Trespassers: Director's Cut: The Bus

[Powder Miner]

Nader had been sitting on the bus for some time now; he'd been on it a while thanks to delaying Doctor Spaceman's checkup with his insistence on his paranoia, and he'd spent the minutes since just occasionally half-heartedly pointing a gun at the strange-ass cleaning robot, or sliding fabric up into his helmet to block his ears in response to the sound of a gun INFINITELY FUCKING FIRING. Staying on this fucking thing had been a mistake, Nader realized, and he had been about to start getting up to go back onto the Weatherlight when all of a sudden he looked and Alan and Leo faced off against something suddenly popping angrily into existence in front of him, dropkicking Leo, and pulling a gun off of the floor before firing it. 

 

Nader swore loudly and pulled his shotgun off of his machine gun. He hoisted it -- he'd sat around for some of the insanity that had evidently been going on here even before he'd walked on, but he wasn't going to just let some asshole shoot at the others and potentially at him. He planted his feet on the floor and stood up, his heavily armored, six-foot form looming as he cocked his shotgun and then was unceremoniously thrown bodily into the back of the seat in front of him, ragdolling briefly and INCREDIBLY noisy as a loud series of metallic clangs heralded his thumping into the seat and plopping onto the ground.

 

"FUCK!"

 

Standing back up, Nader lumbered out from between the seats and near to the door, leveling his shotgun firmly at the unconscious thing. "If that fuckin' thing picks up another gun I'm ventilating it, do you understand?" His head turned to look at the strange void outside the bus, and the flower outside it. He stared at it for a few moments and then pulled his Osprey, his designated marksman rifle, off of his back, and pointed it at the flower. After a few moments of that, he used the barrel of his gun to pick up the phone and wedge the receiver between his head and his shoulder, before once again pointing his gun at the flower, both hands pointing guns at things as he kept the phone secured with his head. "Finally making your presence known, huh, interdimensional assassins?"

[Endlessblaze]

Leo vaguely acknowledges Nader's concerns and threat with an "Hmmmm mmm" As he finishes his shackles. He returns Snow to her proper place, and as soon as the creature is healed, he puts the shackels on its wrist and lifts it up into his arms, holding onto it as he steps onto the flower, moving a way from the bus. 

Looking around Leo notes the whole place seems pretty empty, and a quick test of the spell the imp had used reveals how it blasted its way out of the USB
 

Spoiler

(12, (33) (97)
Leo learns "Breach".
This spell creates a mass of mana with a solid handle, which will travel to the nearest magnet, lashing out at anything between it and that magnet, and dragging anyone holding on along with it. It can even do so in extraspacial directions.

It is a messy, simplistic spell. Easily a 5th the length of common Wizardry Spells. The mark of Magecraft.

Regardless, there were questions that had to be answered.
Leo gets a firm grip around it, and gives it a gentle shake.

"Hey. Little guy. Wake up. Ive got some questions for you."

[Hal Henderics]

"Hello, This is a Fragment of Dr. Melina Ebon, Scattered around the Multiverse in Ebontine Flowers between worlds."

"If you are looking for (Visions Of The Future), Please Dial 1 Now."

 

"If you are looking for (Visions Of The Past), Please Dial 2 Now."

 

"If you are looking for (Visions Of Other Worlds), Please Dial 3 Now."

 

"If you are looking for (Prophesy), Please Dial 4 Now."

 

"If you are looking for (Representative), Please say "Representative"."

 

"If you would like More Options, Please say "More Options"."

"To repeat this explanation, please dial #, or Hang Up, and Call Again."

 

The flower speaks aloud, despite Nader having held the phone to his head.

 

-

 

(4, 20) (3) (95)

 

"You sound funny... Leo." They mumble, completely blacked out.

 

Further shaking of various intensities does nothing to fix this problem, Leo finds.

[Endlessblaze]

Leo sighs
"Alright. Whats going on here?"
He taps his foot for a few moments before something clicks
"Time Travel... Great."

It was the most likely explanation though he was not quite sure if this was actualy time travel. Technicalities. The Drive, metaphorically speaking, had his finger prints all over its enchantments, and was made of a substance that shifted and twisted through time. Requiring an enchantment to hold it in the 'present', which Leo disappointedly noted had ceased function and destroyed the drive, once again reverting the object to an ever shifting fragment. The Fragment must have been made into that drive sometime in the future, and, being that the fragment shifted through time it eventualy shifted into its future state, and became locked into the present because of its enchantment....

Huh. That posed intresting questions about what happened to the data. Could you use this to make time clones of things for practical purposes? Questions for later.

