10/24 Instance: Variety Level 06

[Ferguson]

Timeline Note: Current Timeline

-

<@Mayday> "Two of you running patrols, covering the south and east entrance. I want everyone's eyes up, be ready for them!", Castle barked, cocking his HK417 and raising it, preparing for hostile contact. "Visual from outside spotted TWO: eyes peeled and weapons primed, ladies!"

<@Mayday> Mayday smirked from behind her mask, clicking her radio on and making sure she was as still as possible in the shadowy gangways above the warehouse. ["Facade: I'm in position. Give me your current location?"]

<Cecilia> ["Just outside the warehouse. On the south-west corner in sight of the doors"] said Cecilia, crouching down low to avoid being spotted.

<@Mayday> ["They have a patrol running clockwise from the south entrance and around to the east: if you move now, you should be able to slip inside undetected."], Mayday responded, watching the group of two approach the south entrance. ["I spot three watching both doors aside from the patrol, and there's four of them surrounding the target."]

<Cecilia> ["Right, moving."] Cecilia crept along the wall and quickly ducked behind some warehouse crates. ["Can you eliminate the ones outside from the roof? Catch them in a web?"]

<@Mayday> Mayday took a glance around before sneaking along the gangway and jumping out of the open skylight window she'd come in by, she snuck behind one of the snipers and grappled him in a sudden choke-hold that she'd learned from another program.

<@Mayday> ["How many do you see on the outside?"], Mayday asked over the radio, unloading the sniper-rifle and dimming the dot-sight before using it to scope out Cecilia's movement. ["I have eyes on you."]

<Cecilia> ["Two, and they're quite large fellas. They're directly behind me but I don't think they've seen me."]

<Cecilia> Cecilia crept a little further into the darkness. Unfortunately, her shields were not invisible like Sue's, so she was at a great disadvantage. ["Any ideas on how to approach the Punisher? Their guns don't exactly pose a threat to me but I'm sure most would say charging them head on is a mistake."]

<@Mayday> Mayday laughed dryly; she remembered the first time she'd tried that. ["...yep: he's a gun-for-hire, ergo he's not all 'spray and pray': he's versed in close-combat so expect knife-fighting."], she crept across the rooftop, placing the rifle gently down and leaning over the side of the building. ["The east enterance has two outside it, you see them?"]

<Cecilia> ["Knife-fighting? Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me. What is with this guy? He's like Rambo on fucking crack."] Cecilia peeked around the edge of the doorway. ["Oh yeah, I see 'em."] She flung at field at their backs that knocked them out instantaneously. ["And now they're down."]

<@Mayday> "Nice...", Mayday nodded to herself, ["'Kay, he shouldn't be so tough if we can sneak up on him: he has no powers, he's just a beefcake."], she waved a salute to Cecilia before departing to the window again, hopping inside and looking out for the patrol; ["I see the patrol approaching: once you open that door there'll be three of them waiting directly ahead, and two more on yoooour....right."]

<@Chaos> Crawling over the side of the gangway, Mayday jumped up and onto the ceiling and crawled across it carefully, positioning herself above the three sentries, ["Suggestion: blast the door and hold your shields up. I can take the three, leaving you to deal with the other two."]

<Cecilia> ["Good plan. Alright, Spider-Girl on three. One, two, three..."] Cecilia slammed a field against the door, blowing it off its hinges and flinging it into one of the unsuspecting mooks.

<Cecilia> Cecilia quickly created an armor around her body. ["Surprise suckers!"] She cackled.

<@Mayday> Before the guards could get off a shot, Mayday's webbing hissed down onto them, pulling them up and crashing them down on the floor violently. The two at Cecilia's side were down to one, who pulled for his submachine gun and sprayed bullets against Cecilia's armor that pinged off in random directions.

<@Mayday> Mayday leapt away as the other guards figured out where the webbing had come from and opened fire. ["Get to cover!"]

<Cecilia> Cecilia slammed an armoured fist into the guy shooting at her and slid behind some crates. ["Well, now I know why bikers wear all that leather,"] she remarked.

<Cecilia> Cecilia peeked out at the guards. ["I just got an idea..."] Quickly and with a great deal of effort she created a dome around the men shooting at them. Almost immediately they were all down, dead or mortally wounded, as their bullets ricocheted off the dome walls and back at them. ["Holy shit..."]

<@Mayday> "Jesus Christ!", Mayday gasped, "Danger: pause the program!", with those words, the world seemed abnormally still, as every object and character save the girls froze in place. The redhead pulled off her mask and jumped down to Cecilia, eyes still stuck on the shield bubble.

<Cecilia> "Holy fuck!" Exclaimed Cecilia, eyes wide. "I-I didn't think that would happen I swear to Christ, May!" She was shaking now...Oh God...


