INVICTUS || .ic [CLOSED]

GuanYue

sorrow made you.
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. Speed of Light
  2. Multiple posts per day
  3. 1-3 posts per day
  4. One post per day
  5. 1-3 posts per week
  6. One post per week
  7. Slow As Molasses
Writing Levels
  1. Give-No-Fucks
  2. Intermediate
  3. Adept
  4. Advanced
  5. Prestige
  6. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. Nonbinary
  4. Transgender
  5. Primarily Prefer Male
Genres
Modern Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Sci-fi Futuristic, Cyberpunk, Victorian, Steampunk, Dieselpunk, time period fantasies, semi-realism, slice of life, organization/agencies, gangs, dystopian, dark, comedy, medieval fantasy
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#7f7f7f #SUPERNATURAL #SUPER POWERS #FUTURISTIC #AGENCY #ORGANIZATION #SLICE OF...ACTION?
Premise: Superpowered and Supernatural peoples are forced to join
a secret organization as agents in order to fight and maintain the natural
order on Earth. They exterminate, rehabilitate, or contain any supernatural
entities that threaten the peace among the ignorant common populace.
Links: IC || DISCORD || INFO DUMP || APPS || CHARACTER INDEX || BESTIARY || MISSIONS BOARD
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EPISODE 1: PILOT

[fieldbox="IMPORTANT INFO, #242424, solid, 10"]
Brought to you by [NPC] INV Admin Erin Yates

Starting Information
Just so you know, not everyone will start off with a partner. Junior Agents and higher ranks will most likely be partnered up unless stated otherwise. For now, feel free to start talking to people and requesting partners. I will finalize them once I clear them.

If you are a New Recruit (or rookie agent), then you may not have been assigned a partner just yet. Don't fret. It'll come through rp interactions.

• Kicking off the roleplay, we'll start out casually. Rookies and New Recruits have been sent a summons, requesting they come to simulation room A-1 for training. Whether you have already done training before or not, you as a New Recruit/Rookie level are required to do so. You have been given information about how to get to the simulation room and the Agent Handlers that will be there to greet you. [Note: Agent Sable Mereworth and Agent Storm Kelly will be there. Any other Senior-rank agents that wish to join in on this bit, let Dao know.]

For those that are In Processing, Agent Martin Flynt has been assigned for interrogations and recruitment. The subject in question can be found in Interrogation Room 76C. [Note: Seier Rose and Martin Flynt will be in the interrogations room.]

All Junior Agents and above ranks are permitted to wander about the facility. Areas of potential interest may be as follows:
- R&D TECH LAB: for the purpose of agents testing new and updated armor suits/technologies
- MAIN CAFETERIA: don't at least some agents get hungry?
- RECREATIONAL HALLS: gotta have some downtime fun
- SIMULATION ROOMS B-1 THROUGH D-5: for the purpose of mock training​
Agents are also allowed to interfere in the rookie training and interrogation if they so desire. Just remember the repercussions of doing so.​
[/fieldbox]

READY, STEADY, GO!
You may post. Have fun.
 
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[fieldbox="Morning Breeze, #242424, solid, 10"]
The alarm blared in Rostam's ear, telling him to wake up, yelling at him really, but the sluggish boy threw his hand all over his nightstand, looking for the snooze button. Finally, he felt the big round button with two little bumps and pressed it. He knew this meant like two minutes of sleep before his mom's magic kicked in and right on queue the panels to his room flipped open, letting rays of light seep into his room, and then his blanket started to fly about, playing keep away with Rostam. Rostam sat up, begrudgingly and slid his slippers on. He then reached up toward the blanket.

"Te cunn ienv." Rostam commanded and the seal controlling the blanket deactivated. He watched it float down and stared at his mother's handiwork sewn into it. "When did she even get the time to do such a thing?"

Rostam pushed off his bed and made his way into his bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror for a while. Breaking his gaze from the image of himself, he looked to a brush and nearly snarled at its sight. He then took his hand and pointed it at himself. Ucti. The word to just cause wind to blow in a general direction and the word he used to do his hair on a daily basis. Just like that he had finished his hair, he inspected it for a moment, before picking up his toothbrush and mug to brush his teeth. While, he did so, he went to his closet and hit a few buttons to make the outfit he prepped for the day pop out in front of him. He nodded as he scooped up the hangar and placed it on the rack in his bathroom where he proceeded to spit out his toothpaste. After, that getting ready was a simple process, he slipped his white sheer robe on, black pants, and combat boots as well as his many "accessories", grabbed his necessary books, and started out the door.

Today, they were training new recruits. It didn't really interest him, he had seen it a couple of times, but the agent handlers in this base were pretty nice, it wasn't much of a spectacle in his opinion. Instead he went to go address more important means: food. He entered the cafeteria, ordered his bowl of cereal, and sat down at a table to read up on some Spanish artifacts. He seemed to be invested in the book as he flipped through page after page, taking small bites of cereal in between. Ucti. He said it every time he flipped a page, shooting a gust of wind out the tip of his finger.
[/fieldbox]
 
DOCTOR BAUMANN​
Time seems to pass way too slowly during weekly meetings. Everyone was either distracted with watered down coffee and free donuts or way too focus on the meeting itself. Today, the conference room was stuffed to the brim from members of the Research & Development Division. Rather than the usual culmination of Science versus Magic, only the staff of the Science & Technology Branch occupied the room (at the relief of the Division Supervisor). Without Invictus agents raging war over superiority, the weekly meeting was going smoothly. After going over the majority of latest research (and reminders of basic protocol), the meeting spiraled down to the last experiment on the agenda.

Some were already edging out of their seats to dart out the door for the bathroom. That coffee bubbling way too wildly in their stomachs. The D.S. remained seated and focused at the latest item at hand. Dark eyes focused on one of the division’s scientist, reporting on the latest findings in their group’s research.

... so, in regards to prototype beta #Z3D34D-6734, we have concluded that the Material C passed 5 out of the 8 rounds of testing. All other materials passed at substantially lower rates. However, all materials in question faired far better than the control. It is with this information that I push to focus on Material C if any alterations can be made in order for it to perform better in the second round of testing. Is there any other questions you have, Dr. Baumann? … Dr. Baumann?

Draeger didn’t answer right away. The mechanical tapping of his right hand sounded throughout the conference as he eyed a single piece of paper in his left hand. The pupils in Draeger’s eyes shifted slightly, changing from the simple, circular shape to a thin, sliver of black. Soon, it relaxed back to normal.

... 62.5%... a success rate of 62.5% is far too low to even think about continuing forward with the project.”” His cybernetic fingers stilled as he set the paper back down. Obsidian eyes flicked over the faces of every single creature in this room. “Sir?

It’s in our best interest in retracing steps and finding new materials to synthesize before continuing forward. This isn’t a setback, but a reminder of what we strive for in Invictus: close to perfection. There will always be minute variables that we cannot calculate or compute for the field, but, here, we will do everything in our power to protect deployed agents.

Soon, Draeger rose from his seat, being slightly taller than the office chair. A smile spread from ear to ear as he wrapped things up. “Besides, I’d be sad if someone wasn’t able to come back home. … meetings adjourned.

A few agents already scrambled their way out before Draeger exited the room with his belongings. The few that remained gathered around and began to whisper in secret. All the while, Draeger’s focus was on his smartphone, going through his inbox. It seemed like today an influx of new recruits was inbound today. More new faces to join the family. For a minute, he wondered if there was any information about any fresh blood joining this division. For the time being, though, he returned to his main lab and returned to his work. Picking up one of the many lab coats hanging by the door, he slipped it over his rather professional dinosaur onesies before going back to work.
 
Seier Rose - Interrogation Room 76C
Seier sat completely still, with her fiery grey eyes gazing angrily ahead. The table in front of her was metal, as was the chair she was bound to, and the room was unnecessarily cold. The folks who had kidnapped her had confiscated her hat and everything she had carried on her. She had no way of knowing where she was, seeing as they had knocked her out when they had taken her, and she had woken in a holding cell. The moment she woke, she had been brought to the interrogation room, and had been unable to fight back due to grogginess. Seier was pissed, to say the least.

A well-dressed, monotonous man had been attempting to questionin her for the last thirty minutes with no results, and he sat still across the table from her, staring back at her with exasperation.

"Oi, ah know yer jus' stallin'. Ya 'aven't asked me the real questions, am ah right? I'll be damned if ah tell a phallic willy-boy like yerself mah life stoory. And fer tha love a Nessie, it's colder 'n ma pa's heart in 'ere!" She shouted at the man, wriggling in her restraints and then spitting at him. She watched quietly as the man wiped his face clean of her saliva with a handkerchief before getting up and heading out of the room with a thick file that she'd begun to assume was information about herself.

"Aye, tha's right, awa' wit ye ya numpty shite!" She yelled after him, her insults met with the slam of the heavy door. [spoili]"Yeah, that's right, away with you, you idiot shit!"[/spoili]

She was left alone, fuming, hungry, and uncomfortable, "Turn tha fucken heater on ya cakey bastard!" [spoili]Cakey - Daft[/spoili]

Wot in tha' fuck'r they ev'n wantin' from me? I've got noth'n tae give! Is it ma power they want?