But if this Creature? AI? knew him, why did it attack? Did its damage compromise it's decision making? Or is it an enemy?

That aside, The flower had intresting things to say. He would have to discuss this with Nader.
"Hey, I think this guy here is from the future. A vision or prophecy might help. What do you think?"

As he speaks, he moves his grip on the creature to be with only one arm, and uses his other to reach around and press a bit of ice against the back of its neck.

[Powder Miner]

Nader actually jumped upon the flower's suddenly speaking, resulting in a noisy touching-back with the ground, but he at least didn't shoot either the Digimon or the flower, given that his fingers had been on the trigger guards rather than the trigger. He vaguely shook his gun at the flower after his surprise, but seemed to visibly deflate a bit as no direct answer was forthcoming. Well, this wasn't going to be very easy then. But at least he had five options to consider for potential information gain. He had no idea who the hell Doctor Melina Ebon was, and he didn't trust whoever this person apparently was. For all he knew, and Nader found this to be almost a certain option, it was a hostile group attempting to demoralize or misdirect them. Still, making a play like this was a potentially valuable source of information for him as well -- but he had to figure out how to discern the unintentional truth from the lie.

 

Representative? Potentially useful, for sure, but he did not feel like revealing anything more of himself to this Doctor Ebon by accident, so he was not going to take that risk.

 

Prophecy? Oh, absolutely not, that one was a golden opportunity for something completely vague and false to be made up -- less details, less slip-ups.

 

Visions of the Future? It sounded more detailed, but still had very ample possibility for deception, and despite the VERY tempting possibility for foreknowledge of interdimensional assassination attempts, if he were deceived and didn't know the context he wouldn't even know when to investigate.

 

Visions of the Past? With a concrete truth in place, it's much easier to lie to a stupid or naive person, but harder to lie to someone who knows what they're talking about. Unfortunately, despite the fact that he knew he was properly wary, he realized that he had no guarantee that he would know anything about what this Doctor Ebon would say. And it would possibly be too late to investigate.

 

Visions of Other Worlds... obviously the potential for deception was there, but Nader's own espionage operations had always worked best in the context of present action -- intercepting and uncovering rival operations at the present stage. He would have the best potential of concretely investigating whatever potential leads he picked out of this.

 

"...no. The best option seems to me to be Visions of Other Worlds, and I'm going to pick it." He responded to Leo, his voice slow with the guarded contemplation he was doing of the situation, but tinged with finality nonetheless. Nader slowly put the gun pointed at the flower away (but kept it unstrapped for easy access) and dialed [3] on the handset with one armored finger.

[Yours Truly]

Alan focused his efforts with writing up an entirely new program, after reasoning that he has already proven capable of removing bullet and various other wounds from people with his programs, and since most of his anomalous programs so far had focused on healing ailments, he concluded that logically, since fatigue, drowsiness, and unconsciousness are physical impairments that he should be able to 'heal off'.

 

(14, 6) (59) (24)

Trick Level 1: Electric Sheep: The user has gained the ability to move the workload of the unconscious mind into a computer, speeding up the mental processes of sleeping.  The person's recollection of the previous day is fuzzy, and the computer's files left slightly corrupt.

Level 2: Electric Sheep no longer causes the person's recollection of the previous day to become fuzzy.

The fact that Alan proceeded to convince Leo that the program he had never tested on a living subject should be used on an unconscious realized AI that presumably had very little in common with a human being's says quite a lot about their collective sense of responsibility, but the fact that the solid gold computing core spouted out random bits of dreams instead of say....causing them to scream uncontrollably in abject terror and pain presumably implied that the code worked sort of.

[Strider]

Spoiler

"Perhaps you can't be careful. But I'm sure you do  take off your armor. Getting literally no sunlight ain't healthy, and you're sure as hell not taking any supplements to make up for it. Maybe you sleep in that, I don't know. But you definitely eat, and that's definitely a lot more dangerous than taking off your armor for half a second. If you can risk that, you should be able to risk something like this for your health. You also don't stink like a dead rat, so you definitely take it off sometimes."

 

"But, if you want, for the time being, since I'm tired, and currently really don't give a damn about your state of health, you can just take some stuff, follow our orders, and disinfect yourself in private or whatever. You want your interdimensional assassins to kill you with a virus that they just introduce into the bus? If not, might be a good idea to disinfect after each world. I won't be anywhere near you, it'll be quick, and you'll be safer." He'd have to cool down later, in order to figure out what, if anything, he could do to treat this man. Later though.

