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 Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 12:37 am
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"That is true," Mark stroked his chin stubble at Lucky's comment, and slowly turned to look at Gale. "On a scale of one to ten, how difficult would it be for you to like, oh, I dunno, retrieve a weapon from a base with your weapons disabled, make it past potentially four security vaults, an elevator three hundred floors underground and past around oh, probably several hundred runic armed guards in their heaviest guarded location?"
The Death Assistant waved at Rep as he came in. "Hey bro, Lucky's girlfriend wants us to trade what she calls the 'Grail Fragments'," he used quote fingers, "for you-know-who's weapon."
He glanced at Carl, who had just finished batting away Gale's flashlight flickers like a small cat in a corner of shame. "Hey Lucky, how about we just trade you-"
- "God," said a voice from the open doorway, as another Hunter stood there. It seemed like it was becoming a full out party now. It was that tattooed Hunter that Rep and Gale probably recognized, an obvious O tattoo around his neck, and he had for some reason in his hands a box of Costco chips.
"Rogue one, did you even tell them about the whole zero doomsday thing?" The new arrival began to fish out random chip flavours, passing a Ketchup flavour to Gale, Doritos for Mark, Salt and Vinegar for Rep, Original for Carl, and All-Dressed for Lucky. The only one remaining, Sour Cream and Onion, he kept for himself, eating some while waiting.
"Ix-nay on the doomsday-ay," shushed Mark, who suddenly went very still. There was a good five seconds worth of silence before he finally blurted, "okay, fine, they're planning to hivemind everyone's brains in the freaking world to create a second grail and we had an artifact to stop it but he also has it."
He pointed at Carl. Carl was beginning to look a little insulted now, and folded his arms. "I don't see how this is my fault."
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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 4:12 am
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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 8:01 pm
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This time the look that Gale gave Lucky was truly inspired by six years worth of being underneath Caelius in the Deus Ex Machina Death Division. It was swiveled in Mark's direction as well, mostly because Mark was asking stupid questions again and it was probably less messy than throttling the pair of them. Well, trio of them, Rep included, though Rep hadn't - for once - been the one to say something idiotic.
"About as difficult as keeping Lucky from volunteering ridiculous plans," said Gale. "You can't seriously think - "
But the hunter from before was there, and Gale stopped in his flashlighting to eye him suspiciously. He automatically caught the bag thrown to him, squinting at it, and decided maybe it wouldn't be that bad to have some food while attempting to save the free world.
Or something.
"We absolutely cannot trade the grail fragments, not when they're incredibly powerful," Gale muttered, perching on the edge of the desk, and giving Carl a glance. "As for my specialization - " Another look was given to Lucky. "Yes, it's artifact retrieval, but if I'm going, the rest of you are going as well. It would take more than just me to get past everything."
He had eaten approximately three and a half chips before the full meaning of what Mark and the tattooed hunter had said sunk in. Gale slowly turned his head towards Mark.
"That....and that's just something you all were going to keep to yourselves?" He said, sounding horrified. Gale's eyes flickered in Rep's direction.
"Attached what thing to what, exactly?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 10:38 pm
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"She's not my girlfriend," Lucky repeated for the tenth time, burying his face in his hands and phone. He set the bag of chips aside on Carl's desk. All this talk of a zombie apocalypse had killed his appetite.
"Who are y- wait, what? They're what?" Lucky didn't even get a chance to question the newcomer's identity. The little secret Mark was keeping from them ratcheted Lucky's panic level to about an 11. "Oh, no. Oh no. So - so does he have the artifact or not? Because we really need it."
"They're not ridiculous, they're practical, Gale. It's not like you - we - have to go there. We could always just, you know... do nothing." Lucky looked Carl over again, and shrugged. "He'll be mostly right in, what, 20 years? I can wait. I'd rather everyone be at a stalemate than dead. Or zombies. Or whatever."
"Anyway, Rep said this was all his fault, so maybe he can explain what happened." He gestured to Rep. The ensuing uncomfortable silence as he finally shut up at least helped him wind down from 'completely frantic' to a more manageable 'on edge'. Lucky glanced down again, and pointed to his phone, open to the brief conversation between him and 'Sam'. "Also, uh... what am I supposed to tell her?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:01 pm
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"Don't look at me," said chips-giving Hunter, "I'm just here to tell you the obvious." He crossed his arms as well and leaned against the wall. "And also to make sure there is a tomorrow, because I don't know about you, but brainless zombie juice minion wasn't on my agenda for next week."
"Dude," Mark chipped in, "I'm with Lucky on the waiting thing. The thing is-"
-"they don't need the Grail fragments to start the brain juice process," chips-Hunter interrupted.
Mark glared at him. "Yes, and-"
-"even if you wanted to trade off the grail fragments, only you know who knows where they are."