"Ah will naw be givin' ya cumsplats a single fucken' thing! Let me loose of these restraints and ah'll be tempted tae give ye fuckers a wee bit a' mercy!" She shouted, wondering who was even listening, and just what exactly she'd gotten herself into.

@FrostedCaramel
 
[fieldbox= Martin Flynt]Martin rushed through the halls, glancing at his watch every few seconds as if he needed to recheck the fact he was over half an hour late for the interrogation of the new girl. As he moved through the halls he barely dodged a trio of... What were those again...? Not important. He mumbled to himself as he rounded a corner down a long hall of interrogation rooms, nearly one hundred and fifty to be exact. Why INVICTUS needed so many damned interrogation rooms was beyond him, but so was a lot of what INVICTUS needed.

"Seventy four, seventy five..." he noticed the exasperated suit walking toward him with a scowl on his face, "Ha... He-Hey Jerry loooong story I got caught up in an experiment. The metaphysical properties of an encantation circle and the connection they have with the ley line map of the area... It's pretty interesting stuff, you know the power, it just-"

"Save it Martin just get in there," the man growled, "And for the last time my name is Frank." he said as he passed Martin by, grumbling to himself about something.

Martin opened the door to the interrogation room as he was turned back toward Je- Frank, "Right! Frank yeah!" he called out as he stepped into the room. It was about as cold as he remembered them being, poorly lit, which was odd considering INVICTUS had made the switch to eco-friendly LEDs years ago, he made a mental note to follow up with Facilities. Perhaps the bulbs were burning out or something. Power fault?

He shifted his attention from the trivial to the girl at the table. "So I'm uh... I'm Martin nice to meet you." he said as he reached his free hand out to shake the girls hand, only to remember she was restrained and pull back the hand with a small apologetic smile. He then placed the large worn book in his hands on the table with a thud, as he did sheets of paper slid out from within it, depositing themselves on the table and the floor, runic pictures and lines upon lines of text visible on their surfaces, "Shit uh.. That's not important don't worry about those." he said as he quickly gathered the papers from the floor and shoved them under his jacket, crumpling them in the process.

"Anyway, I see you met my friend Jerry." he said as he pointed to the now shut door, "Good guy, great wife, kids are adorable you should meet them someday I mean just spitting images of them both." as he spoke he reached into his left pocket and pulled out a set of mittens, slipping them over his hands and then reaching back into the pocket and pulling out a beanie which he quickly slipped over his head, "Cold as shit in here huh?" he said rhetorically as he fumbled with his now bound fingers and the book in front of him.

He turned to the girl, an inquisitive look in his eyes for a moment, "You can't speak Greek or Latin right? I mean if you can it's no real issue but I mean... Just for the record right?" he asked quickly as he opened the book, the heavy cover slamming to the table as he did. He flipped through a hundred something pages of nothing before stopping randomly. "Seier Family please." he said as he watched the blank page. He fidgeted in his seat for a moment, the page remaining blank as his eyes seemed to shift around the room and back to the book, "Seier, Rose maybe?" he asked, obviously not directed to Seier herself.

He sighed as text began to sprawl out upon the books pages, only to have a slightly fearful look grow upon his face at the text. "You're uh, you're not going to make me... Disappear are you? I mean it seems like," he paused, glancing around the corners of the poorly lit room before suddenly his upper body would fall to the side as he looked beneath the table. When he brought his head back up he seemed relieved, "it does sort of seem like your signature you know?" he said quietly as he leaned across the cold metal table, "If you do though... Can I take the books with me? It'd be a relief if I could..."

He leaned back quickly, not quite giving time for Seier to answer anything as he continued, "A Witch, interesting. Not exactly special but interesting. Could you uh, I don't know, summon a faerie?" he looked back at the book, gasped a moment and looked back to Seier, "Actually, hold on the faeries, definitely don't want to end up like your father."[/fieldbox]
@Mars Walker
 
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Seier Rose, Interrogation Room 76C
Seier's scowl deepened with every word Martin spoke, her nostrils flaring in annoyance. She had decided early on that she would hate him, for the sole fact that he was apparently with whoever it was that had taken her hostage. She looked at the pages of his book, watching as he spoke to it more than her, noticing that the print seemed to form on its own.

She jumped a little bit in surprise when Martin seemed to knock himself over, and she leaned back with a grimace as he leaned across the table, speaking quickly and not giving her time to answer the questions individually, "Oi, you look like a dug lickin' piss offa nettle. I can pull faeries oot the fuckin air, and I will if ye don't let me oot a this godamm shitehole, ya bampot!" [spoili]-"You look like a dog licking piss off a nettle."-[/spoili] She yelled angrily, "And fuck Jerry! His burd prolly looks like Satan's hairy arsehole! Ah don't e'en know where ah am, and you fucknards are awl up in ma business like it means somethin' to ye! Ah've nawt done anythin' wrong! My father liked tae beat me and my maw, so I say he deserved what he got!" Seier huffed, barely able to wiggle the tips of her fingers in the restraints. [spoili]-"Fuck Jerry! His wife probably looks like Satan's hairy asshole!"-[/spoili]

"From tha way yer organization...oi, what did Jerry call it...ah! From tha way you infucktus basturts [spoili]-bastards-[/spoili] are treatin' me, ye awl seem tae fancy endin' up like my pa'!" Seier turned her head away from Martin with sass, "And no, ah cannae speak any fuckin Greek aer Latin. Ah speak Norwegian, and Gaelic, and English. Dunna yer shitty diary tell ye tha'? Wha' e'se does it know 'boot me?" She asked, turning her head to look at Martin, scooting her chair forwards a bit, her eyes now locked on Martin like a wolf hunting its prey.


@FrostedCaramel
 
[fieldbox="C O N D U I T, #242424, solid, 10"]
A bucket full of water at her side, swishing a soggy mop against a sleek metal floor, Vyla was busy at 'work' as she heard the announcement. Something about going to room 1-A for training in the simulation room if you were a rookie or lower. Glazing over the announcement for a moment as she was sure any of the important-sounding shit was related to her, Vyla's eyes spiked up with worry, and she abruptly stopped cleaning the floors for a moment as she processed what'd actually just been said.

Wait, training? Shit. Rookies? Double shit. The simulation room would've warranted a triple-shit, but the simulation room wasn't actually that bad. Still, it wasn't at the usual time, at that usually meant it was gonna be something super-intensive. Something super-intensive meant that she was just going to get sneered at, shouted at, and forced to do things that were probably going to break one of her bones or get her a black eye again.

...This sucked.

Her mind started by falling into a pit of dread, but hurriedly, she convinced herself she'd found a way out of that 'pit'. Perhaps, just this once, she could get away with not going to training? Like, maybe she could fabricate an excuse that she was hard 'doing her set duties' or something. Biting her lip as she considered it all for a moment, it was a mixture of three-parts fear and one-part laziness that caused Vyla to decide that she was going to spend the time mopping the floor instead. The guys were harsh, but she still had the asset of being a 'newbie'. Maybe they'd make some allowances.

And so, she continued to make sure the floor was spotless, ignoring the fact it kinda already was. A bored, gentle, and relaxed voice came from the short girl's mouth as she mumbled some sort of tune under her breath to keep herself mentally occupied rather than sheepishly swinging her arms from side to side.
"Do, do, do. ...Mopping. Yeah. Mopping, mopping, ...mopping." To be honest, it'd sounded a lot cooler in her head than it actually was. Before she could have another crack at creating an epic ballad, however, a stern presence behind her seemed to appear from nowhere. One of the handlers. Tall, muscular, tan skin, and with a blocky, bald head. Vyla pretended not to notice him at first, hoping the guy wasn't here for her, but a flat and irritated tone quickly pierced its way into her ear.

"Conduit. You've been given orders to go to simulation room A-1. Throw that mop away and get going. Immediately."

"Huh?" Visibly jumping a little as someone directly addressed her, Vyla secretly bit the inside of her lip as she considered the man's words. Aw, shit. It took no time at all for them to call her out; she needed to come up with some sort of excuse if she actually wanted to avoid the public torture that was training. Looking deep into her brain for some sort of excuse, her mouth quickly opened, and regurgitated something out.

"Oh, uh, yeah... r-right. About that... well, kinda in the middle of an, uh, super important... cleaning shift here. Like, pretty sure it's life-threatening or something like that. Yep. I'll be there, like, um... once I'm done."

She gave a sheepish smile. The handler in front of her gave Vyla a cold, hard stare for a moment.

"And you wonder why you get assigned the shitty jobs?"

Her gaze instantly falling to the floor, Vyla didn't bother keeping up the fight, admitting defeat as she ran a hand through the back of her silver-grey hair.
"Well, l-like... ugh. Okay, sorry. Even I'll admit that was kinda hopeless," Vyla sighed, her bottom lip moving around a little as she sunk her teeth into her bottom gum, "It's just... like... are you sure I'm meant to be here? Everyone else can lift a car with their toes or something. I'm just... y'know. It's almost like I'm here just to show people what they shouldn't be. I just got lucky with my partner in mission one."