 

"Hey Nader, ask for more options first, okay? Then pick. Number four is the best option though, if you're in a rush. You can dial it, let me speak, and I'll ask them to return our defective tin man for a more cooperative one."

 

"And you know, these are kinda rare, so maybe explain why you want visions of other worlds so quickly, so other people who've seen these before don't freak."

[Powder Miner]

Rolling his eyes behind his mask, Nader paused his finger before pressing the button, did his best to ignore the barb and respond to the rest: "You're thinking of five, which is the representative option, unless you really do mean the prophecy option, in which case I'm going to have to start calling you Witch Doctor Spaceman. ...choosing more options is a good choice though, actually. I'm choosing the option I'm choosing because it lends itself best to investigation and confirmation; prophecies are just begging for vague meaningless bullshit, visions of the future can't be fully investigated until that point, visions of the past may possibly be past being investigable, but Visions of Other Worlds quite possibly can be investigated now." Nader then spoke "More Options" into the headset.

[Strider]

Harry chuckled. "You know, I rather like that nickname, quite the conversation starter."

 

"However, since you were not here before, I should inform you. These visions will all be cryptic, since apparently that's Dr. Ebon's preferred method of communication with us. Dunno why she'd do that, but apparently it's efficient. Maybe she just doesn't want to talk to us, couldn't really blame her. . ."

 

"Anyway, last time we chose visions of the future, and we got a glimpse of information from a world we had already visited, from probably about a week or so after we left, with snippets involving various important info--local impressions of us, politics, other effects of our presence, some unknown parties who may be involved soon--on that world. We do have yet to confirm it. My point is, I wouldn't expect visions of other worlds to be significantly easier to verify than visions of the future, at least based on the previous point."

 

"I'm not saying you're wrong in your choice though. I think, if there's nothing else in more options, it'd be good to choose what you chose. Eventually, we should try every option, so that we can cater our choice to specific present needs. The mere names might be misleading, so trying all as soon as possible would be good."

[Endlessblaze]

Leo now sitting down in the bus while the Imp laid in bed attempted to get something intresting out of the data stream going through the gold core he had fashioned for waking up their mysterious guest, but nothing was really clicking.

Mana testing the flower the party was resting on had failed. Though in the process of trying to wake up the .Mon he had found it seemed to resist the cold, (But not heat) so he learned something.

Talking to Alan, Leo learned where he got started into the magical programs he was using, and upon learning that his Cyberdeck wasn't properly working and showing all of the magic, helpfully gave him an upgrade with some of the cloudstuff he had found, and little bit of platnuim. And of course a good dose of spellwork.
 

Spoiler

 

(64) (98)

The result is a Standard Cloud Golem Core, of Extreme Malleability

and a Superb Platinum Golem Core Chip

(15, 19) (61) (15) Integrating them into Alan's Deck, it... works?

Alan's Cyberdeck can now detect and manipulate raw mana. If Alan suffers a corruptive effect, the Deck suffers the same effect.

After working in the cores he proceeds to add an enchantment for better scanning.
 

Spoiler

(20, 12) (5) (55)

Alan's Cyberdeck can now attempt to scan a spell, storing it in memory. The spell must either be deleted, or offloaded into a large grounded computer installation, before a new spell can be recorded.

"There, You'll need to experiment, but this should help." 

[Hal Henderics]

Choosing to observe more options, more options are thus given.

(Persons of Interest)

(Items of Interest)
 

(Emergency Services)

 

(Advertisement)

 

-

 

The Imp Awakens at last, looking over the denizens of the bus.

[Endlessblaze]

"Aright, So your awake now. Would you mind explaining what all of that was?"
Snow makes her avatar appear and crosses her arms
"And don't bother running, There's nothing outside."

 

[Powder Miner]

Nader stood for a moments, silent with thought, looking over the handset in one hand as he actually continued to aim his shotgun at the imp with his other. "...persons of interest and items of interest do sound like they'd be quite useful. But Visions of Other Worlds leaves less opportunity for being brief, and brief things are bad when you're trying to extract information from someone that is trying to deceive you. You don't seem to object much to taking that option, so... let's hope that this proves useful." Nader once again commits to choosing an option, hitting the [3] for Visions of Other Worlds.

[Hal Henderics]

(1, 6)

 

"I refuse." WaveImpmon say, turning their head to the side and scowling.

 

"It's not like you're gonna do anything if I don't."

[Endlessblaze]

"Are you sure about that?"
Leo holds up one arm and puts on his best "Trying to look sweet but is actualy fucking psychotic" face, and channels up some agony lighting to dance around his fingers menacingly.
Snow rest her head in her palm internally sighing. Was he actualy trying to bluff a timetraveler that probbly knew him? 

