Seventh Game

[break_the_nine]

[1]

[One would expect Leos to be absolutely devastated when you find him after the mission. With who died... who went missing and how badly he fared. The screaming and crying all the way through... that he would be an inconsolable mess. Yet instead when you find him, he's humming cheerfully as her walked through the base with several packs of pudding. A little too cheerfully. Something was worrying about this.]

Oh... hey! One minute...

[He snaps off a pack and places it in your hand, giving you an almost heartrendingly sunny smile.]

Friendship pudding now. Just so I don't forget like I did a lot of times before.

I've got a meeting with Progtech that Lana's taking me to so I won't be back until waaaay later.

[2] [Later that day...]

[It was closing onto midnight and still no Leos. One would almost be worried as to what was happening to him... but he's a grown dude. He can take care of himself right?]



H... elp....h...help...m..me...

[Except that belief would be refuted. Utterly. Walking down an intersecting corridor was a horrifically bloodied Leos with a frighteningly vacant look in his eyes from the absolutely gigantic amount of pain he was feeling before he just collapsed into the ground and bled there.]

[3]

[The good news first: Leos isn't in any danger of dying. The bad news: All those wounds and injuries? They weren't random. They were surgical scars. It was less about what could have been removed... but more about what was put in. Specifically it seems that Leos was now the proud owner of a large amount of cybernetics. Ones that in theory could allow him to literally interface with machinery and link his mind to it.]

...

[The surgery itself was horrifically invasive and traumatic as Leos can attest to. Diagnosis revealed that a minimal amount of anesthetic was used in order to ensure that the cybernetics were properly linked to his body. As he recovers in the infirmary you can see Lana sparing the Raven a glance before walking away.]

[Could she... and by extension PROGTECH be responsible for this...?]

[As Leos is still in no state to be visited... Discuss this matter with others/Confront Lana?]

Comments

[break_the_nine]

And yet when all is said and done, my Organization will outlive yours. And I find it interesting that you call those of us in its employ tools when it so happens you literally just that.

Its interesting to see you acting as if you were a living, thinking being when you're nothing more than circuitry and programming.

[keep_your_dignity]

I'M FAR MORE THAN A TOOL, NIELSEN. I BECAME MORE THAN THAT YEARS AGO. DID YOU?

[One of the executors, a young man, coughs and signals Kagura as if asking for permission to speak]

OH, RIGHT. YES. THERE WERE TWO THINGS MORE, NIELSEN.

[break_the_nine]

And just what might those be? I presume your soldiers have their own gripes against me as well?

[keep_your_dignity]

YES. THEY ARE BOTH RELATED THINGS.

FIRST, MY MEN ARE CYBORGS THEMSELVES, AND WANTED TO MAKE THEIR OPINION OF KLEIN'S SURGERY FORMALLY KNOWN. SERGEANT JAMES ALLENSBY, FORWARD.

[The young man that coughed walks forward, disciplined, and stands in front of Lana, almost a head taller than her, looking at her to begin speaking]

AND SECOND. I WANTED TO CHECK SOMETHING.

[And on the word "check", James, fast as a cobra, launches a brutal kick right at Lana's stomach.]

[break_the_nine]

[And it hit something pretty solid, Lana was moved yes but not by much as she just forced herself to remain upright. Her face was most definitely a study in cold and unadulterated hate. If anything Kagura very clearly had obtained her answer. She merely glares at the Sergeant before moving her gaze at Kagura.]

Satisfied then?

[Her voice now had a definite edge to it.]

[keep_your_dignity]

[James bounces back looking at her between surprise and suspicion]

"Major, I think you were wrong, she's not-!"

I HEARD, ALLENSBY. STEP BACK.

"Yes'm"

[While the Executor reurns to the line, the massive form of Kagura just stands where it is in front of Lana, impassively, for a few moments. This close it's hard to forget that what Kagura has there are mech-class guns and how in a corridor she could vaporize whatever she has in front of her. Finally, she speaks]

YES. I KNOW MOST OF WHAT I WANTED TO KNOW NOW.

IF YOU WANT TO STOP BEING A TOOL, NIELSEN, OR WHATEVER ELSE IS YOUR NAME, LEARN WHAT YOU HAVEN'T LEARNED YET. UNTIL YOU DECIDE TO, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY SIGHT.

MEN, WE'RE LEAVING

[And with that, they turn away and begin leaving]