The bald agent staring long and hard into Vyla's faded, blue-grey eyes for a moment, giving her a look that could only be described as a 'disappointed maths teacher' sort of look. Avoiding his gaze, Vyla could only imagine the 'disappointed talk' was coming up after that, and it turned out she was pretty much right.

"Keep thinking along that road, and maybe you will end up being an example of what people shouldn't be. Whether you like it or not, you have responsibilities. Responsibilities that taking time out of your day to mop fucking floors are just going to be harder for you to solve," shaking his head, the bald agent adjusted his glasses, looking down on Vyla, who was still kind of avoiding his gaze. "Look. I'll be blunt. You're being pathetic, so just go. You'll be inches off being 'discarded', otherwise. INVICTUS doesn't deal with 'skiving' or whatever you were planning; not even for a second. I've heard every agent has their own 'fun' way of dealing with it."

Considering his words, Vyla supposed there were no other options. No matter how many times she'd tried to swerve out the way of it, this was her life now. Begrudgingly, but somehow loyally at the same time

"Alright. Sorry, sorry. I'll try my best to... 'improve'..." Vyla mumbled, her voice trailing off as her stomach began to close in on itself from dread. Her grip on the mop tightening a little as she began to turn around, the 18-year-old's mind suddenly went blank, "Wait. Um. Where was 1-A again?"

As soon as she'd asked the question, however, the bald man seemed roll his eyes impatiently, and then switch on an earpiece at his side. Fuck. Had she screwed up? Had he finally had enough of her, and was now calling a bunch of people to come and bash her with a stick? Sweating a little but finding a way to keep her cool, Vyla raised her voice slightly in protest.

"Uh... sorry, but... I legit forgot. Like, this isn't an excuse! This place is friggin' confusing! Even the trays in the cafeteria make it confusing where the pudding goes--"
"--Quiet, Conduit. I believe you. Only you'd be capable of that. I'm just calling for assistance from a friend."
"Oh. Thanks. ...Wait, erm... 'friend'?"
"Correct. His codename is 'Portal'."

With that, the bald agent closed the intermission, turning his back on Vyla and abruptly walking away. Standing there confused for a moment, Vyla's eyes suddenly twitched as she felt some sort of orange-ish light being cast around her. Instinctively, her powers tried to 'dampen' the energy targeting her, but it didn't seem to be working. Widening her eyes, Vyla let out a squeak as the whole world around her seemed to quickly warping.

"No, wait! Shii--"

As quickly as she blinked, however, her surroundings seemed completely different.

"--it?! Wait. What? Uh..."

Still gingerly holding the janitorial mop between her fingers, Vyla squinted as she hurriedly spun her head around her. She was in a simulation room, alright. And by the looks of things, she wasn't the only one here. Fellow rookies, along with some senior agents were also standing about. Did this mean she hadn't actually been disposed of in the seventh layer of hell for her incompetence?

"Is this 1-A? --Urgh..." Holding her head with a groan, Vyla's eyes twitched slightly. Whatever the hell had just 'teleported' her over here had given her the side effect of the whole world seeming to spin around her. She hadn't been seriously hung over before, but she imagined this was was probably what it felt like.

"Before we start... where's the nearest bathroom..."



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[fieldbox="Gabriel Baraniq +ERGO, #242424, solid, 10"]
5:00AM - Wake up, get dressed, eat, jog.
6:00AM - eat again, exercise.
7:00AM - shower, get dressed, eat again.

This was a normal routine for Gabe. Just one of the several he rotated through, however, it was mostly the same (including three sessions of full meals). Though, now that it wasn't god forsaken early in the morning, Gabe was bustling with energy and ready to meet and greet his fellow agents without entirely annoying them before they got their full cups of coffee. He couldn't count how many times his energized butt attempted to talk to someone only to get the morning glare of 'I will cut you if you keep chattering'. He learned real fast that that wasn't the way to make friends here. Over time, he found ways to become manageable.

Leaving the cafeteria for the umpteenth time, the tall, dark skinned male decided to head toward the R&D division. He had heard the other night that they were getting close to starting work on his armor suit again, and he wanted to make special requests about it's aesthetic customization (yes he wanted some additional pieces to look like a gundam. Yes he wanted lasers that made noise and when it hit a person it would play the Wilhelm scream... they probably weren't gonna let him have that). "Oh man, that'd be so cool..." He mumbled to himself as he thought about all sorts of possibilities for his suit. The nerd in him was showing by his meaningless chattering to himself.

"Oh, oh! Maybe I could request a cape that could help me jump farther or.. aaah! Maybe a cape that'll let me glide like Batman!"

At the thought, he jumped and then landed in a pose that looked like he was copying something out of a combat video game. "I am the NIGHT." He lowered his voice in attempts to sound threatening as he whipped his arm in front of him, as if he were swishing a cape away.

"No no, wait wait." He eased out of the pose and tried another, now standing much more like a DBZ fighter. "Do you know who I am? Heh... ERGO's the name. Don't forget it." he gave a cocky tilt of his head and ran his hand through his hair, then quickly dropped the stance. "Man that sounds so badass...!" He snickered to himself and just as he heard the intercom go off, he gave himself a mini fist pump.

Looking around, he listened to the message. Rookies were going to the simulation room? His fist dropped and he simply stood there for a moment as he thought. R&D room? Or simulation training? His foot began to tap, slowly at first, then sped up as the milliseconds went by. "Hnnng.... eenie, meenie, miney...simulationroom!" And with that he pushed off with his right heel and headed toward simulation room A-1.

---

Not too long after he left, he made it to the simulation rooms and slipped in. There were quite a few new faces that the agent hadn't seen yet, and it only made his smile wider. He zipped up his hoodie to cover his torso and slipped into line with the others. He gave small hello's and nods to the individuals around him and then simply started to rock on his feet, waiting for the training to begin.

Only a few minutes later, he heard the end of someone shout and then a confused noise. He looked over to see a fair haired girl holding a mop. He leaned forward slightly to get a better look at her from down the line. His smile grew more and then he pierced his lips together to try and contain it.

"Sorry, no bathrooms in here!"
[/fieldbox]
 
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Well, that’s life as an agent, always being pulled around one way or the other without any consideration to your personal life goals. Clicking her tongue as the announcement rang through the facilities of INVICTUS, Esfir rolled out of her futon mattress with a sigh that lasted for an eternity. Training was alright, yes, and it was especially fun to meet up with all the new fresh-faced recruits of INVICTUS, to see what they’re made out of and how freakishly old they are behind those perfectly squeezable cheeks of theirs…but these training sessions had been a constant throughout her entire life. Even your favorite food got tiring after five hundred meals, and what she really sought was a form of new, fresh stimuli.

Ah well, it’s just how it is.

The disappointment disappeared from Esfir’s face as she leaped up onto her feet, a fresh smile on her face as she focused on the fun stuff that no doubt would be present instead. The training session would definitely feature Vy-Vy, that super reluctant klutz who was always good for a laugh or two. And she heard from her ‘father’ that they’d have a new friend agent shortly joining them as well, some badass-sounding kiddo from Ireland! Yup, things were definitely looking up at this rate. Despite the multiculturalism of INVICTUS’s agents, the brunette aberrant still hadn’t had the pleasure of getting an Irish ‘little sister’, after all. Plaid was definitely the best plan here, right? Ah…but that’s exactly what she didn’t have.

Another problem, another outfit to obtain for future use, and another shopping trip to look forward to.

Humming a cheery little tune, Esfir slipped out of her pajamas, leapt into her favorite white-with-black-stripes sweater, slinked into a long, plain skirt, and gave herself ten minutes of magical makeup hijinks, before finally tying her hair into a spunky ponytail. Seven out of ten? She winked and grinned to the mirror, and raised her evaluation to ten out of ten. Like Arden always said, self-esteem was the best superpower.

It was an uneventful trip to Simulation Room A-1, broken by a few quick greetings with some friendlies from R&D, but Esfir did get a snicker at watching Vyla fall through a portal down the hallway into the same sim room that she was walking to. Yup, INVICTUS’s janitor-in-training was definitely gonna be there!

An extra skip in her step pulled her through the automatic doors leading to the sim room, where plenty of others were present. Waving at them all, Esfir grinned, looked around, and locked onto her target before more sensible thoughts could restrain her.

“Vy-Vy~!” was the only warning the unfortunate wallflower got before Esfir crossed the distance and leaped onto her back in a full body hug that looked somewhat like a dangerous martial arts technique. Squeezing tightly with both arms and legs, the young girl enjoyed the unique sensation of flesh against jutting bone, before her hands spider-climbed upwards to stretch Vyla’s cheeks like Play-Doh.

“It’s been forever since we’ve hung out, Vyla! Thought you got disposed or something, but here you are again! How’s it going? Got any new missions in your belt? Hooked up with that lightning dude yet? Or wait, no…maybe that senior agent that’s always super hard on you but actually has a soft spot for you in the background?”