"Leo I don't think thats going to work."
 

[Hal Henderics]

"Oh please, Kusuke will beat your ass if he finds out you've been using that again.  So you should just listen to Snow and go away."

 

He rolls his eyes, not looking at the lightning.

 

(20, 7)

 

Tattletale, who had up until this point been sitting in the back sipping tea with smug amusement, can't help but bark out a laugh.

 

"Now tell the one about Leo's spellbook." She mocks. prompting the Digimon to sweat.

[Endlessblaze]

Leo lowers his arm, letting the magic slowly disperse, and dropping his scary face.
"Yes, please do. Im sure its a riot."

Man that power of hers was useful. He would have to ask her about the trapped soul later. Might get some good info.

[Hal Henderics]

"Shut - Up!"

 

"He doesn't even own a spellbook!"  they shout, dragging their cuffs along the bed to outright snarl at Tattletale, who simply purses her lips before leaning in.

 

(15, 8)

 

"Oh sure, not a paperback, but that's not your fare, now is it? Aw, is hissy baby going to throw another temper tantrum?  You really should be more polite in front of sensei."
 

(11, 4) 

 

Pausing to read his reaction for a split second, she continues.

 

"There it is, so you listened in on the big boys talking, didn't like what you heard and-"

 

(20, 4) 

 

Seeing him open his mouth, she rears back and punches him in the jaw, interrupting his spell.

 

"Yeah, that.  But like, Ow, though."  Tattletale finishes, shaking her fist.

 

(2, 8)

 

"Like, for real, Ow, though."

 

"I've got a headache and his head is like concrete, so I'm going to take a nap, have fun hissy baby."

 

"Bitch."

 

She walks over to a seat and leans back, finishing her tea.

 

 

 

[Yours Truly]

Alan looks up from his latest project for a moment as he reclines on a nearby seat, and he raises an unseen eyebrow before saying, "I'm sorry, but have the two of you ever met before Leo? Or does this whole multiverse scthick extend all the way down to having alternate versions of us running around the place?."

[Endlessblaze]

Leo takes a moment to take in what just happened.
"Alright, well then. Why don't you start from the beginning. What exactly happened? It will be easier then stubbornly staying quiet and will get things resolved much quicker."

Leo taps his head.
"Lets see...sometime in the future, your part of our group....and considering your magic, I taught you. You heard something you didn't like and decided to run off, even going so far as to cast yourself adrift in time."
He moves over to the bed and leans in close
"That USB drive. It may as well have had my finger prints all over it. Those Flip Gates. Tell me, Did I make that, Or did you? Apprentice."

He we reaching a little bit. But hey. If he was right, he was right, and if he was wrong it would at least prompt a response. 

Snow groans, amazed that Alan has yet to catch on.
"He's a time traveler Alan."

[Hal Henderics]

(3, 11)

 

"You are not my master."

 

"You won't be."

 

"And I know more about magic than you do."

 

"I didn't mean to come to this stupid time, but I'm not going to let you get away with what you were going to do, and I won't forgive you just because you haven't done it yet.  You're bad, all of you!"

 

"And if you aren't yet, that just means you're going to be."

[Endlessblaze]

"You know, this would be a lot easier if you just, like. Told us what you heard. Just humor me."

Leo crosses his arms. He needed to figure out what was going on here. What would he have heard that sent him running off?
 

[Powder Miner]

"If you try to "not let you get away with what you were going to do" with some sort of violence," Nader chimes in from the front of the bus, without even looking at the Imp, "I'll look over there and just fucking shoot you. With my shotgun."

[Hal Henderics]

(16, 7)

 

"Lives aren't disposable, you bastard."

[Powder Miner]

"No, they aren't, and I've certainly... experienced those who disagreed. But when it comes down to it, whatever-the-fuck-you-are, when it's my life or yours, I'm going to prioritize mine. It's self-defense that I prioritize, of course it is. Because I haven't survived by just allowing myself to get shot." Nader fell silent, and his helmet turned up as he looked towards the roof of the bus, contemplating something. "I suppose that the same likely applies to you, random fuckin' thing. And if you wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, fighting, it would make sense, really. I wouldn't blame you. Self-defense, after all, is a value. But I'm not going to shoot you if you don't, and I will if you do. So contemplate that, I suppose. I don't really have any interest in executing you, after all. I don't know what the hell you are, and I'm not sure if I should care or not, but I know that if you come in trying to fry me or something, I'm going to splatter you. Simple as that."