The dripping of water and soft creaking of metal emanated through the flooded sector. Water had filled it up for days by now, with few daring to set foot in it. That didn’t stop some from wading their way through the water that went up to knee height, especially since some had few other options on where to go to. One of these unfortunate souls was Melissa Powell, a janitor who had rushed to the flooded sector right after the disaster to save a subject friend of hers: a tiny mantis subject called Tina. The two had waded through the flooded sector for several days now, noticing how more and more water filled the facility with each passing day. They at first had attempted to head to the green sector, given that it would have food and shelter. But unfortunately, they had not succeeded due to the flood hampering the way over. Thus, they were now quickly attempting to go the other direction. If the green sector didn’t work out, then the freezer sector seemed like a viable alternative.

The two were wandering through the centre of the flooded sector, hearing water trickling everywhere and breathing in the highly humid, somewhat saline air. The light of their pocket torch illuminated the dark hallway, reflecting each droplet which fell from the ceiling. The murky water was up to Melissa’s knees by now. Mel kept Tina on her shoulder, since Tina’s small size put her at great risk of drowning. Especially since the little mantis girl wasn’t exactly the best at swimming. “Are we there yet?” Tina asked impatiently, Melissa sighing softly. “I’ve already told you, it’s going to take a while. I don’t know this place by head, and we have to be careful. Every step I take needs to be taken carefully.” Melissa calmly told Tina, the mantis girl looking a little annoyed. Melissa was glad to have saved Tina, but she had to admit that the little mantis girl needed to learn some patience, especially now. Still, she’d try and keep Tina distracted in other ways.

“Look at the bright side, Tina. You really wanna eat meat and flies, right? Well, the place we’re going to has at least one of those things. So, you’ll have plenty of food there to enjoy!” Tina would get rather excited. “I hope it’s a lot of flies. I wanna hunt again! I need to hunt!” Melissa chuckled, before focusing on the path forward. They’d soon pass a particularly large and deeply flooded chamber, Melissa noticing a ton of water bubbling to the surface and a soft crackling noise. “What is that noise?” Tina asked curiously, to which Melissa started thinking. The noise did sound familiar, her having heard it before somewhere in the flooded sector. Though soon, they heard a loud splash and saw some kind of octopus subject leap out of the water. Melissa froze, Tina immediately raising her claws to try and appear intimidating. However, the octopus subject would simply stare at the two in abject fear, before yelling a single thing at them. “Get out of here! RUN!”

She stretched out her arms behind her, as jets of water propelled her forward and down a hallway. “Yeah, you better run!” Tina yelled as Melissa looked at the bubbling water in the centre of the large, open and flooded room. Melissa realised she had to act now, immediately grabbing Tina with her hand to protect her as she ran to a nearby hallway. “Ah, what are you doing, Melissa?! Lemme go!” Tina said in frustration as Melissa kept trudging down the hallway. “Why are you running?! Why did you grab me?! That girl clearly was scared of me! You don’t need to run!” Tina tried breaking free from Melissa’s grasp, before getting more agitated. “Lemme go! Lemme go already! Let. Me. GO!” Though right after she stopped talking, there was a powerful shockwave, Melissa being thrown forward and into the water as she felt an intense pressure through her legs. It caused a bit of pain, but thankfully didn’t last too long. She felt the water around her pushing and pulling on her, the depth being the only thing which saved her from being thrown around as if she was in a gigantic wave. She quickly managed to get back up and continue running. As she got up, she looked at Tina in her hand, the mantis being soaked and coughing.

“Tina, are you okay?!” Melissa asked in obvious concern, the mantis looking up before yelling. “I’m fine! Just run!” Tina thankfully had enough of a survival instinct to know that she couldn’t take whatever caused the blast. Thus, Melissa ran as fast as she could, the adrenaline helping her ignore the pain and focus on creating distance between her and the explosion. She already knew what had caused the blast: it was some kind of steam explosion. Though little did she know that it wasn’t an ordinary steam explosion...

As a whirlpool formed in the large chamber Melissa fled from, clouds of steam started billowing up throughout the room. It spread into the nearby hallways, creating a dense and warm fog. Water started bubbling even more wildly, as an orange and blue glow faded in and out of view of the water below. The whirlpool slowed down rather quickly, the water surface reducing to large waves crashing into the walls of the flooded space. More and more water started bubbling, a sizzling noise starting to come from the edges of the room. Though soon, two massive black and orange shapes started moving up through the water, bubbles and light emanating from the shape as it headed for the surface. As the shape got closer and closer to the water surface, the crackling and ticking noise in the room started speeding up and growing louder. A large claw would rise from the water, the fingers glowing a bright orange and quickly drying as the water on it turned to steam. And as the claw reached the air, the crackling and ticking became a continuous and unnerving buzz. Though it was soon drowned out by the cry of an alarm which blared through the space...

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

This quest is mostly story focused, with no really deep mechanics aside from basic dice-rolling. 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

List of scientists and subjects, along with some minor details:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Z64W31Eszz9CNi-ZWe-t38yqg6riZ9oUvinfd2-F9A/edit?usp=sharing

The monster girls sheets as provided by the government tablet:
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:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PaR_fOFnzAJnY57V71OM-g9mbPhPtGNOeV2ZrI73T-8/edit?tab=t.0

Also, a reminder that, if the site goes down again, that you can check the shared docs for updates from me still.

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

Artist I commissioned for this thread's thumbnail: None. Thank you again, based art-anons!

>Recap from the previous thread.
Having gotten some rest after the Grise encounter, you finally managed to spot Logan on one of your cameras. And after a small confrontation with him, you managed to gain his trust as you finally were able to leave the high-threat level sector. Unfortunately, before you could leave, you would have an encounter with Reika. Derek and Lars were both gravely injured, only barely surviving combat. Fortunately, you managed to use your strengths, Reika’s stupidity and some help from your subjects friends to subdue her. After helping Derek and Lars, you retrieved Elodie before somehow befriending the downed Reika. Afterwards, you retreated to Titania’s chamber, where you encountered Chloe’s spores and more of Feng’s guards. After ambushing said guardsmen, you managed to communicate with Feng through one of the guardsmen. These chats were cut short, due to you not trusting Feng and shooting the guardsmen she spoke through. Afterwards, you fled more guardsmen, reaching even deeper facility parts where you were picked up by a small group of non-Feng guardsmen who worked for Annie. Whilst they led the way to Annie, Kimmy took over the radio and... delivered an interesting story regarding Alexandra. Fortunately, you’d soon reach Annie, Elodie preparing a lovely dinner which you shared with your men whilst listening to their chats. More importantly though, you spent some time patting the injured manticore subject you were starting to befriend.

Continuing from the previous thread...

>Ask Elodie how much more food there was and if more could be given to Reika. The manticore clearly enjoyed it, so maybe you could save a bit more for her since she needed it to regenerate.
Seeing as Reika still needed to regrow most of her limbs, wings and tail, you felt that giving her more food would help out a lot. So, you asked Elodie how much more there was left. “Uhhhh, well, I can give everyone... I-I think a small serving still? I’m not entirely sure...” Fortunately, there were some who were quick to help in making things a little less of a problem. “I have enjoyed the food and believe to have had an adequate amount. It would be most logical to give my serving to Reika.” Katya calmly said, after which Cortina nodded along as well. “I am also more than willing to hand over my food to her.” And with that, some of the other folk would start sharing their food. Thalia, Thaddeus, Anon, Lydia, Mindy and Don all would offer up their food.

Elodie would nod, before speaking more confidently. “Well, I can definitely give... Reika a whole lot more now, hehe.” She said a little awkwardly, after which Anon spoke up in a more amused tone. “Well, Reika, guess you got your wish. You might want to thank everyone for willingly giving their food to you.” And surprisingly enough, Reika actually obliged. “Thank you for giving me your food. I like this food a lot and like having more!”

>Continue talking and scratching Reika. Maybe she had some spots which she really liked to be scratched at, or wanted you to treat her nicely in a different way.
After Elodie asked for Reika’s plate and you handed it over to her, you’d sit beside Reika and decided to keep scratching her and petting her. Seeing that she was acting very feline-like, you decided to focus on her head and face. You first scratched behind her large ears, her actually seeming to enjoy it as she tilted her head to let you reach it. She even pushed her head towards your hand, trying to remain at an optimal scritching distance. You’d also pet the top of her head, her closing her eyes and seeming to enjoy it. “Mik, you’re treating her like a housecat.” Mindy said in a bemused tone, as the rest of the group also watched along. The sight clearly was amusing, you half expecting Reika to start purring. She didn’t, and would soon notice a plate with more of the stew, her digging in right away. She finished rather quickly, her looking up at you as you decided to go for her chin and cheek. Though, she seemed to be more opposed to this as she moved her head in a way to get a different scratching angle.

>Listen in to or join some of the conversations that were happening still. Maybe you could ask some more questions to Logan, the guardsmen or the subjects you were with. Or, just listen to one of those groups to see what they were discussing.
As Elodie shared the last bits of food with the people who still wanted a second portion, you asked her if she knew what her next step would be. “Next step? Uhhh, could you elaborate?” She asked calmly, you explaining that she could stay with Annie, or be brought over to your girls at the surface. The option surprised her, as you saw her thinking to herself about what she wanted. And after a short think, she seemed to come up with an idea. “I think... it’d be a lot easier for you guys i-if I stay here. D-Don’t take this the wrong way! Y-You guys are... w-well, you’re wonderful people. I-I just... w-well, I’m a little w-worried about g-going out there. A-And given your plans to f-fight Feng, I’d rather... uhhh, s-stay down here, i-if that’s okay with you. B-Besides, I-I think I’d be more of a h-hindrance than a boon to your team.” She clearly was well aware of her limitations, and knew that joining you now would be a risk.

Honestly, you could probably take her back to the rest of your girls if you really wanted to. But, it’d definitely require a large detour and planning to actually get there. And since you first wanted to head to the surface, having her stay down here was probably for the best. You told her that you did appreciate the cooking she did and that you hoped she’d be fine down here. “Oh, I-I’ll be fine. I, uhhhh, I do have one request for you though. Ummm, if you happen to... go to the flooded sector, can you find Josephine for me a-and s-send her over here? I... I miss her a-a lot.”

You and your men weren’t exactly clamouring to head to the flooded sector. But, you did agree to at least send Josephine her way if you did encounter her. Elodie nodded, before quietly saying: “T-Thanks.” Though, on the topic of hunting other subjects to recruit for your group, you decided to ask Katya and Elodie about the beetle subject they knew of. The one who was also under Roraima’s control. You even suggested getting her under your control, which was met with some bemusement. “That sounds like a wonderful idea! Why don’t we also try and find Pelly again to recruit her.” Zaria said jokingly, eliciting some amused scoffs. “I do think Zaria makes a good point, Mik. Just because we recruited Reika and Katya, that does not mean we should start trying to befriend a whole bunch of Roraima subjects. No offense, Katya, Reika.” Katya shrugged her wings again, whilst Reika seemed more focused on the head pats and scratches.

Logan would soon after respond, wanting to give his thoughts on the matter. “You could maybe recruit Sintae, especially since you somehow managed to recruit Reika. But, I think it’d be better to recruit some other subjects.” Afterwards though, Katya would give her own thoughts. “Sintae’s intelligence is lower than Reika’s, so techniques which were used against Reika could work quite well against Sintae as well. However, Sintae is also far less stable, easily trusting and does not view Roraima or any associates in a positive light. I believe that, whilst there is a possibility of recruiting her, it would be far too low to make it a feasible goal.” Elodie didn’t have much to say about Sintae, clearly not knowing too much about.

Perhaps recruiting Sintae wasn’t going to be the best idea... But, there was still plenty to discuss, right?

>What do you do next

>Ask for further details about Sintae, Josephine or any of the other subjects which have been brought up in the past. (Write in who you’ll ask about subjects, and about which subjects.)
>Talk a bit with Reika to see how she was faring. Not only did she have a decent amount of meat to grow with, but the affectionate scratches and pats were clearly something she enjoyed. Maybe she has even loosened up a bit, thanks to the affection? (Write in what you’ll talk about with Reika.)
>Go over to Annie to see how she was doing. Maybe you could have a private talk with her real quickly.
>Just get some rest in already. The earlier you woke up, the quicker you could start your travels back to the surface. (Write in if there’s anything you do before going to sleep.)
>Discuss something else with your men, the guardsmen, subjects, Logan or Massimo...
>Something else...

>>6234801
>Ask for further details about Sintae, Josephine or any of the other subjects which have been brought up in the past. (Write in who you’ll ask about subjects, and about which subjects.)
Everything we should know about Josephine to find, identify, secure trust, and escort her back here
Same for Sintae, plus their best ideas for recruitment

If that's Mrs. Demon, that would be the first time she's been described in any way, much less shown on camera. Also hi, Mimi.
>>6234801
>Ask for further details about Sintae, Josephine or any of the other subjects which have been brought up in the past.
Does KK have a verdict or light to shed on some of the subjects Reika has mentioned (the RSL/GCL/BCL trio, Pteroi, Agiri and Codaline) or any other Roraima or otherwise combat-capable subjects she knows who would be willing to work with us here? Given how dangerous they are, we're not going to go after them unless we know how they would respond.
>Go over to Annie to see how she was doing. Maybe you could have a private talk with her real quickly.
I want to ask her a question in private - how is SHE doing? While surely better now with Logan, she's been holding this roaring dumpster fire together by herself for >two weeks now without a break and much of the time can only watch and nudge things as people continue to die and GalGov plots upstairs. That's got to wear a person down and the lunacy of this forsaken place has been taxing on all of us - I want to make sure she's holding up all right herself.

Then draw straws for watch (KK will be fine with it, maybe ask Elodie if she wants to be in the pool as well and Thalia and Zaria are NOT to be on the same watch) and go slep.

>>6234801
>Ask for further details about Sintae, Josephine or any of the other subjects which have been brought up in the past. (Write in who you’ll ask about subjects, and about which subjects.)
Ask more about Josephine.

>Just get some rest in already. The earlier you woke up, the quicker you could start your travels back to the surface. (Write in if there’s anything you do before going to sleep.)
Let's sleep, while this is a somewhat safer place, I still say we can take few turns. First shift, let's pick Katya, Thaddeus and Anon, then we can take the second together with Thalia and Lydia, let Zaria and the guards take the last one. Also once we're alone ask Thalia if she needs to be "fed", just take it to a enclosed space.

>>6234868
>If that's Mrs. Demon
I think it's the radiation subject Annie mentioned before.

>>6235038
Does Mik have to be the one to feed her?

>>6235046
>Does Mik have to be the one to feed her
We(Mik) did offer to feed her, also of all the people around she likes him the best, thanks to all the bonding and support Mik gave her. Now that I'm thinking, it's ridiculously ironic how a guy sent to a clean up job is so good at handling subjects, I mean we got Reika for pity sake, she's been dreaded since the quest's beginning and now she's shaping up to be the team's pet Manticore.

>>6235113
It's amazing just how far some common humanity, empathy and sense will get you among lost and lonely creations who have never seen anything but the windowless walls of a laboratory, are searching for a purpose and safety and will latch on to positive human contact with all 2-4 hands, which describes most of the subjects we've met so far to a greater or lesser extent. Even among those that aren't so emotionally vulnerable, such an attitude can be very disarming, though we got lucky with Reika after knocking some sense into her first and have only encountered four irredeemable hostiles so far. I think we'll go far with Reika.
Really, it speaks volumes about all parties involved in this shitshow that the situation was allowed to get this bad in the first place and that groups like ours aren't more common. It would have been so easy to give these girls better lives to start with and most of them are now just scared victims, so that they got so little love in their lives and are all earmarked for death casts a damning verdict on Facility and Federation alike.

>>6234801
>Ask for further details about Sintae, Josephine or any of the other subjects which have been brought up in the past.
Just ask about all of them. Knowledge is power, especially if it means saving a good subject who's already good friends with one of the girls we've saved.

>Set up watch schedules
Mostly supporting this >>6235038 except let Zaria be with Thalia rather than Lydia because I have a hunch that Zaria protests too much.

>>6235433
Looks good, but is it just me or does Tina look sort of like a terminid hunter? Did official art of her get posted anywhere or just something you made?

>>6235113
I get the impression that the majority of the people who worked in the facility were pieces of shit. Especially among the scientists and guardsmen. The fact that a mercenary is the nicest human some of these girls have ever met is proof of this.

>>6235450
>let Zaria be with Thalia rather than Lydia because I have a hunch that Zaria protests too much
Even if that's true, I don't think forcing Zaria to be around her when she's made it pretty clear that she wants nothing to do with Thalia is a good idea.

>is it just me or does Tina look sort of like a terminid hunter?
She has the attitude of a predator strain hunter too.

>Ask for further details about Sintae, Josephine or any of the other subjects which have been brought up in the past.
Whilst Katya did NOT seem to think it was feasible to recruit Sintae, you still knew there were plenty of other Roraima subjects out there who you could maybe take in. You immediately asked Katya about some of the subjects which Reika had mentioned, starting with the combat trio of RSL-01, GCL-03 and BDL-02. Katya had already mentioned them previously, though was fortunately able to give some more intel about them. "I already mentioned not having met them. However, I can still give further details, especially since everyone is here now. RSL-01 is known as Joanna Cornudina, she was, as her codename implies, the first of her 'siblings'. She was designed to create sharp objects from her body using nanites, mainly in the form of spikes and blades. Then, there is BDL-02, Myxini Scelodina. She was designed more for defensive functions, being highly durable and having the ability to create these threads made of nanotubes which can be used for defensive purposes. Lastly, there is GCL-03, Carolin Smaragdina. She was the healer of the group, being capable of releasing nanites to mend flesh and increase physiological processes."

Well, it did tell you quite a lot about the three girls. Though, there was still a lot missing. "What were their personalities? How did they feel about Roraima and the facility?" Anon would ask, after which Thaddeus asked: "Do you think we could ally them?" Zaria also asked the important question of: "Where could we find them?" Katya was quick to give a response to each and every single question. "I am unfortunately not familiar with their personalities. I am therefore unable to share details about that. However, based on the approval he showed towards them, it is logical to say that they are probably disciplined towards him. That, or they are akin to Reika and have lost a lot of intelligence to enhance their combat effectiveness."

How and why Roraima thought reducing intelligence was a good way to get his subjects in line was still a mystery to you and your men. Hopefully, these subjects would be more akin to Katya, meaning they could be reasoned with through cold hard logic. Speaking of which, you wanted to know more about Pteroi as well. Thalia had in the past mentioned how she was rather unpleasant and aggressive, whilst Reika called her more obedient and dedicated to the job. "Pteroi Scorpia, LF-29, was made jointly by Roraima and Illimani. She was designed to have venomous spines on her fins which could be used for combat thanks to her agility underwater. I unfortunately do not know more about her, aside from the fact that Roraima believed she was... developing in the 'right' direction." There was a bit of silence from Katya, you knowing that she was thinking about what the 'right' direction actually entailed when it came from Roraima.

"That right direction... I presume that entailed... subservience and a dedication to her mission?" Mike asked in a calm voice, Katya nodding calmly. "Correct. I presume that, with Logan present, you could potentially befriend her. But, I am not entirely sure, since I am lacking a lot of details about her." Katya said softly, her going quiet as it seemed she didn't know much else about Pteroi. Thus, you asked about Agiri, hoping that Katya knew more about her as well. "Agiri Psyttal, KB-18, was an insect subject made between Roraima and Anderson. Apparently, she is comparable to a subject made by Anderson, but I do not know which one due to Roraima never telling me the particular details. All I know about Agiri, is that she was quick to accept her training under Roraima and did not resist his punishments. She might be intelligent enough to co-operate with us, since Roraima never actually complained about her refusing orders from him."

Obviously, you needed a lot more details to really determine if Agiri was a worthwhile ally. It didn't seem any of the guardsmen or Elodie knew much about her, so you couldn't say for sure now. Though, Katya did have more to say about Codaline at the very least. "Codaline Harpactira, BK-47, was created by both Mona and Roraima. She was capable of creating metallic wire between her hands which had magnetic properties. She was a highly successful combat subject for her size, and was rather fond of testing from what I have heard from Roraima. She did get punished several times, but generally did not cause trouble and was more than happy to work with him. Based on what was told, I think she could make a useful ally." After Katya finished, Reika would nod along. "She definitely should become an ally! She is really cool!" You asked where Codaline might be, Katya not hesitating to provide an answer. "She was located in the southern high-threat level containment area, the one which Joaquin and his men headed towards."

Aside from Codaline, you wanted to know about other combat capable subjects. “Aside from the previously mentioned subjects, such as Dhabus, there is also Tsuchi Hotarumaru. Tsuchi, codename LB-31, is a demon subject who is partially made of magma, and is designed for smithing and melee combat. According to Roraima, she was quite effective at combat and also not the type to speak back or be aggressive. She is logical, calculating and calm.” It sounded like she was just like Katya. Though, before you could further ask about this Tsuchi, Reika would speak up. “Tsuchi is stupid! I met her once, and she only talked about her stupid sword and working with metals! She was also really mean and called me stupid when I told her I didn’t get what she was talking about!” Whilst it was true that Reika wasn’t the smartest, it did sound like Tsuchi wasn’t entirely a sweet and innocent combat subject. Still, she didn’t sound murderous, so that was better than the vast majority of Roraima’s subjects.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like Katya could name any other subjects who were worth looking for to make into an ally. At least you now knew one or two more who could be worth investigating. Still, you were also interested in Sintae, wanting to know where to find her, secure her trust and maybe escort her down here. Katya thought about it, before speaking more pessimistically. “I believe that finding Sintae wouldn’t be difficult. She is probably still somewhere in or near the high-threat level containment sector we previously were in. Identifying here is rather easy. She is large, mostly black, above average in height, and has plenty of horns and limbs with sharp attachments for combat. She probably wears simple clothing, given the lack of anything special being handed over to her. Securing her trust is... difficult to achieve. I believe the most logical pathway would be to treat her similarly to Reika.” Katya clearly hated having to say that, but... well, it didn’t seem like there were many other options.

It was clear that recruiting and finding Sintae would be extremely difficult. Though, there was one subject who would probably be easier to find, identify and bring back here. Of course, you needed someone else’s expertise for this than Katya. Thus, you asked Elodie everything she could share about Josephine. “Well, she’s a... shrimp subject with, uhhh, a f-fancy orange dress. Uhhh, she has these large eyes on her h-head. A-And a large l-lobster like tail. Uhhh, s-she has these a-antennae like things on her head which look really sweet. Uhhh, she has o-orange hair a-and uhhhh... oh, s-she’s in the flooded sector, for sure! You can, uhhh, g-gain her trust just by mentioning me or Agami, s-she looks up to Agami a lot, hehe.” It were an awful lot of details, but they definitely were going to help you in finding Josephine. Then again, the fact still stood that the flooded sector was not that appealing for you right now.

>Just get some rest in already. The earlier you woke up, the quicker you could start your travels back to the surface.
You thanked her for the intel, before looking around a bit. It seemed everyone had finished their dinner. Whilst it was tempting to stay awake and chat some more about useful subjects, both with Annie and Katya, you were starting to get somewhat tired. After a moment of quiet, you said that it was probably time to clean up and head to sleep. Your men seemed surprised, but didn’t question it too much. “Really? We’re not gonna chat about... I dunno, subjects? The government? Anything?” Mindy said in confusion, after which Thaddeus spoke up for you. “We can do that sorta stuff tomorrow still. Besides, I think Mik has the right idea. We oughta get some rest in now, so we can wake up early tomorrow.” Mindy looked a little disappointed, before sighing. “Well, if that’s what he thinks.” Thus, you and your men started cleaning up your plates and getting ready for bed.

The guardsmen would also get ready to leave for their designated sleeping spaces, whilst Logan got up and was clearly waiting for Annie to return. Whilst everyone got ready, you asked everyone to pick shifts for who’d guard the place, to which Mike responded amusedly. “Doesn’t Annie have this entire place on lockdown?” To this, Lydia would speak a little more amusedly. “I doubt she will be awake the entire time to watch over everything. Besides, it is an extra layer of security in case the worst happens.” Mike grumbled a little in response, after which you gave your suggestion. Katya, Thad and Anon could go first, then you could go with Thalia and Lydia, Zaria could go on guard duty with the guardsmen, Mike and anyone else who was still awake. “Alright, sounds good.” Anon said, after which Zaria softly said. “I hope the guardsmen are fine with standing guard throughout the night. Might wanna discuss it with them, Mike.”

Reika would soon also speak up. “Guard duty? Can I join? I wanna stand guard and destroy and eat whoever attacks us!” Not only was the suggestion of ‘eating them’ a little disturbing, but you also knew that Reika was still in no position to fight. Her limbs were starting to regrow slightly, and her wounds had mostly mended, but you told her to skip it out. She pouted a little, before Lydia spoke up again. “Hey, you’ll get to help us out soon enough, Reika. For now, just rest and try to recover, okay?” Reika nodded slowly, before everyone started wrapping up for the day. As Katya, Anon and Thad got ready to guard the place and you got ready to sleep, Annie would appear. “Huh, take it you guys are gonna sleep?” She asked curiously, you explaining that some of your men would stand guard. “Alright, if it helps you guys feel safer.” She said in mild amusement, before looking to Logan and going over to him to grab his arm. “I’ll take Logan back to my room! I wanna spend more time with him!” She said excitedly, Logan scoffing as Annie walked him along. “Relax, Annie. I’m not going anywhere.”

Though, seeing the two together made you think about... Thalia. She did say that she needed to feed sooner rather than later. So, as everyone got in their tent and got ready to rest, you would approach Thalia. “Oh, hey Mik, what’s up?” She said happily, you asking if she still needed to be fed. She would look a little excited. “Well... I certainly could use a little bit of feeding right about now. Elodie cooked quite well, but... it doesn’t compare to my actual feeding method.” She sounded rather eager and into it, clearly happy that you were offering yourself up to feed her. And hearing her voice and... looking at her, you could definitely not deny the fact that spending time with her in an intimate way wouldn’t be THAT bad. Then again, that might just be the effects of Thalia’s voice making you more into it than you would normally be...

>What do you do next?

>Just quickly get it over and done with. Don’t say anything. Don’t bring up her powers or her appearance. Just take her somewhere privately where you could ‘feed’ her in peace.
>Tell her to stop being such a weirdo about it. Her ability was already bound to make this weirder than it had to be. Though her trying to make this romantic or exciting didn’t help at all. (Write in how you’ll tell her off.)
>Flirt with her. Clearly, the more pleasant and exciting you made this for her, the better the experience would be for her and the more ‘well-fed’ she’d be. (Write in how you’d flirt with.)
>Ask her to keep quiet as to not risk using her abilities. It was better to just do this quietly as to not cause anything funny to happen to you or your mind. (Write in how you’ll get her to shut up.)
>Tell your men that you’d be busy with Thalia. It might be awkward, but it was for the best they knew what you were up to. (Write in what you’ll tell your men.)
>Something else...

(Ladies and gentlemen... the sex update.)

(Obviously gonna timeskip whatever you'll do next. Not gonna fucking describe it lmao. Anyway, after this, Mikhail will head to sleep. I won't do a side-story this time around. We've had too many diversions and other side-stories getting in the way of killing Feng.)

(Also, >>6235433 glad to see you're back artanon. That is a wonderful drawing of Tina as well. Though, given the size of the rubber duck, you did kinda draw her way larger than she's supposed to be.)

(Also also, >>6235450 official art of her was posted for a small sidestory on discord back when 4chan was dead for a week and a half. It's probably somewhere in the shared docs managed by one of the anons now. It is actually inspired by a real life flower mantis.)

>>6235542
>Tell your men that you’d be busy with Thalia. It might be awkward, but it was for the best they knew what you were up to. (Write in what you’ll tell your men.)
We're going to be doing VERY intense calisthenic exercises and it is of the utmost importance that we aren't disturbed to prevent injury.

>>6235542
Still not sure about this but I guess it's happening so fuck it.
>Flirt with her. Clearly, the more pleasant and exciting you made this for her, the better the experience would be for her and the more ‘well-fed’ she’d be.

>>6235542
>>Tell your men that you’d be busy with Thalia. It might be awkward, but it was for the best they knew what you were up to. (Write in what you’ll tell your men.)
Just say we will feed her, we're gonna look for somewhere private first and do the deed, perhaps ask Annie if she's still here of course, were we could get some privacy but not out of the safety of this place.

>>6235737
Support

>Tell your men that you’d be busy with Thalia. It might be awkward, but it was for the best they knew what you were up to.
With Thalia happily accepting the offer to 'feed' her, you decided to tell your men that you'd be busy with her. Your men all had... a variety of reactions to this. Mike and Anon both looked at you with more of a smug smirk. "Don't try and get too distracted, Mik. You don't wanna accidentally get too into it and forget about guard duty." Mike said teasingly, Anon afterwards also commenting: "Try not to get too into the 'feeding' method, Mik. The last thing we want, is for you to be more focused on providing 'food' to Thalia than the mission at hand." You could even see Lars smirking from his makeshift bed, even softly saying: "Hey Mik, I hope you can make some 'good food' for her... Just don't get overzealous with caviar, alright?" Which elicited some groans and chuckles from your men. Thaddeus and Lydia remained mostly neutral, not saying anything and clearly understanding that you weren't exactly thrilled to do this.

Though, the most disapproving looks came from Zaria and the tired Derek. They didn't say anything, but they clearly were not eager to hear you bring up the news. Though, their distrusting gazes were mostly directed towards Thalia, who by now was left a little hesitant because of the remarks given by your men. Either way, you quickly realised you could use a private space, telling Thalia to stay put for a moment whilst you ran after Annie. Fortunately, she wasn't too far away from you, taking Logan downstairs again. "Oh, Mik, what's up?" She asked as you approached, you asking for a private space to feed Thalia. Annie would freeze up and blush, before looking around. "Uhhhhhh, maybe... try one of the smaller offices to the side? I-I'm not sure. J-Just... y-yeah, try one of those." She said in an uneasy tone, Logan scoffing in amusement. "Good luck with... looking after and 'feeding' Thalia, Mik."

There was an awkward silence, Annie not saying anything else and just turning the other way to head to her private office. With you knowing some locations to try out, you'd return to Thalia to take her by the hand. You'd leave your men and started heading for a side-room. "I hope this isn't too difficult for you, Mikhail. I... I will say that, of all your men, I do enjoy the fact I can do this with you... the most, hehe." She'd already huddle up to you, as you mostly focused on finding a room. Until finally, you found an office which was far away from your group but still in the server space. And as you got ready to undress, Thalia would smile more affectionately. "Hey Mikhail... Thank you, for being so kind and caring to me. I really appreciate it." Thalia's comments were at least quite pleasant. They made you feel a little less gross and uncomfortable about what you were doing. Even if, once again, it was just Thalia's ability making you feel that way.

Either way, you'd soon undress and spend some time doing what you had to do, before resting a little with Thalia by your side. You would get up once you knew it was time to start your guard duty, taking the more relaxed and eager Thalia along...

At least she didn't ask for any more perverse acts, as you were free to focus on your guard duty, before letting the next group cover for you...

...

...

...

...

The air was tense, as five Feng soldiers quietly headed down a long, dark corridor. The place was covered in dust, each foot step creating loud cracks and pops. The five didn't exchange a word, quietly doing as they were told without a complaint. They would anxiously walk forward, having travelled for at least a day and a half now to reach a location described on a map given to them by Feng. Though soon, they'd reach something unexpected... a bunch of rubble blocked off the hallway, a large section ahead of them having collapsed. "Crap, h-how far are we from Andrei's office?" One guardsman anxiously asked as they all looked at the rubble.

The one with the map let out a nervous gulp, before looking down at the map and sighing. "I-It's q-quite nearby... I-It's underneath this r-rubble probably, m-meaning someone has s-set off the traps already." Hearing this, the guardsmen all grew tense. "No... no, wh-what do we do? I-If we come back empty handed, F-Feng will kill us..." "W-Well, what else can we do!? We can't dig through here on our own." "Well, w-we're gonna have to do something!" The guardsmen argued, before one sighed and spoke softly. "I... I know what must be done. One of us... n-needs to hurt themselves t-to get F-Feng to override them s-so we can then... s-show her what's going on." The guardsmen would look at each other, before one anxiously said: "I-I'm not letting her override me! I-I don't wanna become a m-mindless drone!" "Me neither!" Though after an awkward silence, the one with the map spoke up more calmly. "I'll... I'll do it."

The guardsmen would all look at the one who held the map, before nodding calmly. "A-Alright..." "I pray it isn't permanent." The guardsmen with the map would grab a pocket knife, before cutting in their own hand. "Y-Your majesty.... p-please, o-overtake me... a-and watch..." They begged, before tensing up as their eyes widened. They started breathing heavily, twitching and trembling and letting out pained gasps and whines. Until, they suddenly calmed down and simply stared, the other guardsmen all looking horrified. Though, one of them stepped forward, speaking softly. "Y-Your majesty... w-we've followed your m-map to Andrei's office. U-Unfortunately, t-there is a l-large blockage... W-We can't get through." The overridden guardsmen would approach the wall, feeling it before speaking with Feng's intonation. "Perhaps Andrei's traps killed whichever fool came down here to explore... Or perhaps, they escaped... with the files I need for my plan..."

The four guardsmen waited anxiously to hear what Feng would say next, the Queen continuing to scrape her fingers against the wall before turning around to face them. "The five of you will start digging away at this tunnel in whichever way you can. You will not stop until you've found proof my files or those who tried to steal them... or until the entire thing is cleaned out." The four guardsmen looked at each other, before one spoke more worriedly. "B-But, my lady, t-that is an impossible task..." Feng squinted her eyes, before calmly stepping closer to the one who spoke up. "And, why do you deem it impossible?" She asked with quiet disdain, the guardsmen panicking as they realised they just spoke up against their mistress. "I-I-I mean, w-we'll try! I... s-sorry, my lady! I-I did not mean to speak a-against you! I-I j-just... i-it will take a l-long time for j-just the f-five of us! W-We... p-please, I-I'm sorry." Feng looked down at the guardsman who was on their knees by now, before looking away.

"Perhaps... you are correct. The five of you are far too pathetic, weak and incompetent to successfully undertake such a difficult task." Feng paused, before smiling more sadistically. "I suppose... I can send some reinforcements your way, whilst you make a start. You wouldn't mind making a minor start already, would you now?" The guardsman nodded intensely, before Feng crouched down and grabbed the guardsman by the chin. "Good. Because if you don't... I will give you some excellent motivation to start digging, understood?" The guardsman nodded, before Feng looked at the rubble pile. "Well... what are you waiting for? Start digging..." The guardsmen all immediately rushed to the pile of rubble, starting to toil away at the close-to-impossible task. Though, Feng did admit that the guardsman made a decent point. And once she stopped actively overriding the one guardsman and just let them work as a mindless drone, she'd fully return to her normal form in her throne room.

She immediately turned to one of the nearby caretaker scientists, before speaking more demandingly. "Tell me, Ronda, right?" Ronda nodded anxiously, pausing with what work she was doing in the nearby research chamber. "Yes, m-my lady?" She said in terror, before Feng responded calmly. "Would you be willing to... check through the subject documents we've got? I want you to search for any subject who is good at digging... and tell me if there is any knowledge on where they were last spotted." Ronda gave a quick nod and would get to work checking what systems they had online to document anything and everything. Feng would drink some wine, before Ronda would start naming a couple of subjects who fit the description, along with what was known about their locations. "Excellent." Feng said, before flicking her finger as some of the completely enthralled and controlled guardsmen which were nearby stood up.

"Let the hunt begin..."

...

...

...

...

Day 11
It was early in the morning as you slowly awoke once again. Looking around, you’d quickly notice that Thalia was in the tent with you as well. Fortunately, you remembered that you had only fed her once last night. It would’ve been pretty bad to feed Thalia in this very tent, given that your men were sleeping pretty close-by. Regardless, you’d quickly get out of your sleeping bag, waking up and finding Zaria, Thaddeus, Katya and Anon already awake. “Good morning, Mik. Slept well?” Thaddeus asked casually, Anon right away going with the hard-hitting question. “How was your time with Thalia?” Zaria groaned and spoke more annoyedly. “Anon, did you have to ask him when I am right fucking near you guys? You know I don’t wanna discuss crap like this.” Anon scoffed in amusement, after which Thaddeus spoke more calmly. “I suppose you can tell us about it later in private. Or just don’t share it with us. I can imagine ya preferrin’ to keep this between you and Thalia.” Zaria nodded along with what Thaddeus suggested. In the meantime, you looked around and noticed that most of the guardsmen were still asleep nearby. Logan and Annie weren’t nearby, presumably being all the way over at Annie’s bedroom.

>What do you do next?

>Start waking everybody up, cleaning up the place and maybe preparing some breakfast already. It was time to rise and shine and get to work!
>Have a casual chat with Thaddeus, Zaria, Anon and Katya. Maybe you could discuss your experience with Thalia with them, or ask them if they noticed anything special whilst you slept. (Write in what you’ll discuss with them.)
>Go over to Annie and Logan to see how they were faring. They were presumably already using the radio, but you might as well check up on them right away to have a little chat with them in person.
>Something else...

>>6236223
>>Have a casual chat with Thaddeus, Zaria, Anon and Katya. Maybe you could discuss your experience with Thalia with them, or ask them if they noticed anything special whilst you slept. (Write in what you’ll discuss with them.)
For now just say out of respect for Thalia we won't go into detail but... yes, she said she was very satisfied and will be "full" for sometime.

Anyway anything strange on the night on the night, we're clear to go back to the surface?

>Go over to Annie and Logan to see how they were faring. They were presumably already using the radio, but you might as well check up on them right away to have a little chat with them in person.
Is it possible for Annie to see if she can get in contact with our team? Kinda like that she made a private line to strike our deal, so we can try and give the girls a update since we split.

I wonder if Feng has any means to figure out that it was us who triggered the traps and made off with the goods. If she does, I want to see the look on her face when the realises she got foiled by her least favourite death squad before she starts to actively hunt us. And we don't even have 'em any more now lol.
Sounds like Arika is in danger. She's a digger and close to Feng, so I think she might be the next target.
>>6236223
>Have a casual chat with Thaddeus, Zaria, Anon and Katya. Maybe you could discuss your experience with Thalia with them, or ask them if they noticed anything special whilst you slept.
The same sitrep we do every morning. Anything in the nightly log? Probably not, but we may as well keep up routine.
>Start waking everybody up, cleaning up the place and maybe preparing some breakfast already. It was time to rise and shine and get to work!
Don't discuss it. Get up and move on with the day. And someone go and get the drones.

>>6236223
>Have a casual chat with Thaddeus, Zaria, Anon and Katya. Maybe you could discuss your experience with Thalia with them, or ask them if they noticed anything special whilst you slept. (Write in what you’ll discuss with them.)
Maybe Elbrus isn't so bad guys

>>6236223
It's official. Mik is a fishfucker.

Supporting >>6236246

>Have a casual chat with Thaddeus, Zaria, Anon and Katya. Maybe you could discuss your experience with Thalia with them, or ask them if they noticed anything special whilst you slept.
>Start waking everybody up, cleaning up the place and maybe preparing some breakfast already. It was time to rise and shine and get to work!
Whilst Thaddeus gave you the opportunity to just withhold details about your time with Thalia, you decided to be a little funny. You jokingly commented that, maybe Elbrus wasn't THAT bad. This made Thaddeus and Anon both chuckle a little, Zaria just giving a tired stare and letting out a sigh. Afterwards, you told them that you won't go into detail, but that you hoped she would be satisfied for at least a little while. "Great! Now, let's stop talking about that siren fuck and talk about literally anything else!" Zaria said instantly, you obliging and asking if they noticed anything whilst they were holding guard duty. "Negative, Mikhail. We did not encounter anything of note whilst you or anyone else was out." Katya was quick to respond, before Anon cleared his throat. "Well, we haven't checked the cameras yet to see if there was anything of note wandering nearby." Obviously, the drones may have caught something in the dead of night, but if the vigilant Katya said she hadn't spotted anything, it was probably safe to say that nothing had wandered past.

Still, you asked Anon to check the tablet to see if anything was spotted, him nodding as he went over to Lydia's tent. "I'll go wake everyone up again in the meantime." Zaria said calmly, leaving you with Katya and Thaddeus. You asked them if they felt like you were ready to head to the surface. "Perhaps you should discuss things with Annie first. A plan of action would be most fitting, given your mission to hunt down Feng." Katya calmly answered, to which Thaddeus agreed rather quickly. "Aye, we've got a good decent plan. Though, we definitely ought to discuss some of it with Annie soon."

Perhaps once Annie came over, you could discuss these matters together and maybe improve what plans you already had. For now though, you'd just focus on your current situation. Anon also soon returned with a tablet, already checking the drone footage from the past night. He'd even show you and Katya, speeding through some of it and not really finding anything. "Well, guess that's a relieve." Thaddeus said, Anon nodding along. With that in mind, you'd tell your men to wake everybody up as to prepare for the rest of the day. Katya, Thaddeus and Anon nodded, you joining them in waking everyone. And soon enough, everyone was up and preparing to go. Your men were starting to clean up the tents, sleeping bags and other material you had laying around. The girls mostly helped as well, except for Reika who was still missing large portions of her limbs. Elodie would once again start cooking, but she was joined by none other than Lars! He was able to stand again and do things!

Obviously, you'd approach him to check up on him. "Ah, good morning, Mik." He said as you approached, after which he smiled a little. "I take it you're shocked to see me standing? Well, I'm... doing decently right now. I still need to be careful and not do anything too strenuous or sudden. But, I can definitely walk and do some small things at the very least. Hopefully, by tomorrow, I'll be perfectly fine." It was good to see one less of your men was in need of constant care. It also meant you needed to carry one less person around through the facility. Unfortunately, Derek wasn't faring better, as you went over to his tent to find him still lying down. He was at least awake, though he was still trying to get some shut-eye in, as he glanced at you before saying: "Sorry, Mik... Can I rest just... a little while longer?" He clearly hated being out like this, but if he was in pain, there wasn't much you could do except for leave him to rest some more.

The rest of your men were doing just fine, with Lydia turning on the radio as you heard Annie speak over it, Kimmy having hopefully fucked off elsewhere with her perverse announcements and stories. "Guess she's awake and too busy to come over to us." Mike said as he listened along to the broadcast, Don approaching and speaking up in a casual tone. "She's always particularly busy in the morning. She tends to just get some electricity from her generator to feed on and then gets to work right away." Listening in on the radio, it didn't seem like there was anything extremely newsworthy going on right now. Though, more curiously, there was no mention of Logan being saved or him being near her. Perhaps she didn't want to reveal that kind of information to the public. That, or she really was just a one-man show in this regard. Either way, she'd play some relaxing music whilst your men wrapped up with cleaning the place up.

>What do you do next?

>Just get a quick breakfast before gathering all your supplies, asking Annie for directions and then head the hell out of here. You needed to get to the surface, damnit!
>Chat with the guardsmen, your men, the girls or anyone else. Massimo was still in starvation mode, but he potentially had recovered enough to actually start talking. (Write in who you'll chat with and about what.)
>Confirm the main plan once again with your men. Head to the surface, gather supplies and materials, get Evander, Artyom and Alan to once again join you, find Frances to talk with him, then head to the girls to maybe update them and bring a few of your subjects over, before finally heading to the combat sector or straight for Feng. (Write in if you'll add anything to those steps or if you have any questions for your men.)
>Go over to Annie to right away discuss where you'd have to head to get out of this mess of a place. Maybe also bring her some food to cheer her up and show your gratitude. (Write in if you'll bring anyone/anything else along.)
>Something else...

>>6236594
>Chat with the guardsmen, your men, the girls or anyone else. Massimo was still in starvation mode, but he potentially had recovered enough to actually start talking. (Write in who you'll chat with and about what.)
Try and check on Massimo again, maybe if he's doing well enough we can get some intel from him.

>Go over to Annie to right away discuss where you'd have to head to get out of this mess of a place. Maybe also bring her some food to cheer her up and show your gratitude. (Write in if you'll bring anyone/anything else along.)
Once she's done with her initial broadcast.

After we do this we can go back to the surface, get some RNR and then go back to finally kill that self proclaimed monarch with Katya and Reika's help.

On traffic right now but I'm >>6236245

>>6236594
>>Confirm the main plan once again with your men. Head to the surface, gather supplies and materials, get Evander, Artyom and Alan to once again join you, find Frances to talk with him, then head to the girls to maybe update them and bring a few of your subjects over, before finally heading to the combat sector or straight for Feng. (Write in if you'll add anything to those steps or if you have any questions for your men.)
Consider splitting up, we join together with the girls and then we proceed to start recruiting more people, Feng keep getting stronger by the minute an unless we can convince some guys from Heroes and Scary Monsters to join us in a raid we need some heavy power. We could do half-half, some half go on a recruit spree around some of the somewhat "safer" high-level containment zones and the other could try around the Combat zones, or we could split in a three-way with a third team going after the other subject-friendly Logan squad.

>>Go over to Annie to right away discuss where you'd have to head to get out of this mess of a place. Maybe also bring her some food to cheer her up and show your gratitude. (Write in if you'll bring anyone/anything else along.)
Give our goodbyes, ask if she can do >>6236245 before we go and proceed to pack-up and hit the road home. Don't forget to show the girls the pathway to were the other folk are hiding once we reach the split-point to the surface.

>>6236594
>Go over to Annie to right away discuss where you'd have to head to get out of this mess of a place. Maybe also bring her some food to cheer her up and show your gratitude. (Write in if you'll bring anyone/anything else along.)
Just bring a portion of breakfast - tell her it probably tastes better than electricity

>Confirm the main plan once again with your men. Head to the surface, gather supplies and materials, get Evander, Artyom and Alan to once again join you, find Frances to talk with him, then head to the girls to maybe update them and bring a few of your subjects over, before finally heading to the combat sector or straight for Feng.
With everyone sans Logan and Annie present, you decided to once again mention the plan to the rest of your men. You mentioned that splitting up after returning to the girls upstairs could work out. "I presume we'll do that to find and recruit more people to our cause?" Lydia asked, to which you nodded and continued explaining your thought process. You thought that one of the groups could go towards the high threat level containment zones, whilst another went to the combat zone. You even suggested maybe splitting up into a third group, who could find more of Logan's subjects. This was met with some scepticism, with Anon saying: "I'm not sure if it's smart to spread our forces even thinner. Even with help from the girls who are willing to join us, going around in smaller groups would pose quite a risk... unless if we already have some soldiers by our side before we even go down." Perhaps if you befriended Frances, you could more easily split into three groups. But for now, it was probably just safe to split up between combat sector and high threat level sector.

>Chat with the guardsmen, your men, the girls or anyone else. Massimo was still in starvation mode, but he potentially had recovered enough to actually start talking.
Aside from those thoughts you had, most of the plan you had was still relatively popular amongst your men. When you returned to the girls, you could more easily determine how you'd split up and who would go where. For now though, the plan seemed to be a go. Hopefully, Derek would recover soon as well, so he could re-join your group properly. Though speaking of the sick, you decided to check up on Massimo to see how he was doing. He was still with Cortina, lying in his tent and appearing a bit more awake and energetic than usual. Perhaps the small boosts in nutrients were helping out somewhat.

You asked him how he was doing, him responding calmly. "I'm... feeling a little better. Still weak, but... I think the shots are helping a ton. Thank you... for helping me." He said more happily, even raising a hand to give a handshake. You accepted, before deciding to ask him for some simple intel. You asked him what his job was, what had happened and what he had been through before you found him. "Well... I was really just Cortina's caretaker... Funny, cuz I am more of an... ornithologists, heh. I actually helped with... some research in avian subjects... Never got the chance to make one, unfortunately. Still, I... I don't mind it too much, since I got Cortina to look after... and she has treated me wonderfully." Cortina smiled, putting a hand over Massimo's head and starting to stroke his head.

Massimo clearly enjoyed Cortina's care and gentleness, before continuing with his explanation. "As for what happened... Well, I was doing tests with Cortina, when things went to shit. I decided to bring her back to her chamber, but things went terribly wrong then and... well, I got badly injured, and Cortina had to carry me around. We struggled finding food and... well, that's about it, really." You asked if there were any other things he could share which would be useful, maybe about subjects or people he worked with. "Ahhh, I had a friend... Rubin. He actually helped in some research on... mushroom subjects. He also helped with... running tests for Cortina. I, uhhh, I do know... some avian subjects. Mainly, HA-50 and... 196-TB. Speaking of birds, I would love to talk with Katya... I love owls and... well, I'd not mind talking with her and caring for her as well." You hadn't heard of either subjects yet, which definitely was a reason to ask Massimo more questions.

>Go over to Annie to right away discuss where you'd have to head to get out of this mess of a place. Maybe also bring her some food to cheer her up and show your gratitude.
Though, seeing as you still had plenty of time to talk with him later, and the fact you still wanted to talk with Annie, you decided to leave him be. You told Massimo to take easy, and that you'd talk with him some more in a bit. "Ah, of course..." He quietly mumbled, before you headed over to Elodie and Lars. It seemed they were close to done with cooking, you asking how long it'd take for them to finish. "Well, we can probably start giving servings in a minute. I take it you wanna hurry up?" Lars asked calmly, you explaining you wanted to bring some food to Logan and Annie. Elodie and Lars looked at each other, before Lars nodded. "Oh, sure. Here, let me get you two plates." He would grab a little bit of everything. Jam, some crackers, a little bit of fruit juice, honey, some dried meat and a bit of tea. "Here you go." He said, as you started taking everything over to Annie and Logan.

It was a little bit of a hassle to take everything along, but you managed to carry it all as you went down the route you had taken previously to get to Annie. And within ten minutes, you would approach Annie's private office. You knocked on the door, not getting a response at all. You slowly opened it, only to find a pretty well decked out office space. One part of the room consisted of a living quarter. It had a makeshift bed, some chairs, a little table, some shelves with all kinds of small electronic trinkets. The place was lit up quite well, and had tons of electronics and machinery strewn about. Though, one part of the room seemed to be accessible through a small hallway, which you carefully entered. As you went down the hallway, you started hearing Annie and Logan's voices, until finally peeking your head around the corner to see them together.

The space they were in was a little bit cramped. Annie was seated on a large office chair, her being surrounded by telecommunications equipment, computers, generators and other electronics. There were microphones, and the walls even had some sound-proof material covering it to presumably increase the sound quality. Logan was seated on a couple of pillows beside Annie, as it seemed she didn't really prepare an adequate seat for him. Before you even made your presence known, Annie swivelled her chair over to you. "Good morning, Mikhail. How pleasant it is to see you." She said with a bit of a confident smirk, Logan giving a more approving and welcoming smile. You told them that you had brought them some breakfast, showing the two plates with cups and all you had brought along. "Huh, thanks, Mik!" Logan would say, carefully getting up before Annie signalled him to stay down.

"Logan, please, don't overexert yourself." Annie got up from her chair, daintily walking over to you before grabbing both plates. "Thank you." She said happily, before handing over one of the plates to Logan. "I hope it wasn't too much of a hassle to bring this down here." Logan would calmly say. Though honestly, bringing breakfast a few stairs down was a lot less troublesome than the rescue mission you had undertaken to come here in the first place. You also told Annie that you hoped it was a nice change of pace of the electricity she usually had, Annie shrugging a little. "I'll definitely eat some of it in a bit. Anyway, I suppose I should maybe play a second song now. There isn't too much news right now, given what time it is, so I might as well." Logan was quick to say: "Oh, play Dullard's Verset, by the Bagmen. That one goes on for like... 15 minutes, right?" Annie nodded, as you watched her computer screen automatically load the song and put it in some kind of song queue. Logan would right away grab the plate and start eating, whilst Annie looked over at you and crossed her legs, her tail calmly moving around behind her.

“So, I take it you’re here for more reasons than to just bring us breakfast, right? I did hear you discussing a plan with the rest of your men already.” She calmly asked, you telling her that you’d leave once she had given you directions on where to go, which made her gasp. “Oh, right! I totally forgot about that! Apologies. I suppose I was just... a bit too distracted with Logan, hehe. But yes, I’ll tell you where to head to right away. It hopefully isn’t too long of a route to take.” Before she’d tell you where to go, you’d ask her if you could get in contact with the girls upstairs. “Oh, of course. Do you know where they are?” She asked calmly, you explaining the exact location as to where you left the girls. Annie would look at her computer, before checking a large map of the facility. She’d eventually zoom in on a far-off corner in the upper north-west, you immediately recognizing it.

There was also a blue dot in the dormitory where the girls were staying at, Annie calmly saying: “Okay, they’ve got a radio. And, ahhh, wonderful. They’re tuned in on my station right now! That makes things a whole lot easier! Won’t need to do anything special to get through to them.” Annie said, before signalling you to come over. “Alright, want me to just communicate with them first? Or do you want to be the first to talk with them? Or is there anything else you want to do?” Annie asked calmly, clearly happy to help you communicate with the girls. How she made all of this work out somehow was a bit of a mystery. But hey, it worked, and you were now able to finally talk with Laura, Ingmar and the girls!

>What do you do next?

>Thank Annie, before starting to communicate with the girls. You could handle this yourself, and you could get them updated on everything that was going on and how you were faring. Maybe you could also see how they were faring and if they needed anything up there. (Write in what you’ll tell them and what you’ll try to discuss.)
>Ask Annie how in the world she was managing all of this. Perhaps she could let you in on some of her secrets regarding how her powers worked, so you could maybe create some fun plans with them. (Write in what you’ll ask for specifically.)
>Something else...

>>6237169
>Ask Annie how in the world she was managing all of this. Perhaps she could let you in on some of her secrets regarding how her powers worked, so you could maybe create some fun plans with them. (Write in what you’ll ask for specifically.)
Anything she's willing to share on the details of her powers

>>6237169
>>Ask Annie how in the world she was managing all of this. Perhaps she could let you in on some of her secrets regarding how her powers worked, so you could maybe create some fun plans with them. (Write in what you’ll ask for specifically.)
>That's some impressive set-up, kinda wonder how Kimmy keeps getting her way through, don't suppose you guys got any ideas to make her stop creeping in the comms?

>Thank Annie, before starting to communicate with the girls. You could handle this yourself, and you could get them updated on everything that was going on and how you were faring. Maybe you could also see how they were faring and if they needed anything up there. (Write in what you’ll tell them and what you’ll try to discuss.)
Thanks Annie. Ask them how they been faring since the split, How's Vinisha doing, she's mingling alright? Need anything before our meet up? After that give them the rundown and say we give more details when we meet personally. Feng's hunt failed badly, no one died thankfully but she's way more dangerous we thought, we struck a deal with Annie and now that we did our part she's gonna give us a safe path to surface. Bad news, some of our squad got hurt, Feng is getting stronger by the minute and apparently we might be at the risk of a nuclear fallout. Good news, we saved and recruited a bunch of people and subjects, Logan and a Subject named Elodie are safe with Annie and her team, we got a scientist named Massimo and whole lot of subjects, Thalia, Katya, Cortina and....Reika. After that ask them if they wanna talk with anyone from the squad or the new folks.

>>6237288
>>6237309
Supporting both of these. There's a lot of question as to how Annie's powers work exactly. Plus I'd adore to speak with the OG cast of monmusu we collected once more after so long.

>Ask Annie how in the world she was managing all of this. Perhaps she could let you in on some of her secrets regarding how her powers worked, so you could maybe create some fun plans with them.
Whilst you definitely wanted to communicate with the girls back upstairs, you also were quite interested in learning all about Annie's abilities. You first complimented her entire set-up, which made Annie's tail wag a bit. "Heh, thanks." She said a little giddily, clearly appreciating the compliment. Though, you then wondered out loud how Kimmy could penetrate her way through. Annie scoffed, before looking at Logan. "Well, Kimmy and I've got pretty similar powers when it comes to appliances. It just so happens that mine are WAY more powerful." This made you ask how her powers even worked, to which Logan spoke up a bit more jokingly. "Ooh, trying to learn Annie's techniques, huh? You know, the techniques I employed with her are under the ownership of the Facility. So, we can't exactly share that." Annie rolled her eyes, before speaking more casually. "Ignore Logan right now. I don't mind explaining my powers a bit." Annie would look around, before deciding to demonstrate her abilities whilst she explained things.

A small screen started lighting up nearby, showing static before showing all kinds of footage. "So, my main ability is that I can connect to any electronic device. My nanites essentially create a wireless network with the electronic device, turning it into an extension of my body." She'd look over at a nearby camera, which would start moving before pointing at you. The screen then showed the feed of the camera. "Logan always said that, it's like I am a living computer, phone, tablet, or any other electronic device capable of sending data... albeit with greater control since I can more easily multi-task, connect devices which would usually be difficult to connect together, as well as plenty of other benefits."

The screen soon turned off, before Annie leaned back a little. "Of course, my abilities are limited to what the devices are capable of. Both in terms of software and hardware. It's not like I can... make this camera suddenly connect to a REALLY primitive computer, or use it whilst it doesn't have power. This also means that... I can't just see a computer and instantly take it over. If it has a password, I wouldn't be able to just enter the system and take it over without trouble. Fortunately, my access to these devices also gives me access to all the security vulnerabilities, which is what I use to interfere with the government. Of course, if they manage to push me out, I do need to find a way back in again... In essence, it's like what a normal hacker would do, albeit with me as both the hacker AND the device used to hack into the other system. I just use my mind instead of typing stuff on a keyboard." Annie seemed pretty eager and excited to show off her powers and explain this to you.

And next, she'd swivel slightly and look at a nearby radio. "A lot of these things are done through radio waves, which is another thing I was designed to really work well with. In essence, I can connect to devices using radio waves I send over to the device. My previous abilities can be done from up-close without radio waves. However, if I wanna connect with electronics from a long range, I use radio waves. There is one minor limitation to my ability here though... and that is that the device needs to be tuned to the specific frequency I am using. Let's say this radio is connected to an entirely different frequency from the one I'm emitting, I'll need to keep changing frequency until I get the right one to communicate with the device. This is also why I have a public radio channel. It's because anyone who connects to it can easily be connected to and communicated with, such as your friends on the screen right here. Though, this also means that, radios which don't really go to my frequency are... unable to be taken over as easily, unfortunately."

After Annie finished talking, Logan spoke up a little bit more disappointedly. "Since you brought up Kimmy not too long ago, Mik, she essentially has the same ability... but a little bit more limited. She can connect to cameras and any device which can catch audio near her, but not from a long range. Or well, she CAN connect to a device from a long range, but that long range control can only really be applied to one device. However, when Kimmy enters a system, she can far more easily move her control over to another device. I suppose a good way of putting it could be that... Annie is a living computer who connects to other devices, whilst Kimmy is a living computer virus who can travel through devices and take them over from within." Annie nodded along, before more annoyedly saying: "Aaaaand Kimmy occasionally decides to travel to one of my devices here and take it over, at which point I need to force her out whilst she takes over the radio show. It's... tedious as hell, since she hops between devices, but it usually doesn't take too long."

>Thank Annie, before starting to communicate with the girls. You could handle this yourself, and you could get them updated on everything that was going on and how you were faring. Maybe you could also see how they were faring and if they needed anything up there.
Annie and Logan had done their best in explaining their abilities. Obviously, they didn't go too into depth regarding how nanites played a role, or Annie's biology. But given just how insane her abilities were and how complex nanites were, any explanation they gave would probably just sound like gibberish or technobabble you'd never comprehend. Either way, you thanked them for the explanation, Annie wagging her tail a little. "Thanks!" She said, giggling a little before you asked if you could now communicate with the girls on the other side. "Oh, of course! Allow me!"

She'd look at the screen, her opening up a few more programs before handing you the microphone. "Okay, I've made it that this microphone now is only connected to their radio. Just connect the microphone to your radio, and you'll be able to chat with them. In the meantime, I can keep giving news and playing songs over the other radios." It was a pretty good move on Annie's part, giving both you and her the ability to do your job without impeding each other too much. Regardless, you'd leave the room as to not ruin Annie's next broadcast with your chats. You'd get seated in Annie's bedroom, connecting the microphone to your radio, before saying hello and hoping for a response. And sure enough, you'd soon hear some familiar voices over the radio. "Mikhail? Is that you?" You heard Laura saying, before hearing some gasps and voices in the background. "Mik is on the radio?" You heard Oreas say eagerly, followed by Kamara speaking up in a curious tone. "B-But we were just listening to Annie. I-Is he with her or something?"

You confirmed that it was you, before asking how they were doing. "Mikhail! We are doing good! We recently went outside to look for food and found some!" You heard Anofelis loudly say over the radio. "Geez, Ano, not that loud. I'm sure he can hear us just fine!" Chrys said calmly, Ano responding more quietly. "Oh, sorry." You'd ask if everyone was there, Morgan responding soon after. "We all are, Mik. I must say, it is great to hear that you are still alive. Some of us were worried that you would be in danger. I wasn't though!" She said proudly, after which you asked if Vinisha was there as well. "I'm here, Mik! I-I made it here in one piece, hehe. Heh." She said a little awkwardly, you asking if she was doing okay and if she was mingling wel with the rest. "Yeah, things are... going fine. Everyone here has been really kind and wonderful. I... I wanna thank you and your soldiers for... well, for telling me to go here. It’s really pleasant here.” You could hear that Vinisha was slightly emotional, clearly being happy to be among other subjects.

You told her that you were happy for Vinisha, before asking if they needed anything before the meet-up. “Uhhh, nope. We’ve got a lot of food here, as well as enough supplies to work with for at least a good while. How long will it take for you to get back here?” Laura asked, you deciding to explain what you had been through. You started by explaining how the hunt for Feng went poorly, and that some of your men were injured. You heard some gasps from the girls, Chrys immediately asking: “Did anyone die?” She clearly wanted to get straight to the most important information, you telling her that fortunately you had all survived. There was a sigh of relieve from the other side, with Anofelis softly saying: “Please be careful, Mikhail. I don’t wanna see you guys die.” You reassured her that you wouldn’t die, and that things had actually gone somewhat well despite the hiccup.

You explained how you struck a deal with Annie, which meant she let you communicate with them as well as give you a safe path to the surface. “Ahhh, that explains how you got on the radio!” Anofelis said soon after, before Morgan more cautiously asked: “So, what was this deal which you struck with Annie, if I may ask?” You explained how it involved saving Logan, which left a bit of a silence. Though you soon heard Laura speak in utter shock. “You saved Logan?!” You confirmed that you had saved Logan, before mentioning how you had saved a ton of other subjects and people. You would name Joaquin and his men and Cirra. “You saved a bunch of guardsman? Amazing!” Chrysidus would say, before you continued by naming Elodie, which garnered some attention from Chrys again. “I remember her! She’s that honeypot ant subject, right?” You confirmed that that was indeed Elodie, before mentioning Massimo, Thalia, Katya, Cortina and even Reika.

That last one was met with some shock from Morgan. “You... you found Reika and Allied with her?! Good grief, but she is a mindless animal! A wicked beast of war! How did you manage to bring her to your side?” You mentioned that it hadn’t been pretty, and that it had come at the cost of some injury to you and your men. Hell, you brought up how you and your men had gotten battered quite a few times. You, Zaria and Derek had been shot, Derek and Lars got struck by Reika. You had also dealt with plenty of loonies like Grise, Pelly, Chloe and of course plenty of Feng’s forces. In fact, you stated that you feared that Feng was getting stronger by the minute, to which Morgan spoke confidently. “Well, then we shall find her and put an end to her tyranny! My blade shall pierce the wicked witch’s chest and punish her for her crimes!” You heard Oreas speak soon after as well. “I wanna help too, Mik! I’ve actually trained a bit, and I am ready to finally help you guys out!”

It was wonderful that Morgan and Oreas wanted to help you guys out. Obviously, you’d have to really agree to the details once you met each other again. But for the time being, their eagerness was already appreciated. You told them that you’d definitely have to discuss the plans once you got to them again, but that for now you just wanted to give them the gist of what had happened, and that you also considered heading back to the rest of your men right now so you could all chat. “Ah, you aren’t with your men? I mean, it explains the fact it’s just you on the other side. Still, where’s everyone else? Are they still asleep?” Oreas asked, you explaining that you had just headed to Annie yourself, and that the rest of your men were having breakfast and cleaning up your camp for the night. “Well, if you want to, we’d love to chat with them! Isn’t that right, girls?” Laura would say calmly, you hearing the girls all agree to the offer.

Though soon after, Laura continued. “Though, given how it’d be kinda impractical, I can also imagine you just... wanting to skip out on it for the time being.” Clearly, Laura knew that it’d be a little difficult for the girls to talk with everyone on the other side with just one radio. It’d probably be a bit of a mess to manage.

>What do you do next?

>Try and have a little chat with one specific girl at the hideout. Maybe you wanted to ask Kamara if she was learning to fight for herself. Or ask Anofelis if she wasn’t too bored up there. Maybe ask Vinisha if she really was doing fine, given her hesitant tone. (Write in who you’ll chat with and what you’ll chat about.)
>Head over to your men with the radio and microphone to give them a chance to chat. Whilst it might be a bit of a mess, you could surely just place the radio down and let your men chat for a little while whilst you went back to Annie to discuss the way out.
>Ask some general questions to the girls. What have they been up to, do they know anything about the subjects you mentioned before, how was Ingmar doing. The latter was especially interesting, since he hadn’t really said anything on the other side... (Write in what you’ll ask.)
>Tell the girls a bit more about your travels and what you had encountered. Maybe they could give some explanations to the mysteries you had encountered. (Write in what you’ll tell them.)
>Something else...

(God do I hope that the explanation of Annie's powers made sense...)

>>6237461
>Ask some general questions to the girls. What have they been up to, do they know anything about the subjects you mentioned before, how was Ingmar doing.
Are there any specific items beyond just food they'd like us to get for them while we're up there?
Anything interesting happen? Ingmar behaving himself?
>Head over to your men with the radio and microphone to give them a chance to chat. Whilst it might be a bit of a mess, you could surely just place the radio down and let your men chat for a little while whilst you went back to Annie to discuss the way out.
Okay, one at a time please.
If Reika comes on, do not call her stupid or otherwise insult her. She doesn't take that well. But perhaps speaking to her might be informative?

