough, you'd spot one of the camera feeds dying after some guardsmen shot at it to disable it. Though the ones which had gone black were obscured by a relatively small and harmless looking bird girl with blue-ish feathers and hair. She looked into the camera, inspecting it before taping something over it, rendering it completely unable to see anything. Seeing the bird girl, all eyes went to your subjects to see if any of them knew who it was.

Most of your girls didn't seem too sure as to who it was. The one exception was Kenai, who let out a gasp before remarking: "That's probably Patty! Yeah, Mona worked on some birds, and... maybe that's her?" Kenai didn't appear too confident as she continued, probably realising that it could be plenty of other birds made by Mona. Still, the fact you had specifically heard from Annie that Patty was in the combat sector meant that you didn't have too much doubt. "So, we know Patty really is down here. Should we go looking for her? Based on her appearance, I imagine her not exactly being built for this place." Mike remarked, you remarking you'd do so soon enough. Tracking her down would be tough, so you first wanted to continue checking out central control for a little while longer. Though to reassure your men, you stated you just wanted to check out the feeds from urban combat and subject holding.

"Alright, that seems doable. Let's get going." Alan eagerly remarked, wanting to get going quickly. Whilst you wandered past more control rooms, you continued seeing most systems still working relatively well. There were some errors and a few cameras which had also been obstructed. But for the most part, you had a relatively clear view of each sector. That was, until you got to what you imagined to be the control rooms for the urban combat sectors to the north and north-east. These cameras were all HEAVILY obstructed or damaged, with only a couple still working. "Looks like someone has been busy smashing the cameras. I highly doubt Patty's the only one who did this." Lars mumbled, making Idalia remark: "We did also see other staff obstructing the cameras as well." Lars nodded to the semi-obvious remark, whilst the rest of your group looked at the few cameras which were still working, covering only a tiny amount of the sector you were interested in.

Checking through the backlogs and stored data of a few cameras, you found that most were indeed sabotaged by guardsmen squads. Most of the footage just showed the same guardsmen, but you did spot a few groups which were led by what was clearly a subject. More specifically, a wolf girl with brown hair, a custom rifle and wearing thick white military garbs. "Is that... Alexandra?" Mike asked curiously, which made Sibilia scoff. "Doesn't seem like a 'hellhound' to me." Iliara was thankfully there to immediately inform you: "That's not Alexandra. Does that look like a flaming wolf girl to you?! Nah, that's Erie. It's nice to see her leading a couple of guardsmen by herself!" You did check a few more camera feeds and played a few more back to get an idea as to where everything was, but it was clearly not feasible just due to how much footage there was. Thus, you decided to do one final check-up in the control room for the subject holding cells, signalling everyone to follow.

"You know, I wasn't expecting the combat sector to be so... calm. It's kind of creepy in a way." As you looked around for the control room overlooking the subject holding cells, Chrys would quietly start talking about where you found yourself now. "Hey, it's preferable over firefights with death squads. Or running into sociopathic combat subjects, right?" Antonin remarked, to which Chrys chuckled a little sheepishly. "Yeah, true. But, it's still weird, y'know. I was thinking we'd get into combat or find lots of violent subjects." Hearing this, Sibilia scoffed. "I got a feeling we'll get to deal with all of that sooner rather than later. Just give it some time." Whilst your men discussed the sectors they expected to be the most 'violent', you kept looking through each area before finally finding the main control room for the subject holding cells. Looking through the various backlogs as quickly as you could, you found that there were indeed a few subjects stuck in the cells right before the disaster.

The first subject you'd see was a massive red-ish centipede girl with spindly legs and massive spikes running across her back. She mostly just brooded in the corner of her chamber, only becoming active some time after the disaster hit, which you knew happened because the cameras died before 'emergency power' activated them again. The centipede girl broke free from containment without much hesitation. The second subject appeared to contain an average sized drake subject of some kind with large black horns, spikes and massive claws. She did not hesitate to break free from containment at all once the disaster struck, her also easily punching her way out, despite only being half the centipede's height. The third subject you spotted was another dragon girl, this one pale and much smaller than the other subjects you had seen. She had pinkish purple claws and almost white hair. She didn't break free on her own, instead seeming to escape after the centipede subject broke her free.

The same was the case for the fourth subject in the cells, an average sized harpy subject with ornate golden armour and black and blue hair and feathers. She was making some small objects levitate whilst in her chamber, pausing and hiding when things started to shake and the camera feed momentarily died down. Once the feed was restored though, she was seemingly freed from her containment, the four subject escaping down the various hallway whilst being fired at by automated defensive systems. Though, the black-horned drake would easily smash the turrets, the centipede doing the same before disappearing from view. "So, we got some destructive giant centipede subject, a destructive drake, a smaller dragon and a blue harpy girl... anyone have any ideas who these girls may be?" Ignacy asked, Lars remarking: "That harpy has to be Aello. She fits the description we got of her from Wilhelm." To which Codaline and Reika nodded to confirm it.

Afterwards, Vinisha pointed at the dragon and drake girl. "The drake girl... that's Anastasia, my sister. The smaller dragon looks like Ceridwen, a-a half sister made by Tengri. At least, th-that's what I think." This just left the centipede, Iliara thankfully giving an answer: "That's Poppy. If she's still down here, that's gonna be a bit of a headache, since she fucking hates people and is a massive asshole." Unfortunately, the cameras couldn't tell you much about where exactly they went in the combat sector, given that it'd take potentially hours to comb through all that footage of their path. Still, you now knew of four subjects who had been down here and who might still be here. With that in mind, you decided it was time to head out to the vehicle hub to get a good look at it from up close. “Finally, some action!” Reika eagerly remarked, whilst the rest of your men and subjects got ready to finally get into some action against enemy subjects and death squads.

>Contact Annie or Logan for help. Annie could probably give you easy access to the weapons systems and whatever security measures were put in place here. Meanwhile, Logan could help you get access to some of the more restricted system parts... aside from the ones which required access from multiple staff high ranking staff members.
Seeing that there were automated defensive systems, you wanted to get an idea as to how they worked and if Annie could control them. Thus, you'd ask Anon for the radio so you could chat with Annie again. "Of course." Anon remarked, as Kenai eagerly asked: "What are you gonna contact Annie for, Mik? Is she gonna watch over us with her spy abilities?" Her tail wagged a tiny bit, optimistic to what your plans were. You told Kenai that you'd ask Annie about the security systems and if they could be disabled entirely. "Ooh, that does sound good!" Kenai responded in turn, as you tuned into Annie's radio station. You'd hear more classical music, asking Annie if she and Logan could quickly help you out in the combat sector.

“What’s up, Mikhail?” You heard Annie ask, before hearing Aulikki also barge into the conversation. “Heya Mik! How long has it been since you contacted Annie, huh? An hour and a half?” Aulikki seemed mostly excited, as you stated that there was something important you wanted to discuss. “Ooh, I’ll stay quiet! Unless if it’s about me, of course, hehe.” Aulikki responded, as you shifted your focus to Annie, asking her about how the security systems worked and how they only targeted subjects. “Okay, so outside subject designated areas, the turrets generally are designed to sense any NARI bands worn by subjects and then fire immediately. So, don’t let subjects walk in front of them.” You asked if she could simply disable them completely or make them no longer target subjects. “I can disable some of them. But, they tend to reset after a few hours for some reason. I can take manual control over a few of them, if need be.” You thanked her and said you’d be happy if she could do that.

“By the way, what did you mean with ‘outside of subject designated areas’?” Artyom soon after asked, Annie quickly responding: “The combat sector’s floors are divided into an upper ‘non-subject area’ for up-close monitoring and lower ‘subject designated areas’ where subject testing actually happens. They follow the exact same paths and layout, but the lower parts are usually able to be traversed by subjects without getting immediately shot at. Emphasis on ‘usually’ here. Because the facility is on lockdown, I imagine that the sector now just shoots at anything that moves down there and is seen as a threat. Which might also include non-staff members such as... you guys.” It seemed that the lower subject-designated areas were... going to have to be avoided, unless if you got Annie to take control over the turret systems. Worse, you were also going to have to worry a bit about turret systems targeting your girls right about now, adding another layer of difficulty to what you were doing.

>What do you do next?

>Ask Annie some questions now that you were talking to her anyway. Maybe you could ask her for some codes to access sensitive systems, or if she could watch over you at a certain point. Or maybe ask her where she and Logan were right now. (Write in what you ask Annie.)
>Head over to the transport hub or some other area to see what was going on down there and if there were any guardsmen or subjects of interest there. (Write in where you head to.)
>Chat with your teammates and girls whilst making your way over to the next area. Perhaps the girls could talk about the subjects you just saw on the camera feed, or your men could share their thoughts on what would be the best course of action. (Write in who you chat with and about what.)
>Plan ahead to account for the gun turrets, or enemy subjects which might nearby. You couldn’t just run into the next area blindly without doing some prep-work. (Write in an action plan.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(Given that I couldn't easily post all the images of the subjects in this update, I've opted to post them in the docs if they haven't already been posted in there. I imagine documentation anon will also post them in his file and the rentry files.)

>>6472210
>>Ask Annie some questions now that you were talking to her anyway. Maybe you could ask her for some codes to access sensitive systems, or if she could watch over you at a certain point. Or maybe ask her where she and Logan were right now. (Write in what you ask Annie.)
>>Head over to the transport hub or some other area to see what was going on down there and if there were any guardsmen or subjects of interest there. (Write in where you head to.)
While we have her on the line, Logan's access codes? Probably not gonna go through the CCTV now (or ever), but it could be useful elsewhere considering how restricted this sector is.

>Head over to the transport hub or some other area to see what was going on down there and if there were any guardsmen or subjects of interest there. (Write in where you head to.)
Transport hub sounds good - oversee the area and since it's high traffic the turrets shouldn't be on a hair trigger.

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>>6472210
I'm sorry Annie, can you say that again? I think I heard some interference, like our wiretap was interrupting the connection.
>Ask Annie some questions now that you were talking to her anyway. Maybe you could ask her for some codes to access sensitive systems, or if she could watch over you at a certain point. Or maybe ask her where she and Logan were right now.
Access codes for other systems and where we can obtain security passes or some other form of authorisation to not have to deal with turrets.
What targeting system do the turrets use? Thermal or optical, so we can fool them with Vinisha or Idalia?
How busy is the lower combat sector for death squad activity?
>Head over to the transport hub or some other area to see what was going on down there and if there were any guardsmen or subjects of interest there.
To the transports!

>>6472162
Stale baguettes are offensive weapons

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>>6472405 >>6472519

[CASE FILE: Catastrophenia 2.0 aka Annie for uppie]

--

Kimmy: "Sorry Annie, dear. You got four ears so no matter what, you're going to be listening to your sisters luscious, sensitive voice."

Annie: "Stop talking! Stop talking! Stop talkin!"

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>>6472407 >>6472519

>>6472403
Logan saw Annie get uppie by Kimmy.
He holding his breathe, not to laugh.

--

Annie: "Put me down."

Kimmy: "Hmmm, why should I, my precious little Annie?"

Annie: "Put me down!"

Kimmy: "You're so adorable, Annie."

Annie: "Logan, make her put me down!"

>Logan struggles to contain his laughter.

Annie: "Put me down! Put me down! Put me dooooown!"

>Annie squirms and tries to whack at Kimmy... with little to no effect.

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>>6472519

>>6472405
>Logan wheeze a laugh.

--

Annie: "STOP LAUGHING, DA- LOGAN! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

>And yet, Logan keeps wheezing at the adorably angry fox.

>Ask Annie some questions now that you were talking to her anyway. Maybe you could ask her for some codes to access sensitive systems, or if she could watch over you at a certain point. Or maybe ask her where she and Logan were right now.
After Annie explained how the turret systems worked, you asked for a little bit of elaboration. You wanted to know how they targeted subjects specifically, wanting to know if they had optical or thermal cameras. "From what I gathered, they send scan for NARI bands or nanite activity, which they then determine are effective targets. I believe it's optical, but they may have special vision modes which allow them to see more effectively. As for the turrets downstairs, they just use optical systems to spot any sort of movement." It seemed you'd be relatively safe from the turrets in the upper sector if they only targeted subjects. Still, you wanted to know if there were ways to trick them just in case. "If you mean for the downstairs ones, you can probably avoid their line of sight. And if all else fails and you're stuck somewhere, I can try to disable them myself."

Since Annie was mainly talking about the lower parts of the sector, you asked how busy they were for death squad activity. "They're not that busy from what I've seen. Death squads mostly travel through the non-subject areas, using the observation areas to check for subject activity and what not. Subjects tend to be more active downstairs, since they were usually secluded to that part of the combat sector." You then asked for Logan's access codes, her responding: "Uhhh, gimme a moment." You heard her pause, before yelling: "Logan! Can I give Mik and his men your access codes? ... For the combat sector, yeah! ... Alright, thanks!" Annie quickly would respond: "His username is [email protected]. And his entrance code is !1H6A1D8A0L33%VIT60YAZ20&$." This was obviously a rather lengthy code, you asking her to repeat it whilst Anon noted it down.

Once Anon finally had noted down the code and repeated it to make sure you got it correct, you'd ask her if you could find security passes anywhere to avoid the turrets. "Ehhhhh, I'm not entirely sure about that. Most security passes were kept on person. And even then, they can't exactly be used to disable those systems, unless if you found a high ranking scientists' body." It seemed that getting security passes wasn't likely to happen. Still, you had Logan's access codes you could toy with later. You thanked her for the assistance and told her you'd head to a small nearby transport hub, letting her know where you were going so she could help if things got bad. "Don't worry, Mik. I'll be paying close attention. I may not be able to talk sometimes, but I will try and disable any turrets if you guys need help with that!" Annie responded, which was followed by Aulikki responding: "Trust me, Annie will absolutely help you guys out! She's incredibly talented with technology, hehe."

>Head over to the transport hub or some other area to see what was going on down there and if there were any guardsmen or subjects of interest there.
You thanked Aulikki for the reassurance and Annie for the intel, before finally turning off the radio and deciding to head to the transport hub. It was likely a high traffic area, meaning turrets were either disabled or set to a less aggressive setting. "Alright, let's go!" Chrys eagerly exclaimed, after which you led the way. You could tell Reika and Codaline were particularly excited, the two sticking close to the front of the group as you walked past the main reception area and past the inactive security gates. Until at last, you were wandering the corridors and well lit halls of the combat sector. Looking around you, you already saw plenty of signs of activity, with the main halls having been fortified with makeshift guard posts and clearly recently placed fortifications.

It was a bit jarring being in such a brightly lit space. Especially since you also had to deal with several flashing alarm lights around the place. Looking down, you also saw that parts of the floor were built out of extremely thick, reinforced glass. This gave you a good look into the subject-designated spaces, finding the area to be a bit more messy with more of the automated turret systems you had heard of. Though, most of them appeared to be completely destroyed by fire and other methods, leaving them inactive. The upper floors you were wandering through also had a few turrets, but many had indeed been visibly disabled or entirely dismantled, some even having been taken off the walls in their entirety. You wandered the massive halls for a short while, before finally spotting what you believed to be an entrance to the vehicle hub. The metal doors were thankfully left wide open, allowing you easy access to a large open hangar space. It easily stretched out over a kilometre, and it seemed there were more spaces like it adjacent to the one you were in.

The space wasn't empty though, as you spotted a decent number of relatively modern but cheap military vehicles used by the Federation. "Oh fuck yeah, this looks more like it!" Iliara eagerly remarked, Artyom speaking up in a more eager tone as well. "Those look like AR-80-Z light transport carriers. Though, not nearly as decked out as the ones the government uses." Looking around, you spotted a dozen other similar vehicles, your men recognising plenty of them. Unfortunately, whilst they normally had some weapons on them, these appeared to be non-weaponized variants. That, or the weapons they used were stored elsewhere. You also quickly noticed that some of the vehicles had been looted for parts, with some clearly missing huge chunks of the front and even bits of the bodywork. "Guess these vehicles were used in the urban combat testing area or something..." Lars mumbled as the girls curiously inspected the various vehicles.

Looking around, you saw that there were more spaces to the west which presumably had other vehicle types. Though for now, you had plenty of things to look for in this area.

>What do you do next?

>Look for anything of interest which could tell you if subjects had been here, what these vehicles were for or if you could maybe loot them of anything. Obviously, you wouldn't find any major intel in this place, but surely it had something valuable for you to take from it. (Write in what you look for.)
>Just quickly keep heading west to see what else this area had in store for you. It didn't seem like you'd have to worry too much about automated weapons in this sector, so your only real concern were subjects and death squads. (Write in if you prepare in any way for future encounters)
>Let Arty have some fun talking about the various vehicles which were there. The girls were clearly interested in hearing about the various vehicles which were there and could maybe learn a thing or two about government weaponry.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6472403
>>6472405
>>6472407
(Absolutely peak Kimmy, Logan and Annie interaction.)

>>6472517
>His username is [email protected]. And his entrance code is !1H6A1D8A0L33%VIT60YAZ20&$.
Damn he memorized that? And it's just for the combat sector, implying he has like half a dozen more for the others? MGF top scientists are built different.

>>6472519
>Let Arty have some fun talking about the various vehicles which were there. The girls were clearly interested in hearing about the various vehicles which were there and could maybe learn a thing or two about government weaponry.
I can also learn about government weaponry.

>>6472519
I assess Aulikki's Intelligence score as Low
>Look for anything of interest which could tell you if subjects had been here, what these vehicles were for or if you could maybe loot them of anything. Obviously, you wouldn't find any major intel in this place, but surely it had something valuable for you to take from it.
I'm going to guess this is Viola damage, considering we know she's with Alexandra and her forces have been here and by extension it could mean she operates vehicles of some kind. Could also be CF-40.
When we end up back in CentCon, we can have a look at the tapes for this area to see whodunnit. But in the meantime, look for scuffs and scrapes on the floor and see if Kenai can follow a scent trail for where these parts went.

>Just quickly keep heading west to see what else this area had in store for you. It didn't seem like you'd have to worry too much about automated weapons in this sector, so your only real concern were subjects and death squads.
Let Arty jabber away while searching this bay and others. I want some working wheels, dammit! Idalia ranges ahead at all times.

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>>6472161
based drawfag coloured Jeanne in too. Much to her annoyance, she's too young to be allowed actual wine yet.

>Look for anything of interest which could tell you if subjects had been here, what these vehicles were for or if you could maybe loot them of anything. Obviously, you wouldn't find any major intel in this place, but surely it had something valuable for you to take from it.
After Lars suggested the purpose of the vehicles, you suggested that it was the work of Viola or CF-40. They were in this area after all and probably could make use of the vehicles for whatever schemes they had. "Logan mentioned that Viola could control machinery, didn't he? I wonder if that also includes some of the turrets nearby." Mike added onto your suggestion, which was definitely something you'd have to look in as it'd be an incredible ability. Especially since it seemed likely she was with Alexandra and her forces. Regardless, you told your men to look for any scrapes on the floor or signs of conflict. More importantly, you asked Kenai to use her scent to see if there were any trails from the person who dismantled the machinery. "Uhhh, I can try and sniff it out." Kenai mumbled before looking to the nearest dismantled vehicle.

She'd sniff the around the machinery, as you and your men looked around some of the other vehicles. "It seems this place is relatively untouched, all things considered. I wonder if anyone down here has maybe taken some of these vehicles along, since I imagine they could travel this place decently well with them." Antonin soon asked, which made Lars add: "It might be possible, but it'd be pretty damn conspicuous. That, and I can only imagine them working for as long as their batteries are full." Considering that there was still power being generated by Zephyr, the vehicles could probably be recharged relatively frequently. Still, there probably was a reason as to why you didn't hear or see guardsmen driving around in transport carriers. Whilst this discussion was going on, Kenai kept sniffing the air, before looking westwards.

"I smell something VERY faintly... It smells of... metal and something kinda oily? It's really hard to tell... and could just be something from the machinery. But, I can sense it having gone in this direction." Whether Kenai's trail was worth following was hard to say. But given that you wanted to head westwards anyway, checking it out wouldn't be much of an issue. "Is it a smell you can connect to the looting? Or is it something else?" Sibilia casually asked, Kenai nodding. "Yeah, it's definitely a scent like the one from the vehicles which were dismantled. I'm not sure if it's a subject though. It can also be... maybe a person? I don't know. It's moving though, so that's good at the very least!" You told Kenai to keep her focus on the scent, especially as you were going to make your way westwards where the scent might get stronger. "Will do, Mik!" Thus, you signalled the rest of your men to follow, as you walked past the vehicles and headed to the next section of the storage area.

>Just quickly keep heading west to see what else this area had in store for you. It didn't seem like you'd have to worry too much about automated weapons in this sector, so your only real concern were subjects and death squads.
>Let Arty have some fun talking about the various vehicles which were there. The girls were clearly interested in hearing about the various vehicles which were there and could maybe learn a thing or two about government weaponry.
Heading into the next part of the sector, you and your girls would look stunned as you saw what looked to be several types of Infantry Fighting Vehicles. "Woah, those look a bit more serious..." Chrys remarked, Artyom again speaking eagerly. "Those are KZ-20-L Agriogatas. They're common government infantry carriers. These ones are... sadly also disarmed, but they usually have a large variety of modular weaponry." Artyom looked relatively proud of his knowledge, the girls all looking fascinated.

You told Arty to keep going, since he was clearly teaching the girls a bit more about the government. That, and you also enjoyed learning more. "Ummmm, ah, you see girls. The Federation has always had a thing for 'modular' systems. These Agriogatas for instance are designed that their weaponry, treads and even their power systems can be adjusted depending on the situation they're called in for. Now, this modularity works well with the Federation's military policy since they're dealing with hundreds of planets with different landscapes and terrains, and they also got a huge military industrial complex which allows for huge varieties of weapons to be created which can be added to the base of the vehicle." The girls all looked incredibly intrigued by Arty's explanation, him giving a bit of a history lesson with some of the vehicles you spotted. Fortunately, he had plenty to talk about, especially as you soon were also able to see some KZ-05-KT Asvos light tanks.

"So, the Asvos is a pretty effective little light tank designed mainly for battle on tropical planets. Admittedly, they're not that common anymore since most planets not under the Federations control are planets with much harsher terrain and climates which they're just not built for. Regardless, the Asvos is still employed by some local militaries due to their relatively light weight and surprising robustness... Ah, there's a few over there still with cannons attached!" Artyom hurriedly approached some of the light tanks which still had cannons. "The Asvos was not as modular as some of the main battle tanks or even the infantry fighting vehicles. But, that doesn't change that they're incredible little things." You watched as the girls inspected the weaponry from up close, Chrys even flying over and saying: "Hey, can I stand on it?" Arty looked at you and your men before nodding. "I don't see why not." And thus, you watched Chrys land on the tank with a bit of a smirk.

"Sergeant Ili, Commander Mikhail, let's go kick some butt!" Chrys said whilst saluting with one hand, you watching as Reika soon also clambered onto the light tank, the manticore girl soon grabbing the top and mock-punching it. "What are you doing, Reika?" Iliara asked in genuine amusement, Reika raising her claws. "I wanna destroy this thing! I wanna show how tough I am and that I am not afraid of some stupid government tank!" Your men were obviously rather amused by how eager the girls were to check out the tanks. Even the usually quite Idalia would soon climb onto a nearby light tank and used her colour-changing ability to copy the sand grey colour of the vehicle. "Look at you, Idalia! Are you part of the weapons system on this one?" Codaline soon asked, Idalia smirking and looking around before leaping off the tank and showing her claws. For but a moment, you had forgotten that you were in the combat sector, experiencing a simple moment of joy with your girls. Though, you did soon hesitantly tell the girls it was time to keep going. You couldn't stop and play on the tanks for too long. Especially since... it did make the girls pretty easy to spot from a distance.