Perfectly manicured fingers poked the Conduit’s cheeks as Esfir enjoyed just how doughy it felt.

“Well, well, well? We gotta catch up super fast before someone else pulls you away for janitorial work, right? So hurry up and tell me about allllllllllllllll your romantic escapades, Vy-Vy~!”
 



Sable Elias Mereworth


"Fight me if you wish, but know I am old for a reason."
x
Having not the need for sleep, Sable had been awake all night learning as much as he could about his new agents whom he had never met before, and those who were acquaintances. He wanted to learn all he could to make them not feel so isolated and alone. It usually worked, the past few times he had actually been a part of training anyway, and many new agents would come to him for advice. Of course, it had only been a couple years of being an Agent Handler, so he didn't know if every new agent would appreciate him knowing all of their information, but he doubted they would dislike him knowing their names at least.

This time around there were some interesting new recruits. He knew of some of them, but knew none of them personally. The one he was most interested in was Agent Victory, a Valkyrie who was much older than him. He wasn't exactly surprised to find people older than he was, as he knew plenty of vampires throughout the years, but something about her interested him. He enjoyed talking to those older than him as well.

Before he knew it, the alarm for training was blaring from his pocket. He pulled the smartphone up towards his face, turning off the alarm. He stood, stretching his arms above his head. He was wearing rather casual clothes at the moment, considering he was just in his room. He had been given the documents a few days before to mull over, but did the bulk of the reading tonight. He wasn't in too much of a hurry as he changed into something a bit more professional for the job. He changed into a black button up shirt with a red tie, some black slacks and a pair of very comfortable black moccasin slippers. He had been introduced to them some time ago and practically fell in love with them. He wanted to look at least moderately professional, but not scare any of them away.

He grabbed his notes and documents on the new recruits, and started to make his way down the hall towards the simulation room. It wasn't a terribly long walk for him, and he quite liked walking. He walked past many others he knew, nodding a greeting when he recognized them. It never hurt to be cordial.

Finally reaching the simulation room, Sable stepped inside. It had seemed he was the first one inside, but not for long. Almost as soon as he arrived, others began to file in. One in particular appeared in an orange light. He looked over to the girl, right as she requested a bathroom.

"Agent Conduit. Good of you to join us, Vyla." He had read that she never did very well in training exercises, so he had hoped it hadn't scared her off. It seemed to not totally be the case. He looked to one of the people in line, eyes squinting suspiciously as he mentioned there were no bathrooms around. His voice was familiar. However, he had other matters to attend to.

"What happened to you?" He asked Vyla as he approached her. Esfir was also buzzing around her, babbling about various things. "Agent Alter, please refrain from being too rough, Conduit is ill it seems." He gave Esfir a stern, but obviously not mean look. More a look of a concerned adult.

"Will you be all right, or do you need some water?" He asked Vyla again, turning back to her and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. He was hoping this truly was the side effect of the portal that spit her out, and not just her faking it to get out of training. He didn't like when people tried to get out of training, not because they were being lazy, but because he didn't like when others felt left out. He knew that feeling quite well, and wanted to avoid making others go through it more than necessary.

 
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[spoili]
Martin, Seier, Interrogation Room 76C and Simulation Room A -1
Martin sighed at the young witch as she pulled petty insults seemingly from the ethereum, “My mother always told me that I was special, so I guess what you just said confirms that for me.” he bowed his head, “I am grateful for you assistance.” he said, going along with the young woman's insults rather than taking affront to them. He shook his head once Seier started to verbally attack Jerry, “Look dear, Frank is a very nice human being, and his wife is wonderful. She bakes the most delightful pumpkin pies during Autumn, they melt in your mouth you hear?” he said calmly before he glanced back at his book.

“I’d truly appreciate it if you didn’t threaten me, it makes me rather anxious, and the more you cooperate the quicker you’re out of those restraints.” he said, not looking up from the book as it continued to write itself.

“INVICTUS, right yes!” he called out as he waved to the one-way mirror behind himself, “They’re my boss! Your boss too really.” he turned around and smiled at himself in the mirror, aware that he himself was being evaluated for this and likely would end up with some sort of reprimand over his handling of the interrogation. He looked down to the book before he sighed again and looked up at Seier in front of himself, “No I definitely don’t want to end up like your ’Pa’, but I mean I can’t lie and say that I am a bit curious just what the other dimensions you send things to are like.” he started looking past the girl as he spoke, “I mean the possibilities are seemingly infinite yes? The things you could do in the dimensions are…” he paused and turned his attention back to the girl. He suddenly stood up and slammed his hands on the table.

“CAN YOU DICTATE WHAT’S IN THE DIMENSIONS?” he yelled at the witch.

There was a pause as he straightened himself up, cracked his neck and took a seat again, “Because I mean, that’d be astounding. Imagine the sort of research we could get done in those places, perfect test beds for… For anything. The Big Bang. First Life. Hell, the Creation of God and Satan himself. Would be rather astounding.” he said before straightening out his jacket.



Seier only continued to glare at Martin, even as he suddenly yelled at her- she was no stranger to being yelled at. It took her a moment to come up with a response, and in those moments, Seier’s expression seemed to convey all the dirty words she wanted to call Martin.

“Don’t ye fucken’ yell a’ me, ya goddamn termite! Aye, ah’ve the ability tae dictate what goes in my dimensions. I’ll open one right on yer ‘special’ face! Ah hope yer maw was blind, jus’ lookin’ at ya now makes me sick!” She stuck her tongue out at him.

“And fer tha fucken record, no one is ma’ boss! Ah’ve got ma own drum beat tae follow, ya fuckin bampot. There’s no’ ev’n a reason fer me ta want tae follow this ‘INVICTUS’ shite. Sounds like absolute bollocks tae me.” She grumbled, struggling in her restraints again, tugging at them as hard as she could.

“If ye jus’ gimme ma hat and other personal effects ah’ll be on my way, an’ ah won’t even tear a dimension inta yer ugly arse, Marty-boy.” She hissed his name, narrowing her eyes.



“Okay.” Martin said quietly to Seier. He gathered his book and the papers still strewn about the room he had missed earlier and moved back to the table, “I’ll go grab your hat and let you leave, I’m not really a fan of a new dimension being opened in my face.” he shrugged, “Makes me a bit antsy to be honest.” he shivered in the cold room before moving to the back of Seier’s seat. He knelt down and fiddle with the restraints for a moment before standing back up, “Guess I’ll need to have someone else help you get out of those, can’t use my fingers for shit with these.” he said as he waved his mittened hands in front of the young womans face.

He quickly moved to the door and opened it, stepping back into the hall he would wait until the door had closed behind him to place his book down and remove the hat and mittens putting them back into his pocket. He reshuffled the papers in his book and turned around to face the door. He took a breath, put on his most innocent and unsuspecting face, and walked back in the room.

"So I'm uh... I'm Martin nice to meet you." he said as he reached his free hand out to shake the girls hand, only to remember she was restrained and pull back the hand, “Oh sorry, forgot you’re restrained…” he said as he rubbed the back of his head. He pulled the chair out from the table and took a seat, slamming his book down as he did, the newly arranged papers shooting out of it as he did and spewing themselves all over the table and many onto Seier herself.

“Oh shit! Don’t uh, don’t worry about those!” he said as he gathered only a few from his immediate vicinity and shoved them back into his jacket, “They’re nothing important, just notes and the such.” he said with a smile before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of mittens and a hat, slipping it all back on again, “Cold as shit in here no?” he said to the girl.

“Anyway…” he said as he opened the book, “Welcome to INVICTUS! Congratulations! You’ve got a job now!” he said happily as the book in front of him began to write everything it knew about INVICTUS, “Could you do it in English please?” he asked the book as it wrote.

“Ah so, they’re your new boss, they regiment your life, tell you what to do, what to think, and what to feel. So you, since you’re such a bundle of joy, are really going to love it here. It’ll fit you well.” he said, waiting for the girls response, expecting more obscenities to come his way.



Seier was about to protest his leaving, but Martin walked back in again just as she opened her mouth. She remained quiet, confused by his changed approach, as if he were starting fresh. She raised one eyebrow skeptically, feeling as if Martin might think her stupid.

Seier rolled her eyes and groaned as papers from the book flew out in every direction.

“Is this some weird-ass coping mechanism ye’ve got to help ya deal with shite? Pretend nothin’ at awl jus’ ‘appened?” She frowned again, peeking at the papers that remained outside his reach.

Seier took a slightly shaky breath, the length of time she’d been tied up made her slightly anxious, “Don’t play innocent with me, Marty-boy, ahm naw’ stupid. Ya fuckin space slice,” She grumbled, reading one of the papers as she spoke, “Mother’s Recipe For Chicken And Dumpling Soup…You a mommy’s boy, Marty? I bet yer maw would be appaled a’ how yer treatin’ me, a lady. Dinna she teach ye proper manners, lad?” Seier grinned, and chuckled, “I wonder if yer maw’s proud of what ye’ve done with yerself.” She prodded him with her sharp words, leaning forwards as much as her restraints allowed her to.

