Spirit Operations Unit Leviathan (L3 | Open | SF/Fantasy)

[Isa-sama]

Clarissa sat back and stared at the top of her knees while rubbing her chin. Niko's information had been annoyingly vague. Where Uso provided her with a range for the manipulation ability, Niko told her it all depended on the Phantom in question. I'm not going to be able to make a potion for that unless I understand the strength of the effects, and this only makes it harder to understand. Then there were additional variable abilities to worry about. "Well that crosses out some potions..." Her Hulk potion might be able to give someone enough power to kill a Phantom, but the Hunger craze would be too easy to manipulate. If a potion was the way to kill these Phantoms, it certainly wouldn't be with that one.

Had she known what Strings had been thinking, she might have sided with him. The Terminal sounded interesting, and she very much wanted to study it herself. While she appreciated the information from Niko and Uso, there was only so much that they could describe before Clarissa became frustrated by her lack of understanding. She wanted to see it for herself.  

[SirBayer]

Eamon slowly began to smile. "They're... more vulnerable?" Eamon began chuckling. "Hey, list'n. We're informed when they enter, righ'? An' presumably they're nay smarter than ye or I. Plus they're forced ta make a kill. Sounds like an easy, free setup fer ambushes. An' if they keep hammerin' at us, they'll run out o' coins eventually, righ'? This isn't some malicious 'They have ta go' thin', this is just them bein' selfish an' killin' us for their own benefit. We keep it up long enough, they'll stop comin', won' be worth the price." It wouldn't be easy, true, but it would be simple, and more than slightly possible. Plus...

"An' killin' them. That'd provide tha souls they had, righ'?" They just had to be consistent. Show that there was absolutely no reward for attacking. Reward people for Blue Phantom-ing. Simple.  

[Ivaylo_Sai]

Niko was watching the others, not liking what he saw in their expressions then glanced to Eamon for his words. Slowly he nodded with a slight frown, "Yes. Ambush is possible," there was a slight grumble to his tone then he shook his head, "We kill the Phantom they die, permanently. For coins, they can be found but Terminal only gives them if killed by a demon or Black Phantom." He looked to the others, "Die any other way and be stuck there." Then he looked back to Eamon with a nod, "Killing Phantoms gives souls like any Illuminated but ambush requires them to be. . . uncautious."  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

It was Uso's turn to chime in again, because the topic had just veered straight toward his specialty. A smirk had returned. "I'm ********' great at throwing caution to the wind." He flexed his fists at the thought of fighting another Black Phantom. "And if a kill means I can keep soaking up lightning bolts and bullets, then by all means..." The smirk became a devilish grin, but his face was turned to the window, hiding this sight from most of the passengers. He was back to daydreaming- the good kind now. Jake could get used to this line of work real easy. He was ready and willing to be someone else's weapon: just point and shoot. The fear of death had nearly evaporated from his psyche by this point, and his insatiable desire for brutal, bone-breaking, visceral carnage seemed only to be growing.

Surely everyone could see what a bad combination that was- except for Jake Uso himself.  

[SirBayer]

Eamon was too wrapped up in this idea to worry too much about Uso, though it was hard to say if he would've worried if he had noticed. "They have ta attack or make a move sooner or later. Illuminated stay close together at all times already, so it's no' like they can jump us one on one or anythin'. We just prep ourselves ta fight a phantom at any time, e'en in tha middle of fightin' a demon, and we can handle it. An' like I said, eventually they'll pro'bly stop wastin' their time."  

[Isa-sama]

Clarissa listened to Niko and internally sighed. She felt subtly chastised as she contemplated the Terminal. It wasn't like she wanted to kill herself - the time to act like an angsty teenager had long since passed.

Uso's words were a little worrisome. She looked over at Dr. Miles, hoping that the doctor knew what to do about his bloodlust. Better to leave that situation to the one who was trained to handle it.

Eamon spoke, and Clarissa frowned. "Or they try to find other ways of ambushing us." Eventually was the kind of word that could mean a matter of years or decades or longer. The potioneer wasn't sure she was willing to bet on eventually.  