Has Annie considered bringing Dad and any of the subjects who choose to stay with her onto her show? Just to dunk on GalGov that little bit more and perhaps air some dirty Facility laundry or just have some new voices to hear. Imagine a podcast.

>>6237460
>“You... you found Reika and Allied with her?! Good grief, but she is a mindless animal! A wicked beast of war! How did you manage to bring her to your side?” You mentioned that it hadn’t been pretty, and that it had come at the cost of some injury to you and your men.
>not "we just gave her some meat lmao"
Disappointment
Also if that's what Morgan thinks of Reika what would she say about Grise or Sintae?

>Ask some general questions to the girls. What have they been up to, do they know anything about the subjects you mentioned before, how was Ingmar doing. The latter was especially interesting, since he hadn’t really said anything on the other side... (Write in what you’ll ask.)
All of the above

>>6237461
>God do I hope that the explanation of Annie's powers made sense
Kinda? She keeps editing her database entry which should be out of normal range? So she must be using radio waves to connect to it? A lot of stuff down here must be radio compatible. Did Logan have a hand in that? Does she get the same sense of system vulnerabilities when connecting through radio waves instead of her personal wifi?

>Ask some general questions to the girls. What have they been up to, do they know anything about the subjects you mentioned before, how was Ingmar doing. The latter was especially interesting, since he hadn’t really said anything on the other side...
You told Laura that you certainly wouldn't mind giving the radio to the rest of your men. Though, before you'd hand it over to them, you wanted to know a few important details from the girls. For one, you asked what they had all been up to, to which Laura responded quite calmly. "Well, we've been mostly just... watching over each other. I've just been tinkering with electronics along with Oreas. Though, Oreas has also been practicing her abilities a little bit to try and use them for combat." Oreas was quick to share how she was doing on that front, eagerly saying: "I'm learning how to fight people with my shock ability! I... haven't tried it on anyone yet, but I'm sure it might be viable in the future!" Laura chuckled a little, before continuing. "Chrysidus has also been practicing her aim with the acid. But, she has also been heavily focused on reading. Anofelis has been working on drawing and painting. She has actually made some lovely drawings so far!"

Anofelis would bud into the conversation again, speaking excitedly. "I made drawings of you and the others, Mikhail! I wanna show them to you. Can I show them to you now?" Morgan was quick to shoot down Ano's request, calmly stating: "Um, Ano, it's a radio, not a computer. It doesn't have a camera for him to see with, I imagine." Anofelis let out a soft: "Oh, okay." before Laura continued talking about what she and the girls have been up to. "Kamara has been busy learning how to move around whilst employing her stealth strats. She's making a lot of leeway with that, actually." Kamara didn't say anything, either because she was shy or because she didn't really have too much to add to the process.

"Anyway, Morgan has mostly been practicing her blade and playing chess with the other girls. And Vinisha has mostly just joined the other girls with whatever they're busy with." Laura continued, to which Vinisha calmly spoke up. "I... I can't really improve my s-speed or c-combat capabilities like the others. S-Still, I'm trying to help where I can!" You then asked the girls if they knew anything about the subjects you had met, since you had met quite a number of them. "Which subjects did you meet, Mikhail? Can you name all of them?" Anofelis calmly asked, you naming them all. Pelly, Cirra, Grise, Nandi and Zati and Chloe. Not to mention, Thalia, Cortina, Katya, Reika and Elodie who had joined you as well. "That's a lot of names..." Anofelis said, after which Morgan spoke up. "Well, aside from the beast that is Reika, I do know a bit about Nandi and Zati. They were two subjects designed by Tengri for combat purposes. Nandi is generally a pacifist. She refrains from using violence, until she deems it necessary to use."

The suggestion that Nandi was a pacifist was a little strange, considering how Zati shot at you and your men. Either Nandi did not believe in holding others back from using violence, or Zati convinced her that shooting you was fair game. When you brought that up, Morgan scoffed. "Well, I imagine it is because Zati is far more hot-headed. She adores seeking out fights, and probably saw you as a threat worthy of attacking. Either way, the fact none of you were hurt by her tells me that Nandi either told her off, or Zati didn't want to actually get into a fight and just wanted to scare you away." After Morgan spoke, you asked if they knew anything about the other subjects. And surprisingly enough, Anofelis would have something to say. "I know a little bit about Cortina. She was made by Jabal too!" There was a silence, as Chrys more confusedly asked: "And... anything else?" And after a short pause, Anofelis responded again. "Um, no. I just know Cortina was made by him."

It wasn't exactly ground-breaking news, but it would at least make introducing Cortina to the rest of your group a little easier. Though, it was then that Vinisha spoke up with two pretty important bits of intel. "I, ummm... you said you encountered Grise a-and Chloe, right? Well... I know a little bit about both of them. Grise was a hunter subject Andrei designed with Roraima. Ummm, however, R-Roraima kinda ruined the creation process by dumbing her down, a-and she was essentially transferred to be just h-his subject. S-She's extremely dangerous due to her b-bite, which can basically make people go mad. N-Not to mention, her ability to smell blood from m-miles away. D-Did anyone get bitten by her?" You told Vinisha that you managed to scare Grise away, which actually made her somewhat impressed. "Y-You did? That's... w-wow, I guess some of Andrei's training still stayed with her then, huh." You told her that it might've just been the railgun burning her badly. Even a mad subject would back away from that, after all.

"I-I guess so. Anyway, uhhh, Chloe... I know a bit less a-about her, mostly because she's a Tengri and Roraima subject, n-not an Andrei subject. I met her a few times though, a-and each time... she stated h-how much she hated both Tengri and Roraima. S-Something about both wanting her to be s-something different and her n-never being able to d-do her own thing. Though, ummm, we only met... twice, so I don't know how bad it truly is for her." It wasn't anything too new, but at least it confirmed that Chloe was a cause for trouble. If someone with so little freedom and choice suffered for so long, being freed would certainly make them... indulge in all the freedoms they'd get, especially in a lawless place like the facility. Maybe you could reason with Chloe like how you reasoned with Reika and Katya. Though, it did seem that she'd form another threat you'd HAVE to kill in the near future...

On the topic of staff though, you suddenly remembered that Ingmar was also still with the girls, and that he was pretty quiet. This made him actually speak up. "Hello Michael! Yes, I'm also here!" He said a little aloofly, at which point Laura spoke up more amusedly. "Ingmar... has mostly been joining Anofelis, Kamara and Oreas whenever they leave our hiding spot to get food. So far, they've managed to get a decent amount of food... Though, Ingmar also has been eager to save more people." After Laura spoke, Ingmar would seemingly get closer to the radio, as his voice got a bit louder. "Yeah, I hate that so many people are dying, so I wanna go out there and save them!" Clearly, straying too far away from your hideout was a recipe for disaster, you telling him to just wait until you got back. Especially since you'd bring more people along to stay over there. Not to mention, all the people you'd recruit who could very well join you in the near future. Speaking of which, you asked if they needed anything you could bring to them, besides food.

"I think I'm pretty fine. What about you girls. You want anything?" Laura asked, after which Anofelis spoke more excitedly. "I wanna get more stuff to draw with!" Which was a reasonable enough thing to maybe get done. "Perhaps some training dummies or other things which we can test our abilities on?" Oreas then asked, to which you softly heard Morgan agree. "Umm, s-something w-which can mask my s-scent..." Vinisha awkwardly said, after which Laura let out: "Awww, Vinisha, we told you, we really don't mind it." Clearly, they were talking about the stench which Vinisha emanated. She was pretty rotten after all. "W-Well, if you insist. Mik, if you want to though, y-you're free to get those kinds of things as well." Vinisha continued, before there was a bit of silence. It seemed like, aside from the things they mentioned and food, you wouldn't have to bring too much over to them.

>Head over to your men with the radio and microphone to give them a chance to chat. Whilst it might be a bit of a mess, you could surely just place the radio down and let your men chat for a little while whilst you went back to Annie to discuss the way out.
Seeing as you had discussed plenty of topics now, and the girls clearly wanted to talk to the rest of your men, you decided to first check up on Annie to see if it was fine to actually leave with her equipment. You carefully entered her recording chamber, where she was giving a quick announcement. Though once finished, you’d ask if it was fine to head back to the rest of your men. “Of course, Mik. Just... try not to damage my recording tools. I’ve only got a limited number of those, after all.” You promised to be careful with the equipment, before quickly leaving her and Logan as you eagerly headed back to your men. Though on the way over, as you explained what you were doing, you told the girls on the other side some important ground rules. Or well, one important ground rule.

You told the girls that, if Reika spoke over the radio, that none of them would comment on her stupidity or evil or anything else insulting. “Why, has the beast finally grown a brain?” Morgan said smugly, you hearing some groans and disgust from the other girls. “I promise I won’t do that. I know how saddening it can be to be called things like that.” Anofelis said in a more sympathetic tone, after which Vinisha spoke up as well. “Considering she is a p-prime Roraima subject, I won’t blame her for it a-and will treat her with respect.” You told them that a chat with Reika could maybe give some useful intel. The girls didn’t sound too into the idea of gathering intel, but at least they seemed interested in meeting Reika to maybe learn more about her. Regardless, you’d quickly head back to where the rest of your men were, finding them having wrapped up breakfast and almost finished with cleaning up the place.

“Ah, Mik, there you are.” Lydia said calmly, before Elodie more cautiously said: “D-Did Logan and Annie enjoy the food?” Before you could answer, Anon looked a lot more intrigued. “Why do you have that microphone with you?” To which, you would place the radio on a nearby desk, and tell your men that your girls were on the other side. Immediately, your men were interested, approaching as you told them that they’d love some one-on-one conversations. Your men quickly grouped around the microphone, before Thaddeus started speaking first. “Heya gals! It’s Thaddeus. Uhhh, how’s everythin’ goin’ down there? Ya gals are doin’ okay, I hope.” Your men all patiently watched and listened. The girls were also all pretty excited, Thalia, Cortina and Elodie all staying around the radio as well. Reika was also trying to catch some of the audio, whilst Katya seemed to be the only one who kept her distance for some reason...

>What do you do next?

>Make some final preparations for when you left this place. Maybe you could look through your supplies one last time, or get the last bits of equipment you still needed to pack up. (Write in what you’ll do to prepare for your travels.)
>Sit back and listen to what your men and the girls would discuss together. Surely, they’d have some fun conversations to listen in on.
>Head back to Annie to have a final chat with her and Logan. You could also discuss how you could stay in contact, or where to meet up with Helen or Alexandra or anyone else of interest. (Write in what you’ll discuss with them.)
>Talk with Katya, since she was seemingly keeping her distance. Was she just not interested in chatting, or was something else going on? (Write in what you’ll ask her.)
>Talk with the guardsmen to see how they were faring. You didn’t really spend much time together, but maybe saying final goodbyes or chatting one last time was fitting. (Write in what you’ll discuss with them.)
>Something else...

>>6237961
>Talk with Katya, since she was seemingly keeping her distance. Was she just not interested in chatting, or was something else going on? (Write in what you’ll ask her.)
We told them she's there already, hiding just makes her look antisocial.

>>6237961
>Sit back and listen to what your men and the girls would discuss together. Surely, they’d have some fun conversations to listen in on.
I want to see the exponential squee of probably the most subjects that have ever been talking to each other at one time.
>Head back to Annie to have a final chat with her and Logan. You could also discuss how you could stay in contact, or where to meet up with Helen or Alexandra or anyone else of interest.
We'll be back down here in the near future if she wants our help with the move
If you get any updates on subjects or staff we want to get in contact with or Andrei's drives, do let us know
Where are the backup electrical facilities so we can swing by them when we find them?
And how is she doing herself? We're always on the other end of a radio if she want to just rant about something
>Talk with the guardsmen to see how they were faring. You didn’t really spend much time together, but maybe saying final goodbyes or chatting one last time was fitting. that's bothering her.
Keep yourselves safe, chaps. Let us know if here's any of your colleagues or subjects you want us to check up on if we find them.

>>6237973
>>6238338
Supporting both. I want soldier birb to socialize and become more than just an automation made for war. The other subjects chatting with one another will be cute and funny too.

Alright, I'll skip out on an update tonight. I've noticed that I've got a severe lack of energy today, and whilst I'd love to still make an update, I don't think it'd be wise to force myself to start writing now when I should probably sleep. Hope you guys don't mind the lack of an update too much.

Anyway, suppose I can use this opportunity to ask for both feedback and just general thoughts/questions. If you guys have any feedback for the quest, suggestions or critiques, feel free to share em since I wanna make sure that the quality stays high and that you guys can continue enjoying it.

And of course, feel free to just ask any amusing questions or share any thoughts you might have about the story as well. I'm sure that the last few interactions and side-stories have definitely spurred some curiosity which we can talk about (without spoilers, of course.)

>>6238338
>>6237973
Supporting these much like the other anon. We need to try and crack Katya out of her shell and try and get her to open up a little and stop the soldier act for a bit, and just chatting with the girls will be a good morale boost for our men and potentially let us pick out who we are bringing with us when we try to kill the queen again.

>>6238394
My general thoughts are
1. I can't wait to kill the queen
2. I hope to see more of the girls and our squadies.
3. Regicide will be fun.
4. I hope we can save more of the girls and scientists.
5. I can't wait to use the guillotine.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention my desire to kill Feng. Only request is that we are able to get more time with our squadies when we are on the surface for a bit so we can explore their character a bit more, and also check in on the girls more personally.

>Talk with Katya, since she was seemingly keeping her distance. Was she just not interested in chatting, or was something else going on?
Whilst Thaddeus started chatting with the girls over the radio, you would shift your attention to the only subject with you now who wasn't listening. You'd approach Katya, telling her that you had already explained who she was to the girls. This made Katya nod understandingly, yet she didn't say anything still. Thus, you told her that she should maybe interact with the girls as well, or at least listen to them. "I am listening to the conversation, Mikhail. I can hear everything Thaddeus is discussing with them." She said without hesitation, after which you told her that she needed to also talk back to the girls a little. She didn't want to be seen as antisocial, especially since the girls themselves were fond of meeting new people and making friends. You also reiterated that they knew who she was and that they were eager to meet her. Katya remained silent, before you told her that you'd stay by her side and listen to the chats with her. Hopefully, she'd join the conversation as well after listening in for a while.

>Sit back and listen to what your men and the girls would discuss together. Surely, they’d have some fun conversations to listen in on.
The one on one conversation between Thaddeus and the girls on the other side was definitely an amusing one, Thaddeus first just talking about how he was doing before he decided to let the subjects talk a bit with each other. Chrysidus, Oreas, Anofelis, Kamara, Morgan and Vinisha would get a chance to interact with Cortina, Elodie, Thalia, Reika and Katya. It kind of made you giddy (and saddened) that this might just be the most subjects who have ever gotten together to chat with each other. And, it sure became an... interesting chat. "Cortina! Is she here? Can she hear me?" Anofelis asked, Cortina right away speaking up. "Indeed. Who might you be?"

Anofelis spoke up rather giddily. "I am Anofelis Toxori, EM-33. You are also made by Jabal, right?" The two would right away start having a little conversation, the rest of the girls listening along in a rather calm and friendly way. "Indeed, I was created by him. I do think I have heard of you as well, Anofelis. Were you created by Anderson as well?" Anofelis immediately responded. "Yes. But, Anderson wasn't nearly as close as Jabal. I hope he is doing fine." Cortina spoke up in a more peaceful and optimistic tone. "I am sure that he is safe with Catherine. And if not, Annie will try her best to find them and ensure their safety." The two would keep chatting a bit, discussing their caretakers and lives together. Though, Elodie would soon also join in since the discussion started being a bit about Anderson. However, you noticed that Katya and now also Thalia were not really getting involved yet. Surprisingly enough, the one the girls were able to chat with was Reika of all people.

"So, you were beaten by Mikhail and the others, and then joined them?" Chrysidus asked curiously, Reika speaking in annoyance. "Yes, they shot me a bunch and distracted me! But, Mikhail also offered help, and they gave me good food... so, I am not angry anymore at them. I do wanna find more food, because I still am missing body parts to fight with..." Morgan would soon after also speak. "How curious. So, you have decided to fight for the good of all of us, rather than for more heinous purposes?" Reika raised an eyebrow. "What did you just say?!" Based on the look of pure confusion and mild disgust, Reika probably heard something QUITE different from the word 'heinous'. Morgan would scoff, continuing without any elaboration. "Well, I believe it is great to hear that you are fighting on the right side now. I am eager to meet you so we can perhaps practice our combat skills together. My blade yearns for a worthy and strong foe to fight against." Reika seemed pretty excited at the suggestion, the two actually already getting along rather well!

The girls kept asking questions to Reika, who was also pretty happy to answer the questions they posed to her. Ironically enough, it seemed that Reika was more adept at befriending the girls than Katya. Hell, even Thalia seemed a little reluctant! However, Laura did soon ask for her. "So, uhhhh, what about the others? I know there's two more subjects with you, right? Thalia and Katya?" She asked casually, Thaddeus signalling Thalia to respond. Thalia hesitated a little, before looking over at you and your men. "D-Do I tell them wh-who made me? I-I mean... w-what if they don't like it?" Lydia spoke in a reassuring tone. "Relax, Thalia. The fact you're with us will make them feel far less worried to speak with you. After all, if we trust you, then they know they can trust you." Afterwards, Mike spoke up in a more amused tone. "Besides, if they can befriend the murderous Roraima subject, surely they can also befriend you."

Thalia hesitated, before sighing. "Y-Yes, I'm also here. Ummm, my name is... T-Thalia Rinne, PS-2020. I was made by..." She paused, looking at you and the others before speaking up again. "Umm, E-Elbrus." There was an awkward silence, before Morgan spoke up. "Huh, an Elbrus subject... How curious. Mikhail did mention you before. Still, it is... interesting to learn who your creator was." Clearly, Morgan was a little less sure on how to tackle this. Fortunately, Oreas was able to step in. "Mikhail said you were able to help him and his friends out with your voice, right?" Thalia would nod a bit and say: "Y-Yes, I... my voice h-has some unique effects. I-It can calm p-people and distract them a-and... d-do other things based on my m-mood. O-Or something close to that. I'm still sorta f-figuring out the basics, hehe." And with that, the girls would start actually chatting with Thalia as well. Thalia started relaxing more, as she'd start answering the questions the girls had for her.

Now that both Thalia and Reika had opened up to the girls, you hoped that Katya would do the same. Unfortunately, she'd remain distant, quietly listening in as your men also joined in on the conversation. Anofelis spoke of her drawings, Elodie and Lars eagerly telling about their cooking. Morgan eagerly wanted to have some proper sword duels and battles with your men and Reika. Thalia even enjoyed the suggestion of singing to keep the spirits up for the girls. Cortina, Laura, Oreas and Lydia seemed eager to work together to work on all kinds of electronics and trinkets. Even Kamara and Vinisha would make suggestions as to how the girls could all spend their time together, Kamara suggesting to train her stealth skills with the girls and Vinisha suggesting they could read together. And yet, Katya remained distant for some reason. However, there was a chance for that to change, as Anon at one point signalled her to come over. "Katya, you should also introduce yourself to the girls."

Katya would simply say: "I am Katya Kesselring, codename ATO-4013. I was designed by Roraima, my purpose being to search for enemies, disarm them and bring back order to the facility." There was an awkward silence, the subjects on the other side even asking some questions. "So, uhhhh, how do you do such things?" Chrysidus asked, Katya not hesitating with answer. "I was designed to have excellent mobility. Along with my perception skills, I can easily track targets, find their weak spots and disable them." Morgan seemed impressed by this, curiously asking: "Could you maybe give an example of you doing such a thing?" Though to this, Katya simply said: "I took down Reika by snapping her neck in a non-lethal way. Due to the lack of pain receptors she has and the damage she took, it was an effective way of disabling her and ensuring she does not harm your men." You saw Reika grumble a bit, whilst the girls on the other side clearly weren't too excited to hear about... Katya's neck-snapping escapades.

"I see..." Morgan asked, after which Katya went quiet again. "So, uhhhh, what about your hobbies? Do you train anything or, uhhh, do you... like flying around?" Katya would once again give a somewhat... direct response. "Flying is one of my key design features. I also do train, since it is of great importance for me to keep up my abilities. Ignoring my main design functions would be highly illogical." After the response, there was another pause before Morgan spoke up as well. "Can you tell us something about your flight abilities? How fast can you go?" Katya would not hesitate to answer. "My agility would usually be classified. However, if Logan permits it, I can reveal such statistics to you." There was an awkward silence over the radio, Katya not showing any emotions whilst your men clearly looked a little saddened. Katya had so much to tell, and yet... something was holding her back from speaking up. That, or she needed to be taught some socialization skills ASAP.

>Talk with the guardsmen to see how they were faring. You didn’t really spend much time together, but maybe saying final goodbyes or chatting one last time was fitting.
As the girls shifted their attention away from Katya and back to Elodie, Reika, Thalia and Cortina, you decided to also shift your attention elsewhere. You headed over to Don, Mindy, Georgi, Valdimar and Isais. The first four were all listening intently to the chat between the subjects, being surprised when you approached them. “Oh, hey Mik, what’s up?” Mindy asked, Don afterwards saying: “Man, I am jealous you’ve got all these gals by your side. Honestly, if you ever get the chance, could you... send them over here? I’d love to meet them!” He’d say, you telling him it would depend on a lot of things. More importantly though, you told them that you’d probably not see them for a while, given where you were heading. Thus, you already wanted to wish them good luck and told them to keep safe.

The guardsmen sans Isais seemed to appreciate the comment, Georgi giving a quick salute. “Stay safe as well, you guys. And make sure to kick Feng’s ass for me once you do get to her!” Mindy would also say: “If you’re around here and need help, just ask Annie and she’ll send us your way.” Isais let out a soft groan in response, you and the others just ignoring it. You told the guardsmen that if they wanted to find any colleagues or subjects, that they could always ask you. “We’ll keep it in mind.” Don said, before Georgi more calmly said: “Though, we can imagine you being a bit more focused on other things right now. So, just focus on killing Feng first, alright?” You thanked them once again, before you decided to leave your men alone again to go back to Annie and Logan.

>Head back to Annie to have a final chat with her and Logan. You could also discuss how you could stay in contact, or where to meet up with Helen or Alexandra or anyone else of interest.
Whilst your men and the subjects kept chatting with the radio, you headed downstairs to see how Annie and Logan were faring. Once you reached Annie’s chamber, you’d wait a little bit as Annie gave some more news, before finally showing yourself again. Once Annie finished her announcement, she already turned around to face you, crossing her legs. “Thanks for being patient and letting me finish my broadcast there, Mik. So, what’s up now? Take it you wanna finally discuss the path you’ll need to follow to get upstairs?” You first told them that you’d probably be in the area in the near future, which could mean helping her with her move. Annie nodded to the suggestion, clearly not minding it. But more importantly, you asked her to provide you with any updates regarding staff or subjects, or the Andrei drives. “Of course. I’ll keep you guys updated. Both through my regular broadcasts for widespread news, as well as with one-on-one conversations with you guys.” Annie said happily.

Next, you asked her where the backup electrical facilities are so you could maybe find them. This made Annie think for a moment. “Well, there are supposed to be small backup power sources in each sector. They can usually be found in the main control offices for each space. Though, even the ones I tried to make work here... didn’t want to work. Given the structural damage the facility took, I imagine some of the delicate equipment sadly did not survive it. Fortunately, there are indeed small generators still spread around. They won’t power entire spaces, but they could at least provide power to some defensive systems, cameras and light sources.” It seemed your best option for bringing back electricity would have to come from the smaller generators, which wasn’t that great. Still, it was better than nothing...

After a moment of thinking, you asked her how she was doing herself. The question seemed to surprise her, making her glance at Logan before smiling. “Well, now that you have saved Logan... I feel great, Mik. I hope to continue being able to provide useful news and intel to you and the other soldiers who... have enough brains to know that the government cannot be trusted.” Annie said calmly, after which you told her that she could always vent or rant over the radio to you and your men if she needed it. After all, if anything was bothering her, you would gladly listen to either help her vent her frustrations, or help out in ways to undo whatever was bothering her. Annie’s tail wagged a tiny bit, her smiling quite brightly. “Thank you, Mik. I appreciate that you... care so much for me.” There was a moment of quiet, before Annie would get up from her chair and approach you. And without any hesitation, Annie would give you a gentle hug. It took you by quite some surprise, Logan also seeming pretty shocked by the sudden show of affection from her. It felt quite pleasant, her resting her head against you and closing her eyes as she held onto you.

Once she let go of the hug, she’d give a smug little giggle. “I hope you didn’t mind that too much, hehehe. Anyway, let me just... show you the direction you can take to get back to the surface. If you have anywhere you wanna go to specifically, I can try and find a good route for you to take as well, Mik.” Annie would start typing away on her computer, Logan giving you a quiet yet approving nod and smile.

>What do you do next?

>Ask for a path which can take you somewhere specific. Perhaps you wanted to first head upstairs to the girls’ hideout to drop off some of your subject friends. (Write in what you’ll ask Annie to do specifically.)
>Just let Annie find the quickest and most effective way back up. She knew what would work best for you, after all.
>Chat a little bit more with Logan and Annie. Your men and the girls were eagerly chatting back upstairs, so you weren’t in THAT great of a hurry. (Write in what you’ll discuss.)
>Something else...

>>6238843
(God, I am honestly excited for when you do finally meet Feng and properly fight her. I am a little concerned that killing her won't be done in a satisfying way, or that she'll just be too OP. I suppose we'll see how it goes.)

(Anyway, still am eager to hear other thoughts and feedback for the time being. I'll definitely try to keep it in mind.)

>>6239141
>Chat a little bit more with Logan and Annie. Your men and the girls were eagerly chatting back upstairs, so you weren’t in THAT great of a hurry. (Write in what you’ll discuss.)
What kind of progress have the other death squads and GalGov made in purging the facility? It would be best for us to know and avoid any areas where they have a strong presence if we're going to be rolling with Reika, KK, Thalia, etc.

>>6239141
That's our job, you fluffy little rat! Though it is funny that until this particular adventure I was doubting we'd ever get in properly close with Annie, much less meet as friends and get a hug. The 13th entry on the fren sheet better be her.
>Ask for a path which can take you somewhere specific. Perhaps you wanted to first head upstairs to the girls’ hideout to drop off some of your subject friends.
A quick way around Feng back to the hideout to drop off the new arrivals and then up and out. And if we could swing by the nearest generator to see if we can't get some lights on in the hideout.

>Chat a little bit more with Logan and Annie. Your men and the girls were eagerly chatting back upstairs, so you weren’t in THAT great of a hurry.
Now I think of it, given Queenbase has power, does this mean Annie has eyes and ears down there or has Feng been smart enough to smash the cameras? Has she heard anything interesting through any radios they have in there or her groupies out and about?
Does she know of any entry points into and the layout of the deepest level utility tunnels?
And can we take a nice big joint of meat for Vinisha? Girl's been living on rats.

Elodie and Logan are staying here and Reika, Thalia and KK are coming with us, but I'm unsure what Cortina and Massimo are doing. We need to make sure we know what their plans are so we can accommodate.

>>6239142
I'm not really bothered how Feng dies so long as she winds up dead somehow though the more unceremonious her death, the better. Picrel is the ideal, bonus points if we don't allow her to finish monologuing before we execute her. Bitch doesn't deserve an honourable or dramatic death, only to die like a pleb from a bullet to the brain. And if she's too OP, that just means we've got to get stronger ourselves to murderize her successfully.

This was a good arc where a lot of important things happened but I'm very ready to move on. We've got a series of objectives to knock out now before the showdown and I'm raring to get back to pounding the pavement on the campaign trail.

Vinella impregnation. Motherhood would fix her.

>>6239224
Supporting.

>>6239221
Inshallah Feng will die like a dog

>>6239319
We will achieve Total Feng Death.

>>6239224
Hey now, do you want to deal with a baby that comes out big enough to reach our waist and gleefully crushes anything you put near its hands?

>>6239393
Yes

>>6239221
Support. As much intel as we can extract for our future boss fight. Question is if she'll be a flunky boss that relies on her swarms of thralls or if she'll actually be able to dish out any significant damage herself.

>>6239319
I wonder who our final boss will be. Vinella? The Government? The Demon?

>>6239535
I think she is both, which makes her extra threatening. Her minions are dangerous enough in large numbers but, based on what we've heard, I think she's very powerful herself as well. All the more reason to find Jabal so we can quiz him on what exactly she is capable of in person.

It depends on how deep we want to go into the Facility's lore and what our priorities are. If we're focused on reaching the heart of its mystery, then we might have to deal with Demon (for a given value of "deal with", she's just in another tier entirely and I can't imagine we could ever threaten her given her powerlevel), while if we're focused on our subject Underground Railroad we'd be better off skirting the living environmental hazards and conflict with GalGov entirely, though we might go against them at the end, especially if they turn on all of us.

>>6239393
Look, all I'm saying is, if Vinella was pregnant, her motherly instincts would kick in and suddenly she wouldn't care so much about sadism as she would ensuring the spawnling gets raised. Additionally, her baby would be vulnerable and wouldn't be strong enough on its own for her to not have to worry about it until it was an adult, ergo it would be in danger of other things in the facility and the military. Vinella would have to learn to cooperate with others willing to help her keep the child safe and raised right (like us after impregnating her) and would eventually grow out of her sadism from getting used to being around others, she might not kick the need to hurt others but she may stop killing them immediately. Then before you know it, she'll be wearing a big Vinella sized apron and holding a ladle while mini-Vinella puts on their backpack and runs off to preschool.

Give Vinella pregnancy a chance.

>Chat a little bit more with Logan and Annie. Your men and the girls were eagerly chatting back upstairs, so you weren’t in THAT great of a hurry.
Before Annie would show the path you could take, you decided to first ask some question which were on your mind. You started by asking what progress the other death squads and the governemnt had made in purging the facility. The question surprised Annie, who was expecting more about the path you'd take. Still, she didn't question it, and would quickly open a different tab on her screen. "The government has a database with all the staff the facility had... and all the staff which has been confirmed purged. So far, about 15% of the staff have been terminated. Which, might not seem like a lot, but a large chunk of the staff will probably not be found for a while until clean-up operations start. Based on statistics and some calculations I believe that the number of survivors is actually closer to about 30% of all staff. Most of those are guardsmen, given that they were the most numerous group of people down here to begin with... As for how fast the government is dealing with those numbers, well, the largest number of kills was actually when the initial waves of death squads came down here. Probably because nobody expected them to actually... well, kill everyone."

It seemed like the number of survivors had already gone down substantially. However, the few who survived were also most likely the more resilient, capable and well-equipped groups. In other words, it'd probably only get more and more difficult for the death squads and galgov forces to make further progress. You also asked how it was going in terms of subjects and areas which have a strong presence of death squads right now, to which Annie was able to give some more concrete answers. "So far, the number of subjects who have died are quite low. Unless if there are some buried underneath the rubble which are unaccounted for, I think only 4 have died so far."

Considering how you had contributed to one of those kills, it seemed that killing subjects was the hard part down here. Though, knowing how more and more equipment was being funnelled towards this place, it was safe to say that far more kills would come sooner than later. "In terms of hot-beds for death squad activity, the main locations right now are the combat sector, obviously, the green sector, and the subject training sector. The leisure sector is also being explored by a lot of soldiers, and several of the offices directly connected to the crater are also infested with activity." Obviously, it was a bit worrisome to hear that the one sector you were interested in going to, the combat sector, was being searched so much. Though when you brought up the concern, Annie scoffed. "The combat sector is massive. It has tons of spaces designed to simulate warzones and other combat areas. Not to mention, the dozen or so subjects which regularly 'decrease' the number of soldiers there.

Given that Annie was able to listen in on soldiers and guardsmen in the combat sector, her reassurance was probably enough to convince you to actually go there. On the topic of her intel abilities, you soon asked Annie if she was able to invade Feng's base to spy on her through the camera systems. "Unfortunately, Feng is smart and has made sure to destroy all ways I could access her camera systems. Hell, for all we know, she may not have cameras down there given that she herself can see everything going on through her own mercenary groups. They even limit the usage of radios, probably to ensure nobody broadcasts distress messages, or anything else which can be used to locate Feng and destroy her." Annie argued, which was definitely unfortunate. The things you could learn from Feng's guardsmen just by spying on them.

Regardless, you'd ask another question, this one focused on the utility tunnels and easy ways to head there. Annie would chuckle a little, before showing the map on her computer. "See this path leading westwards from where we are? It leads DIRECTLY to one of the connectors to the utility tunnels. We've actually gone there a couple of times, but have never gone down em. Mostly because I know Vinella used those tunnels before. Still, if you wanna use them in the future, you know where to go." Well, at least you now knew where yo go in case you wanted to use the utility tunnels. Though, maybe that would have to wait after your combat sector mission... or even until after your Feng mission, since you had NO clue what to actually find down there and if it was actually safe to be down there. Finally, you asked if you could take some more meat along for Vinisha. You mentioned how she hadn't exactly eaten anything good in a while, which made Annie scoff. "I'll allow it since it's for someone you care for a lot, Mik." She said happily, clearly eager to help out one of your friends with a bit more food. Even if it did cut into her own supplies.

>Ask for a path which can take you somewhere specific. Perhaps you wanted to first head upstairs to the girls’ hideout to drop off some of your subject friends.
With all your questions answered, you'd tell Annie what you hoped to do. You wanted to find a way around Feng to get back to your hideout. You also hoped to find a generator near where the girls were, so they could finally get some power in their hiding location. Annie would open the map again, before speaking more confidently. "Okay, here's what you'll need to do. You want to head to the office to the north of here, then head to the north-eastern corner. This will lead you to a ventilation shaft system which I think you can climb together. This vent will take you to a small office space to the east of Andrei's office. Now, you've got two options. The first option is to continue going up through the vents to reach the north-westernmost office space."

It seemed like a straight enough option to take. It was essentially the path your first drone took when meeting up with Viridian for the very first time. You asked if there was any catch, to which Annie said: "Just don't leave the small office space to go exploring that corner of the facility. Olorea Muruk is around that area, and she is... not exactly kind to strangers. The other option would be to instead gamble with the vents to the west of the large office space on this floor. Normally, you could simply head west here and head up through an elevator. But since that elevator has caved in, the only real option to get past the cave-in is through the vent systems. Once you get through the vent, you can easily go back upstairs and you'll end up exactly where you need to be. The only issue here, is that I have no clue what the state is of the ventilation system there. For all I know, the collapsed elevator has blocked up any path the vent would allow. Or worse, something is hiding in the vents over there."

Annie would show the paths a few more times on the map, before saying: "I suppose you can discuss which path you'll take with your men. For now though, I think we've got everything resolved." Annie would fiddle with her setup a bit, starting another long song before getting up. "Alright, let me get you your steak and then wish you and your men goodbye." Logan would also get up, clearly hoping to join along. Thus, the three of you would head towards Annie's storage space one more time, before heading back to the rest of your men. Once you got back, you saw the rest of your men still being busy with the radio and the girls. Though, Annie's guardsmen had seemingly left already. Annie looked at you, waiting to see what you'd tell your men to get them ready to get going.

>What do you do next?

>Tell your man which path you had chosen for them. You knew which direction looked the safest and quickest, so there was really no point in discussing which option was the best. (Write in which choice you'll make.)
>Let your men decide which path they preferred to take. Maybe they didn't mind passing by another 'friendly' Andrei subject.
>Wish Annie, Logan and presumably Elodie goodbye for now. Maybe you could wish them goodbye in a fitting way. Or perhaps, you could leave them with a small gift of yours. (Write in how you'll say goodbye.)
>Something else...

(>>6239661 Interesting, umm, discussion about dealing with Vinella, Anon. I'm not sure how practical it'd be, but... keep on dreaming the big dreams, I guess. I am totally not into the idea though. And that is totally not because of my name.)

>>6239692
>"Unfortunately, Feng is smart and has made sure to destroy all ways I could access her camera systems. Hell, for all we know, she may not have cameras down there given that she herself can see everything going on through her own mercenary groups. They even limit the usage of radios, probably to ensure nobody broadcasts distress messages, or anything else which can be used to locate Feng and destroy her." Annie argued, which was definitely unfortunate. The things you could learn from Feng's guardsmen just by spying on them.
Oh shit wait
Can Annie use her ability on nanites?
Reprogram them with radio waves?

>Tell your man which path you had chosen for them. You knew which direction looked the safest and quickest, so there was really no point in discussing which option was the best. (Write in which choice you'll make.)
Keep going through the vents. Better the known danger than the unknown. Plus it even seems avoidable.

>>6239221
>>6239535
Y'all are way too eager to fuck the demon. Look, Morgan is far better a choice if you two want someone regal.

>>6239723
I doubt Annie can simply say "No, fuck off." and just evaporate a subject. She's a schizo radio host hacker not an executioner. Supporting though.

>>6239737
I don't think you could evaporate a subject with control of their nanites, they're built to modify, not vaporize. Worth an ask either way. I'm just hoping she can piggyback on Feng's thralls and use them as mobile cameras. Maybe even control them the way Feng does.

>>6239694
>Tell your man which path you had chosen for them. You knew which direction looked the safest and quickest, so there was really no point in discussing which option was the best.
Vents. We all love vents, right gents?
>Wish Annie, Logan and presumably Elodie goodbye for now. Maybe you could wish them goodbye in a fitting way. Or perhaps, you could leave them with a small gift of yours.
Let's get everyone together for a big group photo and forward it to Annie's computer. Since Annie probably has a working printer in the office, we can also have a photo of just the squad taken and printed off specially for Anofelis too.

>>6239737
Hey now, I am firmly in the fluffy tail camp. Just 'avin a laff with Vinella.

Well, we do know where Annie's NAR remote is. If we swing by Logan's office to grab it, who knows what extra powers we could give her (though probably not something like that)?

>>6239800
>we can also have a photo of just the squad taken and printed off specially for Anofelis too.
This is a really sweet idea, but if Kimmy ever hacks Annie's computer it could be bad.

>>6239816
Kimmy doesn't have a specific enmity with us and thus far hasn't used her powers for anything but hedonism. Though if it is a concern, we could always print off both photos before thoroughly nuking the files.

>>6239818
We could make a trade. If Kimmy start to make trouble to us or we seek her help, she can have pictures of Mik's feet.

>>6239835
>If Kimmy start to make trouble to us or we seek her help, she can have pictures of Mik's feet.
She's gonna want the whole squad's pics, and not just their feet. Plus, I get the feeling at least one very angry tsundere is probably going to try and kill her before ever agreeing to such a trade.

>>6239694
>Let your men decide which path they preferred to take. Maybe they didn't mind passing by another 'friendly' Andrei subject.

>Tell your man which path you had chosen for them. You knew which direction looked the safest and quickest, so there was really no point in discussing which option was the best.
Once Annie looked at you, you would step forward and tell your men it was time to get going. "Hang on, Mik. Anofelis is telling us about the drawing she's making!" Lydia said soon after, your men clearly still wanting to chat a tiny bit more. You quietly listened along, hearing Anofelis speak up. "So, I made a drawing of me carrying you guys on my back. I made a drawing of Chrys and me, since we are sisters. I also made this cool drawing of Vinisha raising her arms and cheering! I made a whole lot more drawings too, and I wanna show them all to you!" Anofelis said happily, after which Laura spoke up again. "Well, given that I just heard Mik faintly say something, I think chances are high that they'll head our way really soon." You'd grab the microphone and confirm this fact, telling the girls to stay put and that you'd head their way right away. "Alright, we'll hopefully see you soon then!" Laura said, after which the girls all bid farewell. Your men also said goodbye, before the radio switched off and Annie grabbed her microphone.

"Well, guess it's time for you to get going now." Annie said in a more pleasant tone, your men all nodding before looking at you. "Elodie, do you still wanna stay with Annie, or would you rather... join us?" Lars soon asked Elodie, the ant girl tensing up before going quiet. "Ummm, I... w-well... I-I mean... Uhhhh..." She was clearly tensing up from the sudden question, your men remaining calm and waiting for her to finally make a decision. And after some stuttering, Elodie took a deep breath. "I've... I've e-enjoyed my t-time with you guys. But, ummm, I-I'll stay here. M-Mainly because... I-I don't wanna get in the way of things, y-you know, given my size." You told Elodie you understood, before giving her a quick handshake and a thanks for the meal.

You'd also wish Annie and Logan a safe time together, telling the two that you'd stay in contact. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to help you guys out whenever I can!" Annie said happily as she waved you goodbye. Logan also waved a little. "Be careful out there. Oh, and please let me know if you find more of my subjects!" Elodie also waved goodbye, yet didn't say anything as it was clearly more of a moment between you and your men, and Logan and Annie. You'd lead your men and the girls northwards and out of the server room. You told your men that you intended on taking some vents to the north-west of the office. Of course, you also warned them that this could put you at risk of facing Olorea, who clearly was more of a threat than you had at first believed. "Do you think there's a chance we get into a fight with her?" Anon asked, to which you sadly had no real response. Still, it was better than going to the collapsed elevator shaft.

Regardless, you'd lead the way forward, your men seeming to be doing quite well now. Lars was walking on his own with a bit of support from Lydia, whilst Anon and Mike carried Derek around with the stretcher. Getting him upstairs would probably be the biggest issue, but you fortunately had Katya to help with that, given her excellent flight capabilities. And if that didn't work, Cortina had enough arms to probably carry him and Massimo along. For the time being, you'd lead the way down the... once again relatively untouched hallway. "You know what would be awkward? If we ran into Don, Mindy and those other guardsmen again and give them a good scare." Zaria soon mumbled, much to the amusement of your men. "Let's just hope that Isias doesn't see it as a threat. A conflict with him would be pretty awkward to explain to Annie." Lydia would also comment, much to your group's amusement. Your group kept on chatting about the time they had spent with Annie, as well as the recent chat with your gals, clearly eager to see them again after so long...

After walking for a short while, you'd finally reach the northern office space. This one was a bit different from the ones you were used to, as it was far more open and actually had several subject chambers right out in the open. They weren't built into the walls like with most containment chambers, instead just being large glass displays. Though, most of them were empty, most of the glass panels also having been damaged quite a bit. Some of the chambers had been completely broken open, though it didn't look like it was the result of a subject completely breaking them open. Regardless, the openness of the area made it easy enough to start heading forward. "So, what subjects should we be careful about encountering here?" Mike said casually, Anon grabbing the tablet to check. "Hmmm, the tablet doesn't say anything in particular. Then again, the government clearly has no clue on what was down here."

Considering that Annie was the one to send you down this path, you imagined that the place had to be somewhat safe, right? There was no way she'd send you down to your death. And sure enough, you'd not encounter anything as you made your way over to the north-eastern corner of the space. No guardsmen, no subjects, no signs of life. "We definitely ought to explore this place later." Zaria said curiosly, to which Thaddeus determinedly said: "Let's first head back upstairs before we start goin' on another adventure, alright?" Zaria scoffed before more amusedly saying: "Hey, just think of all the hard drives we can get from here which we can then sell to the government. I'm sure it'd give us big money." To this, Mike more confidently said: "I doubt it'd compare to the money we'd make from killing Feng though." Which was definitely something which resonated a whole lot more with your men. They were more than ready to attempt a 2nd round of regicide...

Though before you could ever get to Feng, you first needed to get upstairs. And to get upstairs, you'd need to take these vents upwards. You'd reach a large subject chamber in the far corner of the office space. Surprisingly, the windows of the chamber were still standing, probably because it clearly had some metal reinforcements built into the structure. More importantly though, you could see a ton of scorch markings in the chamber, as well as other signs indicative of something having burnt intensely in the chamber. Your men immediately looked in and around the chamber for the vents, it not taking long for your men to find them as Anon soon pointed up. "That's our way out of here." Looking at the top of the chamber, you saw several large ventilation tunnels. There was a bit of an issue, as the tunnels still had large fans inside of them, but you had faced far worse things in this place than that.

The question now was, how were you going to make your way back up?

>What do you do next?

>Get Katya to fly up and set up a rope which could be used to climb upwards. It'd definitely take some time and energy, but it was early in the morning and your men had had plenty of food to give them strength! (Write in if there's anything specific you'll do in terms of who goes first or how you'll go up.)
>Have Katya and Cortina help you get up. Both were large and strong enough to lift some of you up one by one. In the meantime, the ones who stayed downstairs could also maybe explore the vicinity or set up a perimeter in case something DID decide to show up. (Write in if there's anything specific you'll do in terms of who goes up first and what you'll do down here.)
>Set up some other plan for how you'd head upstairs. Maybe you had some specific ideas in mind for how you'd go upstairs. Or perhaps, you wanted to plan for the worst case scenarios, such as one where you'd encounter Olorea, or find something else blocking the path up. (Write in what your main plan will be.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6240258
>Get Katya to fly up and set up a rope which could be used to climb upwards. It'd definitely take some time and energy, but it was early in the morning and your men had had plenty of food to give them strength! (Write in if there's anything specific you'll do in terms of who goes first or how you'll go up.)

Does cortina reproduce through her spores? Given we've been breathing them in this entire time...question out of academic curiosity only.

>>6240258
>Have Katya and Cortina help you get up. Both were large and strong enough to lift some of you up one by one. In the meantime, the ones who stayed downstairs could also maybe explore the vicinity or set up a perimeter in case something DID decide to show up. (Write in if there's anything specific you'll do in terms of who goes up first and what you'll do down here.)
Nothing to specific outside having Lydia go first if no one volunteers. I normally would send Derek up first but he's still WIA so I'd rather he get some rest and let the next best combat engineer we have do the job of clearing the path ahead.


>>6240260
Shut up, Elbrus.

>>6240258
>Have Katya and Cortina help you get up. Both were large and strong enough to lift some of you up one by one. In the meantime, the ones who stayed downstairs could also maybe explore the vicinity or set up a perimeter in case something DID decide to show up.
Of course there can't be a maintenance ladder in here, that would be too easy, so it's time for the ferry service. Jam the blades before going through the fan for peace of mind and watch for zap traps. No particular order as to who goes up first so long as our casualties are in the middle and we have KK on overwatch at the top. While we're still down here, have a poke around for any information that might tell us who these chambers were for.

>>6240258
>Have Katya and Cortina help you get up. Both were large and strong enough to lift some of you up one by one. In the meantime, the ones who stayed downstairs could also maybe explore the vicinity or set up a perimeter in case something DID decide to show up. (Write in if there's anything specific you'll do in terms of who goes up first and what you'll do down here.)
Can't believe Cortina and Massimo came with us instead of staying with Annie

>>6240258
>>Get Katya to fly up and set up a rope which could be used to climb upwards. It'd definitely take some time and energy, but it was early in the morning and your men had had plenty of food to give them strength! (Write in if there's anything specific you'll do in terms of who goes first or how you'll go up.)
After she drops a rope, Katya should start by bringing the wounded and Massimo first, then start the climb with at least one eye for detail person, (Lydia or Mike) so we can have at least one person with the trait both up and down to keep overwatch, then we go one for one while the others keep watch, Mik go last.

QM, got a question for ya. Considering how Mik and his squad have been going, any chances we could get other perks? Like say, Mik has proven he has a pretty damn good silver tongue, being able to talk his way pretty much over a lot people and subjects, even dangerous ones like Reika, does that mean he could get a trait were rolls which involve a more diplomatic approach get a boost? And for example if one of our wounded comrades got to the surface and gets treated, could they get an pain resistance?

>Have Katya and Cortina help you get up. Both were large and strong enough to lift some of you up one by one. In the meantime, the ones who stayed downstairs could also maybe explore the vicinity or set up a perimeter in case something DID decide to show up.
Seeing as there was no ladder to help you get up, you had to get help from your subject friends to get things done. The first thing you did was ask either Cortina or Katya to break open the fans. They were fortunately not going that fast, but they were still sharp and hazardous obstacles which you needed to pass. Cortina would be the one to do such, stretching her arm out and soon carefully pulling each fan out. It took a little while, during which you told Katya that you wanted her to help lift you and everyone else up. "Roger." She said, you explaining that she had to watch out for any traps. Furthermore, you told her to take Lydia along first, since you trusted her to be solid to have on overwatch. Afterwards, Anon and Thaddeus could be ferried up, followed by Derek and Lars with a bit of care. You wanted your injured to be in the middle, as to not leave them alone and at risk here or on the topside. You could decide on who would go up last afterwards.

Katya nodded, approaching Lydia and soon grabbing her and starting to carefully fly upwards. In the meantime, you turned to Cortina and asked her if she could try and go up there with Massimo and Derek once Katya returned. "I can certainly try such." Cortina said calmly, Derek groaning. "Please... be careful. My chest still hurts like hell." Cortina nodded calmly. "I will try my best, Derek." With the plan settled, you would turn to the rest of your men, before telling them that you'd explore the area for a little bit. "Uhhh, Mik, are you sure that that is a good idea?" Anon would ask, you arguing that you wouldn't go too far away, and that there had to be some useful intel down here. Besides, you had to do something whilst waiting for everyone to go up.

Before you could head out though, Zaria would step forward. "I'll join you. Might as well keep stretching my legs if there's nothing else to do down here. In turn, Mike also moved towards you whilst speaking confidently. "Well, might as well join. It's better to explore with three people than just two, right?" With that, you'd tell your men to contact you if anything went wrong, before heading off with Zaria and Mike. "Man, I can't wait to reach the surface. It'll be great to finally have some fresh air." Mike said calmly, Zaria nodding along. "I'll just be glad to finally see some natural light again. This place is depressingly dark." You'd check one of the nearest chambers, looking for any files, cabinets or anything else which could provide intel. Fortunately, it wouldn't take too long, as you'd soon find some files left on a desk which looked over one of these test chambers. It seemed to be about a subject you... didn't actually know anything about.

The paper described a 'flammability' test with a subject called Poppy Uragan, codename 33-AS. Apparently, she produced some flammable compounds, which was harvested and tested in this chamber, with... highly dangerous effects. Given that it was cyanide-based, it was extremely toxic, but the flammability was also described as "extremely intense". More importantly though, the tests noted that she was 'highly uncooperative', 'troublesome' and 'dangerous'. Unfortunately, the notes didn't reveal much about what kind of subject she was. No pictures, no descriptions, no specifics. The only real thing that you saw was that she was created by Tengri and that she required 'a large test chamber' for her size. "I suppose we can take these files along and ask around for intel." Mike suggested, after which Zaria said: "Maybe we can ask Annie over the radio. Logan might also know a bit about this Poppy." It was one new subject to learn about... the question now was, was there more to find down here?

You wouldn't find much more in terms of subject intel. Most of the intel you got from this place was that it was an area where subjects were exposed to various chemicals, environments or elements. Fire, water, extreme winds, vacuums, and various other things were being tested here. You did see some familiar names come by, such as Shu-huo and Cyra, but the files on them didn't really share much else. There was one interesting find, and that was that Nandi was apparently fire resistant. It wasn't much, but at least you now knew not to use a flamethrower on her if you did ever encounter her. Aside from that though, most of the intel was pretty subpar and didn't really reveal much that you didn't already know. Most subjects were highly resilient, with some being specifically tailored to resist certain harsh environmental conditions. Though, one theme you did notice was that some of the subjects clearly did not like being put in these testing spaces. Probably because of what they were being tested for...

Regardless, you'd eventually start heading back, having a little chat with Mike and Zaria in the meantime. "So, you think that the Tri-Euna Federation did false-flag operations on some of their own military production plants to create a sense of disorder and villainize people outside their empire?" Zaria asked to Mike, who nodded with upmost confidence. "Of course. Those bastards in power killed a bunch of innocent hunters on their remote home planet who protested against having minerals mined on their planet. If Volux and his cronies are willing to murder protestors for simply protesting, do you really think they aren’t going to create fake attacks? I mean, come on, the only planet which was attacked JUST so happened to be a planet which had a local government who wasn’t too fond of the military presence there. Not to mention, the fact that the supposed terrorist organisation who was responsible never claimed responsibility.”

Zaria seemed to trust Mike and his comments. It was clear that the Federation had done a ton of shady shit, and that they were responsible for some pretty terrible stuff. But, the Federation had also done some good things if your memory served you correctly. Though, that was before Volux really took power... Really, until you had proof to the contrary, there wasn’t exactly much you could say for certain about how ‘good’ the government was. Still, it was definitely worth thinking about, especially since it could tell you a bit more about how you should feel about the government’s role in your mission in this place. For the time being, you just kept quiet and made your way back to the rest of your men. And fortunately, you’d return to find more of your men having been brought upstairs. Lydia, Lars, Derek, Massimo and Anon had all been brought upstairs. The only ones still downstairs were Thaddeus, Thalia and Reika. “Ah, there ya lads are.” Thaddeus calmly said, Thalia soon saying: “We were already starting to wonder if we had to start searching for you guys.”

You told them that everything was fine and that you had found a paper on a subject you didn’t know which you could share with them once they were all upstairs. “Aye, sounds good. I’ve been chattin’ with Anon and it seems they are doing fine right now.” Thaddeus casually said, after which you would hear some sound from above you, followed by Katya returning. “Ah, Mikhail, you have returned with Zaria and Mike.” You told Katya that maybe it was smart to carry Reika next, followed by Zaria, Mike, Thalia, Thaddeus and you last. “Understood.” Katya calmly said, before flying over to Reika. “Hey, don’t... don’t hurt me again, dumb owl.” Reika said a little annoyedly, clearly not being too fond of having Katya carry her. Katya didn’t respond, just gently picking up Reika before carefully taking her up through the vents. And not much later, Cortina would slowly crawl her way down the vent as well, ready to pick up another person.

Zaria and Mike were brought upstairs, Katya returning not much later and picking up Thalia. Until finally, you were the only one who was still down there. Fortunately, it didn’t take long before you were also picked up by Katya and hoisted up and away. Looking around as you were being carried around, you would find the vents pretty much untouched. There was a bit of soot coating the walls, but that was the most you could say. Soon, you would take a more sharp bend heading westwards. And after travelling a bit further, Katya spoke up again. “We just passed by the place Olorea was stationed according to Annie.” You would soon head straight up again, before finally going down a more cramped ventilation shaft. Katya would actually let go of you in it, since it was easier for you to just crawl forward. And eventually, you would find you and your men entering what looked to be a large oven of some kind...

And after the door was opened, you would find yourself back in the large manufacturing and storage hub in the north-west of the facility. You only needed to travel slightly south and then east and you’d be back in the green sector! More importantly, you just needed to take a few more vents, and you’d be back with the girls at long last!

>What do you do next?

>Tel Thalia, Katya, Reika and Cortina where they had to go to get over to the girls. It wasn’t too far away from here, and they could easily carry Reika and Massimo over to the location... along with carrying some of the food and resources for the girls along. (Write in if you’ll tell them to go in any specific direction.)
>Lead the way back to the girls right away. You weren’t going to miss an opportunity to check up on the girls to see how they were doing. Besides, it is what you promised them! (Write in if there’s anything you do regarding making your way over to them.)
>Head somewhere else first. Maybe you could quickly scan the area to the north of here where there was a bunker with guardsmen. Or you could go back to the green sector without the girls to see how it was faring. (Write in where you’ll head to.)
>Send some of your men out to scout the place first. For all you knew, other death squads had started heading in this direction and would be roaming the area. It would be rather awkward to run into a fellow death squad down here with a bunch of subjects. (Write in who you’ll send out to explore.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(>>6240260
>Does cortina reproduce through her spores? Given we've been breathing them in this entire time...question out of academic curiosity only.
If by reproduce, you mean 'form more spores' then... sort of? She can essentially overtake other spore colonies. If you mean 'make babies', then no. Her spores cannot be used for reproduction.)

(>>6240372
>Considering how Mik and his squad have been going, any chances we could get other perks? Like say, Mik has proven he has a pretty damn good silver tongue, being able to talk his way pretty much over a lot people and subjects, even dangerous ones like Reika, does that mean he could get a trait were rolls which involve a more diplomatic approach get a boost? And for example if one of our wounded comrades got to the surface and gets treated, could they get an pain resistance?
The pain resistance is maybe a no for now. Maybe if Derek gets shot again, I'll give it to him. As for the silver tongue though, I definitely am tempted to give it to him. I'll wait and see what the other anons have to say about it. If they agree on it though, I'd be more than happy to add it to Mik's talents at this point.)

>>6240898
Wait the fans were running? There's no power and the ventilation systems should have been offline for weeks unless it has its own local backups because it's so important.
>Lead the way back to the girls right away. You weren’t going to miss an opportunity to check up on the girls to see how they were doing. Besides, it is what you promised them!
Let's go see the girls! But first, generator. The part of the facility they're in didn't get banged up very much so fingers crossed it all still works.

If Cortina can't make boyz the Orky way, I guess we'll have to fall back on the traditional method then ay?

I'd support receiving some kind of permanent advantage in diplomacy with subjects. We've got MG wrangling down to a science at this point and have gotten an idea of how a lot of them roll and what buttons to push - our repeated successful experiences in subject conflict resolution should be reflected with better RNG outcomes (though I don't know exactly how the rolling works - what rolls were you making behind the scenes with what DCs and what modifiers did you add in the Vinisha standoff, as an example?) when speaking to them. We, as the audience, have learned ourselves as a meta integration with Mik's character.

-----

Should we tell our guys topside who our five new subject members are when we pick them up? I kinda want to keep them guessing for amusement's sake until we stop by on our way down to pick up some team members.

We also need to have an intensive comb-through of all the media and intel we're going to hand in to make absolutely sure that everything we give them is free of incriminating information or things that would require explanations that might reveal more than we'd like.

I wonder if Andrei is even still alive. Given Annie doesn't know of his whereabouts and none of the troops know who he is, he might have already wound up dead and his body found or been shot by a death squad and nobody would even know it was him, except GalGov on the backend and they're not telling. And speaking of GalGov, I think a couple of updates ago was the first time QM has used the nickname.

>>6240894
>Apparently, she produced some flammable compounds, which was harvested and tested in this chamber, with... highly dangerous effects.
Woah, if it was harvested in this chamber is there any still there? Imagine using it as flamethrower fuel....

>>6240898
>Lead the way back to the girls right away. You weren’t going to miss an opportunity to check up on the girls to see how they were doing. Besides, it is what you promised them! (Write in if there’s anything you do regarding making your way over to them.)
Have a vanguard and rearguard scout 1-2 corners ahead and behind just to make sure there's no witnesses, and that we're not being followed.

>I'll wait and see what the other anons have to say about it. If they agree on it though, I'd be more than happy to add it to Mik's talents at this point.
It feels wrong to just get it out of the blue. Maybe after a momentous diplomacy success. I'm not sure about it at all though, it doesn't feel like we're particularly good, just that everyone else is horrendously bad. Plus every subject is unique, what works for some won't work for others.

>>6240896
>Really, until you had proof to the contrary, there wasn’t exactly much you could say for certain about how ‘good’ the government was
What, funding the creation of a slave race in this very facility isn't proof enough that the government is evil?

>>6240898
>Lead the way back to the girls right away. You weren’t going to miss an opportunity to check up on the girls to see how they were doing. Besides, it is what you promised them!

>>6241086
It doesn't seem to be out of the blue, more a belated recognition of that, over the last year and a half, our ability to communicate and negotiate has dramatically improved both in-character and out. It can be seen from a video game mechanic perspective, where each successful interaction has earned us XP towards it as a reward for consistently doing well. If we wait for a theoretical single massive success then we'll be waiting forever but we have successfully defused some very tense situations and seem to be on track to keeping Reika in our corner, which would be a major achievement.
At the start, we very much were hamfisted at it - our first three encounters all involved violence to brute force the target into being a captive audience to talk to. Since then, we've learned our lessons, picked up on common threads in subject logic, what works to assuage their concerns and demonstrate our sincerity, what arguments tend to be effective and common weaknesses in their psyche we can exploit. Obviously they won't be the same for everyone but we've learned the rules of thumb and how to tailor them for who we're talking to for best results.

>>6241086
>It feels wrong to just get it out of the blue. Maybe after a momentous diplomacy success.
It's not out of blue like >>6241222 has said, we been doing that day one. Think about it, ignoring our initial subject batch which were mostly lonely/scared/confused girls, we were able to get Laura on our side even though she's was and still is a Gov hater, we were able to get Morrigan who's initial plan was just stick around for a while to become a reliable team member, we were able to not raise (too much) suspicion when the glowie started to question us, we convinced Vinisha we are the good guys and now she's like his number one fan, made nurse-shark and her team become our allies from the get go, even if the fish took a bit longer, convinced Reika to realize there's more to life than her "training" hell, I still remember that back and forth we had with Katya were we basically talked our way from potential threats to people to protect. Mik has a way to talk with people and it makes sense, I mean he's a squad leader and studied anthropology so he definitely knows a few things about how to play around human interactions. It's not out the blow he's just getting to use his CHA's stat to good use.

>Lead the way back to the girls right away. You weren’t going to miss an opportunity to check up on the girls to see how they were doing. Besides, it is what you promised them!
Seeing as where you currently were, you were most eager to find your way back to the girls. Continuing with the vents would be a bit of a mess, given that it was something of a maze. But, if memory served you correctly, you just needed to head to the smaller office to the south of the space you were currently in. And once you reached that office, you'd just need to take some vents and you'd finally reach where you needed to go. Though, you also were eager to find a generator in the upper parts, since it could really help your girls out. Of course, you first needed to actually get to the gals, which meant crossing territory potentially controlled by death squad soldiers. You told Zaria and Anon to scout a bit ahead, checking a few corners around you to make sure there were no people around. "Aye, let's do this." Anon said, grabbing his gun as Zaria followed him out into the open.

Whilst you waited for them to return with intel, Katya would step forward. "Mikhail, if you require any scouts, I can be of assistance." Considering how good Katya's eyesight was, you didn't need to really ask why she offered to help out. However, you did have to admit that it was a major risk having her out and about around these parts. If any death squad soldiers saw her, you would be in deep shit since it'd attract a lot of people. Once you explained such to Katya, she would nod calmly. "Very well. I will still be on lookout once we start heading to our next position." It was at least going to be useful to have Katya follow you and your men like this. Obviously, you, Anon, Lars and several of your men were good at spotting enemies. But Katya was designed for this job and would most likely spot any threat from miles away.

Regardless, Zaria and Anon would soon return and signal you to follow. "We didn't spot anyone ahead of us." With that in mind, you would ask Anon to stay at the front, Zaria staying with you whilst Lydia would act as a rearguard. You wanted Anon to focus on people ahead of you, whilst Lydia stayed behind you to make sure nobody followed you. "Got it." Lydia said, Anon once again heading forward, whilst you moved down the large supply area you had traversed through before. You didn't notice too many differences at first, before noticing some clear signs of combat. Small blast sites, shrapnel, even some bits of blood coating machinery. "W-What happened here?" Thalia asked nervously, to which Mike spoke confidently. "Well, considering that there was a bunker to the north of here with guardsmen and scientists in them, I bet that some death squads found them and... took them down." The blood looked dry, implying that the battle had happened some time ago. Still, you would be careful, knowing that there could still be threats lurking around every corner.

You soon would pass through the sector with vehicles, before making your way to the chemical storage sector. You actually found that the little makeshift bridge you had made through the chemicals was still in tact. Though, you did also notice that some bits of it had been moved from people using it. Still, nobody seemed to be around here now, so you felt safe in continuing forward. Nobody seemed to follow you, as Lydia, Anon and Katya didn't seem to spot anyone. Given the fact you didn't run into any conflict, it wouldn't take long for your men to start chatting again. Though, the catalyst which led to the conversation was... certainly amusing. "This place smells bad. Don't tell me we will stay here!" Reika grumbled, to which Thaddeus spoke up in an amused tone. "Aye, this is where ya will be stayin, lad." There were some chuckles from your men, with Zaria even jokingly saying: "We'll make sure to make a bed out of the finest toxic barrels for you, Reika!"

Reika grumbled a bit more, clearly taking the jokes a little seriously. Still, you'd fortunately pass the chemical waste storage, heading down the path and finding some of the offices having been looted more thoroughly. Thankfully, signs of combat and recent activity were low. And soon enough, you reached the office you were supposed to stay in. "Okay, guess we should just head to the office which had those vents leading upstairs." Mike calmly said, before Lydia spoke up in a more curious tone. "I must say, I am also curious if people have headed to the tunnel we stayed at before. You know, the one where you were put to sleep by Oneira, Mik?" It was actually an interesting question. If death squads were moving around through here, then they must've surely reached the blockage leading downwards. Maybe they even attempted breaking through it. Or, they had ignored it entirely.

Whichever was the case, it was definitely worth checking out later as a short detour. For now though, you insisted on returning to the girls, leading the way over to the office you used to get upwards. Cortina and Katya would once again help everyone up, as Anon remained on guard to ensure you didn't have to deal with another Nikita situation. Fortunately, you were left alone, as everyone was able to be brought upstairs without a hitch. The only real issue was Reika, who was a bit large and struggled to be pulled up through the vent. Still, with a bit of help from Cortina, she did manage to get brought upstairs, the only issue being that she clearly did not enjoy that. "I hate travelling through vents. I hate not being able to walk or crawl on my own!" Reika complained again, you reassuring that you'd feed her with plenty of meat in the future to help her regenerate. "Hmph..." Reika said in a pouty tone, before you started heading towards the sleeping hall where your girls were staying at.

Before you headed there though, you told your men that you wanted to find the generator Annie mentioned potentially being here. When you brought it up, Katya would give a little suggestion in turn. "I believe most generators are kept in janitor's closets. I suggest scanning those which are nearby for such a generator." It sounded like a reasonable idea, you and your men quickly trying to search for one nearby. Unfortunately, it'd prove to take quite a while to find a working generator. Most janitor closets had definitely been raided by... well, you hoped it had been the girls, but you couldn't say for sure. Regardless, it would take a solid half an hour before Lars would find a generator. Cortina would carry it, leading Anon to say: "Say, Cortina... you aren't too bothered to constantly have to carry a bunch of stuff for us, right?" Cortina shook her head before smiling more gently. "I am not bothered in the slightest. Still, thank you for looking after me and asking." With that in mind, it was time to meet up with the girls at long last.