“By tha way, ya dinna bring me my fuckin shite. And no, ah donnae think ah’ll enjoy life here, Ah’ve a mind a’ my own, and I’ll not let a group a fuckin’ bawbag shitestains tell me who ah am, what ah’ can think. Ahm not a woman who can be regimented, so pòg mo thòin!” She spat at him, sticking her tongue out defiantly again, curious to see just how far she could push Martin.



Martin stared blankly at Seier, he opened his mouth to speak before closing it again and then staring some more. As he looked at the girl he opened the book in front of him, “Well it’s the funniest thing about my parents.” he said calmly, still staring blankly at the girl, “They’re all dead.” he shrugged and looked down to the book, “Rose Seier, but only the good stuff?” he asked nicely, the book began to write itself in front of him and he smiled.

“It’s actually not like I described it by the way.” he said before shifting his gaze around the room and then back to Seier, “INVICTUS, they don’t actually do everything I just said, aside form telling you where you’ve got to be sometimes. It’s honestly pretty free, and then there’s the whole part about being stuck here unless they let you leave…” he glanced nervously back at the one-way mirror, “And the part where they’ll kill you if you try anything, I mean…” he chuckled nervously to himself, “Dimensions creation is cool an all, a nice party trick, but do you really think these people would have caught you and brought you here if they couldn’t just as easily get rid of you if you become a problem?” he leaned down to look at the book as it wrote, a small smile formed as he read it translate the girls earlier statement about kissing her ass.

“You’re about ten years too young for me sorry.” he said blandly before continuing, “Now don’t get me wrong girl, I uh,” he turned to the glass once more and smiled meekly at his reflection, “I definitely didn’t like it when I was originally brought here, against my will. Drugged and unable to fight back, yeah essentially we were abducted.” he said with a shrug. He scratched his face with a mitted hand and then rested his elbow on the table as he slowly read the text that the book was giving him. “I mean, you can try and escape, try and maybe fight your way out with that attitude of yours, but you’ll just end up dead.” he waved his free mitted hand in the air for dramatic effect as his eyes shifted back to the one-way mirror and to Seier again, “I mean, you know that others like you exist, or at least you’ve got an idea of it. Well here you are, this is where they are too, and unlike you they’re all good little boys and girls that submitted to INVICTUS and will, with only minimal questions, kill you if you decide you’d rather be dead then working here.” he said still reading from the book.

“That is, if you’re even able to use your powers to fight your way out of here?” he asked curiously as he read from the book about the girl, “I mean, if you can it doesn’t seem like you’d have too much of a problem getting past me and the similar lackies, we’d just end up…” he tilted his head back and forth as he read the text in front of him, “Splattered? Much like your mother I guess, in pieces would work better? I’m not sure help me out here?” he asked as he continued, “But the others, well they’d take your odd little powers and shove them so far into Pandora’s Box that you’d be just normal like me.” he shrugged, “Pandora’s Box is real by the way, can show you it one day maybe.”



Seier had been intently listening to Martin until he spoke of her mother. Just the few words he said about her gave her flashbacks of the incident, playing on repeat like a movie in her mind. For a long moment, her expression was glazed, and the remaining trauma from her mother’s death was visible.

Seier let her head hang forward as she opened her mouth to speak again, “Don’ you bring ma maw intae this. Don’t say that word...splatter. Ah’ll fuckin-” Seier stopped herself, her breaths shaky, “You’cn talk ‘bout m’ dad however ye want, but don’t you dare utter a single word about her.” She lifted her head to look at Martin, the fire within them replaced by a mixture of other things.

Sighing, Seier spoke once more, her voice quiet and her words lacking insults, “Ah sure as awl hell don’ wannae be normal. I like- no. I appreciate my ability and what it’s helped me do a few times. Wha’ the hell d’you wannae know about me tha’ yer books don’t tell ya, hm?” Her gaze remained trained on Martin as she awaited a response.



He listened carefully as she spoke, feeling only slightly bad about what he had done. Martin lifted his head off of his hand with a small smile appearing on his face, “I apologize, but when one is as… Uncooperative as you sometimes things get a little dirty.” he closed his book and leaned back in the chair, “Well, the book knows quite a lot, but I just want to know one thing.” he raised both his mitted hands into the air in an over exaggerated questioning motion, “If I let you out of those restraints, you’re not going to splatter me or any of my fellow cohorts across the walls and the ceiling, and beneath things that we can’t reach normally, you know, just really make a mess of us?”

His face tightened a bit and his eyes showed that he didn’t exactly enjoy his job at the moment, “I need to know you’ll be a good little girl like the rest of you special folk, that you’ll, at least at first, give INVICTUS the chance to mold you into something better. To make you something that can ensure no one ever gets deposited on every surface of a room ever again unless you truly intend them to be.” he asked as he brought both his mitted hands together in front of him.



Seier was silent for a long few minutes. She contemplated her choices, finding that the better one was to live and see what INVICTUS had to offer. She disliked that it seemed the organization cared little for her personal opinions or ways of living, but still, the only other option was death apparently.

Finally Seier spoke, “What ah did to my mum...It was an accident. I didn’t know that could happen. Dinnae ‘ave control o’er it at the time. I know how tae use it now, but I awl but refuse tae use tha’ part of my ability. If ya tell me tae be a good little girl one more time, ah might reconsider. You can call me Seier, ya bitty wanker.” She lifted her chin up slightly, staring down her nose at Martin, regaining some of her composure, though the hurt was still in her eyes.

“Just get me outta these fucken’ restraints awlready, ah’ve had tae scratch ma’ nose fer tha last five horrid minutes!” She groaned, struggling in the restraints again as if for emphasis.



Martin smiled and stood as Seier agreed to place nice with INVICTUS for the time being, “Can’t argue with honesty.” he stated before walking around to the chair and easily undoing the restraints on Seier, “Now you can itch whatever you please.” he said before turning to the one-way mirror, “Could someone bring the girl her clothes? She’s agreed to play along for the time being.” he said before he picked up his book and gathered the papers from the room.

With his free hand he turned back to Seier and pointed to the door, “New freedom awaits! Follow me if you’d like to be able to change somewhere without a see through mirror and a camera…” he peered at the mirror again nervously, “Or stay here if that’s your sort of thing.” he pulled the door open and waited for the young woman's response.



Seier scratched her nose and leapt to her feet, standing up as tall as she could...which still wasn’t very tall. She stretched her arms up, and gave Martin a funny look, scrunching her nose up at his last statement.

“Oi, ah’m not that kind of kinky. Fuckin’ pervy old man’s what you are.” She slapped the two-way mirror with an open palm, making a face at whomever might be behind it, “Soory tae dissappoint, shitpouches!” She pushed her nose up with her finger at the two-way before turning to walk out the door past Martin.

She turned to him with a frown, “Hurry tha fuck up an’ get yer shite together, cockwomble! Ah’ve got chicken skin, Marty-boy!” She put her hands on her hips, waiting impatiently.



Martin laughed as she flipped off the crew behind the mirror then quickly composed himself and let go of the door, “Right then pipsqueak, this way is the ladies toilets, there’s a locker room you can change in there, and a nice woman will be meeting you to hand over your shit.” he said as he pointed down the absurdly long hallway of interrogation rooms and began to walk. “Now…” he looked around as they walked as if making sure no one was going to hear him, “You can play the tough game with me all you please, it’s actually a bit enjoyable, but be careful who you mouth off to.” he moved to one side of the hallway as a cart blared its horn and rolled by, “Even though everyone here has agreed to be a nice boy or girl just like you did,” he pointed at the girls face as they walked, “some of them may not uphold their agreement too well.”

He waved to a woman holding a brown paper bag, “Laura, hi!” he said as they approached, “This is Seier, she’s a ball of joy, mind giving her her stuff please?” he asked, “And also shooting her if she tries to escape?” he tacked on to the end.

“Of course.” Laura responded, a thick Eastern European accent gracing her voice as she held the bag out with one hand to Seier and pulled a handgun with the other, keeping it pointed square at the girls chest.



After changing, Seier followed Martin to a training area. She’d been holding her hat by her side the entire time, paranoid that someone else would try to take it. She didn’t trust a single soul in this new place, and she wouldn’t have her most precious possession stolen from her again.

She peeked into the training room curiously, scrunching her nose up at the people she saw inside, “Ahm meant tae get on with these bawbags? It worries me tha’ they’re all so cheerful in this shite-hole.” She spoke, her eyes observing the room and its occupants, almost regretting her decision to live.



The training rooms were ripe with bad memories for Martin, being put up against mythical creatures and ungodly sights as a normal human was more than enough to kill him, thankfully they were all simulations when he went through it. He watched as a few of the new recruits seemed to be getting along well, only to find himself frowning as Seier spoke ill about all of them, “Look Ms. Rose, you don’t have to be friends with any of them. Just….” he shrugged and twirled his still mitted hand in the air, “work together so you don’t die on your first time out of here or something even more depressing.” he asked the girl, almost begging for her to at least try and be nice.

