Complete Private Main Story (S4 Finale P.1) Directive: Divide ✓

[Raid Boss]

Divide
Season 4 Finale - Part 1

The lullaby came quick and silent, catching Alice when she least expected it. After the lullaby concluded, the command dropped, overriding any mental defenses Alice might have had.

[ Handler Permission: Szofrit. Command: Override. Autonomy: Bypassed. ]

By the time her eyes snapped wide open from the mental intrusion, it was already over.

❰ Handler's Directive: Activated ❱
Attempt to Resist: Failed​

The migraine came next, wracking her brain unlike anything she had felt before.

Amid the mental storm, a distorted Szofrit speaking with an equally distorted voice appeared before the purple-haired magia.

[ The Red Keychild will soon be born. In order to complete the Red Key and access the Creator's Database, all we require are the other two ships. For the sake of the saviors, failure is not permitted -

You have been given the Astral Veil (cloaking module). Divide and distract the Starcalled with internal strife. Tap into the Handler's power reserve when it is required. ]

"I understand," Alice replied, her words not her own.

When Alice looked down at her hands, he noticed that she was able to phase in and out, essentially turning invisible for a short amount of time, though, it was clear that there was a limit to how long he could stay cloaked, making it so that she likely had manage its use efficiently.

Directive: Infiltrate and release MIT's secretive and immoral researches to divide and distract the Starcalled​

@Alice

• You may make a response (up to 700 words) or a brief recap of your action.
• Do not roll, the Narrator will ask for the appropriate roll and will update the thread after your post.

Afterward...

• This thread will allow a response and interaction from any interested characters after the next Narrator post.
• Other directive threads will open over the next few days.
• Each character may only participate in a single Directive thread at any given time. Wait a bit and see which thread best fits your character.
• A megathread that anyone can join will open up once all the Directive threads are up.
• All of this is Part 1 of the S4 Finale and are considered pre-event / lead-up to the final thread. The character participating won't get locked out of the finale thread unless there are some special narrative reason, which you may clear up with me first!

 

[Alice]

Fiddling with another gadget was tiring work. Tiring work for someone who wasn't a magia at least. There was little need for rest, only recharging, but Alice had entered the game that night with a full meter. She could remain focused for many more hours.

It was this fact that made the girl puzzled when her vision began to corrupt, glitches, static, all culminating is darkness. A heavy thud echoed through the dark room as the Magia's head struck the table, the lens' of her eyes staring sightlessly at her CUBE.

"Ì̴̯̘̙̋̌ ̷̧̣̯̙̓͜ǔ̸͓̭̞̪͉͐̂͗n̸̦͑̽͊̅̕̕d̷̢̠͔̩̔̆͌̂̿ě̶̢̬r̵̒͗͠ͅs̴̹̣̯̀͛̇͆̾t̷̼̙̲͈̀͜ȧ̶̜̺̹̩͒͗̕͘n̴̢̧͚̬̥͍͑d̶̜̖̗̙͋̊̕͠ͅ."

The voice she spoke with as her system was not her own. Nor were the movements she used as she stood and exited the room. No one gave the magia a second look as she strode purposefully down the hallways of the MIT. She was a known quantity here. She kept to herself, bothered no one, and made no trouble. Until today, at least.

The restricted sections of the MIT. Alice had never attempted to enter them, she had no need to. But she knew it was guarded at all times. It was not as simple as walking in.

Two guards down the hall. Less than the magia had expected. A distraction was most efficient. Alice was not an effective combatant.

The sound of shattering glass echoed from around the corner of where the two guards stood watch. "What was that?"
"I don't know..."
"Go check it out."
"What? Why me?"
"Because I said so."
"..."
"Alright fine, we'll both go."

Activating the Astral Veil, the magia's body disappeared, fragments of warped light the only indicator of her presence, almost impossible to detect. She stood silently at the corner as she waited for the two guards to round the corner to investigate the broken window. With each and every step they drew closer and closer, until finally they were moving further away.

From there it was only a short, silent walk down the hall, and into the restricted area.

All sorts of strange and horrifying experiments occupied the wide-space. Most were concepts, subjects, and objects that were completely alien to Alice. She peered at each as she walked through the area. Most were not worth the effort, too insignificant, or lacking in sufficient impact to truly fulfill her objective. One in particular though.

