No.5206[View All]
>Date: December 3rd, 2017
>Location: Sanctuary City, Residential District
>Time: 11:21pm
>An armoured truck drives through the dark streets of the residential district, travelling slowly as it struggles to fit through the small streets that its clearly not designed to navigate.
"Look, I'm just sayin', they played way better when they were the Metas, they shoulda never let the woke media tell 'em what to do."
"Nah man, they were batting below .3 before that, they just. . ."
>The driver pauses as he stops at a red light.
"Why you even stoppin' man, what's gonna happen, some lil girl's gonna run out on the street with her ball? At ass o'clock? Be serious man."
"Company don't like us doin' anything like that, even when it's stupid."
"Just drive man, I wanna see my wife some time this year."
>The driver tentatively looks from side to side to confirm nothing is travelling across the intersection and then starts accelerating, only for the entire truck to jump into the air as if it drove over something. Panicking, the driver slams the brakes.
"What the hell man? How'd you manage to hit something on an empty road?"
"Fuck if I know, get and out and check!"
"Huh? Nah, you're the one who hit it."
"It's your fucking job."
"Fine, but if it's a child or some shit, I ain't coverin' for you."
>The guard steps out of the truck, reaching to a flashlight on his belt, and shines it to the back half of the truck, hoping to see what the truck ran over.
"Err. . . we didn't hit anything, but. . . you might wanna look yourself."
"You're just trying to get me to look at some dead deer or something."
"Nah. . . it's bad. . ."
"If it's anything stupid I swear t'god Bill. . ."
>The driver steps out of the truck, seeingwhat the guard saw: the entire cargo area of the truck is gone.
"What in the god damn. . ."
>As the man finishes his sentence, the truck suddenly sinks into the ground, opening up a sinkhole.
114 posts and 151 image replies omitted. Click reply to view. No.5321
>>5320"You know what? You make a convincing argument."
>Omnius takes a seat, and the mug he shattered returns to his hand, completely repaired and refilled. Orion sits in a relaxed position. "This isn't a video. It's real. And so are the stakes."
>Again, Omnius splashes cocoa in the man's face."So I'll give you a chance to forget all this and leave me alone."
No.5322
>>5321>The man snaps his finger, causing the cocoa to disappear from his face."Look, I understand that you're trying to do what's right, but this isn't about wrong or right. . ."
>The man takes his own seat, leaning forward."It's about authority - and you don't have it. No one is above the law, Orion, and that's a good thing, wanting that is what men like your father want."
"You don't want to be like your father, do you?"
No.5328
>>5327>Whether due to sheer stubborness, or some lingering remnants of the psionic shielding from before, the woman keeps on standing there."That won't work, telepath, I told you already that we have countermeasures. You can delete this encounter all you want, that won't stop what's coming for you."
"Having no redundancies may fly in reckless organization like Archeon, but we deal with security - so expect a visit whether you wipe our minds or not."
No.5336
>>5335"Wuh. . ."
>It takes a few seconds for Madeleine to process the memories."I. . . see. . . Theia."
>Madeleine "pauses" for effect."Theia can help. Take her to Theia."
>A location for Orion to go to is sent to his head, somewhere below the water in the Atlantic. No.5338
>>5337"Scared of a little water? Don't blame me for it being there, Theia's the wanted terrorist."
>The "tone" back is just as humourous."Oh, and don't forget to knock first, the MLF can be touchy about uninvited guests."
No.5343
>>5342>Omnius doesn't even bother reacting. He expected suspicion. He does as he's asked, and turns around. "Just bringing her here."
>He makes sure they can see Shtjerna who's still unconscious in his arms. "I was told to bring her here for safety. The U.S government is after her and she keeps talking about something that wants to crawl into her mind."
No.5344
>>5343>The bubble compresses itself slightly, pulling in just in front of the arrow which explodes harmlessly in the water behind Omnius."Come now, is this how we treat a guest? Especially one who brought us kin who needs help?"
>The voice comes from above, as a platform of liquid metal hovers over, on which is the familiar (to Omnius) form of Theia, flanked by a woman in a servant's outfit.
>As the disc lowers itself, the bubble expands again behind Omnius, and the two that went to attack Omnius fall back slightly, with the source of the arrow making itself known as a man steps behind one of the rocks and leans against it."We should be welcoming him, not baring fangs."
>The disc lands, and Theia steps forward towards Omnius."As it happens, I was just about to have dinner, why not come along and have a little chat? I'm sure there's a lot we could talk about."
No.5345
>>5344>Omnius looks between Theia, and the others. "Alright."
>He steps forward, still holding the unconscious doctor. "Though we should probably make sure she's taken care of first."
>He nudges his head towards the doctor. No.5346
>>5345"Of course. . ."
>Theia indicates to the woman flanking her, who walks over and holds her arms out for Omnius to hand the doctor over to her."We treat kin well here, unlike flatscans."