"Ah, right." Chrys softly responded, Idalia remarking: "I do wanna hear more about these vehicles. I have seen some of them in the past, but I never really tried to learn what they were." You smiled and told the girls they were welcome to ask questions still. More importantly, you told Arty he was still free to talk about the various vehicles and their history, which he clearly appreciated. "I'd be happy to tell the girls more, Mik." Thus, you kept heading westwards, Arty meanwhile talking more about the Asvos and the other vehicles you'd pass by in the next part of the vehicle storage sector. You'd soon even walk past some LI-1000 Jamus battle tanks, which were a rather surprising sight since they weren't exactly produced in large numbers. Though, just as surprising were 4 LI-1100h Alfahd hover-tanks, which were definitely a lot more advanced and difficult to get.

Before Arty could talk about them however, Kenai sniffed the air again. "Woah, the scent is... way stronger here... Whatever was back in the first sector must've been here recently." Kenai sniffed around, after which Arty remarked: "I think I know why. Look at the sides of the tanks where the hover-system was in place. Somebody dismantled them for... who knows what reason." It seemed that the person or subject Kenai had sensed had been busy here. Though, she kept walking around the place, sniffing the air a bit more before her ears pointed straight up. “It’s stronger closer to those tanks over there. Way stronger! In fact, I think the source of the smell... may be behind those very tanks!” Kenai said in a hushed tone. Her tail wagged in mild excitement, as you and your men looked at the battle tanks ahead of you. “Should we maybe go and take a closer look?” Chrys asked curiously.

Anon cautiously looked ahead as well before remarking: “I’m not entirely sure. What if it’s a trap of some kind?” Iliara added: “Even though we were having fun, we are still in the combat sector. Shit can turn around on a dime, depending on who or what might be there.” Alan then added: “Maybe it’s some sorta chemical leak?” It didn’t seem all that likely, but the point still stood that you were in a dangerous area. Whatever may cause the smell had to be taken seriously.

>What do you do next?

>Have someone head forward to get a close look. Someone who could tank a sudden attack or maybe reason with whatever awaited you behind the tanks. (Write in who you send in.)
>Just walk over to the source of the smell together. It hardly seemed like this was a lethal trap waiting for you. And if there was some subject lying in wait there, it was better to be there together in case it did suddenly attack. (Write in how you approach the source of the scent as a group.)
>Walk far around the source of the scent and just head forwards. There were still more sectors ahead of you which you wanted to check out. Besides, it was better to avoid any confrontation, lest you attract... other things in the combat sector.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6472784
>>Have someone head forward to get a close look. Someone who could tank a sudden attack or maybe reason with whatever awaited you behind the tanks. (Write in who you send in.)
Have Idalia, Kaenum and Kenai on this one. Kenai will track the scent, Kaenum will get a feel about whetever the source is hostile or not and try to diffuse if possible and Idalia will follow them to support/protect them in case they become hostile until we can regroup and assist them.

>>6472784
>Have someone head forward to get a close look. Someone who could tank a sudden attack or maybe reason with whatever awaited you behind the tanks.
Dispatch Idalia invisible to get a visual on who it is. If they're a known friendly, just have one of the girls call to them. If they're an unknown, send Haje as someone nonthreatening and tough with everyone else right behind. If they're a known hostile, weapons free.

>>6472820
Reminder that Kaenum is currently downstairs with Zephyr along with Morgan and Oreas and isn't with us right now.

>>6472823
ah feck Haje is downstairs too. Maybe Iliara. She's not the most diplomatic but she can take hits and might be appreciated by the sorts of people in the combat sector.

>>6472783
>Especially since... it did make the girls pretty easy to spot from a distance.
Not Idalia :^)

>>6472783
>You'd soon even walk past some LI-1000 Jamus battle tanks
>just as surprising were 4 LI-1100h Alfahd hover-tanks, which were definitely a lot more advanced and difficult to get.
Still operational? PLEASE.

>Look at the sides of the tanks where the hover-system was in place. Somebody dismantled them for... who knows what reason
FUCK

>Have someone head forward to get a close look. Someone who could tank a sudden attack or maybe reason with whatever awaited you behind the tanks. (Write in who you send in.)
Chrys takes a peek from a safe aerial distance.

>>6472856
Speaking of the vehicles, there's something distinctly bizarre about BEV APCs with limited range. I guess we'd have to strap a portable generator to the back?

I guess in a meta sense a goddamn hovertank was something we'd never be allowed to have. Hopefully some of the other AFVs are usable. Would make good doorknockers for Feng.

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>>6473269

>Have someone head forward to get a close look. Someone who could tank a sudden attack or maybe reason with whatever awaited you behind the tanks.
Sensing that this was a potential threat, you told your men to stay back. In the meantime, you wanted Idalia to head forward whilst changing colours to stay somewhat hidden. Kenai would also join, mainly to track the scent down and see where it was coming from. And lastly, you wanted Iliara and Chrys to tail Kenai and Idalia. They could take a peek from a safe distance, fly away in case things got bad and talk for you guys if it was a friendly. Just in case it was a hostile force though, you told your men that to get their weapons at the ready. Chrys would look up to Iliara, before asking: "Ummm, y-you got a gun as well, right?" Iliara nodded and reassuringly said: "Aye. And if anything jumps us, I'm not gonna hesitate to fire at them, alright?" Chrys nodded, after which you told Idalia not to hesitate with fighting back if it did end up being a hostile threat. "I will do such, Mikhail." With the girls ready, you told Kenai to quietly show where the scent was coming from.

Kenai nodded and sniffed the air, before softly walking past some of the battle tanks. Idalia would follow nearby, keeping low as she made herself blend in with the thanks. It was... maybe not the most stealthy thing, given how she did stick out whilst walking. Hell, Kamara's camo was still miles ahead of what Idalia could do. But, it was good enough for the time being. Kenai kept heading forward in a straight line for only a short while, before signalling that the scent was coming from the left. Idalia carefully snuck further between two tanks, before carefully looking behind them as well. "Well, is it around here?" Codaline whispered calmly, Sibilia signalling her to keep quiet. After a short moment though, Kenai's ears twitched and she gasped. "Idalia! Idalia! Behind you!" Kenai remarked with a hushed voice.

Chrys and Iliara also peeked around the corner to see what Kenai spotted. And soon after, you heard an unknown voice. "Uhhh, I, uhhhh, h-hi there! Uhhhh, you guys, ummmm... aren't really evil soldiers, r-right?" Idalia kept her claws in a defensive position, whilst Chrys and Iliara quickly approached. "Relax, Idalia. I got a feeling this girl isn't a threat." Iliara reassuringly remarked, you also signalling your men to come closer. In the meantime, you heard Chrys speaking with the mystery subject. "Relax, we aren't here to cause any trouble." Finally, you got a good luck at the subject, being met with a fly girl with purple hair, a large abdomen and relatively large wings. She kind of reminded you of Sibilia in a lot of ways, the girl also seeming to notice and gawk at Sibby. "Oh hey, you're... Sibilia, right? I've heard Jabal talk about you..." Sibilia raised an eyebrow, as the fly girl looked at you and your men. "I'll admit, I was pretty spooked by you guys at first, given the uhhh..."

The girl glanced at Reika, who didn't seem to get what was being implied. "And the whole... evil soldier outfit thing. I-I wasn't sure what to make of you guys." The fly girl remarked, making Alan scoff: "Evil soldier outfit? What do you mean?" The fly girl chuckled a little anxiously. "Well, I assume you guys... took that armour from one of those evil soldier groups and are just... pretending to be part of them! Right?" Your men smirked a bit, before Arty mumbled: "What's your name? I think I got an idea as to who you are, but do still tell us." Arty decided to not spoil the truth just yet, instead letting the fly girl introduce herself properly. "Oh, Chaly Flavey! Codename CF-40. It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Chaly smiled gently, after which Codaline remarked: "So, why were you hiding from us? And what are you even doing so deep down in this dangerous place? Are you working with Alexandra by any chance?"

Chaly nodded quickly. "Uhhhh, well, it's a long story. See, I was kinda buried in whatever the hell happened to the facility and managed to dig my way out a few floors up to the west of here. I was a bit confused about what was going on and got attacked by one of those evil soldier groups. I thankfully managed to lose them by heading to the combat sector, where... well, I've been hiding ever since. I did recently hear about Alexandra and what she's up to from some soldiers who I hid from, so I have been looking for her. The reason I'm here specifically, is because it's relatively far away from those terrifying soldiers and because the metal here's perfect for making fortifications! I mean, look at these tanks! Their armour is amazing! Ah, check this out!" Chaly got up and headed towards one of the tanks, crawling under it before pulling out a pretty large bag filled with scrap metal. "This is prime material to build stuff with! Granted, it's gonna be tough to really shape and form into armour or fortifications... but, these smooth bits can still be of use!"

It looked like you had found one of the friendly subjects in the combat sector, Chaly appearing pretty much harmless. She understandably panicked when she initially saw you, but quickly was becoming more at ease around you guys. Though, she clearly didn't know you were one of these 'evil soldier groups', which was certainly going to shock her once you told her such. "I suppose another benefit is that a lot of the turrets here have presumably been disabled by Alexandra's guardsmen and such... Ah, I presume you're also looking to work with Alexandra? I mean, with the number of subjects by your side, I'm sure she'd be happy to have you join her and her forces! Especially with, ummm... some of the subjects who are travelling with you!" Chaly let out a gasp, before eagerly adding: "Hey, maybe we can work together in finding Alexandra? We can all be recruited by her!"

>What do you do next?

>Accept Chaly's offer and start looking for Alexandra together. She probably knew a decent bit about where Alexandra was, given how she has spent a bit of time down here and maybe knew a bit about the layout of this place as well. (Write in how you respond to Chaly's offer.)
>Tell Chaly a bit about yourself. Such as that you weren't a group of ordinary guardsmen and that you were a group of these 'evil soldiers' she had seen. As funny as it was to not bring it up, she deserved to know before she got the wrong idea. (Write in what you tell Chaly about yourself.)
>Ask Chaly some questions about herself, her time in the facility, who she knew and her abilities. She had already explained why she was here, but there still was a ton to ask her. (Write in what you ask Chaly.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...


(>>6472857
>I guess in a meta sense a goddamn hovertank was something we'd never be allowed to have. Hopefully some of the other AFVs are usable. Would make good doorknockers for Feng.
Ngl, if you guys manage to befriend some engineering subjects and put in the time and resources, you could possibly repair the tanks and use them against Feng. The only major issue is that it's gonna be pretty difficult to transport them since they're heavy and also not exactly subtle.)

>>6473210
>Tell Chaly a bit about yourself. Such as that you weren't a group of ordinary guardsmen and that you were a group of these 'evil soldiers' she had seen. As funny as it was to not bring it up, she deserved to know before she got the wrong idea.
Uh, yeah, about that. We are soldiers, but not evil ones. We're *supposed* to be, but we didn't like being evil very much. We'd much rather fight those who deserve it rather than kill random people.
>Ask Chaly some questions about herself, her time in the facility, who she knew and her abilities. She had already explained why she was here, but there still was a ton to ask her.
Did she break EVERY SINGLE military vehicle in the entire motorpool or do some still work?
What has she been building with all this scrap?
What encounters with subjects, staff or soldiers has she had recently?
Show her her file, I want to hear her comments and anything she has to add or fill in
THE LIST I guess.
>Accept Chaly's offer and start looking for Alexandra together. She probably knew a decent bit about where Alexandra was, given how she has spent a bit of time down here and maybe knew a bit about the layout of this place as well.
Well, we're looking to recruit HER. Remember we said we'd rather fight those who need to be fought? Well, we need her help to take down a real villain, one Feng Zetian if she's heard of her. Also why we hoped to find an un-dismantled tank.
Oh, Alexandra is known to have Viola with her. Do they know each other?

-----

>Ngl, if you guys manage to befriend some engineering subjects and put in the time and resources, you could possibly repair the tanks and use them against Feng.
Well, I guess that's a convenient way to make us have to work hard for them ey? But probably not practical considering we don't have the engineering subjects, time or resources now and likely won't until well after Feng has been eliminated.

>>6473207
>Idalia would follow nearby, keeping low as she made herself blend in with the thanks. It was... maybe not the most stealthy thing, given how she did stick out whilst walking. Hell, Kamara's camo was still miles ahead of what Idalia could do.
Huh, thought she had full invisibility.

>>6473210
>Tell Chaly a bit about yourself. Such as that you weren't a group of ordinary guardsmen and that you were a group of these 'evil soldiers' she had seen. As funny as it was to not bring it up, she deserved to know before she got the wrong idea. (Write in what you tell Chaly about yourself.)
Best to get death squad membership out of the way now. How much can she really freak out, not like we're shooting at her.

>>Ask Chaly some questions about herself, her time in the facility, who she knew and her abilities. She had already explained why she was here, but there still was a ton to ask her. (Write in what you ask Chaly.)
All of the above. Also THE LIST.

>Accept Chaly's offer and start looking for Alexandra together. She probably knew a decent bit about where Alexandra was, given how she has spent a bit of time down here and maybe knew a bit about the layout of this place as well. (Write in how you respond to Chaly's offer.)

>>6473232 (me)
Also pet Reika. Why? She's clearly a bit intimidated by her and probably soon us and giving the big wan some nice scritches and making her act cute will help dispel any tension.

>Tell Chaly a bit about yourself. Such as that you weren't a group of ordinary guardsmen and that you were a group of these 'evil soldiers' she had seen. As funny as it was to not bring it up, she deserved to know before she got the wrong idea.
Seeing that you didn't want Chaly to be scared by the revelation you were actually a death squad, you decided to just be honest. You thus calmly informed her you were indeed a group of soldiers like the evil ones. Chaly looked rather concerned, as the rest of your men nodded. "We're not just ordinary soldiers. We're death squad soldiers, hired by the government to do all sorts of mean tasks." Lars calmly added, Chaly looking more and more confused. She'd stare at the other subjects, before finally remarking: "But, you guys are working with subjects a-and seem nice." In turn, you explained that you were not like the evil ones she encountered. Whilst the government had hired you to kill subjects, you decided to go against this because most subjects did not deserve to be killed.

You'd even demonstrate your beliefs by approaching Reika and giving her a few scritches under her chin. Your men were clearly highly entertained by the showcase of affection. More importantly though, Reika clearly enjoyed it, closing her eyes and pushing her chin against your hand. You'd even pet her once she moved her head low enough, Reika truly adoring it. "I-I see. So, the government wants us gone and hired bad, uhhhh, death squad soldiers. You were also hired, but decided to be nice. Okay, I think I get it?" Chaly sheepishly remarked, before mumbling: "Not sure why the government would wanna do that to us, but I won't question it." You soon stopped giving Reika scritches and headpats, the manticore looking confused. "Huh, why did you do that, Mik?" She casually asked, you explaining you wanted to show that you cared for subjects and that you were all friends here. Reika nodded, before remarking: "It feels nice. Please do it again sometime."

>Ask Chaly some questions about herself, her time in the facility, who she knew and her abilities. She had already explained why she was here, but there still was a ton to ask her.
Now that introductions were out of the way for real, you decided to ask Chaly some important questions. For starters, you wanted to know if she had broken every single vehicle here or if some still worked. "Of course not! I've checked and taken stuff from about... two thirds of all the vehicles here? Something around that, is my best guess. I'm sure there's plenty which I haven't taken bits and pieces from. And even then, I can easily repair some of the more mildly damaged vehicles. I usually left most of the vital parts intact. Just took from the exterior cuz of its toughness and ability to be made into excellent fortifications!" Hearing her bring up all the scrap she had taken, you wanted to know what she had been up to for the most part. "Ahhh, I can show you! Here, follow me!"

Chaly eagerly grabbed her bag of scrap from nearby, before signalling you to follow. Seeing that you planned to agree to Chaly's offer of searching for Alexandra together soon anyway, you didn't see much of a problem in following her along for just this tiny bit. Whilst walking towards whatever she had been working on, you asked her if she had any subject, staff or soldier encounters recently, making her shake her head. "Nope. This place is pretty safe and not many people pass through it. I have seen a few subjects occasionally come around here. But for the last while at least, it has been pretty calm." Afterwards, you'd tell her that it might change given how many subjects potentially were in this place. More importantly, you told her that she and plenty of other subjects had a government file. "Huh, a file? What's that for?" You asked Anon to show it to her. Whilst he looked through the files to find hers, you'd tell her it was mainly for documenting subjects for death squads.

Hearing this made Chaly again look uneasy. "And given that death squad soldiers are... apparently aggressive towards subjects, that means that... this file lets people know I am a target?" You nodded quietly, Chaly continuing to look uneasy. In the meantime, Anon presented her file and she started reading through it. "Hmmmm, Anderson subject is correct. But they forgot Jabal. Feeding method, that's just ordinary organic material. Nothing special there. Mhm, description seems fair. I can fly a bit so that's right. Surprised they haven't pointed out my incredible architectural skills! Anyway, what does threat level 1 mean? I'm not top priority as a target, right?" You reassured her that threat level 1 was the lowest threat category, making her not that threatening. Ironically, this seemed to make her more annoyed than anything. "Well, I did flee when these guys first saw me... but I'm not entirely harmless! I mean, I've got wrenches and drills! I'm no slouch!"

Afterwards, Vinisha softly mumbled. "Believe me, a low threat level is a blessing. Higher threat levels just make you... a bigger target." The rest of your men nodded, Chaly nodding understandingly. "Fair enough." Afterwards, you decided to ask her the usual list of questions you asked anyone you met, starting with her knowledge about the disaster. "Uhhhhh, I know there was lots of panic and lots of staff heading towards safe areas. Then things calmed down for a bit. Then, there was a bunch of shaking followed by a massive explosion and everything collapsing. And next thing I know, I'm struggling to crawl out of a whole bunch of rubble.” In turn, Artyom asked: "Any sort of alert that went out before the explosion? How did the explosion feel? Was it just a loud bang followed by collapse, or was it something else?" Chaly shrugged. "Don't remember any alarms, no. I do remember the earth shaking a ton and hearing a loud noise getting closer and closer before there was that huge explosion."

You then asked what she knew about Titania, making her speak more eagerly. "Ooh, Titania was this biiiiig blue space subject made by Tengri! I... wait, why are you asking? Didn't Chrys or Idalia or some of the other subjects with you tell you?" You stated you wanted to know where Titania was before and during the disaster, as well as wanting to figure out where she was now. "Oh, that I don't know." Chaly admitted dejectedly, you telling her it was fine. You then asked for the location of Elbrus and Roraima, making her look even more bewildered. "Why the hell do you wanna know where those two are? It's not because... Reika or Sibilia wanna save them, right?" Reika growled a bit. "No! I don't wanna save that stupid Roraima! He was a stupid idiot who hurt me and my friends like Katya and Idalia!" Chaly momentarily looked very scared. Though was reassured as Sibilia scoffed and added: "I may be an Elbrus subject, but I really do not get along with the prick." Chaly nodded, after which you explained you wanted intel from them... before bringing them to justice for their crimes.

"Oh, right... yeah, that's understandable. Ummm, unfortunately, I wouldn't know where either of them are at all. Sorry." You nodded and told her it was fine before asking if she knew any escape routes. And to this, she brought up some interesting bits of information. "Hmmmm, well, I remember the main entrance area being in the east near the surface. There's also the massive doors to Titania's chamber which let her go into the outside world. But, I don't know how those places survived given the disaster probably caused significant damage, based on how much rubble I've seen." You imagined that the main entrance would've already been blocked off or monitored continuously. But still, it was something worth considering. You thanked her for the information, before asking her what she had been doing all this time. Chaly smiled excitedly, before remarking: "Well, that's what I'm about to show you!" She started walking a little faster.

You passed by more and more military vehicles, mostly just the same ones as the types you saw before. However, finally, she'd take a sharp right turn and you noticed an odd additional structure near one of the massive doors through which the vehicles could enter the area to the north of here. She'd approach the structure, before sneakily pulling on a small lever. A rather thick and heavy door opened, as Chaly entered the structure. "Come on in! Welcome to my home!" Entering past the door, you found yourself in a relatively small and dark room. Though, Chaly quickly would turn on some makeshift lights she had strung up on the ceiling. The place looked surprisingly cosy, using chairs and fabric from the various military combat vehicles interior. She had even made a makeshift bed and kitchen area with a sink, refrigeration and all sorts of other features to live surprisingly pleasantly down here.

"I've snuck into some staff spaces to get the refrigerator, food and other goodies. As for electricity, I've plugged it into the still functional power grid. The walls are pretty damn thick and I’ve made sure to design em in such a way that they blend into the surroundings. I actually put some ventilation shafts near the top along with some warning labels near the side to make it seem like this entire spot is some sort of massive electrical transformer or other bit of infrastructure. I’d say it looks the part!” Chaly went over to one of the chairs she had presumably taken from an personnel carrier. “So, you’ve literally made an apartment inside of the combat sector?” Iliara asked in slight bewilderment, Chaly chuckling. “Hey, it’s better than a subject chamber! Got plenty of privacy, safety and anything a subject could want!” Though, Alan had a bit more of a pressing question: “What about a way to defend yourself?”

Chaly would get up and headed to a large metal crate she had presumably stolen from somewhere around here. And from it, she pulled out a simple machine gun. “Come and get me, if ya dare!” Based on how she held it, you could tell that she had NO clue how to properly handle a gun. Hell, even some of your men took notice, with Antonin remarking: “Have you ever fired it? Or any gun for that matter?” Chaly put the gun back into the crate and sheepishly responded: “Ehhhhh, no. I mean, I haven’t had the chance to yet, and it’s more-so just for emergencies. I was never planning to use it unless if people came to my door! And if all else fails, I also built an escape shaft at the top I can possibly fly out through.” Chaly’s little home was maybe not the best, but it sure as hell was impressive what she had been able to do. You asked her what her plans were for the future, making her happily remark: “Well, find Alexandra, dismantle this place and then use it to make a cool base for them!”

>Accept Chaly's offer and start looking for Alexandra together. She probably knew a decent bit about where Alexandra was, given how she has spent a bit of time down here and maybe knew a bit about the layout of this place as well.
Hearing how determined she still was to find Alexandra, even with her relatively comfy living accommodation, you told Chaly that you’d gladly help her find Alexandra. “Woohoo! That makes things way less scary!” Chaly cheered, you afterwards adding that you were actually looking to recruit Alexandra, which surprised Chaly. “Recruit Alexandra? Huh, what for?” You explained how your principles of doing the right thing made you want to take down a major evildoer in the facility: Feng. Asking Chaly if she knew of Feng was met with a concerned nod. “Jabal mentioned her to me a few times and how she was trouble.” You explained that you need Alexandra to take down Feng, to which Chaly nodded with an uneasy expression.

“That makes sense. Still, pretty scary. I... assume that Feng’s too difficult to take down even on your own?” You quickly confirmed that was the case, calmly telling Chaly that you needed Alexandra and her forces to help out against Feng. You also admitted that you had hoped to maybe use one of the tanks in here, which made some of your men do a double take. “You wanna take a fucking tank from here?!” Ignacy muttered, you for the time being ignoring it as Chaly hesitantly remarked: “W-Well, I did say most aren’t too seriously damaged. A-Anyway, I think Alexandra wouldn’t mind joining. I just wonder... if I become part of Alexandra’s group, if I will also need to join in the fighting. I don’t know if I’m exactly... ready for that.” Fortunately, Chrys was able to help out here, speaking up reassuringly. “I’m sure you can use your talents to help us out a ton! I mean, you made a well fortified little base of your own. Imagine what you can do with Alexandra’s help!” Chaly thought about it, as you decided to ask her one final question: If she knew Viola, Chaly’s eyes widening.

