Fatebreaker

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@Darth Woodrack, to clarify the cage is made out of invested metal alloys and contains aonic wards to prevent both exterior and interior damage. In addition, there are DA members surrounding it with many abilities at their disposal. So the cage would still be intact.

Also, the DA don’t need laws to apprehend him. They’re doing it as an act of goodwill for the other guilds, who might still want to punish the Jackal for his involvement in the attacks.

And if they don’t want him, the DA will have use for him.

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Contact would mean cadmium bubble is up, even if only for an instant. Cage goes up in about 3 seconds.

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@Darth Woodrack  Ok, I’m fine with you killing the guy, but they still got the cage up.

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To be fair , he wasn’t harmed in any way nor did I make him do anything or react in any way. Also, just because he is your PC doesn’t mean he can do anything with impunity, the DA has been preparing ever since he came in. 

Also, didn’t you state in a previous post that he didn’t have any other weapons? You’re welcome to kill the Denizen, but he definitely would have gotten his cadmium bubble up for long enough to get the cage up. I’m fine editing the interactions, but he has definitely been taken into custody. And to be honest, this is the much nicer approach. We’re in Alleycity, the DA has a stupendous advantage. Running was definitely not going to work here.

However, should the mods request I will happily edit or delete the previous post. 

Edit: @Darth Woodrack I’ve edited the post. You’re welcome to kill the Denizen in the cage with hand to hand, which I believe the Jackal is proficient in, as he is indeed an npc. But the cage is definitely locked around them

Instantly a Dark Alley Denizen leapt from the shadows and grabbed ahold of the Jackal. He flared Allomantic cadmium and grinned at the man.

“Let me be the first to say that we’re VERY glad you tried to run.”

He dropped the cadmium bubble to reveal that a cage had been built around them. It hummed with energy, and seemed to be an interwoven lattice of various metals. Denizens inspected the Aons that were set into the exterior. The Denizen in the cage with the Jackal winked at him. “It gets better.”

(edited to allow reactions)

A faint voice could be heard echoing down the Alleys 

“Did we get mornings back?!?!?”

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Well, pretty sure the DA could stop him cold at the drop of a hat.

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An important note is that the council can’t disband the Ghostbloods, but they can try to remove them from the council. 

A DA lawyer stepped forward 

“Let the record show that there were no abominations of The bloodthirsty class present at the conflict, nor can the assembly prove that creations designed specifically to drain blood exist or are controlled by the Dark Alley.”

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Formally submitting a proposal to rename this thread "The Spooky Spiketacular Extravaganza!"

As she took the coin, from the Stranger's Shade, he grinned widely. 

"You'll do, Little Lita, you'll do." He turned and walked towards the door, stopping to look back at her. 

"Remember that this is bigger than anything else. It's bigger than people, guilds, wars; this is the pursuit of Secrets. This is Science. Keep it as your compass, and the Alleys will truly accept you." The door opened on it's own and he walked into the hallway.

"Tell Mac I said hi. He's been dealing with a lot lately and the real me hasn't visited in quite some time. Tell Laurelai that I appreciate her recent work in the Records, that's no easy task." He turned and gave her one last smile as the door slowly closed.

"And enjoy your cookie while it's warm."

The Stranger's Shade threw back it's head and laughed.

"Excellent. You'll do well here, mark my words." He held up his other hand and a coin appeared between his fingers, the face showing a globe. He rolled it back and forth across them with dexterous ease. "That is what Science is about, learning the secrets of the universe itself. Knowing what is unknown. We learn the secrets of matter and time, and the secrets of mortals become but paltry things. Once you taste the ambrosia of Truth, real Truth, it is impossible to go back. Hemalurgy is the tool with which you can crack open the world and drink the secrets inside. Secrets are a heady thing indeed."

He stopped and flicked the coin into the air. It spun rapidly, reflecting the light as he caught it once more. The other side of the coin was engraved with a skull, a spike going through the left eye socket. "But there is always a price, whether you know you must pay it or not. Nothing drives that concept home more than Hemalurgy, making it once again the perfect science. Anything is attainable, but it always has a price. Always."

His form flickered between different versions of himself, some muttering indistinctly, some cackling maniacally, one with blood seeping from an empty eye socket. The shadows in the room grew darker and the whispers grew louder. This was that feeling of the Void, the cold abyss. It loomed as the small room seemed to fade away. There was everything and nothing in that Void. It seemed to swallow the universe itself.

And then the room was back, everything was calm, and the Stranger's Shade was sitting in the chair. The coin's face showed a radient sun.

"But if you are willing to press on, the Light of Science will be your guide." The room began to glow with a golden light, as glowing words began to write themselves on every available surface. Formulae in strange languages, descriptions of people and the workings of their minds, the secrets to life itself. Then they vanished as well, and theroom was quiet once again.