No.5348
>>5347>The woman carefully takes the doctor and turns around slightly, walking away witht he unconscious woman."See? She'll be perfectly safe and cared for here, humanity's governments have no idea of this safe haven. Now, come, I'm sure you'd appreciate some rest for once. . ."
>Theia turns around, waving her hand to summon the liquid metal disc again casually."Oh, and you can take that helmet off, you're sleeping with my best friend - I already know who you are below that."
>Theia waits on the disc for Omnius to step on too. No.5350
>>5349>The disc rises up as Theia puts her hands behind her back."We lost a lot of members to the Meta-Human Alliance, so it's not much of a city currently, though one way it will be."
>Theia looks at Orion briefly."Which is something you can help us achieve - why not take part in building a home for
us?"
"Not just one that we've had to carve out from the scraps humanity leaves us, but a true, Meta-Human home. One where our gifts are
celebrated, not feared."
>As she talks, Theia continues guiding the disc through the air. No.5352
>>5351"You could change that, you're kin too."
>Theia starts lowering the disc as it approaches a central palace building."You
should, really, before you lose the chance to - there's a war coming, and while I mean to win it, I can't save everyone."
No.5353
>>5352"That's similar to what the unconscious doctor said. That a war was coming. She was trying to escape it by running to space."
>Orion thinks about how much he's willing to reveal. "She kept talking about some evil entity trying to climb in her head and make her it's slave, or something. I offered to take a peak so I could help her, but she went ballistic and kept accusing me of working for it. So I had to put her to sleep."
No.5354
>>5353"Some would call her a coward for that decision, but I can't blame her for it."
>The disc lands in front of the palace, spreading out away from underneath Orion and Theia's feet and reforming into a ball above her hand."An evil 'entity', you say?"
>Theia raises an eyebrow."How did she describe it?"
No.5356
>>5355>Theia curses in a language foreign to Orion."No such thing as coincidences. . ."
>Theia starts walking forward the palace, the doors opening hydraulically at the wave of her hand."How familiar are you with the Meta-Human Alliance? I know you've fought some of them before, you were involved in fighting against their attack across the US in October. But have you ever heard of the name 'Anomaly'?"
No.5358
>>5357"Anomaly is their leader. . . they treat him like a god - having met him, they might not be wrong about that."
>As Theia walks along, a thin layer of water carves itself across the walls of the building, slowly engraving images and patterns into them."He has. . . a
presence to him, like you're staring down the face of the universe itself, he casually overwhelmed me, and several others, broke through the mental defences Madeleine put in our heads like they were nothing, and removed us - all without lifting a finger on his part."
"All so he could
ensure that the MRD could get their little pet supersoldiers - because he wants war, and he'll have it."
No.5359
>>5358>Orion thinks about what he's been told. "He sounds pretty strong. Though mental defenses like the ones Madeleine gives you guys can't repair or reinforce without a source of power. And you can't do that without a constant energy supply."
>Orion keeps walking while watching the water carving the walls."Why's he want a fight so bad?"
No.5360
>>5359"Like Madeleine actively being in our heads? Like she was at the time?"
>Theia stops walking."As for his reasons, I don't know, I would guess the Meta-Human Alliance thinks it's so he can force the world into their twisted dream, but it's not like he explained his motives to us - I don't think he even really
saw us."
"Not as people, anyway."
No.5361
>>5360>Orion pauses at the reveal."…She was?"
"When was this?"
No.5362
>>5361"At the start of October, she didn't want to involve you because of you being American - treason is a harder crime to get absolved, after all."
"But these things have a habit of coming back around."
No.5364
>>5363"This does all raise the question of why he was interested in the doctor though.It's not like she's important in any way. . ."
>Theia thinks on the wording for a moment."Politically, I mean, she's not related to any key political figures or anything like that, she's not going to cause a political incident by herself. And while she's powerful, last I checked, Christians believed in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, not five - unless the timing of when he started to try and recruit her started earlier.">>5363
No.5366
>>5365"He could, but smart people aren't immune to being idiots - he has people just as smart as her or smarter below him already."
>Theia sighs, defeated by the mystery."He's intractable."
No.5367
>>5366"Well. I have no more ideas."
>Orion shrugs with defeat. "Either way. I told her I wouldn't let him get her."
No.5368
>>5367"I'm guessing she didn't take it well?."
>The woman pre-empts Orion asking how she knows."She's sleeping with no signs of a real fight, so either you fought someone who could put her to sleep or you put her to sleep - and why would you leave her asleep in the first case?"
"We can try to keep her safe here, but I don't think there's anywhere that she could really be kept safe in."
No.5369
>>5368"It was better to put her to sleep than let her keep trying to kill me."
"Good. Just leave that thing on her head. Whatever it is, she's figured out how to block out telepathy, at least most of it. So she should be free from mental intrusion as long as you don't have a strong telepath just try and fry her brain right next to her."
No.5370
>>5369"I wasn't judging, I just needed the context on it - we don't want her coming out guns blazing because we said the wrong thing."
"And we'll keep that in mind, although I don't think it'll do much seeing who we're working with. . ."
[The End]