“I’m going to leave you here, drop you on the Agent Handler present, and go back to doing my own thing for a while.” he said nonchalantly, “But uh… If ever you need me for something… Ask someone, they pretty much all know where to find me…” he said as he continued looking at the simulation room, his dread ever growing as he did.

“Any more questions before I leave you here?” he asked.



Seier could easily see how uncomfortable Martin was, and she narrowed her eyes a bit while he spoke. She responded quickly to his last question, “No, now get oot o’ ma’ hair. Go bug some other kidnap candidate.”

She could make no promises on being nice to anyone. In fact, she didn’t really plan on wasting her time with it. She didn’t want to get close to anyone, and she didn’t want anyone getting in her way.

“Go eat a book out, ya fanny. Ah can tell this wee bitty room her makes ya nervous. I dare say I’m readin’ that god-awful expression a’ yers like a book.” She grinned mischievously at Martin before stepping into the room, unsure of what to expect.



“It’s not a hard one to read…” he said as he stepped into the room. Spotting the man he was looking for he would yell in his direction, “Hey! Sable! I got you a new one! She’s a little rough around the edges so be careful with her…” he looked into the room then back to Sable, “Or something.” with that he disappeared out the door and down the hall.
[/spoili]

@FrostedCaramel @Tarieles
 
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[fieldbox="C O N D U I T, #242424, solid, 10"]
Vyla's look of worried disarray a contrast to the blonde-haired man's repressed smiles as he broke the news to her there wasn't any bathrooms around. Shit. Major suck. Like, no nearby bathrooms? Who even designed this place, anyway? Wasn't it natural needing to pee after being in one of those simulations? It couldn't have just been her.

The room continuing to spin, Vyla genuinely wasn't feeling too great, and neither was her stomach. Putting a clenched fist to her mouth for a moment, whatever that 'Portal' guy's powers were sure as hell needed some tweaking in this regard.


"Oh, c-crud... I think I'm gonna--" before she could finish her statement, however, the metal mop loosely held in her hands cluttered to the floor as Vyla toppled over forwards like a bowling ball, knocked clean over by some unseen force, "--waauugh?!!"

Managing to catch herself from falling on her front with her hands by some miracle, from the pace of the breaths going down her neck, and by the dreaded, signature 'Vy-Vy' nickname, she could instantly recognize her attacker as the upbeat little demon, 'ALTER'. Or, as Vyla and most others just called her, Es.

Talking to Es was sometimes actually pretty nice in a weird way, even if the black-haired girl usually did the most of the talking (and questioning). In fact, for some reason, Vyla had always found herself acting more peppy for the rest of the day after talking to her for a long period of time. Other times, though, it was like this. Focusing back on the situation of being in a wobbly, push-up position with a human-y sort of thing on her back, Vyla's face was one of low to medium key despair as she thought of what to do next.

Knowing that the situation would be infinitely worse if Esfir managed to get her pinned to the ground, Vyla did her best to some sort of maneuver from her press-up position back onto her feet, as - thankfully - the girl clinging on her shoulders wasn't particularly heavy. Somehow managing to pull off the move with a huge wheeze, Vyla was already sweating a little from the first bit of physical exertion as she uselessly tried to tug at the hands gripping around her.

"O-ow, oh... heya, Es...! Yeah, sorry, my handlers haven't really been giving me a break recently--" trying to get spluttered words out inbetween the girl's incomprehensible blabbering. Her words cutting off, however, Vyla squirmed a little as she noticed pairs of fingers - snapping like a crab's claws - honing in straight for her pale cheeks.

"Wait, n-no...! Not the face-- aaoowch!"


Not really strong enough and too dizzy to do anything about the girl practically swinging off her, Conduit just accepted her fate, pretty much ready to get finished off at any point. Giving the occasional wheeze of pain, Vyla supposed this was 'karma' for her trying to skip out on training earlier. She certainly wasn't going to try and pull that again. To most of Esfir's questions, she just gave a hurried 'nuh-uh', but it was the question about her slaphead of a handler Esfir somehow knew about that really seemed to put her on edge.
"Es! C'mon, don't be creephhy, that dude'sh, like, forrtshy-- oww...!" Having trouble getting words out properly due to her cheeks being stretched to new limits, the barrage of questions just didn't seem to stop there.

"U-um... esca...pades...?!" Vyla began to sweat a little. She already knew she was going to answer honestly, but that meant Es was going to one of those 'piledriver' things on her again. For some reason, the little monster never seemed to stop asking questions like that. Either Esfir already knew about how much of a hopeless romantic she was and was just rubbing it in, or she actually mistaken her for a somewhat successful human being.

"L-look, Es--" her eye twitching and her face flinching as her face began to get repeatedly jabbed by colourful fingernails, it was unclear if the red marks on her cheeks were blush marks or stretch marks at this point, "--You know I'm not good at - ow! - that sort of of stuff! Gah! Come on, you can beat me up when we s-spar... I'll even smuggle you my pudding again?!"

Suddenly, however, a voice broke Vyla out of her panic for a moment. Whoever it was called her straight by her 'code name', which she was still getting used to replying to. It was a nice voice, which was really strange. She'd never heard one of her 'instructors' have a voice that didn't actually fill her whole body with dread. Looking up for the source of the voice, she found a face that - perhaps it was just her imagination - seemed genuinely worried about her.

It looked like she'd lucked out on trainers today, because she hadn't had this guy yet, and he seemed ten times more chill than the most chill (but still strict) woman she'd had train her a few weeks ago, which equated to super chill. Once Esfir had finally managed to calm herself down to some degree, a thankful smile and a look that actually seemed somewhat comforted came from Vyla thanks to the senior agent's efforts to try and calm her down.

"Just some water's fine. Thanks, dude - I mean, Sir," Vyla corrected herself hurriedly. Getting back into a proper standing position if Esfir actually decided to release her, Vyla scratched the back of her scalp as she tried to explain herself, "Sorry. I... um... I got kinda lost. Like, I knew where I was going! Sort of. But I just needed a little tug in the right direction. A teleport-y... tug, I guess? But, u-uh, never mind that," Vyla cut off, giving a quiet, half-nervous chuckle. "Erm... what sort of stuff are we gonna be doing today? This isn't usual schedule, right?"


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[bg=#000000][fieldbox="Jasper Lin, #bfbfbf, solid, 4, Courier New"]The corridor was dim and foreboding, its interior silence broken only by the faint echo of shoes striking hard concrete. Silhouetted against the weak light emanating from the entrance behind him, a single figure advanced steadily through the gloom. Piles of rubble and broken machinery littered the darkened passageway at irregular intervals, forcing the agent to maneuver his way carefully around them. Some fifty meters ahead of him, the corridor split in two, one hallway leading off to either side.

Around ten meters away from the junction, Jasper slowed his pace. The agent's footsteps were virtually silent as he drew his handgun and approached the corner in a slight crouch, sticking closely to the left wall. Entering the intersection, he quickly checked left, then right, and instantly sighted a gaunt, lanky form lunging at him from the shadows of the right-side tunnel. The INVICTUS agent stepped back, narrowly evading a vicious swipe from one of the being's clawed arms, and fired a pair of silver-jacketed 9mm rounds directly into its snarling face.

While the corpse toppled backward and crumbled into ash, a soft scuffling above and behind him prompted Jasper to instinctively dive forward. Claws scraped against stone as he effortlessly rolled into a crouch and whipped around, firing twice more to dispatch the creature that had dropped down into the space he'd occupied mere moments before.

The agent calmly stood, his eyes shifting back and forth as he scanned his immediate surroundings for additional threats. Another gunshot rang out, eliminating a third entity before it could leap at him. A rising chorus of inhuman wailing and groaning from the left-hand corridor heralded the approach of more such creatures, and Jasper unhesitatingly turned to sprint down the hallway on his right.

A string of muzzle flashes illuminated the otherwise pitch-black passageway as he opened fire on beings lurking in the darkness ahead. Their disintegrating bodies tumbled down lifelessly around him, attesting to the agent's accuracy even as he dashed further into the complex. Vaulting over a low, half-destroyed wall, he paused to slam a fresh magazine into his pistol, then turned to face the crowd of gibbering monsters barreling toward him.

Several magazines and many reverberating gunshots later, the corridor finally went silent. Jasper exhaled slowly, lowering his weapon, then turned and continued on his way. Heaping mounds of grey ash were strewn about the area, forming a rough semicircle on the floor around his makeshift barricade.

Before he could get very far, a deafening roar echoed throughout the tunnels, and the wall directly to his right suddenly erupted into a shower of rubble. The INVICTUS agent leaped back, avoiding the debris, as a massive, hunchbacked humanoid burst into the hallway. The creature's grotesquely musclebound shoulders scraped against the ceiling, forcing it to hunker down in order to move through the narrow corridor. Its left hand clutched a twisted steel girder, stained orange-brown by what could have plausibly been either rust or blood.

Jasper reacted in the manner that any sensible person would - he turned and ran. The ponderous woosh of a very heavy object sweeping through the air directly behind him proved this decision to be the correct one, as the towering being swung its girder horizontally, but only succeeded in smashing another hole in the wall. Having temporarily outdistanced the monster's melee attacks, he turned and raised his gun, discharging five rounds in rapid succession. The pistol's slide locked back; empty.