So, how were you going to meet up with the girls?

>What do you do next?

>Contact the girls first to let them know you were close. You didn't want to risk scaring them by just... suddenly appearing at their doorstep. (Write in what you'll tell the girls if you manage to contact them.)
>Head over to the girls and surprise them with your sudden visit. They knew you were coming this way, given the recent conversation through the radio. So, they probably wouldn't be scared if you did appear out of nowhere. (Write in if you'll try to surprise them in some amusing way.)
>Prepare some things before meeting up with them. Perhaps you could check if the generator actually worked and could be used by the girls. Or perhaps you could get some supplies ready to hand over to them. (Write in what you'll prepare before heading their way.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(A slightly smaller update. But hey, it's the penultimate update before you finally reach the girls again, so I think it's good. Also also, I rolled for the generator and... you guys got damn lucky. A single +1 modifier meant that there was a generator in the area which you could use.)

(Anyway, I am still eager to see more discussion about giving Mikhail a bonus to his charisma rolls. I think the previous two posts before this update definitely were convincing. But, I also just wanna make sure there's enough time to really debate it before I make a decision.)

>>6241564
>Contact the girls first to let them know you were close. You didn't want to risk scaring them by just... suddenly appearing at their doorstep.
I can't really think of any ways to be funny that wouldn't risk actually scaring the girls and that's just a dick move. Just let them know we're coming up and any noises in the vents are us. If we can't, we stick our head out first.

-----

I've had a ponder on ways we can assault Queenbase. We should give consideration to how we're going to do that considering what we should be on the lookout for and bring with us, our team composition and what prepwork we need to do over the coming days. I think I've condensed it down into five potential plans to propose, though if anyone else has any ideas, do say

>OPERATION ASSASSINATION THRONEROOM
Find a way to surreptitiously break into her throne room from the outside. From there, we can attack her at point blank range without having to fight our way to her first.

>OPERATION GUNPOWDER PLOT
Wire up her throne room with enough explosives to blow the entire Facility into low orbit. Detonate. Probably won't kill her, but it'll be one hell of a kick in the teeth to start with

>OPERATION THUNDER RUN
Take one of the various cargo transporter vehicles lying around, soup it up and add lots of armour and weaponry. Use it to smash straight through her mook tarpit and use it as fire support in the battle as well.

>OPERATION REPUBLICAN MECHANIC
Similar to the above, but we're not on board. Instead, pack it with enough explosives to turn it into a remote-controlled VBIED big enough to make Timothy McVeigh blush. Detonate it in her face and follow on behind.

>OPERATION KNOCK KNOCK
The simplest plan. Gather up as much concentrated force as we can manage and just shoot our way in to her.

>>6241564
>Head over to the girls and surprise them with your sudden visit. They knew you were coming this way, given the recent conversation through the radio. So, they probably wouldn't be scared if you did appear out of nowhere. (Write in if you'll try to surprise them in some amusing way.)
Yell out "DIAMOND DOGS IN DA HOUSE"

What could possibly go wrong

>>6241564
>Contact the girls first to let them know you were close. You didn't want to risk scaring them by just... suddenly appearing at their doorstep.

>>6242212
Oh yeah, my beautiful not-depressed anymore ZomDrake, now if we could only find her remote and make her less corpse-like.

>>6242212
Now it makes me wonder how our subject friends would do at cheerleading.
Chrys, Oreas and Annie would be good at it, and see it as a bit of fun. Having four arms lets you do so much too.
Kamara would have a heart attack at the notion of being in front of an audience
Anofelis and Reika might struggle to "get" it. Ano would try her best, but Reika would probably think it was stupid.
Morgan and Viridian would consider it to be very silly and beneath their dignity. Viri doesn't have the agility for it either.
Vinisha might be quite good at it, and could use the confidence boost
Cirra and Thalia might struggle with the agility when out of the water. Thalia will.....bounce.
Cortina and Kaenum could put on an incredible performance together, though whether Cortina has the right energy for it I don't know
KK would be very funny to watch. She'd do her damnest if ordered, but be stiff as a board.
Elodie.....man, I got no idea. Probably too shy.
Feng would crush you into paste for even thinking about it
Alexandra might be pretty bashful, but try her best if you convinced her
Vinella would murder the other performers and the audience
Kiyo is a bit too lumbering for it, even if you bribed her with hard alcohol

>>6242223
If it were as simple as that then Andrei would have done it, surely.

>>6241564
>>Contact the girls first to let them know you were close. You didn't want to risk scaring them by just... suddenly appearing at their doorstep. (Write in what you'll tell the girls if you manage to contact them.)
>>6242212
CUTE!
>>6242418
Dont think so, I think he would try to thinker a way for her absurd regeneration to work without rotting constantly.

>>6242212
Dawww, she is adorable. I just wanna hug Vinisha, man. She needs it so much, given all she has been through.

Anyway, unfortunately, I did not have the time to make a proper update yesterday. And, as much as I hate to say it, today won't have an update either. I'm utterly exhausted and need to head right the fuck to bed to actually get some of my energy back. I would've preferred getting out an update but... yeah, apologies.

I'll try and get an update out tomorrow. I can't promise it for the time being, since it'll be a bit of a busy weekend for me, but I'll still try my best. And if not, I'll try and let you guys know.

>>6242212
Adorable zombdrake is underrated.

>>6242214
Supporting

>Contact the girls first to let them know you were close. You didn't want to risk scaring them by just... suddenly appearing at their doorstep.
Having found the generator which could hopefully help the girls out, you knew it was time to go over to the girls. And whilst a part of you wanted to visit them with a joke, you knew that what was funny to you would probably not be funny to the girls. Thus, you'd ask Anon for the radio, him giving it to you. You'd try and contact the frequency you knew the girls were on nearby, before saying out loud that you'd come their way. So, if they heard any noises approaching the, they didn't have to worry. You did hear some sounds through the static, but it was clear that you were just a little too far from the girls to easily reach them. "Maybe we should just approach the girls and see if we got better reception when we get closer." Lydia suggested, you agreeing as you once again led the way over to your girls. It wasn't too far a walk, taking about 20 minutes. And right before you reached the hallway which led up to the barrack room, you'd hear a voice over the static.

"Mik? The, uhhh, the crackling sound is going away. Can you hear us now?" You heard Chrys say on the other side, before telling her you could hear her. "Oh! Nice! So, I presume that means you're almost over here?" You informed her that you and your entourage were only a 2 minute walk away, her gasping and immediately talking to the girls in the room with her. "Mik's almost here, everyone!" Chrys said, at which point you let them know that any sound was likely to just be you and your men. "Understood! We'll wait for you at the entrance!" Chrys again said, before the radio turned off. "She sounded excited." Thaddeus said more amusedly, Lydia nodding and saying: "Well of course. We haven't seen them in a while, and we brought a bunch of new girls with us to join them." You just hoped that Reika and Katya would quickly get used to staying with the girls...

You would walk further down the hallway, soon seeing some blue light in the distance which waved back and forth. It didn't take long for you to realise that it was Oreas, making her hand illuminate in the dark hallway. You also soon after saw Anofelis exit the bedroom, her also starting to wave with all four arms. You and your men calmly approached, as Kamara, Chrys and Vinisha also left the room to come and greet you. And as you approached, Morgan, Laura and Ingmar also left the room and welcomed you back. "Hey Mik! Lydia! Everyone!" Oreas said eagerly, being the first to walk over and greet you from up close. "Welcome back. It's a pleasure to see you guys came back in one piece. Well, for the most part." Laura would say in a more casual tone, making Derek scoff as he remained on the stretcher you had taken along. "Is Derek okay? What happened?" Anofelis was quick to ask in a concerned tone, clearly worrying for poor Derek.

"Huh, I thought we told you over the radio that he was unfortunately injured by Reika." Anon calmly commented, Anofelis seeming to remember what was going on, before approaching Derek. "Um, I hope you will be okay, Derek. If you want, we can try and help you!" Derek seemed to appreciate Anofelis' genuine concern, him giving a quiet smile before calmly saying: "Just... put me down on the nearest bed and give me some rest, okay?" Anofelis would help Thaddeus and Anon in carrying Derek into the bedroom. In the meantime, Laura and the rest of the girls would look more intrigued by your new friends. "So, you girls are Cortina, Thalia, Katya and Reika." Morgan would say as she looked over the four subjects. "Indeed, Morgan. It is a pleasure to meet all of you as well!" Cortina said calmly, before Laura asked: "It is a pleasure to meet all of you as well. I also presume that the man you are carrying is Massimo, right?" Cortina nodded, before Oreas worriedly said: "Um, what's wrong with him? He looks... pretty sick."

Lars would slowly step forward. "Massimo hasn't had enough food and is unfortunately suffering from starvation. We are slowly feeding him to avoid refeeding syndrome." Given Lars' more slow and clearly injured appearance, Chrys would also speak in a concerned tone. "A-And are you okay? You did get pretty badly injured or something, right?" Lars smiled reassuringly, nodding before speaking more confidently. "Yes, but I've been treated well and am recovering quickly. Give it a day or two, and I will be back in action." The girls seemed reassured. Though, Vinisha would turn her attention to Reika, speaking in a more cautious tone. "And... what about Reika? Is she going to be okay as well? You said she's friendly, but she... ummm, she doesn't look to be doing all too well." Considering that Reika was still missing most of her limbs, saying she wasn't 'doing all too well' was something of an understatement. Fortunately, whilst Reika's body was damaged, her spirit certainly was not.

"I am not doing well! That stupid gun damaged my arms and legs and I can't do what I wanna do! I'm also hungry!" Reika said in a boisterous tone, Morgan scoffing in amusement. "Well, at least her fighting spirit remains." Reika growled a little and looked away. In the meantime, Kamara would also approach a little. "Ummm, w-what about you two? You, uhhh, h-haven't introduced yourself y-yet." Kamara asked specifically to Katya and Thalia, who had both remained quiet. "I am Katya Kesselring, codename ATO-4013." Katya said stoically, there being an awkward silence before Oreas spoke up. "Umm, I quite like your mechanical wings and those goggles. Are they... a part of you, or is this some sort of special trait or mutation?" Katya did not show many emotions, calmly responding with: "Affirmative. My wings are made of lightweight material which makes my wings highly durable and allowing for high agility. My eyes are also mechanized to ensure excellent vision."

The girls did seem interested in Katya. Unfortunately, Katya didn't elaborate further or ask any questions. She gave a straight answer without any nuances or further details. And after an awkward pause, where the girls clearly expected a further response, Chrys quietly said: "Um, okay... What about you? You're Thalia, right?" Thalia clearly tensed up a little, before nodding. "Yeah! I-I'm Thalia Rinne, uhhhh, I-I already mentioned my codename..." Thalia was clearly still concerned for some reason. Perhaps her status as an Elbrus subjectmade her worried. Fortunately, there was one person who knew how to avoid that topic and make Thalia feel more at ease. "Thalia is a lovely name. Do you, ummm, kn-know what it's b-based on?" Kamara calmly asked, Thalia actually seeming surprised. "W-Well, El- my creator s-said it was based on... some ancient Earthern figure. The... Amuses or something? It means something like... flourishing. What about your name?" Kamara seemed surprised, before awkwardly saying: "Oh, just... based on some l-lizard species, hehe."

Clearly, the girls were enjoying having their conversations. Thalia was also warming up, despite her initial concerns. Laura would soon after say: "Hey, why don't we go inside together? We still have a bit of food we can share with you guys. You guys can also tell us more about your adventures and how things have been going." Hearing food, Reika was quick to ask: "Food? I want food! Meat specifically!"

>What do you do next?

>Join the girls for a nice chat together. You could tell them all about your adventures, your finds and the plans you had. Perhaps they could even give some good feedback or suggestions? (Write in what you'll talk about with the girls.)
>Just drop the girls and Massimo off before heading to the surface. You could come back here once you got some more supplies for yourself and them. Maybe also ask the girls here what they needed from the surface, if anything.
>Talk with some folk specifically. Maybe you could have a chat with Laura to get an overall idea of how things have gone. Or you could chat with Anofelis to see how she was feeling. Or hell, you could chat with Katya to maybe get her to open up more to the other girls. (Write in who you talk with and about what.)
>Get Reika or Vinisha some food. You had brought some good meat over from Annie's storage pile just for them after all. Maybe Lars could cook some of it up for both of them to enjoy?
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(Alright, once again, apologies for the lack of updates yesterday and the day before. I hope to get a 2nd update out today to compensate, so long as there are enough responses within the next 6-8 hours.)

>>6243107
>Get Reika or Vinisha some food. You had brought some good meat over from Annie's storage pile just for them after all. Maybe Lars could cook some of it up for both of them to enjoy?

>Talk with some folk specifically. Maybe you could have a chat with Laura to get an overall idea of how things have gone. Or you could chat with Anofelis to see how she was feeling. Or hell, you could chat with Katya to maybe get her to open up more to the other girls. (Write in who you talk with and about what.)
Ask Laura and then Morgan how the situation is here and how everyone is holding up

>>6243107
>>Get Reika or Vinisha some food. You had brought some good meat over from Annie's storage pile just for them after all. Maybe Lars could cook some of it up for both of them to enjoy?
Feed our meateaters, especially Vinisha something which isn't bugs or rotten meat.

>>Talk with some folk specifically. Maybe you could have a chat with Laura to get an overall idea of how things have gone. Or you could chat with Anofelis to see how she was feeling. Or hell, you could chat with Katya to maybe get her to open up more to the other girls. (Write in who you talk with and about what.)
For starters give Morgan our condolences and ask her how's she doing? Them ask Laura and the others a status report about how things went on their side, reinforce to Thalia what we said before, people here are nice, no one here gonna treat her bad because of her creator so when she's ready if she's still nervous when can be with her when she does so. Ask Ano about her drawing she was gonna show us.

>>Join the girls for a nice chat together. You could tell them all about your adventures, your finds and the plans you had. Perhaps they could even give some good feedback or suggestions? (Write in what you'll talk about with the girls.)

>Join the girls for a nice chat together. You could tell them all about your adventures, your finds and the plans you had. Perhaps they could even give some good feedback or suggestions? (Write in what you'll talk about with the girls.)
Tell the girls our squad's brave tale. Key-Points: We met Vinisha, we sent her here, we infiltrated Feng's hideout, we got exposed and fled, we struck our deal with Annie, we meet other soldiers and subjects, we met Thalia, we almost got eaten by Pelli and one guard got hurt, we met Katya, We had our first encounter with Reika and escaped, Grise stalked us but we shot her, we found Logan and we fought Reika, Derrik and Lars got hurt but we made-up later and we took her along, then we took Katya and Elodie and went to Annie, Logan and Elodie are with her now and started we our trip to the surface.

>>6243130
>>6243168
Supporting. I'm not entirely sure why Thalia seems so nervous though. She's already told them she's an Elbrus subject over the radio. Maybe she's a bit self conscious of her appearance?

>>6243184
Supporting this post snipe as well.

>>6243107
>Get Reika or Vinisha some food. You had brought some good meat over from Annie's storage pile just for them after all. Maybe Lars could cook some of it up for both of them to enjoy?
Food! This is just for you two unless some of the others really want some, we can cook some less meat-heavy food for the girls who aren't dependent on meat. Reika can get a bit more and some more scritches if she waits like a good girl, like last time. There's a kitchen here so, once we plug in the generator, Lars will have some proper utensils and cooking equipment.
>Join the girls for a nice chat together. You could tell them all about your adventures, your finds and the plans you had. Perhaps they could even give some good feedback or suggestions?
What have they been up to since we last saw them? Anything interesting?
Give them a rundown of what we've been doing since we last saw them and anything interesting we've found out.
Bring them up to speed on our plans for regicide in the coming days, if they have any comments and whether they'd be up for participating and how.
Out of Reika's earshot, explain what the deal is with her, how we'd managed her and that she needs to learn some patience and food discipline. And preferably not around KK (difficult, given her senses), explain why she is like she is and to keep trying to chip at her.

>>6242773
Must hug all the girls
>Who have we hugged?
Chrys: NO
Oreas: NO
Laura: YES
Kamara: NO
Anofelis: YES
Morgan: NO
Vinisha: YES
Thalia: YES
Cortina: NO
Katya: NO
Reika: NO
Elodie: NO
Annie: YES
We gotta start turning more of those NOs into YESs, whether the recipient knows they need it or not - 5/13 is not good enough.

>>6243186
reposted because my attempt to use some Unicode symbols didn't work

>Get Reika or Vinisha some food. You had brought some good meat over from Annie's storage pile just for them after all. Maybe Lars could cook some of it up for both of them to enjoy?
Even though going to the surface would be beneficial for you and your men, you didn't want to miss out on an opportunity to chat with your girls and hear their stories. You thus accepted the offer, soon also stating that you'd feed Reika a bit. This seemed to please Reika, who more eagerly said: "I want more of that meat made by Lars! It is good! I like that!" Lars seemed quite smug about Reika's eagerness. Though, you'd also look to Vinisha, telling her that she deserved a better meal than the rotten flesh and bugs she had to eat before. "Heh, I mean... I've had some good food here already. And, seeing Reika's state, I... don't think I really need the food as much as she does." Despite Vinisha stating she didn't need the food, you still told her you'd make her something good. She deserved it after she had gone through so many tough times. "No, gimme! She doesn't want it! I want the meat!" Reika said desperately, to which you told Reika to be nice and share, much to the manticore's frustration. "Sharing is stupid. She doesn't wanna share. She wants to give it just to me..."

You told Vinisha that you'd not mind making some meatless options for her as well as the others, asking Lars if he was willing to do such. "Of course. I'd love to make something for all of you." You quickly agreed that, if Lars would make some good food, he might as well make some for everyone. "I'd like that a lot." Oreas said, Kamara also nodding along. Meanwhile, you turned to Reika and told her that she'd get more headpats and scritches if she waited patiently. It made Reika grumble again, before just going quiet and looking away. Thus, you told your men to start the generator and attach it to the kitchen unit, so that Lars could get to work making some delicious dishes for the girls.

>Join the girls for a nice chat together. You could tell them all about your adventures, your finds and the plans you had. Perhaps they could even give some good feedback or suggestions?
Whilst Lars and Lydia went to work in the kitchen area, you'd watch as the girls all spread throughout the room. Obviously, most of them stayed nearby, but you did notice Katya staying near the entrance of the barracks. Reika would be placed nearby, you sitting beside her before inviting the girls to listen along what you had been up to. Immediately, the girls and Laura would listen, as you explained how you first met Vinisha, making the zombie drake let out an awkward laugh and a wave. You mentioned entering Feng's hideout, much to the shock of the girls. "We heard that went pretty poorly. You guys got shot at, right?" Chrys asked curiously, Morgan speaking more derisively. "Such disgracefulness from those guardsmen. Then again, what is there to expect from those under that vicious monarch's thumb?"

You reassured them that you had fled with only minor injuries. Hell, you and your men recovered quickly from them with some time and help. It actually ended up being something of a good thing, as it forced you to strike a deal with Annie, which resulted in quite some good things. For one, you met several guardsmen and subjects, with the first being Thalia. You also mentioned Pelly, who nearly ate you and ate a guardsman's arm. "Geez, that sounds awful." Kamara softly said, before Oreas responded: "I know a tiny bit about Pelly... She also feeds through electricity and... well, is pretty nasty." Zaria scoffed and said: "I think 'nasty' is a mild understatement." You pointed out that you also then met Katya, who helped in taking down Reika later. "Stop rubbing it in..." Reika growled at you, at which point Thaddeus gave her some soft headpats. "We're not rubbin' it in, Reika. We're just tellin' what happened." Reika scoffed, before softly saying: "Well, if it weren't for Katya's interference, I sure would've eaten all of you..."

It was a bit of an awkward comment. Though fortunately, Lars was able to lighten the mood a little with a single comment from the kitchen. "But, that would've also meant missing out on a lot of good food, right?" Reika actually seemed to agree with this, after which Thaddeus more amusedly said: "Not to mention, headpats and lil scratches." He scritched her under her chin, making her stretch her neck a little whilst pushing her head closer to Thaddeus' hand. It elicited some chuckles from the girls and your men, you right away continuing to explain what else had happened. You mention Grise almost scaring you, which made Vinisha speak up. "I am glad that you guys mentioned avoiding getting bitten by her. That would've been REALLY bad..." Considering what Vinisha mentioned previously, it was indeed reassuring that none of you had gone mad from her infected bite. And hey, after you took down Grise, you also were able to spot Logan, along with fighting Reika.

"I thought you said you already fought Reika." Oreas said, you explaining that you had simply encountered her before, and that the main thing with Reika was the fight. You also mentioned how this was the fight that led to Lars and Derek getting really hurt. "No harsh feelings, by the way, Reika." Lars said casually as he got to work making food for the girls. Reika didn't respond, seeming mildly confused and more focused on Thaddeus' headpats. You went over how you encountered Elodie and took Katya along, Anofelis calmy asking: "Where is Elodie now?" To which you explained that she was with Logan and Annie downstairs. "Awww, I wanted to see her..." Anofelis said disappointedly, to which Laura spoke up as well. "Yeah, I also wanted to see Logan in person." Fortunately, Mike would be able to lift some spirits as he shared his thoughts. "Well, we're bound to meet up with them again in the future. Maybe you girls can come along then as well?"

This suggestion seemed to be pretty well-liked by the girls. Though, you obviously wouldn't tell them when and if you'd actually bring them along on a mission downstairs. Perhaps that could be done at a later time. For now though, you had other plans. Specifically, you mentioned your regicide plans: Head to the surface, resupply, get Alan, Artyom and Evander to rejoin the group, before splitting up to search for death squads willing to co-operate as well as Alexandra and her forces. "So, you're gonna go after Feng again?" Oreas said cautiously, before Anofelis approached more anxiously. "You can't go down there! I don't want you to get hurt again!" She was clearly concerned for your wellbeing, to which Anon calmly said: "Don't worry, Ano. We're gonna plan things out better to reduce casualties. None of us will get hurt, okay?” Ano still looked concerned, you deciding to use the opportunity to ask the girls if any of them wanted to participate.

The suggestion was met with a stunning silence, only broken by Morgan who stepped up and raised her blade. “I shall join you! My blade will bring the sadistic monarch to justice!” Afterwards, Oreas also decided to speak up. “I... have been practicing my abilities a bit, and could maybe help out. But, uhhh, I’ll have to think about it.” She said that last bit whilst looking at Laura, who clearly was disapproving of the suggestion of having Oreas join the fight. Anofelis would also respond somewhat positively to your suggestion. “I can join too! I wanna make sure you guys are safe! I don’t want you guys to get hurt again!” Perhaps having the mildly clumsy, gargantuan mosquito girl helping you out wasn’t the best of ideas. Then again, Anofelis was tough, fast and could help out in a lot of ways, so maybe it could be worth considering. Though aside from those three, the others didn’t appear all that willing to join in with the fight. You didn’t blame them, since the queen was definitely a major threat.

Soon after, you said that they didn’t have to feel obliged, before asking the girls what they had been up to. Immediately, Kamara would step up and speak quickly. “I’vebeenpracticingmyabilities!” She said quickly, causing a bit of awkward silence. She gulped nervously, before walking over to a nearby wall. “Watch.” She said softly, before she slowly walked right beside the wall. She managed to change her shape and colours well enough to blend in decently. Honestly, if you didn’t know she was present, you would probably not be able to spot her. “Wow, that’s impressive!” Lydia said optimistically, the rest of your men also agreeing. Though, a part of it obviously was just to help Kamara feel a lot less nervous. “Yeah, with that kind of sneaking, you could do some incredible things!” Zaria said as well, Kamara blushing and smiling a little. “T-Thanks. I-I still... w-wanna learn to do it a b-bit faster... a-and without st-staring at the w-walls too much, hehehe.”

Kamara then looked at Oreas, who quickly noticed and spoke more casually. “I’ve also been practicing. Mostly just... running through walls and using my shocks. I don’t think I can demonstrate here quite well though...” Oreas seemed a little uncertain still, perhaps wanting to wait for a better to demonstrate her abilities. That, or she wasn’t exactly eager to demonstrate in front of such a large audience. In the meantime though, you saw Anofelis go to a corner of the room, before returning with a bunch of drawings. “I’ve been busy drawing a bunch! Look!” She’d eagerly hold up a picture she drew, showing some stick figures of you and your men along with the other girls. You saw some cute pictures of Chrysidus as well with the word ‘little sister’ on it, as well as a drawing of Kamara hanging on a ceiling with the text ‘Kamara!’ on it. She had plenty of other pictures to show, your men clearly finding it rather sweet how proud she was.

Afterwards, Laura explained what else had happened down here, besides some of the individual training. It mostly just consisted of playing games together, eating little bits of ration every once in a while, and exploring the nearby area. Laura even presented a small map of what she had explored so far. It wasn’t too much, but did reveal that there was a small food court a ten minute walk to the east of here. “Ingmar has actually lead most of these expeditions.” Laura would eventually say, Ingmar actually speaking up for the first time since you got back. “Yeah, I wanna go out even more. I wanna find more food and games for the girls and other useful thingies.” He said in a rather simple tone, perhaps not exactly grasping how dangerous it could be to go outside into the unknown in this place. Still, they had managed to keep safe and find some small supplies as well, so perhaps Ingmar had the right idea.

Soon however, Anofelis would ask awkwardly ask something. “Hey Mik... why is Katya at the door and not with us? I wanna talk with her some more.” You would take a more quiet tone, trying to not be heard by Katya. You explained that Katya was programmed with one mindset thanks to Roraima, and that she wasn’t exactly the social type as a result of that. This made the girls a lot more sad for Katya, with Vinisha softly saying: “Poor girl. Abused by Roraima like that.” You knew that Katya could easily hear you, given her superior senses. And yet, looking at her, you didn’t really see her respond at all. Only when Oreas spoke up did she look your way, as the four-armed lizard said: “Hey, Katya, wanna come over here and talk with us a bit? We’d love to learn more about you!” Katya looked at the entrance, hesitating before approaching. “Very well then. What is it you wish to learn about me?” There was a bit of silence, before Chrys asked: “Don’t you wanna spend some time with us to get to know us? I mean, I wanna get to know more about you as well.”

Unfortunately, Chrys’ honest comment was met with a more subdued response from Katya. “Since nobody is watching out for threats outside, it would only be logical to have someone near the door to listen for sound and keep watch. Besides, I will spend plenty of time with you girls, which can be used to... get to know each other.” Katya said that last part a little quieter, the girls looking at each other before Kamara spoke up in a more sympathetic tone. “Katya, you shouldn’t worry about threats up here. We’re safe here.” She softly said, after which Morgan spoke up more confidently. “Besides, any threat we may encounter will be swiftly dealt with. We will be fine, I can assure you of that.” Katya nodded understandingly, soon sitting down as well and waiting to hear some questions. “So, do you like... singing? You are an owl subject after all.” Oreas said curiously, Katya softly saying: “Negative. Singing would be illogical for a subject of my design.”

Anofelis spoke up more excitedly. “Do you like flying and going up in trees? I really like doing that!” Katya hesitated, before again speaking in a more subdued tone. “Negative. My focus is more on scouting. Utilizing greenery for... any purpose besides cover has not been something I trained for yet.” Anofelis’ excitement faded, before Kamara spoke up. “Ummm, do you... h-have any hobbies?” This was a question which was asked before, Katya softly saying: “Negative.” Without further elaboration. Fortunately, Morgan did manage to break the chain of... disappointing responses. “Given your... appearance which was clearly inspired by the animal known as an owl, do you have similar combat capabilities as such creature? Do you have claws by any chance?” To this, Katya actually gave a more insightful response. “Roraima did indeed try and ensure that my flight is as stealthy as possible. Unfortunately, the high agility, weight and structure of my wings makes silent flight less than optimal. Furthermore, claws are not part of my combat capabilities. Instead, I focus on finding weak points within armour to strike at them.” This actually got the girls a bit more interested, as they started asking more about Katya’s combat abilities, with Oreas even suggesting some training together.

>Talk with some folk specifically. Maybe you could have a chat with Laura to get an overall idea of how things have gone. Or you could chat with Anofelis to see how she was feeling. Or hell, you could chat with Katya to maybe get her to open up more to the other girls.
As the girls got to listen to Katya and her calm explanations about armour types, you would scoot over to Morgan to have a little private word with her. You gave your condolences given Illimani’s passing. This actually made Morgan look a bit down, before speaking quietly. “I appreciate your condolences, Mikhail. I... I do wish I could’ve saved him. It... it is a failure I will not forgive myself for soon.”

You asked how she was doing, considering his death. Morgan spoke whilst she kept listening to Katya who was still talking a bit about her abilities now. “I... I am trying to not think too much about his passing. It is important for me not to be too bogged down in... grief and sadness. Especially since there are still important duties I must follow and other tasks I must do.” Morgan was clearly still focused on being a knight who did the right thing. Though, it did beg the question if Morgan was bottling up her emotions a little bit under the guise of stoicism. Either way, you told Morgan that she could always talk to you about these things, and that you wanted to look after her. “Thank you, Mikhail. I shall remain strong, so do not stress too much about me.” She calmly remarked, before you would move over to Thalia. She was still listening along to the conversation, which shifted back towards what the girls had been up to.

Once you got besides Thalia, she’d smile a bit more relaxedly before grabbing your hand. You told her that she could relax down here, making her speak confusedly. “What? I’m... I’m relaxed. I’m fine. Why do you say that?” She said a little worriedly, before you told her that people were nice down here, and that they wouldn’t treat her bad because of her being an Elbrus subject. You even reassured her that you’d vouch for her that she was a good subject. You’d even stay by her side if she felt nervous about talking. Thalia would nod quietly, before... there was a bit of a flash above your head. There were some gasps, as you saw that some of the lights had turned on. “Yes, I did it!” Lydia said, having turned on the generator and connected it to the nearby power system. “Okay, the miniature biomass generator is on. It’ll just need some organic material to fuel it every once in a while. Though, given what little energy is being used here, it will probably last a good while longer!”

With the lights turned on, the girls would look around the place. You would quickly notice that there was a lot of dust around the place, some parts of the room being quite messy. Though more importantly, you would see Cortina’s spores far more obviously, the girls quickly noticing and looking concerned. “Uhhh, what’s all this dark stuff?” Chrys said, before Anofelis would back away from it. “It looks scary.” She said nervously, to which Cortina chuckled. “Please, do not worry. These things are my spores. They spread naturally once I stay in a space for a few minutes. They are quite lovely.” Given that you and your men remained calm about the spores, the girls would also grow curious. Cortina would make the spores move a little, chuckling softly as she did so. “These spores can absorb light and create brilliant light shows for you to enjoy. They also have a soothing effect to anyone who is close to them!”

The girls all seemed impressed, with Anofelis soon approaching the spores and gently moving her hand towards it. Once she touched it, she pulled back quickly, before once again touching it. “Hey, your spores aren’t scary!” Anofelis said more curiously, before actually walking through them a bit. Cortina giggled, as the other girls also would start to check out the spores. All the while, Lars would get the chance to start cooking some good food. Cortina really was doing well in befriending the other girls. Though, Thalia, Katya and Reika were still struggling a bit. Katya could only really talk about her abilities and her main mission. Thalia was still worried, even with your reassurance. And Reika... she was just Reika.

>What do you do next?

>Watch the girls or listen to them as they continued getting familiar with each other. The girls were thoroughly enjoying Cortina’s spores, and they were sure to have more fun things to discuss together which you could listen to whilst waiting for Lars to finish the food.
>Give Katya, Reika or Thalia something to converse about on their own with the girls. Perhaps a little push was all they needed to start another solid conversation with them. (Write in who you’ll try to help to socialize and how.)
>Discuss something else with your men or the girls. Perhaps discuss the Feng mission, or some of the things you had learnt downstairs, such as the things Feng taught you, or the things you saw deeper in the facility. (Write in what you’ll discuss.)
>Help out elsewhere in the room whilst the girls kept chatting. Maybe you could help Lars prepare some of the food. Or you could ask Lydia if anything needed to be done with the electricity. (Write in what kind of chore you’ll try and help out with to pass the time.)
>Something else...

(This might just be the biggest fucking update I have ever written. But it is worth it, because it's filled with cute interactions. Suppose it is my birthday treat for today.)

>>6243601
>Give Katya, Reika or Thalia something to converse about on their own with the girls. Perhaps a little push was all they needed to start another solid conversation with them. (Write in who you’ll try to help to socialize and how.)
Given that KK and Reika are our first dedicated combat subjects (I think), ask them what combat training was like here. They spar against guardsmen? Other subjects? Each other? Reika seems like she did a lot of 1v1 brawling, but Katya’s comments imply wartime tactics against groups of enemies. Also KKs mech bits could have been organic, couldn’t they? Biology is capable of hyper precision as well, as long as it’s designed for it. Maybe Roraima wasn’t too good a biologist?

>>6243601
>>Give Katya, Reika or Thalia something to converse about on their own with the girls. Perhaps a little push was all they needed to start another solid conversation with them. (Write in who you’ll try to help to socialize and how.)
Thalia's a great singer, any requests girls?


>Something else...
Let's listen to Annie, tell her we made safely to the girls and tell Elodie, Ano says hello and she wants to meet her again someday.

>Give Katya, Reika or Thalia something to converse about on their own with the girls. Perhaps a little push was all they needed to start another solid conversation with them.
Seeing that Reika, Katya and Thalia were struggling to get used to being with the other girls, you decided to help them out a little. And once the girls stopped playing with Cortina's spores and got seated again, you would look to Reika and Katya. You pointed out how they were major combat subjects, which wasn't exactly something you had had in your group before. Morgan cleared her throat and showed her blade, you conceding that she also had some combat training. Though, you also mentioned that Morgan's training was likely different from what Katya and Reika did. You decided to ask them what their training was like, asking if they fought against guardsmen, other subjects or even each other. Reika was quick to respond, doing so a bit more calmly. "Yeah, I mostly fought against stupid test dummies and robots. I did train with guardsmen, but they were weak and always whined about me being too rough. I did also train with subjects. I mentioned Agiri and Lono and Pteroi before, right?"

Fortunately for the girls, Reika was more than happy to elaborate on who Reika's friends were. The girls didn't seem to know much about Agiri, Lono and Pteroi, aside from the fact they were all fighters. Still, you hoped to get Reika to really reveal more about herself, asking if she did one-on-one brawls. "Yes, but I had stupid rules. I couldn't use my barbs or hurt them too much. It was stupid! I did enjoy fighting some of my friends. We did lots of tests of strength to see who could punch harder and who could take more." Reika elaborated, after which Vinisha spoke up anxiously. "Ummm, R-R-Reika... y-you, ummm... I-I..." There was a moment of silence, before Vinisha simply said: "N-Nevermind." Reika seemed confused, your men also wondering what had happened.

However, Thaddeus soon would gasp and look to Reika. "Reika, I think... that Vinisha mentioned ya attacked her at one point." Reika looked at Vinisha, before speaking in frustration. "I thought I killed you! How did you live?!" Vinisha was clearly terrified, as things were going in the exact opposite direction from what you wanted. "You tried to kill Vinisha?! Why?" Anofelis asked in confusion, at which point Morgan spoke more assertively. "How dare you go after her. She is an innocent and pure soul!" Reika growled and got more annoyed, clearly not liking how this was brought up. However, there was one person who was able to help out. "Everyone, please, calm down. Reika is a changed subject now. She has been taken in and given a chance to redeem herself." Cortina calmly said as she stood between Reika and the other subjects. "Reika, you previously severely hurt Vinisha. You understand that this is a bad thing?" Reika seemed confused, before you nodded at her. Reika looked away, before grumbling. "Yes..."

Cortina then turned to Vinisha and the other girls. "I understand you may not trust her now. But, I have talked with her, and Reika is willing to help us out now. And I am sure that also means... seeking your forgiveness. Please, do not view her past actions as indicative of what she is like now." The girls managed to calm down and grow less aggressive towards Reika. Though, Reika clearly was annoyed still, not saying anything at all. Vinisha also appeared uneasy, but whether it was due to the fear of Reika or because she accidentally brought this topic up, you weren't entirely sure. Seeing as how the conversation had gone south rather quickly, you decided to just discuss things with Katya instead. Though, you did opt to avoid combat-related questions, instead asking of her tactics and her mechanical-organic nature. "I have considered the possibility that my mechanical extensions are bio-mechanical, rather than simple mechanical attachments. However, I cannot say if it is logical yet, due to needing further data and research."

It was a... mildly stale answer, though it did leave some intrigue and curiosity with the girls. "Can you manipulate the metal within your wings or goggles or other mechanical bits? If so, it might be somewhat similar to my own abilities." Morgan said calmly, Katya looking over her before confidently saying: "Negative. I imagine that your abilities are more focused on using nanites to change the shapes and forms of metals you have consumed. My extensions could be more akin to... simple prosthetics, albeit to enhance and create certain new abilities." Morgan seemed to ponder about what was said, whilst Oreas would speak up as well. "So, you use your mechanical bits to enhnace your senses? That sounds cool! Could I maybe try those goggles of yours?" Katya was unfortunately quick to say: "Negative. I understand your curiosity, but it would be illogical to try and take them off. Not just due to the effort it would take, but also due to the fact I need said goggles for combat."

In turn, you asked if she could elaborate on her combat tactics, bringing up how she could deal with groups of enemies. This was something Katya was more than willing to answer. "My focus can indeed be on groups of enemy forces. My agility makes it easy to avoid fire, as well as taking down their weapons one by one. Armour is also something I can work with quite well. Based on my design features, it is only logical that I utilize my abilities for such functions." Fortunately, the girls were all rather impressed with this, and were more than eager to continue asking questions. "Do you think you could break through Morgan's armour?" Chrys asked curiously, Katya looking over Morgan and analysing her. "Upon a quick analysis, I believe that there is a 60% chance that I could break through Morgan's armour. However, such a task would require a lot of effort. Morgan's armour looks to be malleable, meaning parts which are exposed can easily be protected."

Morgan would smile proudly, before saying: "Not only can I manipulate my armour to protect myself, I am certain that my blade will easily pierce your wings and defeat thee!" To this, Katya would calmly say: "Assessment of your agility and strength are below levels necessary to catch up to me or reach my wings. Chances of damaging my wings are around 3%. Chances of victory, less than 1%." Morgan's smirk would turn to a frown, before softly saying: "Tsch, statistics are but a small part of the battlefield, you know. My sense of justice, ingenuity and valour will certainly aide me in such a battle." Katya was clearly not impressed, yet did not respond further. Perhaps Katya knew that there was no getting through Morgan's thick skull. "Um, what do those numbers mean?" Anofelis would ask sheepishly, Katya being quite quick to give a decent explanation. "Whenever facing an enemy, I make an assessment based on what things I know to determine the best course of action and what has the greatest chance to lead to victory. The percentages I just gave are the chances for Morgan to succeed in certain actions."

Anofelis clearly still didn't understand it fully, but it was cute how Katya patiently explained it to her. Though, this did make Chrys curious about something less than positive. "So, uhhh, what if you were to fight against... uhhhh, ooh! What if you fought Vinella! Would you be able to win?" Katya paused, before speaking calmly. "Based on Vinella's extremely high physical prowess, defensive capabilities and other capabilities, I believe my odds of defeating her are at 3.5%. However, her chances of defeating me would also be at a low 7% due to my superior agility. Overall, I believe I would not win, and that avoiding the fight would be the most logical move." Chrys giggled, clearly enjoying the almost machine-like analysis of these potential battles. Though, you could tell that the other girls weren't exactly eager to discuss the possibility of fighting Vinella...

Regardless, Katya was starting to open up more and more. Reika's interaction was a bit of a failure, due to her saying something extremely stupid. This did leave Thalia with nothing to say or do, you soon deciding to get her to open up as well. You told the girls that Thalia was a great singer, all eyes going to her as Thalia would rub the back of her head. "Well, I mean... it's pretty good, I guess. I mean, I was designed to sing, so... yeah, it would make sense that I am at least okay, hehe." You then suggested that the girls make requests, which made Thalia look a little uneasy. "Ummm, h-how about something cheerful and positive? Um, something with energy, l-like on Annie's radio?" Kamara asked, Thalia seeming surprised before glancing at you. "Okay, fine... But, I should let you know... um, my song does... affect people in certain ways. So, if you feel anything strange, please just say it. I don't wanna make you girls uncomfortable."

>>6243601
MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO HUG MORGAN!!!!!
>Give Katya, Reika or Thalia something to converse about on their own with the girls. Perhaps a little push was all they needed to start another solid conversation with them.
Thalia can try singing. C'mon, don't be worried. You can even put some nice emotions in your voice, just don't overdo it.
I'm not sure about the manticore and the Advanced Tactical Owl other than discussing their training. Reika doesn't have much to talk about and KK's mental straitjacket doesn't let her do casual talk. Perhaps Anofelis can take the lead with Reika and try and talk to her about some of the things she does for fun?
>Discuss something else with your men or the girls. Perhaps discuss the Feng mission, or some of the things you had learnt downstairs, such as the things Feng taught you, or the things you saw deeper in the facility.
Run some plans for assaulting Queenbase by KK, if her abilities and training extend to the point of being able to comment on them. If not.....
>Help out elsewhere in the room whilst the girls kept chatting. Maybe you could help Lars prepare some of the food. Or you could ask Lydia if anything needed to be done with the electricity.
Start sweeping boy

The girls would sit back as Thalia got up and started her siren’s song. The melody was once again quite haunting and beautiful, the girls clearly enthralled. Your men were also still pretty pleased with it. All aside from Derek who put a pillow over his head, and Zaria who would leave the room without even saying a word. Still, none of the girls cared, as Thalia was able to win the hearts of her subject friends. Once Thalia finished, the girls applauded her. “A brilliant song! Truly splendid!” Morgan said. “That sounded amazing!” Oreas commented. “Sing some more! That sounded really good!” Anofelis eagerly remarked. “Yes, I would also like to hear some more. Could you sing something classical, perhaps?” Vinisha requested, Thalia clearly enjoying the attention. “Heh, of course! If you girls all enjoy it, I’d love to!” Thus, Thalia started singing more songs for the others to enjoy. Whilst Reika’s interactions had failed somewhat and Katya’s relationship remained neutral, you had managed to at least get Thalia to quickly befriend the girls.

>Something else...
As Thalia started singing her second song, you would move a short distance away to one of the nearby tables. You turned on the radio, deciding to contact Annie. And once you reached her frequency and heard her voice, you would wait for her to start playing some music. And once she did, you knew Annie could respond back. So, you told her that you made it back safely, before saying that Ano said hi to Elodie. You also mentioned that Ano was eager to meet her someday. After speaking up, the music became more staticky, and you’d hear Annie’s voice. “I’ll let Elodie know. Hope everything is going somewhat okay right now. I presume I’m hearing Thalia singing right now?” You confirmed that it was indeed Thalia, making Annie chuckle. “Well, sounds like this ought to make her very popular. Just don’t give her a competing radio station, hehehehe.”

>What do you do next?

>Continue having a short chat with Annie. Maybe discuss some small things before you returned to the girls and your men (Write in what you’ll discuss.)
>Check up on Zaria. She kinda left the room in a hurry, so maybe talking to her would be a good move. Was she really still that distrusting towards Thalia? (Write in what you’ll discuss with Zaria.)
>Continue chatting with the girls once Thalia finished singing her second song. You could ask some more personal questions, or bring up some of the things you had seen downstairs, or simply try to get Katya and Reika to continue chatting. (Write in what you’ll discuss.)
>Just sit back and wait for Lars to finish cooking. Once the girls’ food was ready, it was probably time to get going already.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(I was reminded of the fact that... Vinisha was previously attacked by Reika. And with a few rolls I did, it... led to some interesting discourse between the subjects.)

>>6244095
fuck took to long, why can't you be up writing your updates at 5am like you usually do baka

>>6244095
AGH, THE ONE TIME I GET MY UPDATE OUT EARLY. PAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIN. Well, at least the singing suggestion got in this update, so... not all hope is lost.

>>6244099
>Why can't you be up writing your updates at 5am like you usually do baka
I have university work tomorrow, man. I can't afford to pull those stunts outside of Friday and saturday evenings :(

>>6244091
>Morgan cleared her throat and showed her blade, you conceding that she also had some combat training.
Wait, Morgan was built for combat? I always thought she just got made for fun. WTF did Illimani expect an (admittedly well armored) individual with a sword to do on futuristic battlefields?

>Yeah, I mostly fought against stupid test dummies and robots.
Can you fight against test dummies? I thought for it to be a fight you need an active opponent.
Would like to see some of those robots though.

>>6244093
>Based on Vinella's extremely high physical prowess, defensive capabilities and other capabilities, I believe my odds of defeating her are at 3.5%. However, her chances of defeating me would also be at a low 7% due to my superior agility.
That's actually super good
If we run into Vinella she'll be able to run around and distract her while we escape

>Just sit back and wait for Lars to finish cooking. Once the girls’ food was ready, it was probably time to get going already.
I kinda was asking in a roundabout way if Reika and KK had sparred against each other, but it doesn't seem like it. Guess Roraima didn't want to test them like that.

>>6244096
Thank fuck for Cortina being the voice of reason. She's a good fit for team mom really; with the right mix of care, social ability, calmness and forcefulness to mediate and keep drama low while we're not here. Perhaps even better than us.
>Continue having a short chat with Annie. Maybe discuss some small things before you returned to the girls and your men
Considering we're going to be speaking to France, we may as well ask if she's seen or learned anything about their group that could help us talk to them without spooking them and prove we're the real deal.
>Something else...
Now the power is on, see if we can bash together an entertainment system out of our tablet and one of the TVs, or install something that might be in one of the rooms. Let Reika watch some cartoons, force Morgan to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail or let them destroy their friendship over some rounds of Overcooked.

>>6244101
I work til unpredictably late in the evening and after getting home, dinner, shower, other evening things and catching up and replying to other quests, I'm just liable to miss early updates.

>>6244096
>Check up on Zaria. She kinda left the room in a hurry, so maybe talking to her would be a good move. Was she really still that distrusting towards Thalia? (Write in what you’ll discuss with Zaria.)
Zaria is going through a lot. Ask her how's she been doing, ask her if she's willing to talk about what's getting her so bothered, we can understand she's not comfortable about Thalia but is that all? If she doesn't wanna say, ok but we're here to listen if she wants to speak.

>Just sit back and wait for Lars to finish cooking. Once the girls’ food was ready, it was probably time to get going already.

>>6244152
I thought that much was obvious? She's just not a very good one due to her refusal to engage in anything more then melee combat. She probably was originally designed either as more of a bodyguard subject or for combat engineer purposes. Also possible that she was made to just be a tanky attention grabber. Although, I don't know if she's that durable it'd be viable.

>>6244164
>>6244470
Supporting both of these.

>>6244706
Personally I thought she was made to be a joke

>Continue having a short chat with Annie. Maybe discuss some small things before you returned to the girls and your men
Since you were once again chatting with Annie, you decided to use the opportunity to see if she got in contact with any other group like France's. The earlier you knew, the better it would be since it'd mean less work on the surface. Unfortunately, Annie would softly say: "I did not yet contact any of the death squad groups who might be willing to side with you. I did have it on my to-do list, but... well, news also needs to be constantly updated. Fortunately, Logan is here to help out with some of the data collection and monitoring now!" You heard Logan in the background, speaking quite happily. "Hey Mik! Say hi to the girls from me!" Afterwards, Annie continued talking. "I will try and get it done this afternoon. Just give me some time to manage some things first, okay? Maybe focus on enjoying some time with the girls instead. I can hear from here that they are pretty happy to be spending time with you, hehehe."

>Something else...
You thanked Annie, before telling her you would indeed spend your time with the girls. Though, instead of just going back to the girls right away, you would head over to Lydia, who was enjoying the music show from Thalia. You told her that you wouldn't mind smashing together some kind of entertainment system with what materials you got. You could use one of your tablets and a nearby display to hopefully make something the girls could enjoy. Lydia seemed surprised by the suggestion, before speaking up. "That sounds tough. Still, I'll gladly give it a try!" Lydia would head over to Oreas and Laura, clearly asking them for help in setting up the thing you had just suggested. Immediately, Laura and Oreas were on board, as you saw them all getting to work on the system. Laura and Oreas would leave the room, whilst Lydia went to work with some of the wires and electronics.

>Check up on Zaria. She kinda left the room in a hurry, so maybe talking to her would be a good move. Was she really still that distrusting towards Thalia?
Seeing as you weren't exactly proficient with electronics, you decided to just let them go at it. And in the meantime, you could focus on other important tasks. Thalia was still keeping the others distracted with her song, so you decided to go to the one person who actively left the room to avoid hearing it. You left the bedroom, finding Zaria leaning against a nearby wall. You calmly asked her how she has been doing, making her sigh. "Well, could be better. Thalia's song... I just... ugh, I don't feel comfortable listening to it at all. I know you guys don't mind it, but... fuck, man. I don't trust it one bit." You offered to talk about it with her, asking if there was more to it. Though, you quickly corrected yourself and said that it was fine if she didn't want to reveal more details about why she felt the way she did.

Zaria sighed and spoke up softly. "I'll... keep it to myself for now. I'm not exactly eager to discuss this stuff still. Especially since, I know you wanna keep the mood positive now. I don't wanna create another mess like what happened with Reika and Vinisha." Zaria looked away, letting out a sigh before speaking more casually. "Still, thanks for looking after me, Mik. Don't worry too much about me, okay? Focus on helping the other girls out and setting up a plan so we can finally dethrone Feng." Zaria would give you a pat on the shoulder, you at least getting her to talk a little bit. Hopefully, she would eventually start opening up about what the hell was going on between her and Thalia. There had to be more to it than just Thalia's song have some unknown and potentially harmful effects...

>Just sit back and wait for Lars to finish cooking. Once the girls’ food was ready, it was probably time to get going already.
With that, you would head back into the room. Thalia was still singing her song, though it'd end soon after you got seated. Fortunately, nobody questioned your absence, as you listened to the conversation between the girls. Thalia managed to become the centre of attention, soon opening up a bit more to the rest of the girls. "I'm glad you girls all liked my song. It... has some unique abilities I sorta need to figure out still. But, Mik and his men did help me discover some of my abilities! It even helped out a few times, right?" Your men nodded along, with Anon right away saying: "It helped in knocking out a couple of Feng's lackeys, making it an easy kill." To this, Thaddeus would chuckle and look around. "It worked a little too well even. Her song managed to also knock me out!" This would lead to the girls asking about Thalia's abilities, some of the mysteries being made known to them. Though, as Thalia talked more about herself, a more concerning yet to be expected question popped up. "So, Thalia, this ability is also designed by Elbrus, right?"

This made Thalia freeze up, before sighing. "Y-Yes, he... w-well, I brought it up b-before, but he did c-create me." There was a soft silence, before Chrys calmly spoke up. "I'm sorry that... he probably forced you into doing a lot of awful things." Thalia nodded, before Anofelis spoke up in a more upset tone. "Elbrus is so mean and gross! I hope he did not bother you too much, Thalia. You don't deserve his mean treatment!" Thalia nodded, starting to smile a little bit. "Thank you for the... for the kind remarks. I am fortunately doing fine, so don't worry too much about me, okay?" Afterwards, Morgan spoke up in a more confident tone. "I take it you'd rather avoid discussing him and the cruelties he committed?" Thalia nodded, as it seemed Morgan knew exactly what Thalia needed the most. You imagined this was the main push which Thalia needed to really get used to the girls. Now, you just needed Thalia to open up more, and for Reika to maybe apologise, and everything would be perfect.

The girls kept talking for a while, up until you would hear Lars’ ticking the side of the pan with some cutlery. “Girls, food’s ready! Come and get it!” Aside from Reika and Oreas, all the girls would head over to the kitchen, all being given plates with food. Ingmar would also get himself a plate, which you couldn’t blame him for. Lars had used the rations to make some decent meals for the girls, with there still being plenty of rations for the girls to continue eating for at least a while. Though, he had saved the two steaks he had brought back from Annie’s server room for Vinisha and Reika. The former would come over to pick it up whilst the latter got Katya to pick it up for her. And soon enough, the girls would all be enjoying Lars’ cooking. Reika would devour her steak, clearly enjoying it. Though, Vinisha would have by far the sweetest reaction, gently cutting the steak and soon taking her first bite.

Vinisha would taste the meat, before starting to actually sniffle and tear up. “Vini, are you okay?” Chrysidus calmly asked, to which Vinisha nodded. “You guys... went through all that danger and... still took the t-time to think about bringing me some food... And not just any ordinary food... the best food I-I’ve ever had in my life.” Vinisha’s remarks made Lars beam with pride, whilst the others were also quick to praise Lars and comment on Vinisha’s remarks. “Well, Lars does certainly know how to make a fine meal.” Morgan said. “I’m glad you can enjoy it so much, Vini. You deserve it!” Anofelis commented. “Y-Yeah, you deserved it the most out of all of us!” Kamara more quietly remarked. Vinisha would continue enjoying her food, you watching as Oreas and Laura soon returned with a large screen to use for the set-up. Lydia would’ve also gotten quite far, it probably not taking a lot longer before the girls would have access to the screens. Though, how they’d access TV shows or play games down here was an issue you stilled were gonna have to solve.

>What do you do next?

>Pack up your things once Lydia was finished setting up the TV. You had to gather materials, and the girls seemed to be getting along okay now. So, it was better to just move on.
>Talk a bit with the girls over the food. Maybe ask Vinisha some more questions, now that you had a lot more time to talk with her. Or, you could talk to Thalia about her singing abilities. Or even just ask Anofelis if she needed more arts and crafts supplies. (Write in who you chat with and about what.)
>Let your men also get some food. Breakfast was a while ago now, and you still needed to travel all the way back to the green sector before you’d be out of the clear.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6244828
Zaria, just admit that you like Thalia and it isn't some sort of mind control. Fuck it we'll see her feelings towards you anyway so you can finally build a bridge and get the hell over it

The Vinisha bit was really sweet btw

>Talk a bit with the girls over the food. Maybe ask Vinisha some more questions, now that you had a lot more time to talk with her. Or, you could talk to Thalia about her singing abilities. Or even just ask Anofelis if she needed more arts and crafts supplies. (Write in who you chat with and about what.)
Ask Thalia what she thinks of Zaria.
Ask Vinisha if you can do a bit more for her

>Let your men also get some food. Breakfast was a while ago now, and you still needed to travel all the way back to the green sector before you’d be out of the clear.

>Discuss with your men...
Ask them if they have any ideas on what might be up with Zaria and hinting at thinking she's actually interested in the siren.

>>6244828
Because you've got people looking out for you now, Vinisha. People who value you as a person, not just as a project. All of you.
>Talk a bit with the girls over the food.
We've never actually asked Vinisha about Andrei. What was he like?
Final call for any surface requests for items, food etc.
>Let your men also get some food. Breakfast was a while ago now, and you still needed to travel all the way back to the green sector before you’d be out of the clear.
Have some food and then move out. We'll stop by here again on our way down to drop things off and pick up some subject crew.

>>6244875
I have yet to see anything I could interpret as Zaria having any liking for Thalia (if anything, it's one-sided from Thalia which pairs badly with her having never been taught boundaries and would make anyone avoid her) and going round insinuating that is only going to piss her off and embolden Thalia to give her attention which Zaria clearly doesn't want.

>>6244875
Anon... your thirst for /u/ shit gonna make Zaria hate us. It's some deeply personal issues bothering her, calling her a dike behind her back won't help.

>Let your men also get some food. Breakfast was a while ago now, and you still needed to travel all the way back to the green sector before you’d be out of the clear.

>Pack up your things once Lydia was finished setting up the TV. You had to gather materials, and the girls seemed to be getting along okay now. So, it was better to just move on.
It was really nice reuniting with the girls, but I think it's time we get this show running. Tell the girls we'll be back after our team's fully healed up, we might send some of our folks once in a while to give a report how things are going though.

>>6244828
Despite there being only two moderate interactions with Vinisha, she's quickly become one of my favorites. She's not a cinnamon roll, but a whole bakery of them.

>>6244875
Look, while I do suspect that Zaria might protest too much regarding Thalia, there's a major difference between romantic and sexual attraction and even then it's more a joke, especially when the fish can manipulate people's mental state with her voice. I will support talking with Thalia about what she thinks of Zaria as if it's anything particularly positive or negative then she might subconsciously be affecting her in some ways. I will support talking to the zombie cinnamon drake and likewise sharing the food with the others, but do NOT start asking if anyone's gaydar has picked up Zaria. That's just asking to make whatever she's going through worse. Besides, she's literally just outside the room. Imagine if she entered and heard us talking about that. At most I'd be willing to ask if anyone knows what it is that she doesn't want to share which she's struggling with. But I don't think that's the best idea if she's not willing to open up to us about it and I'd prefer to only ask why they think she hates Thalia so much in a bit of hushed whispers away from the girls.

>>6244893
Supporting.

>>6244827
>I don't wanna create another mess like what happened with Reika and Vinisha.
Uh that's why we asked you outside the room in private, silly.

>Let your men also get some food. Breakfast was a while ago now, and you still needed to travel all the way back to the green sector before you’d be out of the clear.

Alright, gonna skip out on an update tonight. Had a lot of uni work to focus on and I am exhausted again. Hope you guys don't mind the recent breaks too much. Uni has been a bitch, ngl.

Also, glad to hear you anons enjoy Vinisha. She is a wonderful girl, for sure.

>>6245380
Vinisha is someone who you want to pick up and cuddle some more if she wasn't taller than you and cold and smelly. I have words for Andrei, none of them nice.

I have also thought of a couple more things to say. We should also ask Vinisha about her journey across the Facility and what she saw, since she's travelled a long way through places we don't know much of. That and to tell the girls that we won't be going after Feng straight away and are going to track down Alexandra and Jabal & Catherine first if they want to get ready to roll out and find some more friends when we come back down.

-----

I wonder what would happen if we shoved Vinisha in front of Anastasia or Olorea. Would they attack their sister? Or would Vinisha be able to get them talking and, in Olorea's case, perhaps negotiate with her on our behalf?

I also wonder if there's any facilities down here that could make explosives. A lot of my plans for regicide involve very large quantities of boom and if we didn't have to requisition it all and carry it downstairs, it would be very nice.

>>6245427
>I wonder what would happen if we shoved Vinisha in front of Anastasia or Olorea. Would they attack their sister? Or would Vinisha be able to get them talking and, in Olorea's case, perhaps negotiate with her on our behalf?
I mean judging by her interactions with us and the girls I say, they probably treated her very badly. Just think about it we barely met her and we got her to have a positive emotional breakdown and she spilled the goods on her sisters and creator, sure Mik is a good guy and everything went great for her but I think we can guess she had a pretty shitty life before we met her and if they met with the her now I pretty sure they treat her even worse since she "allied" with the enemy.

>>6245784
Vinisha's emotional baggage seems to be more from deep, lifelong neglect, her physical deformity and being effectively discarded as a failure by her own parental figure absolutely crushing her sense of self-worth more than abuse. She's hasn't commented on her relationship with those two, but we know Ana targets death squads and presumably other humans and I would suppose Olorea is unfriendly to humans after her poor experiences. The question would be whether Ana and Olo would be willing to interact with her based on her status as a fellow subject and sister rather than being a wretched human.

>Let your men also get some food. Breakfast was a while ago now, and you still needed to travel all the way back to the green sector before you’d be out of the clear.
Seeing the girls enjoying the food, you would look over to your men and tell them that they could also enjoy some of the stuff if they wanted it. The suggestion surprised some of your men, them happily getting seated and grabbing some plates for themselves. Though, Anon and Mike would refuse, with the former saying: "I'm not that hungry still. But thanks for the offer." And Mike commenting: "I'm not hungry either. Besides, we've gotta get out of here sooner rather than later, and eating will just cost us more time." You did agree that it was probably time to get moving soon, you telling your men that you'd move out once they were done eating. The girls seemed disappointed that you'd leave, with Anofelis even asking: "When will you be back?" Fortunately, you were able to tell them that you'd be back after you had gotten everything from the main base. After all, you'd drop off some more supplies here for the girls.

>Talk a bit with the girls over the food. Maybe ask Vinisha some more questions, now that you had a lot more time to talk with her. Or, you could talk to Thalia about her singing abilities. Or even just ask Anofelis if she needed more arts and crafts supplies.
Hearing that you'd be back soon enough, the girls seemed a little less disappointed. "I wouldn't mind you guys staying a little while longer. It's always fun to have some more people here." Laura would even say, after which Vinisha also spoke up. "Yeah, you guys can... teach us a whole lot!" You were happy that the girls enjoyed your presence. Though once again, you insisted that you had other duties to attend. Still, seeing that they were so eager, you decided to ask some more questions. And one which had already entered your mind after Vinisha mentioned the quality of the food, was what Vinisha's life was like.

More specifically, you wanted to know what Andrei was like, since you never really got any information about what he was like. Vinisha was taken back by the question, pausing with eating her steak before speaking softly. "Well, Andrei is... a complex figure. He... he did care and was kind, but... he also was busy with other subjects." This was met with a more concerned and upset tone from Mike. "Busy with subjects who were utterly fucking horrid and monstrous? I mean, come on, you're sweet and kind... and instead of spending time with you to improve you, he spends time letting Roraima and Elbrus ruin his subjects... or hell, even his own subjects, like Anastasia." This was met with Anon speaking more bewilderedly, bringing up another good point. "Not to mention, the rabbit he made who... well, he considered his 'greatest success'." Vinisha looked a little upset by what Anon and Mike implied, shaking her head and raising her voice a little.

"Well, even whilst he worked on those subjects, he... still treated me with kindness! He was respectful, soft-spoken and never aggressive. He never treated me poorly. It really was just a case of him being busy with his other subjects, like Caera or Feng. I can completely understand why he was more pre-occupied with his other projects." Vinisha did seem passionate, it being clear that Andrei wasn't all monster, given how caring she was. Then again, Thalia had also mentioned that Elbrus wasn't 'that bad' before. Besides, the fact remained that Andrei abandoned Vinisha and never really tried to fix the errors he made whilst working on her. "Alright, alright, so he at least was nice to you. But, how was he in general? Was he a reasonable man to the staff? Did he treat your siblings the same way? He was smart enough to avoid working with Elbrus and Roraima too much, but is there anything else of note with him?" Anon asked soon after, Vinisha not hesitating to provide an answer.

"Well, based on my experience, he wasn't... perfect. But, he still tried his best. He was never abusive towards any of his subjects, I think. He certainly did have high expectations for his subjects, but... I don't think he ever abused subjects because of said expectations. He also was respectful to the guardsmen, treating them quite well and showing plenty of respect. He did sometimes get a bit agitated with other staff members, especially those he deemed to be slacking off or... well, inadequate. He even at one point berated my caretaker for not spending enough time with me." So far, it all seemed rather positive. But one question from Thaddeus did sort of reduce the impact of what she said. "And, did your caretaker... actually improve in the way they treated ya?" To this, Vinisha hesitated and looked a bit down. "No, unfortunately... my caretaker didn't start caring for me, even after what Andrei said. Andrei was watchful, but... I doubt he could do everything to try and help me and my siblings out."

This also once again brought up the point of the abuse some of his subjects faced at the hands of Elbrus and Roraima. It made Mike ask: "So, if he was too distracted to help you out with your neglectful caretaker, then what was he distracted with? It sure didn't sound like he was busy helping out the other subjects who were being abused by Elbrus and Roraima." Vinisha went a little quiet, looking away and sighing again. "I presume he was trying to first fix the issues with some of those subjects. Grise's reduced intelligence, Anastasia's innate misanthropy, Nicola's hedonism." Given how some of these very subjects were deemed to be worthy of 'termination', his attempts to fix them were clearly rather subpar. As it stood though, Vini did seem to heavily care for Andrei, and held him in decently high regard. Your men still appeared doubtful, and Chrys would even say: "Based on what you said, Vini... Andrei doesn't sound like the nicest guy around."

Vinisha was clearly left a little upset by the remark, looking away before speaking in a softer voice. "I know he has his flaws... but, based on my experiences with him, he was anything but bad. Maybe my siblings disagree, but... if you ask me about him, I can't help but be positive about him." At this point, Cortina would step in with a more supportive tone, trying to make Vinisha a little less frustrated. "Considering how kind, gentle and soft-spoken you yourself are, I can only imagine that he did the right thing with you." Vinisha actually smiled a little in response. "Thank you, Cortina..." She then looked over at you guys, before speaking softly. "Also, please don't take my tone as frustration or... anger. I just am trying to tell the truth as I know it. I don't... I don't want to make you guys upset in any way. I'm... n-nevermind, sorry..." Vinisha clearly worried that this would upset you in some way. Though obviously, you wouldn't hold a grudge over a simple disagreement like this. What she said was her experience, after all...

You told her it was fine, before asking if you could do more for her. Vinisha seemed surprised, before shaking her head. "D-Don't worry too much about me. You've already done more than enough for me. You guys wanna focus on killing Feng, and I don't wanna get in the way of that." It was a sweet gesture of hers. Though, obviously, you could still do some small things such as getting specific food items for her. You even asked the girls for any food, items or other tools. “I mean, I think you’re already getting us everything we want. Some good food, some useful tools, maybe some other equipment we could use.” Laura calmly said, at which point Anofelis eagerly said: “Are there more things to draw with?” Obviously, you could try and get more art supplies for her. But aside from that, it didn’t seem like much was requested. Food really was the only thing you knew for certain you’d have to get.

Things went quiet for a short moment, everyone focusing on eating. Though soon, you decided to ask Thalia an interesting question. You wanted to know what she thought of Zaria. The siren seemed surprised, before giving a rather casual response. “I quite like Zaria. She’s witty and has some good looks. I am also impressed by how she can run so fast and never get exhausted. Heh, you could honestly tell me... that she was part subject! Why are you asking? Is she... did my singing bother her again?” Before you could respond, Derek would speak up from the nearby bed. “Not just her. Me too.” Thalia seemed a little saddened, some of your men giving Derek a disapproving glance. Thalia nodded understandingly though, speaking in a slightly saddened voice. “It’s... it’s fine. I mean, I still don’t know entirely what my songs are capable off. Maybe her concerns are justified? Either way, I do... hope that she can open up to me in the future. I would like to spend more time with her.”