And the Stranger's Shade was standing right in front of Lita, his expression one of curiosity, as if she were an experiment he was waiting to see the results of. He held out the coin, and this time it's face showed a scale, perfectly balanced. 

"These are the Alleys, Lita. Are you willing to pursue this path, and the secrets that await you?"

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You're too kind, Mac 

The Stranger's Shade nodded as if her words were an expected confirmation.

"I thought not. My Originator has been, absent for a while now. I am doing my best to keep up with the goings on, so that I can catch him up once he returns. If he returns." He floated over to the table and took a seat. "I am the second oldest Denizen of the Alley, the head of the Research & Development Department. And the Marketing Department, can't forget that. I am one of the original Denizens, and I helped Voidus forge the Alleys into what they are today. I have furthered the cause of Science and helped to shape the way Hemalurgy is viewed. I have taken untold thousands of people into my labs and created more Hemalurgic constructs than anyone in the Alleyverse has even dreamed of."

His gaze practically glowed with the intensity of his words, and the room seemed to grow darker as he spoke. Shadows twisted on the walls and whispers seem to float through the air. Then smell of freshly baked cookies wafted through the room, and he smiled warmly, though even that just felt marginally off. "And I love getting to know the new Denizens." He held out his hand an a chocolate chip chip cookie seemed to form from thin air. "Cookie? Don't worry, it's safe."

"Counter Intelligence eh? One of the Newer departments if my memory serves. Run by Mac? Good fellow, knows his stuff. We could do with a few more like him. Driven, ambitious, hungry for knowledge." His eye met hers and almost seemed to deepen in an indefinable way.

"What about you, acolyte of the Alleys? What are you Hungry for?"

@ZincAboutIt

The shadow chuckled, "No, that wouldn't be unreasonable. As I posses no physical form, doors are more of a formality for me, one I often forget that others observe rather religiously. Allow me to set you at ease."

The shadow shimmered and became a man, or at least an image of one. His skin was a rich brown, his hair a tangle of black curls, and his grey lab coat was torn and mended in several places. but what stood out most was his eyes. One was black, so black you couldn't distinguish the pupil from the iris., and the other was actually a gleaming metallic spike. His mouth was set in a grin that made the observer feel uneasy, both humorous and slightly predatory. He nodded towards her.

"I, am The Stranger. Or rather, I am a piece of a reflection of him. It's rather complicated." 

The image flickered briefly and he frowned, then tapped his head with two fingers. That seem to sort things as his form stabalized, though close inspection would reveal it was still not physically there. 

"You're new, if I'm not mistaken. I don't suppose that you know who I am?"

A shadow passed down the Alleyway, then stopped at the blue door. It cocked it's head as if to listen to something, though someone walking past wouldn't have heard anything. Then it passed through the door into the room. It took in the furnishings, the light, then turned it's attention to the room's occupant. it was a girl, trying to twirl a spoon between her fingers. It watched her with curiosity, then amusement as her efforts bore poor results. As she began her tenth attempt it spoke,

"Try holding the spoon closer to the center, that way the weight is more evenly distributed."

@ZincAboutIt

Chirithia nodded as the Denizen relayed the message that they had the go ahead to “Clean Up” the area. She smiled and turned away releasing flying hordelings to relay the info more efficiently. Around the entire compound the Denizens began gathering up the fallen. Many Denizens had scanners that hummed and beeped cryptically as they inspected the bodies. It appeared R&D was already about its business. Samples were taken from not and not quite dead subjects, nearly all of them Ghostbloods. Some Denizens were taking this opportunity to feed, some on corpses and some on cognitive elements. A few from R&D we’re feeding on spiritual elements, but that was beyond Chirithia’s area of expertise. She was an anatomist. 

She bent over one corpse who’s head was in pretty good shape and checked the eyes. Grey irises, perfect. She moved her hands over the sockets and harvested them with practiced efficiency. She put them in a canister and tucked it away for safe keeping. They wouldn’t begrudge her a souvenir, it wasn’t even from a child. She didn’t understand why so many humans got hung up on that. A corpse is a corpse.

The Denizens worked with speed and precision sorting nearly all the corpses into their respective factions and removing all but the ones in the Church pile. The rest were stored in various containers and digestive systems and taken back to the Alleys. Chirithia hummed with anticipation. So many new samples, she could hardly wait to do an inventory. The other guilds were useful for some things after all.

Chirithia was really enjoying herself. She had reconstructed so many humans today. Each one was like a piece of anatomical artwork, laid out just for her. She found a soldier missing a limb and got to examine the cross section of a human male’s arm, though his wails were irritating so she Soothed all of his emotions away as she grew him a new one. She found a child a bulletwound in it’s head and clicked her tongue. The human cerebral system was a beautiful work of art, throwing bullets at it was like spray painting a mosaic. Her normal surge of Progression wasn’t going to cut it, so she pulled out a vial from her lab coat and removed a thin golden spike, hardly bigger than a sewing needle. She inserted it with precision into the appropriate bind point, then inserted several more spikes at various locations. They were identical in size, but consisted of different alloys, and each played a crucial part in this Hemalurgic operation.