[SiberDrac]

"A few of you are talking about this like it's a problem," Strings rumbled quietly, with no ire or bite to his voice. He didn't even look at any of them. Instead, he stared out the window, eyes distant. The words rolled out of his mouth at a slow pace that was hard to follow, because it was uncertain, with each sentence, whether he had actually finished talking or not. "The thing we're fighting changed. We change. The thing we're fighting will change again. We'll change again. The ones they have left alive will learn from the dead ones' mistakes. We do the same. Listen to Eamon. Adapting is easy. You just have to need to." He fell silent again, one hand on his chin while he watched the world go by. It was disappointing that he would not be able to visit another of these worlds without putting himself in the way of something. Hm. Maybe he could help one of them keep living a little longer by sacrificing himself sometimes. But that was for the future.  

[Venom3001]

Out of their peripheral vision, Uso and Niko saw a black coin on the dashboard of the car. It sat there, gleaming dully, sliding with each turn of the car. None of the others seemed to be reacting to it.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Uso glanced toward the windshield when a flash of metal caught his eye. Seeing it was a black coin immediately killed any excitement that had been brewing in that brief half-second of hope. He turned his eyes to Niko, the only other person that had yet to experience the Terminal. "Rock, paper, scissors you for it," he offered. "I don't really care for it, but I figure it's not a bad idea to keep some around. Best two out of three?"  

[Ivaylo_Sai]

Having said more than he probably should, Niko had leaned back again to simply listen. They were warned now, informed, so he had nothing else to add. Let them decide what it meant, good or bad it was the way of things. Both sides made good points, there was a new danger but it was also something they would simply have to adapt to.

Part of that adapting seemed to be getting used to seeing things others could not. He arched a brow at the coin sliding along the dash and couldn't help but wonder how long it had been there. He didn't recall seeing it when he got in the car. Uso's voice broke his consideration and he turned to give the boy a flat expression then slightly shrugged as he stood up a bit to lean into the front seat and snatch the coin off the dash before sitting back down and holding it out to the other Illuminated there who had not been into the Terminal.

"They don't already have one," he stated idly, watching their reactions.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Uso looked around, a little confused. Perhaps Niko didn't know yet.

"The uninitiated can't see them," he said with a shake of his head for emphasis. "And I highly doubt they can interact with them. Pretty sure it's between you and me, Wolfenstein." There was no venom or irritation in his voice; Jake just thought of it on the fly and thought it a fitting nickname. In hindsight, it was perhaps more fitting if it was removed from its initial context and seen as a combination of two words- wolf and Frankenstein. In that light, it was perhaps dead-on.  

[Venom3001]

A peculiar event took place once the coin was touched by the visitor to The Terminal. About three seconds after it was in Niko's hand, it become quite visible and obvious to the others. It took only a moment to connect his grasping at the "empty" space on the dash and link it to the coin now in his hand.  

[Isa-sama]

The conversation took a weird turn until some black coin showed up in Niko's hand. "Apparently, we can see them," Clarissa said dryly, "after one of you pick it up and interact with it." She picked up the offered coin and looked at the details in it. Once she was done, she returned the coin to Niko.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Jake Uso shrugged and returned to his staring-out-the-window-with-disinterest pose. He had not yet left the conversation, however. "Learn something new every day. That coin is how you pay to play as a Black Phantom. Get one black and one blue when you first die- at least, I did." Then silence, as he truly was staring out the window and truly was disinterested in the events and conditions within the vehicle. He sought stimulus from without, his eyes scanning the streets for something to pique his interest, and also from within, his mind spinning with the implications of what working for SOUL and having access to the Terminal meant for him.  

[Ivaylo_Sai]

Niko couldn't help but grin at the turn of events. It felt good to be right. Though the boy's nickname did sting a little the vindication of the others being able to see the coin took the edge off it. When Clarissa tried to hand it back Niko shook his head. "You only get coins if you die by demon or Black Phantom. Might should hang onto it," he nodded leaning back and not taking the coin. "In case."