>Pack up your things once Lydia was finished setting up the TV. You had to gather materials, and the girls seemed to be getting along okay now. So, it was better to just move on.
After getting an answer from Thalia, it wouldn’t take long for your men to finish the small lunch Lars had prepared. Lydia had by now also set up the TV, as you got up and told your men it was time to get going. “Awwww.” Anofelis quietly said, before Morgan spoke up as well. “T’is a shame, but I understand that duty calls.” Afterwards, Katya would speak up as well, ironically enough trying to reassure the other girls. “Given the fact you will return soon, I imagine that we won’t have to wait too long. I estimate that, based on the time it took to get here, and the number of supplies you will get, it might take less than 4 hours for you to return here.” Of course, this was a hopeful estimate, with Anon even adding: “Don’t forget that we’re also going to be checking up on Alan, Evander and Artyom.” Thaddeus spoke up immediately after, bringing up another good point. “Not to mention, meetin’ up with some other squads.”

Of course, you reassured the girls that you’d return once you had gotten everything you wanted from the surface. Not to mention, that you’d try and stay in contact and keep them up-to-date in what was going on with you.

>What do you do next?

>Just head back as quickly as possible. The quicker you got back to the surface, the faster you’d get back down and could commence your hunt for Feng.
>Take a quick little detour somewhere. Perhaps some nearby offices upstairs, some parts of the green sector or some other locations could be of interest. (Write in which part you want to quickly explore before heading back.)
>Say some final words to the girls before leaving. Maybe a little hug or some words of encouragement before you made your way back upstairs. (Write in what you do before leaving.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(Surprise! Vinisha actually has some good things to say about Andrei. I just hope that I didn't miss out on any of the questions you have for her, so that you can fully come to your own conclusions about Andrei and his relation with Vini.)

>>6245891
>>Just head back as quickly as possible. The quicker you got back to the surface, the faster you’d get back down and could commence your hunt for Feng.
Say our goodbyes and depart. Hopefully Alan is feeling better since Anofelis is fond of him.

>>6245891
>Take a quick little detour somewhere. Perhaps some nearby offices upstairs, some parts of the green sector or some other locations could be of interest. (Write in which part you want to quickly explore before heading back.)
I wanna take a look at what's going on in the green sector.

>>6245891
Hmm. I might revert to one of my earlier opinions on Andrei, that he represented the "they didn't stop to think if they should" side of the science and was heavily results-driven. His struggle to emotionally connect with his creations, reclusiveness and scientific tunnel vision (I think dude might have the 'tism) exacerbated issues arising from this attitude and caused his ambitious projects to repeatedly blow up in his face, leaving him with a number of powerful subjects severely deficient in humanity and more than he could handle. Ultimately, a decent man mired in his own flaws who unintentionally dragged his creations down with him.
>Say some final words to the girls before leaving. Maybe a little hug or some words of encouragement before you made your way back upstairs.
We'll be back before you know it. Keep getting to know each other, since we'll all need to have each other's backs to get through this.
Then head straight back topside. We can hit up the green section on the way back down.

-----

Right, let's make a list of things to do as we head up top before we need to consult it
>Submit our findings
We'll be reporting Reika's death along with her leg and handing in various miscellanea like Grise's arm and photo, any recovered intel or items we want to submit (e.g. the hospital documents, blank nanites and information on Poppy) and samples of Chloe and KG-23 and selective information about Feng (well, moreso about her goons - do we mention that we got mugged by Oneira? Obviously nothing about her specific antagonism with us and her base). We should also have a thorough comb-through of any media we want to hand in for anything incriminating or generally contradictory to our cover stories.
On that topic, what's going to be our cover story on Reika? It shouldn't be too difficult to explain, we shot her a lot and she succumbed to her massive injuries with her body being too heavy to move, so we sawed off her leg as a trophy for proof.
>Find France
Go grab this guy for a little private chat. We can decide how we want to approach this when we do it.
>Go to the hospital
Get ourselves, Derek and Lars seen to and pick up Alan, Evander and Artyom if they're all recovered.
>Get a shower
We must stink of sweat, blood and seawater and be covered in dirt, dried blood and salt. It'd be a nice morale booster to be clean and refreshed after a hard few days.
>Obtain Stuff(tm)
There's a lot of things we might need and be able to ask for, whether through official channels or not.
--New, better weaponry and armour
--A large quantity of meat and other food, supposedly to bait traps for hungry staff and subjects)
--Entertainment media and training materials for the girls
--An ungodly amount of high explosives
--New drones, trail cameras, plasma cells and spare tablets
--Stealthy surveillance equipment so we can recon Queenbase more
--Specially requested items from the girls
--A couple of inflatable boats for the flooded section
feel free to add/remove

>>6245986
Support, however I want to take Derek aside later and ask him why he's part of Zaria's hates Thalia club. Likewise maybe talk to Zaria again when we are alone with her and see if she'll open up about it now we are away from the girls

>>6245986
I'm inclined to agree. Seems he was sorta like Anderson except instead of getting distracted by his custom made Waifu he got distracted with actual work and his own paranoia. I'm not surprised by this however, as Andrei never came across to me as evil or a terrible person ever since we got the files. He expressed remorse with how Vinisha ended up in his report on her, and in some ways I kinda expect him to be similar to Logan. Considering the focus on him again the big question is why he wasn't ever put up on the important scientist list. Was it because he was off site when the disaster happened on vacation or something else where the government already has their mitts on him? Or was it wasn't so much paranoia on his part and the government has already dealt with him. Honestly I think it's more likely we'll find Anderson down here than Andrei.

On that note from what I can tell from the major scientists.

Genuinely good people: Catherine, Jabal, Cerro, Illimani, Tengri
Results driven, but good: Logan, Andrei
Neglectful due to major flaw, but otherwise good: Anderson, Mona
Not even human: Elbrus, Roraima.
No clue: Sarah

Also supporting this if it wasn't obvious.

>>6246001
This too.

>>6246016
I'd bump Elbrus up to majorly flawed and not otherwise good tier
Roraima alone deserves not even human tier

>>6246078
Roraima is an asshole who wants to make robots and animals out of subjects. His harsh punishment to get those results along with the desire for those results are terrible. But Elbrus is a literal serial rapist who also abuses his subjects with terrible punishments if they don't get on their knees and bend over. The only reason he was probably 'okay' to Thalia was because she's a bimbo and exactly what he wanted, kind of like how Roraima likely hasn't punished Katya.

TLDR Elbrus isn't getting bumped up.

>>6245986
>On that topic, what's going to be our cover story on Reika? It shouldn't be too difficult to explain, we shot her a lot and she succumbed to her massive injuries with her body being too heavy to move, so we sawed off her leg as a trophy for proof.
Say we just blasted her with our BFG and when we were done Reika was missing but we found her leg, hence we believe we annihilated her with the RailGun, this could be our excuse as well in case anyone finds her in the future, we thought we killed her because we only found her leg but just like Grise she "cut" her loses and escaped. Anyway support the other stuff.

>>6246016
We don't know much about Tengri, but I'd bump him down to the next category. As the Facility director, he is ultimately responsible for what happened here and made some poor choices, but he isn't a bad guy.

Given Anderson is in the clink up top, the chances of finding him down here are nil since he's not down here at all. But we have zero leads on Andrei, so we have nothing to go off of to find him either.

>>6246016
I'd put Tengri in the third tier. He wasn't neglectful towards his own subjects but he did allow Roraima and Elbrus to do whatever they wanted to whoever they wanted. I don't remember Oreas or Laura ever mentioning Mona being neglectful to her subjects.

>>6246078
What the fuck are you talking about? Elbrus is arguably worse than Roraima.

>>6246451
Mona's big flaw is that she was *too* kind, which turned her into a pushover unwilling to stand up to her colleages. Nobody ever accused her of being anything other than wonderful, but she didn't have the spine to protect her subjects from incoming bad ideas and nefarious intentions.

Both Roraima and Elbrus are evil people who deserve to be executed and their names erased from history, but I'd say Roraima was even worse. Elbrus created perverted subjects to take out his sexual desires on and tried to corrupt others, but Roraima was a sociopath of bottomless malice who abused subjects so badly he outright broke their minds, destroyed their free will and even stripped away their sentience entirely to become so much animals. That, I'd argue, is even more horrifying than being a serial rapist.

>>6246479
I think it's less too kind and more just too cowardly and weak willed. Even if she was a trusting individual I doubt she'd be so gullible to let it happen more than two or three times once her subjects told her what the two were doing. I disagree about Elbrus not being just as bad as Roriama. One is heartless and just cares about efficiency, not viewing subjects as people and more animals and tools. There is at least a reason for it outside of mere hedonistic desire. Elbrus knows full well the subjects are intelligent and probably adores that fact. He encourages them to either become sadistic rapists like himself (just look at Hapi) or complete whores and bimbos, all while forcing subjects that aren't under his care (Mona's and others) to bend over due to his authority. He 100% purely does it because he relishes in the power and control he has over them like any rapist and just for his sick satisfaction.

On that note, while Reika is certainly as dumb as a bag of rocks, she's clearly not degraded to non-sentience. Do we know for sure if he made anyone other than Griese equal to a literal animal?

>Say some final words to the girls before leaving. Maybe a little hug or some words of encouragement before you made your way back upstairs.
You once again reiterated that you'd be back soon enough. You had a bucket list you wanted to get through before you made your way back here. In the meantime, you recommended to the girls that they get to know each other. After all, they would be spending a lot of time together down here. Most of the girls nodded in response, though you saw Morgan glancing at Reika with a bit of distrust. Fortunately, Reika still was incapacitated enough that she probably couldn't cause too much trouble. She was still not regrowing her limbs too much, so she most definitely wouldn't cause any trouble for the girls for the time being. Still, with that, you and your men waved the girls goodbye. Laura, the girls and Ingmar all waved you goodbye, you leading the way back as you decided to head straight down and to the green sector. A little check-up there seemed like a reasonable enough thing to do, especially since you would be passing through there anyway.

As you left the room, you quickly saw Zaria and told her to come along, making her speak up more casually. "Guess we're heading back, huh?" You confirmed such, before leading the way back to the vents. "I hope that it won't be too much difficulty taking Derek down the vents without Cortina or Katya to help out..." Anon soon pointed out, Derek letting out a groan. "I... wouldn't have minded you guys keeping me with the girls..." Afterwards, Lars spoke up more reassuringly. "And left you to be in pain alone? Nah, Derek. We're gonna... take you back to the medbay to get checked up and helped, alright?" Lars carefully would get some painkillers, before handing them over to Derek to take. It was good to see that Lars had almost fully recovered. He was still a little sluggish and careful, but he probably didn't need a lot more time before he could get back into action with you and your men.

Regardless, after Derek had taken his painkillers, you decided to quietly ask him why he hated Thalia so much. It was a little unfortunate he was still being carried by Thaddeus and Anon, but... well, it was the best you could do right now. Besides, Anon and Thaddeus kept quiet, not questioning you or seemingly trying to listen in. Derek was surprised, before letting out a groan. "Because her song... has had gross effects on me... made me... literally aroused against my will and... made me unable to focus. Her songs can be troublesome..." Derek didn't keep quiet, the rest of your men hearing the comments. "I mean... her song did do something similar to me, sure. But, she never did so intentionally, right?" Lydia calmly asked, to which Zaria scoffed. "I got a feeling... she did try shit like that on me, knowing that it'd annoy me." This made Thaddeus speak up in a more concerned tone. "So, did ya end up gettin'... uncomfortably aroused by her song or somethin'?"

Zaria would tense up, before shaking her head. "N-No." She said before, looking ahead. "J-Just... d-drop it, okay? I don't... I don't w-wanna talk about th-this." Your men looked at each other, a few of them shrugging before indeed juts dropping the topic. You and your men soon reached the vents, carefully using some rope to climb down. It was a bit of a struggle, you having to tie some rope to the top which you couldn't really untie once you were downstairs. Still, you managed to get everyone down, including Derek. Of course, he was severely in pain and was grumbling by the time he was brought down. "N-Never again." He even mumbled, before you were able to put him back on the stretcher and move forward with him. You'd pass through the office space, as well as the chemical storage site. You made your way to the green sector, where you were met with... a bit of a surprise. "Halt, identify yourself!" A government soldier would say, as you found that the green section now had a government checkpoint.

Mike scoffed and glanced over at you, before whispering: "Oh boy, get ready to pay a tax." The soldier didn't seem to care about what Mike said, simply keeping his gun at the ready. Another few soldiers would approach, all of them seeming ready to fight in case there was a confrontation. You told them who you were, at which point the government worker said: "Alright. Where did you come back from?" You explained that you had come from the deeper facility, not specifying too much in how you got there. The soldiers looked at each other, before checking over the rest of your men. Fortunately, the check ups weren't too intrusive, and you would soon be told you were free to head forward. This gave you a great opportunity to finally check the green sector again. And concerningly enough, you found that there were even more government workers and soldiers walking about. Most of them were clearly just looking around and scouting the place, though some were carrying food and other equipment.

Some of the bridges over the hallways had been fortified, guns and turrets being placed all around everything. "So much for this place being safe from government folk..." Mike softly mumbled, as you and your men would start the long walk to head back. On the way, you saw more of the spaces had been occupied by government folk. Some of the offices had been occupied, government workers setting up their own offices and posts there. Some of the areas used for crops were actually being maintained again, whilst others had been emptied out and repurposed for... well, you weren't entirely sure. Regardless, it seemed more than likely now that... the green section had been completely occupied by the government. Whatever subjects were to try and pass through here were bound to end up dead. How this would impact your missions was... definitely something you were gonna have to consider.

After walking for half an hour, with plenty of staff glancing at you, you'd reach the entrance and started making your way south again. You passed through several more checkpoints, even going through the tunnel you had blown open and finding it to be a busy traffic point now. Some of the nearby hallways which headed east and west were also blocked off, you only able to head straight towards the centre of the crater. And at long last, you would see light at the end of the tunnel. Approaching it, you’d watch and find yourself in the crater at long last. You felt sunlight gently warming your body again, whilst a soft breeze gently brushed past you. Your men all seemed elated, Thaddeus putting his hand on your shoulder. “Let’s go get paid and get our supplies.” Given all the drives, nanites and... subject parts you had on you, you were bound to get paid quite a bit. Though, there were a lot of things to do.

Once you reached the base at the centre again, it seemed like it was about time to get to work. “So, how were we gonna split again?” Anon asked, Derek soon after raising a hand. “Just... take me along to the hospital... you guys can pick up Alan, Evander and Arty... and leave me there.” Thaddeus would look over at you. “Want someone to join ya whilst ya bring your finds to the government?” Lydia would also get pretty excited. “Want me to go upstairs to get some of the important supplies already? You know, drones, better weaponry, armour and what not.”

>What do you do next?

>Tell your men to just take it easy. Maybe take a shower first, since you guys were probably covered in dirt, salt water, blood and other filth from having crawled through the depths for the past few days.
>Let your men split up as was planned previously. Time to get things done as quickly as possible and without any further hesitation!
>Assign your men some new goals and places to go to. The previous plan did not account for everything you knew now, so it was better to just update it with what you wanted to get now. (Write in who you’ll assign to do what.)
>Head somewhere specific first. The government could be useful to go after first, just to get your payment and maybe also some intel from them. Frances could also be good to go hunting for right away. And if all else failed, reuniting with Alan, Evander and Arty was also a good idea. (Write in where you head to first, and if you also take anyone along.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6246496
Roraima didn't engage in shitassery for mere self-indulgence, but the abuse he inflicted on his subjects was worse than anything Elbrus ever did, though I suppose that might depend on your perspective of how bad "raped and brainwashed until they became like him" versus "abused to the point where their minds snapped and they became mindless robots or went insane, lost much of their higher reasoning, and/or were discarded like a broken toy afterwards". He deliberately did so much damage to them that the motive becomes moot, only that his cruelty edges out Elbrus's degeneracy in my rankings. Though that that point, who's the more evil one is also moot since they're both the bottom of the barrel of humanity and it's like comparing Hitler to Stalin.

While Grise is the only Roraima subject we know of who was reduced to an actual animal, that he did it even to just her is an abhorrent act against a sapient being and we know he took a hatchet to the minds of many others and may well have made more bestial subjects. We've only had a few glimpses inside the Roraima Dimension and know very little about many of his subjects.

>>6246512
Okay, plan of action following on from >>6245986
First, we, Derek and Lars head to the hospital to get seen and pick up the other three if they're recovered while the rest of the gang goes and hands things in.
Then, we reconvene and split up again. We go and find France ourselves while the others go see the quartermaster and what they can scrounge up around the place.
Then, everyone goes to have a wash before heading back out.

I think our ass is well covered when it comes to Reika and our story is pretty watertight (if they could fake Idalia's death and GalGov didn't try very hard to verify it, so we can we for Reika). Also, by explosives, I mean absolutely industrial quantities of HE. As much as they're willing to give us and/or we can carry. The stuff we don't need to cart around we can drop off at the hideout.
I do wonder how our own injuries are doing. The nanites we used for our gunshot wounds may have still been active when we got Reika'd and continued to provide a healing effect.

>>6246511
>Whatever subjects were to try and pass through here were bound to end up dead.
Really? After all the success they've had killing subjects so far? I feel like they'd struggle to down noncombatants, let alone one like Vinella.

>Let your men split up as was planned previously. Time to get things done as quickly as possible and without any further hesitation!
Backing the >>6245986 plan, I think we should rat out Oneira as she's an additional threat that makes us look better for not dying, and it's not like GalGov is gonna risk their precious asses down there themselves.

>>6246496
I'd say for me Elbrus isn't as bad because his flaw is something I can envision in a human, excessive libido. Roraima on the other hand is literally not even human to me. Something wrong in his head. Complete psychopath/lack of empathy.

>>6246555
Subjects seem to have fitted into two categories - the ones who have the chops to go toe to toe with death squads and win, and those who choose to hide and run. Those in the latter category have successfully fled from or avoided fights while many of the former have had success thanks to their opponents - the average death squad down here is ten or less people and lacks much heavy weaponry (I think Morgan would have given us a run for our money at the start of the story - my opinion is her TL of 4 is an underestimate and she's more like a 5, perhaps even 6) while an area where reinforcements are moments away and there are heavy weapons around is much deadlier to subjects than isolated squads in unfamiliar territory. Even a high threat subject short of Vinella would get worn down and killed attempting to slog their way through such a tarpit.

I'm unsure when it comes to Oneira, since she doesn't really deserve to be targeted. If we mention her (description only), we'd have to decide what context to attach to it - do we simply provide a vague description and location? Do we provide the full story of the thrall blood samples and that she mugged us for them at Feng's behest? Make up something completely fake Nikita-style? We should definitely hand in Poppy's documents though, and maybe some of the notes we found at the hospital. The encounter with Pelly with zero casualties also serves the role.

-----

It's taken me this long to realise that France was an unsuccessful MC proposal from chargen rather than an OC of the QM. Cool.

Morgan and Anofelis are still listed on the frens sheet as being unknown to government, when they aren't any more and have official TLs now.

>>6246512
>Tell your men to just take it easy. Maybe take a shower first, since you guys were probably covered in dirt, salt water, blood and other filth from having crawled through the depths for the past few days.
>Head somewhere specific first. The government could be useful to go after first, just to get your payment and maybe also some intel from them. Frances could also be good to go hunting for right away. And if all else failed, reuniting with Alan, Evander and Arty was also a good idea. (Write in where you head to first, and if you also take anyone along.)
>Go see if we can't swap our pulse rifle in for something heavier.
Bigger gun, please. The only gun that actually does any damage to the kinds of subjects we tend to fight is the plasma cannon.

>>6246583
>I'm unsure when it comes to Oneira, since she doesn't really deserve to be targeted. If we mention her (description only), we'd have to decide what context to attach to it - do we simply provide a vague description and location?
Yes - don't even use her name, just that some subject assaulted us at night and left us in a coma without ever being detected

>>6245986
>what's going to be our cover story on Reika?
How about this, we tell them that while she was physically much more of a threat than the rabbit, her mental retardation made her easier to handle than Caera. Unlike the rabbit who actually fought with some skill, the big manticore mostly just charged at whatever was in front of her. We took out her wings first then distracted her to provide cover for our man with the plasma railgun who slowly picked her apart piece by piece until she stopped raging at us, then we hacked off her remaining leg. Thaddeus had a few close calls since she was at least smart enough to recognize the threat the railgun posed, a couple men were severely injured during the battle but we had found some medical nanites beforehand, and we decided not to linger there since we knew a white wolf subject who caught us resting the night before was likely still in the area and we weren't prepared to face another highly dangerous subject so soon.

So we more or less just tell them exactly what happened minus the involvement of the girls and heavily imply that our victory was largely due to Reika being an actual retard.

>>6246730
That's more or less what I had in mind

>>6246730
Rather not do this, they’ll ask why we hacked off that leg instead of her head or something more vital

>>6246775
Do what I posted >>6246149, we finished her with a RailGun shot and when the dust was left all we found was her leg.

>>6246843
But her leg has been cleanly cut rather than blasted and it stretched the bounds of credibility of what the railgun can do. It's powerful, but it can't incinerate a very tough, 9ft tall subject to ashes and it invalidates out photos of the battle site.

We could swap some things round and do this after we've asked France how he faked Idalia's death, since he clearly didn't need to bring back her head.

>>6246893
I don’t think her leg was cleanly cut
Hell, even if it was we aren’t back at main base yet. Just mutilate the stump right now.

>>6246897
I mean, we cut it off - whether that was a clean sawing or a hack job. It's clearly going to look cut and we're in a thicket of government forces where trying to mutilate it with a grenade or something will be noticed. Either way though, the plasma gun is still incapable of just vapourising the rest of her body like that and claiming it did is going to look way weirder than just saying we brought her leg as perhaps the only undamaged part of her body.

>>6246903
>I mean, we cut it off - whether that was a clean sawing or a hack job. It's clearly going to look cut and we're in a thicket of government forces where trying to mutilate it with a grenade or something will be noticed
I was more thinking fire to char the stump, but that might be too distinct
Worst case we head back out a few miles and blast the stump with a railgun shot, it’s gonna look like a railgun inflicted injury after that.

>>6246917
I suppose we can if we're really determined but, once again, we have a souvenir limb, samples of various other tissues and body parts, extensive photographic evidence of her "corpse" and the battle site and a good cover story with a minimum of lying already - we only need to justify our decision (her head had been badly damaged and burned from the railgun, her leg may be of more scientific interest than her empty head, it was basically the only intact part of her body, her neck was too difficult to cut through etc.) as the final piece of the puzzle instead of discarding much of what we have and constructing a much more false cover story with a lot more failure points.

>Let your men split up as was planned previously. Time to get things done as quickly as possible and without any further hesitation!
Having at long last reached the centre of the crater once again, you reaffirmed the plan you had thought of previously. You, Derek and Lars would head to the hospital. Both so you could all be checked up and meet up with Alan, Evander and Artyom. In the meantime, the rest of your men could focus on two things: Handing in some of the lesser items such as nanites, data sticks and some bits of intel. You quietly told your men to check for any incriminating material, and to not yet hand in some of the more risqué items. Things like intel about Oneira, Feng or Reika. Some of those things, you wanted to bring up in private with the higher-ups. Once you had gotten checked up, you would take some of the supplies over to the higher-ups to discuss. And afterwards, you would reconvene one last time to discuss things, before splitting up to start looking for supplies and Frances. "Aye, understood, Mik. Well, ya heard him everyone. Let's get to work, lads!" Thaddeus said, the rest of your men also wishing you good luck. And soon, you were left with a somewhat okay Lars and a still rather pained Derek.

You would lead the two of them to the medical bay, Lars speaking calmly. "God, I hope things go smoothly. Especially given how many other soldiers and government workers there are." Whilst there were indeed still plenty of people around who could hear you discuss some of these 'sensitive' topics, the good news was that not too many people were paying attention to you. Perhaps the hype of you having killed Caera had worn off. Regardless, you would quickly approach the medbay, finding that the place had expanded somewhat. An entirely new sector had been added, implying that injuries were definitely going up. Hopefully, the only people getting injures would be more Diamond Dog idiots, rather than Lodgerites or good Blackstar soldiers.

You would quickly be stopped by a doctor as you entered the medbay, being questioned quite a bit about who you were and why you were here. Fortunately, as you pointed out the injuries you had suffered, you would quickly be allowed in for a check-up. It fortunately wasn't a lengthy procedure, you and your men explaining what had happened. "So, you three managed to fight off a subject with minimal injuries. That's good to see. Most folk here suck at the fightng off part... that, or they think they don't need to fight them off since they are under the preconception that they are invincible." The doctor who checked up on you said. And fortunately, once the check-up was over, things looked pretty good. Your injured hand had mostly recovered, just needing some antibiotics to help prevent it getting infected. Lars had mostly recovered and just needed a bit more rest before he would be fine. Only Derek had it rough, with the staff saying he had to be kept there for the night.

"Shit, what about our plan, Mik?" Lars asked you, at which point Derek just lied down on the hospital bed where he was checked up on. "Just... let me rest a bit, Mik... maybe... maybe tomorrow, I'll be able to do better." You decided to let Derek be for the time being, as he could maybe be picked up after Frances was recruited. However, on the topic of picking people up, you'd ask the doctor if you could check up on three friends you kept here. And after giving the names of your three friends, the doctors would lead you and Lars away from Derek. After taking a few more turns, you'd enter the previous hospital room you were in, spotting your three friends relaxing on their hospital beds. "Aye, lads! It's Mik!" Evander immediately said in excitement, Arty and Alan both looking your way. "Oh thank fuck, and here I was thinking we were being forgotten!" Artyom said in relieve, Alan also getting up from bed. "Yes, now we can finally leave this place!"

Clearly, the three of them were doing a whole lot better compared to before. "Wow, you guys seem to be doing pretty good!" Lars said more happily, Evander speaking up calmly. "Well, we're still a lil battered. But, we're ready to get back to for action for sure, lad!" Artyom would also speak up in a more casual tone. "Yeah, we've basically recovered from our injuries. Or well, we're in the final stages and were told we could leave once we were picked up." In turn, Alan spoke up more amusedly. "Yeah, check this out!" He'd put a hand on his nose, before carefully pulling it off. "Fake nose, heh!" He said in amusement, Lars speaking in an impressed tone. "That is a good prosthetic nose, Alan." The mood seemed rather positive so far. Though, after Lars spoke up, Alan would shift to a slightly more irritated tone. "Yeah, it's kinda dumb though. My nose is back and good, but they didn't let us get out of here." To this, Artyom let out a sigh. "Yeah, it seemed that the staff wanted to keep the three of us here until you guys got here to pick us up. Why they did that, I have no fucking clue. Maybe there is some policy they just don't wanna share with us..."

Maybe, the guys hadn't fully recovered yet. Then again, they seemed pretty chipper and ready to get back into the fight. If the staff just waited for you to come and pick them up, well, you were here now at long last. And you were ready to finally get them the freedom to actually leave this place.

>What do you do next?

>Go to the nearest government doctor, tell them you're here to pick up Alan, Arty and Evander. The quicker you got out of here, the quicker you could head over to the government officials to hand in some of your findings.
>Ask Alan, Artyom and Evander how they were doing and what was going on around here. Maybe they could explain why things were so busy here now, or if they noticed any new kinds of injuries. (Write in what you'll ask or discuss with them.)
>Contact the rest of your men over the radio to ask them how they were doing and just update them. It wouldn't have to be long, but could maybe give you an idea on how things were going with them and if you still needed to clarify/discuss some things with them. (Write in what you'll quickly tell your men over the radio.)
>Something else...

(Okay, this is admittedly a bit of a smaller and less focused update. That is because... I am quite tired and also kind of need to head to sleep. I still wanted to get a bit of an update with the plan out there for you guys, so I suppose it's a bit of a short start to everything that was brought up. I just hope that this little update fits with everything regarding the first steps of the plan you guys discussed and suggested.)

>>6246983
LOOK OUT, HE'S GOT A NOSE!
>Go to the nearest government doctor, tell them you're here to pick up Alan, Arty and Evander. The quicker you got out of here, the quicker you could head over to the government officials to hand in some of your findings.
Let's just grab them and get out of here, sucks that it looks like we'll have to leave Derek behind. I want to get the meat of our visit here. I'd wager that the expansion of the hospital population is because death squads are pushing into the deeper facility and getting beaten up by more dangerous subjects.
They're obviously going to have to wait until after our visit for us to bring them up to speed properly, but I do kinda want to not tell them anything about us adding another 6 (5 for Derek) subjects to our collection and force them to wait and see for our amusement. I'd get a real kick out of seeing them realise just who our most recent recruit is and their jaws getting lower and lower with each turn of the story over the last.....six threads.

>>6246983
>Go to the nearest government doctor, tell them you're here to pick up Alan, Arty and Evander. The quicker you got out of here, the quicker you could head over to the government officials to hand in some of your findings.
I'm sure they're hella bored

Ugh, it seems exhaustion has once again struck me. I did some manual labour and other things with family, which kinda ate away at my energy throughout the day. Suppose it's also the aftereffects of university being pretty intense.

Hopefully tomorrow, I can get a proper update out. And more importantly, next week I'll have an early weekend which starts on Wednesday. hopefully, I can use those extra free days to get some bigger and better updates out.

>Go to the nearest government doctor, tell them you're here to pick up Alan, Arty and Evander. The quicker you got out of here, the quicker you could head over to the government officials to hand in some of your findings.
Whilst it was unfortunate that Derek would not come along with you, you were at least confident that the rest of your men were ready to get back into action. Thus, you told them to wait as you told staff they could come with you. "Do tell them why we had to stay here. I am mighty curious about that." Artyom calmly asked, Alan more casually responding with: "I'd rather just get going right now. Better than staying here any longer." Since you imagined the staff here being pretty bored, you thought that there was no harm in hitting them up to discuss some things with them. Thus, you would tell your men to come along, whilst leaving Derek to rest. "Have a quick recovery, Derek. Staying too long in this place will drive you insane." Artyom said to Derek, who just quietly lied down. Evander and Alan also wished him good luck, before you left the room and looked for the nearest doctor.

"We might wanna ask whatever doctor we meet that Derek is over here now. He obviously could use a check up." Artyom said under his breathe as he followed you. "What even happened to him? He seemed out of it." Alan asked calmly, you saying that you'd give more details later. For now, you wanted to find a doctor and discuss some things. Fortunately, right after you spoke, you would see a couple of government doctors who looked confused by your presence. "Good afternoon. How can we be of assistance?" One of the doctors said in a... mildly dismissive tone. You ignored it, mostly just telling them that you were here to pick your three soldiers up. "Alright, let's just... go to the reception real quick to do some paperwork." The doctor said, leading you along to the main entrance. It would thankfully not be too much work to get their paperwork resolved.

Though as the doctor worked on the paperwork, you'd bring up the hospital expansion, asking if the hospital was getting busier because of more death squads encountering resistance in deeper parts. "Eh, I wouldn't say deeper parts. More just "dangerous" parts. Plenty of folk are going into the combat sector and flooded sector. Not to mention, people getting sick in the food storage sector. That, along with more death squads being here, we had to expand quite a bit." The doctor said softly, leaving out some details but not minding your questions at all. Though soon after, the doctor spoke a bit more smugly. "Fortunately, it looks to be a lot of those diamond dog idiots who are getting injured. Which, I must admit, is an amusing sight to say the least!" You saw Alan and Artyom smirking a little bit, clearly sharing the schadenfreude towards the Dogs. Once the paperwork was finished, you mentioned that you did leave one more man behind here for treatment, the doctor nodding calmly.

"Right, we'll check him out, see how he's doing and help him accordingly. For the time being though, I do still need to warn one of you... Evander?" The doctor said, Evander giving a nod. "Do stay away from loud noises and maybe consider sleeping with some extra pillows. Also, don't overexert yourself too much, since your brain still needs to recover a little bit." Evander nodded again, after which the doctor looked at the three of you and said: "Aside from that, everything seems fine. You are fee to leave." The doctor got up and would immediately get back to work, as it became clear that he didn't want to waste much more time to make small talk. Perhaps there were patients who needed a bit more help. Either way, you would lead your men outside, Evander taking a deep breath. "Ahhh, freedom at last. I've missed the outside air. The hospital air was... Ugh, bloody terrible." Alan and Arty nodded along, as you reassured them they'd get a bit more fresh air before you went down again...

"So, tell us everythin' that has been goin' on. What sorta fun adventures have ya lads been goin' on?" Evander asked amusedly, you deciding to not bring up the subjects just yet. Not because you were in an open area where people could hear you, but also because it would be quite funny for them to meet the girls later. Still, you did tell them the plan that you and your men had: Collecting equipment, hand over all the items you had gotten from subjects and computers, and looking for aide in dealing with the queen. "I suppose you're gonna tell us a few more details once we're away from the main base? You know, because of..." Artyom looked around at all the people who walked past, you not confirming or denying it just yet. Regardless, you'd soon make your way towards the transport vehicles, planning to head upstairs so that the three of them could reunite with the rest of your group. Whilst they gathered material, you could also go over to the government officials on your own.

After stepping in the transport vehicle, Artyom decided to start a little casual chat. "God, I can't wait to actually walk around again and do things. Zaria was right about the medbay. That place was absolutely dreadful." Alan shrugged in turn. "I didn't think it was bad. It was pretty relaxing." Artyom scoffed. "Relaxing? Sure. Boring as fuck? That too. There was nothing to do, even after we asked for... well, any form of entertainment!" Afterwards, Evander shared his thoughts, doing so in a rather neutral tone. "I kinda imagine that they wanted us to be careful, given the nature of our injuries. Then again, maybe I'm just talkin' for myself now. After all, I wouldn'tve been able to do anythin' with how much my head hurt! Maybe ya were in a better state than I was, Arty..." There was a sigh from Artyom, before he glanced over at you. "Well, at least I spent a lot of time checking out who and what was coming in and out of the medical bay... Might be interesting to share that now."

Not wanting to forego an opportunity to learn some intel, you asked what Artyom and the others had noticed in the medbay. "So, a whole lot of people were there for hearing damage. Apparently, some subject can yell REALLY loudly and basically deafen them completely. I believe it was mentioned they were somewhere to the... north of here." Evander shook his head. "Nay, it was the east." To which Arty nodded quickly. "Yeah, East, my bad." Alan also decided to join in, giving an obvious but still beneficial bit of information. "There's also a whole lot more people getting injured in the combat sector. There's way too many threats down there for these people to keep up with, hehe." Arty and Evander nodded along, before Evander elaborated a bit. "There were these assholes from Diamond Dogs who were bawling their eyes out after getting stung by some moth subject."

Artyom chuckled to himself. "Now that was music to my ears." Alan also laughing at the news. "There are also plenty of subjects with fire related powers. Some phoenix subject managed to take down a whole bunch of Blackstar folk and really put the hurt on em." Evander mentioned further, after which Alan mentioned something a bit more concerning. "Are you guys gonna mention the guy who was gored really badly?" Evander and Artyom both looked away, before Evander sighed. "I wanted to avoid that one... but, well, ya can tell him..." Alan didn't seem too bothered, yet what he said was... certainly horrifying. "There was a Heroes soldier who was brought back with a sniper rifle replacing his hand, a second head and his second hand turned into some sorta blade." It all sounded confusing and somewhat weird, yet Artyom's elaboration made it ten times worse. "Not just... simply 'replaced'. No, the guy was barely kept alive and had all those things attached to him with... precise surgery. Hell, there were literal government higher-ups who came down to check up on it. That's how bad it was."

Whatever sick fuck was responsible for it, you hoped that you wouldn't encounter them. Asking where it came from did fortunately bring some good news. "Apparently, the poor lad came from the freezer sector. Why, is that where we're headin' to next?" Evander asked, you confirming you were gonna go elsewhere after all was done on the surface. Artyom and Evander seemed relieved, Arty soon saying: "God, I am very curious about the plan and what has been going on with the girls and what not. Did you kill any other subjects, actually? We didn't hear any news about it, but... maybe you're gonna first show the government or something?"

>What do you do next?

>Tell Arty, Evander and Alan about what you had been up to. Maybe even show him Reika's leg, Chloe's spores and some of the other items you had found on your trek down below. (Write in what you tell/show them.)
>Keep it a surprise for the three of them. It'd be way funnier for them to hear that you took down Reika, only for them to be surprised by her now just relaxing with the girls.
>Ask them some more questions about the injured folk they saw, their time in the medbay, how they were holding up injury-wise or if there were any burning questions they might have for you. (Write in what you'll ask for.)
>Just direct them over to where the rest of your men were, before splitting off and heading to the government's main building to show some of your material.
>Lead them back to the rest of your men for a pleasant little reunion. Maybe you could discuss things a bit more clearly once you got together.
>Something else...

(Apologies for the lack of an update yesterday. Ugh, I know I need to take the occasional break, but it also just feels scummy to not get an update out with so much free time. Anyway, this update is a lot nicer, and tells you a bit more about the rest of the facility... including mentioning a familiar face... Hope you guys enjoy it.)

>>6248281
>There was a Heroes soldier who was brought back with a sniper rifle replacing his hand, a second head and his second hand turned into some sorta blade.
Oh snap, the mad surgeon reappears
I remember seeing one of these victims before

>Keep it a surprise for the three of them. It'd be way funnier for them to hear that you took down Reika, only for them to be surprised by her now just relaxing with the girls.
>Lead them back to the rest of your men for a pleasant little reunion. Maybe you could discuss things a bit more clearly once you got together.
Discretely caution the squad to not let the secret slip

>>6248282
shut up shut up shut up Artyom, we're in the fuckin lion's den here. Don't mention the girls.
That surgery sounds like Sirona damage. And lol, someone got the AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - Lono won't be too broken up about that one methinks.
Speaking of the combat sector, I wonder how Nikita is doing. Has he been Judged yet?
>Keep it a surprise for the three of them. It'd be way funnier for them to hear that you took down Reika, only for them to be surprised by her now just relaxing with the girls.
>Lead them back to the rest of your men for a pleasant little reunion. Maybe you could discuss things a bit more clearly once you got together.
We can tell them that we're planning on chasing up some leads on J&C when we go back down, though nothing about Feng (unless we're going to divulge some things about her) or the girls. They can come with when we go report in to Moritz & Co. to get the sanitised cliffnotes of what we've been up to.

>>6248282
>Keep it a surprise for the three of them. It'd be way funnier for them to hear that you took down Reika, only for them to be surprised by her now just relaxing with the girls.
>Lead them back to the rest of your men for a pleasant little reunion. Maybe you could discuss things a bit more clearly once you got together.
Not the time or place to talk about about cyber-owl, the shroom and sex fish.

>>6248353
Nikita may not have even made it that far. Ano's evil twin sister was stalking his squad last time they came up.

>Keep it a surprise for the three of them. It'd be way funnier for them to hear that you took down Reika, only for them to be surprised by her now just relaxing with the girls.
Whilst the three of them were rather eager to learn about your escapades, you wanted to keep it safe. You told them to hush it for the time being, given where you were and the fact you could be recorded. Artyom looked around before nodding quickly. "Shit, my bad." At least he understood that keeping quiet was key right now. "I suppose you'll tell us later in a more private place." Artyom continued saying, Alan speaking more amusedly. "If only the government put as much effort into listening to their populace as it did to listening to us, huh?" This did get some soft wheezes and chuckles from Evander and Artyom. You mentioned that you were gonna go somewhere different the next time you went down, though you kept the details spare just in case the three of them would start asking questions which could rouse suspicion. Fortunately, the carrier would quickly reach the top of the crater, opening up as you were able to enjoy the tropical sun and breeze at long last.

>Lead them back to the rest of your men for a pleasant little reunion. Maybe you could discuss things a bit more clearly once you got together.
Immediately, you led the way back to the Lodger main base, telling your men of all the things you wanted to find. Better weapons and armour, large amounts of food, explosives, drones and a whole bunch more. "I like that explosives part." Evander said eagerly. "Can I get my flamethrower back?" Alan asked right after, you reassuring him that he'd get it back sooner rather than later. Either way, you still kept quiet about things as you walked ahead. Whilst there were fewer government folk around these parts, you knew that there were plenty of death squads out there who would abuse the intel you had. And unfortunately, you couldn't send ALL of them to a certain death like Nikita.

Fortunately, it wouldn't take long before you returned to the main Lodger camp. You would ask around for the rest of your men, it fortunately not taking too long for you to find someone. "Well, well, well, looks like you boys are finally done with your beauty sleeps." Anon said casually, as he was currently looking through some tablets and other equipment. "Trust me, we didn't wanna go through with it." Artyom said, at which point Alan spoke up eagerly. "So, what are we looking for and why? Mik and Lars have been sparse with the details." Anon scoffed, glancing at you as you nodded to him in the hopes that he'd also not reveal too much. And fortunately, Anon seemed to get the message. "Oh, just some smile items. How are you guys doing right now, anyway? Have you all recovered somewhat?" Arty, Evander and Alan nodded, before Anon looked at you and Lars. "What about you guys? Did the check-up go alright?"

You hadn't exactly gotten a check-up, though Lars was quick to bring up a good point. "Honestly, I think we've both mostly recovered. Those medical supplies from downstairs worked miraculously on me... and Mikhail, you aren't too bothered either, right?" Honestly, you were doing just fine, despite the injuries to your arms. They were already starting to recover quite a bit. And if there was an infection or something else troublesome, Lars was back in action and could clearly help out. "Alright, so what's the plan. Ya finally gonna stop keepin' us in the dark, Mik?" Evander asked, you deciding to let a little bit of intel spill: You wanted to maybe check up on some leads, both for scientists and subjects. You kept the details vague, Evander sighing a little. "Ya know how much I hate just rushin' in blindly, right? Is whatever's goin' on... really that secretive?" He said that last bit rather quietly. You told him that he, Arty and Alan could follow you over to the government building, since you were going to give some... explanations about what had happened to the government officials.

Immediately, Artyom scoffed. "I've spent the last few days in a crummy government institution ran by assholes. The last thing I wanna do now, is do that again, thanks." Alan would seem more accepting, softly saying: "I'd not mind joining. I... don't think I can tell much, but... well, it could be useful." You giving a quick and calm response. Evander seemed less inclined than Alan, rubbing the back of his head before saying: "I'll... skip out. Ya mentioned something about gettin' explosives. I think I oughta help out with that, before it blows up in someone's face." Lars would also share his thoughts, softly saying: "Ill go get some of the food items and medical supplies, if nobody else is busy with that." Anon would soon after explain where the rest of your men were and what they were looking for. Mike and Thaddeus were looking for armour and guns, and Lydia was looking for traps and other electronics with Zaria. "Well, Arty, why don't we go lookin' for traps and explosives then, huh?" Evander said, Artyom eagerly tagging along.

With that settled, it seemed you were ready to head over to Moritz to give another status update. Though before leaving, you told Anon to send out a message to the rest of your men not to share what was going on. Anon scoffed and nodded. "I already had the feeling you were doing something like that. I'll let them know." Alan heard this as well, though he didn't seem to care too much. It was nice that he hardly questioned what was going on and just trusted you to have a plan. With that settled, you started heading back to Moritz' office near the main government office. It was only a ten minute walk, and you'd soon approach the main guards at the entrance to the sterile metal building. "Name and what death squadron you are a part of." The government soldier would say, you quickly answering his question and explaining why you were here.

At first, the government worker didn't seem too eager to let you in. He did eventually relent, but it did seem that this guy wasn't exactly familiar with all the things you had been up to. That, or your insistence on not spilling secrets, made you less convincing in being letting in. The soldier thankfully did let you through, you being checked up on. Though, the soldiers did soon ask something a bit more... concerning. "Alright, we need to do a quick check of what's inside your bag and potentially fumigate it. Would you be willing to tell us a bit more about where you have last been within the facility?"

>What do you do next?

>Tell the government worker some of the aspects of your travels. Hopefully, you could tell him enough for him to let you enter the building proper and meet with Moritz. (Write in what you'll tell him.)
>Convince the government soldier to let you in without the check-up. Perhaps your status as the guy who helped kill Caera could help you out? Or, perhaps convincing the guy that you got state secrets you had to share with Moritz in private? (Write in how you'll convince him.)
>Just spill the beans and show the things you had gotten. It was better to show the materials, than to have them fumigate it... or worse.
>Cut your losses and leave. Considering that you were carrying Chloe's fungi on you, which could maybe get you in trouble for just... carrying it around, it was better to just leave and return later.
>Something else...

>>6248799
>Just spill the beans and show the things you had gotten. It was better to show the materials, than to have them fumigate it... or worse.
I mean the plan is to give them most of the information and resources we got anyway...

>>6248799
>Just spill the beans and show the things you had gotten. It was better to show the materials, than to have them fumigate it... or worse.
Is what I want to do, provided we left behind anything incriminating with Artyom. Next vote option makes me nervous though - Considering that you were carrying Chloe's fungi on you, which could maybe get you in trouble for just... carrying it around.
Is it not sealed properly? What makes it different from any other sample?

>>6248799
>Just spill the beans and show the things you had gotten. It was better to show the materials, than to have them fumigate it... or worse.
Let's see.....we have some drives and documents, subject material samples (sterilised and sealed), a BBQ'd wolf arm and a kill trophy in the form of FE-09's leg. Is there a better place to turn over potential hazmat?

I do want to raise the point that Chloe, Grise and KG-23's codenames and names are all unknown as is Reika's name, so we should not refer to them by said unknown information unless we want to explain where we got it from. I also wonder if we could have Annie acknowledge Reika's "death" on the radio later to give it more credibility in case we need it.

>Just spill the beans and show the things you had gotten. It was better to show the materials, than to have them fumigate it... or worse.
Given that the intel and material you had gathered would soon be shown to Moritz anyway, you didn't hesitate to explain everything that you had found. You grabbed your backpack and opened it up, telling the soldier of the items you had gotten. Of course, you would be a bit more careful with what info you divulged, knowing that some of the subjects you had encountered weren't known to any of the people upstairs. The first thing you'd show were all the files, the soldier looking over all of them before asking: "Where were they found?" You explained that it mostly came from various of the deeper parts, the soldier fortunately not questioning it much further. You finally decided to show some of the subject related items, starting with a vial of Chloe's hyphae.

"What the hell is that?" The soldier asked ingenuine curiosity, you explaining you found it stained to some walls and that you had treated it carefully. You even sterilized the vial it was in, just to make sure that none of its contents could escape and cause harm to the outside world. The soldier scanned over it, as you dropped Grise's burnt off arm on the table. "Damn, looks like I missed out on something fun." Alan said casually, the soldier looking over as you explained that Alan hadn't joined your group for these travels. "Yeah, I lost my nose whilst fighting that rabbit." Alan pulled off his nose, making the soldier cringe before disgustedly saying: "Just... tell me about the arm." You explained that you got it after shooting down a wolf subject, the soldier nodding understandingly. "Alright..." The soldier soon grabbed his radio, calmly saying: "We've got some subject material near the entrance which might be worth checking out. I think that squad who killed the rabbit subject has taken down another subject."

Alan looked pleased by that latter suggestion, clearly assuming that you had killed Grise. However, you were quick to correct them that the subject hadn't been killed. You had just shot her to the south of the frozen sector. Though, you then showed off Reika's leg, stating this was an actual kill trophy you had gotten. "Two subjects? I really missed out on a ton, huh." Alan said again, the soldier looking over the leg before asking: "So, you killed the subject who's leg this belonged to? Why did you not call staff over to come and pick up the subject?" He asked cautiously, clearly wanting to see more proof of your kill. Fortunately, you had prepared for this, explaining that you were too deep in the facility to really contact the soldiers. The soldier still seemed sceptical, you then adding that the railgun you had used to defeat the girl had essentially vaporized her. "I see..." The soldier said, still seeming a little sceptical but not questioning you further.

A few soldiers in hazmat suits would approach and grab the vial and two burnt body parts. The soldier would grab his radio, before speaking into it. "Moritz, that guy who killed the rabbit subject is back... and he brought us some valuable supplies and materials." There was a short silence, before the soldier nodded. "Very well, sir." And after putting down the radio, the soldier spoke up more confidently. "Moritz asked me to lead you to him. He wishes to talk to you in person about this." You quickly agreed, following him closely. Alan would remain by your side, soon speaking up more eagerly. "Glad to hear that you didn't kill too many subjects. I also wanna flamethrower some of them." You reassured Alan that he'd get the chance to burn some subjects in the future. Though for now, he would have to wait. "I'll keep quiet and let you do the talking." Alan would eventually say, clearly knowing that he wasn't in the position to explain everything that had happened. Mainly, because you had prepared a story and he wasn't really there to give his opinions.

Regardless, after wandering through stale metal corridors for a few minutes, you'd once again be brought to Moritz' office. The soldier knocked on the metal doors, you hearing that familiar voice again. "Ah, please, come in." The door opened, you being met by that familiar government worker at his desk. Moritz smiled casually up at you, his hands together before signalling you to take a seat. "Sit down, Mikhail." You and Alan got seated in front of Moritz' desk, keeping quiet before chuckling. "So... If I was told correctly, you managed to... slay another subject? A pretty large and powerful one at that. How curious. You and your men seem... almost naturally fit for terminating subjects, hm?" He'd lean back in his chair, before chuckling to himself. "Of course, I... do wish to hear more details about how this happened. After all, a leg might serve as proof, but... I need to hear a story. I presume the two of you have a lot to say..."

Alan shook his head, speaking up before you could. "Well, I didn't see the subject... I was in the medical bay." Moritz tilted his head, squinting his eyes before nodding understandingly. "Right, I remember now... you had your nose injured by the rabbit, correct? I am glad to see you have made a swift recovery. Though, I would not have expected any less from our fine medical staff." Afterwards though, Moritz looked back at you. "Anyhow, perhaps you ca tell me the story, Mikhail. Perhaps you even have some pictures to... help illustrate your misadventures?" You explained some details about the subject, referring to her as a chimera who was pitch black, tall, had massive wings and a scorpion tail. Hearing the description, Moritz' expression turned more shocked. "Did she... shoot out poisonous barbs by any chance?" You nodded, stating said barbs had also injured some of your men, which did concern Alan a bit.

"It sounds to me... like you encountered and defeated subject FE-09. Could that indeed be the case?" With Reika's codename already known, you decided to confirm that it was indeed her. You also explained how the battle went, pointing out that she was pretty unintelligent which made her far less tricky to handle than Caera. FE-09 just charged madly, you able to shoot her wings and give Thaddeus the chance to use the plasma railgun. Until finally, your men got a solid shot in on her torso which... well, disintegrated most of her body, leaving just a leg. "Huh, how unfortunate. So, this is all the proof of her having existed? You don't have any other body parts by any chance?" You mentioned that you did have some pictures of the battlefield, and that your men could vouch for you that you did kill her. You also had handed in the spikes she had used, proving that you had indeed been in an area where she had been.

Moritz nodded quietly, looking away before speaking softly. "Well, I can understand that... circumstances have made it difficult for you to reveal... the full details of your story. Still, there are other materials you have found as well. Perhaps, they can also be worth explaining? I did hear you also shot at a wolf subject of some kind."

>What do you do next?

>Try and explain a bit more about your encounter with Reika. Moritz clearly was sceptical still. You could remedy that with the other details, pictures and intel about her you had. It could prove that you had 'truly' killed her. (Write in what you'll show to convince him.)
>Talk a bit more about the other subjects you encountered. He was clearly interested in Grise, but you could also talk about Pelly or Zati and Nandi. Maybe you could even share some info about Feng? (Write in what you'll tell him about regarding your travels.)
>Ask him about his own work and the things that have been happening around here. Moritz clearly loved to hear you share things about your travels, but perhaps he also had some worthwhile stories to share? (Write in what you'll ask about.)
>Something else...

(Wooooo, time to reunite with our favourite glowie! Very curious what sort of interactions you'll have with him.)

(Also, I need to update some of the docs still. Are there any suggestions you guys have for me to add in the coming few days, or details which are outdated which I need to focus on in particular for you guys?)

>>6249238
>Talk a bit more about the other subjects you encountered. He was clearly interested in Grise, but you could also talk about Pelly or Zati and Nandi. Maybe you could even share some info about Feng? (Write in what you'll tell him about regarding your travels.)
I see no reason to not share full details on Pelly
Zati and Nandi just say they shot at us from afar and missed, we returned fire and missed, and when we tried to approach for greater accuracy they ran away.
Feng is a tricky option. Potentially we can drop all her info as well, including base location, and a ton of other squads roll up and take care of her minions and perhaps even Feng herself for us. Naturally this option would prevent us from bringing any subject friends near that area for quite a while. Now that we’ve decided her subjects are beyond saving I kinda want to try it though. Good way to hit the manpower of Heroes and Diamond Dogs while also taking out a nasty subject.

>>6249238
>Try and explain a bit more about your encounter with Reika. Moritz clearly was sceptical still. You could remedy that with the other details, pictures and intel about her you had. It could prove that you had 'truly' killed her.
This is why I didn't want to tell some cock-and-bull story about her body being disintegrated, because now we can't use the images of her "dead" body as the hardest proof and extra intel without contradicting ourselves. Sigh. Oh well, we can pull out the extensive tissue samples we got, show some of the recovered hospital incident reports that showcase her capabilities, photos of individual body parts and limbs that are not incompatible with our claim of destroying a large part of her body, describe our earlier encounter with her at the hospital and her comments to us.
>Talk a bit more about the other subjects you encountered. He was clearly interested in Grise, but you could also talk about Pelly or Zati and Nandi. Maybe you could even share some info about Feng?
Share the photo we got of Grise as well as describing her behaviour in more detail - her scraping her cleaver and vandalism as intimidation, tracking by scent, liability to retreat when sufficiently maimed.
We didn't learn much new about Pelly, but we can share her last known location, how we got past her lair with the raft (and no help from a singing siren, definitely not) and that she was fooled by decoys.
I think we can talk quite a bit about Feng's minions. Describe their robotic behaviour, share photos of the markings on their bodies and clothing, that some of them are brandishing weapons clearly taken from death squads, their mindless squad tactics and apparent enforced suicide to evade capture and interrogation. Nothing about Queenbase, Feng herself or her personal interest in us.
We could also describe KK in more vague terms as a distant sighting in HTC we chose not to attempt to engage as we had several wounded and were low on munitions.
Hand over Poppy's file. Have a brand new subject for the list!

I've needled you a few times about adding Annie to the fren list, Morgan and Anofelis need their official threat levels added, KK needs her feeding method added and we should have learned enough to fill in some of the unknown stats on subjects we've been around a while.

>>6249264
Supporting. This seems reasonable. I too am quite annoyed they went with 'she was completely vaporized' as that removes a good deal of benefit of the doubt if she ends up getting herself spotted again. Something that is entirely possible if we ever get split up from her, she runs on her own somewhere or someone finds the hideout.

>Try and explain a bit more about your encounter with Reika. Moritz clearly was sceptical still. You could remedy that with the other details, pictures and intel about her you had. It could prove that you had 'truly' killed her.
With Moritz asking you for further details and materials, you decided to reveal some of the other biological samples and items you had of Reika. He seemed doubtful about you killing Reika, so you begrudgingly showed some of the harder proof. You started with the barbs, pointing out that you had handed some of them over to the soldiers to prove that you had actually encountered her. You mentioned some of the other samples you had taken, as well some more pictures of her body parts and limbs. You even showed the later with the tablet you had on you. Afterwards, you mentioned your earlier encounter with her at the hospital, and how she spoke of you and clearly was looking for a fight. Moritz nodded understandingly, before speaking up calmly. "I will... certainly keep these things in consideration. I would also love to hear from... some of your men who were there at the battle. Perhaps you could bring them over soon to discuss the matter?" It seemed that confirming the kill would require a bit more effort. Then again, maybe if he saw the barbs and pictures, he'd agree that you did fully take her down.

>Talk a bit more about the other subjects you encountered. He was clearly interested in Grise, but you could also talk about Pelly or Zati and Nandi. Maybe you could even share some info about Feng?
Having shown the pictures of Reika and explained as much as you could about her, you decided to mention some of the other subjects you spotted. For one, there was Pelly, which got Moritz to tilt his head. "Pelly? Who would that be?" You explained it was AH-600, and that you had encountered her during your trek through some of the deeper flooded parts. "Oh my, I imagine that must have been a... particularly troublesome subject to deal with, considering she mostly is an aquatic predator, correct?" Alan also seemed surprised to hear this, eagerly looking over at you to hear what you had to say. You explained that she was indeed the cause of a lot of trouble. You mentioned having to build a makeshift raft to cross the water, and that you managed to actually fool her with a decoy dummy you made from random stuff you made.

"How curious. Considering her ability to shock things, I would've imagined that she could also sense people through electroreception. You know, the same way sharks do?" Moritz said curiously, Alan speaking a little more confusedly. "Sharks sense people how exactly?" Moritz didn't elaborate, yet smirked a little at Alan's rather confused comment. Regardless, you would explain where you had spotted her, yet did not mention the fact that you had also shot her in the jaw. Perhaps it wasn't a detail worth mentioning, since you could hardly prove you had injured her, and it didn't exactly lead to another kill anyway.

You thought carefully about what other intel you shared, before deciding to mention Zati and Nandi, which made Moritz lean closer. "Those are names I have not yet heard of. Do tell me more about them, please." You mentioned they were two subjects you couldn't see very well, since they mostly shot at you from afar. "They shot at you? With guns, or some other projectiles?" Moritz quietly asked, you explaining it was with a bow and arrow. You also shot back at them, them eventually fleeing after you almost got close enough to get a good view and a good shot on them. "So, tell me a bit more about them. What did they look like? Did they try and communicate with you?" Moritz asked, you explaining that the only form of communication was an arrow which struck the nearby wall. As for their appearance, you just noticed one was large and had horns, whilst the other was a tad bit smaller and wielded the bow and arrow. Moritz noted it down on some paper, before nodding. "Very well. I shall note it down and make sure more data is published about them."

With that, you just had one other real subject to discuss... The Queen of subjects herself. Whilst tempting to bring up the location of her base, since it could lead to a lot of Diamond Dogs or Heroes soldiers getting themselves killed whilst weakening her forces, you decided to withhold that info. Instead, you'd focus on her minions, bringing up how you met with several weird and strangely-clad guardsmen. "So, you have ran into them as well? I have heard... rumours of such sightings, yes. What do you think it is?" You claimed that you didn't know, but did show some pictures of the guardsmen and explained that they had weapons which were clearly taken from other death squads. You pointed out their robotic behaviour, as well as their mindless quad tactics. You even mentioned that, whilst you did try to capture a few, they all killed themselves to evade capture and interrogation. "Sounds to me like the clear work of a subject. Hmmm, perhaps we should get Heroes to look into this. I doubt the Diamond Dogs will be able to... do much against people who are robotic and mindless, if what you say is indeed correct."

Having elaborated as much about Feng as you felt comfortable, you pondered what else to share. You decided to describe Katya in a vague way, describing having spotted her in the distance of the high level threat containment sector below the crater. You mentioned she was fast, avian and clearly noticed you. However, you also explained refusing to engage due to being low on ammo and being wounded. "Hmmm, disappointing, but understandable. It would be... a shame for you and your men to fight a battle you cannot win." He said in a more intrigued tone. From the way he spoke, it almost sounded as if he expected further elaboration. However, you decided to leave it be, instead focusing on data you found on other subjects.

You mentioned that, on the way back up, you learnt of a new subject: Poppy Uragan. You showed the file to him, him reading it and smiling a little. "A well compiled file with plenty of details. This shall come of good use, Mikhail." Alan would also try and read the file, you finally showing an image of Grise which you had gotten with your cameras. He seemed to analyse the picture, as you explained her creepy tendency of scraping things with her cleaver. Not to mention, her way of intimidating people through vandalism and her ability to sense through tracking. Moritz tilted his head and raised an eyebrow whilst you continued and explained how she retreated after being maimed enough. "And... how did you become aware of her ability to sense you through tracking?" He asked, which was definitely a good question. How would you explain this minor mystery to Moritz? You couldn't exactly explain that Logan, Vinisha and Katya talked about Grise's abilities with you...

>What do you do next?

>Try and quickly brush it away by saying you just read about it in some file which you skimmed, before changing topic. Hopefully, he wouldn't ask too many questions about why you didn't share this file with him either. (Write in what topic you'll switch over to.)
>Make something of an elaborate lie about hearing it from a guardsman you killed. Maybe you 'deduced' the ability through the cameras or some other way. You had lied through your teeth before, so you could easily do it again, right? (Write in what lie you'll tell.)
>Admit that you simply forgot to mention some things you read up on or heard about from some guardsmen you questioned and then executed. (Write in if there's any thing you'll add to what you'll admit to him.)
>Ask him some more questions about this place, maybe a few more questions about the other squads, subjects or the disaster before you could return to your men. (Write in what you'll ask about.)
>Tell him you have shared everything you could, and that he could check through the pictures, files and samples you had brought over for further intel. Afterwards, head back to your men with Alan and start searching for Frances. (Write in if you'll say anything else before leaving.)
>Something else...

(Once again, apologies for the lack of an update yesterday. I essentially just... died from exhaustion yesterday. Which is great, because today I woke up to find my fucking laptop having died for no apparent reason, which totally did not sour my mood and make me wish for death. Fortunately, my parents are awesome and had a spare laptop lying about I could use.)

(Still, it did mean I couldn't really work on the things you suggested about fixing the docs. But, I'll try and get that done over the weekend. Tomorrow will be a bit busy for me to work on the docs, sadly.)

(Anyway, hope the update is good. I know I keep saying that, but especially during times like these, I worry that I am not putting the effort into it which you guys deserve.)

>>6250253
What did I JUST say about name-dropping these subjects fml
If we went with this cover story, I would assume we briefed everyone on the official version of events first if he's going to ask around
>We don't even have to lie very much, do we?
The White Wolf's general attributes are already a matter of public record. We were not aware we were being tracked at the time, but we realised who she was and the circumstances surrounding her stalking (smashed objects with blade marks, metallic scraping sounds getting closer before the attack etc,) after the fact and with some further inspection of where she had passed through, given her description and behaviour are an exact match for this known-but-unnamed subject. Her stalking tendencies, sadistic behaviour and tracking abilities are well-known from previous reports and she was watched sniffing extensively along the route we had passed and around our camp on the remote cameras we use as night watch pickets before she visibly followed the scent trail with her nose like a dog straight to our door.
After that, it's time for France.

is all fine qm

>>6250253
>Something else...
Tell him it was an educated guess. We never managed to get the jump on her despite covering our tracks, disguising our scent, taking every precaution we could. She always knew somehow, so until we discover a more normal mechanism this is the theory we're working with.

>>6250300
Yeah I thought there was a consensus to only use codenames and not nicknames too. I guess no one else explicitly wrote it into their posts.

>>6250300
I assumed that >>6249264 wasn't including name drops and just using them as ease of description. Something I realize should have been clarified. Well, we had a good run. At least the girls are safe unlike us...

Supporting at the very least.

>>6250300
>What did I JUST say about name-dropping these subjects fml

Oh god, was that in the text you wrote previously for the plan and I missed it? If so, fuck me I am sorry.

Idk if you guys want me to just retcon it that you never mentioned their names and just went with codenames. The update didn't really have anything substantial related to the name drops, so we could just say that last update had all names obscured and replaced with codenames... all except for maybe Poppy, since it was her file with a full name and such.

>>6250402
Yes, I established my standpoint on information hygiene last update and was still operating under that for this one though I didn't explicitly restate it - I'd take that because it is an important point to be very careful with and I was using names in the post for ease of reference. Essentially, don't give any information we have a don't solid alibi for - don't name any of them since all their names come from human sources (though we don't know Z&N's codenames so they'd have to stay as "unknowns"). Poppy is fine, since we have her file in front of us.

>>6250402
Just retcon it dude

>>6250300
Support

Okay, I will skip out on an update tonight. Mainly because I still wanna hear some thoughts on the suggestion about the retcon. I also wanna see a bit more clarity with what you guys will say to Moritz, considering the retcon which holds back the subject names.

Of course, I won't leave you with nothing. I've gotten to work on some of the shared docs to get them updated. I'll add some more sheets to them tomorrow for you guys to enjoy reading through.

>>6250724
I think it's pretty clear that this was not the intended course of action when it was proposed or voted for. Given the potential story consequences of this miscommunication, if there's ever a time for a minor but important retcon, this is it.

Speaking of consensus, did you reach a decision on on the speaking skill thing

>>6250724
Just make it so that instead of names we used the subject designations, seems like the quickest and easiest way to do it.

>Something else...
The image of Grise and knowledge you had on her was clearly something of interest to Moritz. His question about the tracking ability was... well, it did come out of nowhere, but you at least had an alibi prepared. For one, you pointed out that the government already gave plenty of information about her, specifically mentioning the threat level 9 wolf subject which was described on the tablet. "Huh, so you're telling me that... WW-10 is that wolf subject? Well, I ought to tell some of the administrators such. I imagine they'd be happy with all these details. Regardless, did the tablet provide such information as well? Last thing I recall, it did not mention her being a master tracker." Moritz argued, you explaining that her stalking behaviour and the distance she went were more than enough to highlight her tracking ability. Moritz quietly listened, you also explaining how some of the aforementioned traits on the tablet were similar to the things you saw her do in person. Stalking, scraping with her blade and destroying things were all behaviours the tablet had described which fit her nature.

Hell, you literally saw her sniffing the route you had passed through on your cameras. It even made you think of a dog tracking its prey. And after a short moment of silence, Moritz gave an understanding nod. "I see. I suppose it is my mistake for forgetting such details which are described in the government provided database. Perhaps I should re-read them again, especially now that you have more intel for us to work with." Moritz would note some things down, before looking up at you. "So, if I got it correctly... you spotted two unknown subjects down below, one with a bow and arrow, you also spotted AH-600 and have proof of encountering WW-10. And, of course, you managed to terminate FE-09." You confirmed this was all the case, Moritz nodding calmly. "Well, we will look into all of these cases and the data you have provided for us."