The Death assistant sighed. "Sure let's just tell them everything. I mean, it's not like Lucky won't just blather it all to his girlfriend or anything." Mark wasn't convinced about Lucky's denial on the whole subject matter, because if there was one thing that could make a bro talk, it was probably a ho. "Look Gale, we're not, like, uh, technically keeping anything to ourselves unless you mean saving the world on a regular basis is a daily report sort of thing." He scratched his head. "Or worlds. I mean, the saving the world part is usually just the aftermath of the collect all the everything part. And like, if you want to put it that way, you probably saved someone or another just from touching something yourself." Or Gale could have made it infinitely worse. "But don't touch anything okay?"
There was a deep sigh, where Mark was trying his best to think. "Okay, how about this. Lucky, text Sam," the O-tattooed Hunter looked sharply at Mark - "Charlotte, something like 'let's do the trade'."
"Hang on," said Mark's accomplice, who closed the door again, and then put on a pair of extremely hi-tech sunglasses. "Safe."
"You still owe me five hundred for those," the Death Assistant interrupted and then continued, "Yeah Lucky, text Charlotte the okay, and get a location. Then you, and just you, are going to meet up with her. Gale and Rep are going to sneak in and find the weapon, with my help, and while that's happening you're going to like have mad sex with Charlotte okay, keep her distracted. Sell your body for the world. Anyway after that, we'll all meet up and mission accomplished."
The O-Hunter didn't think this was going to work either, but it seemed at least he was entertained. "Here Lucky, you can have these."
He threw him a box of runic condoms.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:20 am
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The plan put forward was pretty ridiculous but so were most things that happened on Deus anyway, it wasn't exactly exceptional, their options were narrow and few, with next to no chance of success. O seemed to have almost boundless resources while Deus could hardly afford decent non shitty food in the cafeteria or decent dorms.
He ate his crisps, trying to avoid further comments until he was directly asked by Gale and Lucky to explain what happened.
"Sorry, I meant attacked..." he said, and was about to explain further when Mark made the good point that Lucky might just tell his evil girlfriend about it, he didn't know how far the attachment went, but people did weird s**t for love and even in spite of the protests maybe he was into the evil b***h. "..er" he cut himself off hesitantly.
The plan proposed sounded just as much like suicide as anything else, but there was a pretty major flaw.
"Mark I don't think Lucky's ever shagged anyone ever, do we really want to put the wellbeing of the world on the shoulders of a nerdy virgin? I mean, no offence intended man but you are hardly a James Bond"
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 2:45 pm
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For some reason, the words Lucky and practical were two things that did not go together inside of Gale's head.
"You should have told us everything from the beginning," he said, with a glower at Mark and his companion. "Setting Lucky's girlfriend aside, we're now in a bloody mess of a situation, and it's at least forty percent your fault. Maybe thirty, I'm still debating how much Lucky is to blame," he added in a mutter.
The comment about not touching anything made his cheeks dust pink, Gale opening his mouth on a protest of outrage that was going to be, in all honesty, a flat out lie, but he was saved the trouble of that with Mark's...plan.
Plan, with a capital P, because Gale was still trying to figure it out. He ate another few chips, frowning, then said,
"I'm with Rep. Er, about the shagging bit. Are we sure Lucky can handle this?"
Pot calling the kettle black.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:07 pm
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Lucky had finally stopped talking, for once.
Instead, he just stood there in an uncomfortable silence, staring down everyone who spoke in turn, before loudly dropping the box of runic condoms onto the desk beside his chips.
"Yeah. Ha ha, very funny. Should I leave?" he finally snapped at Mark and his new friend. The 'plan' was obviously a joke, at his expense. Why had he expected any of them to take him seriously? He almost missed the old Caelius - almost. At least he had trusted Lucky a modicum more than everyone else here with real mission work and intel, even if it was on penalty of, well, death. "You can all probably fix Carl faster if you don't have to keep hiding everything from Gale and Rep."
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:32 pm
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Silence, and then a low whistle from the new arrival. "Brutal."
"Wait, why are you leaving?" Mark seriously Did Not Get it and was feeling a little brotrayed himself, "I'm serious, you're literally our only hope Lucky. Did our time together almost having a sexy threesome mean nothing, I mean like, I trust you, man." He didn't. "I trust you to do the right thing," he corrected, "and that would be to stick to the plan. Our plan. The plan we made together."
Mark was oddly enough guarding the closed doorway, making it impossible for Lucky or anyone else to actually leave. "Besides, as I keep on saying, we did tell you guys. Or he did." He pointed to Carl.
There was a brief flashback.
"We're going on a mission and don't ******** up," said flashback Caelius, about a week ago, on some important mission infiltrating some Ourboros base or another.
"Look, I definitely remember the exact mission where he told you everything", Mark said, who was thinking about the exact flashback mentioned. "Can we just like, get back to the mission plan unless someone has a better idea?"
"Um," suddenly supplied Carl, who put up his hand like this was some classroom. He waited, and when it seemed like nobody else wanted to talk, finally said something. "I don't think Lucky should go either. He looks very, very sick, his insides, I mean."