<@Mayday> Mayday raised her hands, "Hey, hey, hey, it's alright! Nobody got hurt, ok? That's what these programs are for!", she rested a hand on Cecilia's shoulder, "Come on, calm down ok?"

<Cecilia> Cecilia backed away, the shaking was so bad she could barely stand. "I-I-I-" She shook her head. "I k-know. It j-just caught me b-by s-surprise. I didn't t-think it through." She clenched her hands to stop the shaking. "T-Thank God, I found out h-here than out on a m-mission."

<@Mayday> "Hey, Cecilia, focus...", Mayday held her with both hands and moved her face into view of the other girl, "You found out here. You lucked out and it's alright. We're gonna take a break, ok?"

<Cecilia> "Y-Yeah," Cecilia said, her eyes distant. "A b-break would be n-nice..." She felt light, as insubstantial as a handful of snow.

<@Mayday> Mayday smiled, "Ok, sure. Danger: stop current program, run program 'Betsy's Diner'.", with a blur, their surroundings changed to those of the inside of a diner on an interstate, "Take a seat."

<Cecilia> Cecilia blinked. "W-What is this place? Is t-this somewhere you know?" Cecilia sat down in one of the red booths. She felt a bit better getting away from all the damage she'd done.

<@Mayday> "All the training programs I use are the stuff that Venom left on the X-Ternals data which I...", Mayday sat down, wearing an awkward expression, "...found."

<Cecilia> Cecilia nodded. "I never m-met Venom... Eddie....he was gone by the time I got here." She smiled a little. "Found? As in hacked?"

<@Mayday> Mayday huffed, "N-no! I-it was right there! Any Java-savvy jerkwad with Firefox could have found it!", she frowned at herself. Well, maybe not anyone that stupid, "Anyway, d'you want some coffee or something?"

<Cecilia> Cecilia's eyes narrowed. "Watch your t-tone, I wasn't accusing you or anything. I was just curious."

<@Mayday> "Whoa, hey: I wasn't saying anything!", Mayday threw up her hands, "Sorry, alright?", she smiled to ease tensions, "Seriously: do you want a coffee?"

<Cecilia> Cecilia eyed her. "I'll let it go this once because I'm not a perfect person, I'm prone to being too harsh too. Just...think it over next time alright?" Pot meet kettle.

<Cecilia> "Yeah, I could go for a coffee. But won't it just be pretend coffee in here?" She said.

<@Mayday> Mayday shook her head, "Coffee's still got the same cellular make-up; and I'm pretty sure coffee beans are the same in here - I mean, the coffee's always tasted like coffee when I've sat in here studying.", she realized too late how 'hermit' she'd sounded, "A-anyway: Danger, two coffees, please. Milk and no sugar.", she smiled.

<@Mayday> In a few moments, a waitress approached the two, leaving two cups of coffee on their table and smiling before departing silently. "Thanks, D!", Mayday chimed.

<Cecilia> Cecilia shivered. "I find it a bit scary talking to sims. It's like being a ghost...."

<@Mayday> "Meh: I kinda like it! It's like being on Star Trek.", Mayday remarked, picking up a cup and sipping from it, "God, it's to die for...", she swooned. Nothing like DR brew!

<Cecilia> Cecilia sipped her coffee. "The wonders of the DR," she chuckled. "...Look, I'm sorry I made such a huge mess of that mission..." Cecilia said, wincing at her poor choice of words.

<@Mayday> Mayday shook her head, "You did not make a mess of anything.", she assured Cecilia, "Yeah, mistakes were made, but it's a simulator, it doesn't even count as a success even if we complete it!"

<@Mayday> "You...", she continued, raising her cup, "...are way too hard on yourself. Like I was! Am. Erm...can be..."

<Cecilia> Cecilia nodded. "I guess that's true...I just expect a lot of myself and when I fail...I take it personally..."

<Cecilia> "It's beneficial to a certain extent...but when it actually begins to harm your self-worth, maybe it's not such a great quality..."

<@Mayday> Mayday sipped some more coffee, sitting back and clasping the cup in both hands, "Alright, for starters, you're looking at being one of the best Mutants we have here, so stop thinking so little of yourself.", she winked, "You're doing better than I did: have you not noticed I still wear these shooter-bracelets to aim my webbing?", she waved her wrist in front of Cecilia, showing off the silver manacle.

<Cecilia> Cecilia nodded. "I guess I didn't notice before..." She turned red a little at the compliment. "Thanks...I don't think of myself that way. But maybe I should try. See how it goes."

<Cecilia> It would be no small feat though. Cecilia raised her cup. "To being the best women on the team! We kick major ass and look good doing it!"

<@Mayday> "Seconded.", Mayday smiled, raising her cup and sipping some more: who would've thought she'd be giving the pep-talks so soon!

[Ferguson]

Oh dear, shooting dome

Shiny times, guys!

[PanicSwitch]