Of course, Alan was a bit more interested in... something a bit different. "So, will we get paid for the kill we got?" He asked right away, Moritz keeping a calm tone. "I will talk to other government officials about your efforts. We will analyse what you have gotten us, as well as the validity of your claims. For now though, we will give you some small funds, as a goodwill gesture." Alan looked disappointed, but didn't question it. With that done and over with, you decided not to stay here much longer. You wanted to find France and discuss co-operation with him. You didn't mention such to Moritz, instead thanking him for his time and stating you would head back downstairs. "May I ask, what is it you will be doing next? Any... special subjects you will be going after?" Moritz leaned back a little, you stating that you knew there were certain threats out there who were yet to be discovered. And given all you had seen, those subjects were the oes you wanted to take down.

Moritz nodded understandingly, before scoffing. "Very well then. I suppose... I shall wish you good luck once more." He put his hands together, you getting up and leaving the office. And after a short five minutes, you'd step past the guardsmen and led Alan back towards the Lodger basecamp. "Well, that wasn't too eventful. Shame we couldn't get the funds for the kill on FE-09..." Alan said, clearly believing that you had indeed killed Reika. Obviously, you hadn't, but it was reassuring that you had at least convinced Alan of this fact. It was going to be hilarious to watch his reaction once you showed that Reika wasn't just alive, but now was eager to help you in dealing with future threats. "So, what's the plan now? Guess we're gonna grab some more supplies, then head back down. Or, uhhhh, is there anything else still?" You mentioned how you wanted to find France, as well as head into the combat sector. "Fun. I wanted to go there as well." He said nonchalantly, clearly eager to find a place to get into some big fights.

For the time being though, you just hoped that finding France wouldn't take too long. Not to mention, your hope that your men had managed to find all the supplies you had hoped for. Bigger guns, better armour, more food, all of it was going to be necessary irregardless of where you were heading to.

>What do you do next?

>Lead Alan back to the rest of your men. You could use the opportunity to check up on how your men were doing with gathering supplies, as well as letting them know how the meeting went with Moritz. (Write in what you'll check up for and how you'd describe the meeting.)
>Ask around for France. Maybe some other Lodgerites would know where he is, or would give you hints on his current whereabouts. Maybe some of the other death squads could also tell you a bit? (Write in who you'll ask about France.)
>Head somewhere where you think he might be. The Lodger base camp was an obvious choice, but maybe there were some other meeting points where a death squad captain such as him could stay at. (Write in where you'll head over to to look for him.)
>Chat a little bit with Alan. Maybe not tell him about some of the more secretive things, given how you were surrounded by other death squads, but maybe there were some other interesting topics which were worth bringing up with him. (Write in what you'll discuss with him.)
>Something else...

(Once again, apologies for the fuck-up the last update. I have retconned it, so now you ONLY used codenames for all subjects aside from Poppy. Hopefully, I won't screw up like this in the future.)

(In the meantime, there's a few updates to the docs. Mainly the government provided monster girl sheets. And I'll update em even further tomorrow!)

>>6251212
>Ask around for France. Maybe some other Lodgerites would know where he is, or would give you hints on his current whereabouts. Maybe some of the other death squads could also tell you a bit?
Ask some of the other Lodger squads in the Lodger area, ask the Lodger quatermaster if they've seen them, ask someone in charge (is there any command structure?), maybe discreetly ask Annie somewhere quiet if she has a bead on his radio if we still can't find him.

>>6251212
Huh, coulda sworn I voted on this last night but don't see my reply
>Head somewhere where you think he might be. The Lodger base camp was an obvious choice, but maybe there were some other meeting points where a death squad captain such as him could stay at. (Write in where you'll head over to look for him.)
Lodger base camp is a good start, would rather not ask around for him by name, people will remember.

>>6251558
Is it really a bad thing for people to know we were looking for France? We're just one squad leader looking for another who we've previously met, there's nothing inherently suspicious about it. We could be looking to trade things, swap notes, catch up, ask for advice or help as another Roraima subject killer etc.

>>6251568
Not yet, but looking to the future if one of us is implicated in something suspicious it would be good to minimize the links between us.

>>6251624
>My Big-Ass Manticore can't be this cute!
Who would guess all you needed to tame a dangerous subject is tasty food, nice words and lots of headsets. Tsk-Tsk Roraima.

Anyway.
>Head somewhere where you think he might be. The Lodger base camp was an obvious choice, but maybe there were some other meeting points where a death squad captain such as him could stay at. (Write in where you'll head over to look for him.)
Go in there and ask around, better in our Lodger-territory than in the open were someone could be watching, if anyone ask just why, just say we heard some good things about him and we wanna see if we can do some info exchange, perhaps even team up for a bit.

>Chat a little bit with Alan. Maybe not tell him about some of the more secretive things, given how you were surrounded by other death squads, but maybe there were some other interesting topics which were worth bringing up with him. (Write in what you'll discuss with him.)
While there are a LOT we can't discuss there are some things we can bring about. Like the fact there are multiple factions of subjects/guards down there also we may or not be at danger of a nuclear fallout in the flooded area.

>>6251624
Speaking of pats, we should bully the fox with them next time we meet her. She is 4ft tall and ranked Very Low in STR - if we took our helmet off first, we could just scoop her up for pats and ear scritches and there would be absolutely NOTHING she could do about it.

>Chat a little bit with Alan. Maybe not tell him about some of the more secretive things, given how you were surrounded by other death squads, but maybe there were some other interesting topics which were worth bringing up with him.
Whilst you did intend to find France ASAP as to ally with him, you knew that you couldn't leave Alan too in the dark about everything that had happened. Obviously, you couldn't tell him everything. It would take far too long to say everything, and it also wasn't exactly wise to share some of the details with him when there were other death squads around. Thus, you'd turn to Alan and mentioned that you'd inform him, along with Evander and Artyom about what had happened in full detail once things were safe. "Aye, understood." Alan said straight up, you deciding to mention one important thing which you could share whilst you were out in the open. For one, there were a ton of different factions of subjects and guardsmen below, some of whom were more inclined to fight than others. "I can imagine such. Well, let's hope we can deal with the meanest ones and get a nice paycheck out of it." He said, before you decided to also share the fact there was a potential nuclear subject within the flooded area. Alan seemed impressed, yet clearly wasn't sure how to respond. He just nodded, before saying: "Guess we should go explore that place. You guys already explored a bit of it, so you guys already got some experience, right?"

>Head somewhere where you think he might be. The Lodger base camp was an obvious choice, but maybe there were some other meeting points where a death squad captain such as him could stay at.
Obviously, you had bigger plans than heading into the flooded section. And as you approached the main Lodger base camp, you told Alan to stick close and keep his eyes peeled for France. "Uh, alright. What does France look like again?" You looked around on your own first, not wanting to rouse suspicion by asking about his whereabouts.

You checked every part of the Lodger main base, checking some of the arms depots, storage facilities and other supply spaces. You checked the Lodger medical bay for any signs of him or his men. Unfortunately, you were running low on luck it seemed. No matter where you went, you saw no familiar faces. Or well, you did see some familiar faces, but not the folk you were looking for. And after walking around for ten minutes, it seemed that asking would probably be for the best. You'd look for any Lodger soldiers who stayed up at the main base, since they were probably well aware of any regulars who passed through here. You'd thus walk over to a soldier who was stationed at the main armoury, asking him if he had seen France about. "Uhhhh, you mean France Cobbler? If so, he headed into the crater a few days ago... Not sure he has returned by now. Why, do you need him for anything?" You mentioned that you had heard good things about him, and that you wanted to work with him.

The soldier didn't question it, which was fortunate since you didn't want people to remember that you wanted to work with somebody else. Especially if news of your 'second kill' on Reika got out there. Either way, you decided to still look a bit further around to get a clue on where France was right now. After all, you could keep looking in the crater, but he could very well just be somewhere in the deepest parts of the facility. Though as you looked for a communications manager, you'd soon run into some of your own men. "Mikhail? Mikhail! There you are!" It was Lydia, Zaria following her close-by. "Glad to see you left the government building in one piece." Lydia said as she approached you, Zaria soon after joking a bit. "We were already joking that you had been executed or something." She said in a dry tone, before the two would look over at Alan. "Glad to see you're also okay, Alan. You ready to join us again?" Lydia asked, Alan nodding proudly. "Aye. I even got a new nose now, so no need to worry about that now."

Lydia and Zaria both looked amused, before Zaria said: "We got quite a few electronics, including some more drones and cameras. Oh, and a third tablet to work with." She said happily, before Lydia spoke up more curiously. "So, what are you up to now? Are we regrouping, or are you still searching for France and what not?"

>What do you do next?

>Regroup first and check out all the items you had gathered. Maybe after you had gotten all your supplies, you could head back to the crater and maybe look for some more folk who knew where France was. (Write in what you'll do when you regroup and with all your equipment.)
>Find some kind of communications manager around here. Ask them if they have any knowledge on where France was based on radio contact. Or if they knew anyone who could tell you where France went? (Write in what you'll ask.)
>Find a secluded spot away from the other soldiers and try to contact Annie. If anyone could find France for you and get him to come over to you, it would be her. (Write in where you'll try to contact Annie and what you'll ask her.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(>>6251624 Dawwwwww, Reika is so adorable. Grise also looks to be in desperate need for a bit of affection and headpatting...)

>>6252055
>>Regroup first and check out all the items you had gathered. Maybe after you had gotten all your supplies, you could head back to the crater and maybe look for some more folk who knew where France was. (Write in what you'll do when you regroup and with all your equipment.)

>>Find a secluded spot away from the other soldiers and try to contact Annie. If anyone could find France for you and get him to come over to you, it would be her. (Write in where you'll try to contact Annie and what you'll ask her.)

>>6252055
>Regroup first and check out all the items you had gathered. Maybe after you had gotten all your supplies, you could head back to the crater and maybe look for some more folk who knew where France was.
It was always a significant possibility that France would still be in the tunnels and it sounds like we're going to have to chase him down downstairs. On second thoughts, let's just not risk doing this at all up top and wait until we go down again to talk to Annie about this - worst that happens is we lose some time. Everyone go break for a wash and let's head back out.

>>6252055
>Regroup first and check out all the items you had gathered. Maybe after you had gotten all your supplies, you could head back to the crater and maybe look for some more folk who knew where France was. (Write in what you'll do when you regroup and with all your equipment.)
We can ask Annie once well away from camp

>>6252133
>>6252180
Supporting. Lets contact Annie and visit the girls after we've got all our equipment ready to go.

>>6252055
>Regroup first and check out all the items you had gathered. Maybe after you had gotten all your supplies, you could head back to the crater and maybe look for some more folk who knew where France was. (Write in what you'll do when you regroup and with all your equipment.)
Need bigger gun

>Regroup first and check out all the items you had gathered. Maybe after you had gotten all your supplies, you could head back to the crater and maybe look for some more folk who knew where France was.
You decided that, since France was still out there in the crater, you could contact Annie for help later. For now, you told the girls to grab the electronics they had gotten, and that you wanted to regroup. "Already a step ahead of you, Mik. We put all the supplies near the tents we stayed at some time ago." Zaria said casually, before Lydia calmly said: "We're still looking for some..." She leaned closer before whispering: "Entertainment." She didn't elaborate much further, presumably because it was a bit of a strange thing to be on the lookout for around here. Then again, Lodger understood that soldiers needed time to relax, so they probably were more than happy to supply some forms of entertainment to you and your men. Regardless, you told the girls and Alan to find the rest of your men and to return to the main base. Once there, you'd discuss things before heading downstairs.

You already headed to the main tent, still keeping your eyes open for any of your men or any items which were of interest. Unfortunately, you didn't really pass by any item of interest. But, you imagined that your men had gotten everything you needed. And sure enough, after returning to the tents you had stayed at previously, you would slowly find your men trickling in with supplies. Lars and Anon returned with a whole backpack worth of rations, plenty of which had meat in them. Anon also returned with a few more tents, fresh sleeping bags and even a singular inflateable boat for in the flooded parts. Lydia and Zaria also returned, grabbing some of the electronics they had collected. Three crawler drones and two flying drones, two extra tablets and 6 trail cameras. They had also brought some discs with entertainment for the girls on it. Something they could use to pass the time.

Though, you were most eagerly anticipating the big weapons which the rest of your men would hopefully come back with. You hoped to get a few more toys to help deal with Feng or Grise. But before that could happen, Evander would return a happy man, as he came back with a bag filled with all sorts of explosives. Grenades, flashbangs, plastic explosives, and plenty of other materials which could go boom. It didn't seem like the safest thing to handle like this, but Evander seemed happy enough for you to assume it was all safe. Artyom also returned with several traps: Some properlandmines, metal wires, caltrops, as well as some more advanced items. Artyom got these special 'magnet traps' for metal targets or well armoured foes. And more exciting than that was a special shocking device akin to the ones you found in the vents. Artyom clearly wanted to return to the fight with a bang, given all the toys had had gotten for you and your men to use.

You were now only waiting for Thaddeus, who would return with just a couple of items. "So, where are the big guns?" Mike asked him, to which Thaddeus sighed. "I asked around. Apparently, they only got a couple more and we can only pick one of em, and I didn't know which one ya lads would prefer." Anon afterwards asked: "What about armour?" To this, Thaddeus smiled a bit. "Aye, I asked for some heavier armour. The lads at the main base said we could get somethin' more reinforced. However, we should try 'em out before we use 'em fully, since they did say it was quite heavy." Afterwards, Thaddeus would open his bag and show a dozen fully charged plasma cells. "I did get a bunch more a these though, hehe." He said, before all eyes went over to you. Thus, you told your men that you'd find France somewhere in the crater, but that you first wanted to take an opportunity to get clean. You had been stuck in your armour for... god knows how long, and you knew that you and your men probably reeked.

"So, we should all get a shower?" Anon asked, you agreeing as your men would look at each other. After a moment of thinking, your men would nod and head to the nearest shower rooms, leaving the material behind. You would separate from Zaria and Lydia, for obvious reasons, before entering the showers with the rest of your men. Fortunately, it seemed like you were the only ones currently using it, which made things a whole lot more private for you and your men.

>What do you do next?

>Just take a quick shower to clean yourself before immediately heading into the crater. The quicker you got this done and over with, the quicker you could go down and find France.
>Ask your men some questions. Maybe you could ask Thaddeus about the choice in weaponry you had, or ask Artyom about all the traps he had. Hell, maybe there were still some materials you thought you needed to pick up after this? (Write in who you'll ask about the materials they had gotten.)
>Tell your men the plan you had for the time being. Just so that everyone was on the same wavelength about contacting Annie to find France. (Write in what plan you'll give your men.)
>Tell your men about the meeting with Moritz. Maybe you could tell them about how he reacted to the news of you 'killing' Reika, or some of the other things which you had discussed with him. (Write in what you'll tell them.)
>Something else...

>>6252520
>>Just take a quick shower to clean yourself before immediately heading into the crater. The quicker you got this done and over with, the quicker you could go down and find France.
Then go back in the action.

>>6252520
>Tell your men about the meeting with Moritz. Maybe you could tell them about how he reacted to the news of you 'killing' Reika, or some of the other things which you had discussed with him. (Write in what you'll tell them.)
Complain that we only got a small advance for the kill and weren't even given a timeframe for receiving the full amount.

>>6252588
Supporting. A small bit of banter before we head out sounds good. I do wonder how Zaria and Lydia are going to go with their shower, especially given how skittish Zaria seems regarding anything remotely suggestive despite the fact military showers aren't any different from prison ones as everyone takes it at the same time.

>>6252520
>Just take a quick shower to clean yourself before immediately heading into the crater. The quicker you got this done and over with, the quicker you could go down and find France.
I can't think of anything we'd need privacy for that we can't discuss after we head out

>>6252520
>Ask your men some questions. Maybe you could ask Thaddeus about the choice in weaponry you had, or ask Artyom about all the traps he had. Hell, maybe there were still some materials you thought you needed to pick up after this? (Write in who you'll ask about the materials they had gotten.)
>What other kinds of heavy weaponry did they have in stock? Is the armor powered?
I will not give up on my dream of getting Mik a 20mm autocannon or similarly large boomstick so easily.

>Tell your men about the meeting with Moritz. Maybe you could tell them about how he reacted to the news of you 'killing' Reika, or some of the other things which you had discussed with him.
As you undressed and got into the showers, you would try and be quick as you still wanted to reach the crater as soon as possible. Though, since you and your men still had some time to kill, you decided to tell your men about what had happened with Moritz. Whilst washing your hair, you started complaining that Moritz hadn't given you a full payment for the kill on Reika, which made Mike speak up in an unsurprised tone. "Well duh. Those bastards will only give cash if they can see the corpse for themselves." Afterwards, Arty would also give his thoughts. "Considering how there are several death squads who are working for them, I can imagine them not wanting to spread knowledge of kills. After all, if there are less monster girls to hunt and kill for cash, less death squads will want to keep working under them and getting into fights." Artyom clearly was making a big assumption here based on his hatred of other squads. But then again, maybe he did have a point here. Reika's death would be one less lucrative kill for the other death squads, after all.

Regardless, you mentioned that you did at least get a small advance for what you had brought him, but that a timeframe for the profit wasn't given. "Now that is screwed up. We literally gave them a leg and a bunch of barbs, didn't we?!" Anon asked in bewilderment, to which Alan responded more calmly. "Yeah, but like Mik said, they weren't satisfied with it and wanted to see the corpse." To this, Mike gave a more smug remark. "Why don't we just tell those idiots in charge to go down to where we fought Reika to find her corpse themselves, if they are so eager to see goddamn results!" Mike argued, before Thaddeus spoke up. "A politician who does his job? If ya wanna see somethin' like that, ya might as well wish for galaxy-wide peace!"

Your men clearly were taking the lack of pay in stride. It was unfortunate, but they knew there wasn't much that could be done. "Ugh, I missed bein' able to take some proper showers. It's helpin' ma head relax." Evander soon said, at which point Lars asked: "Say, how is your head doing anyway? The medical staff did say you should stay away from loud noises to help you recover." Arty spoke up in amusement. "Guess you're gonna have to keep your distance from whatever explosions you set up, huh?" Evander sighed a little. "Aye, unfortunately, I need to be careful. Still, I am sure I can handle a lil bit of noise." To which Anon said: "A railgun or grenade launcher worth of noise?" Evander nodded softly. "Aye, I can handle that." Before squinting his eyes. "Oy, ya lads aren't keepin' me from my explosives! These bastards already have kept me sober for far too long, I ain't now also losin' my hobby!" Your men all seemed amused by Evander's mild rage.

Still, he calmed down quickly, as he looked over at Lars. "Oh, now I remember, Lars! How's me moonshine comin' along?" Lars shrugged a little. "To be honest, I haven't paid too much attention to it. I've kept it in decent conditions, but I haven't worked on it. I didn't exactly wanted to risk screwing it up." Evander nodded with a more positive smile. "Aye, that's understandable. Thanks for watchin' over it though. I'm gonna work on that moonshine real soon. I'm tired of the lack of booze here." Honestly, it made one wonder how the girls would react to some proper moonshine. Except for some of the subjects who needed alcohol, it was safe to say most of the girls here had never tasted any of the stuff. Perhaps Reika would become even more boisterous and aggressive? Or Thalia even more of a hedonist? It was a shame you couldn't discuss this right now, since you couldn't exactly bring this sort of stuff up when there were other death squads nearby.

Though on the topic of Thalia, you did soon wonder a bit about Zaria. And as some of your men started to dry themselves, you asked if Zaria and Lydia were doing fine with the showers. "They've showered with other soldiers before, right? I doubt it'll be a problem." Artyom would comment, some of your men nodding along. "It's also not exactly busy around here right now. They're probably the only women taking a shower right now." Anon suggested, at which point you mentioned Zaria's skittishness and her prudeness. "Say what now?" Artyom said in confusion, before Thaddeus spoke up. "Um, we'll... have to tell ya lads later. It's complicated, but... well, Zaria had some rather uncomfortable experiences with a subject." Artyom and Evander both seemed highly concerned, clearly not aware of the ongoing fued between Zaria and Thalia.

>Ask your men some questions. Maybe you could ask Thaddeus about the choice in weaponry you had, or ask Artyom about all the traps he had. Hell, maybe there were still some materials you thought you needed to pick up after this?
As you got ready to leave the showers along with your men, you would switch the discussion over to that of the weapons you were gonna get. You asked Thaddeus about the heavy weaponry which was in stock. "Well, mostly just stuff for singular soldiers. However, they did have some heavy weapon systems akin to the railgun. Namely, they have some sorta burst-fire autocannon which looked pretty tough, an anti-material rifle akin to what Anon had." Alan and Evander both looked stunned by Anon having such a weapon, though they didn't question it much. "Oh, they also had this tesla shotgun on display. Sorta shoots a bunch of arcs of electricity, which seemed to work well on targets from up close. Though, uhhh, they did say that it might be less effective against subjects with armour and what not... or subjects with high enough defence."

It sure sounded like you had options to choose from. Hell, there probably were even more options available to you once you did go to the armoury. Though speaking of armour, you asked if the armour Thaddeus saw was powered, which made him shake his head. "Nah, afraid not. T'is just heavier armour. Nothin' fancy like what you'd see with Blackstar." It was disappointing, but at least it was good enough for you and your men to maybe consider over your current light armour. With that in mind though, you'd finish dressing back up and left the shower-room. The rest of your men followed as well. Zaria and Lydia would also be there, having showered a bit quicker than you and the rest of your men. Either way, you'd head over to the armoury, you already knowing you'd have some options to pick from... Perhaps giving Anon another anti-material rifle would be useful, given how he used it previously against Reika? Or perhaps it was time to get rid of your trusty pulse-action rifle?

>What do you do next?

>Pick an option for the gun you'd take as well as who would get an upgrade in armour. The gun would be easy enough, as you could only take one. However, picking armour could certainly be a bit more difficult. Especially if some of your men preferred movement over defence. (Write in what weapons you'll pick and who you'll give it to.)
>Look over your options once you got to the armoury. The armoury could very well have some other weapons you and your men could use. Or perhaps you could even discuss getting two special weapons, rather than just one? (Write in what sort of weapons you'll look for, or what you'll try to discuss with the armoury staff.)
>Ask your men for advice on the matter. Maybe they had some preferences for what types of weapons to get, or who would be the most in need for an upgrade in terms of their weapon choice? (Write in what you'll ask your men.)
>Something else...

>>6252949
>Look over your options once you got to the armoury. The armoury could very well have some other weapons you and your men could use. Or perhaps you could even discuss getting two special weapons, rather than just one?
Something with more bang for Evander, I'm thinking swapping out his LMG for an automatic grenade launcher if they've got one. I bet he'd love something like that. If they don't, give him a GPMG.
Get Anon the AMR. He used the last one pretty well.
I say to give the heavy armour to Alan. He's the one up close and personal with his flamethrower, so he needs the extra protection without the extra mobility.

I've also remembered something. We requested some much stronger bases for the chemical thrower when we got it but was told it'd take a few days - we seem to have forgotten about that and never followed up on it. Now's as good a time as any and we can also get Mike some acidic ammo options as well.

>>6252949
First shower scene and there's no subjects or girls. What a shame.
>>6252987
Support.

>>6252949
>Pick an option for the gun you'd take as well as who would get an upgrade in armour. The gun would be easy enough, as you could only take one. However, picking armour could certainly be a bit more difficult. Especially if some of your men preferred movement over defence. (Write in what weapons you'll pick and who you'll give it to.)
That Tesla shotgun sounds awesome. Take that and give it to us.

>>6252987
>Supporting.
Autocannon for Mik. Farewell little pulse rifle.

>>6253149
Do you realise how big an autocannon is? Even the smallest weigh as much as a person - no way we can carry one of them and its ammo and associated kit without power armour, the recoil would send us flying and even our heavies would struggle with it.

>Look over your options once you got to the armoury. The armoury could very well have some other weapons you and your men could use. Or perhaps you could even discuss getting two special weapons, rather than just one?
Instead of making a decision before you'd even get to see the guns, you decided to just head to the armoury first. You already had plenty of ideas on what to get for some of your men. The anti-material rifle did sound enticing, and so did getting Evander a grenade launcher. Hearing the suggestion, Evander seemed to get even more excited than before. "I'd certainly not mind switchin' out me lil gun for somethin' with more... well, kaboom, hehe." He said eagerly, after which you turned to Alan and asked him if he was down to get some heavy armour. "Sure. I can carry a whole lot more, so might as well." He said in an aloof tone, perhaps not thinking of the significance of why you suggested it. Still, you wanted to see what the armoury had in stock before you could make any solid suggestions. Fortunately, it didn't take long for you and your men to reach the armoury to get a good look at all the wares.

You were the first to enter the display section, immediately looking over at the main guns which were mentioned previously. Though, you also paid attention to anything else which was of interest. Though before you'd get a chance to grab a gun, you'd be approached by the same high-ranking Lodgerite who had given you the railgun. "Well, well, well, look who's back. Sure is nice seeing you and your men again. Or well, I did already see you before." He said as he glanced at Thaddeus. "Good job on not wasting any of the batteries for the rail gun. Definitely did not expect you to keep them all on you. Especially since... well, you guys clearly used the railgun in combat a couple of times!" Thaddeus would scoff, before giving you a little bump with his elbow. "Aye, Mik sure made the right choice in gettin' me this one. It has helped out a ton!"

The Lodgerite nodded approvingly, before putting his hands together. "Well, glad to hear that. Anything to make sure you boys have the best chance at killing these biological terrors. Anyway, what can I get you today?" You would ask for the grenade launcher and an anti-material rifle, the Lodgerite nodding and soon going over to one of the displays. "We got both of those, actually. And, we do have something special in terms of the grenade launcher." He'd soon grab something pretty fancy: a weapon which resembled your typical grenade launcher. Though, it had some unique add-ons, namely a display and a slightly longer barrel. "We got this one recently. It's basically a modified grenade launcher. It has a digital aim system in it, which mean you can get pinpoint acceracy with whatever you fire. It has also been modified to take all kinds of ammunition, not just ordinary grenades. Stun grenades, smoke bombs, hell, any type of grenade we got will work with this thing."

Evander would be quick to check out the grenade launcher, clearly being quite enticed by it. "Oh, what a sweet lass she is. I definitely gotta gett a feel for ya..." He mumbled as he started fiddling with the digital display. In the meantime, you asked for an anti-material rifle, the Lodgerite nodding and leading you to the other side of the room. And sure enough, there was an anti-material rifle akin to the one Anon wielded previously. Unfortunately, it was a bit lighter, meaning it may pack less of a punch. Still, at least it made carrying it around a lot easier. "We've had this one for a while. Some people have been interested, but... well, if you want it, I am more than happy to discuss these things." Given that you couldn't just take everything right away, you'd first check out some wares which you knew you could take without issue. And one of these items was some heavy armour. Going to a side-space, you'd find plenty of armour on display. You immediately asked for some heavy armour for Anon, to which the Lodgerite thankfully nodded. "That can be rearranged. Do you want any other armour for you or any other men you've got?"

For the time being, you said you were good. Though, it perhaps required a bit more discussion with your men. If some of them wanted heavier armour, that could certainly be arranged. Regardless, you suddenly remembered something pretty important. Mike wasn't going to switch armour, given the necessity of a hazmat suit for his weaponry. Though thinking of this weapons, you remembered wanting to get some stronger bases for the acid gun. You would ask if the Lodgerite had stronger bases now, to which he rubbed the back of his head. "Ummm, afraid not. We still have some more of the usual stuff though!" Mike was a bit disappointed, afterwards asking: "Do you know any places which might have some stronger bases for me to use?" Unfortunately, the Lodgerite higher-up seemed stumped. "I'm sorry, I... I don't know. Really. You could maybe check around the base? Maybe some cleaning supplies? But here? Nah, we've got nothing. Sorry."

Well, at least you could refill on ammo for the acid gun here. That, or send Mike on a little adventure to find some more powerful chemicals. Though first, you asked if you could take all of the equipment which you had gathered, which made the Lodgerite a little uneasy. "Ehhhh, I mean... sorry to say this now that you've already picked up that rifle and grenade launcher, but... I am not entirely sure if we can give you both. Y'know, we still gotta leave some weapons here for other folk to work with, including more experimental weaponry for niche situations which people may run into. You guys now already have a flamethrower, acid gun, plasma railgun, sonic cannon... I know you guys mean well and that you're doing a fantastic job down here, but... it's something I need to consider."

Immediately, Thaddeus would say: "Can't we just leave our old guns here? Y'know, for other folk to use?" To this, the Lodgerite tilted his head and took a deep breath. "I... Like I said, we do need some more out there weapons here in case other groups need them for niche situations. I get that you wanna use these, but... well, these weapons are special and we can't just give all of them to one group." It was quite sad that, after Evander and Anon got a taste of some solid weaponry, they already had to be handed back in. Then again, you were a popular and well known guy. Surely, you would be able to acquire these guns, right?

>What do you do next?

>Convince the guy that he should hand the guns over to you anyway. You were the only one who was getting some major kills down here, so surely you deserved some solid equipment to help out with this! Besides, nobody would know that you took these weapons! (Write in how you'll convince him.)
>Bribe the guy to give the gun to you. You had plenty of funds to work with. Perhaps promising him a nice cut of that would get the job done. (Write in what you'll try to bribe him with.)
>Take one of the guns you had been shown and accept that you couldn't take all of them. One of your men would be disappointed, but you couldn't exactly take both. It'd not be fair for other Lodgerite soldiers. (Write which gun you'll pick.)
>Try and sneak one of the guns out of the place. Zaria was a sneaky git, so she could easily escape with one of the guns. That, or you could create a distraction and then grab the gun for yourself. (Write in how you'll sneak the gun out of there.)
>Discuss with your men what the best course of action was. Maybe some of your men would be willing to take less, or would have some special requests in terms of armour or other gear.
>Choose some other equipment which might be here. Some special grenades or guns which you could work with. (Write in what else you'll look for.)
>Something else...
(Also, two things I wanna note/bring up... for one, I had a dream last night, that I woke up at 6 in the morning with Chrys besides my bed. She held my laptop, opened it up whilst smiling smugly at me and showed me an unfinishd update, at which point she said "You still have an update to work on." At which point, I went to work in a panicked and tired hurry whilst she chuckled at me. I just felt like sharing that because it's very funny, and because I kinda wanna see an art anon draw it.)

(Secondly, I've recently been told by one anon that I should try and get the other squadmate's wishes and goals involved into the story. Now, I do know what each character wants, but... I am kinda curious if you guys got suggestions on how I should incorporate them into the story without it being too forced. Anyone willing to share some thoughts about this?)

>>6253512
>Take one of the guns you had been shown and accept that you couldn't take all of them. One of your men would be disappointed, but you couldn't exactly take both. It'd not be fair for other Lodgerite soldiers. (Write which gun you'll pick.)
An AM rifle doesn't do anything the railgun can't cover, plus this one is explicitly weaker than the one we had. We'll leave that one behind so Evander can have his super versatile grenade launcher.

>>6253512
>Take one of the guns you had been shown and accept that you couldn't take all of them. One of your men would be disappointed, but you couldn't exactly take both. It'd not be fair for other Lodgerite soldiers.
Let's not speedrun "how to get banned from the equipment store at best 101" and take the 'nade launcher. It's a more versatile capability we don't have.
>Choose some other equipment which might be here. Some special grenades or guns which you could work with.
Some thermite and various types of grenades for the launcher

Of course they wouldn't have the superbase here, we asked the staff at the hospital to brew it up for us and they agreed. We'll have to drop by them again to collect it, assuming they've got it.
I also wanted a couple of general tools like a prybar, grapple hook or a portable cutting saw, but the subjects we'll have with us will perform that role better than any tool we might have.

-----

The thing with the whole personal quest thing is that many of our companions haven't given us much indication of one, even we've discussed personal topics with them that would have touched on things they specifically wanted to get done. Zaria is the only one I can think of who's made it clear what they want to achieve down here while our other squadmates haven't given us much to work with besides general main story objectives - we can think up a few for some of our subject friends to help them with their Issues(tm), but many subject characters' personal main objectives are often not clear short of survival and escape and sometimes seeing their sisters and creators. I've never quite been sure if they just didn't have any big goals we can help them with over the story or if we've just been bad at seeing it.

>>6253510
Didn't we ask some government eggheads to cook up a few canisters of potent base chemicals ages ago?

>>6253512
>Take one of the guns you had been shown and accept that you couldn't take all of them. One of your men would be disappointed, but you couldn't exactly take both. It'd not be fair for other Lodgerite soldiers.
Take the grenade launcher. Though I also think we should trade the sonic cannon in for the AMR. I don't know why we even bothered getting the sonic cannon.

>Take one of the guns you had been shown and accept that you couldn't take all of them. One of your men would be disappointed, but you couldn't exactly take both. It'd not be fair for other Lodgerite soldiers.
Whilst you could've potentially convinced the Lodgerite to get two weapons, you decided it just wasn't worth it. You only really felt certain about one of the options, that being the grenade launcher. It was just a well rounded, effective and useful tool for Evander to wield. It'd also give you a lot more opportunities in combat which you might not have had previously. Thus, you asked to simply take that one for Evander. "Alright, I can arrange that." The Lodgerite said, at which point Anon spoke up. "Guess I will stick with my shotgun still, huh?" He said slightly disappointedly, before you elaborated that the anti-material rifle already had its function covered by the railgun. Not to mention the fact, that the one he had used previously was far more powerful than this one. "Yeah, I guess... Hey, maybe we get lucky and find another group of Guardsmen wielding an anti-material rifle from Heroes."

>Choose some other equipment which might be here. Some special grenades or guns which you could work with.
After Evander received and started checking out his grenade launcher, you would ask the Lodgerite for thermite and other types of grenades. "Thermite? Sure. We got some of that." He'd say before looking through a different section of the armoury. Soon, he'd return with a couple of vials of the stuff. "Given that you know what Thermite is, I assume you already know what it is. Still, just in case you aren't familiar with it, try not to store it near anything hot." He'd hand you some of the viles, you asking Evander if he could store them. "Aye, just... gimme a minute. I'm lookin' at ma new gun." Speaking of which, you asked for some of the special grenades which could be used with the grenade launcher. The lodgerite signalled you to check them out yourself.

You swiftly checked them out. There were the aforementioned stun and smoke grenades, as well as the plastic explosives. There were also some sticky grenades which seemed to be coated with a tiny layer of adhesive material to allow it to stick. There was a type of endothermic grenade, which used dry ice to create an extremely 'cold' explosion. There were some more pyrotechnic focused grenades which were essentially just napalm. There were EMP explosives, which... could be useful. Though, you could tell Lydia was a little concerned by the fact you picked it up to check it out. Probably since it could very well put your own electronics at risk. Aside from these grenades though, most other options were pretty normal. Honestly, there probably were more options, but it also seemed like any other grenades were superfluous, given the tools you already had at your disposal. At least it seemed safe to say that you could use these with the fancy new grenade launcher you got.

After checking out all the grenades, you would ask how many you could take. "The regular ones? Well, you can take quite a few of them. The special ones, uhhh, I'll have to limit it to... let's say 3 for now. You know, in case other Lodger soldiers want access to them." 3 of each special grenade didn't seem all too bad at all. Evander seemed more than happy with them, soon opening up his bag again and saying: "Ya can put em in here, Mik!" Though, before you'd do such, you'd also ask your men if any wanted some of the heavier armour. Most of your men shook their heads, with Thaddeus even arguing: "I did consider it. But, I think I prefer my mobility, especially when I'm already luggin' around the railgun." However, there were two who decided to make the change. Though one wasn't that surprising. "I'll take mine now, thanks." Alan said right away, before Evander stepped up. "Aye, me too." Despite it maybe being a LOT to carry around for Evander, it seemed he wanted to play it safe. Maybe it was the right move, given all the explosives he'd be carrying around all the time.

Thus, the Lodgerite higher-up gave a nod and signalled them over to a different space. "I'll give these two guys their armour. In the meantime, feel free to browse around a little bit more. If there's anything you wanna ask, I'll be happy to answer you in a minute." The Lodgerite left with Evander and Alan in tow, as you decided to look for some other tools. Namel, a prybar, grapple hook and portable cutting saw. The prybar and cutting saw were easy enough to find, but there sadly was no grappling hook. Still, two out of three wasn't bad.

With that in mind, you had to decide which grenades to take along, before you could finally head down again. You just needed to make a little detour back to the hospital to ask for the superbase which you requested from them, and you would be ready to go.

>What do you do next?

>Select which grenades you wanted to take along. You could take three of the each specialized grenade you had looked at, but some were maybe more practical than the others... (Write in which grenades you'll take along.)
>Try and hand over one of your weapons for the anti-material rifle. The sound cannon did come to mind as an option, but maybe it was just better to leave it be for now? (Write in what you'll try to hand over in exchange for the Anti-material rifle.)
>Head back down to the crater once Evander and Alan had gotten their new armour and once you had discussed all the items you had taken with the Lodgerite higher-up. Then, you could either find a spot to contact Annie, or ask around as to where France was last seen. (Write in how you'll find France once you had gotten everything you needed.)
>Something else...

>>6253990
>There were EMP explosives, which... could be useful
Holy shit aaaah
EMPs in a grenade? Why hasn't everyone been using these? Nanite destroyers!

>Select which grenades you wanted to take along. You could take three of the each specialized grenade you had looked at, but some were maybe more practical than the others... (Write in which grenades you'll take along.)
ALL EMP

>>6253991
>Select which grenades you wanted to take along. You could take three of the each specialized grenade you had looked at, but some were maybe more practical than the others...
Sure, we'll just take a few of each. Whether we should bring the EMP grenades depends on whether they affect nanites - if they don't, they'll cause worse friendly fire than damage but if they do, we'll bring a few to evaluate.

-----

I been thinking that the bag o' boom we got just ain't big enough. We need more bang, a LOT more. We might have to find or concoct our own explosives down in the Facility to make a proper huge Fawkes bomb. ANFO might be a good option since the agricultural areas surely have large stocks of ammonium nitrate - obtaining fuel oil might be more difficult, though we have options available like pilfering mineral oil out of transformers.

>>6254013
Didn't Juniper in the side story mention there was a walking talking EMP in the form of a subject before? If a subject can make an EMP I have my doubts that their nanites are so weak as to be crippled by one. We don't have the information in character but I have my doubts they'll do much of anything. If anything I think they'll be more useful against guardsmen or other death squads than anyone else.

>>6254032
Supporting.

Lydia is neat.

>>6254110
>If a subject can make an EMP I have my doubts that their nanites are so weak as to be crippled by one
By that logic our military hardware shouldn’t be so weak an EMP would disable it either

>>6254171
She is pretty great

>Select which grenades you wanted to take along. You could take three of the each specialized grenade you had looked at, but some were maybe more practical than the others...
Of the grenades that were there, you were most intrigued by the EMP grenade. You immediately wondered if it'd be effective at dealing with subjects and their nanites. Though, considering that an EMP would've already been used if it could take out subjects, it probably was doubtful that it'd have much of an effect. Then again, it could maybe work on electronic subjects like Kimmy, or any other subject with electrical powers. And even if it didn't work against subjects, it'd certainly work against guardsmen or other death squads. Thus, you asked if you could take as many of them as possible with you. "Yeah, like we said, can only take three of them though." You happily accepted, telling Evander to take three of the EMP grenades. You also took two of the other ones, Evander stashing them in his bag before it was finally time to head out. Evander and Alan soon appeared with their new armours, appearing pretty decked out. "Now THIS is some proper armour! No rabbit's gonna take me down with this!" Evander said proudly. "Alright, let's get going! I wanna kill some subjects!" Alan said eagerly as well.

You thanked the higher-ups, before finally leaving the armoury. "Well, guess we've got everythin' we need now." Thaddeus would say, you and your men all agreeing. Thus, you'd head back to the place you left all your equipment. And after gathering everything, you would finally start heading downwards again. "So, what about France? Do we just... not go looking for him?" Anon asked, you explaining that you'd find a way to contact him soon. "I think I'll ask some of the communications officers for intel on where he might be. That way, we won't need to wait much longer before we finally reach them." Lydia suggested, which wasn't the worst idea. Especially since you still needed to visit the medbay again.

The transport vehicle landed soon enough, you and your men casually chatting a bit about your new weaponry. Though, you simply focused on getting to the med-bay, beelining straight for it. Though, Lydia did soon get distracted with some people who looked like they handled comms. "Excuse me? Do you two work with comms?" Lydia asked to the two government workers as she approached them. "Uhhhh, yeah? What's up?" They asked a little dismissively, Lydia speaking more optimistically. "Well, I would like to ask if you could contact some soldiers for us? A group of Lodger soldiers we are friends with." The government soldiers looked at each other, before one asked: "Why exactly?" Lydia explained it in a reasonable enough way: "Just wanted to discuss some things. Lodgerite to Lodgerite." The two would look at each other, before one would grab a tablet. "So, what's their name?" Lydia quickly gave all the details she could reasonable give, it fortunately leading to some useful intel.

"France Cobbler was last seen heading to the eastern sectors of the facility. He left a few days ago, and has not made any communications with us since then." This... did not sound all that good. Lydia would raise an eyebrow and softly say: "That... isn't that a cause of concern?" To which the soldier scoffed. "Most of you death squads aren't the communicative type. So, I wouldn't sweat it. They're probably busy. And if things go bad, they'd be able to contact us." To which the other government worker said: "Yeah, silence is golden." At which point, they both seemingly just left without even saying anything else. Lydia seemed a little confused and concerned, before looking over at you and the others. "I mean, they did have a point. We hardly contact the government either." Mike calmly argued, to which Anon calmly said: "That's also because it isn't easy to do, given the limited range of the radios. Otherwise, fair point."

Afterwards, Zaria jokingly said: "First time Mike agreed with somebody in the government, guys." To which Mike groaned and the rest of your men chuckled a bit. There was a bit more banter as you approached the medical bay again. You told Mike to follow you whilst the rest stayed outside, after which you were quickly greeted by some staff members. "Ah, can we help you?" One of them said, you asking about the superbase you had requested. "Ummm, give us a moment, please." Mike looked around a little bit, before asking: "So, how's Derek doing around here? Should e maybe check up on him?" Given the hurry you were in, you decided to just... leave it be for now. Derek needed the rest and would do better if he had no distractions. Besides, the doctors soon returned with... a tiny vial. "Here you go! A vial of Verkade Base, synthesized a while ago! Before we hand it over though, we do require some paperwork to explain what you'll use it for." The tiny vial left Mike a bit stumped. "Is... is that it? I... that's barely anything!"

The doctor seemed confused. "Excuse me? We... got a request for some basic compounds." Mike would show his acid gun. "Yeah, for this thing! That stuff you made will barely last a second in my tank!" The doctor looked over at Mike's gun, before letting out a soft. "Oh." Mike sighed and looked over at you. "Well, that's great. Guess we'll have to stick to what I got, huh..." At which point, the doctors spoke up again. "Um, we can try and synthesize a bit more. But, unfortunately, it will take a while. Not because it's hard to synthesize, but because it's a bitch to transport the materials and do all the paperwork to create it." The doctor rubbed the back of his head, before calmly saying: "Maybe if you just... fill in the form and explain what you'll use it for, I can send it to my superiors and they can look into the matter of producing more at a faster rate?" Mike groaned before letting his head fall back. "Bureaucracy strikes again..."

Either way, it seemed like you were going to have to sign the paper anyway if you wanted the superbase. Though given how little there was of it, it seemed more useful to just leave the vial here and not risk the chance of it breaking open and causing some substantial damage. Especially since it couldn't even fill Mike's tank without needing more chemicals to mix in, and god knows what it'd do to mix chemicals with this base. Either way, with some paperwork, you could at the very least get SOMETHING out of this...

>What do you do next?

>Sign the paperwork and get going as quickly as possible. Only issue was that you might have to write some revealing things for the paperwork, since you'd probably need to explain why you needed something so deadly on you. Then again, you could always make up a lie. (Write in what you'll note down on the paperwork.)
>Just ignore the paperwork for now. It wasn't worth dealing with more government bureacracy bullshit anyway. Not to mention, the current chemicals you had being more than enough to hurt subjects.
>Head back to the girls right away. You could get them supplies right away, then contact Annie for help or even just head out on your own.
>Head far enough away from the main base to contact Annie. Maybe you had to get out of sight a little, but it'd be easy enough to contact her and get some useful intel on where France was. (Write in how far you'll head and what you'll try to discuss with Annie.)
>Head eastwards into the facility. It was probably not too difficult to find France there, especially if Annie also gave you some intel on their location.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(>>6254171 She really is neat. I'd love to see more pictures of the squad in this style. Just some cute images before I finally get some proper art commissions.)

>>6255348
>Just ignore the paperwork for now. It wasn't worth dealing with more government bureaucracy bullshit anyway. Not to mention, the current chemicals you had being more than enough to hurt subjects.
I'm sure we can find a use for this small quantity somewhere, but drawing more attention to us like this just isn't worth it methinks.
>Head back to the girls right away. You could get them supplies right away, then contact Annie for help or even just head out on your own.
Okay, here's what I propose we do after we head back to drop off stuff. We have Annie contact him directly on her own to feel him out without any mention of us - if he's compatible with our things, she can either direct him to an RV point or she directs us to him. We should bring a couple of subjects along because either he's fine with them and will have to be working with them anyway, or they can help as additional insurance in case we have to.....safeguard our secret.

>>6255344
Agh we directly told GalGov employees we were looking for France? I thought we agreed to wait until we left camp so we could ask Annie?

>Sign the paperwork and get going as quickly as possible. Only issue was that you might have to write some revealing things for the paperwork, since you'd probably need to explain why you needed something so deadly on you. Then again, you could always make up a lie. (Write in what you'll note down on the paperwork.)
I don't think we even need to lie. Acidic slime girl is on the official list, we want this in case we run into her.

>>6255494
God, artanon, why do you make Grise so fucking adorable... Now I regret making her a murderous lunatic who will never receive any headpats :(

Anyway, since the two current responses kinda clash, I'll skip on an update and wait for a tie-breaker vote tonight. Unfortunately, unlike in the weekend, I cannot afford to stay up until 4 in the morning now. Especially now that my morning university courses start at a nice 8:20 rather than 8:45. Thank you, whoever works on the schedule...

Anyway, IIRC, the monster girl doc as well as the squadmate doc should have been fully updated now. If I forgot anything important in there, please let me know. More importantly though, I am thinking of adding all the key supplies you guys have gotten to the squadmate doc, since it'd be a lot easier to make decisions based on them then. First of all, would you guys all agree that that is a good idea?

Also, for context, the items you guys have gotten from this latest ressuply is:
10 Grenades
8 flashbangs
3 EMP grenades
8 large vials of thermite
3 Endo grenades
3 Pyro grenades
3 Sticky grenades
Small box of plastic explosives
6 small landmines
1 large spool of metal wires
Bag of caltrops
4 magnet traps
1 small spool of electric trap wire
6 camera traps
1 inflateable life raft
5 tents
Various rations (enough for at least 3 weeks if well managed)
3 tablets (including previously used one)
3 crawler drones
2 flying drones
12 plasma rail gun cartridges
(Also once again, feel free to point out if I forgot anything like a jackass.)

>>6255814
I'm not *too* concerned so I'll go with just go on approving the request with the SM-7 excuse if it gets things moving tonight.

These equipment items being on the squad list would help with keeping track of who's got what, but I am concerned that it would become a chore to constantly update and easy to forget. Also, how long could we feed the girls from what we have? I suppose it helps that only four of them actually need food.

>>6255822
I don't think I will note down who has each item, except for maybe the grenades with Evander. Otherwise, it'd indeed be a chore if people constantly switch them around. I'll just post the list so people know all the equipment you've got.


As for how long you could feel the girls with the rations, I think that with the rations you currently got, you could easily keep the girls well fed for a month and a half. However, that is obviously not gonna happen since that would mean not having any rations for yourself.

For 10 soldiers, you can feed for 3 weeks. So, if you split that in half, you could feed the girls for... quite some time whilst feeding yourself for 1.5 weeks. I suppose you guys can decide on what is a fair amount to give the girls.

>>6255828
Huh, so our squad goes through food more than twice as fast as they do

Best split then is probably 2 weeks worth for us, the rest to them

>>6255831
6 weeks is a month and a half, so it's just twice as fast. Though accounting for the two humans, we have six people to feed in the hideout (versus nine in our squad) - I guess the girls might need a bit less food than a person, though you might think the big girls need more. Not sure how their metabolism works out.

I think we should take ten days worth. I don't foresee us being underground for any longer than a week, at any rate and we can always go back topside if we run out though GalGov may become suspicious if we're requisitioning way more food than our party should need.

I imagine there are some food warehouses around the facility. Obviously we have the cooler sector as the main storage area, but I'd be surprised if there weren't other warehouses around other sectors for storage and distro of food given the large distances and quantities involved, including non-perishables. And that's excluding bunker provisions - I wonder how long the people still in them have before they run out.

>>6255847
Uuummm Ackchyually a week is 7 days so 6 weeks is 42 days
The average month length rounded to the nearest integer is 30 days, a month and a half is 45 days.
45>42

>>6255814
>>6255393
To move things along I support this one.

>Just ignore the paperwork for now. It wasn't worth dealing with more government bureaucracy bullshit anyway. Not to mention, the current chemicals you had being more than enough to hurt subjects.
Whilst the chemicals did seem somewhat worth it, even if it was a tiny dose, you felt that the paperwork just wasn't worth it. So, you decided to skip out on the offer. The doctor went from cheerful and relaxed to annoyed and tired. "You... you're joking, right? All the paperwork, time it took to synthetesize and danger we put ourselves in and... ugh, you know what? This was to be expected. You put work into shit for death squads like you, but the moment some paperwork gets involved it's too much or not trustworthy. Bastards." Mike seemed a little amused, as the doctor signalled you away. "Do us all a favour and piss off now." He grumbled at you, as you quietly turned arond and left the place. Though as you left, Mike would give you a soft shoulder bump. "That made me smile a whole lot, Mik. Even if we don't have the superbase now, it was still worth it just to piss of the doctors." Whilst it was certainl funny, you did wonder if pissing off a doctor who could potentially save some of your men would end up biting you in the ass later...

>Head back to the girls right away. You could get them supplies right away, then contact Annie for help or even just head out on your own.
You left the medical bay, approaching your men who were quick to ask if you had gotten the chemicals. You said you skipped out on it since it was a bunch of paperwork, which they didn't seem to mind. Thus, you'd tell your men to follow, as you once again took the path to the girls. "We aren't gonna find France?" Anon asked, to which you said that you had a different plan. Though before elaborating, you decided to leave the main base. And soon enough, you were back on the path heading north towards the exposed parts of the flooded sector, you finally noticing that the water level had risen slightly...

It wasn't anything too substantial, but it was definitely a detail you had to consider, given the implications. Still, for now, you'd focus on explaining the plan you had, especially since there were no enemy forces around to listen in on you. Your primary goal was to head to the girls to drop off some supplies and to either contact Annie afterwards or some time soon now that you were away from enemy forces. However, you wouldn't ask Annie to give you a direct connection with France. This made your men rather intrigued, clearly eager to hear what the reason was. You explained how you wanted Annie to feel him out without your input or knowledge of your relationship. After all, maybe they reacted poorly to Annie or anyone who worked with her? "I would... actually suggest we get someone else to do it than Annie. Maybe one of our other gals?" Lydia said, much to the mild confusion of your men. Lydia noticed the confusion, and was quick to elaborate on her thoughts.

"Okay, so Annie is pretty busy. So, it might be difficult to sort of... get her to keep continually talking with them. Besides, we know Annie can redirect our radios to other radios which are further away. We can just ask Annie to connect one of our radios to France's and then have one of our girls communicate with him." It was something worth considering. Though, you did first wanna finish your main point. That being, that France could go over to a rendevous point or simply gets directions to your location. Of course, that was only if he was willing to help out and clearly was compatible with your main mission right now. And of course, you probably had to bring the subject who'd communicate with them along. Not just to show that you could be trusted, but also in case the deal soured and you needed some help in dealing with the enemy threats who knew your secrets. "Aye, that sounds decent enough. S'pose we can contact Annie now then, huh?" Thaddeus mumbled, the rest of your men nodding along.

Either way, you'd soon enter the facility proper, wandering through the halls you first passed. The burnt chamber you killed those guardsmen, the barricades which had been set up, the office spaces. Not to mention, the hallway which bent eastwards and into the flooded sector. Your men seemed refreshed and confident, clearly ready to get back into action and begin with recruiting more allies to take down Feng. Hopefully, France's alliance would be a success, and he could easily make his way over to you with his subject by their side as well.

>What do you do next?

>Already contact Annie right away. The quicker you told Annie about your plan, the likelier that she would be able to plan ahead to make things as effective as possible. Unless if some other death squad appeared now, the chance was likely that you'd be safe contacting Annie now. (Write in what you'll request from Annie.)
>Talk with your men about... well, anything, really. You could maybe chat some more with Alan, Evander and Artyom. Or you could just have some other casual chats to get some thoughts from your own men. (Write in what you'll chat about.)
>Look around for anything of note. It had been a while since you were going down this path in this way. Sure, you had passed through it not too long ago, but maybe you'd notice some differences now? (Write in what you'll look out for.)
>Something else...

>>6256300
Figures that the water is still rising. Much of the facility is presumably below sea level, so it's just going to keep coming in with time.
>Already contact Annie right away. The quicker you told Annie about your plan, the likelier that she would be able to plan ahead to make things as effective as possible. Unless if some other death squad appeared now, the chance was likely that you'd be safe contacting Annie now.
We're still trying to get a hold of France, we were not able to talk to him up top and believe he's down here though we don't know where. Would she be willing to call him directly and try and talk to him herself to feel him out and, if he's open minded, patch him through to us so we can make arrangements? Or if she's busy, could she patch us through to him so we can have one of our girls talk to him instead before we do? Just to keep an extra layer of separation between him and us in case he's not open to the idea so we don't end up in another Nikita situation. No rush, we can't do this until the hideout just for the sake of any prepwork. Though speaking of Nikita, how's he doing?
In case we do it, I nominate Chrys as the interviewer to serenade them with her dulcet non-canonically Californian tones. She's very normal, fairly charismatic and in the MGE as a known and mostly harmless quantity, so I say she's the one who is both able to talk and likely to be listened to. All our other girls are some mix of unknown, dangerous and/or "quirky".

>>6256300
>Already contact Annie right away. The quicker you told Annie about your plan, the likelier that she would be able to plan ahead to make things as effective as possible. Unless if some other death squad appeared now, the chance was likely that you'd be safe contacting Annie now. (Write in what you'll request from Annie.)
ANNIE! AAAAAAANNNNIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! As for what we'll tell her, I'll defer to what >>6256335 wrote.

>>6256300
>Already contact Annie right away. The quicker you told Annie about your plan, the likelier that she would be able to plan ahead to make things as effective as possible. Unless if some other death squad appeared now, the chance was likely that you'd be safe contacting Annie now. (Write in what you'll request from Annie.)
Just the current location of France. Definitely don't want to lead with a subject talking to their squad, just make it one of our group.

>>6256300
Yea actually lemme switch >>6256343
to supporting>>6256490

>>6256490
Why not? They've got no way to tell it's us and for all they know it's just a subject who got hold of a radio. Going to find France ourselves removes that layer of anonymity and, if they don't agree, it puts us in a pickle since it means we've somehow tracked their exact location and came and found them all the way down her for something or been specifically patched into their radio from an impossible distance, which would look really fuckin weird and throw up some questions we can't answer.

Gonna skip out on an update tonight. Uni has left me semi-exhausted from the various assignments I gotta do. Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll be able to wrap up a few of them before the weekend. And if not... well, we'll see, I suppose.

Fortunately, I won't leave you guys with nothing. OlympusQM was based enough to add Katya to his quest character pin-up calendar. So, for your enjoyment, here is Katya... if she was made by Elbrus.

>>6256571
1. What does anonymity do for us here? You say it's to avoid another Nikita situation but that started because he overheard us talking to subjects. This time we'd be initiating contact over the radio to cooperate, with no hints about our friend group. Not to mention Nikita is following GalGov orders while Annie has vouched for France.

2. Think of the situation from France's point of view. Someone contacts them claiming to be a subject they've never met, one that just so happened to get ahold of a radio and just so happened to try using it to talk to the people trying to kill them and just so happened to broadcast to one of the very few sympathetic squads. If it were us on the receiving end I'd think we'd slipped up somewhere and GalGov had gotten suspicious and decided to test us.


>it means we've somehow tracked their exact location and came and found them all the way down her for something or been specifically patched into their radio from an impossible distance, which would look really fuckin weird and throw up some questions we can't answer.
I don't think it looks like this? We just get close, radio them from a normal distance, and say we got their general location from base camp.

>>6256861
Annie hasn't really told us much about him or directly vouched for his character, only told us that he spared Idalia and we've drawn our own conclusions from that. But otherwise fair point - my main concern is just keeping that layer in between us and them to hide any connection to us until we know for sure they can get on board.

This is why I'd much rather it'd be Annie herself to do that, since it's well known she has eyes all over the facility and would know what he did, have the means to talk to him, know information that nobody else would and can prove her own identity. The more I think about it, the more unworkable having anyone else do it seems.

Us traipsing all the way through the facility just to find them is in and of itself eyebrow-raising and sends us straight into the "what's so urgent, what do you want" phase of contact. It's super weird behaviour from us and it's going to be straight down to brass tacks so we have no chance to lead in or check his character - it'll end in an agreement, or a dead squad.

>>6256879
Annie starting up talks would be ideal, but OP already stated that she's too busy so sadly that doesn't seem possible.

>my main concern is just keeping that layer in between us and them to hide any connection to us until we know for sure they can get on board.
That'd be nice if we could do it, but we might not be able to without guaranteeing they'll turn down the offer because they think it's a GalGov trap, and they'd be more suspicious of future offers no matter the source. This might be a case where we need to take some risk to have a chance at the reward.

>Us traipsing all the way through the facility just to find them is in and of itself eyebrow-raising and sends us straight into the "what's so urgent, what do you want" phase of contact. It's super weird behaviour from us and it's going to be straight down to brass tacks so we have no chance to lead in or check his character - it'll end in an agreement, or a dead squad.
We could always come up with an excuse - say some other squad told us they had a lead on Idalia if we want to pressure them. If we want to be less overbearing we can say we heard they saw combat but came back uninjured so we figured they knew a low threat subject that we could help take down as a small break to recover from Reika. Gives us a credible excuse for not only tracking them down, but also to linger in the area and feel them out.

>>6257118
He didn't out and out say Annie is too busy, just that she is busy so it could be difficult for her - there's no harm in asking if she can spare a few minutes of her time, even if it's a polite no.

I'm sure we could come up with something in the area they're in as a plausible target for us to make it less weird that we're in the same place at the same time and coincidentally ran into them.

I suppose that in the end, if they're not as sympathetic as we thought and are suspicious of us, we may be significantly more heavily armed than they are and will have KK (and a couple of others, I still say we should bring Chrys as a smol and cute "starter subject" to help ease them in and prove that we're telling the truth) with us - albeit lagging behind out of sight - to ensure that dead men tell no tales. The Facility is a dangerous place and death squads go missing all the time, after all.

>>6257293
So if we lead with Chrys and they're not on board, we kill them. If we lead with ourselves and they're not on board, we also kill them. I don't see what leading with Chrys does other than give them a chance to kill her.

>>6257302
No, we're not leading with Chrys or going straight to murder if they're not as sympathetic if we thought. We just bring her in *if* they agree as the first if our group to be introduced to. But if they don't agree, we can hopefully keep it to just a brief exchange of words on an incidental meeting and be done with the interaction but we should be prepared.

>Already contact Annie right away. The quicker you told Annie about your plan, the likelier that she would be able to plan ahead to make things as effective as possible. Unless if some other death squad appeared now, the chance was likely that you'd be safe contacting Annie now.
After re-entering the facility, you would ask Anon to right away contact Annie. Even though Lydia stated that Annie was busy, you didn't think it'd be an issue to just ask for France's location. You could wait with the fancy conversation until later, if the opportunity seemed right. Though, given how carefully you had to approach France and his men with this offer, the current plan would involve as few subjects as possible. Just in case things did go poorly. Anon would turn on the radio to Annie's frequency, you hearing her voice right away. "... resulting in quite a large number of deaths. Thus, these heroic Diamond Dogs soldiers have decided to valiantly retreat! Truly, these soldiers are an example for all death squads! before speaking into it." Clearly, you had missed some 'good' news from Annie, given how smugly she spoke of these Diamond Dogs soldiers.

Regardless, Anon waited for her to start playing music again, before speaking into the radio. "Annie, can you hear us? We require some assistance." Annie's radio station played a tiny bit of music, before it faded away and you heard Annie's voice. "Hm, what is it, Anon?" She asked casually, at which point you asked for France's location. "Ah, of course. Give me a moment." She'd go quiet for a short minute, before she would give some coordinates. "I've forwarded his current location to your tablet. Given the distance between your group and his though, I can try and update it every so often so you don't miss him by accident." Well, at least Annie was willing to help out a bit. It'd be a whole lot easier to find them if you got constant updates on his location, after all.

Afterwards, you would thank Annie before asking Anon on the directions you'd have to take to get to France. "Well, apparently, they are further up in the facility in the north-east, somewhere above the freezer sector." Anon said, which was pretty reassuring since it meant you could potentially walk over the flooded sector after you visited the girls. Either way, you still needed to think a bit about how you'd approach him. Though, you already had plenty of thoughts going through your head. Of course, you elaborated a bit to your men, mentioning how you wanted to maybe have some subjects along as an ambassador, but that you first wanted to find France on his own before making any move related to Idalia or your own subjects. "Aye, understood." Thaddeus said, before Artyom calmly said: "We'll keep our mouths shut unless necessary. I trust that you can convince him pretty well, Mik." For now, your men kept casually chatting, up until you reached the tunnel through the rubble which led to the green sector.

Once again, you were met with far more government staff and soldiers, them looking inquisitively at you. Some clearly were annoyed by your presence, whilst others seemed more tolerating and intrigued. You didn't really pay attention to them, continuing the long trek towards your girls. And after an hour of walking, you left the comfort of the green sector and headed west again. Until finally, you found the vents which you needed to take to head up towards your girls. "Huh, I don't remember this." Evander said curiously, at which point Artyom spoke up more amusedly. "If I recall correctly, this is where we sent the girls before we decided to try and go after Feng and her forces. Before I was blown up, of course." He grumbled about that last bit, you simply signalling your men to go into the vent. It did take some time, you using ropes to help some of your men get back up. And after an arduous hour of climbing up and crawling through the ventilation system, you were on the floor the girls stayed at.

"I am very curious how the girls have been doing. I presume they've been pretty bored." Artyom said, to which Zaria softly said. "That's why we got them some things to entertain themselves with. Courtesy of Lodger, of course, hehe." Afterwards, Alan would speak up in soft curiosity. "I wanna see Anofelis again. I've missed seeing her and talking with her." Of course, Arty, Evander and Alan had no clue that you now had a bunch of new girls with you. Katya, Reika, Thalia, Cortina and of course Vinisha, all of them would... certainly be a shock to meet for the three soldiers. Especially considering they assumed that you had killed Reika...

>What do you do next?

>Just get to the girls, hand them some of your supplies and maybe take some along to start your search for France Cobbler. (Write in what you hand over to the girls and who you'll ask to join you.)
>Give Alan, Artyom and Evander some time to get to meet the new additions to your crew. Surely, they'd love to learn more about the wondrous subjects you have saved and their incredible abilities!
>Go over to the girls in a specific way to mess with Alan, Arty and Evander. Given what they didn't know, you could play some harmless little jokes on them to the amusement of your men and the girls. (Write in how you'll tease your own men with the news.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(I've noticed my updates have been rather short as of late. I partially blame that on me being on a shitty laptop now that my actual computer decided to shit itself. Still, hope that, despite the shortened length, the updates aren't too lacking in substance right now.)

(Anyway, let's see if you guys decide to just quickly pass through, give Arty, Evander and Alan some time to meet the girls... or if you'll be a funny lil troll.)

>>6257388
surprising lack of reaction among the new gents to us just having Annie on speed dial as our Mission Control like it's any other day
>Give Alan, Artyom and Evander some time to get to meet the new additions to your crew. Surely, they'd love to learn more about the wondrous subjects you have saved and their incredible abilities!
I can think of a few ways to mess with the three, but it could put a dampener on some first impressions and I don't think trying to scare people holding automatic weapons is a good idea. Best to let them meet the new arrivals at their own pace while we fill them in properly on what's happened over the last.....seven threads.

>>6257388
>Go over to the girls in a specific way to mess with Alan, Arty and Evander. Given what they didn't know, you could play some harmless little jokes on them to the amusement of your men and the girls. (Write in how you'll tease your own men with the news.)
Have them trail a bit behind to make sure we aren't being followed, then promise some meat if Reika hides and jumpscares them
...
Have them leave their weapons at the door just in case

>>6257485
Reika is still down a few limbs, by the way

>>6257490
Damn that's right
Have Kamara help out with her chameleon powers

>>6257388
Neat story so far. Spent the past few days reading it when I had the time and caught up. Probably won't be able to do anything often but I will certainly keep an eye on it.

>>6257485
Voting for this

>>6257820
Welcome to the present day, it's been a bit of a journey that's been slow at times but we're only just getting started. To get a new person's perspective, here's a few banal questions while it's still fresh in your mind.
>Cast members you particularly like or dislike?
>Best or worst moments?
>Most unexpected action(s)?
>Decision(s) you disagreed with the most?
>Would you have voted to kill Chrys at the start?
>How do you want the story to end?
>Can I count on you to support Total Feng Death?
>Characters you particularly want to find?
>Places you particularly want to check out?
>Something else you want to do that we're not already doing?
>Anything you think the quest could improve on a meta level?
>Free space!