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 12:25 am
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 2:05 pm
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"Try and leave and I will shoot you," Gale snarled at Lucky. He pointed the flashlight accusingly at Mark and his snack-eating accomplice. "And he's right, this would go a lot better if you lot would just stop hiding things from us. Admittedly, it's not a terrible plan, minus the whole sex thing - " He managed to say it with only a slight flush to his cheeks, thankfully. " - but come up with something plausible, and we'd do better altogether."
Gale's gaze - and the flashlight - swung around to Carl as he spoke, eyes narrowing.
"What does that mean, exactly?" he asked suspiciously, echoing Rep's question. " 'Sick inside?' "
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 3:15 pm
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Lucky folded his arms at Mark and Gale but stayed right where he was.
"Okay, okay, I'll stay. But I share Gale's, uh, concerns about the plan. Like, is there anything else I could possibly do to distract Charlotte that doesn't involve -" He ruefully pointed at the box Mark's friend had generously donated to the cause. "Those?"
He was still thinking about leaving, just in case Mark really was adamant that he 'sell his body for the world'. But between Mark standing right in front of the door while he talked, and Gale threatening to shoot him in the back, he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, it seemed.
"Right, well, the only thing I distinctly remember was being told not to ******** with Charlotte -" Lucky hurriedly began to counter, before Carl spoke up.
"I'm not sick - am I?" Lucky immediately began to panic, not even questioning his aged-down, amensiac lead's alternative career of psychic doctor. Everyone else was taking what the kid said very seriously - he couldn't help it. His thoughts were immediately a hypochondriac mess of symptoms and possible causes. Mostly, one possible cause - the only disease he'd had regular exposure to lately. "What's wrong with my insides?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 4:50 pm
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"Um," Carl kept on saying between everyone else also trying to get a word in. He waited, as patiently as he could, and then finally spoke up in the lapse of silence. "It's kind of hard to explain but everyone else who's been that sick has gone really," he toned his voice down so it was barely audible, "crazy."
He wasn't wrong, in theory. "Your insides are all green," Carl finally elaborated, "just this part," he pointed to his heart, "but also spreading upwards and-"
"-Ooookay," Mark suddenly interrupted, "That's uh, that's just super great," he kept on giving his former lead a strange look, as there was no point in time that said former lead had ever mentioned Lucky's condition, or his own weird condition. "Well, good news Lucky, I have a vaccine if it is the undying sort of thing, bad news is if we want more than one vaccine shot we'll still need to head to base."
"Yeah, I'm out," said the O-tattooed Hunter. "Good luck with that." He took the remaining box of chips and left the box of condoms, Mark just sighing and letting him go through his weird Gandalf-imposed doorway.
"Look, I'll get the vaccine, Lucky, you send your girlfriend that text, and we'll just- we'll like improvise okay. I mean like worst case situation she'll get an STD or something. Gale you just, make sure Lucky actually sends something." Mark took two steps out, and then suddenly poked back into the doorway again. "Nobody leave or touch anything weird."
About five minutes passed, plenty of time for anyone else to voice any concerns when-
-"Are we going soon?" Carl looked up at Rep expectantly. "Because she said she'll help."
And at the same time Lucky's phone buzzed.
Text from Charlotte Time's ticking, or deal's off in five
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 1:37 am
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Rep listened to the discussions going back and forward around him, looking at Lucky with concern the whole time. He’d dispatched so, so many undying in the last year and a half, most of whom he’d never even seen turn. He didn’t want Lucky to be one of those people and was glad that if it was the case that there were vaccines to be had.
He didn’t feel very encouraged by Carl’s comment, but gave him a smile and a nod anyway, he was trying, even if his attempts to help were really –ing creepy and unnerving. Rep didn’t know how he felt about the thing helping them, but at this point beggars couldn’t be choosers, they were probably going in on an impossible mission and any help they could get was better than nothing.
He sighed. “Guess we are improvising.” He said. “Might as well text her Lucky. Also aye Carl, we are going. You don’t need to come if you don’t want to but you can if you choose, it’s up to you.” He would be in danger if he came or if he didn’t, the difference was that with them he might get Circe back.
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Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:41 am
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To be entirely fair, Gale wouldn't have shot Lucky in the back.
Just the leg. Maybe twice, for good measure.
"Sick in the head," Gale muttered under his breath, but he gave a sigh. "If there's something green inside of Lucky - that's not - I mean, the grail, is it? Or that virus that went around that turns everybody into zombies, because really, I'd rather not have that happen again."
Mark's disappearance was a whole other can of worms. Gale stared at the empty doorway, then back at Carl, then back at Rep, then finally at Lucky. He waved a hand, gesturing towards the phone.
"Send her something. Tell her we'll take her deal."
A pause. Gale looked back at Carl, frowning slightly.
"Who, exactly, is 'she?' Do you mean Charlotte? Or Sam?"
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