☆TRACK VIII: I'LL REACH YOU BELOW

[interdimanagers]

Who: All rescuers!
What: The trio is here to give you the deets.
When: The evening of February 18th.
Where: An abandoned subway.
Warnings: Nothing predictable, but you never know.

“Word has it on the wire That you don't who you are. Well, if you could jack into my brain, You'd know exactly what you mean here.” ☆I'LL REACH YOU BELOW The notification is sudden. A several hours in advance, all rescuers will receive a ping over the network from Shep that they are to gather at a specific location late that evening. The location will not be given out until one hour in advance of the meeting, but they are advised to be ready to receive it and move out immediately. When they arrive, the meeting is taking place in an abandoned subway. At first it doesn't seem like there is a way in, but after slipping through the rubble in some collapsed tunnels, you'll find it. Shep, Gold, and Silver are all present, and will spent the first while doing a careful headcount of those that show up, until approximately 15 minutes after the starting time. The results seem to be disappointing. People who were here the first time are missing, that much is obvious just from looking around – the leaders’ unease with it is clear. However, it doesn’t cause them to panic or change the point of the meeting, either. At 11:15 PM on the dot, then Shep will begin the meeting by explaining what they are all there for: information. There have been details that the team has been holding back on giving until now, and Shep will somewhat sheepishly explain that it’s because they didn’t want the risk the change of it being leaked in the event that new recruits were incapable or unwilling to blend and lay low for the time being. Thankfully, he’ll explain, everyone here has more than proven themselves capable of working within Vista’s system. So, they’ve been brought together so they can be fully brought up to speed. Information will be delivered in three parts, by each one of the leaders. Afterwards, questions can be asked, and the rescuers will be allowed to mingle and discuss for a few hours. All the information is concise, and in the end the actual explanation will end up taking a half hour or less. Afterwards, Gold has brought snacks to share, as has become customary. Hopefully you like pastries. “So, if you've got the time, Set up the tone to sync. Tap in the code, I'll reach you below.”

Comments

Mammon, did you know you adopted a squidkid?

[woomy]

"They might know something... This music power sounds really powerful, so it can probably block stuff too." She kicks her feet back and forth. "I can't Super Jump, and it's probably that."

And thinking about something that Usagi said to her. "Hey, you seem like you know about being stealthy and tactical. Do you think you could help me with something?"

Because they're friends, right? 8D

they are not ready to be a parent, pls reconsider

[avidita]

"Then they'd have to be projecting that power consciously, or..." Nevermind. It's thoughts to figure out later. For now, they glance back at her at the question.

"It depends on what you need help with."

Too late

[woomy]

"I'm trying to find ways to use my ink beyond splatting people... since I can't actually do that here." It doesn't work. No one gets splatted. And shooting ink for her own movement is frowned upon even if it disappears on its own.

"Usagi thought I could shoot cameras and maybe try to junk up machines. I already know that I can shoot people in the face and blind them for a bit."

[avidita]

"Well, you're already on the right path, it seems." Enough that Mammon is kind of wondering why they need to be consulted, but whatever. They sigh, letting Fantasma hop onto their shoulder.

"You have your ink with you, right? Let me have a look at it."

[woomy]

It's because she much prefers the charge in quick and fast with rapid fire and bombs. She gets in people's faces rather than being more tactical. "I always do. I'm made of it."

She gets her Hero Shot Replica out and shoots a blot of bright green ink onto the floor beside them.

[avidita]

There wasn't any need to shoot it out, but... Fine. That works. Mammon adjusts themself to get a look at it, dipping their fingers in slightly to get a feel for the consistency.

[woomy]

There never needs to be a reason to ink a place up. Gotta cover the turf and claim it.

Mammon will find that the ink is thicker than water, more like paint in consistency and opaqueness. The ink wants to glob together rather than spread thinly. The ink sticks easily to many things in many orientations, yet there are some surfaces it just drips off of instead of sticking. Metal, glass, and tarp are among some of the materials it won't stick to.

It still thin enough to shoot out of various weapons and allows for Inklings to swim through it... though the latter might be part of the Inkling physiology.

[avidita]

After making notes of everything in their head, Mammon pulls off and tries to wave the ink off of their fingers.

"What Usagi suggested to you sounds like it's a good start on things already. If you can have someone else do superficial damage to the robot, enough for an opening, there's also the potential for your ink to get inside and do internal damage of some sort. Of course, we'll have to capture one of those first and experiment, but it's something to keep in mind."

[woomy]

"I see... so possibly a splat assist instead of splatting someone myself..." That does make sense. She nods, imagining how that might work. "If you capture one of the bad bots, can you let me know? I'll shoot them full of ink to see if it does anything."

She's feeling better about what she might be able to do here. She just has to keep going and make something happen!

[avidita]

"I'll let you know." It works out to their advantage too, after all. Mammon leans back, rolling their neck. "Hopefully our resident cowboy will come through for us in getting one... Although that will make our presence considerably more notable. I imagine it's not very often one of their toys goes missing in action."

A pause. "Unless we were able to play on their rivalry.... Hm." They'll have to keep this in mind.

[woomy]

"If we could get them to fight over their own turf, maybe they'd slip up." Turf wars and rep sounds like something that spans over time and different worlds. If Pride and Virgo are so against each other, would it be too hard to have something spark?

[avidita]

"That would be the best way. If they're busy fighting each other, than we can do more as well while they're preoccupied." Mammon sighs. "We just have to figure out how to make it convincing, and what spurs them to action. Once again, it all comes down to information gathering..."

[woomy]

"I'm at the library a lot, and since they want me to not knock out the power, I need new research topics."

In other words, she's going to see what she can learn about the labels. Hopefully, the libraries keep their collections current. But even some older materials can work in their favor too.

[avidita]

"And the good thing about famous and powerful figures is that there's always someone poking around, even if all you can get is a schedule."

How handy that this plan of Virgo and Pride's relies so heavily on fame and the public eye.

[woomy]

"Schedules and guest appearances and PR stunts are good to know. We can keep tabs on their movements and when to strike. It'll be like Echolocation."

Except a schedule is a much more general and won't pinpoint the exact location of everyone.

[avidita]

"You should make sure to keep an eye on even the trashier magazines, too." Fantasma croaks her agreement.

"If something strange happens, either the regular more respectable papers will try to normalize it on their own- oh that wasn't someone catching on fire, that was just pyrotechnics- or they'll be bribed or threatened, likely." Trust them. They're in the mafia. They're familiar with things like this.

"On the other hand, no one really takes ridiculous tabloids seriously, and they're already ready to leap onto anything. You'll need to take them with a grain of salt, of course, but... They could be useful."

[woomy]

"So it is possible an ancestor of the Great Zapfish lives in the ocean next to Virgo HQ." She gives an all knowing look to Mammon and Fantasma.

No, Agent 3. You're the only one who thinks that.

However, sea creatures aside, she does understand and will look at some of those magazines, assuming they're easily found in the library. 3 might have better luck online.

[avidita]

...Right.

Okay Agent 3.

Letting Fantasma doing the blank staring for them, Mammon continues. "Anyway, if I come up with any other uses for your ink, I'll let you know, alright?"

[woomy]

Both their reactions are possibly the best answer to this Inkling's thought process.

"Thanks. And if there's anything else I can do to help, let me know! I'll pass on any promising information I can find."