>Go over to the girls in a specific way to mess with Alan, Arty and Evander. Given what they didn't know, you could play some harmless little jokes on them to the amusement of your men and the girls.
Since the three men had not a single clue what awaited them, you decided to have a little bit of fun. Once you started approaching the hallway where the girls stayed at, you'd ask Alan, Evander and Artyom to stay back a bit. Mainly since you didn't want to be followed by anyone. "Ah, yes, us being 'followed'. We gotcha, Mik. That's a good plan. We'll stay back and make sure nobody followed us. Afterwards, we can meet up with the girls and see how they are doing." Artyom said, before bumping Alan and Evander with his elbows. Evander was quick to realise that something more amusing was going on, yet Alan seemed to take it a bit literally still. "I guess we can stick behind. Though, uhhh, I do wanna meet Anofelis again, like I said." Thus, the three stayed behind a little, fortunately being well aware that you were up to something. Though, at least they seemed to assume that it was something rather harmless.

Whilst they trailed a bit behind you, you and the rest of your men would head fowrard, soon seeing the entrance to the girls' sleeping chambers. You'd approach, putting your gun at the side of the room. This was done so Alan, Evander and Artyom would hopefully also place their weapons down. That way, it wouldn't scare the girls and wouldn't result in any friendly fire from them. Of course, you'd soon knock on the door and peak inside, immediately being met with the girls all looking at you. "Welcome back, Mikhail!" Chrys, Oreas, Vinisha, Cortina and Thalia would all say to you shortly after one another. The rest of your men followed you into the chamber, being greeted by the girls. Though you'd tell some of your men to stay outside to keep the three from approaching just yet. "Uhhh, okay." Mike said as he was given the task.

You told your men of the idea you had, stating that you wanted to scare them with Reika. "Um, are you sure that this is a good idea, Mik?" Lydia immediately asked, at which point Katya spoke up. "These soldiers may not be used to our presence. It would indeed be logical to be more calm with our approach. Or, at the very least, not to use an aggressive approach." Reika seemed more curious, right away saying: "I mean, I wouldn't mind scaring them. But what's in it for me?" Before you could extend your offer, Chrys was quick to respond to that with an obvious point. "Um, I know this might be funny in some way, but... how will Reika scare them if she has no real limbs to stand with?" Laura more anxiously asked: "And what if your men don't like being scared and... you know, opt to shoot instead?" You reassured them that there'd be no shooting and that things would be fine. More importantly, you told Reika about the meat rations you had gotten, which instantly piqued her interests.

She gasped and would try and stand up. "Ah, I will scare them, if I can get meat! I'll scare them VERY bad! I'll terrorize them and make them run in terror and BEG to be shown mercy! I will make them wish death got to them instead!" Well, Reika was VERY interested, that was for sure. It made Kamara softly say: "P-Please, not that scary." The girls and your men all agreed, Reika grumbling a bit. "Look, I'm still not on board... are you sure that this will be safe?" Laura asked, you reassuring her and the others, before asking Cortina to maybe use her strenght to lift Reika to help out. You did consider Kamara for the job, but her camouflage wasn't going to really help and sell the scare factor from Reika. Cortina and her darker colours could certainly help with that. "I can certainly be of assistance, if this will just be something playful and amusing. A practical joke all of us can laugh about." Given that Arty already suspected you had planned something, you imagined that he wouldn't be too upset by the joke.

Thus, you got everyone ready to get set-up, all the while telling Mike to distract Arty, Evander and Alan if they got close. The majority of the girls would hide. All except for Cortina who picked up Reika and used her own arms to make it appear like Reika still had her own arms. The rest of your men also stepped back, with Anon saying: "God, I hope that this will go fine." To which Zaria spoke up as well. "Unless if Mik can't convince them to drop their weapons, I feel like we'll be pretty safe." Once everyone was ready for the surprise, you'd head to the door and would loudly tell Alan, Evander and Artyom to go over. "Oh boy. I wonder why that took so long." Artyom said amusedly, you asking them to put their guns to the side. "Heh, alright, Mik. Curious why we need to drop em away, but... we'll bite." Evander said, the three soon getting close and placin their weapons near the rest of your arms. And with that, you'd head inside with the three following close-by.

The room was left a little darkened by the spores from Cortina, something which Arty, Evander and Alan quickly took notice of. "What the devil's all this." Evander said, Alan not hesitating to touch the dark spore clouds. Though shortly after, Cortina would jump from the clouds with Reika. The manticore subject would let out a loud growl and showed her fangs. "FEAR ME, PATHETIC SOLDIERS!" She yelled soon after, Artyom and Evander both jumping at the sight. "HOLY!" Artyom yelled whilst Evander would move one hand to his head and let out a gasp. His other hand would grab a grenade from his stash, him fortunately not getting the chance to pull the pin. The only one who wasn't shocked was Alan, who simply started smiling at the sight. Though as the shock wore off, Artyom spoke more frustratedly. "W-What the fuck, Mik... I thought you'd have a surprise, not a- wait, hold up... is... why is that subject missing her limbs?"

Soon after, the rest of your men and the other girls would pop out from their hiding spots. Arty and Evander only seemed more bewildered. "Welcome back!" The girls who knew them would say, at which point Oreas spoke up. "Did we scare you?" Evander and Artyom seemed stunned and at a loss for words, whilst Alan seemed more amused. "No, but it's nice to see you again. And, uhhh, wow, there's a lot of new subjects." Alan was undeterred by the sights, whilst Arty and Evander both looked at you in confusion. "We can understand that you are confused. Considering the surprise, I believe that Mikhail and his men did not elaborate much on who we were, presumably due to him not wanting to spill secrets in the presence of enemy forces." Once again, Katya had the right idea about what was going on. Though, that didn't change the fact that there were A LOT of new faces and people to meet. Hell, Arty and Evander seemed very confused by the owl girl who spoke to them, not even saying anything in response to her statements.

"Perhaps we should introduce ourselves a little bit?" Cortina said as she put Reika down on the floor. "My name is Cortina Galactica. It is a pleasure to finally meet the three of you." Thalia would also step forward from the rest of the group, speaking a little anxiously. "Um, I'm Thalia Rinne. It's, nice to... meet more of you, umm... yeah." Afterwards, Vinisha would clear her throat and awkwardly wave her hand. "Um, Vinisha Magomedova. Uh, y-you might know of me from... t-that Andrei file you guys found." Lastly were Katya and Reika, the manticore seeming more focused on you than the three new faces. "I am Katya Kesselring, ATO-4013." Katya said straight up, whilst all eyes went to Reika. Though instead of saying her name, she'd say something... a little differently. "Can I get my meat now, Mik? I'm hungry!" Despite the introductions though, Evander and Artyom remained dumbfounded. They were especially confused by Reika and the state shew as in...

>What do you do next?

>Tell Evander, Alan and Arty what had happened and where all the new girls fitted in with your story. Clearly, they could use some context as to what the hell happened and why you suddenly had even more subjects by your side. (Write in what you'll tell the three of them about your expedition.)
>Share some of the entertainment and food you had gotten for the girls. It'd probably cheer the girls up and finally give them something to enjoy whilst you were gone. Not to mention, making it easier for you to once again leave them be so you could go on your merry way.
>Let Evander, Alan and Arty ask some questions to the girls on their own. You could tell them a whole bunch, but it'd be easier for them to figure things out on their own.
>Give Reika some meat as a reward for her scare. It had certainly shocked Evander and Arty, so you weren't going to keep her waiting. (Write in how much you give her.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6257820
Ayyy, glad you're enjoying the quest. I always am happy seeing new anons reading throug the story and enjoying it. Don't worry too much about maybe not being able to vote on occasion. So long as there are anons commenting on the story and participating, I'll be more than happy! Hell, there could be just one anon participating, and I'll be more than pleased with the interaction.

>>6257855
I think we might have broken those two. I wonder if KK managed to feed off of them having the bejeesus scared out of them.
>Give Reika some meat as a reward for her scare. It had certainly shocked Evander and Arty, so you weren't going to keep her waiting.
Give her a tasty snack she probably hasn't had before and a few scritches for good work. A chorizo ring, tin of pilchards or pack of curried chicken? We really are training her like a pet, aren't we? Clearly, we need a spritz bottle for when she's bad.
>Tell Evander, Alan and Arty what had happened and where all the new girls fitted in with your story. Clearly, they could use some context as to what the hell happened and why you suddenly had even more subjects by your side.
A'ight, sit down everyone. You three, here's a play-by-play of the past week, as told by everyone involved. I assure you that it'll all make sense by the end.

Side note, Commander Wolfu has finally made an appearance in the MGE. Great timing since we need leads on her at the moment. I think she should be our next target after we deal with France while the intel is fresh.

>>6257855
>Give Reika some meat as a reward for her scare. It had certainly shocked Evander and Arty, so you weren't going to keep her waiting. (Write in how much you give her.)
A normal amount? I don't know how to measure for 8 foot carnivore subjects

Also damn I don't know if Alan is unfazed by anything or just too high from hospital meds to register threats, like he didn't even flinch.

>Tell Evander, Alan and Arty what had happened and where all the new girls fitted in with your story. Clearly, they could use some context as to what the hell happened and why you suddenly had even more subjects by your side. (Write in what you'll tell the three of them about your expedition.)
Everything we remember
Except getting rolled by Feng, we can gloss over that part a bit, too embarrassing.

>>6257841
>Cast members you particularly like or dislike?
I like a lot of them. Thalia and Zaria's dynamic is greatly amusing to me and I want to see something like the Annie non canon story with them. For individuals I think I like Kiyohime the most, followed by Kamara and Annie. Least favorite is Ingmar. It's a bit jarring how quickly he became confident and brave, though we don't have vision on what us going on in the background so idk.

>Best or worst moments?
Hard to pick best but Hapi's adventure was a surprise I was not expecting given what I was told about this and certainly memorable. Feng is kinda terrifying in the implications too...

>Most unexpected action(s)?
When I saw the option for playing as a monster girl I was surprised you guys didn't go for that despite already knowing you went for DS. Otherwise the fact you managed to spare Reika.
>Decision(s) you disagreed with the most?
Hmmm... I think rushing to try and kill Feng and almost getting us killed.

>Would you have voted to kill Chrys at the start?
Obviously not.

>How do you want the story to end?
I want to see the girls live and escape.

>Can I count on you to support Total Feng Death?
Maybe... I mean if we find her remote we can fix her.

>Characters you particularly want to find?
Kaenum for her usefulness. Kiyohime because need oni. And Lono and her friend
>Places you particularly want to check out?
Leasure section. Kinda wonder how the entertainment is, or was, like here

>Something else you want to do that we're not already doing?
Find the shrimp for the ant and find Lono and her friends. Latter we don't have any ic reason to do yet sadly.

>Anything you think the quest could improve on a meta level?
More character interactions. I felt like we learned and knew more about the people we met down here then our own squad for most of the quest

>Free space!
I'd like to thank a follower of slannesh for me finding this.

>>6257909
>>6258004
Voting for these. They are basically the same

>>6258228
While I wasn't there for the first vote, I definitely think picking DS was the right choice. I've outlined my reasoning in the past on this, and it boils down to it being a much more interesting story with more risk/reward and more options open to us. Feng is indeed scary and I reckon we've chronically underestimated her.

I'm still not sure what our objective really was in Queenbase. I wanted to basically sneak in and scout the place out to get the lay of it and figure out where Feng herself was for when we actually came in with the intent of committing violence, but we don't seem to have settled on a consensus about what we were trying to achieve there before we got rumbled. Still though, we fell ass-backward into a successful outcome on the back of that; getting in with Annie (I doubt she would have trusted us enough to go after Logan if she hadn't had us over a barrel), finding Logan, learning a lot, making a number of new friends (including two powerful individuals from the Roraima Dimension, though admittedly both of them will.....take some work) and driving Feng up the wall. It all worked out for the best in the end, I suppose.

While we obviously all want to escape here with the girls in tow and have the final update be all of us sipping mojitos on a beach somewhere, I was more meaning how we want to achieve that. Do we find some way to sneak subjects and staff out en masse? Smuggle them offworld one by one? Blow the lid on this whole operation to expose it to the wider galaxy and force the Federation to change tack? Stage a mass jailbreak and escape with violence? We'll have plenty of time to figure out how to solve this conundrum.

As for Ingmar, I think there's more going on here than just their character going off the rails, and I suspect Morgan is involved. Her having an undocumented passive ability to draw out the virtues of honour and bravery in people and rapidly skilling them up in combat by training with them (i.e. imparting her own mindset and skills onto her "squire(s)") - as she's been doing with Ingmar - fits perfectly with her MO and would make complete sense and she doesn't seem to be the type to realise there's anything unusual about her ability to do this. We'll have to quiz Cerro on this or rifle through his or Illimani's notes and it makes me wonder how many of the other girls besides Thalia don't know the full extent of what they can do.

>Give Reika some meat as a reward for her scare. It had certainly shocked Evander and Arty, so you weren't going to keep her waiting.
With Reika already complaining about her food, you'd turn to Lars and asked him to get some tasty snacks from the rations for her. Evander and Artyom quietly watched in awe as Lars casually got a can of some curry chicken, you putting it on a plate for her and bringing it over. Once you placed it down, she immediately started scrounging it down, her also looking up at you and saying: "Thank you." With a mouthful of food. She really did make you think of a big housecat with how she focused on food and just casually let her gratitude be known. You did give her a couple of scritches as a reward, getting behind her ear and making her momentarily pause with eating to push against your hand a little.

>Tell Evander, Alan and Arty what had happened and where all the new girls fitted in with your story. Clearly, they could use some context as to what the hell happened and why you suddenly had even more subjects by your side.
Everything we remember
Evander and Arty stared in bewilderment, as you finished scritcing Reika and approached them. Alan would also look at you, before softly saying: "Mik, our new subjects are awesome." This elicited some smirks and chuckles from the girls, at which point Artyom finally spoke up. "So... you didn't kill Reika... and she's now on our side?" To this, Mike scoffed and spoke up. "It was mainly Mikhail's idea. She's not the brightest, but she is learning to trust us." Though, this comment did make Reika pause and growl at him. "Shut up." She said, before continuing to eat. "She isn't all that fond of people pointing out her lacking intelligence." Zaria would whisper, making Reika growl a bit louder than before. Alan, Evander and Arty would quietly nod, with Alan actually looking far more sympathetically at Reika. In the meantime though, Arty and Evander would keep looking around, before Arty spoke up.

"Okay, I think... you're gonna need to explain everything that happened from the beginning. How the hell did you meet all these subjects, what are they capable of and... uhhh, what did you learn after all of this?" You told them all to sit down, before saying you and everyone else would give a quick rundown of everything that happened, starting with the adventures of heading down. You mentioned how the first subject you met was Vinisha, who you found in the animal testing sector. "There's a sector for that?!" Evander said in mild disgust, to which Vinisha anxiously spoke up. "S-Sort of. It was a laboratory for... c-collecting samples used for subjects. They, uhhh, h-had some food there a-and a lot of safety, so I stayed there." Evander still seemed somewhat appalled, whilst Artyom spoke up more curiously. "So, you're the one we read about in Andrei's files. I presume you've already told everyone about him and what he was like?"

Vinisha nodded quickly, before going over the details about Andrei: Secretive, reasonable, somewhat flawed but generally a friendly guy. "For a friendly guy, he sure left a fuck load of lethal traps in his office." Artyom said, before Evander softly added: "Not to mention, that bloody rabbit." Vinisha looked a little regretful, not saying anything as you decided to just move to the next topic. You quickly mentioned how you went after Feng, and that things went rather wrong. Though, you didn't elaborate on it, which made Evander look amused. "How did it go wrong?" He asked, clearly wanting some elaboration. You just said that you were shot by Feng's guardsmen, before moving on and explaining your alliance with Annie you had. You mentioned meeting Joaquin's men, encountering Pelly in some part of the flooded sector, Nandi and Zati in Titania's chamber, and your travels to the high threat level sector. You then went over your meeting with Cortina and Massimo, which made you curious as to where he was.

"He's currently resting in one of the other rooms. We decided to give him some private space, given how busy it's getting in this place." Laura explained, before mentioning how you encountered Katya, giving her a chance to elaborate. She didn't say much, which actually made Alan curious. "So, Katya... you doing okay? You seem a little quiet. Don't you wanna say anything?" He said in clear curiosity, making her respond. "Negative." Evander and Artyom seemed a little befuddled, whilst Alan actually scoffed. "Alright. If you say so." Afterwards, you explained how you encountered Reika for the first time, as well as finding Logan for Annie and encountering Grise. "You mean the psycho wolf?" Artyom said in concern, at which point Evander said: "There were some folk in the medical bay who... we believe were attacked by her. They said it was some wolf subject who attacked 'em, and those poor lads were... screamin' and goin' bloody mad." This did indeed sound exactly like Grise's doing, which made you even more relieved that you scared her off so quickly.

You then mentioned using Logan to get Katya to join you, which generated some curiosity. "Huh, she only joined after you got Logan?" Artyom asked, before looking over at Katya. "Affirmative. I had strict orders from Roraima I had to follow in case of emergencies. However, Logan had the position necessary for me to change my mission." Evander and Arty looked at you, before Evander asked: "So, what was that mission?" To which Katya emotionlessly said: "Returning all escaped subjects to nearby chambers for containment, and keep them there until there was any new information regarding the disaster." Arty spoke up as he raised his eyebrow. "So, you were forcing subjects into containment? Not to sound mean or anything, but did you really think that things were gonna go back to normal and that it was worth it to spend energy bringing the subjects back into containment?"

Katya gave a quick nod and another "Affirmative.", Artyom and Evander remaining very confused. They didn't question it though, with Evander soon even saying: "I suppose... it's part of yer codin' or somethin'." At which point, you were able to continue your explanation. You mentioned how you faced off against Reika, shooting her limbs off and keeping her alive to befriend her. "And, you did that after you and Derek were injured by her?" Artyom said a little miffed, Lars speaking smugly. "Oh, I was almost killed by her, hehe." Which left Artyom and Evander stunned. They looked over at Reika, who by now had finished her plate of chicken. She had clearly listened along, as she'd glance at the two of them and said: "I promised to help Mikhail and you guys out..." She grumbled a little bit as she moved her limbs which were still regenerating. "Except that big stupid gun blew my arms and legs off." Ironically enough, she was pretty calm about what she said.

Though, Thaddeus would also give some thoughts on the matter. "Hey, look at the bright side. It were just yer arms and legs. Not something like yer head. Besides, ya will regrow yer limbs soon enough, right?" Reika grumbled again, before you glanced at the three men. Though, you'd also take notice of how pleased Alan seemed. In fact, he had so far been VERY tolerant and casual about all this new info. You asked if he was okay, since you were concerned that he had gotten some... interesting medicine from the government doctors. "Huh, I'm fine, Mik. I am enjoying these stories very much. I would've loved to fight against Grise and Pelly. They seem like fun girls to face off against!" The girls, minus Reika and Katya, were clearly taken back by the comments, yet did not say anything regarding Alan's thoughts on the matter. Regardless, you mentioned heading over to Annie, passing by Chloe's hyphae and more of Feng's forces. You even brought up how Thalia used her ability to put some of Feng's forces to sleep, which impressed the two quite a bit.

"Aye, I'd not mind ya singin' a few songs for me, las. Especially if it can soothe headaches." Evander said, you seeing Zaria roll her eyes in annoyance. "Her singin' would certainly do the job with that, Evander. Hell, she even put me to sleep, hehe!" Thaddeus remarked, Thalia giggling and already seeming comfortable around Evander. Regardless, you mentioned talking to Feng, which definitely created some curiosity. Though, given that she didn't mention much, except for her wish to turn you into slaves and 'the Demon', it wasn't the most important thing to share. You did cover how you went even deeper, explaining your meeting with Annie's guardsmen and the meeting you had with her. And with that, you seemed to have told everything. You hadn't explained everything, but it was hopefully enough to get them all caught up with what was going on. "So, we've got... more friends to join us, huh." Arty said as he looked over all of the new girls.

Obviously, they wouldn't all be joining you, as you said that your mission to find France was going to require a little less subjects by your side. Besides, having all of them join you would just spell trouble. "Can we take Anofelis along?" Alan asked right away, making Anofelis smile a little and get somewhat giddy. "I'd like to join you again, if Mikhail thinks that would be okay." She even said calmly. Though, Laura would speak up soon after, spelling out your thoughts for you. "I guess we should hear what the next plan is for the time being, before we decide to see who goes along and who will stay here. I presume Mik has a plan regarding this France guy." Afterwards, Oreas more eagerly said: "So, since... some of us are gonna probably have to stay back here, we're gonna have to find some new ways to spend our time here, given all the newcomers here... Perhaps, Mik, you brought us some... new forms of entertainment?" Most of the girls looked intrigued, as it was clear that they knew you had some fun items for them to use on their newly set-up television set.

>What do you do next?

>Discuss the plan you had right now, either as a group or just with some of your men and the girls who would be joining you. Explain where you'd go, the obstacles in the way and your main goal. (Write in what your plan is and who you'll discuss it with.)
>Sit back and give your men some time to chat and ask questions to the girls. Evander, Arty and Alan probably had a lot of questions for the newest additions to your group.
>Hit up some people for a private chat whilst letting the rest of your men just do their own thing. Maybe you wanted to privately chat with some of the girls to ask for further intel, or specifically chat with Laura for anything she knew. Hell, maybe even Ingmar had some useful intel, despite his quietness. (Write in who you talk to in private.)
>Hand over some of the supplies you had gotten. Food, entertainment and maybe even some small tools for self-defence could all be useful for the girls to have in stock, after all. (Write in what you'll hand over to them.)
>Something else...

>>6258496
>Discuss the plan you had right now, either as a group or just with some of your men and the girls who would be joining you. Explain where you'd go, the obstacles in the way and your main goal.
Okay, to reconfigure the plan I've been talking about previously a bit and get everyone on the same level while they're all here.
1. Go find France and hopefully get him on board. Sounds like he's not too far away and even on our level (QM, have you got a map for the top levels of the Facility?), hopefully we don't have to chase him around to the tune of Yackety Sax. We'll be doing most of this but we'll want one or two of you in an ambassadorial role if (IF!) it all goes well.
After that is dependent on how the meeting with France goes, but provisionally.....
2. We recombine the squads to exchange a few members since we have more experience with subject wrangling and split up. One team heads to where Alexandra was last spotted to get hold of her, which should be fairly low risk and we shouldn't need backup, though any of you are more than welcome. The other team heads down to where Jabal & Catherine's office is to search for clues as to their whereabouts, and then either meets back up with the other team or heads to go find them. This team will want some combat-capable backup and Anofelis and/or Cortina may want to come as well because Jabal. If we don't pick up France, we do this sequentially with Alexandra being first.
>Sit back and give your men some time to chat and ask questions to the girls. Evander, Arty and Alan probably had a lot of questions for the newest additions to your group.
>Hand over some of the supplies you had gotten. Food, entertainment and maybe even some small tools for self-defence could all be useful for the girls to have in stock, after all.
While they chat with the newer members, we go to divvy up supplies and set things up. Leave them half of our supplies and patch the tablet and discs into the TV as well as any special food items to people who wanted them and the deodorant we hopefully picked up for Vinisha. Not sure if we had any dice on art supplies since it's not something mercenary groups tend to have on hand.

>>6258353
Yeah, it means we are far more in the dark about everything. Although even if we were a subject I doubt we'd know that much, just the basics that we found out early on like the remotes and how subjects improve. I'd agree there's more risk with this to ourselves than if we went subject, but realistically a subject is a single individual and unless made for combat we'd probably struggle in any fight, and our guard friends? They'd be in a really bad spot.

Queenbase was us disregarding orders to do a scouting mission and engaging in a direct assault that almost blitzed us right to finding out the old British saying regarding the Queen. While there was some major boons from that though as we failed upwards, I think that was from really good RNG and not judgement as from what was said it sounded like we'd have had a few people die if we didn't have god tier luck.

As for getting the girls to escape? I think our best bet is to leave them here. No, really. I think we need to make a nice self sufficient sealed off chunk of this facility to put them in where no one will find them and cross our fingers they don't nuke this place when they are done with it so we can come back to save them when half of the space navy isn't in orbit. The government is going to scan and search every ship there is, and unless Kamara doesn't have any sort of thermal signature even her stealth probably won't be enough to get to safety.

Morgan having some weird ability like Thalia to influence people would be interesting but why hasn't it rubbed off on Laura or any of the other subjects? It's something to look into for sure.

>>6258524
Voted.

>>6258848
I don't get the sense we were going for an assault so much as heading forward though stages of the vision without much of a plan. When we were found out, violence became inevitable as the least worst option.

I reckon it would be because Morgan has taken Ingmar as her squire of sorts and is training him, while she isn't any of the others - a constantly active AoE ability affecting everyone around her indiscriminately would be a liability and I like to think Illimani and Cerro knew what they were doing. If I'm right in my theory, it might have some fun results if we encouraged Reika to train with her (since Morgan is more than tough enough for it) when she's got her limbs back.

>>6258496
>>6255814
Doesn't list all the sweet forms of entertainment we got at camp so can't list specifics for
>Hand over some of the supplies you had gotten. Food, entertainment and maybe even some small tools for self-defence could all be useful for the girls to have in stock, after all. (Write in what you'll hand over to them.)
other than give them everything except one (1) easy to transport game for us.
Give them uuuh 1/3rd of the food.
2 magnet traps
2 camera traps too unless we leave Cortina here
2 of the landmines

>>6258524
Supporting this, also ask around the girls which team they likely to tag around with, of course we have some predefined picks but hey let's hear their thoughts, perhaps they have some good ideas as well.

>Discuss the plan you had right now, either as a group or just with some of your men and the girls who would be joining you. Explain where you'd go, the obstacles in the way and your main goal.
Whilst Oreas and the rest of the girls clearly were excited to check some of the entertainment you had brought over, you decided to first tell them the plan you had for your next excursion. After all, you wanted to give some of the girls the chance to join you. Maybe not EVERYONE, since that would make it a bit difficult, but certainly those who wanted to join in. Thus, you'd tell everyone to listen, as you wanted the girls to be on the same wavelength as you were. You told them all how the plan was to find France, which got Vinisha to say: "Um, who's that?" Of course, you quickly elaborated, stating he was a fellow Lodgerite who had a subject by his side as well. In other words, someone who could end up as a useful ally for you. "Really? What subject?" Chrysidus asked, you mentioning Idalia. "Oh, I've heard about her before! She was... actually, I don't think she was made by Anderson."

To this, Katya nodded. "Affirmative. Idalia was made by Roraima. She was a combat subject designed for stealth combat." This got the other girls quite intrigued, you clearing your throat to get them back to listening to your plan. You stated he wasn't too far away right now, being around this exact level but more towards the east. More important, you wanted one or two subjects to act as ambassadors to garner his trust. After all, if France knew you had subject friends as well, he'd be more inclined to trust you and not see you as a threat to whatever his mission was. Thalia would right away raise her hand, before saying: "I'd certainly not mind being that ambassador, hehehe." Though, given that there were a lot of girls to choose from, Laura would softly say: "Let's first hear the rest of Mikhail's plan before we decide on who goes with him and who stays here, Thalia."

Thalia accepted this, giving you the chance to further elaboraet. You stated that you didn't know if it'd be manageable to convince France, but that you did have plans in case it did work. Namely, you wanted to combine both your squad and his to gain intel from one another. Before finally, you'd split up in two teams, each with a specific goal. The first team would head to the combat sector to find Alexandra to ally with her. The other team would look for Jabal and Catherine's office to find some more intel. Immediately, Anofelis would lighten up, speaking rather excitedly. "I wanna join you! I wanna see Jabal again!" Of course, Thaddeus would do the right thing and say: "Um, Ano, just because we're headin' to their office, that does not guarantee that they will be there." It made Anofelis think for a short moment, before calmly speaking up again. "Maybe, yeah. But, I still wanna go along with you guys, just in case! I wanna help in finding him and Catherine to save them!"

Cortina also seemed relatively on board, gently raising one of her hands before clearing her throat. "If it is okay with you, Mikhail, I would also like to join. I know you will first try to find France, but once you do start your search for Jabal, I would love to join." You reassured the girls that, even if you did not pick up France for your alliance, you'd still go to Jabal's office regardless. Though, it would have to be after you went out and searched for Alexandra. "Of course. Once the time is right, Anofelis and I, as well as anyone else who wishes to join, will certainly try to help you out in your travels." Cortina said reassuringly, you noticing that Evander and Artyom were still relatively freaked out by her appearance and tone. Which was ironic, consideirng how soothing and reassuring you and your men found her to be.

>Sit back and give your men some time to chat and ask questions to the girls. Evander, Arty and Alan probably had a lot of questions for the newest additions to your group.
>Hand over some of the supplies you had gotten. Food, entertainment and maybe even some small tools for self-defence could all be useful for the girls to have in stock, after all.
"So, I suppose we should decide on who goes with Mik now, huh?" Morgan said confidently, already appearing pretty sold on the idea. The girls all nodded, you telling them that you also got some supplies you wanted to share with them. And, whilst you shared said supplies, they could chat with your men. You especially signalled to Arty, Evander and Alan, signalling them to start some chats with Vinisha, Thalia, Katya, Cortina and Reika. Funnily enough, Alan didn't even need the hint, as the moment you brought up having a chat, he would already head over to Reika. Hell, Anofelis would also join him, which was rather sweet. In the meantime, you headed to Lydia and asked her about the entertainment options she had brougth along, wanting to check through them all.

Laura would also join, as you checked out everything. Lydia had brought plenty of data storage with films and games. She also brought several physical card games and even a few board games. Though, you did soon decide to hold onto one of the card games, mainly so you could play poker with your men later. You'd also hand over one of the extra tablets you got, wanting them to have a bit more freedom in figuring out how things were going. "Are you sure that is safe? What if the government tracks the tablet and finds out the girls are hiding here?" Laura asked worriedly, to which Lydia softly said: "We can ask Annie to help out with that. She can probably hide your tablet connection from the government, or protect you in some other way." Lydia's reassurance made Laura nod, not really questioning it further. You'd also ask Lars to come over, asking him to give half the supplies to the girls here. "Very well then." He said, which certainly surprised Laura.

You'd also hand over some art supplies for Anofelis which Lydia had snatched from the base. "These were apparently handed out to some squads to help document subjects they encounter. We thought that Ano could really enjoy them." Lydia casually said, much to Laura's delight. You'd soon also show some some deodorant for Vinisha. Though, you didn't say the latter out loud, only whispering it to Laura. "That would be nice, yes. Vinisha is wonderful, but... the scent she gives off is a little difficult to get used to." Laura said that last bit in a more hesitant and somewhat saddened tone, clearly not harbouring any ill-will to the zombie dragon girl. Regardless, after sharing some of the supplies, you'd thank Laura and Lydia before looking around to see how everyone was doing. Evander and Arty were currently talking with Cortin, Thalia and Vinisha, whilst Alan was busy chatting with Anofelis and Reika. In fact, Alan was currently patting Reika's head, the manticore already accepting it for some reason.

The rest of your men were also spread around the place, chatting with the girls and clearly just enjoying their time together. Though, you'd soon ask for everyone's attention, asking the girls who would be joining you now on your hunt for France. Unfortunately, it seemed that there were a bit more than just 2 girls who wanted to join along. "I wanna join!" Anofelis right away said, followed by Thalia. "Like I said, I also wish to really join in!" Soon after, Morgan would also speak up. "I also can imagine you needing someone to help protect you further. Perhaps I can be of assistance with that?" Though, once she spoke up, Ingmar finally decided to join in as well. "If Morgan joins, I wanna join too! I wanna fight with honour like a proper knight!" Your men were left a little confused by Ingmar's spirit. Perhaps he really did learn some things under Morgan's wing. Before you could accept Morgan and Thalia, Chrys would also raise her hands. "Um, I also kinda wanna join in. think I could make a decent ambassador. Uhhhh, you know, since I am pretty small and... not the most intimidating thing."

Soon after though, Zaria would speak in favour of someone else. "I actually think that Katya should be one of the girls who should join us. She has helped us a TON in the past, don't you guys agree?" Katya seemed surprised, before softly saying: "I do believe it would be logical to have me join in, since I can serve a variety of purposes. However, I do not wish to... take the place of another who may wish to join for more social reasons. Especially since you will likely want limited subjects joining you." It seemed that you had four main candidates and one machine who wished to help. Which left you with a bit of an awkward thing to decide on. All of them had various benefits to having them join in. Though, you didn't wanna take too many of them along, given the risks that'd pose.

>What do you do next?

>Pick two (or more) subjects to join you. Of the ones who volunteered to join, there were a certain few who you felt would be the most valuable. Though, maybe limiting yourself to just two valuable assets was... too little. Besides, there was no harm in having 3 subjects by your side, right? (Write in who you pick and if you pick more than two.)
>Let the girls discuss this together and decide on their own. You didn't want to make any of them feel excluded. Besides, they could discuss with each other who would be the best fit for the mission at hand. Though, maybe giving some extra context as to what you need could help them decide. (Write in what you'll tell the girls to help them decide.)
>Let your men vote on the matter. Given that your men were also quite familiar with what the plan was, giving them a say in the matter would be quite beneficial. (Write in how exactly you and your men will vote for who joins in.)
>Something else...

(Apologies for the lack of an update yesterday. I didn't have much energy leftover to write an update. Fortunately, I have the willpower today. Though, I unfortunately cannot say if I will keep this up throughout this week. University is intensifying for these last few weeks, which may make updates a little more scarce.)

(Oh, and to the anon who requested a map (>>6258524), I'll try and see if I can get something out tomorrow. Like I said previously, I am stuck using an absolutely god-fucking-awful laptop, and I don't know how easy it will be to make a map on this one. Given that it can barely run a fucking text document, I can only imagine how poorly it will take paint...)

>>6259474
>Pick two (or more) subjects to join you. Of the ones who volunteered to join, there were a certain few who you felt would be the most valuable. Though, maybe limiting yourself to just two valuable assets was... too little. Besides, there was no harm in having 3 subjects by your side, right?
I think on this one, we'll take Chrys and Thalia as our front-of-house subjects, and we'll also bring KK as backup - she'll hang back some and only come out either when we're sure they're on our side and have gotten them used to the other two or if it goes tits up. While I think the odds of violence are slim, we have to assume these guys are as heavily armed as we are and I'll feel a lot safer having someone around who has mulched whole squads on her lonesome before.
For the mission to contact Alexandra, we can bring Morgan & Co and perhaps Vinisha (from one Andrei subject to another, even if they don't know each other well) and/or Oreas to let her get her out of the same four walls for a while - if either of them would want to, that is.
For the mission to search for J&C's whereabouts, we can bring KK, Anofelis and Cortina as escort and support.

Ultimately, the aim here is to get everyone out on at least one mission so they can all spend some time out and about with people and being helpful, which I think will be beneficial to their wellbeing and let us and our (hopefully) new allies spend some time with them as well. The exceptions are Reika since she's still too maimed to go anywhere and might be a bit much for the other guys and Kamara since I don't think she'll be up for much though she is welcome if she decides otherwise.

>>6259474
Backing >>6259610
Hopefully Reika has healed up in time for the Alexandrea mission, I think she'd be very helpful there

>>6257820
Hey, fresh meat. Neat.

>>6258228
>Characters you particularly want to find?
>Kaenum for her usefulness. Kiyohime because need oni. And Lono and her friend
Not terrible choices, but Alexandra is more important than any of those at the moment. Kaenum would probably be extremely useful though, I agree. At least for helping people like Katya with her problems and any other subject who's mentally fucked.

>I'd like to thank a follower of slannesh for me finding this.
Please don't tell me someone advertised this quest on /d/

>>6258848
>Queenbase was us disregarding orders to do a scouting mission and engaging in a direct assault that almost blitzed us right to finding out the old British saying regarding the Queen. While there was some major boons from that though as we failed upwards, I think that was from really good RNG and not judgement as from what was said it sounded like we'd have had a few people die if we didn't have god tier luck.
This is a mother fucking Hellsing abridged reference, isn't it? God now I feel old. Yeah we probably should have tried to be more discrete in entering her territory given the sentries she has posted at the edges of her territory. The level of control she has over those she's enthralled is very worrying.

>As for getting the girls to escape? I think our best bet is to leave them here. No, really. I think we need to make a nice self sufficient sealed off chunk of this facility to put them in where no one will find them and cross our fingers they don't nuke this place when they are done with it so we can come back to save them when half of the space navy isn't in orbit. The government is going to scan and search every ship there is, and unless Kamara doesn't have any sort of thermal signature even her stealth probably won't be enough to get to safety.
This sounds like a good way to get them killed eventually unless the government doesn't have some sort of sensor to tell how many people or things are alive down here, and gambling on them not glassing the facility and the island it's on is not one I'd want to take. Think it'd be better to try and get Annie's remote, buff her abilities, and get her to subtly hijack the government's ships so as to secretly make their scans give a false clear. This is a plan that relies on some insane luck but I think it might be our best bet if we don't want to try and find a way to have the girls and staff walk across the bottom of the ocean to get to somewhere else safer on this planet.

>Morgan having some weird ability like Thalia to influence people would be interesting but why hasn't it rubbed off on Laura or any of the other subjects? It's something to look into for sure.
It's nanite sci-fi bullshit. Given the most recent post I'd honestly buy she has some Thalia esc shenanigans going on with that guy. That, or he's trying to go from simp to white knight. My money is on the former. >>6258858 has the right idea regardless.

>>6259610
Supporting.

>Pick two (or more) subjects to join you. Of the ones who volunteered to join, there were a certain few who you felt would be the most valuable. Though, maybe limiting yourself to just two valuable assets was... too little. Besides, there was no harm in having 3 subjects by your side, right?
Even though five girls had suggested to join in, you knew that that was far too much. Just two would suffice as ambassadors, with one extra combat and lookout subject more than enough for support. You brought the news, asking Chrysidus and Thalia to join as your represnetative subjects. Chrys nodded proudly. "I'd love to, Mik! I will use my size and charm to ensure that this France guy will trust us!" Thalia also smiled along, putting her hands together and giggling. "And if that doesn't work, I shall sing my way into their hearts!" You heard Zaria let out a soft groan, Morgan also seeming annoyed. "I beg your pardon, but what about defensive subjects? What if this man isn't as morally just as he appears to be? Would I not suffice for such a job?" You reluctantly told Morgan that Katya would be the one to hang in the back. She was quiet, could easily stay in the background and could help a ton in case things did end up going wrong.

Morgan would put her arms together, looking mildly irritated. "Ugh, very well then. If you truly believe this to be the best option." She mumbled, before Ingmar also spoke up. "Katya better fight with honour and dignity, if the time arises! Just like how Morgan would!" There were some amused scoffs from your men, you responding with a simple okay before looking to Katya. She seemed to accept your request quite readily, not questioning it at all and seemingly accepting her job without hesitation. You also reassured Morgan that she and Vinisha could join you on your mission to the combat sector. Her tankiness and Vinisha's link with Andrei would be quite the boon in that situation.

Morgan seemed pleased with your remark, Vinisha meanwhile being far more surprised by the fact you had such plans for her already. Meanwhile, you looked over to the other girls. You told them that the ultimate goal would be that each girl could join with one mission of yours. Anofelis and Cortina would certainly be able to join when hunting for Jabal and Catherine's office. Oreas could also join with the mission to Alexandra. "Ah, can I join with finding Alexandra? If you're heading to the combat sector, I wanna join too! I wanna fight stupid soldiers and eat them!" Reika said, you calmly telling her that it might take a while given her need to regenerate. Though, this did leave one outlier, as Kamara was left without a mission to go on. Anon would even point this out, calmly asking: "Will Kamara perhaps be able to join us to the combat sector? I am sure her increasing stealth abilities could help us in numerous ways." Kamara looked shocked to be mentioned like this, blushing and looking away anxiously.

Obviously, you didn't immediately rule it out. You offered her the option if she was up for it, since you could imagine her not exactly being comfortable in such a place. "I, ummm, I-I'll consider it." She anxiously said, you giving her a nod. Soon after though, Thalia would step over to you. "Well, I am eager you want me to join you again so quickly, even if I will admit that I am going to miss staying with these girls here. They are all so sweet." Right after, Zaria spoke smugly. "Say, since you're gonna miss them so much, why don't you just... stay here instead? I am sure Chrys will be able to suffice. Or maybe Kamara can show France how kind and reasonble we are!" There was clear anger and distrust dripping from Zaria's every word, yet Thalia mostly ignored it. "Oh, Zaria, I appreciate your care. But, Mikhail wants me to come along, so I will gladly come along. Besides, it will be fun, don't you think? I will love spending more time with you and Mik!"

Mike was quick to get a little quip in, saying: "I bet she's especially of spending more nights with you, Mik." There were some scoffs from your men, but most of them just ignored the remark. Zaria even groaned, clearly still upset that Thalia would be joining you again. "So, uhhhh, should I take anything along now for this little trip of ours? Or anything I should keep in mind before we get going? Maybe a sorta... mission description or something akin to that?" Chrys asked more curiously, at which point Arty bemusedly said: "We just described our mission, didn't we?" Chrys looked around a little sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with one hand before saying: "I mean, I... don't know much about this France guy. Or where we're heading. I just know I'll have to smile at them and show them we mean no threat. Maybe with some help from Thalia." She looked over at Thalia, who eagerly nodded along. Perhaps the girls could use a few extra details before it was time to head off.

>What do you do next?

>Say goodbye to the rest of the girls, before heading out and starting your search for France. It would mostly just involve heading east, but... well, it'd probably require some planning to work as effectively as possible. (Write in what you say to the rest of the girls, if anything.)
>Have a final chat with the girls over here. It might take another 2-3 days before you get back, during which a lot could happen. So, might as well use the time you got right now to have a little casual chat. (Write in who you chat with and about what.)
>Tell Thalia, Chrys and Katya what you intended for them to do, either here or whilst you headed forward. Maybe give them a more elaborate description could work. Or just telling them a bit about France. (Write in what you'll tell the girls and when you'll tell them.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6260138
Who said anything about the combat sector? Alexandra's last know location is near the green section and J&C's office is to the west. I don't plan on visiting the combat sector right now unless that's where the wild goose chase takes us.
And Zaria, you are really grating on my nerves now. I can make some guesses and keep you two apart but you are doing yourself exactly zero favours right now and I don't want to have to force this issue if you're going to continue to refuse to talk about your problem that is harming group cohesion. Picrel.
>Say goodbye to the rest of the girls, before heading out and starting your search for France. It would mostly just involve heading east, but... well, it'd probably require some planning to work as effectively as possible.
I suggest working out a rota for who gets the TV remote to make sure everyone gets some time with what we brought back on the space!CDs.
Now, if we're successful, you're going to be working with death squad members who aren't us, so be prepared for that.
And Morgan? Do you think you could train with Reika a bit when she's up and about? She could be even more formidable if you could teach her some honour, restraint and skill.
>Tell Thalia, Chrys and Katya what you intended for them to do, either here or whilst you headed forward. Maybe give them a more elaborate description could work. Or just telling them a bit about France.
Right, so, France. We've briefly met him and his group before and he seemed like a decent guy but we have it on Annie's authority that he's faked the death of Idalia, RM-1270-c, and may still be with her. He's the only other commander known to have worked with a subject so he's our best bet to bring on board as a second set of hands to help take down Feng and confidentially work with us going forward. We're only ten people ourselves so to have a second group (and maybe Idalia too) to coordinate with and trust would help so much.
We'll go find him and talk to him ourselves. If things look good, we'll bring you two in as a demonstration of sorts. Katya, you're our hidden backup in case things go very badly and we need to be bailed out or stop them exposing us. Hopefully, it's not needed.

>>6260138
Who said anything about the combat sector? Alexandra's last know location is near the green section and J&C's office is to the west. I don't plan on visiting the combat sector right now unless that's where the wild goose chase takes us.
And Zaria, you are really grating on my nerves now. I can make some guesses and keep you two apart but you are doing yourself exactly zero favours right now and I don't want to have to force this issue if you're going to continue to refuse to talk about your problem that is harming group cohesion. Picrel.
>Say goodbye to the rest of the girls, before heading out and starting your search for France. It would mostly just involve heading east, but... well, it'd probably require some planning to work as effectively as possible.
I suggest working out a rota for who gets the TV remote to make sure everyone gets some time with what we brought back on the space!CDs.
Now, if we're successful, you're going to be working with death squad members who aren't us, so be prepared for that.
And Morgan? Do you think you could train with Reika a bit when she's up and about? She could be even more formidable if you could teach her some honour, restraint and skill.
>Tell Thalia, Chrys and Katya what you intended for them to do, either here or whilst you headed forward. Maybe give them a more elaborate description could work. Or just telling them a bit about France.
Right, so, France. We've briefly met him and his group before and he seemed like a decent guy but we have it on Annie's authority that he's faked the death of Idalia, RM-1270-c, and may still be with her. He's the only other commander known to have worked with a subject so he's our best bet to bring on board as a second set of hands to help take down Feng and confidentially work with us going forward. We're only ten people ourselves so to have a second group (and maybe Idalia too) to coordinate with and trust would help so much.
We'll go find him and talk to him ourselves. If things look good, we'll bring you two in as a demonstration of sorts. Katya, you're our hidden backup in case things go very badly and we need to be bailed out or stop them exposing us. Hopefully, it's not needed.

>>6259735
I started calling it Queenbase a couple of threads ago and have never seen Hellsing Abridged that it ain't, chief. I have no idea what I serendipitously referenced.

If we can jack Annie into the systems of the ships overhead, we can do way more than just fool their sensors. We could cause quite some chaos, but I think the best use of it would be to use the comm uplinks to leak all the juicy deets about what's happening here all over the GalNet and kick off Valulorigate as Fictamor learns what the words "political shitstorm" mean. This is why Annie's NAR remote is at the top of the list of ones I want to find so we can give her that kind of power.

>>6260138
>Tell Thalia, Chrys and Katya what you intended for them to do, either here or whilst you headed forward. Maybe give them a more elaborate description could work. Or just telling them a bit about France. (Write in what you'll tell the girls and when you'll tell them.)
The plan in >>6260285 seems good, we start things off to verify they're open to working with subjects, then Chrys and Thalia come in as proof that we're practicing what we're preaching.

Although >>6260285
>And Morgan? Do you think you could train with Reika a bit when she's up and about? She could be even more formidable if you could teach her some honour, restraint and skill.
While I do support this I don't remember Morgan being all that restrained. Not attacking noncombatants would be great to learn though. Just make sure Reika doesn't hear the real reasons, tell her it's so she learns cool new fighting moves.

>If we can jack Annie into the systems of the ships overhead, we can do way more than just fool their sensors. We could cause quite some chaos, but I think the best use of it would be to use the comm uplinks to leak all the juicy deets about what's happening here all over the GalNet and kick off Valulorigate as Fictamor learns what the words "political shitstorm" mean. This is why Annie's NAR remote is at the top of the list of ones I want to find so we can give her that kind of power.
A very viable plan. I don't think we will have any luck with the remotes though. Perhaps there's some other way? A relay or signal booster?

>>6260347
I assume you mean Reika is the one that isn't all that restrained, but Morgan is one of the two people here with the toughness to take the hit if Reika gets rough. She's not in full murder mode and she'll stick to some conditions if we dangle learning some cool things (and treats) over her head.

Annie's remote is the only one we have a known location on, that being Logan's office. Whether it's still there or not I don't know, but it's something we can search for if we're down that way or try and track down and recover if it's been pinched. Of course, NAR remotes are maximum bullshit power and I have no doubt their presence will be extremely limited and we're going to have to work hard if we want one for meta reasons.

>>6260285
Zaria really does need to tell us what the hell is going on with her. I can get her dislike for Thalia but it's starting to feel like she genuinely hates her more than Mike hates the government. Really I think we should take her aside and press the issue sooner rather than later because this is just going to get worse if we don't resolve it.

>I started calling it Queenbase a couple of threads ago and have never seen Hellsing Abridged that it ain't, chief. I have no idea what I serendipitously referenced.
Unless you are the anon that wrote what I responded to, which unless you have been using multiple ids, you aren't and are just blind, I wasn't saying that to you. I was saying that to just about everything that anon wrote there but the queen base bit. Zoran Blitz is the name of a character. She gets ordered to do a scouting mission and because she wants to fight unga charges with an order for a direct assault and the anon even referenced the one liner before she gets merked. I think you can see now why I saw that as a reference.

>If we can jack Annie into the systems of the ships overhead, we can do way more than just fool their sensors. We could cause quite some chaos, but I think the best use of it would be to use the comm uplinks to leak all the juicy deets about what's happening here all over the GalNet and kick off Valulorigate as Fictamor learns what the words "political shitstorm" mean. This is why Annie's NAR remote is at the top of the list of ones I want to find so we can give her that kind of power.
Regarding Annie, causing chaos with the fleet is a bad idea. It will either result in them finding a way to counter Annie's ability to interface with them or cause them to think recovering whatever's down here isn't worth it and just glass the facility. Better to do things with discretion. Using her powers to have the fleet fight itself or similar is only to be done in a last resort. Using her powers to get a signal out into GalNet is a maybe. If we can pin it on some poor sap, go for it. If they can't pin the blame on treason and can tell it's Annie's doing, we've probably made her gain the biggest bounty out of everyone in this godforsaken place. So, I'd like to be really careful with this sorta thing.

>>6260347
Supporting.

>>6260285
Zaria really does need to tell us what the hell is going on with her. I can get her dislike for Thalia but it's starting to feel like she genuinely hates her more than Mike hates the government. Really I think we should take her aside and press the issue sooner rather than later because this is just going to get worse if we don't resolve it.

>I started calling it Queenbase a couple of threads ago and have never seen Hellsing Abridged that it ain't, chief. I have no idea what I serendipitously referenced.
Unless you are the anon that wrote what I responded to, which unless you have been using multiple ids, you aren't and are just blind, I wasn't saying that to you. I was saying that to just about everything that anon wrote there but the queen base bit. Zoran Blitz is the name of a character. She gets ordered to do a scouting mission and because she's impatient and wants to fight rushes in with an order for her subordinates to engage in a direct assault. The anon even referenced the one liner before she gets merked. I think you can see now why I saw that as a reference.

>If we can jack Annie into the systems of the ships overhead, we can do way more than just fool their sensors. We could cause quite some chaos, but I think the best use of it would be to use the comm uplinks to leak all the juicy deets about what's happening here all over the GalNet and kick off Valulorigate as Fictamor learns what the words "political shitstorm" mean. This is why Annie's NAR remote is at the top of the list of ones I want to find so we can give her that kind of power.
Regarding Annie, causing chaos with the fleet is a bad idea. It will either result in them finding a way to counter Annie's ability to interface with them or cause them to think recovering whatever's down here isn't worth it and just glass the facility. Better to do things with discretion. Using her powers to have the fleet fight itself or similar is only to be done in a last resort. Using her powers to get a signal out into GalNet is a maybe. If we can pin it on some poor sap, go for it. If they can't pin the blame on treason and can tell it's Annie's doing, we've probably made her gain the biggest bounty out of everyone in this godforsaken place. So, I'd like to be really careful with this sorta thing.

>>6260347
Supporting.

>>6260401
Ey, I had no idea which bit of that you were calling a reference and assumed it was over the name Queenbase and picked that up because I was the one who started calling it that and was curious if I'd accidentally hit a button.

Obviously we're not going to go off half-cocked like that, giving the fleet a wedgie - if it's even possible - would only be done for a specific endgame reason like covering our escape on a jacked spacecraft or aboard Titania or if GalGov turns on us. Same for jettisoning a data dump onto GalNet, it'd be our endgame throw of the dice after which it's too late for the Fed to do anything about it and the veil is dropped.

>>6260401
It was a reference, yes.

>>6260347
Voting for this.

>Say goodbye to the rest of the girls, before heading out and starting your search for France. It would mostly just involve heading east, but... well, it'd probably require some planning to work as effectively as possible.
Given that the girls didn't really know what you intended for them to do, you told them that you'd elaborate whilst you headed east. Though first, you'd once again signal the other girls to listen. Once everyone stopped mumbling amongst each other, you would tell the girls that you would be leaving soon. You mentioned that you brought some entertainment for them in the form of games and videos, before asking them to rotate who gets access to the TV remote. That way, everyone could choose on what to watch, rather than just one person constantly deciding what they'd watch. "Don't worry, Mik. I was already planning something like that." Laura said confidently, you thanking her for already thinking of it. Finally, you told the girls that, if all went well, all of you would be working with a whole new group of death squad soldiers. Obviously, that might result in some difficulty, so you asked them to mentally prepare for such an event. The girls all nodded, before you would give them all a quick salute and told them to stay safe.

"You guys also stay safe, okay?" Oreas would say, after which Morgan spoke more confidently. "Look out for each other, fight with honour against the forces of evil, and show might and righteousness to those who may stand by our side!" There were some scoffs and chuckles towards Morgan. Though Cortina would soon respond more calmly. "Please make sure to look after each other. I would hate for any of you to get hurt or injured again." Vinisha nodded along, before saying: "If you, uhhhh, need any help... we'd love to talk over the radio to help out in any way we can!" It was probably not going to be too necessary, but it was a nice gesture from her regardless.

Soon after, Anofelis would also speak up, having only now realised that the girls were all getting the chance to say goodbye. "Um, I hope you guys come back quickly. I wanna spend more time with you again..." Kamara also finally decided to speak up, actually sounding pretty optimistic. "Y-Yeah, I also... hope you guys return quickly. I, uhhh... w-well, I do wanna h-help out in any way I-I can... a-and improve w-what I'm currently practicing." The only one who didn't give a goodbye was Reika, who was currently cleaning the last bits of food matter on the plate she had gotten. Though, Oreas was quick to try and prod her to say something. "Pssssst, Reika... Reika!" She mumbled, Reika finally taking notice. "Huh?" She'd notice she was being looked at, before speaking more casually. "Can you bring me more meat later? I like the meats you brought recently. Maybe also some of the meat you got from Annie. Those were nice." Reika clearly hadn't paid much attention, you deciding to just leave it be for now.

>Tell Thalia, Chrys and Katya what you intended for them to do, either here or whilst you headed forward. Maybe give them a more elaborate description could work. Or just telling them a bit about France.
After waving the girls goodbye, you would lead the way out of the sleeping halls and started heading straight, rather than turning right. "Oh, uhhh, Mik! We've already explored this area a tiny bit with Morgan and Kamara!" Chrys would say right away, as she hopped up beside you. "According to them, there are some small training areas there, uhhhh, some kind of bar area, and some offices. Though, we didn't explore further past that." Katya would already keep her eyes peeled, being on the lookout for any major threat you may have to face. You thanked Chrys for her comments, before telling them what the main goal would be of the mission. You shared your history with France, how he was a reasonable enough guy and that he faked the death of another subject. "Ahhh, kinda like what we did with Reika!" Alan said shortly after.

Obviously, you did the whole Reika death thing for reasons which may differ from the reasons France had to keep Idalia alive. Regardless, you would explain that Idalia was still presumably with him, and that he apparently worked with her. And since he was the only other death squad of whom you knew that he was working with subjects on his side, he was the only other death squad leader who you could therefore actively ally with. At least, whilst also having the rest of your girls along to help out. In other words, he was the best option for additional forces to throw at Feng. Thus, the main plan was to find him, talk to him and use the girls to convince them of your trustworthiness. Thalia and Chrys would be the main ambassadors, demonstrating that you were friendly to subjectgs and didn't force them into anything. And of course, Katya would act as backup in case combat was necessary. Given how secretive groups like your own or France's would have to be, combat was going to be something you'd have to keep into account at all times.

"Understood. I'll try my best to impress them and vouch for you guys!" Chrys said optimistically, at which point Thalia sang a tiny bit before saying: "And I will use my song to convince them as well!" You saw Zaria glare at Thalia, not saying a word. Though, there was still somoene who would try and disuade Thalia from the thought. "I would actually refrain from using the song just yet. Mainly, because we don't know how they will take what you can do with your singing." Anon calmly commented, which made Arty and Evander look very concerned. "Singing? What does Thalia's singing do?" Artyom asked, before Thaddeus casually said. "We're not exactly sure yet. But, uhhhh, it can put people to sleep and cause all sortsa effects on people. We're still tryin' to figure it out, but it can do a ton of things, including some which may scare France and his men."

Thaddeus made it sound a lot more dangerous than what it actually was. Still, Thalia's song was a potent tool, and not something you could just use to 'convince' France to join you. Especially if the only thing France knew about Thalia was that she was an Elbrus subject. "I think it would be most logical to first try and ask them about their kill, Idalia. Perhaps she is still with them, albeit a distance away, akin to the role I will take." It did make some sense, given how France would probably want to keep Idalia hidden from you once he did find you.

Regardless, for the time being, you'd head past the training area, noticing some small shooting ranges and test dummies. Though, there presumably were no real weapons here, given that the girls would've pillaged those if they had gotten the chance to.

>What do you do next?

>Chat with your men or the girls. Maybe you could discuss the topic of France and Idalia, or discuss some other important matters regarding your mission. Maybe you could talk about some more casual things as well, such as what fun things Chrys and the others had been up to whilst you were gone? (Write in what you'll chat about.)
>Have a private talk with Zaria regarding the Thalia situation. Her constant aggression and snark towards Thalia was starting to become excessive. What could Thalia have done to warrant such vitriol? (Write in what you'll ask/tell
>Ask Anon to look ahead on the map to see what to expect as you headed further forward. Perhaps you could also ask him about some threats you may face, or useful sectors to check out? (Write in if you'll ask Anon for anything specific.)
>Ask Chrys about the places you were passing through and what they found laying around here, if anything. Maybe Chrys had some fun stories about the times she and the others explored places like this? (Write in if there's anything specific you want Chrys to tell.)
>Something else...

>>6260877
>Have a private talk with Zaria regarding the Thalia situation. Her constant aggression and snark towards Thalia was starting to become excessive. What could Thalia have done to warrant such vitriol? (Write in what you'll ask/tell
Sis chill, she didn't ask to be given that power
Gotta work with what you got
We'll make sure she has ample time to put in earphones before hearing any songs from Thalia

>>6261039
Voting for this, although maybe ask for her to divulge a bit of why she hates Thalia so much as this has been a bit excessive.

>>6260877
>Have a private talk with Zaria regarding the Thalia situation. Her constant aggression and snark towards Thalia was starting to become excessive. What could Thalia have done to warrant such vitriol?
Look girl, you've got to tell us what's going on. I can understand if you don't trust her and you're not the only one, but this open and unprovoked hostility goes beyond that - there's clearly a serious issue here and you've got to give us something to work with, because this can't go on. I can keep you two away from each other and give you some earplugs, but not if you go looking for confrontation and this cattiness is getting on my nerves. So either help us find a solution or a specific grievance I take up with Thalia, or cut it out.

>>6260877
>Ask Anon to look ahead on the map to see what to expect as you headed further forward. Perhaps you could also ask him about some threats you may face, or useful sectors to check out? (Write in if you'll ask Anon for anything specific.)
Ask him to check if there's new government guard posts or nonsense like that which could be a problem. Otherwise, just anything of note. Really, there's not much to be asking right now.

>Have a private talk with Zaria regarding the Thalia situation. Her constant aggression and snark towards Thalia was starting to become excessive. What could Thalia have done to warrant such vitriol? (Write in what you'll ask/tell.)
Given further thought, I'm actually concerned for Zaria. Did Thalia accidently make Zaria hate her with the wrong song and it's stuck? Did Thalia actually do something to Zaria? Or is she just that far on the 'kill all Elbrus subjects' train that she can't pull her head out of her ass? I have my doubts it's the latter of the three, but I am worried about it.

Be direct with her. Cut the crap and just explain why you hate her. Flat out. No more secrets or vagaries. And if you don't we are going to try and deduce what's going on through talking with the others in the squad and the girls themselves. And if it's for something stupid we are going to force you in the equivalent of a get along shirt.

>Ask Anon to look ahead on the map to see what to expect as you headed further forward. Perhaps you could also ask him about some threats you may face, or useful sectors to check out?
Even though you were going to a sector which had so far been uncharted by death squads, you knew that it was right above the hotbed that was the green sector. Hell, government forces could've easily already started heading up from the green sector, entering the parts you were about to enter and setting up guard posts. Not wanting to risk running into something like that, you'd ask Anon to check the map if there was any intel about government guard posts. Anon grabbed the tablet and would start looking at the map of the place. Though, you also saw Chrys getting beside him to look at the map as well, Anon clearly amused before sharing the map with her.

"Alright, it says here that the space above the green sector is mostly just storage and transport, kind of like what we encountered to the east of that high level threat containment sector. I don't see anything about government staff having headed up here. There have been a couple of death squads around here, but... they didn't report anything out of the ordinary." Anon added, before Chrys also spoke up. "It does say there were some subject storage spaces as well! I, uhhhh, I think that's above the place that's flooded now, right?" Anon nodded, before saying: "I wonder if those parts are just as flooded as the parts below. I sort of doubt it, but... I guess we shall see, huh."

>Have a private talk with Zaria regarding the Thalia situation. Her constant aggression and snark towards Thalia was starting to become excessive. What could Thalia have done to warrant such vitriol?
With government staff hopefully not being much of an issue to the east of you, your mind shifted to something a bit different. Specifically, Zaria's anger towards Thalia. It was definitely getting on your nerves, though you also worried that there was more going on that you weren't entirely aware of. Given that Thalia did not understand her own abilities and it affected people mentally, maybe Thalia did something to accidentally make Zaria completely aggressive and distrusting towards her? Or did Thalia really do something to Zaria? Seeing as you were still unsure on what the actual truth was, you decided to get besides Zaria.

And as the rest of your men looked around and quielty chatted with each other about other things, you would quietly ask for Zaria if she could maybe divulge to you why she hated Thalia so much. Zaria froze up a little, before looking away and sighing. "I... do I have to? I really don't wanna talk about it." You told her that, whilst she didn't have to be completely trust Thalia, her aggression had been far too excessive at this point. You needed some kind of explanation, especially as to then take a reasonable course of action to help resolve this little conflict.

Zaria looked down a little, you calmly telling that you could get her ear muffs to block out the sound, or even just keep the two apart at all costs. But, the snarkiness towards Thalia was becoming too much. Not to mention, Zaria refusing to explain her hatred to begin with. And if she still refused, you were going to ask the rest of your men about what they know. Or hell, just ask Thalia if she might know what had happened. Zaria let out a deep sigh before, gritting her teeth. "F-Fine, you... j-just don't tell the others. T-This is embarrassing a-and... ugh." By now, the rest of your men were also aware that you were chatting with Zaria. Thus, you asked them all to give you and Zaria some space, Thaddeus speaking softly. "Alright lads, why don't we start headin' forward already whilst Mik and Zaria can chat in private?" Thaddeus led the way, you slowing down your pace until you were a decent enough distance away from them and were able to chat with just Zaria.

"Okay, s-so... remember the flooded p-parts we explored r-right after meeting Thalia? W-Well, at one p-point, Thalia... f-followed me into a p-private room and... w-well, she... she sung her song, a-and it... m-made me d-do things I-I don't... I don't l-like doing... I-I t-thankfully was able to f-flee a-and then... w-well ran into you, a-and I told you t-there was no issue. B-But there was... I-I... S-She used her p-powers to make me... y-y'know... do these things..." Zaria looked utterly terrified, pained and humiliated. And soon, she'd even show a tear. "D-Derek f-found out after I... r-ran away t-to some p-private p-place... H-He knows a-and... I-I asked him t-to keep it a s-secret because... I-I hate that th-this happened to me." Though, she soon took a more aggressive tone. "T-Thalia is an E-Elbrus subject... n-not the good kind... t-that's why I despise her. S-She may not know m-much about her own p-powers, b-but she sure as hell knew that... s-she was making me do things against my own will!"

Clearly, this was a LOT heavier than what you had expected. Clearly, Thalia had crossed a boundary which left Zaria like this. Worse, Zaria would soon take a more assertive tone, asking you something rather sad. "T-There, happy now?! I-I didn't wanna tell you this... b-but, now you know. I hate myself f-for letting this happen to me... a-and I didn't want anyone to know. B-Because it's... it's the most h-humiliating shit to ever happen to me." Even though Zaria didn't directly say what had happened with her and Thalia, the emotions and embarrassment clearly did imply some heavy shit. Though, you still had to resolve this in some way, right? Thalia clearly wasn't some evil person, given how much she helped you and your men out... hell, maybe you could resolve this, now that you knew why Zaria was so upset?

Though obviously, you were going to have to treat this topic EXTREMELY delicately...

>What do you do next?

>Ask Zaria for further details. Even if she hated talking about this, you needed to know what led up to this and how it all unfolded. Did Thalia do some things which showed she was aware of her wrongdoing? Or was Thalia just unaware of Zaria's boundaries? (Write in what you'll ask.)
>Go back to the rest of your men to discuss this together. They also needed to know what was going on, especially if some of them had similar experiences with Thalia which you weren't aware of. (Write in what you'll tell your men about this.)
>Confront Thalia right away to figure out her perspective. Maybe Thalia's upbringing played a role in this? Or she simply didn't know Zaria didn't want to get... intimate. (Write in what you'll ask Thalia.)
>Comfort Zaria in some way. Given how shaken and flustered she was, she clearly could use the support in some way. Besides, it'd make resolving this issue a whole lot easier if Zaria was in a calmer mental state. (Write in how you'll comfort Zaria.)
>Something else...

>>6261876
So I take it this is confirmation you'll eventually be doing something like the Annie story but with Zaria and Thalia. From the sounds of things it's basically the same thing, just this time the sirin, I mean siren, didn't get shot and forced to run. I eagerly await you making a text Zaria doesn't want us to read.

Since there's no one else's plan to vote on yet.