“Of course I know Viola! She’s a really close friend of mine! Why do you ask?” Chaly gasped as she seemed to realise what was going on. “Viola is with Alexandra! That’s it, right?” You confirmed that it was indeed reported Viola worked under the hellhound, making Chaly quite giddy. “Yes! That’s perfect! I’m so excited to work together with her on making all sorts of cool stuff!”

>What do you do next?

>Ask Chaly some more questions about her little apartment, her self-defence methods, her friends or anything else which she might be able to answer. (Write in what you ask her.)
>What were you waiting for? Tell Chaly and everyone else to follow you as you continued your search for Alexandra! You just had to figure out where to go to find her. (Write in where you head off to.)
>Check out some of the less damaged tanks to see how operable they were. You were close-by so might as well quickly check up to see if any could feasibly be powered up and used against Feng. (Write in what vehicle type you look at.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6473547
>Ask Chaly some more questions about her little apartment, her self-defence methods, her friends or anything else which she might be able to answer. (Write in what you ask her.)
How much does she have stocked up? Any batteries? A radio? We ask because the grid is coming down real soon.

>Check out some of the less damaged tanks to see how operable they were. You were close-by so might as well quickly check up to see if any could feasibly be powered up and used against Feng. (Write in what vehicle type you look at.)
She said she only hit 2/3 of them, there should be completely undamaged ones. Hopefully one of those is a hovertank.

>>6473547
Okay, we are training this fly how to shoot
>Ask Chaly some more questions about her little apartment, her self-defence methods, her friends or anything else which she might be able to answer.
What's the sink plumbed into? Is there still running water here?
Which subjects have she seen around here?
What can she tell us about her friends?
Anything she'd like to bring along?
>Check out some of the less damaged tanks to see how operable they were. You were close-by so might as well quickly check up to see if any could feasibly be powered up and used against Feng.
Tanks are cool but I think we might be better off with a couple of APCs. They should be impervious to small arms and most subjects already while being more mobile, easier to fix here and in the field and capable of actually carrying everyone into battle. Besides, while the tanks still have their cannons, I'd be surprised if they actually used live rounds in training so I doubt they have any ammo unless they were equipped with lasers or plasma and even then, if they were still armed. Perhaps we could transfer over a coax from one of the tanks or up-armour them. And maybe see if there are light unarmoured vehicles of some kind to just scoot around in.

After this, I want to head to the part of the motorpool where the cameras had been methodically disabled, particularly by Patty. What were they doing there? What were they hiding?

>Ask Chaly some more questions about her little apartment, her self-defence methods, her friends or anything else which she might be able to answer.
After Chaly excitedly spoke of working with her friend, you asked what other friends she could tell about. "Hmmm, well another friend of mine is Fidanka Muraria. She's this really pretty bird girl who's really good at design as well and is pretty strong too! She's not a Jabal subject though, but still a really good friend. Other than that, I'm also pretty fond of Koharu. She's really sweet and is quite the artist! I didn't interact with her as much as Viola or even Fidanka though... But, I still think she's a pretty good friend of mine!" Whilst Chaly spoke of her friends, your men would carefully walk around the room. Unfortunately, Reika was unable to enter, getting a bit annoyed by the tiny door. "Stupid tiny door..." Chaly looked a little uneasy at the massive manticore trying to enter her relatively small home. Even with your small group of men, the space was already getting pretty cramped from having everyone enter at once.

Fortunately, Alan would soon remark: "I'll go stay on guard outside. Not much for me to do here." He probably sensed that things were a bit tight, soon asking Reika to move out of the way as you continued asking Chaly questions. You asked how the sink she had worked, given there wasn't exactly running water available. "Yeeaaah, there... there isn't. I just took a bunch of water from nearby sources and put it in a large container in the wall here. I try to be pretty conservative with my water usage. Admittedly, I did consider making a shower for myself, but I decided against it given that it wasn't worth the amount of water. That, and installing a boiler would've been a bit too much work anyway." You then asked how she was doing in terms of batteries, radio and other survival stocks. "Uhhh, I think I got enough for a few weeks without power and food. Why do you ask?"

You mentioned that the electricity within the combat sector would likely become unavailable within a few days, which made Chaly look extremely concerned. "Ummm, why's that? Are the bad death squad soldiers planning something? And, uhhh, can we stop it?" This time, your men decided to just be straightforward about the truth, with Anon remarking: "There's a subject powering the whole combat sector from below. A thunderbird called Zephyr. She's basically in this power generator which a few of our co-workers and other subject friends are trying to get her out of. Once she's out, the power will go down." Chaly rubbed the back of her head again, before hesitantly asking: "Well, that's unfortunate. I take it she doesn't wanna keep powering this place a little longer?" You and your men shook your heads, Chaly sighing in response. "Well, hope that the other subjects down here won't be too troubled by it. I imagine many of them will struggle in pure darkness."

"That's why we're planning to take you and the other friendly subjects away from here." Chrys eagerly remarked, Chaly thankfully seeming to understand. "Yeah, I am gonna miss this little slice of my own place. But, it's definitely for the best. Especially if I can work with Alexandra and Viola and other amazing subjects." Hearing this made you curious about two things which you'd ask her about right away. The first thing you'd ask what subjects she had seen around here. The second thing was if she had anything here she wanted to take along. "Hmmm, maybe my bedding could be nice. Oh, and the fridge. Aside from that, don't think there's too much. That, and I don't wanna overburden you guys with heavy stuff to carry, hehe. As for other subjects... hmmm, well around this specific part, not much. I did see these three weird alien looking girls who stuck close together and looked pretty intimidating. Aside from that, I also saw this robot girl who... I think is this tiny Roraima subject inside of it?

>Check out some of the less damaged tanks to see how operable they were. You were close-by so might as well quickly check up to see if any could feasibly be powered up and used against Feng.
Whilst Chaly gave her answers, Codaline had already headed to the kitchen and had picked up the fridge. She easily ripped it from the wall, with Chaly actually looking a little worried. "Uhhh, w-wait, careful! Don't shake it too much... uhhh, w-wait, are we heading out right now?" You nodded, telling her that you wanted to check out a few of the untouched vehicles and to check out some of the cameras Patty had blocked out. "Alright, ummm... w-well, suppose I should grab my stuff then!" Chaly sounded anxious, as you and your men watched her grab her bag with scrap and her bedsheets. "Would one of you be willing to carry the mattress for a while?" Idalia thankfully accepted, right away grabbing the mattress as it seemed Chaly was ready to go. Though right as you said it was time to get going, Chaly spoke up once again.

"Can I quickly just say goodbye to this place? You know, I've kinda made this place my home..." Not wanting to hut her feelings, you accepted as you told the rest of your men to already head out. Your men quickly headed for the door, leaving just Chaly to look behind and inspect everything. Eventually, she let out a sigh and looked at you. "Sorry. I know it's... just a shanty hut made from scrap metal and raided supplies. But, it still feels a bit sad to leave it all behind." You obviously reassured her that she'd be able to make a new place of her own elsewhere once she relocated to join Alexandra's forces, Chaly visibly appreciating the remark. "Yeah. Hey, maybe Alexandra will want me to make some housing and such for her and her men? I'd certainly enjoy doing something like that." You reassured her that she could very well help with making a base later on. For now though, you signalled her to follow, Chaly nodding and quickly following you.

Thus, you were again outside, Mike asking: "So, can you tell us if there are any hovertanks which still work?" You added you also didn't mind an APC, since they were a bit more practical. "Uhhhhh, I can show both. Here, follow me!" Chaly again led the way, as you walked past plenty more personnel carriers and other vehicles. It would thankfully not take too long before Chaly pointed at 3 hovertanks which looked relatively untouched. "Here you go. As for those APC thingies, I think there's a few of them only a minute away from here!" You didn't even have to say anything before Anon, Alan, Sigit and Antonin started checking out the tank. Alan was mostly just checking it out of curiosity, whilst Anon and Sigit really were checking out the cannon, machinery and other key components. Though as they inspected it, they quickly found one snag which would make it difficult for you to operate them. "Okay, so the tank does look like it can work. Only issue is that it is gonna need fuel and ammo... and it seems like it has neither on it right now."

Afterwards, Ignacy would also chime in, doing so a bit more pessimistically. "Doesn't look like this place has much ammo. Unless if there's a depot here we missed." Whilst Ignacy seemed rather negative, Chaly actually was a bit more optimistic, as she eagerly revealed: "Actually, there is. To the north of here is a large weapon depot where I think I saw weapons meant for these things. I think, anyway." It seemed arming the tank wouldn't be that big of an issue, leaving just fuel as the main limiting factor. Still, maybe it was just better to check the nearest APC and to then finally head over to where the cameras had all been disabled by Patty.

>What do you do next?

>Check out the nearest APC to see if it could be driven around or possibly even be modified. It was a far more practical vehicle to utilise than a massive hovertank which would require proper ammunition and a ton of support to get anywhere in the facility ruins. (Write in what you check the nearest APC for.)
>Just head over to the area where Patty had disabled the cameras. You wanted to continue on your mission to find Alexandra, and this seemed like the most logical next clue to check out. (Write in what you do once you reach the area Patty was at.)
>Head some other direction. Perhaps the subjects Chaly mentioned made you wanna go elsewhere. Or maybe checking out the weapon depot would be more interesting. (Write in where you go to.)
>Continue chatting with Chaly about whatever was on your mind. Maybe she could elaborate a bit more on her subject friends, or how her abilities work or her relationship with her creators. (Write in what you ask Chaly.)
>Chat a little with the rest of your girls. Maybe they had some other things to say about the subjects Chaly brought up, or you just wanted to hear how they felt about the place you were at and what you were doing. (Write in with who you chat and about what.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6473863
Have someone take a good amount of that water. Iliara's probably going to need quite a lot later.
>Check out the nearest APC to see if it could be driven around or possibly even be modified. It was a far more practical vehicle to utilise than a massive hovertank which would require proper ammunition and a ton of support to get anywhere in the facility ruins.
That it actually works
What fuel etc. it needs and its range
Armour thickness
How much internal space it has

I'm thinking we could weld some spare turrets on top of the APCs. Annie can control them, so this lets her ride along with us and be fire support in a way, if she's up for it.
Still, the motorpool would be the most logical place to keep vehicle fuel of any kind, whether its physical or just fast charging ports. I can't imagine the hovertanks or APCs burn dino juice, probably hydrogen or something for a fuel cell. If the APCs are battery-electric, plug a few of them in to charge. I want to bring a few of them with us, enough for everyone plus our guest forces.
>Continue chatting with Chaly about whatever was on your mind. Maybe she could elaborate a bit more on her subject friends, or how her abilities work or her relationship with her creators.
Tell us more about Fidanka
Does she have any special abilities?
What did she do all day?
>Just head over to the area where Patty had disabled the cameras. You wanted to continue on your mission to find Alexandra, and this seemed like the most logical next clue to check out.
Search around for any recent activity. Anything taken or moved? Signs of fighting? Surroundings been modified in any way? Any smells for Kenai?

-----

My mind keeps going to the Mako from Mass Effect minus the main gun for what the APC looks like

>>6473863
>Examine the hover tank more closely
I think we need a list of pros and cons here, I’m hyped for the hover tank as it’s futuristic and was presented as advanced and difficult to acquire in >>6472783, and other anon wants a more conventional APC presumably because he’s imagining it as a standard modern day tank but with futuristic fuel requirements. So yeah, determine what fuel and ammo we’d need to find for this thing, and also a blurb on what the capabilities are compared to a normal tank and an APC so we can make an informed decision.

>>6473875
I'm after an APC because I want to use it as an APC. A mobile infantry carrier that protects the occupants from attack and allows for rapid deployment of forces, which I think is much more suitable for use than a huge tank that's hellish to get around, extremely conspicuous and of reduced usefulness when trying to track individual targets at point-blank range in confined quarters as I doubt it is designed for. Being difficult to obtain and equip doesn't make it the most useful to us.

While we debate vehicles, I'll lay my cards on the table for how I plan to fight Feng and how they come into that. In my idea for the Big Fight, primarily guard forces and a handful of our our subjects will launch a major feint assault on Queenbase, intending to draw Feng's attention and lure away her forces rather than seriously trying to make progress. While this happens, our strike team of our heavy hitter subjects and squad members will use the APCs for a high-speed strike on the throne room, simply ignoring all attacks and smashing through everything in our way. We could be in the throne room in minutes before Feng can muster up a response capable of stopping us, which means we don't have to potentially slog our way through waves of her minions to reach her and making the whole process very rapid, much safer for us and with fewer casualties for Feng's slaves who we're trying not to kill if we can help it. Having armoured transports also offers us an emergency out if things go south, with us being much more likely to escape than on foot.

Having a tank doesn't help with this goal as much. Sure, it's got the firepower and would likely be all but unstoppable by anything Feng's forces have. However, that's not a guarantee than she has aces up her sleeve like a powerful subject or indeed her own abilities. But more to the point, the tank is presumably much slower and does not offer passenger space meaning everyone still has to hoof it on foot behind or riding completely exposed on the side and we lose the tactical advantage of speed. Thus, APCs are the capability that makes my plan work, a tank doesn't fit it well.

On the other hand, I'd back the tank if it means we could have both. The tank plus a couple of APCs for a fully mechanised force, the tank up front with the subjects and squad following behind in the APCs. That would be even better than one or the other, though whether we could do all of that I don't know. If I could only have one, I'd have the APCs.

Side note, I think it's likely the tank's targeting and firing systems are completely computerised. Therefore, Annie might actually be able to control the tank gun, which would be awesome and free up a person.

>>6473996
My belief is that if they got a tank hovering they were also able to pack all kinds of other crazy future tech in there. If it’s just a tank that hovers and is too big to get out of this area then no point in getting one, so until we get the info on what exactly it’s capable of there’s not much to debate. Although, maybe we can use the tank to clear out this area, and then swap to an APC for Feng.

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>>6474025

Snap*

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>>6474029

>>6474023
Annie has see, has see thy Anderson. She took a screenshot of this scientist for a 'collection' she gathering. Also Sarah has fell down when the screenshot was taken.

--

Anderson: "Annie, what are you doing here? Why are you taking pictures of me and Sarah? Ah, the flash blinded Sarah! What was that for?!"

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>>6474025
On the latest report form Annie
She is showcased her cringe collection, LIVE.

--

Anderson: "Huh, what's Annie showi- Why are all those pics of me on there? Why is she talking about a cringe collection!?"

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Very comfy le moth.

>Check out the nearest APC to see if it could be driven around or possibly even be modified. It was a far more practical vehicle to utilise than a massive hovertank which would require proper ammunition and a ton of support to get anywhere in the facility ruins.
You still wanted to check out the APC given the possible role it could play in the battle against Feng. But, you also didn't want to rule out the tank just yet. Thus you told your men you wanted a full rundown of both the tank and APC, starting with the tank since you were here now anyway. You first asked if it actually worked, to which Anon remarked: "It looks pretty much untouched. Don't see anything indicating that it's seriously damaged or wouldn't work." The rest of the men inspecting the tank agreed, you asking what fuel and ammo it would need. "The Alfahd is a purely electric tank powered by rechargeable condensed energy cells. These cells can be recharged by either pulling them out of the tank or directly whilst they're still in the tank. The only issue might be that they do take a LOT of time and energy to recharge fully... but hey, maybe these ones haven't been used too much and still got a lot of power in them?" Artyom remarked when answering the first question.

In the meantime, Antonin would check out the tank barrel and weaponry to answer the second question. "Looks like we need some 120mm tankshells for it. It also has a smaller coaxial machine gun built into the top which can aim independently from the main cannon." This actually made you wonder what the capabilities were compared to the previous tanks you had seen. "Ooh, that's a doozy... Artyom, what can you say?" Antonin remarked, making Arty eager to again talk some more about tanks. You quickly said you wanted a quick rundown of the pros and cons compared to an ordinary tank or APC, Arty nodding. "Alright, the Alfahd is surprisingly effective in a variety of situations. I think it could be pretty damn useful to us."

Artyom approached the tank as everyone quietly listened to what he had to tell. "So, let's start with what it can do well. The Alfahd's hover ability is extremely effective and allows it to move up to three feet above the ground, meaning that it can easily traverse most obstacles with relative ease. More importantly, its engine is particularly efficient and makes the tank surprisingly mobile. Hell, I imagine in a race, it would win from every tank found here, even the lighter ones. Though, maybe not the APCs. It also has a very advanced targeting system, being able to rapidly switch between targets and even make complex calculations on where to aim whilst moving. However, the Alfahd is not without flaws. For one, the entire system is electric, meaning EMPs can definitely cause trouble. Worse, if the hover system is damaged and the tank falls to the ground, it will most likely mean game over for it, which isn't the case with normal tanks. Finally, there is one major flaw with the Alfahd."

Artyom put his hand on the levitation devices, before remarking: "The Alfahd has a bit of controversy surrounding its anti-recoil system. See, the tank was given very complex anti-recoil hardware, which ensures its hovering system is 'paused' in a way that doesn't impede movement whilst allowing it to fire. But, if that system fails due to minor damage or worse... oh boy, firing the tank can basically make it fly backwards, or worse." It seemed the tank had its pros and cons. "Anyway, I imagine they'll have ammo and batteries for it somewhere around here. And if not, we can maybe get Zephyr to recharge the tank and get ammunition from the weapons depot." Artyom finished up his overview with, you thanking him for the overview. Afterwards, you told your men you wanted to go back to the nearest APC to inspect it as well, to which they all quickly agreed. And within a minute, you and your men were instead checking out one of the APCs which Chaly hadn't taken parts from.

You first asked your men if it looked like it still worked, to which Antonin remarked: "It doesn't look too damaged. Wheels look just fine. I don't see why not." Chaly nodded in agreement and quickly added: "I've not touched this one at all. And, the ones I did break showed plenty of signs that they were still useable. So I am pretty sure it'll work." Afterwards, you asked what sort of fuel it'd need, to which Arty responded: "It looks to me like this KZ-20-Ls uses power cells similar to the Alfahd. Unless if you have seen some other power systems, Chaly." Chaly thought about it for a moment, before saying: "I'm not sure. Some of the ones I took metal from didn't look like they had any of those power cells in them, I think." This made Arty think before saying: "Antonin, Anon, can you guys check if there's a fuel cap somewhere to indicate if it's maybe powered with biofuel or some other liquid fuel?" The two soldiers quickly did as asked, as Arty continued explaining things a bit more.

"If the batteries are fully charged or the fuel tank is full, it can easily travel over 400 kilometres. Though, that is a very generous estimate given how customizable the Agriogatas is. This one without any arms could probably go even further than that." Artyom explained, you then asking about the armour thickness. "Looks to me like it's around 20mm, Mik, Arty." Anon responded before Arty could, after which Antonin remarked: "Found a fuel cap. This one definitely has some kinda biofuel in it." With the question of fuel and armour answered, you asked about how much internal space. "Well, suppose we can check for ourselves." Artyom headed to the back, before opening the doors with a bit of effort before you got a look inside. There was space for at least 12 people in there, excluding two people who would be driving the thing and the potential gunner if you did find a suitable gun for the Agriogatas. Though, you did have a specific idea for the APC's turret.

You asked if Annie could control a turret you attached to the APCs, which made Arty nod. "Oh, probably. If Annie can control some of the turrets here in the combat sector, then she can DEFINITELY control whatever is attached to the Agriogatas." With that, you asked if Arty could also give a quick pros and cons rundown of the APC over the tank, Arty nodding. "Well, the main one is reliability. If this one has a biofuel or even a fossil fuel engine, then EMPs won't cripple like one would the Alfahd. Furthermore, if it breaks down, repairing one of these should be pretty damn easy. However, it is admittedly not going to be as mobile as the hovertank, let alone pack as much of a punch. But, it will also be capable of carrying a lot more people with little risk of being damaged. Unless if we find enemy forces with highly powerful explosive weaponry." It seemed both the APC and Hovertank had their pros and cons. Though, one thing you still needed to know is where to get fuel for both.

And realistically, you imagined it'd be in this very space, to which Chaly raised her hand. "Uhhh, yeah, I think I know where that might be. If we head a little further westwards, there's a pretty large and... uhhhh, well-guarded charging and storage area. I've gone there a few times but it does still have some turrets which are active, which is why I don't usually go there. Then again, maybe Patty or some of Alexandra's forces have disabled those by now?" You suggested plugging an APC and the Hovertank into the power system to charge it, given that it was likely Zephyr powering it up. And if that failed, there'd probably be fully charged batteries there and at least some fuel for the APC. "So, I suppose we're heading there next?" Iliara asked casually, with Sibilia saying: "Maybe also call Annie to help us in case the turrets DO still work."

>Just head over to the area where Patty had disabled the cameras. You wanted to continue on your mission to find Alexandra, and this seemed like the most logical next clue to check out.
>Continue chatting with Chaly about whatever was on your mind. Maybe she could elaborate a bit more on her subject friends, or how her abilities work or her relationship with her creators.
Since the cameras Patty had messed with were further to the west as well, you agreed that heading west now would be the best thing to do. Though, as you started going westwards, you asked for some of your stronger party members to head back to Chaly's home to take a good amount of the water from there. Given that Codaline was busy carrying Chaly's fridge and you needed Kenai for her tracking ability and Idalia for her scouting, it would be Alan and Reika who headed back. Once they had left, you told Chaly that some of your subjects, namely Iliara, fed on water specifically. "Huh, good thing Mik remembered to take some extra along then, Iliara." Chaly mumbled, Iliara meanwhile appearing rather pleased by the way you took her feeding method into consideration.

Afterwards though, you asked Chaly if she could tell more about Fidanka, since you hadn't heard about her yet. "Oh, sure. What do you wanna know?" You first asked what kind of abilities Fidanka had. "Well, she could fly and had these extremely powerful claws instead of feet which she used to cut through tough materials with ease. It was really strong and sharp! Other than that, she could also climb walls surprisingly well and... yeah, that's about it." You asked what Fidanka did all day, making Chaly smile brightly. "Well, she decorated her containment chamber and trained her artistic skills! She made all kinds of living spaces and furniture, just like I did... but even better than me!" Looking over at the other girls, most didn't seem to know about this Fidanka girl. Though, Vinisha did seem to think about her name as if she had heard it before. Not much more came of it though. Especially as you soon took a right turn to get to the sabotaged cameras.

And as you walked out of the large doors to the vehicle storage sector, you'd spot the area where you had gotten the archival footage from a short distance to your left. And as you approached, you saw quite a few concerning signs. You saw that there were several disabled turrets, all of them shot at and presumably damaged beyond repair. You also spotted a bit of dried blood on the floor, which had presumably been caused by the turrets hitting someone. The blood seemed to head northwards into the urban warfare sector which was past a checkpoint area. "Looks to me like someone left the urban warfare sector and wasn't aware of the turrets here. Probably a subject." Mike remarked, you asking Kenai if she could track the scent of blood. She'd sniff it, before following the scent in the air. "It's coming from this way!" She pointed towards the urban warfare sector to the north, you potentially having a trail for a subject which was to the north of here.

>What do you do next?