Luxembourg, her assistant and the Denizen responsible for maintaining the Steel Bubble around the group, saw a burly man bleeding out on the floor. As he went over to collect a sample, the bubble shifted enough to leave Chirithia exposed. A Ghostblood soldier rounded the corner and caught sight of the group. He unleashed a spray of bullets, two of which pierced Chirithia’s chitinous arms, breaking off a few hordelings . But more importantly one struck her subject. She clicked in irritation, even as half of her torso flew from her coat to devour the man alive. She continued working on the human child while part of her acquired some more nutrients.

“Luxembourg, stay focused please or I shall have to reassign you. Permanently.”

Luxemborg gulped and speedily returned to her side, wanting to keep his form corporeal. Chirithia finished the spiritual grafts while keeping a steady flow of Progression going, making sure to address cognitive and spiritual damage. As the child’s body began tapping the gold reserves it had just gained, Chirithia is settled and removed several spikes in quick succession. The whole process took 10 seconds and the child was opening it’s eyes in confusion.

Chiritia chirped in a satisfactory manner, then patted the child on the head as one would a young dog. She admired the dental structure once more, resisting the urge to take samples, then pushed it out of the way and moved on to the next subject, a woman covered in burns. Chirithia smiles at the prospect of skin grafts and dermal reconstruction. She set to work as the rest of her hordelings returned from their meal.

Dinner and a show, what a wonderful day this was! Science was so much FUN.

Outside of the compound, figures began appearing in groups of five to seven. Some had mechanical prosthetics, some had bizarre masks, and one in particular was definitely a gorilla. But they all wore lab coats.

The gorilla turned and addressed the assembly. 

“Listen up Denizens. This is an ‘aid’ assignment, we’re not here to wipe out entire armies, as much as we might want to. You’re allowed to do some impromptu baking of course, but your main purpose is as medics. I want each group to have at least one cadmium user, one Progression user, and one Gold specialist. Defense Denizens will be using a combination of Steel Bubbles, Lurcher plates, and energy neutralization aons to ensure limited interruptions. If someone does decided to pursue further impediment of our work, you may collect some materials from them, but again, we are not YET authorized to begin full collection. Dead subjects are of course free game, but I would ask you to prioritize the mission at hand.”

He turned to face the ongoing battle and chuckled. “You’ve all put people back together, though generally after dissecting them in the first place. This will be a good exercise to see if you can repair someone else’s botched dissection.”

He raised a massive fist in the air and let out a bellow that shook the ground,

“FOR SCIENCE!!!”

the Denizens cheered and moved forward to save lives. Mostly.

The R&D Denizens conversed quietly with one another. Then turned into the nearest shadow and disappeared. There were materials to be harvested.

The one with four arms remained and he addressed the assembly. 

“I am no delegate, but I can offer a solution if the involved guilds should desire. It would be effective, though some of you may think it drastic. But it would nullify the threat, that is for certain.”

He smiled, “There would be a small fee, nothing unreasonable. All you have to do is ask.”

The Denizen nodded and the other members of R&D scuttled into the surrounding area. He then turned to the fellow who had swiped the spike.

"You may want to return that, I'd hate for the Reclaimations Department to get ahold of a perfectly good test subject  like you. It may beunvested, but they can be picky about these sorts of things."

One of the four arms that appeared to be covered in some sort of chitinous material reached into the lab coat and pulled out some a clipboard with some paperwork on it.

"But if you're interested, we're always accepting applications. "

Five more Denizens emerged from the darker corners of the room. Their lab coats were varying degrees of ragged, and some were sporting featureless masks with a single spike through the center. They held a variety of spikes in their hands, or in one case, claws. They were unmistakably from the R&D Department. 

"We were passing through the local shadows and sensed that some spiking might be happening."

One raised its head and sniffed the air.

"With our department head missing for the last few years, we've been a little, unorganized. " The lead Denizen continued. He had 4 arms, and they appeared to be mostly made out of flesh. "So, is it just the one subject or are there more," he licked his lips "volunteers?"

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I second the spike vote

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This is what the DA does: incorporation, acquisition, and infiltration. 

And baking.

Another DA member proposed that lip and cheek structure could have a significant effect on resonance and tonality, irregardless of lung capacity. 

An older DA acolyte shushed him, giving a stern glance.

Then he proceeded to blow a much louder and longer raspberry, thanks to the walrus lung capacity spike he had.

It was also for Science.