>Ask Zaria for further details. Even if she hated talking about this, you needed to know what led up to this and how it all unfolded. Did Thalia do some things which showed she was aware of her wrongdoing? Or was Thalia just unaware of Zaria's boundaries? (Write in what you'll ask.)
Ask her if she actually did the deed or just did something more mild. Also ask how Thalia acted throughout it. Was there any malicious intent or was she just being kind and so thick headed she didn't understand your dislike.

>Confront Thalia right away to figure out her perspective. Maybe Thalia's upbringing played a role in this? Or she simply didn't know Zaria didn't want to get... intimate. (Write in what you'll ask Thalia.)
Just go drag her aside and ask for her side, after explaining how Zaria really didn't like that once not charmed by her song

>>6261876
>Comfort Zaria in some way. Given how shaken and flustered she was, she clearly could use the support in some way. Besides, it'd make resolving this issue a whole lot easier if Zaria was in a calmer mental state. (Write in how you'll comfort Zaria.)
Verbal comfort, tell her there’s nothing to be ashamed about
Wtf she didn’t think that was important to share though?

Can support >>6262083
after

God dammit Zaria, this is NOT something you should be hiding. We could tell something was off and if you hadn't been so cagey about it at the start, we could have nipped this in the bud before it ended in tears. Ugggggh, shit all round and a frustratingly unnecessary outcome from both Zaria's refusal to communicate and our negligence leaving them unsupervised together. Personal thoughts only, not proposed dialogue.
>>6261876
>Confront Thalia right away to figure out her perspective. Maybe Thalia's upbringing played a role in this? Or she simply didn't know Zaria didn't want to get... intimate.
Right, Thalia, come here. We need to have a very important talk with the Riot Act in hand.
We need her account. What happened, and what was she trying to do?
If it is as I suspect, we need to make it very clear that Zaria is off limits to her and what she has done is not only unacceptable and would get her jailed for SA but has done quite a bit of mental damage to Zaria, who now hates her for it.

It's pretty clear in retrospect that Thalia has eyes for Zaria. What I think happened is that Thalia was singing to genuinely try to woo Zaria (which would be in line with what we've seen of her) and mistook her enthralling Zaria as a sign she was winning her over without considering or realising that she was not willingly on board or taking the hints that Zaria did not reciprocate thanks to a warped view of sexuality and almost no concept of boundaries or what constitutes consent thanks to Elbrus. It's difficult to personally blame her and she doesn't have a malicious bone in her body - I think she might be quite upset once we get the reality of her shenanigans through to her and her self-worth is already fragile enough. Regardless of the status of her innocence, the full two-sided account should determine what we're going to do with Thalia after this.

>>6261875
>Thalia tried to seduce/rape Zaria, who feels violated and humiliated because of this.
Well, that definitely explains why Zaria and Derek hate Thalia. Fair enough.

>>6261876
Supporting >>6262119 and >>6262141

>>6262083
>Ask her if she actually did the deed or just did something more mild.
Do NOT ask her this, have a little fucking tact. Why would we even need to know that?

>>6262202
Support this anon, especially the tact part, do not ask her if she "done the deed".
In hindsight we can understand this was waaayyy before Thalia started to understand about limits and lines which should not be crossed however we need to let her know about how she has affected Zaria and she should reflect about it.

>Comfort Zaria in some way. Given how shaken and flustered she was, she clearly could use the support in some way. Besides, it'd make resolving this issue a whole lot easier if Zaria was in a calmer mental state.
>Ask Zaria for further details. Even if she hated talking about this, you needed to know what led up to this and how it all unfolded. Did Thalia do some things which showed she was aware of her wrongdoing? Or was Thalia just unaware of Zaria's boundaries?
After Zaria admitted what had happened and called it the most humiliating thing to happen to her, you would take a more soft and conciliatory tone. You told her that she didn't have to be ashamed about what had happened, which made her look away. "E-Even if it isn't... s-something to be ashamed about, i-it felt horrible, w-wrong and... d-disgusting on so many levels. S-She made me do th-things I never w-wanted to do. S-She teased me, h-humiliated me and made me f-feel awful." She was still frustrated, her sounding on the edge of lashing out at you.

Though, you did soon ask the risky question as to why she didn't bring it up to you. Had she told you about this right after it happened, you would've taken action to protect her. This made her shake her head. "W-What part of m-most humiliating thing in l-life did you not understand?! J-Just telling you now m-makes me wanna... s-stab myself in the f-fucking gut right now. I-I only told D-Derek about th-this because... h-he walked in on me... d-doing terrible th-things a-and I couldn't hide... I-I even told him n-not to tell anyone else..." You knew that she really wouldn't have gotten much shit if she had told this to the rest of your men. None of them would've mocked her for this news. Hell, your men would've probably been more inclined to support her like Derek did. Still, it was clear stubbornness and shame played a major role here. You nodded understandingly, before deciding to ask Zaria about some of the more fine and concerning details.

Namely, you asked how Thalia acted throughout the act. You wanted to know if she had malicious intent, or if she was just unaware of her displeasure at what was going on. "I-I said NO and STOP on m-multiple o-occasions w-whilst she f-followed me! S-She k-kept pushing me, t-telling me that I-I'd "enjoy" it i-if I just g-gave her a c-chance and g-gave in... Even i-if it was just... E-Elbrus' influence on her m-making her say that crap, sh-she was absolutely enjoying it... I-I could tell she d-didn't care I said no." You did almost ask about some other details, specifically what these questionable acts entailed. But seeing as how much Zaria hated this and that it'd only make her more upset, you decided to refrain from it. Instead, you told her that you were going to try and resolve this right now. You were going to ask Thalia about why she did this and if she realised the hurt she caused. "G-Given that s-she didn't understand the h-hut caused by E-Elbrus, I doubt she'd u-understand this..."

>Confront Thalia right away to figure out her perspective. Maybe Thalia's upbringing played a role in this? Or she simply didn't know Zaria didn't want to get... intimate.
Whilst it was true that Thalia had spoken positively of Elbrus in the past, you also knew that she had learnt that Elbrus wasn't the best person, after spending enough time with you. Besides, this was only a short while after you had met her. She had probably improved a lot since then, right? You would take Zaria back over to the rest of your group, by now joining them at the start of the small office area. "P-Please don't b-bring it up to a-anyone else, okay?" Zaria quietly asked, clearly not wanting to share this information with the rest of your men. Of course, you couldn't promise anything. Once you did rejoin your men, they seemed to quickly realise something was going on. "Ah, Mik, Zaria, ya two are back! Is... um, is everything okay? Ya look a little anxious, Zaria." Thaddeus asked, some of your men also looking at her.

You didn't elaborate, instead looking at Thalia, who also seemed curious about what was going on. You asked her to come along for a moment, since you needed to talk with her. "Oh, sure, Mik!" She said in a mixture of curiosity, concern and eagerness. You took her a short distance away, your men realising that this was a private thing as they left the two of you be. You explained what Zaria had told you, and that Thalia's charming song wasn't exactly appreciated when it made Zaria desire intimacy against her own will. "Huh, but... she was being all playful about it! Sure, she was embarrassed too, but... I thought that she clearly wanted it! That's why I sang my song of pleasure to her, since I knew it'd help convince her that she didn't have to be embarrassed! She could admit it, being the cute little tsundere that she is!" Thalia sounded very confused and concerned, you asking what had happened from her perspective between herself and Zaria.

"Okay, well, ummm, we were exploring those flooded parts, and I wanted to go with Zaria since she is so cute. I gave her my song, and she got flustered which... made her even cuter! I kept going after her and telling her how I liked her, before giving her some gentle kisses and letting her feel my body. Some simple things which I thought would help her get out of her shell. But, ummm, she kept teasing me by leaving after letting me feel her for a short while. Until, uhhhh, she got back to you and I decided to leave her be since she clearly wanted to chat with you regarding your job! Besides, I felt confident that I was breaking Zaria's worries and getting her to open up more with me!" She sounded rather giddy about that last thing, clearly not aware that she had mistaken her forcefulness for light teasing. Though, given that Thalia didn't really try to hide her actions in any way, it seemed possible that this was all just a case of Thalia's warped upbringing by that sick fuck Elbrus.

Whatever was the case, you would tell Thalia that Zaria did NOT in fact appreciate it at all, making Thalia's excitedness fade. "She... she did not? But... she acts all shy and flustered a-and teasing to me. S-Sure, she can be a bit hot-headed but... o-oh no." Thalia finally seemed to realise that she had done something horrifically wrong, appearing far more concerned than before. "Is Zaria okay? I-I didn't hurt her in any way, d-did I? I really thought she was just... oh no, this is terrible! I didn't wanna hurt Zaria! I like Zaria! She's sweet and cute and funny... M-Mikhail, it's not that bad, is it? She's... she's managing just fine, right? I-I didn't traumatize her o-or hurt her in any way, r-right? Oh this is so bad..." It seemed that you had been very correct with your thoughts on Thalia. She really did think she was being harmless, her own upbringing and nature convincing her that this wasn't that bad. When in fact, it very much did harm Zaria.

"Mik, I have to do something! I have to say sorry! I-I need to show her that I'm not like that! T-That I really meant well, b-but that... I-I guess I just d-didn't know better..." Thalia said in a very regretful tone, clearly already wanting to apologise right away.

>What do you do next?

>Ask Thalia for some further details. Maybe you needed to know some other things about this entire story before you could actually settle on what had happened and what could be done to prevent such situations in the future. (Write in what you'll ask Thalia.)
>Give Thalia some advice on how she could apologise to Zaria right now. Just some small tips to help Thalia ensure that Zaria could forgive her. (Write in what you'll advise Thalia to do.)
>Tell Thalia to just leave Zaria be for the time being. In the meantime, you could mediate between Thalia and Zaria to ensure that there were no misunderstandings or uncomfortable moments between the two of them. (Write in what you'll tell Zaria and how you'll mediate.)
>Ask for some comments from the rest of the group. Whilst Derek wasn't here to give his own view on what had happened, there were still others who could maybe share their thoughts on the matter and what they may have witnissed of this entire incident. (Write in who you'll ask for thoughts.)
>Really reprimand Thalia for what she did. Some hard truths and advise might be fitting now, considering that Thalia quite literally sexually assaulted Zaria. Tough love might get the point across better than keeping a soft tone at this point... (Write in what you'll tell Thalia and how you'll tell it.)
>Something else...

>>6262606
>Give Thalia some advice on how she could apologise to Zaria right now. Just some small tips to help Thalia ensure that Zaria could forgive her. (Write in what you'll advise Thalia to do.)
Zaria probably isn’t comfortable being alone with Thalia, letting Derek be there for the apology would both make Zaria feel safer and show Derek how contrite she is so he stops hating her as well.

As for the apology itself Zaria was hung up on how Thalia ignored her saying no, so explaining that she was taught no really meant try harder and she genuinely thought Zaria was just playing hard to get might be a good approach. Along with lots of “sorry it’ll never happen again” and “I’ll make it up to you however I can”, of course.

>>6262606
>Really reprimand Thalia for what she did. Some hard truths and advise might be fitting now, considering that Thalia quite literally sexually assaulted Zaria. Tough love might get the point across better than keeping a soft tone at this point...
I'm going to feel absolutely awful for doing this, but we need to really smash Thalia over the head with the full reality of what she did and the consequences it has had. We need to engrave this necessary lesson on her soul as one she will Understand and Remember for good and come out of as a changed person rather than just as a general awareness she did something bad. Spell out to her why this is such an important and sensitive topic for people. Make it clear how society views this and that it comes with long prison sentences out there. State that consent by cajoling does not cut it and that she needs to be acutely aware of the effect she has on people and to be so careful with it. Make it clear that she has traumatised Zaria, who is now afraid of her and very resentful.
Now, I'm pretty sure Thalia is going to be a wreck at this point, so we'll need to pull her back to her feet. Remind her that we blame Elbrus for teaching her the wrong lessons and keeping her in the dark about her powers, not her. Remind her that this doesn't make her a bad person so long as she learns from it and does her best to make amends with Zaria. Remind her that we still consider her part of the team, value all that she's done a lot for us and need her. Maybe even use hug power.
>Give Thalia some advice on how she could apologise to Zaria right now. Just some small tips to help Thalia ensure that Zaria could forgive her.
Stay out of her personal space, keep your voice down and rehearse what she wants to say a bit, focusing on why she persisted. We're going to go back to Zaria and see if we can convince her to allow Thalia to talk to her and what conditions she'd want to attach to it, like having one of us as a chaperone or even having Thalia use a nodepad and pencil instead of speaking. Because this would be more authentic coming from an extremely upset and contrite Thalia than us and they're both going to be at rock bottom and need to have this face to face so they can both start to slowly make their way up again, even if they might never be friends.

>>6262641
Supporting. We're trying to sort things out but she better reflect on what she done and be ready for some atonement.

>>6262848
Anon I don't think giving her a harsh scolding will give a good result other than make her really depressed. When Thalia did that, it was before her development arc were she didn't think Elbrus was a PoS and didn't know how her powers worked, she's already has lots of issues regarding the stigma of being an Elbrus subject but she's different from before and she's really regretting now.

>>6263114
I've had a few hours to think on it and I'd say you're right that it's too harsh and it's just going to crush her, so consider most of that withdrawn. But I still think we need to explain to her clearly why what she did was unacceptable and the effect it's had on Zaria to make sure she understands for the future and can emphasise with Zaria properly.

>>6263116
It seems to me that she already understands all of that. She's breaking up about it at the end of the update.

>>6263161
She is clearly figuring out that she did something wrong and hurt Zaria, but she needs a very serious talk on consent to lay out important rules both for this particular case and other instances to make sure she understands in full and I'm not sure she realises the specifics of how Zaria is feeling, which could bite her if she approaches from the wrong angle.

>>6263173
I can support going over the standard understanding of consent with her so she has a better understanding of what Zaria is feeling and to make sure there's no other lingering Elbrusisms, but I want to do it in a supportive and not reprimanding manner.

>>6263182
I think we can meet on that. Just so long as we have this conversation with her here and now before we allow her to try and go to Zaria without the context she needs.

As for another aspect of what I originally wanted, I do still want to ask Zaria on Thalia's behalf while she has a meltdown if she can speak to her and any preconditions she wants to set.

>Really reprimand Thalia for what she did. Some hard truths and advise might be fitting now, considering that Thalia quite literally sexually assaulted Zaria. Tough love might get the point across better than keeping a soft tone at this point...
Whilst it was very tempting to give Thalia a stern talk, you knew that getting angry at her wouldn't do anything, except for scaring her even more. She already clearly felt terrible for what she did, so there was no real point in driving her mistake even further home. Still, you wanted to be clear that what she did was unacceptable, mentioning that it really had some negative impacts on Zaria. "Oh no! I need to apologise now!" She said in a far more pained tone, already appearing ready to walk over to Zaria. You quickly stopped her, telling her that she couldn't just rush over to Zaria. You told her that she first needed to learn a bit about consent, her quietly listeing as you explained the concept. You wanted to make sure she understood perfectly how Zaria felt and that a situation like this wouldn't help. Thalia nodded quietly as you elaborated, still appearing rather on edge and saddened though.

Once you did fully explain the topic, Thalia nodded and wiped some tears away. "I g-get it. So, no... REALLY means no. It's not teasing or... ummm, just being cute. I-It means no... I-I understand, Mikhail." She was still very scared, continuing to let out some tears and sniffling. You told her that you wanted any remaining Elbrusisms to be erased, once again mention that you wanted to ensure that she would not have such issues again. You also stated that you wanted to help her out, wanting her to improve her relations with Zaria. Thalia nodded again, before looking at the rest of your men. "O-Okay, I'll... I'll make s-sure to say sorry to Z-Zaria now. I-I... don't know if it will go well though. But, um... w-what if she says no or doesn't a-accept it? O-OR what if the others l-learnt what I did a-and hate me f-for it?"

>Give Thalia some advice on how she could apologise to Zaria right now. Just some small tips to help Thalia ensure that Zaria could forgive her.
You doubted that the rest of your group would be upset at her for long. After all, Thalia knew she had done something wrong and wanted to fix her mistakes. Not to mention, the whole role Elbrus played in this. Still, you understood Thalia's fears, reassuring her that it would go fine. Though, you would give some pointers, mentioning that it could help to have some other people nearby. That way, Zaria would feel less anxious about Thalia's intentions and would be more willing to hear her out. Thalia nodded understandingly, you thinking a bit more about the apology. You suggested that she could mention how she was taught that no actually meant yes, making it clear that she just didn't know better thanks to Elbrus' influence. Thalia nodded again, repeating you softly. "Say that... I-I didn't know b-better thanks to E-Elbrus..."

You also told her to really repeat that she was sorry, and to promise to make up in whatever she could. Thalia again nodded, before you warned her to at least stay out of Zaria's personal space. Also, keeping her voice down and rehearsing her apology might help. Though this comment about voice certainly made her worried. "W-What if m-my voice and p-powers make things go w-wrong? O-Or w-what if that s-scares Zaria into n-not wanting to listen to me? I-I don't... m-maybe I just sh-should say as l-little as possible..." You told her that just keeping her voice down was fine, and that she shouldn't leave out important aspects of the apology, as to make sure it was as sincere as possible. More importantly, you told her that you would go back to Zaria and convince her to give Thalia a chance to talk. Hell, if Thalia was concerned about her voice, you could even offer to have the apology written instead, if Zaria also preferred that over a vocal apology.

"O-Okay, l-let's go back then... I-I'll... I'll keep q-quiet a-and keep my d-distance..." Thalia said sombrely, you giving her one final reassurance that things would go fine. Thus, you finally rejoined your group, them looking very curiously at you and Thalia. "Mik, is everything okay?" Lydia asked when you rejoined, Chrys also speaking worriedly. "Yeah, we've been trying to talk with Zaria, but... she doesn't wanna budge. Did something bad happen?" Looking at Zaria, you saw her glare at Thalia, before giving you a more calm and trusting look. You once again calmly asked Zaria to join you for a moment, her nodding. "Mik, can you tell us what's going on?" Artyom asked in a mixture of concern and frustration. "If there is some sort of emergency, we would love to know what is going on. Zaria doesn't wanna explain a thing, and... well, we can't force her to answer. But, we still wanna know what's going on." Artyom said softly, before Lars spoke up as well. "Maybe, you don't need to tell us the details, but... we can still help, if you need it."

It was nice that your men were worried about what was going on. Though, you told them to first just wait and not to push things too much. You took Zaria to the side, your men quietly staring as you found a private space for you and Zaria. You told her that Thalia wanted to apologise, Zaria looking a little bewildered. You also added that the apology could be brought in any way which Zaria preferred. Written, vocal, or even in the form of some help or a gift or anything Thalia could give. Zaria looked away, before sighing. "And... why does she want to apologise all of a sudden now? She... she made me do things against my will. I told her no and... she kept going... but only now that the secret is out, she wants to apologise. How do I know this isn't just her trying to find an out?!" Zaria sighed in frustration. "Just... tell her to leave me alone. I don't wanna hear her voice or be reminded of this..."

Obviously, Zaria wasn't going to 'just' accept the apology from Thalia. Though, you still wanted Zaria to give Thalia a chance. Thalia had clearly realised her mistake and felt terrible. Besides, it'd be good for both of them to resolve this sooner rather than later. Then again, could you really force Zaria into accepting this?

>What do you do next?

>Convince Zaria to give Thalia the chance to explain herself and apologies. You could tell some of the fine details which Thalia had mentioned, such as Elbrus' role in her behaviour, or the fact Thalia genuinely did like Zaria. If Zaria knew more about what was going on, surely she'd eventually accept it, right? (Write in what you'll tell/do to convince Zaria.)
>Give Zaria some time to think things over and make a decision on listening to Thalia's apology. Yes, you could now tell Zaria all about how Thalia felt, but it was way better if Thalia herself could share her emotions and explain why she was sorry now. (Write in if you'll give Zaria a specific time when you want to hear her choice.)
>Offer to join Zaria and Thalia to a spot where it's just the three of you. The rest of the group wouldn't be able to listen in, and you could help Thalia deliver a proper apology, all on Zaria's terms.
>Ask Zaria if bringing this up to the rest of your men is fine. Yes, it was humiliating, but your men would be more than supporting and comforting to Zaria if they heard what was going on. It'd make Zaria feel more secure about actually talking with Thalia, if your men now also understood her frustrations with the siren subject.
>Something else...

>>6263344
>>Give Zaria some time to think things over and make a decision on listening to Thalia's apology. Yes, you could now tell Zaria all about how Thalia felt, but it was way better if Thalia herself could share her emotions and explain why she was sorry now. (Write in if you'll give Zaria a specific time when you want to hear her choice.)
Don't try to force Zaria she already took the first step in confiding to us, just tell her to give some thought and that Thalia is really sincere about it, she really regrets and want to make amends, no one's forcing her but just give some thought.

>>6262641
Voting for this

>>6263532
My bad I meant this >>6263405 phone screwed up.

>>6263344
>Give Zaria some time to think things over and make a decision on listening to Thalia's apology. Yes, you could now tell Zaria all about how Thalia felt, but it was way better if Thalia herself could share her emotions and explain why she was sorry now. (Write in if you'll give Zaria a specific time when you want to hear her choice.)
Don't know why I didn't think of this but a letter might actually be way better. No worries about her power encroaching in, Zaria can read it whenever she's ready, and she doesn't have to be face to face.

Okay I missed a lot these past few days and shit, Thalia actually thought my joke of a theory was the case and actually raped Zaria. I was expecting it to be at worst more along the lines of Zaria getting charmed and running over to Thalia to do things in a trance, not...begging for her not to while her body wasn't under her control like all this implies. I also thought she had at least some knowledge of basic boundaries, among other things. Guess I was wrong there. Also I suppose this technically means that Zaria was the first of our squad to bang a subject, congrats on that dubious distinction. I'm sure that award won't make you feel worse in any way, shape or form.

Thalia's own reaction is to be expected. She just put someone she clearly cares about through hell and has no one to blame for it but herself. Sure, Elbrus can be blamed as a scapegoat but even with that in mind she could have just stopped. And I doubt that knowledge will make her a happy fish... Really I pity both her and Zaria, especially since I doubt the latter is just going to forgive her for raping her for a very long time, if ever. At this point I think the best bet to help both of them is hope we find Kaenum if we want both of them to get over their issues.

On that note, I had a revelation. If we want to track any subject we can just phone Annie for her to give us at least a semi up to date update to their location. We should probably call her up later and ask where all the subjects we know of who we are interested in trying to recruit are at the moment, or were last sighted at least.

>>6263685
>>6263405
Supporting. A letter is probably best since isn't it her voice rather than just her song's that influence people? Even if her songs have a greater effect.

>>6263855
Annie isn't omniscient and there's a lot she doesn't know if subjects are in areas of the facility where she doesn't have eyes and where death squads and guards she monitors things through are thin on the ground. She didn't seem to know about KK, didn't know where Alexandra or any of the ranking scientists were and, while I imagine she has plans of the facility and knows who was in what cell, many of the subjects are no longer there and those from the green section like Kaenum have been scattered to the four winds by now.

>>6263893
Still worth a try at the very least. She has better intel as to where everyone is compared to the government. That much is certain.

>>6263910
I don’t want to get in the habit of phoning up Annie for every little thing

>Give Zaria some time to think things over and make a decision on listening to Thalia's apology. Yes, you could now tell Zaria all about how Thalia felt, but it was way better if Thalia herself could share her emotions and explain why she was sorry now.
Zaria remained sceptical about Thalia's intentions, even saying she just wanted to keep her distance. You told her that, obviously you would make sure to keep some distance between the two of them. You told her that, the fact she admitted this to you was already a step in the right direction, before telling her to take her time in thinking things through. When or if she became comfortable around Thalia, she could actually listen to Thalia's apology. Zaria nodded calmly, before softly saying: "I am glad... you're helping out here, Mik. It's humiliating as all hell, but... you certainly are making this easier to manage." At the very least, Zaria seemed comfortable with your help. Though, you did soon advise her to consider it sooner rather than later. Zaria raised an eyebrow, clearly still not all that eager to listen to Thalia.

You elaborated that Thalia REALLY was regretful about what she had done. You could tell that Thalia was sincere, and that she wanted to make amends. You reiterated that it was still up to her, and that she could take her time to consider it, rather than rushing it. "Okay, I get it. I'll... think about it. I'd rather just... try to forget this ever happened and NEVER discuss this again, but... ugh, whatever. We'll look into it, kay?" The last thing you'd reiterate was that Zaria could always get a written apology instead, rather than risk listening to Thalia's voice. Given the concerns about Thalia's powers, it'd make things a whole lot easier. "Yeah, I think a written apology would be for the best. But, how about we first join the rest of the group and just... let this be for the time being? I hate having to think so much about all of this...

With that in mind, you'd return to your men, hopefully not having to separate for a while again. Immediately, your men all looked at you and Zaria, with Lydia right away saying: "Mik, you really have to tell us what is going on. Thalia is behaving like she had to kill someone. You've taken Zaria away twice now." Afterwards, Artyom spoke more sceptically. "I may not know what has happened the past few days, but I got a hunch that something bad happened and that you're not telling us about it." Before you could respond, Zaria spoke up in a more assertive tone. "It's just something private between me and Thalia, Artyom. It's none of your business." Artyom was clearly taken back by the aggression. Though, Zaria quickly backtracked. "I'll... maybe tell you later. Just... let's move on, okay? I wanna focus on our job and find France and his men right now." Your men all went quiet, as you were once again able to lead the way. Though, you could tell that your men were all very curious about what was going on.

For the time being, you'd keep going forward, leading the way through the office area. "I wonder what we're gonna encounter once we finally reach the parts that are flooded. It'll be fun wading through water, huh?" Alan eventually said in a joking tone, which made Lars also speak up. "Hey, I'm sure Thalia would feel right at home there. Right, Thalia?" Perhaps he was attempting to cheer Thalia up. However, it only made Thalia nod meekly, much to his disappointment. Afterwards though, Thaddeus spoke up in a more amused tone. "Well, uhhh, maybe Katya will need some help bein' carried around? Ya know, being an owl in a wet place." There were some chuckles, though Katya would once again respond in a rather... dry tone. "Such concerns are unnecessary, Thaddeus. I am not burdened by water. It would be illogical for a subject such as myself to have such a simple weakness." The direct and dry response made Evander speak up in mild bemusement. "I, uhhhh, I take it yer creator wasn't one for comedy, eh?"

Katya tilted her head, before speaking softly. "Comedy is not part of my functionality. I do understand what it is, but... it certainly is something that elludes me." Fortunately, there was someone in your group who was eager to get Katya to learn what humour was, though her method was... maybe not the best. "Katya, why don't you try and tell us a joke? I'm sure you can figure out something funny!" Katya actually seemed to think about the suggestion, which was certainly a surprise. "I can attempt to think of something. Though, as aforementioned, comedy is not something I have trained with. Still, I can attempt something based on what I have heard guardsmen and staff say." Your men all looked curiously at Katya, with Lydia even saying: "Go for it! Maybe it won't land, but there's no issue in trying, right?" Anon would nod along and say: "Yeah, no harm in trying. Maybe it will actually be quite amusing?" Katya thought for a moment, before speaking calmly.

"Two guardsmen are standing guard at a containment chamber to a subject. The guardsmen are discussing the logistics of their job, specifically focusing in on the guardsmen who will take their place within the hours to come. They contact their superiors, asking for a time of arrival for the night guardsmen. The guardsmen are told that the night guardsmen have been doing an inadequate job, and that they will be there very soon, before dinner time. However, as dinner approaches, the two guardsmen suddenly hear some noise in the chamber they're looking over. They notice that some guardsmen had somehow entered the chamber, at which point they fail to follow facility procedure and contact staff to warn them, rather than trying to disable the subject attacking the guardsmen who entered. When they do contact the staff, they are told that the guardsmen have been repurposed as food for the subject for doing an inadequate job as guardsmen." There was silence, Katya smiling and waiting for responses.

"Ummm, I... I think you may have misremembered the joke just a little bit." Mike said, before Thaddeus spoke. "I mean, maybe the joke is that 'there is no punchline, this is just what life is like for guardsmen'." Katya nodded a little bit, softly saying: "Affirmative. The joke does indeed reflect some of the poor ways guardsmen are treated, albeit to an extreme degree clearly not reflective of facility policy." Perhaps jokes really weren't Katya's strong suit. Still, Chrys would calmly say: "Hey, you gave it your best shot. Maybe if the person you heard it from tells us the joke, we will understand it more clearly." Katya nodded calmly, clearly not minding that her joke didn't land. "Ya know, I am curious about... what ya've gone through in this place, Katya. Yer rather robotic for a biomechanical lass." Evander calmly commented, after which Artyom said: "Yeah, I've also been curious about you girls. Especially Reika since... y'know, murderous chimera."

There were some amused scoffs, before Lars said: "Well, what is there to say about Reika? She may be murderous, but it seemed that Mikhail's instincts made us spare her. I guess he couldn't help but see a big cat in desperate need of pats deep inside of her." There were some more chuckles, before Chrys spoke up to bring up something rather intriguing. "Um, can I say something about Reika?" Everyone looked at Chrys, before she let out a sigh. "I must admit that... I am a little scared of Reika." There were some amused looks from your men, though Lars was quick to say: "Yeah, I can understand that. She is... a little bestial. Not to mention, her not being the brightest."

>What do you do next?

>Join your men and the girls in the chat about Reika, Katya, the facility and what not. Maybe sharing a joke with your men after Katya's botched attempt could garner some chuckles and a positive mood in your group. (Write in what you'll discuss.)
>Just focus on heading forward. You'd pass through this office space soon enough, and then reach the area above the green section.
>Listen to Annie on the radio. Some music now could be nice. Not to mention, it allowing her to see where you were heading and potentially helping you. Hell, you could even ask for advice later on if she didn't sound too busy.
>Cheer up Thalia and Zaria in some way. They were currently rather quietly listening to the chats that were happening. Maybe you could do something for either to get them to join the chat as well? (Write in what you'll do to hopefully get them to cheer up.)
>Something else…

>>6264050
>>Join your men and the girls in the chat about Reika, Katya, the facility and what not. Maybe sharing a joke with your men after Katya's botched attempt could garner some chuckles and a positive mood in your group. (Write in what you'll discuss.)
Reika's strong, It took our entire squad with multiple subjects and heavy armament to incapacitate her temporarily and now she on our side, imagine what she'll be able to do once she's back on her game, plus even after all what happened.... We kinda felt bad for her, she's been brainwashed by that psycho Roraima to treat manslaughter as training, all she needs is a better influence, you saw how she's acting after we patched up, she is like a really big kitty, give her food, some well placed petting, don't call her stupid and were set.

>Let me show how's a joke like Katya:
>A Pigeon and a Owl were in a tree in an argument.
>The owl says: you pigeon are so dirty, you're always in mud.
>The pigeon answer: that's a pig.
>The owl responds: Pigeon, pig same thing.
>The pigeon gets angry and say: Well at least I don't smell like shit, you keep having your Owl movements all the time.
>The own says: That's a bowel movement
>The pigeon answer: Owl, Bowel same shit.

>>6264050
>Join your men and the girls in the chat about Reika, Katya, the facility and what not. Maybe sharing a joke with your men after Katya's botched attempt could garner some chuckles and a positive mood in your group. (Write in what you'll discuss.)
I'll domesticate Vinella too, just you guys wait

>>6264240
Thinking again, considering Katya that joke might not be appropriate... How about this one instead:
>A commander of a diamond dog squad get's invited by a goverment official to report his mission.
>In ther they give him some food and drinks and now he needs to relieve himself.
>Once in the toilet he looks around and finds a picture of a Lodgerite squad in action.
>The commander done what he needed done returned back to the the gov official and they find it odd he had no reaction to portrait and ask: What did you thought about the picture did it's placement was appropriate?
>He answered: Why yes, pretty much so, nothing makes a Diamond Dog shit quicker than the sight of their biggest fear
>They asked: The Lodgerites?
>He responds: No, doing a job well done.

>>6264050
Give it up for KK's first positive facial expression!
>Join your men and the girls in the chat about Reika, Katya, the facility and what not. Maybe sharing a joke with your men after Katya's botched attempt could garner some chuckles and a positive mood in your group.
Reika is definitely like a cat. Food-driven, likes being petted, high opinion of herself and trainable with some behavioural reinforcement. Just so long as you don't put her intelligence down and keep her fed, I think she's quite content being our pet chimaera. Even if it took a lot to wrangle her first time and we can't wash the blood off her claws.
I wonder how all the subjects from the green section are getting on now it's been overrun - Cirola is dead and the rest have probably scattered all over. Kaenum for one was reported somewhere in the northeast, no mention of what level or specifically where. It's a good thing we got Kamara and Anofelis out before then.
I also wonder what these upper floors were generally for. Is it just a lot of facility plant, accommodation and admin, or were they doing subject work up here too?

I think classic Soviet "anekdoty" humour might be more KK's speed. God knows this place has enough things to mock with a straight face without depending on a single punchline.
Three heads of the Facility are on a bus. Suddenly, the bus comes to a stop and nobody knows why. Hector declares he will handle this and goes to talk to the driver. He discovers the driver is incompetent with a poor work ethic and has him transferred elsewhere and sits back down. The bus doesn't move. Next, Tengri declares he will fix this, going up and creating a subject specifically for driving buses and returns to his seat. Still nothing. Next, Ruzica gets out and sees the problem - the bridge is out. She declares that if the other two follow her lead, it will be fixed in ten minutes. Ten minutes later, the bridge is repaired and they return to the bus, but the bus is gone. Hadrien sold it.

>>6264240
>>6264249
Let's not give a backhand insult to Katya. Let's also not tell the highly loyal and near robotic soldier their commanding officer is a cunt to their face.

>>6264243
Sure, and I'm sure the government will gladly let us and the subjects we saved go if we just ask nicely.

>>6264298
Supporting. Maybe we can use some other old soviet jokes...

Guy gets in line for lunch and asks the guy ahead of him, "How long have you been waiting?"
"I don't know, I've lost track," says the second guy. The first guy shrugs and figures he'll wait too.
Hours pass. Finally the first guy says, "I've had enough of this!"
The second guy replies, "Sure, I understand, I'm sick of it too, but what can anyone do?"
The first guy says, "Yes, yes, that is how these conversations always go, but this time it's different, I'm so fed up, I am going to take action. I will go kill Fictamor myself."
The second guy says worriedly, "Well... good luck and all, if you survive, come back and tell me how it went, okay?"
He shakes his head to himself, thinking that is the last he will ever see of the first guy.
But then, much to his surprise, the first guy comes back not too much later!
"You're back!" exclaims the second guy. "And so soon. I must admit, I am surprised. So what happened?"
"Well," says the first guy. "I went to kill Fictamor, but when I got there, the line was even longer."
Overhearing this exchange, a nearby guardsman butts in. "Shut up you! Don't you know if this were just a few years ago you'd have been shot for saying that?"
"It's worse than I thought," whispers the second man to the first. "They're out of bullets now too!"

A man goes to the official agency, puts down his money and is told that he can obtain delivery of his spacecraft in exactly 10 years. “Morning or afternoon,” the purchaser asks. “Ten years from now, what difference does it make?” replies the clerk. “Well,” says the ship-buyer, “the plumber’s coming in the morning.”

Less than one family out of seven in the Tri-Euna Federation own a hovercar. Most of the hovercraft are driven by the bureaucrats. The government furnishes them with drivers and so forth. So an order went out one day to the police that anyone caught speeding, anyone no matter who, gets a ticket. Well, Fictamor came out of his country home, his mansion, he was late getting to parliament, there was his hovercar and driver waiting. He told the driver to get in the back seat he'd drive and down the skyway he went. They passed two hovercycle cops, one took out after him and pretty soon he's back with his buddy.
"So did you give the guy a ticket?" the second cop asked.
"No. Too important."
"Why not? We were told to give everyone a ticket. Who was he?"
"I couldn't see the face of the man, but his driver was Fictamor."

Last minute addition, holy shit my Captcha is Kay7a. It's a sign.

>>6264350
>>6264298
Voting for these. And yes we must protect that smile. Make the big owl as happy as they looked in that pinup picture.

>Join your men and the girls in the chat about Reika, Katya, the facility and what not. Maybe sharing a joke with your men after Katya's botched attempt could garner some chuckles and a positive mood in your group.
Hearing your men talking about Reika, you were obviously going to jump into the conversation to have a little fun chat about her. You mentioned that Reika was very much like a cat. A strong, murderous cat. You mentioned how it took your entire squad and several subjects to take her down temporarily, which made Lars speak up. "And in the process, we took... how many casualties again? I almost died... Derek had issues with his ribcage... and you got your hand cut open." Evander, Arty and Chrys all looked pretty shocked, clearly not being too aware of how difficult the fight had been for you and your men. You added that food had really helped in ggetting her on your side. And given how much she liked food and your headpats, she could now instead be a boon for your team. "Aye, she's a tough gal. Once she recovers and follows our commands, she's gonna help us out a ton!" Thaddeus said, you happily agreeing with his thoughts.

"She, ummm, she isn't exactly... the most obedient looking gal though." Artyom calmly remarked, you agreeing that she did have a high opinion of herself. But, with some food and behavioural reinforcement, she could be taught right from wrong pretty effectively. "I am curious what got you to actually take her in to begin with." Alan asked softly, you explaining that Katya had disabled her entirely, at which point you could talk with her. And having talked with her, it was clear she wasn't the brightest and was essentially brainwashed by Roraima to view violence against anyone as training. But now, with some food of your own and headpats, you could train her to behave in a much better way. "Perhaps Morgan can teach her a thing about honour as well?" Chrys said jokingly, which did garner a couple of chuckles from your men.

Afterwards, you did tell your men to not insult Reika's lacking intellect, given that she could be a game changer once she was back in action. This got Alan to speak up more supportively. "I'll punch whoever dares do such a thing, Mik. Ain't nobody, uhhh, undoing all the hard work you did." Obviously, Alan wanted to protect Reika from having her intellect insulted, akin to how he looked after Anofelis because of her lower intelligence. "Relax, pal, we're not gonna insult your wives, Alan." Artyom said smugly, which made Alan look a little annoyed. Though, as a joke, you then suggested that you couldn't wait to try the same thing with Vinella. Domesticating her would surely be an easy thing to do! Your men all scoffed and chuckled at the idea. "With your charms, Mik, I'm sure it can be done." Evander said, before Lydia casually said: "Let's try and befriend Feng as well, whilst we're at it. I am sure that will go splendidly!"

Of course, one person seemed to miss the obvious fact that this was a joke. That, or Katya took your suggestion regarding Vinella seriously. "Due to her lacking intelligence, I believe Reika is relatively manageable to work with, given her simplistic needs and desires. Unfortunately, Vinella is highly intelligent on top of being extremely powerful and resilient. Trying to befriend her will most certainly lead to death... or worse." You told Katya that it was a joke, before deciding to try out a joke of your own. You would use a very old joke which you knew, tailoring it to the facility staff to maybe make it more understandable to Katya. You joked about how Hector, Tengri, Ruzica and Hadrien would all deal with a broken down bus, which did end up getting some of your men to chuckle and laugh. Chrys, Arty and Evander didn't seem to get the joke, presumably because they were not familiar with those names. Katya thought about the joke for a short moment, before giving a small smile. "I understand the joke. It is indeed rather amusing."

Hearing her praise one of your jokes, you gave another joke about people getting in a queue to kill Fictamor. This joke managed to elicit more chuckles from your men. Chrys also laughed along, though you got a feeling she had no clue what the joke was about. Unfortunately, Katya seemed to analyse the joke a bit... too much. "I did find the remark about the line for killing Fictamor being longer to be rather amusing. Though, I do believe that it would be illogical for the government not to supply enough bullets to their military forces. After all, Fictamor has a close relationship with the weapon manufacturing sector." Though, this was met with Mike quickly speaking up in a smug tone. "You'd be surprised how far corruption, bureaucracy and general incompetency can go in Fictamor's government." Afterwards, the rest of your men would also share some jokes, you continuing to walk through the office. You didn't really check any of the side-rooms, as it didn't seem like this place had anything except for some extra harddrives.

As you were about to leave the office space, you did start to wonder how the subjects from the green section were doing. Obviously, Cirola had sadly not made it, but there had to be other subjects still around. "Well, they had the option of going up, escaping down if they were small enough for the vent or waste systems, oooor into the flooded sector. Either way, it wouldn't have pleasant for them, I imagine." Anon calmly argued, after which you mentioned that Kaenum had gone northeast from here, which meant you could possibly encounter her. "I'd love to encounter Kaenum... She had a very nice voice. Kinda like you, Thalia!" Chrys said, looking over at Thalia who still looked somewhat away and regretful. Knowing that Thalia wanted some peace and quiet time, you just brought up how you were relieved you had found Kamara and Anofelis before the government forces came in.

"Yeah, if they had stayed there... well, they would've probably gotten themselves killed..." Evander calmly said, much to the concern of some of your men such as Alan and Lydia. "Hey, those guardsmen we worked with to kill the rabbit managed to escape safely, right? I think they went into the flooded sector, right?" Artyom said, at which point Thaddeus scoffed. "Havin' partially gone through the flooded sector now, I think we can safely say that... it ain't preferable over headin' up or down. That place is real troublesome." Though shortly after, you finally reached the other side of the office space. And once you left, you were met with something fun. It was another large transportation hub with carrier vehicles, tons of supply crates and other logistics tools. Though, this place was FAR more damaged than the one you had encountered Grise in. Many of the vehicles had been turned over. There were dozens of cracks and fissures throughout the ground, as well as several spots where the ceiling had clearly collapsed. You also saw some heavily damaged containment chambers and test chambers not too far away from you, this place appearing to be somewhat multi-purpose.

"Woah, this place is... very open." Chrys said, before Lars spoke up. "And, if this place is anything like the one we found a few floors deeper, we're gonna have to stick close together to stay safe." Thaddeus would already get his railgun ready. "If we encounter anythin' like Grise, I'm ready to put them in a world of hurt, don't ya worry." The place was pretty large, it being maybe a fifth of the floor space of the green sector. There was also a large yet heavily damaged tunnel heading southwards, presumably directly towards the crater...

>What do you do next?

>Explore or look for certain things in this place. It was a pretty massive transport hub, so there was bound to be something of interest, right? And if not in the transport hub section, then the subject test chambers would have something of interest. (Write in where you'll explore and/or what you'll look for.)
>Split up in groups to cover ground. You highly doubted that there was anything truly dangerous in these parts, so it was probably fine to just split up slightly to explore everything quicker. (Write in how you'll split up.)
>Just head straight forward and get out of here. You had to go through heavily water damaged and potentially flooded parts soon as well, so the quicker you wrapped exploring this sector up, the quicker you could hopefully reach France.
>See what happens if you took the rought southward. Maybe it'd lead to some unique location before you'd hit the crater. Or perhaps you'd get a decent view inside of the crater from an angle few could witness?
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6265301
>Explore or look for certain things in this place. It was a pretty massive transport hub, so there was bound to be something of interest, right? And if not in the transport hub section, then the subject test chambers would have something of interest. Any paperwork saying where the contents have come from and where they were going to might also be of interest.
KK, help with breaking some of these crates open to see if they have useful things in them, particularly food. Thalia can come too if she'd like some time away from everyone doing something helpful. KK, any comments on structural integrity of the area?
Everyone else, see what you can find in the subject area. The usual stuff - subject files, facility intel, survivors etc. Can't imagine there's much dangerous here since this should be subject low-sec but there's never no risk of something nasty being kept here or wandering in.

>>6265301
>Explore or look for certain things in this place. It was a pretty massive transport hub, so there was bound to be something of interest, right? And if not in the transport hub section, then the subject test chambers would have something of interest. (Write in where you'll explore and/or what you'll look for.)
Look for what devastated the place. Just proximity to the blast, or did a subject pass through/have a fight here?

>>6265387
>>6265377
Voting for these

>Explore or look for certain things in this place. It was a pretty massive transport hub, so there was bound to be something of interest, right? And if not in the transport hub section, then the subject test chambers would have something of interest. Any paperwork saying where the contents have come from and where they were going to might also be of interest.
You'd tell your men that you wanted to explore these parts for just a little while. You asked Katya to use her strength to open some of the crates, making Alan speak up eagerly. "I'll join Katya! I wanna flex my muscles a bit, after not being able to use em for so long." You asked the two of htem to try and look for food, since you could use it to extend the time you had available to yourself to explore this place. "Understood." Katya calmly said, already heading to the nearest crates to break them open with Alan. Before Katya disappeared though, you'd ask about the structural integrity. She'd fly up a little, looking around before speaking calmly. "Space appears heavily unstable in a variety of locations. Critically weak points are the centre of the space and the southern side. Careful movement will also be required near any and all fissures due to instabilitiy."

You thanked Katya, before telling the rest of your men to check the subject containment sectors. You wanted to find more intel, files or even survivors. Of course, you warned your men that there was always the risks of threats being nearby, so they had to be careful. "We'll keep our eyes peeled, Mik." Lydia said, before Thaddeus more amusedly said: "At least we won't need to worry about Feng's forces around here, eh?" The remark was met with a few mild scoffs. Though as your men spread out, you'd soon look over to Thalia, who was meekly following some of your men. You asked her to come with you if she'd like some time away from everyone. "Oh, um... I'll... I'll just wait here, if that's okay." She said quickly, you feeling a little bad for her.

Still, you continued your mission, interested in finding what the hell devastated this place so much. You particularly looked for clues that it was a subject who could've done this. Looking around the parts which caved in and had fissures, you saw nothing which really indicated that it was the work of a subject. Hell, going towards the south side of the space, you saw that the floor itself was at an angle, a clear sign that part of the section had collapsed towards the crater. Still, you did notice... an awful amount of sand spread across the place, some of which didn't appear to match the soil you saw at the parts which had collapsed. The most logical explanation you could come up with now was that it either ended up here from the surface somehow, or that it came from a containment chamber. That, or it was used for the green section in some way. Though aside from the sand, you didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary just yet.

You did soon spot Alan and Katya near some crates... and by god, was what they had found pretty bad. They had opened a crate which contained seeds of some plant... though, as you got closer, you saw that a ton of tiny flies and larvae were crawling on the seeds. "Check out this box of bugs we found, Mik, hehe." Alan said jokingly, Katya giving a more reasonable explanation. "It appears that these crates were either not decontaminated properly, or that these flies infested the crate after their arrival within the facility. Either way, these foods are of no use." Looking at some of hte other crates they had opened, most contained seeds, soil and some food items. Though, most were rotten to levels which made them basically inedible."We will keep lookin' around though, don't you worry. We'll find something good soon for sure!" Alan said confidently, you soon hearing Thaddeus over your comms device. "Subject sections appear empty. Though, someone has caused some damage to the chambers here."

Afterwards, you heard Chrys speak over the comms as well, saying something which certainly made you curious. "There's a whole bunch of sand around here though! Maybe there's some sandy subject around here? Oooh, maybe Arika was digging around here and caused all the sand to get everywhere?" She said eagerly, which... didn't sound too likely. Still, you knew that the sand indicated that there was SOMETHING going on. Though what it was, you weren't sure...

>What do you do next?

>Ask Chrys, Thalia or Reika their thoughts on what you were seeing with all the sand, and if they had any ideas on how it could've gotten here. Maybe they knew of some subject obsessed with sand, or some subject who had a sandy habitat. (Write in who you'll ask and what you'll ask.)
>Head over to the containment chambers to see what was going on over there. The open space you were in, the crates and transport parts of this place weren't all that interesting. Joining your men at the containment chambers would probably get you some interesting finds. (Write in what you'll try and be on the lookout for.)
>Just regroup to continue heading east. Aside from sand and rotting plant material, you weren't really going to find much else here anyway, and you couldn't keep pausing with every mildly intersting space you saw when you had a mission!
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6265877
>Head over to the containment chambers to see what was going on over there. The open space you were in, the crates and transport parts of this place weren't all that interesting. Joining your men at the containment chambers would probably get you some interesting finds. (Write in what you'll try and be on the lookout for.)
The chambers themselves should have some clues about who they stored, or files nearby. KK might also have some info.

>>6265877
Might be 9-SB's work. We don't know much about her though and she was last seen heading to the northwest so either this is fresh and she kept running and has just wound up here or old and she left weeks ago to head southwest. Or there's another sand-related subject out there.
>Ask Chrys, Thalia or Reika their thoughts on what you were seeing with all the sand, and if they had any ideas on how it could've gotten here. Maybe they knew of some subject obsessed with sand, or some subject who had a sandy habitat.
>Head over to the containment chambers to see what was going on over there. The open space you were in, the crates and transport parts of this place weren't all that interesting. Joining your men at the containment chambers would probably get you some interesting finds.
I'll assume you meant KK instead of Reika there. KK might know, but we might also have some luck with Cortina or even Anofelis as other Jabal subjects. Hopefully they're still in radio range.
The trouble with sand is that it doesn't leave many clues as to how long it's been here - this could have all been deposited weeks ago, or only hours prior. I guess see if it's been disturbed, whether there's fine dust settled on it, where it's thickest and if it's been really driven into every crevice or just dumped on the floor. We can also have a hunt around for any documents about who or what the chambers were for.

I was already wary of the structural integrity of the tunnel leading towards the crater, after that assessment I ain't going near it. Place is a deathtrap as is.

>>6265952
I think it's less might and more just is. Unless there's some other subject tied to sands. I kind of hope she's nearby. I'd like to snag her for the harem. Voting for your plan, btw.

>Head over to the containment chambers to see what was going on over there. The open space you were in, the crates and transport parts of this place weren't all that interesting. Joining your men at the containment chambers would probably get you some interesting finds.
Seeing that the containment chambers seemed like the only thing which could tell you more about this place, you decided to head there. Besides, you kind of wanted to keep your distance from the tunnel leading towards the crater. Given how unstable this place seemed, keeping your distance from the least structurally sound part of this space seemed like the best idea. Thus, you left Alan and Katya to continue opening up more crates in the hopes of them actually finding you some consumable food. You'd quickly reach the nearest containment chambers, noticing that your men were already very busy checking them all out. "So, take it yer tryin' to also find some clues, eh?" Evander asked, you stating that finding some nearby files could help explain things.

"Well, we've been trying to look for papers and files like those. But, um, it doesn't seem this place had that much going on." Anon said calmly, before Lars spoke up. "I disagree. I found a file about a subject called FF-68. Apparently, she was kept in a very small containment area somewhere around here, given her... uhhhh, being about 2 feet in height." Of course, you'd instantly ask if there were any details about them being related to sand, which got Lars to shake his head. "She seems to be more of a green subject. In fact, the main file here is all about her needing to get some surface light to feed." Whilst certainly an interesting file, it didn't tell you much about this place and the strange sand you had found. Thus, you told your men to keep exploring, looking for any data which could tell you more about what was going on. Files like FF-68 could be read later when you weren't busy looking for threats.

As you and some of your men kept exploring the place, looking at the sand and what seemed like trails to you. Though, you did admit to your men that there was little in terms of clues regarding its origin. How long the sand had been here was not exactly you could tell, unlike being able to tell how long ago a bullet hole formed or how long a person has been dead for. Fortunately, you did have one idea: Looking for disturbances, food prints, places where dust as settling at the top layer, where the layer was at its thickest. Not to mention, the way it was dumped around. Unfortunately, your men seemd a little stunned on how to really measure these things easily. They'd still try to do it, you watching as Lars and Anon actually started digging around the place. "I do believe the layers are gettin' thicker the further we head north-westwards..." Evander calmly argued, before Anon said: "The more I look at it, the more I can see that the sand is placed in clear pathways."

>Ask Chrys, Thalia or Katya their thoughts on what you were seeing with all the sand, and if they had any ideas on how it could've gotten here. Maybe they knew of some subject obsessed with sand, or some subject who had a sandy habitat.
Anon pointed at some of the sand which was strewn about, indeed showing that there was something of a pattern to it. The patches had something of an odd frequency and length, but they did appear to repeat somewhat. You asked Katya to come over for some help, wanting her feedback on the matter. She'd soon fly over, landing carefully as to not disturb the sand too much. You asked her what she believed it to be, her looking around momentarily before saying: "I believe there to be a 78% chance for these sand patches to be placed here by someone. I hypothesize that these patches of sand are used for one of three purposes: Firstly, the patches of sand can potentially be used to hide traps. Secondly, the sand can silence those who walk on it. Thirdly, they can showcase activity or movement within this space."

Maybe the thicker sand layers could hide traps. Though, if they did hide traps, then they'd have to be pretty much limited to the thickest parts. Though, you did soon wonder if this was the subject Leonard was targeting: 9-SB. She was spotted to the east of here, which did arouse some scepticism. "Why would a subject reliant on sand ever go through potentially flooded or flooding areas though?" Mike asked, at which point Alan spoke over the comms: "Maybe some, uhhh, sand got here through those flooded parts? You know, uhhh, the water bringing it here..." This made Evander scoff. "Ya mean disposition? That... doesn't seem likely." Katya agreed, calmly responding with: "The idea of the sand depositing in such a way after a flood seems highly illogical. Especially since we would also see water damage as a result of all the water." Givenall that was being said and seen, you really were convinced that it was 9-SB. It had to be her.

Still, you wanted to contact Cortina or Anofelis, since they might know a bit more. But before you could, you heard Zaria speak through the comms. "There's a pretty damn big pile of the sand over here, you guys." You and your men would quickly head to Zaria's location, since this seemed rather intriguing. And as you headed west, you'd soon find one of the containment chambers being filled up with a TON of sand. "So, that's it then, right? The sand must've come from here and... somehow spread around these parts due to the blast or something." Artyom argued, to which Evander shook his head. "Aye, don't think so. A blast would've not made the sand settle in such a way at all." Afterwards, Lars would raise his hand. "Guys, there are clear footprints here as well, leading both into and out of the chamber."

Shortly after, Katya would scan the area, before giving some further observations. "Thermal mapping shows a mild temperature difference in certain hotsots, indicating the recent presence of something warm blooded on this sand." Your men seemed rather curious, yet also unsure on what else to really do. "So, should we start looking around for whoever is responsible? Maybe call out to them?" Lydia asked calmly, before Anon spoke up. "I wouldn't be surprised if 9-SB, or whichever subject is responsible for this, has already fled from us somehow." At which point, Chrys spoke up a little more sheepishly. "That, or the subject responsible maybe dug herself into the sand pile to hide?" Katya shook her head at the suggestion. "Illogical. Such activity could be traced with thermal vision." Of course, you were quite certain in your assessment that this was 9-SB.

The main issue really just was... well, what could you do about it?

>What do you do next?

>Try and call out to 9-SB. The only death squad who seemed to actively be hunting 9-SB was Leonard and his Heathen forces. But aside from that, calling out to 9-SB was probably not that big of an issue. Unless if there were other dangeros subjects nearby... (Write in what you'll yell to try and get 9-SB to come out.)
>Contact the girls back at base to inform them that 9-SB might pass by them, or if they knew anything of 9-SB which could help you. Cortina and Anofelis might know some things. Hell, maybe April could tell you something about her? (Write in what you'll tell/ask the girls back at the main base.)
>Set up some camera traps for later. Maybe 9-SB came through here quite often, meaning you could capture her on camera, get a good view of her and see what her routine was and how you could capture her. (Write in where you place the trap.)
>Just move on and start heading east for real now. There was nothing else you were getting out of this sand-filled space, except for sand in your boots and gear. Besides, 9-SB or whatever other thing brought all the sand here had probably alreayd left a good while ago now.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6266497
>Camp out here for a bit longer, if KK can still pick up heat signatures she was here quite recently and might be back just as soon
>If she doesn't show up deploy cameras and move on.

While this seems like 9-SB's work and that there is indeed someone here, it's also possible that 9-SB herself is long gone and whoever is here is not her.
>>6266497
>Contact the girls back at base to inform them that 9-SB might pass by them, or if they knew anything of 9-SB which could help you. Cortina and Anofelis might know some things. Hell, maybe April could tell you something about her?
Who the hell is April? Do you mean Annie? Anyway, I want to know her name, her temperament and the deets on her powers.

KK, can you track these thermal anomalies? Have they left a trail we can follow, either on thermal or with sand, footprints etc.? If they haven't, do a brief search of the surrounding tunnels and we'll use the drone as well. If we still can't find her, leave a camera observing the area where the most thermal anomalies were left along with a note in a highly visible location of the same kind we left for for Arika (yadda yadda we're here with some friends, don't be afraid of them, sorry we missed you, we'll be back here later, signed the three of us subjects).

>>6266558
What do you mean by thermal anomalies

>>6266560
I mean the patches of warm sand where someone's been that KK was talking about

>>6266558
Voting for this.

>Contact the girls back at base to inform them that 9-SB might pass by them, or if they knew anything of 9-SB which could help you. Cortina and Anofelis might know some things. Hell, maybe Laura could tell you something about her?
Seeing as 9-SB had probably already fled this section, you decided to contact the girls who were further back. If 9-SB managed to escape, then she probably had passed through the part you had gone through to come here. You asked Lydia for the radio, her quickly handing it over before trying to reach the girls. Though in the meantime, you asked Katya to see if she could track these thermal anomalies. "Indeed. However, it seems that the part in the sand here is the only major divergence. There are no spots of heat nearby, which could indicate that the subject rested on the sand here before quickly rushing away, which would also explain some of the footsteps." You would tune the radio to the girls' location, meanwhile telling Lydia to use some of the flying drones to explore the nearby tunnels for further clues.

"What about us, Mik? Should we maybe start searching for her as well?" Lars asked, you telling them to keep searching. Though, you'd warn them about the hallway heading south, telling them that getting close to it would be a death trap. "Yeah, we'll leave it to Lydia to explore it with one of the drones." Artyom said, before you would fiddle with the radio a bit more before hearing Laura's voice. "Mikhail? Is that you? What's up? Did something bad happen?" You told her that everything was fine, and that you just wanted to let them know that 9-SB had potentially passed by them. "9-SB? You think that's bad?" You weren't sure, so you wanted to ask Anofelis and Cortina if they knew anything about 9-SB. They were Jabal subjects, after all. Laura called them over, before asking them what they knew of 9-SB. More specifically, her name, temperament and powers. And fortunately, the girls seemed to know a decent amount.

"9-SB... I believe that to be Edrice Sinai. A wonderful combination by Jabal and his wife. From what I remember, she was rather quaint and pleasant." Cortina said, before Anofelis spoke up. "Ummm, I don't know much about her. I just know she was made by Jabal and his lover, yeah... ummmm, I think she was pretty fast and worked with sand though." Anofelis unfortunately did not bring too much new to the table. Fortunately, Cortina did have more to say. "Edrice could be a little... haughty and arrogant towards others. Mainly because of her rather exotic appearance and the sort of... ancient earthern monarchical appearance she has. And yes, what Anofelis said about her abilities is correct. She is highly speed-focused and can manipulate sand in some rather unique ways." Afterwards, Anofelis asked in a genuinely curious tone: "Are you looking for her?" To which you gave a calm yes, before thanking them for their intel. They thanked you as well, before you let them be.

It seemed like you knew a bit more now about 9-SB, or rather Edrice. Even it was only minor intel, it essentially confirmed that it probably was her in this place. Now, you just had to go and find her. You would join your men in looking for further clues as to where she had gone. Unfortunately, it really did not seem like you could find anything. "Okay, I doubt she's anywhere nearby... Katya, how old would you estimate the heat signal to be? Was it still very hot, or was it only just slightly above the temperatures of the sand?" Anon would eventually ask over the comms, Katya giving a calm and quick response. "Given the maximum temperature range I spotted, and taking into account a variety of heat transfer numbers, my estimate is that she was here somewhere between 30 and 70 minutes ago. However, I am not a material science expert, so my answer might not be completely logical."

With that in mind, Anon spoke up again to you and the rest of your men. "Alright... so, that means she might have already gotten quite far away from us... Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if she already headed into nearby office before we got here. Especially if she is highly agile. It would not surprise me if she bypassed us entirely." Afterwards, Lydia also spoke up. "I'm still heading into the tunnel southwards. Though, I don't really notice any sand being present here." With that in mind, you'd already ask Artyom to set up a camera somewhere. Mainly near the heaps of sand were the thermal anomalies were to begin with. "Roger." Artyom said, as you also would get to work writing a note. Just in case Edrice got back here, since it could help convince her that you were not a threat. It was a simple enough thing to write, you telling her not to worry and that you'd get back here later. And after ten more minutes, you called everyone back, since nobody had spotted Edrice or any further signs of her.

You'd also ask Thalia, Katya and Chrys to sign their names onto the paper, which they did with relatively few issues. "Well, suppose we're moving on now?" Mike asked, it clearly being time to get moving again. "Just give me a minute to get the drone to return. Unless, uhhh, if you guys wanna see where this tunnel leads to!" Lydia said casually, clearly enjoying being able to use the drone again. Hell, Lydia probably just wanted to toy with it a bit, even if it wouldn't really help you in any way to see where this specific path led you to.

>What do you do next?

>Let Lydia continue to fly around with the drone for a while. Maybe she'd spot something of interest. And even if she didn't, she clearly was enjoying it.
>Tell Lydia to get the drone and head forward towards the section above the flooded parts. It'd take a little while to probably get there, but you could listen to your men's chats in the meantime. Or maybe just think to yourself before getting there. (Write in if you'll listen to your men or do anything else whilst making your way over.)
>Have a little chat with your men or the girls about anything that was on your mind right now. Perhaps related to Edrice or these parts of the facility. (Write in what you'll talk about.)
>Plan ahead a bit for where you were going. Since it was above the flooded sector, chances were that you'd find some water, which... well, could have a ton of effects on the space you were going through. (Write in what you'll plan ahead for.)
>Listen to Annie on the radio. Some music and fun news could be a nice way to pass the time whilst you headed forwards.
>Something else...

(>>6266558 Yeah, idk why the name April came up. I meant Laura mainly. Given that I also confused Katya and Reika two days ago, it's clear that my tiredness did affect my writing near the end. Oh well, here's hoping that I didn't make any dumb errors today!)

(Anyway, I've archived the thread. Idk if I'll make an update tomorrow. Probably will depend on the number of responses and how close to being archived the thread gets. I'll also have to see how the next week runs to see if I'll make a new thread.)

(Oh, and speaking of the next thread. I've already figured out what story I'll start it out with. I think it'll be a more sombre one. Also, and this will be a bit more unfortunate for the quest, I will be going on holiday starting on the 18th of next month. Though, it isn't as intense a holiday as last year, so I might still run it whilst on vacation. Updates might just be a bit slower though or less timely. Guess we will see.)

>>6267149
>Listen to Annie on the radio. Some music and fun news could be a nice way to pass the time whilst you headed forwards.

>>6267149
>Listen to Annie on the radio. Some music and fun news could be a nice way to pass the time whilst you headed forwards.
Aw yis

>>6267149
>Listen to Annie on the radio. Some music and fun news could be a nice way to pass the time whilst you headed forwards.
Well, we did try but if she's been gone a while and doesn't want to be found, we're best off just looking for her on the way back through since we have a meeting to get to.

>Listen to Annie on the radio. Some music and fun news could be a nice way to pass the time whilst you headed forwards.
You told Lydia that you appreciated her effort, but that you didn't need to see what she was finding. It was of importance to move forward, her nodding and quickly trying to bring the drone back. As she did such, you'd tell your men that you planned to listen to Annie's news broadcast right now. For the time being, Edrice did not seem like a worthwhile subject to chase after. She has been gone for a while, so it was better to chase her down once you headed back to the girls in a while. Hell, maybe Annie could deliver some covert news about Edrice if you brougth her up soon. Regardless, Lydia thankfully got her drone back rather quickly, packing it up as you turned the radio to Annie's frequency. You were met with some jazz music, which was rather odd but certainly not unpleasant.

"You are listening to VRCMG Radio with Annie Marconi, your inspiring source of news which the government will deny being news despite all the proof to the contrary! That was 'Just' by 'Haley Starstruck' and 'William Warbler', as requested by some soldiers from Heathen. Any and all song requests remain appreciated, especially to lift the spirits of the soldiers the government deems 'less heroic', 'less patriatotic' or 'unworthy of the job'. It is currently 13:26, and combat in the combat sector has heavily intensified. Several groups of Diamond Dogs have waged a valiant battle against the scumbag guardsmen who DARE to wish for such things as 'survival' and 'safety'. Unfortunately, these valiant, highly intelligent, impressively tactical and "highly" respectable soldiers have been struggling to deal with the tactics utilized by the unknown forces they face. Losses have been running high, so I invite more diamond dogs to come over to help their brethren! Increased manpower could help alleviate the issues they are facing. I am sure that the government would approve too!"

Given how eager the government was at throwing more death squads at conflicts, it unironically did sound like Annie was being truthful here. "In other news, I wish to congratulate and honour a small division of Blackstar forces led by Jamie Ronquillo for their well earnerd promotion! Jamie and his men have been promoted for doing some investigative work surrounding government ties between the facility staff, subjects and government officials. Government reports state that Jamie and his men helped highlight and provide proof to the obvious fact that 'the facility was run by rogue, unprofessional and highly dangerous staff unfit for their positions'. As a result, they have been promoted to an early retirement, being showered with the highest of praises and even receiving a personal 'thank you' from our glorious President Fictamor and his associates!" Your men looked a little saddened, as a thank you from Fictamor was something of a euphemism here...

"If you wish to also have a chance of getting a thank you from our glorious, and totally not 'eternal', President Fictamor, I highly suggest following in Jamie and his men's footsteps and that you start investigating the totally non-existent ties between the government and this terrible facility! Surely, you will find nothing indicating anything wrong or questionable! After all, our glorious President Fictamor and his associates would never lie to the populace!" Mike couldn't help but chuckle, whilst Artyom spoke up more softly. "It is a shame that another reasonable group of death squad soldiers got killed for... doing a bit too much intel gathering against the government." Though, this was met with a bit more of a cautious tone from Lydia. "Let's hope that we won't end up meeting a similar fate in the future." To this, Chrys spoke a little worriedly. "Well, you guys are pretty secretive, right?" Your men would give some nods. Though, no matter how careful you were, there was always a chance things could go wrong...