>Start heading north and into the urban warfare sector. Kenai had a scent she could follow which would probably lead to a subject. And even if it wasn't Alexandra or her allies, at least it'd be a possible recruit if it was a friendly subject. (Write in how you go northwards.)
>Head back into the vehicle sector to check the fuel sources. Hopefully, Annie would disable whatever turrets were near there once you were there. And if not, well you could always send someone in to quickly disable them. (Write in how you get to the fuel sources.)
>Split up for a short while to do a few tasks at once. You could have people head north to do a bit of scouting ahead, whilst some stayed back to check out the APC and Hovertank when they're properly powered up. (Write in how you split up.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6474396
>>Start heading north and into the urban warfare sector. Kenai had a scent she could follow which would probably lead to a subject. And even if it wasn't Alexandra or her allies, at least it'd be a possible recruit if it was a friendly subject. (Write in how you go northwards.)
We can always get the vehicle's later, ain't like there are a lot of people with the know how to get them started anyway.

>>6474396
With regards to capabilities, assuming the hovertank is armoured as much as an MBT, Feng's forces have nothing capable of doing any damage to it whatsoever aside from possibly any stray PRGs, but that's not something we can do anything about, tank or no tank and the odds of them having EMP grenades is near zero. I'm not sure whether an AMR could penetrate the APCs but I'm going to go with no considering vehicle armour is tougher stuff than regular ol' steel and then add massive advances in materials science in a time when this vehicle is modern and chemical ballistic weaponry is generally considered obsolete. Then there's the wildcard of Feng herself, I'm going to guess she could do a lot of damage up close.
My position remains the same that I'd take the APC over the tank with respects to what is more useful to us both for Feng and after her, but I'll go for the Mechanisation Plan - one tank and two APCs. Ambitious? Yes, but doable. It sounds like everything's basically ready to go with just a few supplies and we're more than capable of operating multiple vehicles. Artyom can easy deal with the turrets from a distance if Annie can't do it when it comes to it.
>>Start heading north and into the urban warfare sector. Kenai had a scent she could follow which would probably lead to a subject. And even if it wasn't Alexandra or her allies, at least it'd be a possible recruit if it was a friendly subject.
We can come back here later. In fact, it might be the last thing we do in the sector when we're preparing to leave.
Anyway, standard battle-ready formation. Idalia, Kenai and Iliara can be up ahead as scouts to ensure no surprises, Kenai following the trail.

>>6474393
>Worse, if the hover system is damaged and the tank falls to the ground, it will most likely mean game over for it
By game over does he means stuck in place until fixed, or nigh impossible to fix and effectively busted forever?

>>6474396
>Start heading north and into the urban warfare sector. Kenai had a scent she could follow which would probably lead to a subject. And even if it wasn't Alexandra or her allies, at least it'd be a possible recruit if it was a friendly subject.
Probably best to help out with potential life threatening injuries asap. Fuel isn’t going anywhere.

>>6474426
>I'm not sure whether an AMR could penetrate the APCs

>you then asking about the armour thickness. "Looks to me like it's around 20mm, Mik, Arty."

Maybe we should test this on an armored but broken down APC? From what I remember about the tests done on Morgan’s shield projectile propulsion has more than kept up with materials science.

>Start heading north and into the urban warfare sector. Kenai had a scent she could follow which would probably lead to a subject. And even if it wasn't Alexandra or her allies, at least it'd be a possible recruit if it was a friendly subject.
With Kenai being able to track the bloody scent, you decided to just head north into the urban combat sector. You could always get the vehicles later and getting them started would take a lot of time anyway. That, and it was probably for the best to only focus on the vehicles once you had recovered all the subjects you wanted to save and were ready to get going. Thus, you told your group to get ready to head northwards, asking Idalia, Kenai and Iliara to scout up ahead to be on the lookout for any surprises. "Of course, Mikhail." Idalia calmly remarked. "Alright, time to get some proper combat sector experience!" Iliara eagerly remarked. "Ummm, want me to keep following the scent trail?" Kenai asked, you nodding and telling her you wanted to find whoever was injured.

"The blood looks pretty dry, Mik. Whoever got shot here could've left a good while ago already." Lars did say a little sceptically in turn. Though Kenai hardly seemed deterred from finding the source of the scent. "Don't worry, Mikhail. I can still smell it pretty well. I'll definitely track down whoever was injured!" Kenai thus followed Idalia and Iliara as they already entered the sector. Whilst they headed forward, you waited for Reika and Alan to return with the water from Chaly's area. "So, uhhhh, are there any death squads out there like you? Y'know, peaceful and friendly to subjects, instead of... instantly trying to shoot at us?" Chaly quietly asked you and your men. "Well, we're just half of a larger group of soldiers. So technically, yeah, there is another group." Antonin responded, which did seem to reassure Chaly a little bit.

"Unfortunately, aside from us, there don't seem to be any subject-friendly death squads. Most are more than eager to work with the government." Artyom remarked, making Chaly look a little disheartened. "Oh, well... maybe you just haven't seen them? From the sound of things, this alliance is a pretty big secret. Maybe, uhhh, other death squads are also keeping it a secret?" Chaly tried to keep her hopes up. But unfortunately, Ignacy shook his head and remarked: "I doubt it. Annie already got Mikhail's group and the other group together. If there were other groups, Annie would've likely informed us of such." Chaly looked disappointed, Chrys trying to keep her hopes up. "Hey, maybe there are groups out there which, whilst they haven't allied with subjects yet, are still more reasonable and friendly? Maybe we'll even find some of those right here?" Chaly nodded, trying to remain optimistic. Though, even Chrys had to admit that the chances of such an alliance becoming reality here were slim to none. Especially down here in the sector with some of the most dangerous subjects.

Regardless, once Alan and Reika returned with a large container of water, you finally told everyone to follow you as you entered the urban warfare sector. You'd pass by a few abandoned checkpoints, encountering a few more turrets which had been disabled a good while ago. Once you passed the checkpoint, you found yourself in a modestly sized open space with a large set of reinforced windows ahead of you, a large elevator heading down and two hallways which stretched along the space which the windows looked over at. You saw Kenai, Idalia and Iliara not having gotten too far with scouting, just standing by the windows and looking down. "Take it you girls couldn't find a way down?" Anon asked, Idalia and Kenai nodding whilst Iliara kept looking out of the window. And once you got close and looked thirty feet below you, you finally got a good look at the first proper training ground of the combat sector.

The sector was massive, spreading far into the distance containing multiple blocks with a huge variety of buildings. The style seemed to be something akin to a Federation city, albeit shrunken down to fit into the allotted space. There were numerous concrete shell apartment blocks, a few high-rise buildings, roads with plenty of holes in them and even some open patches containing what looked like dead grass. There were also still some light sources which worked, lighting up a few of the buildings and even a few of the damaged streets. After getting a good look at the combat area, you looked around and saw that there were some stairs near the elevator which you could take to head down and enter the area proper. Taking the two hallways which lined the entire area did not seem possible unfortunately, as you spotted piles of rubble blocking the path in a way that was clearly created intentionally. Whoever had been here had clearly wanted you to be forced into the training area proper, meaning plenty of opportunities to attract subjects.

"Well, guess we'll head down first. Idalia, Kenai, you coming?" Iliara asked nonchalantly, the mantis and wolf girl nodding in unison. The three of them headed towards the nearest stairs down, as it looked like were set on just heading downstairs ahead of you.

>What do you do next?

>Follow the girls downstairs and into the urban combat training area as well. No point in going back now, and this seemed like the best path to follow.
>Check out your surroundings first before heading down. Maybe you could check out the rubble blocking the hallways, or use this vantage point to plan out a route. (Write in what you do.)
>Head back to a different sector less reminiscent of your past urban warfare experiences. Maybe the weapon depot was worth checking out? (Write in where you head to.)
>Chat a bit whilst you traverse the sector. Maybe your men had some stories to tell about their urban warfare missions, or the girls wanted to share some thoughts. (Write in who you chat with.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6474705
>Check out your surroundings first before heading down. Maybe you could check out the rubble blocking the hallways, or use this vantage point to plan out a route.
Launch the quadcopter and survey around. Search for anything out of place, any buildings or facilities that don't just look like empty husks and plot routes to them as well as getting a look at the upper areas.
Other than that, take the bait and keep following the trail down. Everyone stick with subjects at all times, Hetzen is known to be in this area and wandering off could potentially get you domed like those chumps. Same goes for any potential wan ambushes, being alongside subjects could save your life.

That rubble has to be Alexandra's work, preventing death squad access to the upper areas and funneling them onto the sector floor where they can be ambushed. We don't have much to fear from that so long as we keep our present company and might be more likely to have encounters on the lower level, but the upper level should be where we search next once we find another access or just get ferried up one by one.

>>6474441
Morgan's armour is basically RHA, it's just steel. If this vehicle is as modern (aka futuristic) as I'm led to believe, it could have something more advanced than that that allows it to defeat high-calibre small arms that don't seem to have advanced too radically from the present day at 2cm thickness. But this is all hypothetical, we can of course do some ballistic tests later.

>>6474705
>Check out your surroundings first before heading down. Maybe you could check out the rubble blocking the hallways, or use this vantage point to plan out a route. (Write in what you do.)
First obviously check if the rubble is easily cleared. Other groups couldn't manage, but other groups don't have Reika or Codaline. Then plan a route - look at the area and avoid anywhere too tight/easy to spring an ambush from. Probably gonna want to have the girls lead the way too.

>Check out your surroundings first before heading down. Maybe you could check out the rubble blocking the hallways, or use this vantage point to plan out a route.
Before heading down into the combat zone for real, you first headed towards the rubble blocking the path. "Uhhh, Mik, where are you going?" Alan asked curiously, you explaining you wanted to check out if you could clear the rubble. You also remarked that you were very sure it was the doing of Alexandra and her soldiers. After all, the upper areas made it trivially easy to traverse this area. "Good move on their part. I do hope that doesn't mean the area ahead of us is a massive kill zone with plenty of traps." Artyom answered, some of the girls actually looking a little worried about the suggestion. You asked Codaline and Reika if they could remove some of the rubble, Codaline stretching her arms. "You bet your ass I can!" Reika also didn't hesitate to start grabbing a hold of the biggest bit of rubble she could find. They'd start moving chunks of metal and large rocks, only for more rubble to come falling down from the ceiling.

And after a minute of digging, Sibilia spoke up. "I think digging through here is gonna take a good while. Not to mention the risk of further collapses if we keep doing this." Your men also agreed, Codaline also shaking her head. "I can lift up the large things relatively easily. Issue is that it just keeps piling on more and more. I could be here for hours." Chaly would soon after also share some thoughts. "I'd also be a bit careful with digging out too much. If I recall correctly, we're right under the main open training grounds w-where there's lots of combat going on..." With it being clear that this was at best going to take a long time and at worst open a hole for other death squads to enter this area through, you decided to just do what had to be done: You were going into the urban warfare training site proper. With a plan, of course.

You asked Anon to use the flying drone to get an idea of what the area was like and to plan out a route. You also wanted to check out anything out of place such as buildings which had been used by whoever was down here. "You got it." He'd prepare the drone, whilst you told your men that you had to stay close to the subjects. If anyone so much as wandered off and was spotted without a subject friend, the military subjects in this place could easily view them as a threat and dispatch of them. Your men nodded in unison, as you finally started taking the stairs down. You and your men spotted Kenai, Idalia and Iliara waiting for you downstairs, having waited for you before entering the sector proper. Once you had taken the stairs down towards the large doors for vehicles to enter though, the three scouts quickly took a smaller side-door and entered ahead of you. You followed them closely, soon enough wandering between small concrete shells and dimly lit alleyways.

"Ahhh, this brings me back... hey, you guys remember when we were hired by some planetary governor to help against these rebel forces which had tried to form an independent citystate or something? Where was that again?" Mike casually brought up as Anon turned on the drone and started flying it around. "Oh yeah, think the planet was called... Enra... something?" Lars added, before Anon casually remarked. "Enrax-4." Hearing this, Antonin spoke in surprise. "Oh yeah, our group was also offered that job. France decided against it cause he worried that our squadron would be sent into some sorta meat grinder, given how unpleasant the governor sounded." Mike nodded in turn. "Oh yeah, the governor was a piece of shit. Basically Volux-lite. But, thankfully, we didn't get forced into forward positions or anything and instead were mostly there to protect his forces and what not." Whilst your men discussed past missions, Anon made the drone head onwards.

"I really hope this area is clear and this doesn't attract the attention of some mad subject who could reach the drone. Mainly because this is our only drone left." Anon mumbled as he flew it around for a bit. "Okay, there are plenty of paths we can take. I can also see Kenai already heading down a few side paths. My best guess is that we follow her, since the trail she follows is probably the safe path whoever got shot took to escape to safety." It did seem like the most reasonable path to take. Though you did insist on avoiding anywhere too tight where you could be ambushed. "I'll keep the drone near Kenai to see where she's going and also see a bit of her surroundings." It wasn't the most secure of options, since the drone could lure more heinous subjects towards Kenai, but Kenai was quick enough she could probably flee any encounter she wasn't built to survive. Thus, you led the way with Reika beside you and Anon continuing to check the drone. You avoided the main path whilst trying to follow the path Kenai took, hoping the tracking hound wouldn't lead you towards danger.

As you walked around the concrete buildings and past some of the mock streets, you'd occasionally check to see what Anon was seeing with the drone. In the meantime, the rest of your group also kept looking around for anything out of the ordinary. Chrys was looking back at the upper area you had been in but a moment ago, before speaking curiously. "I'm shocked that the windows were able to hold all that rubble blocking the side paths. I kinda expected it to have broken through it all." In turn, Codaline scoffed and responded: "I bet they made the windows tough enough to take even the angriest of subjects. Y'know, in case a combat subject decides that they don't wanna do tests anymore for some reason." Chrys nodded along, before Vinisha remarked: "I wonder how often subjects tried to leave this place during tests. I imagine such training exercises... wouldn't always be too fun."

This made Sigit curiously remark: "Suppose we can ask Iliara or Alexandra once we find her. Maybe they practiced here as well?" In turn, Alan looked up at Reika and asked: "Did you ever train here, Reika?" Which made the manticore shake her head. "No. But I did go to this place to fight other subjects, and also this place with all kinds of stupid chemicals and gross things." Codaline smirked. "Oh, hey, a fellow subject vs subject training zone survivor. That sure was fun, especially with Roraima constantly bitching to never show any mercy. Or staff just apathetically watching as a subject clearly not ready for combat is forced to eat dirt at the hands of another subject." Your men listened curiously to the chat, Codaline telling a bit about her tests under Roraima and his sycophant scientists. Though not much later, whilst Reika was talking about her tests in hazardous environments, you'd suddenly hear a powerful gunshot. "Shit! The drone just got shot!" Anon hissed, whilst Artyom yelled: "Get to cover!"

Immediately, your men would duck into a nearby concrete shell, staying away from the open windows. The girls also remained hidden, with a few of them appearing nervous. "O-Okay, w-what just happened a-and how worried should we be?" Chaly immediately asked in a hushed voice, after which Anon groaned. "Yep, the drone's dead. Something shot it out of the sky. Can't tell from where or by who. Damnit." Afterwards, Chrys worriedly remarked: "Crud! Idalia, Kenai and Iliara are still out there! What if they get shot at?!" Hearing this, Reika growled and got ready to head out. "I'll deal with this! No-one hurts my friends! Stupid enemy soldier!" Sibilia would grab Reika by her tail though, before saying: "Wait! Don't go out yet! We need to think of a plan first!" Alan nodded and said: "Reika, wait just a moment, please." To which the manticore thankfully agreed. "Okay, fine..." And thus, all eyes went to you, as it seemed that you were in an uneasy position. The drone had been shot down, and some of your girls were still out there. And you had no clue who took the shot and why...

>What do you do next?

>Set out a plan on how you were going to deal with this situation. You needed to find your scouts and avoid being spotted. And of course, avoid getting shot in the head by whoever took down your drone. (Write in what your plan will be.)
>Contact Annie for help. She probably had access to at least a few of the camera systems in this place with which she could get a good look at the area. Maybe she could even get a good look at who was down here and where. That, or tell you where your three scouts were. (Write in what you ask Annie.)
>Just continue onwards. The drone was high up in the air, in a position where it could easily be spotted from far away. Whoever shot it down probably didn't have direct line of sight of you. After all, they would've probably already shot you if that were the case.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6474957
A pinpoint shot like that on a small, moving object at altitude in the urban area from a powerful-sounding gun? There's only one person I'm pointing my finger at. Hetzen's a jerk but she won't just open fire indiscriminately and I'm not worried about our scouts being targeted by her or indeed any of the known gun subjects we might expect to find around here, who are all reasonable.
>Contact Annie for help. She probably had access to at least a few of the camera systems in this place with which she could get a good look at the area. Maybe she could even get a good look at who was down here and where. That, or tell you where your three scouts were.
I bet this place has a still functioning PA system. Ask if Annie can hook us into it so we can use it to start yakking. Request a cease fire and for Ili to return to our location so she can talk to them to repeat the request and for them to go to a rooftop or make some fog so she can be located. While the two of them might not quite get on, she'll at least be a familiar voice to Het.
If this doesn't work, ask for Annie to dig through some camera feeds and video back a short while to see if she can spot anyone moving around.

I still want to strangle that lizard though, that was our only drone.

>>6474957
>Contact Annie for help. She probably had access to at least a few of the camera systems in this place with which she could get a good look at the area. Maybe she could even get a good look at who was down here and where. That, or tell you where your three scouts were.
If she can identify the shooter and they're a subject she can announce that we come in peace, but if it was another merc crew then tell our scouts to return to their starting point.

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>>6475221

Merse will force Anderson to follow ze rule on this Mongolian weaver blue board.

>Contact Annie for help. She probably had access to at least a few of the camera systems in this place with which she could get a good look at the area. Maybe she could even get a good look at who was down here and where. That, or tell you where your three scouts were.
The safest and simplest move you decided to take was to contact Annie. You asked Anon if he could tune to Annie's station, as you explained that she could possibly take over the PA system. "You want her to make an announcement over the PA system? Isn't that... insanely risky? What if whoever we're dealing with is another death squad?" Sibilia asked, after which Mike added: "Or worse, a psychotic combat subject." Though hearing the latter made Reika remark: "Then I'll kick their stupid butt!" Before there could be any further discussion, you argued that this was likely Hetzen's doing. Taking down a drone like that wasn't easy and it was clearly some kind of sniper. However, to be as safe as possible, you wanted Annie to also check the camera systems to hopefully see who it was.

"Okay, that seems good." Sibilia added, Anon by now having reached Annie's station. "Annie, we got an emergency situation. Enemy fighters have shot down our drone and we don't know who or what we're facing. Can you quickly check the cameras?" Annie was thankfully not providing news coverage right now, her quickly responding. "Okay, let me check. Where are you guys exactly?" You quickly gave your coordinates and the sector you were in. Unfortunately, Annie would bring up some rather terrible news. "I don't have any visuals on you guys right about now. Each and every camera has either been shot and destroyed, or has been obstructed in some way." You asked if she had playback to see if anyone had been spotted still, her going quiet before sighing. "Checking as many camera angles as I can, it's being shot at from afar. The ones which are still working... have been obstructed by Patty."

It seemed that cameras would not work in this sector at all. So, you didn't know if this was a subject or a death squad. Though, you were still leaning towards subject, which meant you wanted to let them know you were no threat. Thus, you asked Annie to let you take over the PA system, her thankfully seeming a lot less worried about the feasibility of said task. "That I can make work, yeah. Give me a second." And at last, there was a soft jingle coming from above you. You spoke into the radio as a test, hearing your voice played back to you. And with the PA system working, you asked whoever was down there for a ceasefire. You stated you were not looking for trouble, before telling Iliara to return to your location. Lastly, you asked the sniper to show themselves using her fog ability, since Hetzen was capable of doing such a thing. "Fuck me, I hope you're correct on this being Hetzen." Ignacy mumbled in turn, after which Chrys also brought up something concerning.

"I hope Kenai and Idalia will be fine as well. Ili may be coming back here, but... I dunno if Idalia and Kenai will do the same." The good news was that Kenai was evasive and also capable of obscuring herself with her snow ability. And Idalia was Idalia, who could probably hide decently well without getting shot. Still, you didn't head outside just yet, waiting for Iliara to appear. In the meantime, Annie spoke up calmly. "I gotta head back to delivering news now, Mik. I'll leave the radio connected to the PA system so you can keep using it without me. Please be careful, alright?" Thankfully, it wouldn't take much longer before you saw Iliara landing near you. "What the hell is going on?!" She immediately asked in bewilderment, as you explained how you wanted Ili to talk to the person on the other side. "That sounds like a stupid fucking idea. You got any idea as to who's on the other side, Mikhail?" You explained that you believed it to be Hetzen, someone Ili could maybe convince to accept a ceasfire.

Iliara thought about it for a moment, before sighing. "Alright, fine." Iliara took the radio, turning it on as you heard her voice echo through the sector. "Ummm, hey, whoever just shot down the drone. I believe we... know each other a little bit. So, would you be willing to please put down your sniper rifle and just... talk?" You again asked them to use smoke to show their location, at which point you let the unknown sniper know you still wanted to have a truce. Once you were done, Lars softly mumbled: "Here's hoping your suspicions are correct Mik. And if you aren't... well, let's just hope that whoever heard us didn't realise that was a subject talking over the PA system!" Seeing that you now needed to see the smoke to spot the subject, you'd carefully move out of cover, your men clearly a bit on edge. Once you had gotten out of the concrete shell, your men would carefully look around, looking for any signs of Hetzen releasing her smoke.

However, as you and your men carefully looked around, you heard another gunshot. The noise of glass cracking echoed through the air, as you noticed one of the lights on the other side of the concrete street being shot to smithereens. Your men and girls quickly retreated, with Anon even adding: "They did NOT accept the ceasefire!" However, whilst your group quickly headed back to the concrete shell you had felt safe in, a tiny bit of black fog started obscuring the ceiling just a smidge. In other words, it seemed all but guaranteed that this was Hetzen's doing. Though, why she would still be shooting you after Ili's reassurance and releasing fog was a bit of a mystery to you. Then again, she hadn't shot at your men who peeked down the road where she likely was positioned. She had been given ample opportunity to shoot your men, and only hit a light source. And whilst these lights were relatively close by, it didn't seem like a missed shot...

>What do you do next?

>Send your girls out to find Hetzen and talk to her. Iliara knew her and would probably be able to convince her to stand down. Or if you wanted to really send a message, Reika was still eager to fight back against someone she perceived as a threat. (Write in who you send in to find Hetzen and what you want them to tell Hetzen.)
>Speak to Hetzen over the PA system to let her know what you were doing here and to maybe also let her know you weren't above fighting back. Or just let her know you'd only fight back if she managed to injure one of your forces. (Write in what you tell Hetzen.)
>Talk to Kenai and Idalia over the PA system. They were currently not accounted for just yet, and you didn't want them to get into a dangerous position against Hetzen or who else may be down here. (Write in what you tell Idalia and Kenai over the PA system.)
>Just avoid the sightline where Hetzen was aiming from and quietly try to pass through. If you just kept to the small alleyways and other side paths, it was unlikely you'd get shot at anyway. (Write in how you try and move around Hetzen.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6475022
>>6475193
(These are both adorable. Shame Grise has decided to become evil though. She's such a cute wolf girl...)

>>6475221
Ok, I thought Annie would make the announcement. Sure hope no death squads are in earshot or we just incriminated ourselves.