Three of the bullets simply ricocheted off the creature's skull, lacking the sheer penetrative power to pierce through its incredibly thick cranium. It somehow managed to deflect a fourth with the metal girder as it brought the weapon back around for another swing. The fifth round lodged itself deep in the being's right eye, bursting said organ with a violent, squelching pop. It clutched at the bloody socket with its free hand and roared in a combination of fury and pain.

Jasper ignored the injured monster's wrathful bellowing and stalked forward, ejecting the spent magazine before stowing his handgun in its holster. He ducked under another clumsy girder swing, then reached back with his left hand and pulled out a combat knife. Circling around to the right, he suddenly darted in, leaped, and buried his blade in the creature's gaping eye socket, the hilt protruding from between its brutish fingers.

The agent released his hold on the knife and kicked off the being's chest, launching himself out of reach even as it went into a blind rage and started violently smashing everything around it. He landed on his feet and swiftly continued moving in the opposite direction, simultaneously drawing and reloading his firearm. After widening the gap between him and his opponent by another ten or so meters, Jasper pivoted, lined up his shot, and fired thrice.

The monster staggered momentarily as all three projectiles accurately struck the hilt of the knife lodged in its right eye, hammering the blade deep into its brain. Following a long pause, the entity toppled backward with a thunderous crash, twitched a few times, then lay still. Jasper lowered the pistol, straightened his coat, and resumed walking. He leaned down in passing to yank his knife out of the creature's head.

Thirty meters down, the passageway took a 90° turn to the left. Silently approaching the corner, Jasper stuck to the left wall, then narrowed his eyes as he heard a noise up ahead. A shape emerged from the shadowy tunnel before him, and he promptly trained his gun on the terrifying figure of...

...A small, brown-and-white Jack Russell terrier, wagging its tail as it peered inquisitively up at him. Jasper's lips twitched slightly as he lowered his weapon and stepped around the corner. The agent had just started down the corridor when a plaintive whine halted him in his tracks, and he turned to find the dog staring at him pleadingly, its tail drooping.

Jasper sighed.


"Alright, shut it off," he called out exasperatedly. The senior agent holstered his firearm and walked over to the dog, scratching its ears as the world dissolved around him. Seconds later, he was standing in the middle of a vast, empty room. The automatic doors on the opposite wall opened to admit a grinning agent wearing a lab coat, who sauntered over to greet him.

"You know, Carson," Jasper said as the three of them moved toward the exit, "I'm pretty sure there's some kind of rule against bringing animals into the simulation rooms. Leaving your pet dog in the middle of a Strigoi hive? Really?"

"Oh come on, she gets so bored staying cooped up in my quarters. Besides, you know I won't let her get injured or anything."

"Well, don't blame me if you start getting complaints from Administration. We're supposed to be setting an example for the others, after all."

"Nah, they won't find out. Probably. Anyway, looks like I'll have to really crank up the difficulty settings next time. A whole nest of Strigoi plus a cave troll couldn't even slow you down? How come they didn't stick you in Defense?"

"I asked them not to," he replied. "And it probably would've been more challenging if your dog hadn't interrupted us. If memory serves correctly, this scenario was supposed to include at least one Greater Vampire."

"Ahaha, well, as a wise man once said, things happen."

"Is that your idea of a profound aphorism? 'Things happen'?"

"It's actually supposed to be 'shit f**king happens,' but I went with the family-friendly version. My old handler used to say it all the time, it was like his personal catchphrase."

"..."

After bidding Agent Carson and his dog farewell, Jasper exited Simulation Room D-3 and started the trip back to his residence. Walking past the hallway leading to the A-series rooms, he noted a number of people filing into A-1 and recalled the message he'd received earlier, about new recruits having their training. That didn't particularly involve him, though, and so the senior agent simply continued on his way, offering perfunctory (yet polite) greetings to those in passing.
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[fieldbox="Venn Charles - INDIE, #242424, solid, 10"]
taktaktaktak. Yoing. Ping!
Message Sent.

Venn let out a deep and agitated sigh as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket. Over the last couple weeks, his phone had been blown up with messages nonstop. Every time he looked down, there were at least thirty new messages, missed calls and voice mails. The more he ignored it, the worse it got. And the more he felt like just throwing his phone at a fucking wall. Almost as soon as his phone hit the bottom of his pocket, it buzzed back to life.

"God fucking dammit..." he growled and fished it out of his pocket once more. He read over the message and then noticed the small sad icon in the corner of his phone. The battery was at the last one percent and was glowing dangerously red. Oh thank whatever god was paying attention to him right then. All he had to do was mess around on the phone until it died. He opened as many apps as he could and then went back to the text to give one final response.

<fuck you>
Message Sent.


Just after the screen returned to it's normal state, the phone screen went black, completely dead now. He tapped on the screen, then tried the button on the side. Nope, definitely dead. Venn felt like there was some kind of weight lifted off his shoulders. He wasn't obligated to respond now, and the constant alerts of messages would cease for the time being. He wagged the phone in between his thumb and a curled index finger as he began walking down the halls toward the R&D department. There was a few adjustments to his gloves that he wanted to discuss with someone there. One of them had torn during a mission, and he needed them repaired before he went onto the next.

On his way though, he felt the phone slip from his hand, making him stop in his tracks. He looked over to see a woman maybe a few inches shorter than him with light brown hair and bright blue eyes smiling at him. She waved his phone at him and let out a small giggle. "Need a charge?"

Now Venn didn't really care to get to know too many people, but for some reason, they liked to try and get to know him. "No." he muttered flatly and tried to swipe his phone from her. What was her name again? Grace or some shit like that?

"Haha, what? You afraid I'm going to break into your phone?" She pulled her hand away and spun. As soon as her back was to him, she placed her finger over the charge port and the phone sparked to life. Grace hummed sweetly and then spun back to face Venn, now finding she was nearly face to face with him. Venn had to stop abruptly in order to not run into her. Pink crossed his cheeks and betrayed the irritated expression on his face. Grace smiled up at him and handed him back his now fully charged phone. "Here you go~"

Venn hissed as he snatched his phone back from her and checked over it. "Dammit..." As soon as his phone turned back on, he found he has at least a dozen messages. He narrowed his eyes on the woman and snarled at her before continuing onto the R&D lab.​
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Angela C. Lovelace
R&D Division

She had the run of the whole place, as usual. No need to sleep, and no real issues getting anywhere, when you're just data lurking on the networks. She was aware of the status of the facility and the planned mandatory training for the newer recruits, plus some entrance interview for someone they picked up fresh from somewhere. Where was it again?

Angela accessed the records of that particular op. Scotland, that's right. Seems like their latest recruit was the cause of some sort of incident, which put her on INVICTUS' radar. Voyeur that she tended to be, Angela glanced through the camera feeds in Interrogation Room 76C for a moment, long enough to get a good look at the captive witch, before moving on. Better leave it to the agents assigned to the task, than risk any trouble. Can't just try and know everything, either she thought. That's probably someone else's job and way above your pay grade.

Angela moved on and decided to focus most of her attention on R&D. Probably best to just hang out there for a while, catch up on things. She did have them working on putting that body of hers together anyway. It did make getting around a lot easier, whens she had to go pretty much anywhere off base to do part of her job. She'd drifted away from R&D proper over the years, but she still knew most of the members well enough.

A hologram of a woman with silver hair and eyes, dressed in a lab coat, plain blouse, and slacks projected itself into Dr. Baumann's lab. "What's up, Doctor Dinosaur," Angela asked the man through the room's PA system. It wasn't...quite the same as with more direct comms, but it'd do the trick. "Got anything interesting in the works today?" Like a ghost, she floated through the room to hover behind the head of R&D's Science division, and look over his shoulder. Not that she actually saw anything with those eyes, but it did tend to help when she pretended to pay attention to things.
 
DOCTOR BAUMANN​
Once more, Draeger through himself into his latest pet project: finding a proper assistant. For the last twenty years of working at the Texas Branch of Invictus, he found himself finding himself short on agents that’d aid him in his own research while helping him maintain his workload as a supervisor. Some rose to the challenge, but decided to move on from the department. Others, well, the shortest amount of time he had an agent was around two hours. It was bad timing, really. Unfortunate for the agent to come into the job when Draeger was under the weather. He wondered if she was able to overcome the traumatic experience.

Hopefully.

With a stroke of his fingers, another internal request for an assistant was sent over to HR just as a guest arrived in his room. Projecting itself was none other than █████-███-████-2B, or, as it likes to call herself, Angela. Her voice chimed through the speakers above his office space, causing him to smile from ear to ear. It’s been awhile since the AGI visited him, wondering what prompted her to appear. Though, the human quirks she developed should’ve gave him a clue. No matter the reason, he greeted his company with a warm smile. Crossing his arms, Draeger tilted his head up to look up to catch Angela peering over him from behind.