Annie's news soon switched to a new song, you and your men continuing to listen as you soon left the transport area. You'd head down the quiet hallway, the sound of Annie's music filling the hall. It switched between piano to ska to punk. Though, you did start noticing that the air was getting more humid. You soon started feeling the floor getting a little slippier, the ground being coated in a thin yet noticeable layer of water. "Are we heading into flooded parts?" Chrys anxiously asked, before Katya spoke up. "Negative. The area ahead of us is not flooded. However, the area does have a high moisture level, the metal floor being coated in a thin layer of stagnant water." Given that it was right above the flooded sector, it kind of was obvious that this place would have some minor flooding to it. Though, you weren't sure how bad it was going to be exactly... Hopefully, you wouldn't need the life-raft right away now.

"I... this place has a lot of sand as well, Mik." Chrys calmly said as you kept heading further. "Yeah. I can feel some under my feet. I guess Edrice ran through here as well, huh. Shame, since... I actually really enjoy this." Thalia calmly commented, as it was clear who would be your most valuable asset here in terms of mobility. Maybe alongside Lars, given his decent movement abilities. "Unfortunately, whilst I can still fly now. I believe long-time exposure to such a level of moisture could risk my flight abilities being reduced. My wings are not the most effective in humid environments." Katya said soon after, there being a short silence before Thalia approached Katya. "I can help, if you need it." Katya gave a calm nod, yet did not request anything specific. Thalia looked over you and the rest of your men, before softly speaking up. "If anyone needs help with moving through here, I... I wouldn't mind helping. I-If you are okay with me."

Thalia clearly still felt a little nervous helping out. Presumably because of the whole Zaria incident. Though, the rest of your men were quick to tell Thalia that her help would be appreciated. Fortunately, it wasn't necessary yet, as you and your men took careful steps to move forward. You weren't going to rush this too much. Though hopefully, you and your men wouldn't need to run much soon. Regardless, after passing more side-chambers, janitor's closets and even a couple of empty subject containment chambers, you'd finally reach a checkpoint. "It looks like this location is the main water distribution system of the facility." Katya calmly said, to which Anon asked: "How'd you know?" Katya looked at one of the guard posts, pointing out some small text underneath the window which named the location. You and your men stepped forward, looking around a bit more. You were in a large entrance area, pipes running all around, along with filtering systems, pressure gauges and other important devices and machinery.

The space was quite large, going up quite a few floors. The ceiling was rather high up, with walkways connecting the various storage systems and pipes. Though, a lot of the pipes were broken, and some of the water storage units had clearly been heavily damaged and even opened up. You heard the sound of water dripping all over the place, along with hearing a bunch of water flowing in the distance. Though, as you stepped further forward, Katya looked up and raised her hand. "Movement at 10 o clock, 70 degrees up." She said, you and your men all looking up and quickly noticing something very much alive... A large white mass of slimy flesh which wrapped around one of the large water storage units, moving almost serpentlike. "What is it?" Thaddeus said quietly, before Mike said: "It's a subject of some sort. But... what kind, I have no clue." Katya would quietly stare at it, before softly saying: "Subject: unknown. Threat level: Unknown." However, you soon heard Thalia speak softly yet in clear terror. "I-I... I know who that is... W-We should go back, y-you guys... n-now..."

It was then that you saw two red eyes peeking at you from behind some of the water storage units. The eyes stared at you inqusitively, before you watched the head slowly move out of cover...

As an eerily ambiguous smile stared you down...

...

...

...

(Alright, that's the end of this thread! I kinda wanna take a short break until Thursday or Friday. Mainly since I got one final exam coming up and a final project I need to hand in before then. Hopefully, this will be a fun cliffhanger to end off with.)

(Anyway, just curious if you guys have any thoughts on the quest right now. Any theories, suggestions, or other ideas you guys wanna share with me or your fellow anons? I am always open to hear feedback and suggestions for the story, so feel free to share.)

>>6267647
Thanks for running, QM! Best of luck on the final exam and project!

>>6267647
Thalia. Stop gibbering and talk. Now. Who is this?
You know, I was expecting this to be a milk run with the uppermost levels largely free of significant sapient threats and with low-to-minimal subject presence. I'm really glad we brought KK now - even if she's gimped in here mobility-wise, she's still dangerous and whoever this is (no matches in my notes or the MGE) could have gotten the drop on us without her. We need Reika back up as our big scary bruiser asap.
And I wonder if Edrice came from here earlier, or she's only just passed through here and possibly even fell foul of whoever this is.

I don't think I have anything particular cooking right now, I'm pretty open about sharing my thoughts and theories on the spot. Good luck and we'll see you in a few days.

>>6267647
Whoops, forgot the second part. I don't have any theories, but one thing I wanted to suggest was that the posts get pretty dense. Im probably the only one, but it might be easier to read if they were spaced out more. Love it so far otherwise though! Keep it up

>>6267647
First thing first, found the thread a week back and decided to binge-read everything from the very beginning - and I have to say... GREAT WORK DR. ANDERSON THORELL!

Second, I know I'm necro'ing and it does sorta make sense in-universe that our only hunter was shot in the gut courtesy of our resident murder-kitty and likely none of our squad have the free time (or money) to have recreational firearms, but when Katya said last threat that her being a non-combatant was as illogical as being a gun designed to only hunt small critter and her being a living weapon meant she HAVE to fight for an army... the problem, of course, is that apparently nobody in our squad mentioned varmint guns, race guns, plinking guns and whatnot, plus SWAT teams use firearms all the same. Hells, Katya would've made a terrifying police officer, on a second thought...

Third, what are the differences between the firearms used by our team? Mik had a pulse rifle (which I'd assume to be a low-power plasma/energy weapon like a 5.56mm rifle to the plasma railgun's anti-tank rifle), Lydia had gauss- everything (which I'd assume to be comparable with most firearms with a lot fewer moving parts but requires rechargeable batteries/capacitors), and Lars somehow had both a carbine and a P90... which sorta functions

>>6267647 #
First thing first, found the thread a week back and decided to binge-read everything from the very beginning - and I have to say... GREAT WORK DR. ANDERSON THORELL!

Second, I know I'm necro'ing and it does sorta make sense in-universe that our only hunter was shot in the gut courtesy of our resident murder-kitty and likely none of our squad have the free time (or money) to have recreational firearms, but when Katya said last threat that her being a non-combatant was as illogical as being a gun designed to only hunt small critter and her being a living weapon meant she HAVE to fight for an army... the problem, of course, is that apparently nobody in our squad mentioned varmint guns, race guns, plinking guns and whatnot, plus SWAT teams use firearms all the same. Hells, Katya as law enforcement would've made Robocop look like an amateur, on a second thought...

Third, what are the differences between the firearms used by our team? Mik had a pulse rifle (which I'd assume to be a low-power plasma/energy weapon like a 5.56mm rifle to the plasma railgun's anti-tank rifle), Lydia had gauss- everything (which I'd assume to be comparable with most firearms with a lot fewer moving parts but requires rechargeable batteries/capacitors thus better suited for the resident electrician), and Lars somehow had both a carbine and a P90... which sorta functions like a low-caliber AP carbine in and of itself. Incidentally a P90 is likely to do surprisingly little against nanite-enhanced targets given its negligible projectile mass while short-barrel carbines likely didn't have the necessary muzzle velocity to punch through their reinforced structure, either.
... I'm assuming our 'nade launchers are some sort of electromagnetic catapults designed to accelerate standardized 40mm hand grenades?

So... any solid stats on our team's weapons? ROF, muzzle energy, shots per magazine/battery/capacitor, available ammunition type (e.g. hollow point and AP rounds for most firearms, plus tungsten buckshot or AP/HE slugs for shotguns) might allow us easier time to strategize how to best eliminate insane subjects and protect our cinnamon buns.

... and preemptive apologies for allowing my if-Andrei-designed-Katya-grade 'tism to win against my better judgement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best luck on your academic ventures and good hunting.

>>6267647 #
First thing first, found the thread a week back and decided to binge-read everything from the very beginning - and I have to say... GREAT WORK DR. ANDERSON THORELL!

Second, I know I'm necro'ing and it does sorta make sense in-universe that our only hunter was shot in the gut by the murder-kitty and likely none of our squad have the free time (or money) to do competitive/recreational shooting, but when Katya said last threat that her being a non-combatant was as illogical as being a gun designed to only hunt small critters and her being a living weapon meant she HAVE to fight for an army... the problem, of course, is that apparently nobody in our squad mentioned varmint guns (.410 shotguns and the venerable Ruger 10/22), race guns, plinking guns and whatnot, plus SWAT teams use firearms all the same. Hells, Katya as law enforcement would've made Robocop look like an amateur, on a second thought...

Third, what are the differences between the firearms used by our team? Mik had a pulse rifle (which I'd assume to be a low-power plasma/energy weapon like a 5.56mm rifle to the plasma railgun's anti-tank rifle), Lydia had both a gauss rifle and a gauss pistol (which I'd assume to be comparable to a 5.56mm rifle and a 9mm pistol respectively with a lot fewer moving parts but requires rechargeable batteries/capacitors thus fits her electrician theme better), and Lars somehow had both a carbine and a P90... which sorta functions like a low-caliber AP carbine in and of itself.
Incidentally a P90 is likely to do surprisingly little against nanite-enhanced targets given its negligible projectile mass while short-barrel carbines likely didn't have the necessary muzzle velocity to punch through their reinforced structure, either.
... I'm assuming our 'nade launchers are some sort of electromagnetic catapults designed to accelerate standardized 40mm hand grenades?

So... any solid stats on our team's weapons? ROF, muzzle energy, and available ammunition types (e.g. hollow point and AP rounds for most firearms, plus tungsten buckshot or AP/HE slugs for shotguns) might allow us easier time to strategize how to best drop the guillotine on insane subjects while protecting our cinnabuns.

Welp, Morgan is a mobile wall and Reika have her claws plus an anti-materiel stinger tail... can Katya be taught firearm usage? She's no stranger to combat and knows all about how to disable subjects for containment so a ranged weapon that allows her to disable/dismember subjects quicker would definitely help.

... and preemptive apologies for letting my Dhabus-strain 'tism to win against my better judgement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<++ Best luck on your academic endeavors, and good hunting. ++>

>>6267760
welcome new person

I don't think QM has really thought too much about the /k/ nittygritty. I'm unsure if giving KK a firearm would actually be a net positive since her role is high-speed aerial strike and reconnaissance and honestly I think she's more dangerous herself than any weapon we could give her short of another plasma railgun. Ano would be happy to carry any of us into battle on her back through the air though.
Also speaking of guns, I keep forgetting that we gave pistols to Chrys, Oreas and Laura so Chrys is not actually unarmed right now, though she's not particularly trained on it.

>>6267836
Thanks! ^_^

Katya is very good at subduing singular subjects and returning them for containment, what she sorely lacked is any sort of tarpit cleansing ability... or anything she can't really defeat through her Xtreme speed (and pinpoint accuracy) alone.

So yeah, definitely on the AMR/PRG side for her possible equipment loadout; her agility and strength meant she should be able to land heavy-caliber shots against moving targets with pinpoint accuracy - CQC dodging is largely "outmaneuvering the aim" instead of "outmaneuvering the bullet", and good luck outmaneuvering Katya.

On the other hand, Logan should have enough authority to give her the permission to euthanize any facility staff showing signs of Feng's control (aka Queensguard uniform and weird nanite symbols on foreheads), give her a P90, a few spare mags, plus a few grenades and we can probably disband the Queensguard within an hour. Plus, how many subjects can still pose a threat when they no longer have any limbs? Give her a bonesaw and see most of the Queen's subjects become multiple amputees. Her built-in order is to contain rogue subjects and she permits the use of amputation as a preventative measure against escapes, so.... let's cash in (in all sense of the word) on that. If those subjects die when we execute Feng, we get our rewards by turning in the corpses; if they live after Feng's death... we'll either execute them the old-fashioned way... or we'll try befriending them the old-fashioned way when they finally get out of that Feng-shaped nightmare.

>>6267836
Thanks! ^_^

Katya is very good at subduing singular subjects and returning them for containment, what she sorely lacked is any sort of tarpit cleansing ability... plus that she's largely incapable of containing anything she cannot defeat in melée.

So yeah, definitely on the AMR/PRG side for her "containment" loadout: her agility and strength meant she should be able to land heavy-caliber shots against moving targets with pinpoint accuracy. CQC dodging is largely "outmaneuvering the aim" instead of "outmaneuvering the bullet", and good luck outmaneuvering Katya.
Her second loadout should be dedicated tarpit cleansing with a high-capacity high-accuracy weapon like the P90 plus possibly a few grenades: assuming Logan can authorize terminating all facility staff under Feng's control (basically anyone with those nanite forehead sigils), Katya should be able to disband the Queensguard within about one hour - being able to strike from above and being largely immune to small arms fire is a significant force-multiplier inside high-ceiling regions like the foundries and the gardens.

Of course, as for what happens when we face Feng's subjects... first, we can probably loot another AMR from the Queensguard for Kat; and second, even if we didn't get any extra anti-tank weapons there are precious few ways to defeat (or even escape) the MKR trio in CQC especially with Cort misdirecting the enemy's every step.
Yes, only subject creators can authorize termination of their respective subjects, but Katya is very good at deactivating hostile subjects so as long as we can create an opening she'll get her job done. If they die when we drop the guillotine on Feng, we put another few bullets in their heads each and claim the cash; if they don't, we'll either befriend or euthanize those subjects on a case-by-case basis once Katya goes RTB... or even leave some deactivated and marked-for-euthanasia subjects around for our buddy squads (aka Leo and Frances assuming they're still alive).

The starter four are unaccustomed to combat and the first three have very poor strength to handle weapon recoil, whereas Katya is a high-strenth combat subject. The girls are as armed as they could and makes a terrific scout team (two fliers, one zapper, one digger, one melter, one stealth gal), but getting them into any sort of combat scenario is still plain inadvisable.

>>6267687
I'd be down to hear your theories and thoughts. Not only is it just fun to see what you get wrong and what you end up getting right, but it also unironically helps me planning future updates and directions I can take.

>>6267698
Spaced out in terms of their paragraph structure? Or spaced out in some other way? If other anons agree, I'd certainly not mind giving it a try next thread.

>>6267760
I will be honest and say that >>6267836 is very correct in that my knowledge on guns is ironically pretty subpar for a quest where most of the combat is done through firefights. I do try and consider some things during combat, such as subject toughness, their purpose and how it could be affected by guns. But the nitty gritty details are ones that do somewhat allude me. I do try and make sure some of the guns feel reasonably strong and have some unique quirks to them which can make them useful in certain situations.

More importantly, if an Anon has a special idea on how to utilize the weapon in question, I am more than happy to actually go along with it. E.G. filling the acid gun with base to deal with acidic slime subjects. Really, I enjoy giving creative ideas and solutions the limelight.

Also, Katya can certainly use firearms. She doesn't use them too often unless if necessary, but she has some talents which you guys could certainly ask her about in the future.

>... and preemptive apologies for letting my Dhabus-strain 'tism to win against my better judgement.
No need to apologize. I think that it's good to have someone question the logic of my thoughts, to ensure I can find room to improve the story or the way you guys interact with the world.

>>6267836
>I keep that we gave pistols to Chrys, Oreas and Laura
I must admit that I also kind of forgot that element. It is definitely something I need to keep in mind. Especially as Chrys could see combat soon with the rest of your men. That, or one of the Lodgerites decides to teach her...

>>6267909
>Katya should be able to disband the Queensguard within about one hour - being able to strike from above and being largely immune to small arms fire is a significant force-multiplier inside high-ceiling regions like the foundries and the gardens.
Keep in mind that Anon got the anti-material rifle he loved so much from a Queensguard. Whilst Katya absolutely can decimate plenty of Feng's forces, I do need to warn you that it isn't going to be that easy. If it were that easy, Katya would've already happily headed into the nest to deal with Feng and her forces herself.

>getting them into any sort of combat scenario is still plain inadvisable.
I yearn for the day when we reach the 'Armoured Anofelis with an Anti-tank rifle' arc. It will be glorious...

>>6267975
Spaced out like how you're spacing out the responses in this post! I love the writing and the quest, but spacing stuff out a bit makes it a little easier to read. Might just be me, though. I'll still keep reading anyways, but I thought I'd mention it

>>6267975
>Spaced out in terms of their paragraph structure? Or spaced out in some other way? If other anons agree, I'd certainly not mind giving it a try next thread.
I agree, the text can get dense and a few more empty lines would improve readability.

>>Katya should be able to disband the Queensguard within about one hour - being able to strike from above and being largely immune to small arms fire is a significant force-multiplier inside high-ceiling regions like the foundries and the gardens.
/k/anon might be forgetting this is an underground facility - places where there is an above to strike from are the exception.

Otherwise yeah KK would be monstrously OP with flight, but I'm sure GalGov would bring in some choppers to deal with her and the other aerials if that was an option.

>I yearn for the day when we reach the 'Armoured Anofelis with an Anti-tank rifle' arc. It will be glorious...
If you wanted that you shouldn't have made her an 11 foot tall slender subject. No suit will fit her.

>>6267909
KK is no slouch when it comes to engaging multiple targets by herself, before she encountered us she was mulching entire death squads at a time in HTC including Blackstars and is almost as tough as Reika, though she lacks natural offensive weaponry. I do agree that she'd be highly effective with an AMR (blagging that spare AMR nobody wanted off the quartermaster topside should be a fairly easy sell) as a extremely accurate aerial sniper and with a huge heavy cavalry sword (or two) courtesy of Morgan to leverage her strength ("average" strength for a subject her size is .....a lot) and speed for aerial melee strikes. KK swooping down at you with a big-ass sword poised to lop heads sounds like a terrifying prospect.
It definitely isn't going to be as simple as shooting Feng's forces until she runs out of bodies. Prolonged slugging matches are not our forte and while Feng's thralls lack for tactics, her non-thrall minions won't just run blindly at us and the longer the engagement lasts if it's close to her base, the more likely we'll get surprised by Feng of her minions getting crafty or Feng brings out the big guns in the form of heavy weaponry or subject thralls. She definitely has some aces up her sleeve, any one of which could be fatal mistake for us to be in the receiving end of - she underestimated us once and paid for it with our escape, she will take us more seriously in the future. I'm still unhappy about how little we really know about these and they're a major driver behind my enthusiasm for an unorthodox approach that doesn't involve trying to slog our way to the throne room on a trail of bodies, in particular my desire to try and apply a giant remote-controlled VBIED to her face.
Chrys, Oreas and Laura's guns are personal defence weapons for emergency use to give them something to defend themselves with, not for offensive action. I will say though, subject stats are relative to what a subject of their size would be expected to have. Chrys having an STR of Low as a womanlet subject would still make her on par with to somewhat stronger than us - really, we'd only be able to beat Annie and Vinisha in arm wrestling. They both have the strength to handle firearms - I do want to resume training Oreas to eventually take a more active combat role in the squad given her wish to be able to do so.

>>6267975
>>6267975
Most of my theories concern the contents of the update I'm replying to so you'll have seen me air most of them already, my most recent theory being over Morgan's potential undocumented psychological ability. But, a few miscellaneous thoughts:
I can't put my finger on it, but something just smells a bit off about Valdimar. A certain (negative) je ne sais quoi.
The Federation isn't planning on letting any of us leave this planet alive. After all we've seen and all the dirty secrets and highly classified research we're now privy to? After ops wrap up, we're going to be loose ends and we know it.
The subject Patty works for these days is actually Alexandra as a message runner, given her avoidance of radios and Patty's excellent memory and navigation abilities and speed.
The crater doesn't make sense. If it was from an internal explosion or an orbital strike, I would expect much heavier shock damage to the facility - something that big would have completely pulverised the local geology for miles around and blasted vast quantities of ejecta over the island that we haven't really seen as well as warped the areas around the rim upwards instead of having them slump down. It seems more like it imploded rather than exploded, somehow.
You don't call this many death squads here, deploy an entire battlegroup and force a whole world off the grid like this without drawing a lot of attention and, as much as the Federation may have authoritarian tendencies, how long they will try and keep this salvage operation going (see above) depends on how long they can fend off the growing forces of political pressure and public opinion, which we have no way of knowing unless someone smuggles in a newspaper.

>>6268128
>Chrys having an STR of Low as a womanlet subject would still make her on par with to somewhat stronger than us - really, we'd only be able to beat Annie and Vinisha in arm wrestling.
Uh, from how she handled recoil during shooting practice I greatly doubt this

>>6268151
Ah, the advantage of having recently read the archives instead of trying to remember things that happened >a year ago. Her struggling with it seems to conflict with what I recall being told when the topic of subject stats came up before and I definitely recall being told Chrys would be stronger than us at some point. Hopefully that's not the Mandela effect.

>>6267975
... and what's the hit rate for the Queensguard with AMRs against Katya, versus Katya using a P90 as a DMR against the Queensguard? 5.7×28mm rounds might be underpowered against nanite-enhanced subjects, but a headshot against an unmodified human would still be immediately lethal and a COM shot would still be deadly. Any Queensguard not completely mindless would "feed" Kat as well so that's another bonus.

Admittedly, I was exaggerating a bit (too much) when I said Kat can "disband the Queensguard within an hour" given the maze-like terrain (or just the general size) of the Facility and most of the Queensguard would still be very spread out, but I highly doubt unmodified humans would give her too much trouble especially when she gets a few long-range options to go along with her devastating melée.

... hmmm... would using her as armed recon help? Say, we KNOW for a fact that Logan's office is on Annie's floor and we need someone to pinpoint its location quick and to give us any intel on where (and whom) potential allies/hostiles are.

>>6268123
Good luck getting combat aircraft anywhere into the facility; even Scary Monsters are highly limited in mobility so... yeah. Kat? Pretty sure she'd be lethal on most floors if our ventures on Reika's floor would be of any indication.

I concede that Kat's wings might only help her inside the Foundry and Garden regions... but given those regions also happened to the only way (that we know of) to enter the Queenbase it might still help us tremendously.

... hmmm.... if we can somehow pinpoint the location of the Throne Room we might be able to dig from straight above with Ano's (and hopefully Arika's) help. We might need someone else (or a multitude thereof) to create a diversion from the traditional entrance just so that we don't get dogpiled by half a dozen enthralled subjects the second we enter the room though.

>>6268128
Heavy weapons would play into Kat's strength especially if we can get Morgan/Cort to distract their fire. A very fast subject against a slow, vulnerable target might as well be a slaughter. Singular enthralled subjects might also pose less of a threat when we can bring all of our heavy hitters - which may as well include the MKR melee monster trio plus Thad's railgun and Anon's AMR (given the Sonic Cannon was fired only twice in total and the only time it was deployed against a potential hostile it did more harm than good) - to bear.

>>6268151
>>6268162
Even assuming Chrys can lift more weight or punch/kick harder than an average human doesn't necessarily mean she have the necessary leverage to counter the muzzle rise (esp. that of a pistol) given her short stature. A low caliber high muzzle velocity weapon (which would naturally have lower recoil for a given muzzle energy) like the space-P90 might help her better though.

>>6268175
Chrys is, however, a subject so she has a lot more weight to her body than an equivalently sized human when a substantial proportion of you is metal. I would expect her to have a much greater moment of inertia to resist recoil than her body size would indicate, even if her smolness makes her struggle with stance.

>>6268262
So... lemme see...

DOs:
SMGs, PDWs, light/short-barrel carbines, grenade launchers, or basically any short-barrel gun with a shoulder stock

DON'Ts:
pistols, DMRs, AMRs, LMGs, GPMGs, or guns with long barrels or without shoulder stocks in general.

MAYBEs:
Flamethrowers, acid sprayers (both have plumbing that might obstruct her wings), shotguns (depending on barrel length)

.... hmmm... can we capture Chrys's acid in our acid gun ammo containers for more anti-materiel shots?

> I would expect her to have a much greater moment of inertia to resist recoil than her body size would indicate
Yes for guns with shoulder stocks, for pistols the only thing countering muzzle rise would be her wrists which... didn't work that well last time she tried firing one.

>>6268162
Maybe it is, or maybe at some point is well in the future.

>>6268171
>Good luck getting combat aircraft anywhere into the facility
?
I didn't mean it was going to happen, just that if the facility was built in such a way that flying everywhere was viable they would have tried this or something similar. That they haven't means that areas where KK can employ air advantage are the exception rather than the rule.

Also would KK still be very fast if she had to lug around heavy weapons?

>>6268322
Subject ATO-4013 is an ornithopter with 8.25ft length, at most 21ft wingspan, excellent VTOL capabilities, plus full brain-flight interface and a nanite-enhanced brain specifically tuned for maneuverability; GalGov combat aircraft would be hard-pressed to meet even ONE such requirement, let alone being nearly as good in CQC.
Assuming the corridor width and ceiling height on Grise/Reika's floor is normal for Valulori Research Center it'd be logical to assume Katya can and will utilize her flight capabilities for rapid mobility (as was demonstrated in our desperate fight against the murder-kitty), if not necessarily for evasive maneuvers - and my point still stands in that her flight capability would help tremendously whenever there are vantage points (furnaces and gardens in Queenbase, Titania's chamber, chemical blockade, etc) that can be utilized by a long-range attacker or requires someone to clean out quickly... and if we're ever going to assault the Queenbase we WILL have to cut down her base defense a whole darn lot: the VBIED can't reach anywhere near Feng's throne if it was shot in the engine block by a Queensguard AMR or if it was wrecked by an enthralled subject; similarly, a tunneling/"mousehole" attack into the throne room would still prove suicidal if we're to be facing down her entire Queensguard plus all of her thralls at the same time. We might not need to fight a battle of attrition against the Queensguard, but we do need a lot of accurate long-range firepower to reduce Queenbase defense to manageable levels.

We do need to prevent Feng from being too alarmed about losses and turtling up, but we can probably make use of Alexandra's forces to conduct hit-and-run attacks (which is Alex's forte) against the Queensguard - and perhaps even for Anastasia to conduct similar "judgements" on isolated Queensguard squads as well - to draw large portions of the Queensguard away from our attack vector(s).

As for whether Kat would still be as fast if she's hauling the plasma railgun... probably not, but given she can FLY STRAIGHT UP while still carrying Cort (which is taller than she is and likely significantly heavier than a baseline human) she'd still be significantly faster than Thad is with his railgun. Her aim with a heavier gun may or may not be better than Thad's, but a highly mobile AMR+ weapon platform is still a major threat to anything she can come across.

>>6268429
My plans for Operation Robespierre is as would be a two-pronged attack: Anofelis (plus hopefully Arika) will tunnel out of Feng's throne room as far away from the entrance corridor(s) as possible (the last few inches might be best finished with breaching explosive charges, rebars in the way can be dissolved with Chrys's acid, the exit should ideally be either in the ceiling or high up in the wall to prevent Feng's thralls from getting too close), whereas the the MKR trio would clear the way for the VBIED from the Furnace-Garden route into the throne room before engaging and defeaing/deactivating Feng's thrall subjects; the VBIED would make a beeline towards Feng and detonated as close as possible so tell the trio in no uncertain terms to stay the heck away from Feng to keep themselves away from both Feng's nanites and the VBIED blast. The breaching charge inside the tunnel would be detonated right after/alongside the VBIED to maximize chaos where we shoot Feng with everything we have (hopefully with multiple AMRs recovered from the Queensguard, Arty would use the LMG against remaining Queensguard as most are ASSUMING-DIRECT-CONTROL'ed thus immune to the sonic cannon) before the MKR trio engages Feng as well.

... of course given Feng is likely one of the major reasons why most of the death squads aren't getting anywhere near the safehouse exit or below, Operation Robespierre should be only carried out after we've secured everything related to Logan and Annie (most importantly Annie's remote) and prepared our extraction... and hopefully after we've already tied up any loose ends (befriending other subjects, rescuing Jabal/Catherine/Cerro, executing Elbrus and Roraima, etc) as well; and if we have a better chance getting our cinnabuns to slip away from this island unnoticed when Feng's still active then... their (and our own) long-term survival takes top priority, plus we can't really bring the fight to Feng without them regardless.

>>6268429
My plans for Operation Robespierre would be a two-pronged attack: Anofelis (plus hopefully Arika) will tunnel out of Feng's throne room as far away from the entrance corridor(s) as possible (the last few inches might be best finished with breaching explosive charges, rebars in the way can be dissolved with Chrys's acid, the exit should ideally be either in the ceiling or high up in the wall to prevent Feng's thralls from getting too close), whereas the the MKR trio (might or might not include Cort as well) would clear the way for the VBIED from the Furnace-Garden route into the throne room before engaging and defeaing/deactivating Feng's thrall subjects; the VBIED would make a beeline towards Feng and detonate as close as possible so tell the escort group in no uncertain terms to stay the heck away from Feng to keep themselves away from both Feng's nanites and the VBIED blast. The breaching charge inside the tunnel would be detonated right after the VBIED to maximize chaos where we shoot Feng with everything we have (hopefully with multiple AMRs recovered from the Queensguard, Arty would use the LMG against surviving Queensguard as most are ASSUMING-DIRECT-CONTROL'ed thus immune to the sonic cannon) before the MKRC group engages Feng as well.

... of course given Feng is likely among the major reasons why most of the death squads aren't getting anywhere near the safehouse exit or below, Operation Robespierre should be only carried out after we've secured everything related to Logan and Annie (most importantly Annie's remote) and prepared our extraction... and hopefully after we've already tied up any loose ends (befriending other subjects, rescuing Jabal/Catherine/Cerro, executing Elbrus and Roraima, etc) as well; and if we have a better chance getting our cinnabuns to slip away from this island unnoticed when Feng's still active then... their (and our own) long-term survival takes top priority, plus we can't really bring the fight to Feng without them regardless.

>>6268453
As for how we'll get off the accursed island... I'd assume we can bribe our own higher-ups and transport pilots to give us special airlifts to nearby islands from tunnels Ano and/or Arika dug out of the island sides that would function like covert loading docks... or at least where Ano, Kat, and Reika can help lift others onto the transports. The cover-ups should also be easy assuming routing training/post-maintenance-testing flights are allowed to venture beyond the island.

Annie's power should help Lodger transport ships evade the naval blockade if/when we evacuate/withdraw from Alpha Copernicus, given both radars and transponders have to have a receiver tuned to the working frequency by design (the only question being if she can identify incoming frequencies herself or if she have to be near a SIGINT readout screen); similarly, if she can be enhanced to somehow link up with navy ships in orbit and/or planetside communication hubs and use their communication channels to generate public outcry off-world (would Kimmy's "living virus" ability help with the operation if she isn't such a single-minded pervert? alas, one can only dream) then all the power to her, but if not we'll need to at least survive for extended periods of time without the fear of starvation, dehydration, or major death squad / government troop presence.

Short-term goal time:
We definitely need to ask how Frances faked Idalia's death so we won't mess up again when faking some other subject's death.

We'll need to test if Thalia's Compelling Voice can still function over radio/after being recorded and replayed, but if yes it would definitely help with a multitude of things.

If we can terminate Grise with Katya/Morgan's help (Kat would be against killing subjects but never said anything about killing deactivated subjects when she's not present; Morgan might agree to kill Grise when we tell her Grise is a rabid animal that the only way to end her suffering was to grant her a quick death, and we can always terminate Grise after both had returned to the safehouse) we'd get more funds for future planning, more validity on our "kill" against Reika, and possibly even more meat for Reika to munch on for her recovery.

.... and sorry for overthinking everything once again.

>>6268429
The transport vehicles in this place will almost certainly be battery-electric drive with little internal machinery. With the help of Morgan's ability to manipulate metal, it should be simple enough for us to construct a bootleg armour belt to protect key components from attack and the hardware needed to smash through roadblocks. We could also choose to much more heavily modify another vehicle to give it a comprehensive armour plating and even attach some heavy weaponry to use it as an improvised APC/IFV. I see the greatest difficulty with making a giant car bomb to be obtaining the actual explosive since we can'r truck in masses of HE from topside and I can't imagine the Facility has a lot lying around unless we get lucky in the combat sector. I'd think our better bet for obtaining large quantities of boom would be mixing up some bootleg ANFO with nitrate fertiliser from the green section and pilfering mineral oil from electrical transformers, lubricant from industrial areas or searching the chemical plants for alkanes. Getting Alexandra to actively throw her forces at Feng will be a very tough sell and Anastasia is not only a long way away but also a lethal loose cannon who would be more than happy to attack us as well, replacing one major threat with another. Side note, Chrys' acid is weak and won't melt steel beams - we do have a large supply of thermite for quietly cutting metal and our stronger subjects (including Ano, who would be digging) can just yank rebars out and snap them individually.

I don't think Feng would turtle up in the face of losses, quite the opposite. She seems like she would try harder and harder to kill us, and the longer it goes on the higher our chances of her throwing something at us that catches us off guard or we outright can't deal with and we end up having to kill subjects in her thrall like Oneira and (possibly) Arika. This is why I favour a rapid strike on Feng herself either by way of motorised assault or an infiltration attack to eliminate her without allowing her to mobilise her assets or bog things down in an attritional campaign against her lackeys. Time is ticking, the longer we take the more the situation in the facility deteriorates and the more people die and we just don't have weeks to be playing games with Feng either. To finish everything else to do in the Facility first will also require putting the Feng campaign entirely on hold for weeks and allowing her to get more and more powerful. We have to strike soon, fast and hard, even if that means taking more risks. The assault plan itself though is pretty similar to what I was thinking of, though I'd want to recruit one or two more combat subjects to run defence against reinforcements while the rest of us do the boss battle. Of course, all of this requires finishing finding the throne room anyway.

>>6268577
The hideout is above the green section and freely connected to the rest of the top levels of the Facility, the vent we've been using to access it runs down to the edge of Feng's territory but there are many other ways in. Really, I'm more inclined to think it's a case of security in obscurity with the top levels attracting little interest from death squads given that they are sparse in subjects and scientists to kill and points of interest, physically difficult to access and heavily structurally damaged, instead choosing to head to the main levels to make their money. That's unlikely to change, if anything it will get even more pronounced as death squads continue to penetrate further down and if we remove the Feng-shaped roadblock in the west, after which we can pivot our attention to search and rescue and eventual escape instead of prematurely bugging out (Morgan and Annie especially will not leave while there's still work to do). As we continue to collect more subjects, we're also going to outgrow the current hideout and may be better served moving to follow Annie to her new pad in the bottom levels, which should be safe for quite a while. If there's anyone I'd trust to know about that, it'd be her.

>>6268429
>Subject ATO-4013 is an ornithopter with 8.25ft length, at most 21ft wingspan, excellent VTOL capabilities, plus full brain-flight interface and a nanite-enhanced brain specifically tuned for maneuverability; GalGov combat aircraft would be hard-pressed to meet even ONE such requirement, let alone being nearly as good in CQC.
?
What are you trying to convey here?

>Assuming the corridor width and ceiling height on Grise/Reika's floor is normal for Valulori Research Center
What is normal? Maybe recent archive dive anon can help but I don't recall getting consistent hard numbers on building dimensions.

>>6268453
Is Feng just going to sit still while we roll a giant bomb into her house? Where would we even get that many explosives? This doesn't seem like a viable plan.

>>6267760
Issue is I think she was more so meaning military weaponry in that case. Though, otherwise you do make a lot of good points. Hopefully the actual judge dread down here won't take too much exception to the owl taking over her title of judge, jury and executioner. Also hello, how'd you find the thread if I might ask?

>>6267909
Getting Katya a cannon would be good, yes. Honestly depending on her accuracy it might be better to have her take the rail gun if she can carry it without impeding her flight too much.

>>6268129
>I can't put my finger on it, but something just smells a bit off about Valdimar. A certain (negative) je ne sais quoi.
I think that's because he's a fed. They tend to do that.

>The subject Patty works for these days is actually Alexandra as a message runner, given her avoidance of radios and Patty's excellent memory and navigation abilities and speed.
This is a very good observation. Considering she doesn't use radio that often I can see her working with other subjects to try and run a proper guerilla campaign against the government. It makes me want to meet her all the more given the government slapped her with a threat level 10, the same they gave Feng, implying she has just as many and possibly more guardsmen and subjects under her, albeit far more willingly.

>The crater doesn't make sense. If it was from an internal explosion or an orbital strike, I would expect much heavier shock damage to the facility - something that big would have completely pulverised the local geology for miles around and blasted vast quantities of ejecta over the island that we haven't really seen as well as warped the areas around the rim upwards instead of having them slump down. It seems more like it imploded rather than exploded, somehow.
Maybe it has to do with the demons escape? That, or the facility is the equivalent of a nuclear fallout shelter with how reinforced it is if it was orbital.

>You don't call this many death squads here, deploy an entire battlegroup and force a whole world off the grid like this without drawing a lot of attention
A media blackout in an extensive censorship can delay this from getting out to the wider galaxy for some time. Even then, I would assume they'd likely be able to go at it for months. However, this does bring up one possibility. Maybe, after more subjects are purged and the facility looks more cleared up they'll pull back a bit of the orbital forces due to that political pressure and give us the breathing room needed to get the girls free and safe.

>>6268448
>>6268453
>>6268462
Solid plan. Just one problem. The longer we give Feng the more likely she's going to get more subjects, staff and death squads under her control, a remote to make herself more dangerous, various defenses and so on. Plus, we don't even know where her throne room is exactly. We have a rough idea sure but not it's exact coordinates, which we kind of need for the breach and clear plan you have. I also doubt Katya would be happy about us killing Grise if she learned we did it. And she's smart enough to be able to piece things together if she helped disable her. Only way I can see her being willing is if we didn't kill Roraima and desu I pray Roraima's corpse is found rather than us stumble upon him. Especially given I doubt we'll want to leave the heaviest hitter we have back behind when doing anything dangerous. And unfortunately Katya is likely to turn on us and slaughter us all so long as Roraima gives the word.

In my opinion, our plan after we wrap up everything we already agreed upon with Frances and so on, we should aim for Annies remote ASAP. Improving her already extremely potent abilities will be a godsend for finding anything. In fact it could possibly give her the ability to multitask to the point she can always be on call for us without impacting her other duties depending on how far we go with it. Plus, it ideally will mean that a certain E-thot won't be able to hijack her show as easily

>>6268590
I think anon is trying to say Katya is an ace combat protagonist and the aircraft itself.

>>6268646
>I think anon is trying to say Katya is an ace combat protagonist and the aircraft itself.
I get that, I'm just not sure why anon is saying that. What point are they trying to make?

>>6268590
>What are you trying to convey here?
That's she's far smaller, far more maneuverable, and far more resilient than any combat aircraft can ever be so just because she can fly inside the facility corridors unimpeded doesn't mean GalGov can send in aircraft down here.

>What is normal?
I don't need solid numbers, I just need to know if Kat can fly or at least augment her running with her wings inside most corridors here.

>Is Feng just going to sit still while we roll a giant bomb into her house?
Nope, but I'd assume it would matter somewhat less when the only intel she can get was "a bunch of rogue subjects are wiping the floor with her Queensguard" and "her subjects lie dismembered and deactivated on the floor" before a bomb that came out of nowhere made a beeline towards her at 40+mph. Then we breach her throne room from another angle and empty every AMR and grenade launcher we can get into her ugly mug.
And that's why I'm more online with the RoboCop Kat idea: Katya is very against terminating subjects without the subject creator's direct authorization so the railgun would be relegated to non-lethal shots regardless and would hamper her hand-to-hand abilities, but give her the green light to hunt down the Queensguard and a P90-equivalent PDW (plus five mags if 5.7×28mm ammo) we'd have a monster that flies at 60+mph, can gun people down from 50+ yards away with pinpoint precision, largely immune to small arms fire, recovers health/structure from people's fear, and can still 1HKO anything weaker than a TL8 in hand-to-hand with terrifying efficiency; and if we deploy her alongside Morgan (the defense-focused CQC monster), Reika (the offense-focused CQC monster), and Cortina (the illusionist) and we get a devastating combo.

>>6268645
> Though, otherwise you do make a lot of good points. Hopefully the actual judge dread down here won't take too much exception to the owl taking over her title of judge, jury and executioner.
RoboCop and Judge Dredd are operating on two fundamentally different MOs (IIRC RoboCop is a by-the-book one-man SWAT team while Judge Dredd is the judge-jury-executioner), plus Judge Drake is on radio so we can plan around her with Annie's help. (Have Anna executed Nikita yet? Hopefully yes though.)

>Also hello, how'd you find the thread if I might ask?
Are "was bored" and "am a hopeless transhumanist" acceptable answers?

.... errrr... right, who's Patty again?

.... And we really need to ask Thalia who the HELL that slimy THING is right the heck now. (Likely an Elbr*s subject given Thal's reaction, try to disengage and regroup with Morg and Cort unless combat is inevitable; if we can't out run it then have Kat distract the bug long enough that we get a PRG shot to disable the target if not killing it outright.)

>>6268646
> The longer we give Feng the more likely she's going to get more subjects, staff and death squads under her control, a remote to make herself more dangerous, various defenses and so on.
I'm more concerned that if we drop the guillotine anytime soon we'll be opening up the deeper facility - where most of our current goals (meet Alex, save Jabal/Catherine/Cerro, track down Roraima and Elbrus, find Arika/Dhabus/Zati&Nandi, etc) are located - to a whole lot more death squads that can and will kill peaceful subjects and scientists before we can extract them, given Feng and her thralls are likely one of the big players between the Chemical Blockade all the way to Andrei's floor.

> we don't even know where her throne room is exactly.
The recon on the exact location of her throne room is probably better carried out with a crawler drone moving near/on the ceiling instead of anyone actually getter anywhere close, although Kat might be a close second if she can get through the (other rooms in the same) floor fast enough.

> I also doubt Katya would be happy .... I pray Roraima's corpse is found rather than us stumble upon him.
We should probably try to connect with Alex's forces and arrange a fatal "friendly fire incident" against Roraima ASAP... possibly under the pretense that he is being escorted out of the facility only to be ambushed by other guardsmen and/or hostile subjects. We probably need to hush it down though - the two sociopaths being alive down below are likely the only things keeping the corrupt GalGov/TEF from turbo-nuking the VRC.

> our plan after we wrap up everything we already agreed upon with Frances and so on, we should aim for Annies remote ASAP.
Y E S. Her being truly multi-task might be a bit of a strech, but anything that enhances her ability to detect (and synchronize with) incoming radio waves, increase her communication range, allows her to still use her radio station without being in close proximity with the server room, and/or allows her panspectral (or at least multispectral plus the ability to "walk" though multiple frequency ranges rapidly) would be very helpful both in the short-term and long-term.

> I think anon is trying to say Katya is an ace combat protagonist and the aircraft itself.
An Ace Combat protag that's an impossibly small, nimble, and sturdy "aircraft" herself, that is.

>>6268740
>That's she's far smaller, far more maneuverable, and far more resilient than any combat aircraft can ever be so just because she can fly inside the facility corridors unimpeded doesn't mean GalGov can send in aircraft down here.
Ok, I see. Not sure I agree with you on that, we don't know how much future tech has advanced aircraft. Especially with how close we are to autonomous flight even in modern day, a souped-up drone with no pilot space could perform pretty similarly to KK I bet.
Before I get sperged at obviously KK would beat a single big drone, but there's only one of her and potentially dozens, even hundreds of drones.

>I don't need solid numbers, I just need to know if Kat can fly or at least augment her running with her wings inside most corridors here.
I'm gonna trust you on the 20 foot wingspan, how many hallways have you gone down that are 20 feet wide? 20 feet tall? That's just the bare minimum for her to fit btw, actual maneuvers would need at least twice the width. Even that wouldn't be enough if the corridor was unexpectedly blocked by debris and she needed to turn around or splat into it at 200 mph.

>Nope, but I'd assume it would matter somewhat less when the only intel she can get was "a bunch of rogue subjects are wiping the floor with her Queensguard" and "her subjects lie dismembered and deactivated on the floor" before a bomb that came out of nowhere made a beeline towards her at 40+mph.
I think that's a bad assumption. She knows unknown assailants are mowing down her forces like they're nothing and you think she's just gonna sit still and wait for death? That's assuming we can mow down her forces like they're nothing, which all signs point away from.

>can gun people down from 50+ yards away with pinpoint precision
I may be misremembering but I don't recall her aim with firearms to be enhanced to that degree, especially while flying. The recoil of big guns while airborne is tough to manage.

>>6268779
> a souped-up drone with no pilot space could perform pretty similarly to KK I bet.

Most drones can't walk and/or engage in hand-to-hand nearly as nicely as Katya could though. Or basically she'd be closer to the MCU Iron Man in strength/durability and the MCU Falcon in maneuverability instead of any realistic aircraft.

> Even that wouldn't be enough if the corridor was unexpectedly blocked by debris and she needed to turn around or splat into it at 200 mph.
Regardless if the GalGov have an Iron Legion ready to deploy, my point still stands in that as long as the corridor size on Andrei/Reika/Grise floor is commonly found in the facility there's little reason to believe Katya can't maintain a similar speed on other levels, given she was repeatedly depicted as flying rapidly then slowing down to a hover for landing. Her large wings (thus low wing loading) would help tremendously in reducing her stall speed to something closer to 20mph instead of a jetliner's 200mph, and she's likely to be further enhanced with some sort of thruster or antigravity systems given real-life birds can't fly straight up or hover.

> That's assuming we can mow down her forces like they're nothing, which all signs point away from.
> The recoil of big guns while airborne is tough to manage.
We as the human team cannot, given the Queensguard have a significant numerical advantage and their concentrated small arms fire is still devastating against baseline humans even with armor protection; however, if our desperate fight against Reika is of any indication, the weakest weapon that can damage Reika (and likely Kat given they share the same "High" durability classification) is an AMR, and Morgan is likely even tougher in terms of durability that only a dedicated anti-tank weapon like the plasma railgun can even hope to punch through her armor.
As for how to counter Queensguard with AMRs... that where my "tarpit /k/leanser Katya" proposal comes into play: Katya equipped with Lars's spare P90 and meant to eliminate enemy AMR and flamethrower infantry before they can organise effective return fire. Given Katya's high agility and medium-high strength it's likely she can be extremely quick and accurate firing semi-automatic shots from 50+ yards away (or from available vantage points, or simply "as far as possible in this particular room") before moving in to engage enemies in hand-to-hand which she is also leathal in.
If she's lugging an AMR+ weapon you can bet my boots that her job would be hit-and-run, using her superior airspeed to engage and disengage at her choosing while wearing down the hostile subject with accurate AMR fire so they can be deactivated in CQC.

>>6268807
>Most drones can't walk and/or engage in hand-to-hand nearly as nicely as Katya could though. Or basically she'd be closer to the MCU Iron Man in strength/durability and the MCU Falcon in maneuverability instead of any realistic aircraft.
Yes, and? They don't need to be good at H2H, no one makes drones for that. As for maneuverability I don't think the gap is as big as you think it is. Even modern day drones can pull off some crazy moves, and these are drones built by a civilization that settled the galaxy.

>corridor size on Andrei/Reika/Grise floor is commonly found in the facility
I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure we fought Reika in the high threat level containment area, which isn't even a corridor but a bigass room. A much bigger than average room for much bigger than average subjects, one might say.

>Her large wings (thus low wing loading) would help tremendously in reducing her stall speed to something closer to 20mph instead of a jetliner's 200mph, and she's likely to be further enhanced with some sort of thruster or antigravity systems given real-life birds can't fly straight up or hover.
You're relying on a whole lot of probably's and likely's. How long would it take her to decelerate that much? If she has anti-grav, isn't it possible that combat drones would as well?

>Given Katya's high agility and medium-high strength it's likely she can be extremely quick and accurate firing semi-automatic shots from 50+ yards away (or from available vantage points, or simply "as far as possible in this particular room") before moving in to engage enemies in hand-to-hand which she is also leathal in.
Even assuming this works at first, you don't think that after 1 or 2 squads get wiped this way Feng won't have them change tactics so they avoid or maintain control over such open areas? 50+ yards? You can't seriously believe the average hallway allows that kind of range.

>If she's lugging an AMR+ weapon you can bet my boots that her job would be hit-and-run, using her superior airspeed to engage and disengage at her choosing while wearing down the hostile subject with accurate AMR fire so they can be deactivated in CQC.
Yeah, great strat for when we're not literally underground, in a building, with plenty of walls, side rooms, and other obstructions.

>>6268940
> They don't need to be good at H2H, no one makes drones for that.

Too bad we *are* fighting "underground, in a building, with plenty of walls, side rooms, and other obstructions" as you mentioned. And some of those rooms just happened to be large enough that we need some accurate medium/long-range fire to not be sniped by an AMR.
(What I wouldn't give for an army of UCGVs though...)

> I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure we fought Reika in the high threat level containment area, which isn't even a corridor but a bigass room.

Arguably true, albeit the terrain is closer to "a multitude of large rooms connected by large corridors" instead of any singular large room.

> A much bigger than average room for much bigger than average subjects, one might say.

Incidentally the "bigger than average room" part can also be applied to the furnace room and the garden room which we'll have to clear out to reach the throne room.

Just finished re-reading through Thread #9, Kat does require about 100ft/30yd to decelerate from her max(?) speed to landing speed, and somehow the medical facility (of all places) have that sort of corridor length... and from last thread Katya somehow managed to reach somewhere near Andrei's (collapsed) corridor from the Titanbay and back (the 37 Queensguard are likely the ones digging through the rubble of Andrei's office after one of the Queensguard called for help) within a few minutes, while it took us multiple hours from the Titanbay to the HTC in Thread #9, so... yeah the VRC is likely built in such a fashion that Katya can maintain an average airspeed of 60+mph.

> Even modern day drones can pull off some crazy moves
> If she has anti-grav, isn't it possible that combat drones would as well?

Yes, and? I don't care if some elite TEF troops are equipped with those high-end "Iron Legion" drones/droids or if those drones are commonly seen patrolling some fancy core worlds, I care about what we have right here on Alpha Copernicus - and from what we could see, none of our fellow death squads / mercenaries have even basic combat UAVs or UGVs, nor does the government occupation forces make any use of them. The only aircraft we've seen *on this planet* are heavy transports, and the only UAV anyone here have any access to are unarmed ones that we can fit multiple of inside our backpacks.

Plus, even assuming most of the corridors are tight enough that KK can't make use of her wings or use whatever thruster that allowed her to fly straight up to augment her agility... she's still the only firearm-proficient high-resilience subject we've befriended.
(Hope we can meet Dhabus sometime soon ON PEACEFUL CIRCUMSTANCES. We do have Morgan to tank her fire, but she was known to use a lot of explosives so... try to disarm those at range if possible. If anything looks out of place, take a pic then blast it with either napalm or acid.)

>>6268940
> Even assuming this works at first, you don't think that after 1 or 2 squads get wiped this way Feng won't have them change tactics so they avoid or maintain control over such open areas?

If we're mounting a full-on assault against Feng we WILL have to go through such open areas, namely the Foundry and the Garden. Last time we tried to do that without combat subjects we got significantly outgunned, so... we kinda need a squad who can tank rifle-caliber fire all day long to even hope to survive there. Kat and Rei being incredibly good against fellow subjects would also be a net bonus.

Also, can Morgan plus her shield tank AMR rounds? Hopefully yes though, and as long as the AMR round was weakened enoughby her shield to not cause her (or any other high-res subject behind her) any damage it's considered yes. If we can convince her to somehow give her shield a significant curvature to better deflect AP rounds (similar to armored vehicles) then do it.

> 50+ yards? You can't seriously believe the average hallway allows that kind of range.

The closer we are to their snipers the more advantage we have against their snipers as far as our melee-heavy subject formation is concerned, especially with Morgan's shield in front and Cort working like a mobile smoke screen (might need to convince Morgan not to destroy AMRs though). That said... grenade launcher Kat for dedicated anti-AMR role, anyone?
(Also, I'm pretty sure we can spare a drone - or failing that, a spare shillelagh with a piece of moldy bread stuck to the end - to warn them of any ambush before rounding corners.)

> Yeah, great strat for when we're not literally underground, in a building, with plenty of walls, side rooms, and other obstructions.

As long as she can outrun most other subjects while still carrying an AMR+ weapon I don't see any problems with that? As the saying goes, "outgun what you can't outrun, outrun what you can't outgun", afterall.

>>6255814
Right, anybody please create an entry for NF-29 Chloe Camponoti? Apparently she's some sort of The Last of Us type ophiocordyceptic (as signified by the "Camponoti" name) zombie-maker shroom according to Katya, and somehow Roraima have THREE known subjects with nothing alike except for the "-29" suffix.
(Was that psycho born on Feb 29th?)

.... I'll just say I'm very glad E*brus didn't influence her creation and she isn't actually behaving like the Massospora fungus contrary to what Massimo stated.
(Yes, now I need a stiff glass of high-proof brain bleach after reading just WHAT massospora does to its victims.)

++++
Codename: NF-29
Name: Chloe Camponoti
Threat Level Estimate: High
Creator: Tengri and Roraima
Feeding Method: Unknown, presumably organic material
Size: Small
Last known location: hyphae last spotted on the staircase east of Titania's chamber

General description: Small fungal subject

Known abilities and main Ability:
Chloe is a small fungal subject who can create massive webs of hyphae from the spores she released. Her spores are known to be lightweight and easy to spread, and can cause lethal mycosis by replacing the host's brain with spores that ultimately takes control of the host entirely, effectively making it a "zombie" under her control. Subject is also known to use her hyphae as sensors.

Strength: Unknown
Durability: Unknown
Regeneration: Unknown
Perception: Presumed High
Agility: Unknown
Intelligence: Unknown

Personality and behaviour: Dislikes her caretakers, apparently a prankster before Roraima turned her into a one-subject zombie apocalypse

Information source(s): Katya, Massimo

Illustrations: one more reason to arrange a fatal "accident" for Roraima
++++

Also, someone please add that Cortina's spores can form symbiotic relationships with plants and fungi to extend their lifetime and she can see through those symbiotic spores as well.

>>6269452
I'm the one who maintains the document of extra shit and I haven't created entries for girls who are in the official MGE beyond just updating their names in the list. I've been considering making alternative profiles to add additional information to, I guess I will at some point.

>>6269502
Thank you for your contributions; keep up the good work!

... Also, should MB-24 Patty be included in the Extended Cast?

>>6269534
It got easy to forget things after over a year of questing, with a cast count ticking up into the triple digits and terrible memory. Now closing in on the second year and with ever more characters to keep track of, I refer to it more than ever. I'm glad other people find it useful too.
I didn't add Patty because she was in the official MGE as well, I'll add a profile to her if I get round to adding ones for subjects with enough additional intel to make it worth it. There's a few things I ought to do there, such as finally making the section for friendly facility staff and having a good comb-through for subjects who have since cropped up in the MGE so I can refer to their official profiles.

>>6269352
>Too bad we *are* fighting "underground, in a building, with plenty of walls, side rooms, and other obstructions" as you mentioned. And some of those rooms just happened to be large enough that we need some accurate medium/long-range fire to not be sniped by an AMR.
(What I wouldn't give for an army of UCGVs though...)

>Incidentally the "bigger than average room" part can also be applied to the furnace room and the garden room which we'll have to clear out to reach the throne room.
Ok, so KK will probably be very helpful capturing those two rooms, but there's plenty of places where she'll struggle just as badly as the rest of us. We can't just assume she'll be able to easily sweep all Feng's forces.

>and from last thread Katya somehow managed to reach somewhere near Andrei's (collapsed) corridor from the Titanbay and back (the 37 Queensguard are likely the ones digging through the rubble of Andrei's office after one of the Queensguard called for help) within a few minutes, while it took us multiple hours from the Titanbay to the HTC in Thread #9, so... yeah the VRC is likely built in such a fashion that Katya can maintain an average airspeed of 60+mph.
Was she able to cover this distance with whatever route she wanted though? I think it's more likely that there was one she knew she could take at top speed from her patrols in the area, while many other routes just weren't feasible.

>Yes, and? I don't care if some elite TEF troops are equipped with those high-end "Iron Legion" drones/droids or if those drones are commonly seen patrolling some fancy core worlds, I care about what we have right here on Alpha Copernicus - and from what we could see, none of our fellow death squads / mercenaries have even basic combat UAVs or UGVs, nor does the government occupation forces make any use of them. The only aircraft we've seen *on this planet* are heavy transports, and the only UAV anyone here have any access to are unarmed ones that we can fit multiple of inside our backpacks.
I'm saying the fact that no one has them implies that "air superiority" isn't a thing down here. If it was, we'd be seeing them.

>Plus, even assuming most of the corridors are tight enough that KK can't make use of her wings or use whatever thruster that allowed her to fly straight up to augment her agility... she's still the only firearm-proficient high-resilience subject we've befriended.
Yeah I'm not saying she'll be useless, just that we can't just give her a big gun and expect her to nigh singlehandedly confine Feng to her throneroom. She's definitely going to be the MVP but those kind of "oh it'll be so easy" assumptions are what got us shot to hell last time.

>>6269353
>Last time we tried to do that without combat subjects we got significantly outgunned, so... we kinda need a squad who can tank rifle-caliber fire all day long to even hope to survive there.
No, this one I remember due to the sheer frustration. Last time we decided to let them capture us for whatever reason, then when the realization of the enormity of that mistake dawned we decided to break free while they had guns trained on us. We don't need a squad that can tank rifle fire, we just need to be smart.

The tough squad would help though.

>The closer we are to their snipers the more advantage we have against their snipers as far as our melee-heavy subject formation is concerned, especially with Morgan's shield in front and Cort working like a mobile smoke screen (might need to convince Morgan not to destroy AMRs though). That said... grenade launcher Kat for dedicated anti-AMR role, anyone?
>(Also, I'm pretty sure we can spare a drone - or failing that, a spare shillelagh with a piece of moldy bread stuck to the end - to warn them of any ambush before rounding corners.)
This was about KK sniping them from 50+ yards, not them sniping us. I'll take it as an admission that the 50 yard snipe just isn't realistic outside a giant room like the one Thalia almost got hit by an arrow in.

>As long as she can outrun most other subjects while still carrying an AMR+ weapon I don't see any problems with that? As the saying goes, "outgun what you can't outrun, outrun what you can't outgun", afterall.
The problem is hit and run tactics are far less effective when your opponent has a fortified position and limited entry points that they can easily cover.

>>6269580
>>6269583
> but there's plenty of places where she'll struggle just as badly as the rest of us. We can't just assume she'll be able to easily sweep all Feng's forces.

I concede to the point that she's unlikely to handle most enemy squads single-handedly, but to assume a combat subject is as vulnerable as a baseline human to small arms fire - even assuming the human in question is wearing body armor - would be lethally ignorant - subjects with Resilience level marked as "high" are shown to shrug off rifle-caliber fire near-indefinitely without any visible damage, and only anti-materiel weapons can even hope to deal anything beyond superficial damage.
(Incidentally, that's why I'm shifting away from the "RobOwlCop" doctrine and began pursuing the "Combat Subject Squad" idea instead; we need Morgan and Cort to deal with enemy AMR teams and in case we're facing a mixed AMRguard+subject formation we can still throw Reika at whichever flank we aren't covering; and if we can recruit Dhabus then we'll get another machinegunner/grenadier to help augment our short/medium range fire.)

> Was she able to cover this distance with whatever route she wanted though?

Given the Queenbase *is* on the same floor Kat usually patrolled, I'll just defer to her judgement on it. We as of now have about zero intel on anything beyond the Foundry, the Pelly Pool, the Titanhall, and the HTC.

> I'm saying the fact that no one has them implies that "air superiority" isn't a thing down here. If it was, we'd be seeing them.

Given most mercenary companies here don't even have enough Light Infantry Weapons (AMRs, PRGs, HMGs, etc) to deal with anything above medium resilience I'm not using the existence - or lack thereof - of any particular weapon system as proof they're needed or not. Even the Scary Monsters company were stuck with modified construction equipment instead of milspec mechs, and the only drones we've got are also closer to civilian-grade ones instead of armed milspec ones.
(Granted, given Annie's powers anything armed and radio-controlled is prone to backfire in VRC. High-level AI-controlled combat droids/drones - which can operate while air-gapped - likely costs more than us mercs esp. given we aren't even paid a living wage here.)

>>6269580
>>6269583
> Yeah I'm not saying she'll be useless, just that we can't just give her a big gun and expect her to nigh singlehandedly confine Feng to her throneroom. She's definitely going to be the MVP but those kind of "oh it'll be so easy" assumptions are what got us shot to hell last time.

Most likely *especially* not a big gun but rather something accurate and lightweight that wouldn't hamper her hand-to-hand abilities. It probably won't be easy, but realistically Feng would have a rather limited stash of AMRs (or the ammunition for them while we're at it) given they were looted from killed 'Heroes', so every AMR we recover/destroy is one they can't easily replace. Things might get hairy after Feng started deploying her enthralled subjects, though assuming we hace enough combat subjects in our squad to counter them I'd still rather face just one or two of her subjects on patrol instead of getting dogpiled by a full dozen of them in the throne room.
(Also, I never said it'd be easy to bring the fight to Feng herself, only that Katya can easily wipe the floor with any Queensguard formation not equipped with anti-materiel rifles)

> Last time we decided to let them capture us for whatever reason, then when the realization of the enormity of that mistake dawned we decided to break free while they had guns trained on us.

IIRC it's because we were trying to sneak into her base by pretending to be new "recruits" before realizing we don't have a way out of the shituation.
Lesson learned: don't try recon if our drones are already wrecked.

Still, high-resilience subjects like Morgan, Katya, or Reika can basically waltz through the leadstorm without a scratch unless someone there has an AMR (which still might not be enough to deal any significant damage to Morgan), whereas we as baseline humans cannot even survive concentrated SMG fire.

> This was about KK sniping them from 50+ yards, not them sniping us. I'll take it as an admission that the 50 yard snipe just isn't realistic outside a giant room like the one Thalia almost got hit by an arrow in.

50+ yard snipe is unlikely but desirable - and once again in rooms with unusually high ceilings, long corridors, and/or good vantage points Kat would be devastating with a good PDW; a range advantage is likely the only advantage a typical human squad can have against combat subjects, so anything that can neutralize that advantage sounds pretty appealing...
It may not be a common occurrence, but we need to be prepared for that sort of occurrences regardless given we'll hace to face that type of occurrence if we're to storm the Queenbase.

> The problem is hit and run tactics are far less effective when your opponent has a fortified position and limited entry points that they can easily cover.

The hit-and-run attacks aren't even meant for Feng's thralls but rather lone subjects that Kat can't overpower in hand-to-hand but can still outrun even when carrying a heavy weapon.

>>6269692
>to assume a combat subject is as vulnerable as a baseline human to small arms fire - even assuming the human in question is wearing body armor - would be lethally ignorant - subjects with Resilience level marked as "high" are shown to shrug off rifle-caliber fire near-indefinitely without any visible damage, and only anti-materiel weapons can even hope to deal anything beyond superficial damage.
Ok, my bad on the wording, not quite as hard as the rest of us.

>Given most mercenary companies here don't even have enough Light Infantry Weapons (AMRs, PRGs, HMGs, etc) to deal with anything above medium resilience I'm not using the existence - or lack thereof - of any particular weapon system as proof they're needed or not.
That seems more like a consequence of what role each company tries to fulfill - we're a support and logistics squad that's playing very abnormally. From what we've heard of Heroes they have nothing but the ultra heavy weapons - stuff like the plasma railgun, where each shot is expensive enough that they can't waste them on guards or even low TL subjects.
Who knows, maybe KK will have an easier time flying than I thought and GalGov will call in the Angry Birds crew just like they called in Scary Monsters.
Also I feel like we've seen a bunch of AMRs.

>The hit-and-run attacks aren't even meant for Feng's thralls but rather lone subjects that Kat can't overpower in hand-to-hand but can still outrun even when carrying a heavy weapon.
Subjects can hunker down too? Plus if I was Feng I wouldn't send my most valuable units out alone, I'd give them some human meat shields.

>>6269919
> From what we've heard of Heroes they have nothing but the ultra heavy weapons - stuff like the plasma railgun, where each shot is expensive enough that they can't waste them on guards or even low TL subjects.

Those so-called 'Heroes' having a large number of plasma railguns sounds rather unlikely given the pricetag on the gun itself, but they do have AMRs and grenade launchers as standard loadout, and they did suffer from abnormally high losses against guardmen which likely include Feng's Queensguard... oh noes. A very good time indeed to ask if Morgan's shield can tank AMR rounds.

Also, does anybody know if we can get HEAT grenades? Highly doubt any subject smaller than Vinella can survive a jet of molten metal flying at Mach 50+ without losing a limb or two, and we just got a good 'nade rifle for this job.

> Who knows, maybe KK will have an easier time flying than I thought and GalGov will call in the Angry Birds crew just like they called in Scary Monsters.

Given the Schizofloof's presence made the GalGov back off on providing TV sets for their field hospitals, drone warfare specialists are likely THE last thing the TEF would hire as long as Annie's still alive.

Plus, we don't need her to fly *everywhere*, we just need her to reach vantage points inside larger rooms to help flank/ambush the Queensguard; fighting concentrated infantry in tight corridors is the job of flamethrowers and grenadiers (or failing that, good-ol' hand-to-hand) afterall.

> Subjects can hunker down too? Plus if I was Feng I wouldn't send my most valuable units out alone, I'd give them some human meat shields.

The "Kiting Katya" doctrine is largely meant to counter lone rabid subjects like Grise or FutaCow, whereas any anti-Queensguard maneuvers would be conducted with Morgan and/or Cortina to counter grenade launchers, AMRs, or even potential flamethrowers. Give Kat and Cort a few 'nades (smoke and frag respectively) regardless.

>>6270051
>Those so-called 'Heroes' having a large number of plasma railguns sounds rather unlikely given the pricetag on the gun itself
Maybe it's some other type of weapon, but I don't think AMRs are so pricey to fire that they can't be used on guardsmen.

>Given the Schizofloof's presence made the GalGov back off on providing TV sets for their field hospitals, drone warfare specialists are likely THE last thing the TEF would hire as long as Annie's still alive.
Drones that are directly controlled to prevent hacking can't be more expensive than the mech suits Scary Monsters are using.