>Speak to Hetzen over the PA system to let her know what you were doing here and to maybe also let her know you weren't above fighting back. Or just let her know you'd only fight back if she managed to injure one of your forces. (Write in what you tell Hetzen.)
Tell her we want to pass through the area, and to shoot the same spot again if she's willing to let us do that.

If she does, ask if she's willing to meet up and coordinate that if so.

>>6475221
>Speak to Hetzen over the PA system to let her know what you were doing here and to maybe also let her know you weren't above fighting back. Or just let her know you'd only fight back if she managed to injure one of your forces.
We're not here to be be her enemies, as she can probably tell, can't she? Given that, we'd like to pass through without being shot at, if she could do that. Or even better, speak to her. We've got a special mission that the Facility's best sharpshooter could help us with that's better than abusing streetlights if she thinks she might be able to do it.

Also have Sibby look in the direction the gunshot came from and see if she can spot the next muzzle flash, or even the lizard herself.

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>>6475790

>>6475707
Different sweater.

>Speak to Hetzen over the PA system to let her know what you were doing here and to maybe also let her know you weren't above fighting back. Or just let her know you'd only fight back if she managed to injure one of your forces.
Feeling confident that this was Hetzen's doing, you decided to again ask Anon for the radio so you could talk over the PA system yourself. "I don't think she's interested in talking to us, Mik!" Mike immediately responded, after which you took the radio and started speaking into it. You explained that you just wanted to pass through the area, and that you weren't there to fight her. You even told her you'd enjoy speaking to her instead, since you knew a talented sharpshooter such as her could be beneficial to your mission. To make sure she was on the same page as you, you asked her to shoot at the same spot she just shot. That way, you'd know 100% certain that she was not trying to hurt you. And to make sure this could be safely monitored without putting you or your men at risk, you asked Sibilia to peek from behind cover. That way, if Hetzen ended up still wanting to shoot you, she'd most likely not cause any harm.

"Sure, I'd not mind that." Sibilia casually remarked, as Anon responded: "You sure, Sibilia? I don't know how powerful the gun is Hetzen has, but if it's like my rifle, it could very well pierce your armour." Sibilia scoffed in turn, before sharing her thoughts. "I doubt I'll be in that much trouble. You've seen what I can tank already. Besides, I imagine the main reason she's firing at you guys is cause you're death squad soldiers." After Sibilia made her points, she'd approach the main street, you also asking her to look out for any muzzle flash in the dark. "I'll use every vision mode I got to get a good look, Mik!" Sibilia proudly stated, her soon peeking out from behind cover. Things went eerily quiet for a moment, before you heard another bang and watched the remaining parts of the streetlight being blasted off.

Your men let out a collective sigh, Antonin remarking: "Thank goodness, she's reasonable." After which Chaly responded: "Great, let's get going then! I wanna get out of here as fast as possible!" However, you instead took the radio and again spoke over the PA system, asking her if that also meant she'd be willing to meet up in person. You didn't get a response in the form of another gunshot, Anon soon responding: "Let's just get going. She can probably see us and approach us if she wants to help us out." Before you left the area, you asked Sibilia if she had spotted Hetzen. And to your delight, Sibilia nodded. "Yep. In fact, I can see her coming this way as we speak!" Your men were even more surprised, with Vinisha remarking: "S-She's gonna join us? That's awesome!" However, Iliara was still a little reluctant: "Don't get your hopes up, you guys. For all we know, she's only coming this way because she wants to mock us for refusing to fight her or some shit like that."

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Whatever was the case, you'd figure out soon enough, as you and the rest of your men stood on the main road which Hetzen had used as a sightline. The fog she had released was becoming quite a bit thicker, as more and more darkness envelloped the concrete buildings around you. "You sure this isn't a trick, Mik?" Ignacy asked, Artyom getting his gun ready and answering confidently. "If it is, we've got plenty of tricks up our sleeves. And it'll make for fine practice." Reika growled in turn, also wanting to share her thoughts. "If this is a stupid trick from Hetzen, I will find that stupid lizard and kill her." Soon after though, Sibilia pointed up at one of the nearby concrete shells. "There she is." And sure enough, from the dense mist stepped a black lizard girl. She was of average height, holding a large yet somewhat outdated sniper rifle, perhaps a hand-me-down. "Well, this sure is a sight to behold. You're the first human soldiers who I've seen working with subjects."

Hetzen had a smug smile on her face, her soon sitting down at the ledge of the mock building. Before you and your men could ask her questions, Hetzen already spoke up with a brash and confident voice. "Still, even with the huge variety of subjects you got, I totally understand your wish to avoid a firefight with me. I mean, you girls aren't exactly gonna be able to deal with me, haha." Understandably, your girls all looked a tad bit annoyed by Hetzen's insults, with Chrys even adding: "Okay, some of us... might not be perfect for combat yet. But, trust me, Mikhail and his men would've easily wiped the floor with you if we decided to fight back!" Hetzen let out a quick wheeze, crossing her legs and leaning back a little. "Really now? Was that why he so graciously asked me to stop shooting at him and his men?" Your men were also growing a bit more reluctant and irritated. Worse, Hetzen soon took notice of Iliara. "Speaking of not using guns, Iliara. What a pleasure to see you again! Well, I already saw you flying around the place. How is being a combat medic going?"

Iliara glared up at Hetzen before saying: "Oh you know, saving lives, helping people out by not being a smug little dickhead." Hetzen chuckled in response, before you finally got the chance to introduce yourself properly. You'd also let your men introduce yourself. Though, once Anon spoke up, Hetzen ignored the people who came after, immediately speaking up. "Anon, it's always a pleasure to meet another marksman. I am curious about your talents as the sniper of this group, hm?" Anon gave a bit of a reluctant response, saying: "Well, this isn't my usual role, I'll admit. I mostly accepted it since my previous weaponry wasn't adequate for our mission at hand." Hetzen seemed to have either not heard the second part of what Anon said, or she deliberately ignored it as she spoke up in an eager tone. "So, a rookie sniper, huh? Well that's fine. That just makes you lucky in finding me!"

Hetzen jumped down from the building, landing on her two clawed feet before doing an actual pose with her sniper rifle in one hand. "I'd be delighted to train you in the arts of marksmanship, Anon! Perhaps we can start with a little practice where I can give you some tips on your aim, maybe point out your mistakes and so on. Trust me, I can make you into one hell of a sniper. Maybe not as good as myself, but reaching my skill level is probably impossible for a mere human, hehe." By now, it was clear that Iliara hadn't been lying. Hetzen was insanely egotistical and arrogant. Sibilia would even add: "The only thing no human could ever match you in is how bloated your ego is." Iliara and several of your men chuckled, as Hetzen approached the metal fly subject. "I suggest you let the real soldiers talk, bug. Don't wanna end up getting squished between us by accident." Sibilia again scoffed, Hetzen ignoring her. Meanwhile, Anon tried to prevent further conflict. "I... appreciate your offer, Hetzen. But, I'm afraid we're on an important mission and I can't exactly spend a lot of time training. Besides, I've got enough training to know how to use this thing."

Unfortunately, Anons attempt to be friendly and reasonable only seemed to annoy Hetzen more than anything. "Oh, I see how it is. You think you know everything about being a sniper, huh? Well, perhaps we ought to have a little competition then?" Anon raised an eyebrow. "Uhhh, no, that is not what I mean. I just wanna-" Hetzen again interrupted the person she was talking to. "Scared of losing, are ya? That's fine, you can admit that." Thankfully, Anon was smart enough to just ignore Hetzen's rather pathetic display, nodding casually. "Yeah man, that's it. I'm terrified. Absolutely." Hetzen rolled her eyes, before turning to you. "Regardless, you mentioned some kind of mission you needed me for? I presume it had something to do with the various lowlife death squads currently stirring conflict down here?"

Once again, before you could elaborate, Hetzen spoke up once more. "Actually, do tell me more about the various death squads. Who are the talentless hacks running around with heavy weaponry? Or the childish little losers with sound cannons? They're a joy to kick the asses of." Well at least Hetzen knew how to deal with Diamond Dogs and Heroes soldiers, from the sound of things...

>What do you do next?

>Tell Hetzen about what was going on with the whole disaster and such. Maybe she'd be able to share some insights about the Demon. Or at the very least, she'd realise your unique position compared to other death squads. (Write in what you tell Hetzen.)
>Accept the challenge she gave Anon. Clearly, Hetzen loved the idea of competing against another sniper. And even though Anon would probably lose, it'd make her happy and probably make her more eager to join you. (Write in what kind of challenge and potential prizes you'll give.)
>Ask her if she'd want to join you in killing Feng. Surely she'd realise how important this mission is and accept right away. (Write in how you ask Hetzen to join you.)
>Just move on without her. Hetzen clearly was a bit of a petty child who would just cause strife in your group, making it not worth the effort to keep her around. (Write in how you move on.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...


(Anderson is too tired and exhausted being stuck in a safe, comfortable room protected by the government so I, stuck down here in the dark being hunted by your co-workers, have to do the post for him. I really don't see what Haina see's in him...Don't tell her I said that.)

>>6475378
>>6475707
>>6475708
(Anderson has told me to tell you that the work you've done is very cute. Though I think it goes without saying.)

>>6475784
>I suggest you let the real soldiers talk, bug. Don't wanna end up getting squished between us by accident
Lmao, you'd need a hydraulic press for that.

>>6475786
>Tell Hetzen about what was going on with the whole disaster and such. Maybe she'd be able to share some insights about the Demon. Or at the very least, she'd realise your unique position compared to other death squads. (Write in what you tell Hetzen.)
She's obnoxious but at least allied. No reason to hold stuff back.

>Accept the challenge she gave Anon. Clearly, Hetzen loved the idea of competing against another sniper. And even though Anon would probably lose, it'd make her happy and probably make her more eager to join you. (Write in what kind of challenge and potential prizes you'll give.)
Whatever kind of challenge she wants, this is just to get her in a good mood.

>Ask her if she'd want to join you in killing Feng. Surely she'd realise how important this mission is and accept right away. (Write in how you ask Hetzen to join you.)
Tell her we were so impressed by her winning the competition, we realized we couldn't do it without her. Play that giant ego.

Hopefully she isn't too grating. We did manage to endure early Morgan.

>>6475790
>Tell Hetzen about what was going on with the whole disaster and such. Maybe she'd be able to share some insights about the Demon. Or at the very least, she'd realise your unique position compared to other death squads
Andrei's big monster got loose, the centre of the Facility got blown up, lots of people dead and facility gone or crippled, government send in death squads to shoot all the survivors and salvage intel. Heavy weapons guys are from Heroes, sound cannon guys are from Diamond Dogs. Both groups considered nasty assholes even among other mercs so shoot away.
Speaking of, are the bodies of her kills still lying around here? We might be able to make use of their stuff.

>Just move on without her. Hetzen clearly was a bit of a petty child who would just cause strife in your group, making it not worth the effort to keep her around.
Most of my desire to recruit her has just evaporated - for the first time, I'm going to advocate refusing a willing and useful member. If this is how it's going to be, she's going to be absolutely unbearable and will constantly feud with people (particularly the other gun subjects and the knights), piss off everyone just by her presence and has no ability to work in a team. No matter how good she is, it's not worth having someone like that around for the damage she may do to group morale and cohesion.
On account of her behaviour just now, we don't think she would fit into the group and her services are no longer required. Best of luck staying here.

>>6475707
...who did you borrow those clothes from, Annie? They look familiar.

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>>6475801
>...who did you borrow those clothes from, Annie? They look familiar.

Don't Worry.

Kimmy already washed that outfit before passed it to Annie. It's sparking clean with no stained.

She also knitted that other sweater for Annie, as well.

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>>6475826

Annie somehow possession a actual copy of that fanfic with her and Mikhail written by that certain spoder lover researcher.

No one will ever known. . Well, at least for now.

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>>6475827

>>6475825
"Hey Annie, what are you holding there?" -Logan

--

Their is nothing in note, Logan. Go check on that honeydew ant maid-thing to see what she is cooking today?
>Annie quickly shove that fanfic into her tail. He will not expect a thing. .

--

"Alright... by the way, the Kimmy outfit is a little... not your style. I prefer your usual outfit way more." - Logan

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>>6475826
>Annie reading thy smut story.

>>6475790
>Tell Hetzen about what was going on with the whole disaster and such. Maybe she'd be able to share some insights about the Demon. Or at the very least, she'd realise your unique position compared to other death squads. (Write in what you tell Hetzen.)
Shit talk Heroes and Diamond Dogs a bit to appease her. Tell her about how the Heroes squads here have been doing a shit job despite always claiming to be the best of the best and having the very best equipment money can buy. Then say that Diamond Dogs have a reputation for being insufferable sacks of shit and that we're hoping many more of them will die down here.

>Just move on without her. Hetzen clearly was a bit of a petty child who would just cause strife in your group, making it not worth the effort to keep her around. (Write in how you move on.)
Don't think I want this one on the team. She might be a great sniper but I can already tell she'd cause problems and wouldn't work well as part of our crew. Tell her that despite us wanting to make use of her exceptional skills, she may be better off solo after all. Then wish her good hunting and move forward.

>Tell Hetzen about what was going on with the whole disaster and such. Maybe she'd be able to share some insights about the Demon. Or at the very least, she'd realise your unique position compared to other death squads
Wanting to appease her a bit, you told her about the disaster that happened. You explained that a massive Andrei subject had escaped containment somehow and caused the entire facility to go to shit. As a result, a lot of people died and the facility somehow blew up. "Ah yeah, I saw her." There was a moment of silent shock, with Mike quietly asking: "You saw what?" You asked if she meant the Demon, Hetzen nodding. "Aye. My containment chamber was relatively near to where she was going. So Jabal sent me out to try and get a good shot at her. Didn't succeed, unfortunately, but I did get a good glimpse of her." This made Iliara teasingly remark: "So what you're saying is that you failed to stop this subject and everything went to shit because of that?" You saw Codaline giving Ili a forceful elbow to try and get her to shut up, as your men immediately asked a bunch of questions. "What did she look like?" "How did she behave?" "Where did she go?" "Did she show any unique abilities?" "Where did she come from?"

Hetzen scoffed in turn, clearly taking pleasure in her knowledge of this situation. "Hmmmm, I could tell you... but, first, I wanna know about what YOU guys and those other death squads are doing here." For the first time, you had met someone who had seen the Demon subject and maybe knew what happened to her, and she was withholding it just because she wanted her own questions answered first. Whilst you could understand her wanting to get a bit more context as to what was going on, it was really grating that she'd bring this up and then refuse to elaborate. Still, wanting to stay on her good side to get at least some information, you explained that the government sent in death squads to shoot any and all survivors and to salvage intel.

"And that includes subjects, I presume?" You nodded and told her that that was indeed the case. You also explained that the heavy weapons guys were Heroes soldiers, whilst the sound cannon folk were Diamond Dogs. You also explained that Heroes was doing a particularly shit job even though they claimed to be the best, making Hetzen wheeze. "Best my ass. I killed a whole group of those nobodies without breaking a sweat. Only thing they're good for is giving me ammo and side-arms." You explained that most other death squads also hated Heroes, before pointing out that Diamond Dogs were especially hated. You even went so far as to call them insufferable sacks of shit and that you hoped she'd keep taking them down. Hetzen gave a bright smile and put her hands together. "Mikhail, you have my word that I'll deal with any of these Diamond Dogs or Heroes folks who come down here." You thanked her for the help, before asking if their bodies were still around here, wanting to take some of their stuff.

"I'm afraid not. My first kills were mainly in the open combat sector above where wea re right now, before taking over the north-eastern climate control zone. I then moved down into the urban combat sector to the south of here, which I at first thought would have more people. But, I then moved over here and... well, not many people have showed up around here. Maybe that's why Alexandra's here instead of leading the fight." There was a bit of irony in what Hetzen was saying, as she didn't exactly elaborate as to why she left areas with plenty of targets to kill. Still, you didn't question it, after which Artyom spoke up and asked what was on everyone's mind now. "Okay, now that we've told you about what's going on, you can tell us about your encounter with the Demon. What happened exactly?" Hetzen didn't hesitate to give an answer, thankfully no longer clinging to the information she did have. "Alright, alright. I'll tell you guys everything I know."

Hetzen put her hands together, before remarking: "So, I was in my chamber when things went to shit and Jabal told me of a rogue subject, giving me permission to shoot her. Mainly because the area I was in was the very path this Demon girl was taking. So, I broke out of my containment area, grabbed my gun and waited for her to show up. Issue was, the subject was... unlike any I've ever seen. She was massive, first of all, easily being able to reach the ceiling if she stretched out her hand. My best guess is she was about 80 feet. As for what she looked like... her body was dark and fluid-like, constantly shifting and moving. Though, maybe that was because of the weird black tentacles coming from her back. She also had long, purple hair and these glowing eyes. I did shoot at her once, but the bullet didn't stop her obviously. Given her appearance, I think she must've been some sorta slime girl." Lars quietly asked: "How did she react to being shot at?" Which led to an even more confusing answer from Hetzen.

"She... looked at me and, then said 'I'm sorry' before continuing to run away. I gave chase to her for a bit, watching her get shot at a few times by staff. But, she never fought back. She only ever destroyed some things to escape. Hell, when she walked into a massive group of guardsmen coming from the barracks, she retreated back towards where she came from. I tried following her, but... she soon after disappeared." It didn't seem like a murderous evil subject at all. A dangerous subject sure, but not something which would bring the destruction of the entire facility. "Did you know of this subject before the disaster?" Sigit asked, Hetzen shaking her head. "Nope. I've never heard anything of her." Afterwards though, Hetzen took a more prideful and eager tone. "So anyway, you guys said something about a special mission I could be able to help with?" You thought about what to say for a short moment, before shaking your head.

>Just move on without her. Hetzen clearly was a bit of a petty child who would just cause strife in your group, making it not worth the effort to keep her around.
Given how confrontative she was with the girls already by your side, you felt that keeping Hetzen around just wasn’t worth it. That was not to mention how she’d likely behave around your other combat subjects... or worse, Morgan. Clearly, the social cohesion of your group would be at risk if she joined you. So, with some mild reluctance, you told her that whilst her skills were impressive, you felt she might be better off continuing to work solo down here. Hetzen’s smile faded, and you actually saw a bit of shock followed by visible disappointment. “Oh, that’s...” She sounded and looked genuinely hurt for a moment, before her expression shifted to one of contempt. “I get it. You’re intimidated by my talents. You know that I’d just take all the thunder from you guys. It’s jealousy, isn’t it?”

Hetzen scoffed and looked away in annoyance. “Well, I didn’t wanna join you guys anyway. I’m far better on my own, and I don’t wanna get bogged down by...” She was about to say something rude towards you, before shaking her head. “Ugh, nevermind. Just leave me alone.” She’d claw her way back onto the building, getting ready to leave you behind again.

>What do you do next?

>Try and talk with her a little longer. Maybe you could figure out what her deal was if you spent more time with her, or make her feel less bad about not letting you join your party. Or maybe you could even confront her about her toxic mindset. Or, you could just use the opportunity to learn more about the Demon. (Write in what you try and ask her.)
>Wish her good luck and continue heading forward. Her response just highlighted her narcissism and inability to take any and all critique. Clearly, you had made the right choice and it was better to just get going again. (Write in where you go once Hetzen leaves.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(>>6475790
>(Anderson is too tired and exhausted being stuck in a safe, comfortable room protected by the government so I, stuck down here in the dark being hunted by your co-workers, have to do the post for him. I really don't see what Haina see's in him...Don't tell her I said that.)
(First of all, thank you Sarah for the help. Second of all, I'm not in the best place either, I'm afraid. The government's constantly breathing down my neck, and the power keeps going out for some reason!)

>>6476149
>Given her appearance, I think she must've been some sorta slime girl
Fake demon. We should call her something else. Slime queen?

>>6476150
>Try and talk with her a little longer. Maybe you could figure out what her deal was if you spent more time with her, or make her feel less bad about not letting you join your party. Or maybe you could even confront her about her toxic mindset. Or, you could just use the opportunity to learn more about the Demon. (Write in what you try and ask her.)
Ask her what her daily life was like before the disaster, try and get some clues on why her attitude developed like it did. This most recent update proved she can be decent, so hopefully the anons who decided to pass on an inhumanly capable sniper because she can be annoying will read it and reconsider.

Seriously, we put in the work for Morgan, why not Hetzen?

>>6476150
>Try and talk with her a little longer. Maybe you could figure out what her deal was if you spent more time with her, or make her feel less bad about not letting you join your party. Or maybe you could even confront her about her toxic mindset. Or, you could just use the opportunity to learn more about the Demon.
Hetzen reminds me of Vinisha when first met and she was beating her chest to cover for her insecurities, but worse. She doesn't seem like a truly rotten person but she's clearly got some major Issues she's trying to cover and cope hard for. So fine, we might just be able to work with this until we can unpick what's going in in that brain of hers. When we regroup, we can put Kaenum on the case.

Lay some cards on the table. The mission in question is to move against a top Facility villain - TIL-84, Feng Zetian and her slave army. The problem with that is that it will be a major operation involving a large array of subjects - including some we know she won't get on with or sees as rivals like Iliara, Morgan, Dhabus and Katya - surviving Facility staff and other friendly death squad members that requires everyone to work smoothly together, support each other and follow their assigned orders. If she's going to feud with people, antagonise her allies and do her own thing then it could put the entire operation and people's lives at risk. So we'll only have her if she can restrain herself from this behaviour and work as part of a team. Can she do that?

>>6476178
Hetzen is not merely "annoying" and is in a whole different league. Morgan was just up her own ass and snooty and was okay most of the time, generally just getting an eyeroll at most - if Hetzen continues as she is, everyone will loathe her and hate working with her, she will be a major detriment to group morale and something WILL give. In just one conversation, she managed to go out of her way to actively antagonise everyone she spoke to, something Morgan never did. Either she can shape up and fast or she's going to get beaten up by someone she pushes too far and/or ejected from the group. She's good, but she's not worth the constant drama and aggro she would cause that drags the entire group down around her.

>>6476150
>Try and talk with her a little longer. Maybe you could figure out what her deal was if you spent more time with her, or make her feel less bad about not letting you join your party. Or maybe you could even confront her about her toxic mindset. Or, you could just use the opportunity to learn more about the Demon. (Write in what you try and ask her.)
Ask about her opinion of her creators, and whether she's spoken to Alexandra or any of her militia. And warn her that the combat sector is likely going to be swarming with death squads when it loses power in a few days, after we've broken Zephyr out of her Sisyphean prison.

>>6476178
Morgan was very vocal about her opinions on guns but she never had a shitty attitude or tried to start shit like Hetzen. I guess I'm fine with giving her another chance though.

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Anon has caught Hetzen eyeing him too closely.

>>6476150
>>Try and talk with her a little longer. Maybe you could figure out what her deal was if you spent more time with her, or make her feel less bad about not letting you join your party. Or maybe you could even confront her about her toxic mindset. Or, you could just use the opportunity to learn more about the Demon. (Write in what you try and ask her.)
So you're lonely huh? We might be willing to let you on the team.... BUT you need to let go of the attitude of yours, you be working on a team, which mean taking orders, working together with the rest of the squad and assisting us where you can given your abilities like everyone else and acting like you're queen hot-shit from mountain turd won't help you. So tell us what you really want and are you willing to be better?