Hey Angela,” a toothy grin spread across his face as he addressed the AGI. The hood of the dinosaur onesie slipped off his head, revealing messy, black hair. “Let’s see...” Draeger straightened himself as he looked forward, hands moving towards the keyboard. Quickly sweeping across the keys, the supervisor looked up his prime directives for today. Inky black eyes scanned the page until he fell on his current time. “... there we are. Today, I’m going to try and find the bugs in the latest telepad update. It hasn’t properly been working since the last update. Besides that, I need to set up a sweep to find the whereabouts of escaped spider robots.

Draeger quickly clicked out of the window and moved on to something different. Bringing up another file on screen, Angela’s image appeared along with a timetable and several document windows. “Did you stop by to check out your updates on your body today? Or, did you just want to visit me?” he beamed.
 
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[fieldbox="Victory, #242424, solid, 10"]

They say that you grant wishes around the holiday of Christmas, similar to a djinn I suppose. Perhaps you can assist me. I am looking for an escape from this place, to return to my rightful place in Valhalla and once again guide hero’s souls to the never ending banquet hall. If you would grant me travel from this place to one of my sisters, I would be glad to repay you in the payment I have been told you prefer. Milk and cookies. Good tidings and safe travels, Santa Claus.

Sig gingerly set down the pen and gazed at the parchment in front of her, nodding to herself as she read through it once more. This Santa Claus would have to help her escape in due time. He certainly wasn’t a figure that she had ever heard of, but if the rumors of his powers were true it was possible that she would be back in Valhalla soon. She flexed her fingers and settled back in the chair she sat in, relishing in the peaceful atmosphere of her empty quarters. A morning off had allowed her to clear her thoughts and once again contemplate her plan of escape. She knew that she had to report to training soon in the simulation room, a part of her day that she always looked forward to, and felt herself stand up with a stretch.

With a hum to herself, she put her hands on her hips and looked around her quarters. She didn’t need to take anything so she simply changed from her mortal form to her Valkyrie form. It was pleasant to feel the familiar feeling of her wings’ weight as she began to tie back her pale golden hair into a tight braid with the thick cord she kept around her wrist. Her hands fiddled with the red sash around her waist after she knocked on the door to her quarters, waiting for someone to open it up. A guard was waiting outside, as per usual, to escort her to the simulation room. She hoped that she would get a few more liberties once she became a higher ranked agent.

“You’re going to be late.” The guard stated dryly as she fell into step beside him. Sig gave him a blank look but didn’t reply. Used to her behavior, the man shook his head and continued walking forward in silence. Her metal and leather boots clanked noisily against the floor, the wings at the top of her ornate footwear brushing against her knees every few steps. The outfit, although not always the most comfortable, brought a sense of familiarity with it. She was comforted by the sound as they hurried down the hallways. “And here we are.”

“Thank you.” Sig replied before stepping into the simulation room. She realized that this was going to be a very interesting training session the moment she arrived, due to the fact that one of the agents was hanging off of the other one while questioning about her ‘escapades’. Sig edged toward the edge of the group and looked curiously at the events transpiring. It was interesting to see the bonds that mortals had, as they were not that unlike the bonds she had with her sisters.

“Perhaps there is an upcoming mission that requires us to be able to face a certain situation, and this is simply preparation for it.” Sig offered, stepping closer to the group of fellow rookies and placing her hands behind her back. She tried to keep her stance casual and friendly, but her limbs remained stiff as she gazed at each of them. Even after being stuck here on Earth for three years at this agency, she still found it difficult to socialize properly with the mortals here. Being from another realm made it hard for her to try and relate to those around her, as much as she may try.
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“Eh? She’s sick? You sure Vy-Vy isn’t just trying to bamboozle you here, sir?”

Still, if one of her best buds was sick, and was forced to do janitorial hijinks instead of properly resting, Esfir was definitely gonna have to talk to people, huh? Even if Vy-vy looking as pale as snow with drooping eyes that belied an existential weariness was the newbie agent’s natural state of appearance, it wouldn’t do for her to just drop dead from some roughhousing, right. Leaping off her back after having a finally invigorating rub of the paler woman’s face, the brunette took a step back to marvel at her handiwork. It wasn’t as good as actually applying blush, but it’d do for now. Some warmth was in Vy-Vy’s cheeks now, and giving her a wink and two thumbs up, the brunette said, “Don’t worry, Vy-Vy, we all know that age is just a number here. Not like we don’t have some couples here with even crazier age differences, right?”

Before she could start up another array of questions regarding the possibly non-existent romance life of Vyla, however, another presence popped up, the ever celestial Sigfrida who bore the super duper confidence-boosting call sign of ‘Victory’. Two years and a couple months her senior, the blonde Valkyrie was one of those that Esfir actively restrained herself from molesting being friendly with. After all, the crazy bitch could lift cars and fly and all that, while Esfir…didn’t want to be tossed through three walls again. Maybe in the future, but not today.

“Geh,” she went instead, “We’re discussing the simulation already? I’m sure they’ll explain everything when it finally happens, yah know? Gotta use our free time better than that, Si-ri~ Like…”

A random topic. Any topic. The light bulb in her hypothetical brain lit up, and she snapped her fingers, heterochromatic eyes sparkling.

“Fashion~! I know Vy-Vy’s basically an ultra slacker when it comes to clothing, something about how sweaters and sweatpants are enough for the world, but what about you, Si-ri? All I ever see is you in your battle armor anyways. You’re a Valkyrie, right? Got some divine casual clothing as well? Or is it all just white togas and all that jazz?”
 
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[fieldbox="Wu Huiyin, #242424, solid, 10"]
Two legs the size of sequoia trees were planted in the ground, the feet of the colossus imprinted upon a surface of chrome. Obscene layers of hair grew from the tips of its toes as if weeds and ferns that extended rampant over the mass of the beast’s adipose belly, of which protruded as far as the creature was tall. Its arms were short, almost vestigial, but the trunk of its elephantine head swung wildly in arcs that covered the majority of the room.

It was terrifying, it was awe-inspiring, it was behemoth, and it was a poor subversion of what the simulation rooms were meant for.

Wu Huiyin understood this. Typically, the simulations covered scenarios, forcing the agents to walk in corridors of pitch-black, traverse in fields of perfect silence. Some of the scenarios, for most of their duration, would betray nothing at all, would throw nothing in one’s path, until suddenly the horror emerged. Other scenarios would dispense hordes of routine adversaries, so easily dispatched that one fell into a lull, before unleashing the final threat at breakneck velocity. What Crane was doing was, in terms of game theory, ignoring the mobs to combat the boss, unmolested - in defiance of the game’s spirit.

Still, he had to know if he could win.

The behemoth’s trunk lashed at him, making a heavy crack as it broke the air in all its velocity - in a real-time scenario, being struck would mean being bisected. Dead before the fight had even really begun.

The yao-guai centered himself, feeling the ‘Sphere of Harmony’ ripple from within him, ambient shimmering energy brought to bear in an ethereal burst. Within the sphere, there was control; fifteen feet up, fifteen down, left and right, diagonal, he’d be able to dictate the rules of gravity and motion.

He felt the thrum of his subconscious as the trunk entered the confines of the sphere. From here, he had options.

Some were bad. He could accelerate his own pace in an attempt to dodge, lessening the burdens of gravity and friction - but the effects of the sphere would carry over to the trunk as well. If anything, he’d only be killing himself quicker.

Some were more palatable. He could do the opposite, and slow everything to a crawl. He’d take the hit, but robbed of momentum and velocity, even the behemoth’s blow would do precious little.

But even that avenue was a failing option - he’d be bereft of the speed necessary to mount his own offensive. A zero-sum game.

The fighter’s instinct led him to take the immediate third option. His power allowed him to bend the rules in more intricate ways, nothing overtly selective, but just specific enough to be useful - he’d reduce downward pressure, but increase sideways pressure, benefiting himself while hindering the adversary in order to...

He leapt upwards, kicking out at the ground, and obtained a sort of wuxia-esque faux flight, liberated from gravity. The trunk of the behemoth swung harmlessly beneath his feet, at noticeably slower pace. Even still, it crashed into the side of the room with a deafening cacophony.

He watched as the momentum of the behemoth’s appendage forced the colossus’ neck to follow, and then its body, turned a near full one-hundred-and-eighty degrees. Perfect.

Huiyin altered the sphere once more, and kicked his feet off against the back-wall, propelling himself forward as if a missile. He bared fangs and claws alike, grinning with the glee of promised, destined victory.

Then, he realized his mistake.

He had but an instant to curse his folly. The momentum of the swing had continued to push the behemoth’s form, past the one-eighty degree threshold.

A full rotation.

The simulation blissfully dulled the impact of the trunk slamming against Huiyin’s side.


The wolfish yao-guai limped into Research and Development, bruised and smarting from his ails within the simulacrum. He caught the sight of the psychic, Venn, with phone in hand, and procured his own, flashing the screen, as he nodded to him.

“It need fix.” He said in a sheepish tone, an irony in and of itself. “No way behemoth simulation low-level.”

The phone screen was shattered from where the simulation had struck, fracturing the image of a scantily clad swimwear model.​
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