>Try and talk with her a little longer. Maybe you could figure out what her deal was if you spent more time with her, or make her feel less bad about not letting you join your party. Or maybe you could even confront her about her toxic mindset. Or, you could just use the opportunity to learn more about the Demon.
Remembering your initial struggles with Morgan and Vinisha's insecurities, you decided to give Hetzen a bit more of a chance to show her good side. You told her to wait, her thankfully pausing and turning around to look at you. You thus explained that your mission was a rather difficult one: to kill Feng Zetian. "That mind-control queen Andrei designed? Hm, I'm listening." Hetzen softly responded, you explaining that this would be a massive mission involving a huge number of subjects and soldiers. You knew that some of these subjects, like Iliara and Morgan, didn't exactly get along with Hetzen. Though bringing up Morgan made Hetzen wheeze.

"You're working with... her?! Heh, hehehehe... oh, that's funny. Ooh, tell me, how many times has she mocked you for using guns? Did she try eating some of them because of her silly beliefs? Or wait, did she give you a lecture about 'chivalry' or whatever other ancient crap she's so fixated on?" Hetzen was clearly a bit too entertained by Morgan's behaviour, some of your men looking a little annoyed by her bashing. Ironically, it would be Iliara who would step forward and actually speak up in favour of Morgan here. "Holy fuck, Mik is trying to make a point here. Can you just shut the fuck up for five seconds?" Iliara's blunt response thankfully worked well enough, Hetzen looking a bit shocked before scoffing dismissively. "Ugh, whatever." You continue explaining that you'd work with a lot of people, all of them having to work together smoothly and support one another. In other words, she needed to accept your command and not feud with people for stupid reasons.

"Me? Fueding with people? Not following commands? Pffff, as if! I'm one of the best subjects out there when it comes to following commands! I can accept your authority for sure, Mikhail. Don't worry. As for my 'feuds', they're just harmless little teases. Nothing that bad. Really, people should just have a bit of thick skin." Based on how she interacted with Iliara and Morgan, you knew she was just making BS excuses now. It was clear to you she had major issues, but you also knew Kaenum could help in resolving some of said issues. Still, just to be sure, you again asked her to restrain herself and to not antagonise your friends and allies. Not just for the wellbeing of your allies, but also because it could seriously cause problems to your main mission. "Ugh, I heard you the first time. Yes, I'll try and... tease people less." She let out a soft groan. "So long as subjects like Morgan don't annoy me with their idiotic ramblings about sword fighting or garbage like that."

"Honestly, Morgan hasn't been too bothersome with her chivalry stuff for a little while now." Vinisha mumbled hesitantly, Hetzen raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, she was pretty irritating at first, but Mikhail managed to get her to stop treating guns like they were an infectious disease." Mike added onto that, after which you again asked her if she really wanted to join you and if she'd behave better if she did join. "Hmmm, okay, fine. I do wanna help in dealing with Feng. It'd be a lot more enjoyable than sniping idiots who can't even handle a little smoke." Hetzen calmly added, before taking a more stern tone. "However... the moment Morgan says anything about 'dishonour' or someone else starts complaining about me for dumb reasons, I'm not holding back. Understood?" It wasn't exactly the answer you were looking for, but you could probably tell Morgan and Ili to tone it back to help Hetzen become a lot less of a twat. Still, this was clearly a somewhat uneasy and very volatile alliance to put it lightly.

Hetzen thus jumped back down again, after which you decided to ask her a few more personal questions. You asked her what life was like before the disaster. Both because you wanted to be nice and because you wanted some clues as to why she is the way she is. "Hmm, well it was pretty boring. I just spent most of my time practicing my abilities, kicking ass and maybe occasionally competing with other subjects. I obviously won every competition, given my superb skills and perception. But other than that, it wasn't too eventful. I've liked finally being able to use my skills on real people." In turn, Chrys spoke up curiously. "So, what sorta skills do you have? You can aim really well and climb pretty good too. Anything else?" Hetzen had a proud smile on her face, as she showed off her claws. "Well, I got these for melee combat if anyone manages to get close to me. Other than that, I can spew out smoke like a dragon to block out sightlines and trick people."

"Ahhh, yeah, we did see some of that smoke whilst we were behind cover." Antonin responded in turn, after which you also asked her opinions of her creators. Hetzen's confident smile quickly soured, her crossing her arms and pouting. "Well, Jabal was either blind or his wife was some sorta succubus subject, cause he only seemed to pay attention to her instead of spending time with me! Not that I needed him anyway. I practiced enough on my own for smart folk like Roraima and other scientists to take notice of me at the very least..." This made Reika growl and Codaline look a little insulted. "Roraima's not smart! He's stupid and arrogant and hurt subjects for stupid reasons!" Reika responded, Hetzen noticing the angry manticore and thankfully toning it down. "I mean... he was smarter than Jabal, that's for sure." This worked somewhat, Reika calming down a lot and thankfully realising what Hetzen meant. "So what about Roraima then?" Anon asked cautiously in turn.

Hetzen again scoffed, giving a more bemused smile. "He's... not my second creator. And, admittedly, he wasn't the best guy either... but, he was at least better than Cerro." Given what Morgan had said about Cerro, Hetzen's hatred confused your group a tad bit. "Huh, what did Cerro do?" Alan asked curiously, with Sibilia also chiming in. "From what I recall, Cerro was pretty well-liked by most of his subjects and staff members." Hetzen glared at Sibilia for remarking this, before speaking in quiet rage again. "Yeah, MOST subjects. Not all of 'em. Whilst Jabal was so focused on his wife instead of helping me train, Cerro always kept me from training to the fullest even when I told him I was ready! And even though I proved myself time and time again, he always kept doubting me. Not to mention, spending way more time with his other subjects than me! No matter what I did, he just ignored me and my talents!"

After clearly venting a bit, Hetzen looked down a bit, speaking a bit more softly. "Honestly, I don't need either of them. I don't care if Jabal abandoned me for his stupid wife. I don't care if Cerro didn't see my talents. I know that I am the best marksman to have ever existed!" Hetzen went quiet for a moment, clearly having opened up a lot to that question. But before you could ask for more, Hetzen faked a bit of a smile and let out an exasperated scoff. "If you or the others disagree, that's a-okay with me. Just don’t tell me to let it go or that they did care about me or sappy crap like that. I really don't care about those two idiots and can live without them. In fact, it's their loss for not being able to spend more time with me!" Hetzen’s denial was palpable. But, you also could tell that asking her more now would only upset her further and would just make her close herself off even more. Perhaps it was better to just wait for Kaenum to get a chance to talk to her, at which point Hetzen's troubled past could be delved in a lot better.

With that in mind, you simply moved onto the next question, asking her if she had spoken to Alexandra or her forces. "I did, actually. I had a chat with a few guardsmen who worked under her. They were pretty friendly, honestly. Though, I decided not to join them because I didn't wanna be bogged down by them. Why, are you looking for Alexandra to help you deal with Feng, or something?" You confirmed that was indeed your goal, with the plan being to recruit her before heading back down into the communications sector. There, you'd break Zephyr out of her prison so she could also join your forces. "Oh shit, you REALLY have been thinking this through, huh?" Hetzen sounded pleasantly impressed. Of course, you readily admitted that saving Zephyr did pose a risk to Alexandra's forces and other survivors down here. "Huh, how so?" Hetzen asked, you explaining that it'd knock out the power to the combat sector, disabling all the turrets and leaving everything in total darkness.

"Oh man, shame I'll probably be hunting Feng with you by then, haha. I would've loooved to lurk in the shadows here, dealing with those idiotic Diamond Dogs and Heroes." Hetzen chuckled, before speaking more optimistically. "Anyway, what's the plan for now? How do you guys plan on dealing with Feng? I take it you want me to take the final shot on her or something? Or perhaps you need me to provide support against some of Feng's more lethal slaves or something along those lines?" Hetzen sounded genuinely curious and interested. Though, maybe that was just because she imagined herself playing a key role in the mission.

>What do you do next?

>Tell her your current plans whilst you headed forward. You could embellish her role a little bit to make her more excited for what was to come. Or you could just be honest and tell her you didn't know what her role would be just yet, but that it would be important given her skillset. (Write in what you tell her.)
>Ask her more questions whilst continuing your search for Alexandra. Maybe you could figure out a bit more about her insecurities and relationships with subjects and scientists. Or, you could ask her to help out with finding Alexandra. (Write in what you ask her.)
>Give your men and subjects a chance to talk about themselves as well. Hetzen had rudely interrupted the introductions of several folk, so maybe it was nice to also give them a chance to speak up and talk a bit about themselves. (Write in what you tell your men and subjects.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6476533
>Tell her your current plans whilst you headed forward. You could embellish her role a little bit to make her more excited for what was to come. Or you could just be honest and tell her you didn't know what her role would be just yet, but that it would be important given her skillset. (Write in what you tell her.)
Ask her how well acquainted she is with plasma railguns and if she can handle one as well as a rifle. It might be better off in her hands, Thaddeus only has it because he's the only guy in our squad strong enough to carry the fucking thing without issue and the dude misses his shots half the time.

>>6476533
>Tell her your current plans whilst you headed forward. You could embellish her role a little bit to make her more excited for what was to come. Or you could just be honest and tell her you didn't know what her role would be just yet, but that it would be important given her skillset. (Write in what you tell her.)
What's her ammo situation?

I've also been wondering a bit, what does nonlethal ammo look like in the far future? Movie style tranq bullets? Those sonic cannons that DD love? Just in case it's possible to save more thralls than we thought.

>>6476533
holy daddy issues batman
>Tell her your current plans whilst you headed forward. You could embellish her role a little bit to make her more excited for what was to come. Or you could just be honest and tell her you didn't know what her role would be just yet, but that it would be important given her skillset.
We don't fully know yet. We'll hash out an assault plan in detail later when we know for sure who and what we're going to have available to us and with Alexandra and Erie's help but she's got the right idea of it. Likely either as fire support against Feng herself or countersniping and anti-HVT against her forces. Either way, we know she can do it.

>Ask her more questions whilst continuing your search for Alexandra. Maybe you could figure out a bit more about her insecurities and relationships with subjects and scientists. Or, you could ask her to help out with finding Alexandra.
Is this rifle her usual firearm? If it's not, we'll be headed to the armoury and could find her something else.
Where did she see Alexandra's forces and when? Anything to distinguish them from other staff?
Does she have any subjects she might consider friends?

>>6476603
Double daddy issues. It's grim.

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>>6476848

Blood wolfu has found the way of comfy.

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>>6476846
>... what is the secret of comfy?

Mixie: "That's confidential info, you see. Along this little pawn right here."

Mixie: "Nae, the blood wolf found a very comfy pillow to lay on."

>Tell her your current plans whilst you headed forward. You could embellish her role a little bit to make her more excited for what was to come. Or you could just be honest and tell her you didn't know what her role would be just yet, but that it would be important given her skillset.
You admitted that you hadn't exactly planned out how you'd deal with Feng yet, making her raise an eyebrow. "I presume you're waiting to meet up with Alexandra and some other forces before you got a plan going then, huh?" You nodded, telling her you'd hash out the details later with help from Alexandra and Erie. Though, you did also remark that her proposed role of suppressing more dangerous targets was going in the right direction. "It's what I'm the best at!" Hetzen reasserted, you telling her that you knew she could do it. Hearing this actually made her smile a lot more brightly, as it seemed compliments really helped bring out the more friendly side of her. "Of course I can do it. If anyone can do such a job, then it'll be me!" Obviously, there was still a bit of ego visible, but she at least didn't mock anyone else this time around.

>Ask her more questions whilst continuing your search for Alexandra. Maybe you could figure out a bit more about her insecurities and relationships with subjects and scientists. Or, you could ask her to help out with finding Alexandra.
Shortly after you told her your plans to find Alexandra before planning your battle against Feng, you led the way to try and follow after Kenai and Idalia, who by now must've gone pretty damn far from you. In the meantime though, you tried to get a bit more info out of Hetzen, both out of interest and because you wanted to give her a bit more attention. You started asking her about her rifle and if it was her usual firearm, before offering to head towards the armoury to find something else. "I appreciate the offer, Mikhail. But, this gun's already from manufacturing to the west of here!"

Your men were rather curious as to how this came to be. After all, most guards and staff didn't seem to have too many high-tech or lethal weaponry. It was mostly just taser guns, simple guns with rubber bullets or powerful stun batons. A powerful sniper rifle like hers didn't seem like something they'd have loads of. "Are there... other sniper rifles down there?" Mike asked curiously, Hetzen shaking her head. "Nah, I got this one made on my own down there. Without any help at that! This gun's all mine!" Though, this did make some of your other girls a little confused. "A sniper rifle. On your own. You somehow were first ALLOWED to make such a weapon on your own inside of the combat sector, then were allowed to keep a hold of it without any sort of issues from staff?" Codaline asked in a befuddled tone. Hetzen nodded casually. "Uhhh, yeah?" Hetzen seemed to be leaving out some details as to how she got the gun. It did indeed look custom-made, but there still were quite some gaps in her story.

Something else you were curious about was her ammo situation, her showing a little pouch on her side with bullets. "Got plenty for a while, unless if you're sending me upstairs. Then again, I've looted plenty of these bullets from those Heroes idiots. So maybe I'd break even, haha." You then asked her about how familiar she was with plasma railguns, which made her look extraordinarily intrigued. "Why do you ask me that? You guys got access to one or something?" Before you could respond, Chrys would give a quick explanation. "Yep. One of Mikhail's other soldiers who aren't here has one. Though, it's a little heavy to carry around easily, if I remember right." Afterwards, Anon chimed in as well. "It has helped us out a ton, and we imagine it could be our ticket to killing Feng with ease." Though to your amusement, you heard Reika softly grumble: "Stupid railgun..." Which made Hetzen glance over at her and smirk a bit at the mighty manticore.

"Hmmm, did you... by any chance use it to steal a kill from Reika at some point?" Hetzen asked in bemusement, as Reika looked even more annoyed. In fact, before any of your men could answer, she spoke back in quiet rage. "No! That stupid railgun hit me a couple of times! It was... stupid!" Reika's ears actually went a little flat in turn, before looking at you and your men, before lowering her voice a bit more. "But... I guess it also was good, because it meant... I became friends with Mikhail and the others here." Alan actually patted Reika on her shoulder to show her a bit of love, the manticore clearly appreciating the gesture. "Well, that's... nice, I guess. I was actually curious how the hell you managed to... become allies with these guys." Hetzen told Reika, who quickly showed her teeth. "These guys are my friends now! If you hurt them or behave stupid, I will fight you!" Hetzen was a little unsure how to respond to this sudden threat. But given that Reika's strength was known, Hetzen quickly diffused the situation a bit.

"Woah, relax. I'm not gonna hurt anyone. We're on the same page here, alright?" Though, Anon smirked a bit before remarking: "You may have not hurt anyone of us, but you did hurt our poor, poor drone. That was our last one!" He was clearly joking around to lighten the mood, Hetzen not realising this and actually giving a straight answer. "Hey, I didn't know it was the drone of a bunch of reasonable death squad soldiers. I shot it down, cause for all I knew you guys would've been a group of losers who wanted to kill me! And hey, it was good target practice, even if it was pretty damn easy to shoot down." Hetzen seemed prideful in the fact she shot down the drone, a fact which did rankle Anon a tiny bit. Regardless, you had strayed off topic a bit, asking her if she would like to try and use the plasma railgun. "Sure! I'd not mind to give it a go!"

Of course, Alan was quick to point out the obvious fact about why you gave it to Thaddeus in the first place. "Uhhhh, Mik, isn't the plasma railgun... pretty goddamn heavy?" Hearing this, Hetzen did look a little less eager to use it. "Hmmm, I do prefer relatively light weapons like my sniper rifle. But, I can still give it a go. I'm decently strong myself, so I can maybe still carry it around!" Afterwards, you'd ask Hetzen where Alexandra's forces were right now and when she last saw them. "Uhhhh, they're to the east of here. They usually send some scouts around the place, who I recognise cause of their armour using bits and pieces of death squad armour." This also immediately answered the other question you had for her, after which you asked her something a bit different. You wanted to know if she had any subjects she'd consider friends, making her scoff. "I mean, I got... a few, yeah. I just... y'know, maybe friends is a strong word, but... I get along with plenty of subjects!" Afterwards, Hetzen didn't elaborate for a moment.

"Alright, like who?" Iliara asked in a more smug tone, Hetzen scoffing. "Well, uhhh.... Ecaterina really looks up to me! And so did Aello and Zàoyā! Willow also was super chill and fun to train with and really respects me!" Hetzen scoffed before remarking: "Trust me, I'm a very popular subject. Just ask the average combat subject, and they'd say they like me a ton." It didn't sound like friendships at all, which wasn't helped by Ecaterina having had some... choice words for Hetzen. "Anyway, you guys mentioned some other subjects as well, right? What subjects are you friend with aside from the ones currently here?"

>What do you do next?

>Answer Hetzen's question about your subject friends, perhaps adding some context as to how you met or what they were up to in your groups right about now. (Write in what you tell Hetzen.)
>Ask Hetzen some more questions which were on your mind. Maybe you could already try and get a peek into that brain of hers to see what made her behave the way she currently does. (Write in what you ask Hetzen.)
>Bring up some other topic of interests for you, your men and the girls to discuss. It was probably not good to feed Hetzen's ego too much by just talking to her and her alone. Besides, maybe some proper socialisation would do Hetzen good as well. (Write in what topic you bring up.)
>Just quietly keep following the trail you had set out for yourself to hopefully find Kenai and Idalia. Afterwards, you could chat a bit more easily and not worry that the two had gotten lost without you.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

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>>6476922

The gov officer being Anderson his daily government approve ration. This time, it's mash & starch made with carrot and crushed bugz plus spess arachnid. Truly, it's going to be some hard times for him.

Anderson: "What cruel bastard assigned this food to me?!"

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>>6476973

>>6476920
Meanwhile, Sarah manage to find some sweet after searching around. A single unopen cotton candy and a couple of cleaned labcoat. Let say three, so far.

Sarah: "Yey."

>Sarah deserves the sweets

>>6476903
>>Answer Hetzen's question about your subject friends, perhaps adding some context as to how you met or what they were up to in your groups right about now. (Write in what you tell Hetzen.)
Those doesn't look like actual friendships, just like acknowledgement and maybe respect, but now she has a chance to try and get some real friends and despite a bad first impression they aren't everything. Let's tell the tale of how we met Chrys and Reika and how they joined the team. Chrys was the first subject we met, we started on the wrong foot some of our squad's members got hit by her acid dust and tensions were high and she almost became our first paycheck, but later as we started talking to her, got some idea of what REALLY was going on here and we started to work together, now she's basically a unofficial Lodgerite, Reika was ever worse, she tried to hunt us down back in the High-Level subject sector, eventually we got into conflict, her information basically painted her as some violent mindless killer, but we learned things on this place are never as they seem, we gave her a chance and now she's our team's incredible reliable manticore. We don't know what she went through before we met, but as long as she wants to stick with us she can always turn things anew for the better.

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>>6476903
>Answer Hetzen's question about your subject friends, perhaps adding some context as to how you met or what they were up to in your groups right about now.
>>6476932 is p much what I had in mind. But we've made many of our friends by just taking the time to talk to them and being patient, understanding and not shooting them, which goes a long way down here. A lot of subjects are shockingly deprived of affection and friends.
Anyway, may as well list who's not here right now as well.
>Ask Hetzen some more questions which were on your mind. Maybe you could already try and get a peek into that brain of hers to see what made her behave the way she currently does.
Who is Zaoya (stupid QM using characters I don't have on my keyboard like this grrrrr) and tell us more about Willow
What sort of interactions did she have with these people she calls friend?
Does she have anything she does for fun other than sniping?

-----

I diagnose Hetzen with Cope Syndrome. She's definitely covering for a severe lack of (perceived) positive attention, perhaps trying to "prove her superiority" as a means of attention-seeking. The root cause remains unclear, though I find it hard to accept allegations of neglect at Cerro and Jabal and I don't want to press her too much on this now. Hmmm. It does figure she would see Aello as a friend given they both seem to have similar key Issues.

Of course Ecatarina looks up to her, she's only four feet tall lmao

>>6476922
>Dee swoops in and swipes it

>>6476903
>Answer Hetzen's question about your subject friends, perhaps adding some context as to how you met or what they were up to in your groups right about now. (Write in what you tell Hetzen.)
Give her the friend list, give context if she asks.

>Ask Hetzen some more questions which were on your mind. Maybe you could already try and get a peek into that brain of hers to see what made her behave the way she currently does. (Write in what you ask Hetzen.)
What kind of training was she put through to develop her sniping skills?

>Answer Hetzen's question about your subject friends, perhaps adding some context as to how you met or what they were up to in your groups right about now.
You could tell that the friendships Hetzen mentioned were far from real relationships. Thus, to both get her more acquainted to the idea of actual friendships and teach her about your own friends, you decided to tell Hetzen about some of your own girls. You'd start with talking about Chrys, mentioning how she was the first subject you befriended. Chrys was surprised to hear you starting to talk about her, whilst Hetzen raised an eyebrow. "I... just asked about the other friends you got, not the ones who I can now see in person." You told her that you'd come to them as well, before explaining the story of your first encounter with Chrys. You told Hetzen how you almost killed Chrys after one of your men was struck by acid and sleep dust. "It's n-not that bad of an acid, t-thankfully." Chrys hesitantly added, after which you still opted to talk with her, which helped you realise what was actually going down here. You even called her an unofficial Lodgerite, which made Chrys' smile radiate pure childlike joy.

"Uhhh, what's a Lodgerite?" Hetzen asked in confusion, to which Artyom proudly responded. "Lodger, our death squad. The one which does things the right way down here!" Your men all nodded along, after which you then brought up Reika's friendship. "Okay, this is a story I am interested in. Do tell me how you and her became friends." Hetzen casually remarked. Thus, you told her how you encountered Reika in a High-level subject containment sector. The encounter was already a bit troublesome, given all intel you had pointed to Reika being a wild mindless monster. However, after taking her down and giving her a second chance, you learnt she was actually a major asset to the team. You even praised Reika for being a reliable manticore, which made her smile rather brightly as well.

"Anything to help you guys! That stupid Roraima told me everything was a test. How stupid can he be?! I'm glad you managed to stop me and that we are now friends!" Reika proclaimed joyfully, after which you stated that this has been how you've been able to make friends with so many subjects. Being patient, talking to them, understanding where they came from and most importantly of all, not just shooting them on sight. You even remarked that you felt bad for so many subjects, given the lack of affection and friends. "Not helped by the way so many scientists treated us." Codaline added onto that, Hetzen letting out a sigh. "Alright, that's great and all, but you didn't exactly tell me about your friends. What other subjects are by your side?" You and your men quickly started telling Hetzen all about your allies. You spoke of Oreas, Kamara, Anofelis, Morgan, Thalia, Cortina, Katya, Elodie, Annie, Gwenllian, Kaenum and Haje. However, Hetzen showed little interest in most of the girl.

"Huh, you managed to befriend Katya? That's a pleasant surprise. She and I go waaaaay back. Katya and I practiced our aim together from time to time. She learnt quite a few things from me as well, hehe. How's she doing now?" Hetzen remarked, to which Mike remarked: "Straight to the point, somewhat focused on the job, but very helpful and reasonable." Hetzen nodded, before asking: "What about Idalia and Kenai? We're following their trail right now, correct?" You confirmed they were indeed also allies, which made Hetzen smirk a bit. "Idalia will also be fun to work with. From what I heard, she's pretty damn good at the job. So good she was at one point sent off-planet, right?" You again gave a nod, Hetzen actually seeming impressed. "Well, good for her she got some experience working with combat folks already. I wouldn't have minded being sent off-planet myself either. Alas, my talents will likely remain undiscovered by the galactic government. Their loss, really."

>Ask Hetzen some more questions which were on your mind. Maybe you could already try and get a peek into that brain of hers to see what made her behave the way she currently does.
This actually got you a bit curious, wanting to know what sort of training she was put through to develop her skills. "Oh, you wanna know the secrets to my skills, huh? Well, I'm afraid there isn't much I can tell you. My senses have been honed to absolute perfection by training and subject science, really. Constant training to aim from further and further distances, constantly practicing my aim on moving targets, learning to predict movements. All kinds of intense training just to improve my skills. I trained for hours on end without break, just because I love holding a sniper rifle and shooting something from miles and miles away!" It was a bit of a vague answer, but it was clear that her training was essentially just basic combat training with a heavy focus on aiming. Though, this did also make you curious about what she does for fun other than sniping.

This was a question which made her think, before getting an idea. "I... like competing against other subjects and people to test who's the best! Mainly because I always win, but... it's still a lot of fun!" This answer left you and your men rather unsatisfied, with Sibilia even asking: "So, outside of sniping... your hobbies include having competitions against other people... focused on sniping?" Hetzen nodded, Vinisha also chiming in. "Okay, but... aside from sniping? Don't you have other hobbies? Maybe with other people?" Hetzen pondered again, before finally snapping her fingers. "Parkour! I love running around, practicing getting in difficult to reach positions ideal for sniping!" It was still related to sniping, but at least this was something slightly different which could also be done without going back to what was essentially sniper practice. Perhaps even something she could do with other speedster subjects of yours.

"Honestly, I get your dedicated focus on sniping, Hetzen. I also just love working out, keeping strong and using my strength!" Codaline soon commented, Hetzen nodding along. Afterwards though, you asked her what sort of interactions she had with the 'friends' she competed with or interacted with. "Well, we chatted, discussed our strategies, did a bit of bantering. You could say some of them were friendly rivals in a way, haha." Hetzen didn't really specify it too much, which you imagined was because of the fact Hetzen didn't exactly have too many real friends. Though, this did remind you of the two subjects she mentioned you hadn't heard of before: Zàoyā and Willow. You asked who both were, Hetzen calmly speaking up. "Zàoyā, is this harpy girl made by Roraima and... someone else, I dunno. Anyway, she's pretty tall, smells a bit bad and hilariously stiff due to a mutation. She's got this... kinda goofy zombie mutation which makes her entire body grow stiff like a corpse."

Hearing this, Vinisha immediately was very interested in this fellow undead subject. "She's pretty tough though, and when she's not hopping around like a silly statue, she can be pretty damn fast and tough! Not as fast as me, but still pretty damn quick!" Anon in turn asked: "What's her codename and full name?" Which Hetzen readily answered. "Zàoyā Mei, CB-788." Afterwards, you asked about Willow, who you had heard of before. "Oh, she's just this... adorable cat or dog subject. I never really was too sure. Anyway, she's really good at throwing things, being insanely good at aiming. Not as good as me, of course, but she was pretty fun to work with! She's a little bit of a scaredy-cat though, which was rather adorable, hehe." Before you could ask for further details, you and your men would hear a familiar voice. "There you guys are." It was Idalia, who revealed herself having hidden on a balcony of some kind, having camouflaged herself. "Ah, sorry, Idalia. We were a little distracted with our new ally." Antonin answered, Idalia glancing at Hetzen.

"Hm, I know you. You're Hetzen." Idalia remarked, Hetzen smiling pridefully. "Glad to see you again. Well, I did see you earlier despite your attempts to camouflage." Idalia clearly glared a bit a Hetzen, before shifting her attention away from the haughty lizard. "Mikhail, I was just going back to look for you. Kenai has found the exit to this sector. It's not too far away from here, thankfully." You told Idalia you were planning to head there already, and that you had just made sure to recruit Hetzen. "Great." Idalia muttered before continuing to head forward down the main road towards where Kenai presumably was. It looked to be a quick 10-20 minute walk, during which time you could relax knowing that the most major threat in this place had been found and dealt with. Hetzen hadn't mentioned any other threats in this place, so it was presumably safe to just relax now.

>What do you do next?

>Continue chatting whilst on the way over to where Kenai was. Maybe you could have a little talk with your men about how you'd try to befriend Alexandra and her forces. Or you could just chat to the girls about whatever else was on your mind. (Write in what you'll chat about.)
>Contact Annie to see how she was faring. Maybe you could see how things were with Edith, or ask her to get you into contact with the folk near Zephyr. (Write in what you do once you've contacted Annie.)
>Listen to what your men and girls were talking about. Maybe you wanted to listen in to whatever conversation your group struck with one another. (Write in who you listen to, if anyone specifically.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6477180
>Continue chatting whilst on the way over to where Kenai was. Maybe you could have a little talk with your men about how you'd try to befriend Alexandra and her forces. Or you could just chat to the girls about whatever else was on your mind. (Write in what you'll chat about.)
These competitions Hetzen engages in, are they always sniping related or does she ever indulge the specialties of her opponents? Would she get in a tracking competition with Kenai or a debate with Kaenum?

reply been burning a hole in my typing box for the last day
>>6477180
>Continue chatting whilst on the way over to where Kenai was. Maybe you could have a little talk with your men about how you'd try to befriend Alexandra and her forces. Or you could just chat to the girls about whatever else was on your mind.
Looking pretty happy there, Chrys. Made any future career choices?
Any of the flying girls had a peek into the upper deck? Anything up there?

>>6477189
You know, I think Hetzen could be very easy to bait into doing things and trying to compete in other areas to "prove her superiority" with the right words. Perhaps losing a few times could puncture that ego of hers, but we'd have to be careful doing that since she seems pretty fragile underneath all that bluster.

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>>6477625 >>6477733

Hetzen enjoying the slice of cake that Anon give to her.

--

Hetzen: "Mmmm, this does taste delicious!"

Anon: "I know, right? Lars makes amazing cake."

>>6477434
Cooking competition between Hetzen and Lars.

>Continue chatting whilst on the way over to where Kenai was. Maybe you could have a little talk with your men about how you'd try to befriend Alexandra and her forces. Or you could just chat to the girls about whatever else was on your mind.
Even though your men and the girls were happy to chat about a variety of things, you decided to chime in a little with some more casual conversation. You asked Chrys what sort of future career choices she was considering. She let out a soft scoff, before speaking in bemusement. "Well, based on what you jus said, I do think joining Lodger would be an interesting choice. I will admit, I'm still not much of a combatant, but I'm sure with some help from experienced folk, I'd be able to become a soldier in no time!" Chrys gave you a soft elbow bump, after which Chaly spoke a bit more cautiously. "This may be a bit of a silly question but... do you think that you guys' death squad, Lodger, would allow subjects in? From what I've seen and heard, it seems you guys really are the exception in allying with subjects." Your men looked at each other, before Anon commented: "Honestly, Lodger has plenty of reasonable folk. I'm sure of all death squads, they would be the first to accept subjects as allies."

Of course, Mike would quickly add some obvious context which was still important to mention. "It's obviously still extremely dangerous to try now. But, once we get off-planet and away from the government, I'd say we could give it a shot. Maybe give it some time so people forget about this entire disaster and the mission we were tasked to do." Afterwards, Iliara would add: "Maybe we ought to make the first subject death squad company? We got plenty of combat forces who could make for a fucking incredible squadron, I'd say." Hearing this, Hetzen also chimed in a bit. "I'd be delighted to be a squad leader. I would do an incredible job, I can assure you of that." This did make Ili groan, whilst your men were more amused than anything.

"Didn't you say a moment ago that you are on your best on your own?" Sibilia teased, Hetzen immediately glaring at her. "I didn't say that!" Though soon after, Hetzen took a more haughty and confident tone. "Granted, even on my own, I would be able to do brilliant things. After all, I did kill several groups of death squads all on my own." This was a fact none of your soldiers and men could really argue against, unless if she was so desperate that she was actually lying. This actually got you a bit curious about Hetzen's sense of superiority, asking her about the competitions she always had. You wanted to know if they were always related to sniping, or if she indulged in other specialties as well. "Oh, I compete in plenty of things! Parkour, aim, close quarters combat, stealth. Of course, I excel at pretty much everything, but the competitions are still a ton of fun!" Hearing this, you decided to have a little bit of fun and suggest some special competitions for Hetzen.

You told her that it could be fun to get into a tracking competition with Kenai or a debating competition with Kaenum. "Tracking? Pffff, easy! I've got eyes like no-one else! And my perceptive skills are incredible! I am rather sure that I could easily beat Kenai in such a competition!" Hetzen was already extremely confident. Though, she did forego mentioning the debate with Kaenum, which was something Codaline quickly picked up on. "So, what about debating with Kaenum? How do you think you'll fare with that?" Hetzen remained as confident as before, though did lower her tone a bit. "I am extremely charismatic and am also rather good at winning arguments. I am sure I could easily debate Kaenum and win." You saw Iliara trying to hold back her laughter, the rest of your group looking a mixture of bewildered and bemused. Even Idalia and Codaline both looked like they could not believe the words which were coming from Hetzen's mouth.

"You... certainly have a way with words." Anon then remarked, after which Sibilia made a rather questionable suggestion. "Hey Hetzen, I got an idea. You should compete with Vinisha about who can handle the most pain." Hetzen raised an eyebrow, whilst Vini thankfully decided to ensure this competition did NOT happen. "Ummm, I-I'll just let her win that one." This did make Hetzen even more confused, but she kept quiet as it was clear Vinisha didn't want to get into a competition. "Maybe an arm wrestling competition with Codaline or Reika could be fun too." Codaline stretched out her arms, cracking her knuckle before speaking eagerly. "Oh yeah, that'd be fun. We can try that." Reika also looked intrigued. "What's arm wrestling?" She quietly asked soon after, as it was clear that the girls wanted to push Hetzen into some riskier competitions. "I will have to think about it. I mean, I'm strong but..." She glanced over at Codaline, who gave a single confident smirk. "I'll think about it." Hetzen remarked before quickly changing the topic.

"I still would like a sniping competition with Anon here. I'm sure that would be a ton of fun!" Hetzen's suggestion made Anon rub the back of his head. "Look, I'd not mind doing it... but, it probably won't be too interesting for you, given that you're designed to be a sniper and I... well, I know how to use it and got pretty good aim, but it's like comparing a car with a turret slapped on it to a proper tank." Hetzen approached Anon and put a hand on his shoulder. "Oh come now, Anon. It'll be fun!" Anon clearly wasn't interested, him trying to kindly get her to stop suggesting it. Whilst they discussed this competition Hetzen wanted, you asked Iliara, Chrys, Chaly and Reika if any of them could quickly fly to the upper deck and see if there was anything of interest. "Sure, allow me!" Chrys remarked as she spread her wings and quickly headed up into the air. For a few minutes, she'd scan the upper areas.

In the meantime, you were left with Hetzen and Anon discussing the competition, Anon still trying to get the idea out of her head. "Listen, you've practiced with that gun for... I dunno how long. But it's probably 200 times less than however long you've had that gun for. I'm not interested in this competition. Especially since it'd be a pretty major waste of time and ammunition." Hetzen crossed her arms and shook her head. "Oh come now, I've always got ammo left over for a friendly competition." Fortunately, the conversation about competitions wouldn't have to last much longer, as you soon spotted Kenai in the distance, sitting up against a wall before noticing you. She'd hop up and wave at you, clearly happy to see you again. You sped up a little bit, quickly making your way over. Once you approached Kenai, she spoke up in a relieved tone. "There you guys are! I was worried, given the gunshot and the drone going down... I take it you guys were busy recruiting this new girl, huh?"

Kenai curiously looked over at Hetzen, who looked up at the wolf girl and responded without hesitation. "Hetzen Haenel. You must be Kenai, the impressive tracker subject these soldiers mentioned." Kenai seemed rather pleased with the compliment, nodding quickly. "I mean, I think I'm pretty good yeah, hehe. Good enough to hopefully be able to help Mik and his men out to the fullest!" Soon after, you heard the soft flapping of wings, before noticing Chrys land close-by. "Ah, Chrys, perfect. That means everyone's here now." Iliara remarked, after which Lars asked: "Did you spot anything interesting in the upper areas?" Chrys shook her head." Nope. Mostly just more rubble, some makeshift fortifications, but nothing else really noteworthy..." With that resolved, Ignacy looked around before speaking up. "Where did that blood trail lead to, Kenai? To the next sector, ooooor...?" Kenai turned around and looked at a huge set of sliding metal doors. "The scent goes past this massive metal door! Thankfully, we won't need to pry them open, since there's some smaller doors nearby!"

Kenai pointed at the nearby doors, clearly similar to the ones you had used to come down here from the observation deck. "Did you open them already?" Sigit asked calmly, Kenai shaking her head. "I wanted to wait for you guys. Just in case something bad happened... but, we can go check it out now!"

>What do you do next?

>Just take the route upstairs and continue into the next sector. No reason to wait any longer when you were getting closer and closer to finally finding Alexandra and her allies.
>Plan ahead a little bit on who would go first and how you'd prepare for the next sector. You could send some subjects ahead again, though it may be worth considering an alternative plan since sending Ili, Idalia and Kenai ahead that did cause some issues this time around. (Write in how you prepare for the next sector.)
>Chat a bit more with your men and the girls. Maybe you could chime in on the chat Anon and Hetzen were having, or maybe talk a bit more with Kenai about the trail she was following or whatever Chrys saw upstairs. (Write in who you chat with and about what.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6477434
(Forgot to mention it yesterday, but these last few artworks of Hetzen, Sarah and the other subjects have all been adorable. I do wonder now if this is your attempt to ship Anon and Hetzen...)

>>6477733
>Plan ahead a little bit on who would go first and how you'd prepare for the next sector. You could send some subjects ahead again, though it may be worth considering an alternative plan since sending Ili, Idalia and Kenai ahead that did cause some issues this time around. (Write in how you prepare for the next sector.)
Wanna go first Sibilia? Should be a subject to keep Alexandria's forces from greeting with bullets, and even if they did you'd be fine.

Also if Hetzen wants the sniping competition so bad we might as well do it just to give her a mood boost. If Anon is so against it I'm sure Mik knows how to snipe.

>>6477733
>Plan ahead a little bit on who would go first and how you'd prepare for the next sector. You could send some subjects ahead again, though it may be worth considering an alternative plan since sending Ili, Idalia and Kenai ahead that did cause some issues this time around.
I'm a bit confused about where we're going. Is this just into the next compartment of the urban warfare sector? If so, put Hetzen through her paces and send her ahead this time (with a radio), she can stay on the rooftops and spot. Also as a test if she'll be a liability or not and follow her instructions of no engagement.
If we're leaving the urban warfare area entirely, perhaps separate from the girls and have them follow a short distance behind but keep just Chrys with us at the back of the group in case we get targeted by subjects for being a death squad while she can stay as out of sight as possible and quickly scarper in case of another squad.

Hetzen wants the snipe-off so she can reassure herself she is the best as her insecurities demand she does. Her entire shtick right now is massive cope so she can tell herself that even when blatantly at odds with reality. She would of course win and be an extremely graceless and obnoxious winner and just use it to inflate her ego even more. I'm not inclined to give her much ground, including an easy win like that.

-----

The temptation to set things up to bait Hetzen into putting herself through total ego death is strong. Very strong. Almost irresistible.

>>6477765
Good thing I'm around, you would have driven off Morgan with that attitude.

>>6477769
It IS tempting, but no. I wouldn't take it that far, that's just get us a sad, depressed lizard. But Hetzen DOES need to learn how to take loss and accept not being the best, and she can't do that without losing. Allowing her to feed her ego is ultimately harmful for her.

>>6477774
Maybe all losses isn't the healthiest for her either? And she should have at least one positive experience with us to keep her from storming off when things get unpleasant?

>>6477812
Not all losses no, but do it in a more controlled environment insteas of engaging in ad-hoc ego feeding right here right now after which she may be even more unbearable.

I suggest at some point setting her up a series of individual challenges with various other subjects of which we know she'll win some and lose some.

>>6477837
>do it in a more controlled environment
What would be a more controlled environment? We’re the ones agreeing to compete, we can set the terms, we have control.

>after which she may be even more unbearable.
Ok so your worst case scenario is she gets more annoying, in which case it’s focused on us since we competed against her and gives us the opportunity to point out how her behavior drives away potential friends. Meanwhile the other worst case is we shock her too badly too quickly and she leaves the group.

>>6477870
A planned series of challenges designed to give her a mix of wins and losses, not sonething done on a whim. If she can't take even a few losses combined with wins to soften it (and indeed, even to start with) without storming off then I don't know what to do with her. Giving her a free win now because she pesters people enough won't teach her anything and risks sending her backward in progress.

>>6477885
>not sonething done on a whim
I’ve explained my reasoning, it’s not a whim.

>If she can't take even a few losses combined with wins to soften it (and indeed, even to start with) without storming off then I don't know what to do with her
Good thing I’ve told you what to do then. You make it sound like her leaving over a loss is unreasonable, but she’s already getting mocked by the squad. Sure she started it, but she had an abusive upbringing and doesn’t know any better. If she takes a hit to her pride without a single good experience to keep her with us it would be a very normal reaction to leave the group making her miserable.

>Giving her a free win now because she pesters people enough won't teach her anything and risks sending her backward in progress.
What progress? She literally just joined.

>>6477888
You make it sound like I just want to put her through a humiliation ritual where she just loses over and over to crush her spirit. Despite some sadistic thoughts I've just very clearly explained that's not what I want to do, in the challenges I might set her, there would be some we know she'd win as "positive experiences" for her - perhaps even as a majority of them. We can even include a snipe-off as an easy win. The entire point is to provide a gentle introduction to losing for her WITHOUT just beating her over the head and providing enough ego support to make it acceptable.

I don't want to accept her now because she cannot be allowed to just challenge random people on a whim (that being hers) to assert dominance, that'll only make her even more enemies - for her part, we should speak to Iliara and get her to stop baiting Hetzen. Furthermore, allowing her to do this only makes her more arrogant and overconfident, which sends her backward before she's even started. Lastly, it's just not the time and place. I sympathise with her, but my patience is not infinite and it encourages her self-destructive behaviour.

>>6477922
>You make it sound like I just want to put her through a humiliation ritual where she just loses over and over to crush her spirit.
I don't think I've said anything that gives that impression as much as your own jokes about total ego death. Plus, I remember the way the Morgan shooting contest vote was going before I spoke up.

>Despite some sadistic thoughts I've just very clearly explained that's not what I want to do, in the challenges I might set her, there would be some we know she'd win as "positive experiences" for her - perhaps even as a majority of them. We can even include a snipe-off as an easy win. The entire point is to provide a gentle introduction to losing for her WITHOUT just beating her over the head and providing enough ego support to make it acceptable.
While you have migrated closer to my point of view there's still some parts that aren't clear, and you haven't really addressed my latest post. Do you agree we should start her off with a win? If you're unwilling to give her this initial win with the sniping contest, how do you think we should do it? For my part I think putting the sniping contest later will cause more backsliding than getting it out of the way now when she's already at peak arrogance.

>I don't want to accept her now because she cannot be allowed to just challenge random people on a whim
As long as she isn't making threats or ultimatums to get them to accept I don't see an issue with just issuing challenges. She could use a talk about not badgering people, but that would be better received after getting her initial win.

>Lastly, it's just not the time and place
....We can accept verbally now and hold the contest later when it's more convenient. I thought it was obvious that we wouldn't immediately drop everything and hold it right here and now.

>>6477965
I got that impression by being told
>If she takes a hit to her pride without a single good experience to keep her with us
in combination with our earlier exchanges gave me the impression I'd been misunderstood as advocating for what I wasn't seriously suggesting to start with i.e. just beating on her ego.

I think we're just discovering we're mostly arguing over details instead of actually holding incompatible opinions. My opinion remains the same - that we can give Hetzen a win with a sniping competition, but it has to be as part of a series of challenges that will be a mix of wins and losses for her to temper her ego and teach her a few things, and ideally with Kaenum present to articulate any lessons and help her take things well. I would indeed place it first in the lineup, but it should not be done in isolation.

The issue with her issuing challenges is that she's just trying to sucker people into losing to her to lord her perceived superiority over them and is an extremely graceless and antagonistic winner because her psych issues force her to be. If she just wanted to test herself and compete? Sure, so long as she doesn't pester. But that's not it, her motives are rotten and she's only going to piss off everyone she manages to get to compete against her. Stop her from doing this for her own good, or at least make sure her marks know what to expect.

By the way, regarding her "abusive upbringing"...that's TBD. Her creators are Jabal and Cerro, known good parents (especially Cerro) and Hetzen is a highly unreliable narrator. What drove her rift with them and led to her falling in with Roraima? Was she like this before or after that? Just what happened to make her so insecure? Who's responsible for what? What part did Hetzen herself play? Nefarious intent or did things just go wrong through misunderstanding and chance? It's going to take a while and some good third-party sources to unpick that. If we stop by Cerro's office on the way back from the combat sector (or perhaps find Roraima's down here), we could well find insights that would help us help her.

>>6477982
>I think we're just discovering we're mostly arguing over details instead of actually holding incompatible opinions.
I'd like to do the sniping competition with her, before any other personality work, and you gave the impression that you didn't want to. I explained why I thought it would be helpful and asked you for alternatives if you were still unwilling. From this line
> it has to be as part of a series of challenges that will be a mix of wins and losses for her to temper her ego and teach her a few things, and ideally with Kaenum present to articulate any lessons and help her take things well. I would indeed place it first in the lineup, but it should not be done in isolation.
It seems you're willing, as long as we make it clear that she has to follow up by competing against others in their specialties and set those up with Kaenum to spectate. I figured with how eager she is we didn't need to plan out future contests, but I'm willing to do so if you think it's necessary.

>The issue with her issuing challenges is that she's just trying to sucker people into losing to her to lord her perceived superiority over them and is an extremely graceless and antagonistic winner because her psych issues force her to be. If she just wanted to test herself and compete? Sure, so long as she doesn't pester. But that's not it, her motives are rotten and she's only going to piss off everyone she manages to get to compete against her. Stop her from doing this for her own good, or at least make sure her marks know what to expect.
Agree with you here about the bad motives, it's my hope that she'll learn this naturally when she loses a few times, if not we can have a word with her over excessive post victory gloating.

>By the way, regarding her "abusive upbringing"...that's TBD.
Roraima being involved at all makes it a pretty reasonable assumption IMO. Just because she doesn't think of herself as abused by him doesn't mean it didn't happen. Part of my patience for her personality comes from thinking it's his fault.

>What drove her rift with them and led to her falling in with Roraima? Was she like this before or after that? Just what happened to make her so insecure? Who's responsible for what? What part did Hetzen herself play? Nefarious intent or did things just go wrong through misunderstanding and chance? It's going to take a while and some good third-party sources to unpick that.
I'm curious about a lot of these too - we might be able to get better answers from Hetzen if we either help resolve her mental issues or get to know her enough to recognize how her biases will distort memories. I'm also wondering who even competed with her in all the categories she listed. She made it sound like there were many contests in each of them, and if she was as insufferable after winning as we expect her to be I'm surprised anyone was willing to do them with her.

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>>6478006 >>6478059

>>6478004
Hetzen's explaining to Anon about ze rule and the objective for this sniper competition.

--

Anon: "Woman, please, we've been discussing this for an hour now. I-I don't think I'd win and I don't wanna waste the ammunition."

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>>6478014 >>6478019 >>6478059

>>6478005
>Hetzen totally have the spare ammunition for (You) to burn through for this competition.
Oh, this what else then that not related to sniping. What other activity will this lizard participate in?

>>6478000
I'm glad we could come to a compromise.
Hetzen would only ever want to challenge people to things she thinks she's good at and can win i.e. sniping, parkour etc. so I wouldn't expect her to lose anything so long as she's the one choosing the field. But if people could instead pitch their own challenges to her with more variety, she would see organic losses. Perhaps the people she challenges could do a deal with her where they do one of her choosing and one of theirs.
It's entirely possible Roraima inserted himself and basically yoinked her from under her own creator's noses for his own attempts and emotionally abused her, but if we're to trust Hetzen's account it sounds like there may have already been a breakdown in her relations with her creators before then that Roraima may have exploited to recruit her to his own program. The only thing for certain is that it's all as clear as mud.

>>6478006
I challenge Hetzen to DDR

-----

Putting Hetzen and Aello into the same room could be a recipe for drama. They've got a lot in common, and not in a good way. This town's not big enough for them both.....

>>6478014
>Hetzen would only ever want to challenge people to things she thinks she's good at and can win i.e. sniping, parkour etc. so I wouldn't expect her to lose anything so long as she's the one choosing the field
She said she could beat Kenai at tracking and Kaenum at debate, I don't think we'll have an issue with her turning down doomed challenges. Hell, if we push enough I bet she'd even armwrestle Reika. Not that we should do that.

>but if we're to trust Hetzen's account it sounds like there may have already been a breakdown in her relations with her creators before then that Roraima may have exploited to recruit her to his own program.
Between her own unreliability and Roraima's reputation, I figured the first thing he did was poison her against her original creators so he'd have an easier time stealing her. Just an assumption though.

>>6478006
We played a chess game with Morgan, why not her too?

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>>6478004
>>6478005
>>6478006
Very cute work artanon

>Plan ahead a little bit on who would go first and how you'd prepare for the next sector. You could send some subjects ahead again, though it may be worth considering an alternative plan since sending Ili, Idalia and Kenai ahead that did cause some issues this time around.
Since you were potentially heading through another choke-point here, you decided to send two subjects forward: You'd send Sibilia in since she could tank whatever might be waiting for you on the other side. You didn't expect her to face combat though, since the only folks who would target her in this area would be a death squad. In fact, you banked on Sibilia's status as a subject to make it so she'd easily be able to vouch for you if she encountered Alexandra's forces. "Sure thing, Mik. I'll scout ahead. If you hear gunshots, you know what to do." Sibilia casually responded, not seeming bothered by the thought of being sent into a potentially dangerous area. Another person you wanted to send forward was Hetzen, you handing her a radio and telling her to get to the next sector and to make her way onto the rooftops. You wanted her to look around and spot anything out of the ordinary.

Hetzen quickly grabbed the radio, before speaking proudly. "And, if I see any threats, I can deal with them ahead of time." This was not exactly what you had in mind, telling her that you didn't want her to engage unless if you gave her the go-ahead. Fortunately, despite groaning and rolling her eyes, Hetzen acquiesced without issue. "Fiiiine. But if shit hits the fan and you need me to bail you out, don't start crying to me too much, alright?" Sibilia gave a rather quick and smug retort to Hetzen. "Why don't you focus on opening your eyes and using those, instead of opening your mouth, Hetzen?" Hetzen didn't respond, just ignoring Sibilia's tease. The two thus headed to the nearest door, Sibilia not hesitating to head forward. Hetzen closely followed her, the two disappearing soon after.

"You sure sending Hetzen out with a radio is the best move, Mik?" Sigit curiously asked, you explaining that part of your plan here was to see if Hetzen could follow orders. If she decided to engage without your permission, it'd be clear that she was too much of a liability to keep around. "I mean, would she attack Alexandra's forces if given the chances?" Chrys asked a little nervously, Chaly shaking her head. "I don't think she'd do that. It'd not really serve any purpose." Though Anon would also interject himself into the conversation, bemusedly adding: "Shooting the drone didn't serve a purpose either, but she still did it." In turn, Vinisha rubbed the back of her head and softly responded: "To be fair, her shooting the drone was a b-bit more understandable, since it was a death squad drone." Anon crossed his arm and nodded with a clear hint of annoyance. Still, you soon turned on the radio, trying to reach out to Hetzen and hear if she had already spotted anything concerning.

"Shhhhh, I'm heading down some stairs into the next part. Gimme a minute." You heard Hetzen say over the radio. Given that it had been a few minutes and there were no signs of conflict so far, you decided to sneak upstairs just to see if anything was going on. Unless if Sibilia had encountered Alexandra's forces WITHOUT disclosing her alliance with you, there was no way you'd find yourself in trouble. And sure enough, after taking some stairs upwards, you were in another area designed to overlook this part of the urban warfare sector. It had a some more office spaces, a small canteen and even some spaces clearly intended for scientists to work at. Once again, there were blocked-off hallways to your left and right, indicating that Alexandra's forces had been here. Sibilia was waiting on the opposite side of the large open space, waving at you with a calm expression. Once you approached her, she'd glance at another massive elevator and stairwell leading to the next sector.

"Hetzen went downstairs already. I decided to wait, just to be safe and because I don't wanna split up too much again." Sibilia calmly explained, as some of your men looked into the adjacent Urban combat sector. Whilst the previous featured urban sprawl with some greenery and plenty of open spaces, the next sector was a lot more labyrinthine. It more-so resembled a slum compared to the average cityscape you had travelled through before. "Oh fuck, we're going to have to go through there?" Mike responded in mild worry, after which Iliara added: "I am sure we'll be fine. We just gotta stick closely together this time around, I'd say."

>What do you do next?

>Scan the area for anything of interest from your current position. You didn't know where Alexandra was in this place, if she even was here. But maybe you could look around from your current vantage point and look for anything out of the ordinary. (Write in what you try to look for.)
>Contact Hetzen to ask her where she was and if she had noticed any recent activity. Her keen eyesight probably helped her spot if there was any activity down here. (Write in what you ask Hetzen.)
>Send out some scout forces to check the area. Maybe Kenai could still track the blood trace, or Idalia could camouflage and watch for any activity. (Write in who you send forward.)
>Just head downstairs and start exploring. The place was so densely packed, there was no way you'd spot anything from here. So, better to just get going instead of waiting and discussing.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6478445
>Send out some scout forces to check the area. Maybe Kenai could still track the blood trace, or Idalia could camouflage and watch for any activity. (Write in who you send forward.)
Both?

>Scan the area for anything of interest from your current position. You didn't know where Alexandra was in this place, if she even was here. But maybe you could look around from your current vantage point and look for anything out of the ordinary. (Write in what you try to look for.)
Surely a group the size of Alexandra's would leave signs of habitation if they're in this area.

>>6478445
>Scan the area for anything of interest from your current position. You didn't know where Alexandra was in this place, if she even was here. But maybe you could look around from your current vantage point and look for anything out of the ordinary.
Sibby, can you see anything? Sources of heat? Emissions of carbon dioxide or other chemical tracers? Anything else of interest? Actually, if there's still blood visible on the ground, could she tell anything about it from its chemistry?
>Send out some scout forces to check the area. Maybe Kenai could still track the blood trace, or Idalia could camouflage and watch for any activity.
ight Kenai, you're up front again if the trace is still followable.
Ili up in the air again, though this time more as overwatch to help us keep track of where we're going in this maze and spotting anything lurking around bends or in alleys. Also because she can take a hit or two (and even hit back), our other flier Chrys can't.

We'll be wandering for days if we check the whole area, just focus on following the trail and anything else of note we spot. And everyone keeps an eye out for any signs of recent people.

>Scan the area for anything of interest from your current position. You didn't know where Alexandra was in this place, if she even was here. But maybe you could look around from your current vantage point and look for anything out of the ordinary.
Since you had an excellent view of the huge sector ahead of you, you looked around for any signs of habitation from Alexandra and her forces. You also asked Sibby if she could see anything with her extra vision modes, her scanning the area with her visor. "I'm looking. I don't see anything yet." You asked for heat signatures, CO2 traces or anything else chemical. Hell, maybe she could even see some of the blood trails on the floor. "Don't see any blood. Not exactly easy to see with how much of the paths are covered. I am noticing some CO2 traces around the place. The traces are somewhat spread out, but I see a high density coming from what I presume to be the northern parts. I suggest we start heading that way, since there's definitely people over there, if that is the case." You then told Sibby to pay attention or any bloodstains from the trail Kenai was following, since Sibby could perhaps analyse it as well.

>Send out some scout forces to check the area. Maybe Kenai could still track the blood trace, or Idalia could camouflage and watch for any activity.
Speaking of Kenai, you asked her to lead the way again, wanting her to follow the trace of blood since you knew it'd lead somewhere beneficial. "Of course, Mik!" Kenai eagerly remarked, her immediately heading down the same stairs which Hetzen had taken. You and your men followed right away, though on the way down you'd ask Iliara to take to the air again for overwatch. "Alright, I'll trust you on this. Even if this didn't go that smoothly last time." Iliara responded, after which Lars added: "Hey, we got Hetzen on our side now. She can help us out if she spots anything troublesome." Still, Ili remained understandably sceptical still.

Regardless, you all headed downstairs, again ending up near a large elevator and some massive metal doors. Fortunately, you could take the much smaller side entrances, after which you found yourself in a small open square in an eerily quiet and abandoned slum. The shanty buildings were made from concrete, wood and scrap materials. It reminded you of some poorer planets you had gone to for combat missions. Still, you told your men to not get too distracted and to just follow Kenai and the trail she was sniffing out. The place was a massive maze, and you'd be stuck down here for days if you checked every little thing. "Got it." Artyom responded with a nod, speaking for your group. Iliara meanwhile spread her wings and took to the skies, as you and the rest of your group followed Kenai. The wolf subject sniffed the air, before heading down the small alleyway ahead of you. And soon enough, you started losing your sense of direction somewhat in the dimly lit and cramped paths.

"So, uhhhh... silly question, but is it common for people to live in places like these?" Chrys softly asked, to which Antonin responded: "In general, I'd say no. It's usually only on planets with lots of people, few resources and little wealth." Mike scoffed and added: "So basically, any planet with a corrupt government. Or a Federation planet where wealth's just being extracted towards wealthier systems." Afterwards, Reika growled as her wings scraped against the buildings and she often had to crouch. "This place is small and cramped! It's stupid!" Afterwards, Sibilia would say: "I think it's depressing. It makes your average subject chamber look pleasant in comparison." Though, some subjects seemed a lot less put off by this sector. "I think it... has a strange cosy feeling to it. Imagine this place bustling with life." Vinisha mumbled, after which Idalia added: "I like the roughness and variation of it. It is much better than the same stale grey and white of the facility."

Codaline nodded to what Idalia had to say. "Aside from it being pretty tight and claustrophobic, like Reika said, I do think it's nice. Maybe needs a bit more cleaning, but I think it could be fun to live in a place like this." Whilst the girls discussed living in a place like this, you watched Kenai as she sniffed the air and checked each fork in the road. As you headed further into the labyrinthine network of alleys and shanty homes, you decided to have Idalia also move ahead a little bit. You gave her a small radio and told her to watch out for anything out of the ordinary. Idalia gave a quick nod, before climbing up some of the buildings. "The smell of blood is getting closer... There's a lot of other smells around here though." Kenai eventually said, to which Lars asked: "It's not too big of an issue though, right?" Kenai shook her head, after which Sibilia added: "I'm not seeing any traces of CO2 now. No thermal traces either." It seemed Kenai's scent was the only real thing you could follow now. It also didn't seem like Ili, Hetzen and Idalia had spotted anything out of the ordinary just yet...

>What do you do next?

>Keep focused on the trail Kenai was following. There was no point in looking for anything else when this was the strongest lead you had so far.
>Chat a bit with your group. Perhaps your men had some fun stories to tell, or the girls could tell you about their knowledge of the outside world, based on what you were seeing right now. (Write in what you chat about and with whom.)
>Tell your men to look for something specific in this place. Sibby spotted CO2, so there should be a source for that stuff somewhere, right? Or maybe you could spot some other signs of life? (Write in what you look for.)
>Talk to Ili, Hetzen or Idalia over the radi to hear what they were seeing. Maybe they made some discoveries from above, or could see some distant activity elsewhere here? (Write in who you ask questions to.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6478875
>Chat a bit with your group. Perhaps your men had some fun stories to tell, or the girls could tell you about their knowledge of the outside world, based on what you were seeing right now.
What else can you smell, Kenai? How fresh actually is this blood? Does Chaly recall hearing the turrets around the motorpool open fire at any point to presumably inflict this injury?
We grew up poor on a poor world, we might well have personal slum stories. Even if we didn't live in them, they probably weren't far away and we'd have been to them on deployments.
Where would the girls like to live? A city? A small town? Back of beyond? Somewhere like this? More upscale and less dense?

>>6478875
>Keep focused on the trail Kenai was following. There was no point in looking for anything else when this was the strongest lead you had so far.
How sensitive is that CO2 vision? Enough to pick up breathing, or just output from a big fossil fuel generator?

>Tell your men to look for something specific in this place. Sibby spotted CO2, so there should be a source for that stuff somewhere, right? Or maybe you could spot some other signs of life? (Write in what you look for.)
The signs of life should be obvious. For a group Alexandra's size there would need to be a sizable food storage, dozens of shelters, beds, belongings, daily living necessities, etc. Not to mention the weapons/armor they'd be gathering, the electricity usage, waste, and so on. Can Sib tune her vision to magnetic/electric fields?

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>>6479473

(hehe)

--

(not hehe)

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>>6479188 >>6479473

The blood wolfu is here to collected the blood tax form Anderson for the louseflies swarm that wanted his blood.

--

Anderson: "... ugh, fine. If it means the little shits leave me alone. Just gimme a second to get the little container and drop a few droplets in it"

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>>6479190 >>6479473

>>6479187
Yey.

What do you know that the blood wolfu was a very good haggler. For this blood 'donation', she waggle a full blood pack form Anderson. In exchange for him getting some Wallonia sweets and a promise that the swarm will not bothered him only for a month. Afterwards, she went off to her merry way.

--

Grise: Woof*

???: "Excellent. Real quality of le blood for those bugz sucker. Here your treat-treat, krovavyy volk."
>The snek-thing passed a bone to the blood wolf for the blood pack

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>>6479473

>>6479188
???: "Here your cut of blood of the author insert, Sibiliya. Well, I''m off to delivered the rest of the blood to the swarm, tootles."

>The snek-thing has given Sibilia a shot-glass of Anderson's blood. Then she left off toward the next destination.

--

Sibilia: "mmmm, delicious Anderson blood. Tastes like it still has some spider venom in it... what sorta weird fetishy stuff have you been up to, Anderson?"

>>6478875
This is starting to smell like a trap to me.
>Talk to Ili, Hetzen or Idalia over the radi to hear what they were seeing. Maybe they made some discoveries from above, or could see some distant activity elsewhere here? (Write in who you ask questions to.)
Ask Hetzen if she had seen anyone go through the previous area before we arrived.

>>6479194
I think Alexandra's team is treating the urban combat compartments as defence in depth and I half-expect them to spring an ambush at any time, but they won't try to kill us when they actually get a look. Assuming they're still in the area and haven't moved since the intro.
Hetzen did say she saw some of Alexandra's men in the urban combat area but she didn't say when or exactly what compartment.

-----

I had a thonk and I think I'll acquit the Demon of causing the Big Bang. It goes against her pacifist MO and conflicts with all we've heard about her personality. So then the question becomes what or who else did do it and why and how?

Apologies for the lack of updates and slight silence on my part. I've been wrapping up my thesis the past week or so so I haven't been too able to write updates. I'll try and get an update out tomorrow evening. In the meantime, I wanna take another moment to ask if there's any feedback on the quest of any kind. Just to make sure everything's still going alright and things are enjoyable.

More importantly, I am curious what other theories you guys have regarding the Demon, as was brought up by this >>6479333 anon. I honestly think that more about the Demon will become known sooner rather than later, so I am curious about what sorta theories you guys got so far.

Also
>>6479186
>>6479187
>>6479188
>>6479190
Goddamn, the art has been absolutely peak. Love the cute little stories you write, and the original subjects you're creating.

>>6479473
>I wanna take another moment to ask if there's any feedback on the quest of any kind.
I'm starting to have trouble remembering all the characters, I think the cast is getting a little big.

>>6479333
It's also possible she caused it unintentionally rather than deliberately. I had figured with the fast and loose way this facility played with regulations some inconspicuous part of her escape had set off a disastrous chain reaction she never could have seen coming.

Also she's not demon themed, she's a slime. She doesn't even have a demonic disposition. We should stop calling her the Demon. Something like Queen Slime instead.

>>6479333
>I think I'll acquit the Demon of causing the Big Bang
It might not have been something she had any control over. Maybe Andrei fucked something up while working on her and turned her into a walking nuke, her breakout might have been an attempt to get clear of the facility before she killed everyone. I think it was mentioned in the Zeke sidestory that people would die when they got too close to her, so I suspect that Andrei is also dead if that is the case. The rest of the facility assumed she had gone rogue and Andrei wasn't around to tell them otherwise so they unknowingly doomed themselves by trying to stop her.

Alternatively, it might have been Titania who was responsible for the explosion. In her attempts to put down the demon gal, she got carried away or panicked and blew the facility up. I remember that it was stated somewhere that Titania struggled with how large and powerful she was, and feared hurting people more than anything else.

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Mira somehow got a picture of Anon in her possession.

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>>6479571 >>6479573

This is totally Zaria talking to (You), Anon and not Mira in disguise. Nothing sus about it.

Oh hey, Zaria.

--

>... why are there two Zaria's

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>>6479569
>Shush

No, No. Maybe it's just your fellow Lodgerite that look like her doppelganger.

Instead, look at Mike having a smug grin in his face. Looking at this scene. Ignore Mira holding Anon's hand.

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>>6479580

>>6479569
>Elena's holding a umbrella.

Elena: "Maybe you ate a spider in your ice cream, perhaps? That cause you hallucinate on seeing two Zaria's?"

--

Anderson: "I would never..."

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>>6479573
Elena: "Then, why is there a tub of ice cream cover with frozen ded spoders?"

>Elena took a closer look.

Elena: "Hhm.. huh, guess this just a regular old spider infestation that got in and froze to death. ."

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>>6479584

Hetzen and Mira having a staredown. The winner will hangout with Anon.

--

The staredown broke after Mira showed a picture frame of Anon to Hetzen.

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>>6479583
>Anon see two Hetzen's.

-

Anon: "Oh god, what is going on now."

'Hetzen' & Hetzen: "We wanna have a sniper duel, Anon!"

>Chat a bit with your group. Perhaps your men had some fun stories to tell, or the girls could tell you about their knowledge of the outside world, based on what you were seeing right now.
Seeing that Kenai's olfactory abilities were the main thing leading you anywhere, you decided to really focus on that first. You asked Kenai what else she could smell, her sniffing the air a bit. "I can smell... bit of food, smoke... a bit of waste as well. It's hard to say for sure." Hearing this, Lars would cautiously ask: "You think it's something which could lead to Alexandra's forces? Or is it just some scents left over from when this place was being used?" Kenai didn't seem too confident on either option unfortunately. "I don't know." Afterwards, you asked how fresh the blood was, Codaline chiming in before Kenai could say anything. "Must be pretty old, given how dried it is." Kenai again shrugged, probably not knowing how to determine how old the blood was from smell alone. Thus, you asked Chaly if she had heard the turrets go off recently. "It was a while ago, I think... I don't know how long ago exactly, but I did sleep a few times between then. My best guess would be 3 to 4 days?" Chaly was also not entirely sure, you deciding to ask Sibilia.

You asked her how sensitive her CO2 vision was, wanting to know if she could pick up breathing. "I can pick up relatively small amounts, yeah. But, if there's a lot of people, I can sense it pretty well." You asked about a generator which produced CO2, which made her smirk. "Oh yeah, that I would absolutely be able to sense from afar." It seemed like the CO2 vision could be the key here to finding Alexandra's group, especially since they'd be concentrated in one area. Not to mention the number of CO2 sources such as daily living necessities, waste and generating electricity. A short moment later though, you decide to ask about something a little differently, wanting to know if she could tune her vision to magnetic fields.

Sibilia nodded with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, didn't I tell you? It's a massive headache to do so, given there's a ton of electricity all over the place. Come to think of it, given this place has electricity, turning on that vision mode would probably give me an even worse headache." Despite the risks, Chrys would carefully ask: "Can you maybe do it for just a few seconds, please?" Sibilia let out a sigh, before clearly shifting her vision modes. And once she turned on the ability to see electric fields, she'd visibly cringe. "Yep, that's... a lot." Sibilia grumbled, rubbing her head. "Well, what did you sense?" Mike asked, Sibilia groaning in turn. "There's a ton of electricity throughout the place. Y'know, as to be expected. Sorry, but there's NO way I could entangle all that... ugh." Sibilia kept rubbing her head a bit, after which you left Sibby to recuperate. In the meantime, you'd grab the radio and asked Hetzen again about who she had spotted in this area before you arrived.

"Uhhhh, well, I saw some of Alexandra's scout forces. But not much else." Hetzen responded softly over the radio, as you turned to Kenai. You really hoped you'd find some clues sooner rather than later. Though for the time being, it seemed like you'd have to remain patient. In the meantime though, you decided to chat a bit about your own life, bringing up how the slums seemed somewhat familiar to you. "Really? Did you grow up in a place like this?" Chaly would ask a little cautiously, you telling a bit about your experience travelling through slums when you grew up close to them. The distinct culture which formed in the slums, the unfortunate criminal activity, but also the sense of comradery which was formed between inhabitants. You also mentioned your adventures with your squad into such slums on other planets, fascinating the girls quite a bit. Though, you could also see that it made you girls feel a little bit uncomfortable about the outside world.

"To think there are people out there who live in places like this with nothing." Vinisha mumbled a little sombrely. "Hey, Mik said it wasn't too bad, right? I think it'd be something you get used to." Lars rubbed the back of his head. "You would... but this slum isn't entirely like the ones you'd find off-planet. Mainly in the fact this place doesn't smell too bad." This made Chrys somewhat curious. "What do slums smell like?" Which made your men look at each other. "Sewage." Lars mumbled, after which Alan added: "Like a big garbage heap." Sigit also didn't give the most flattering description. "Like burning chemicals and disease." With some of your girls seeming a little saddened, you decided to give a bit more of a hopeful thing to talk about. You wanted to know where your girls wanted to live, suggesting cities, towns, or something more remote. Some of the girls took their time thinking of an answer. Though, some didn't hesitate to give an answer.

"I think I'm more of a city type. I'd die from loneliness if I was somewhere remote." Sibilia mumbled, after which Reika also shared her thoughts. "I wanna go somewhere with lots of action and wild things! I wanna be far away from the stupid government and stupid scientists!" Codaline nodded along. "Yeah, what Reika said. Though, I'd also not mind something a bit less remote just so I got more people to fight as well." The other girls took a bit more time to think, with Vinisha soon adding: "I think I would prefer somewhere remote and cool. Mainly because... I-I'd hate to be in a place where people would get bothered by my appearance... o-or my body." Antonin patted Vinisha on her back. "Like you said a moment ago: people would get used to it." Chrys nodded along, after which Reika actually joined the conversation in the most adorable way. "Vinisha, who'd be bothered by your appearance or body?! You're wonderful and look wonderful!" Reika bluntly blurted out, much to Vinisha's enjoyment.