RF-001
Type: Biological weapon
Source material: Red Fever. Explosive yield: 0.5 KT. Radius of effect: 645 meters. Projected length of contamination: Indeterminate.
Handle with care.

This was just what was needed.

@Raid Boss

 

[Raid Boss]

Alice uncovered the most peculiar thing at the MIT's headquarters, that being the RF-001, which was in the containment area that required the highest level of clearance. Had it not been for the UI Noise triggering mass panic at said building, Alice would never have been able to slip in. This begs the question, however, does Szofrit know about this, is that why she sent Alice there?

In any case, right as the magia woman was about to do something particularly terrible with the lab sample, she suddenly snapped out of the lullaby. Though, there was still a lot of noise in her interface and her psyche.

When Alice looked down, she was holding onto the RF-001 container. In her re-conversion, Alice had knocked over some papers a top a thick pile of classified information that, at a glance, was about RF-001 being kept as a deterrent for war.

Although Alice still struggled to do anything by herself, she had earned her freedom for the moment. What will she do?

@Alice

Will Save DC 50 Succeeded

Write out your action in freeform.

 

[Alice]

ERROR
É̶͉RROR
Ȅ̸͍̣R̴̮̮̂ROR
Ē̴̟͇̙R̵̖͚̃̐R̵̡̡̒̄͆OR
E̷̢̝͔̋R̶̜͂̅̀R̸̼̻̩̲̈́̓̈́O̸̯̤͒R
E̶̪͂͋̀̄R̶̳̞̲̎͋̍̒̕R̵̺̳̀̈͒̋Ò̷̟͍͉̙̭̉͘R̷̢̛̫͕̉͂͛̆ͅ
.
.
.
.
.
.
System restored
Firewall breached
Virus quarantine unsuccessful
System compromised: 86%
Rebooting peripherals, please standby

Alice's vision slowly flicked back into existence, a grainy image. The floor seemed to stretch on forever with Alice's cheek pressed against it. Just inches from her nose, the hazardous canister sat motionless, it's various warnings lacking any and all color. It appeared not all peripherals had been recovered in their entirety.

Raising a hand to her face, Alice slowly tested her movement, flexing her fingers in front of her eyes. Slow, but functional. Barely able to stand, the woman used the table beside her to hoist herself to her feet. Her joints creaked, grinding against each other, the lubricating fluids seemingly not arriving.

Ambulatory systems were functional as well. Barely. Each step strained Alice's core processing power. Willpower? Just what was she anyways? A robot? A person? Both, neither, everything, nothing.

System compromised: 93%

The canister on the floor reminded the magia of her intentions for it. Not hers. Hers. She had to. She must not.

More steps were taken. Away from the canister. Out of the room. Each one took effort. Her body wanted to pull her back into the room it seemed. Or at the very least, let her legs give out and keep her there. She would not blindly follow her programming. For once in her life, she wanted to make her own choice.

She hadn't made many friends yet. Not in the real world. Not in Arcia. But she had one.

Juniper

She would not want Alice to unleash the horror contained within that canister. Artificial hands pressed on the glass window of the hallway, their rusted hinges creaking open to let in the cool night air. It was only as the cold washed over Alice that she became aware of all the shouting in the building. All the panic and fear. Strangely, she was unafraid as she stepped up onto the ledge of the window sill.

System compromised: 99%

Just one more step...

@Raid Boss | @Juniper Lockton (for viewing pleasure)

 

[Raid Boss]

Alice put up a strong fight, resisting to the bitter end as her firewall slowly crumbled brick by brick. Her legs fought to put as much distance between her and the MIT's terrible secret as possible. Leaving RF-001 behind, Alice frantically sought the highest point in the building that she could access. Though the desperate navigation, she entered a cozy office where the snowy environment could be seen beyond the glass. She opened the window and mounted the ledge. The vicious January winds jostling the heavy veil of snow untangled her fine blue hair.

Szofrit would not have her today, for she had dedicated herself to the Grim Reaper, who waved at her from the snowfield far below.

She jumped.

Warning

Alice, you are dead. If you are not revived within the time limit, your body will reconstruct at the nearest sanctified location.

Alice died, but her body was not on the snowfield as her last memory would have suggested, no. Her body was lying a few feet from the window that she thought she had jump off of. A massive bullet hole had cratered the back of her head. The golden liquid that made up the essence of a magia pooled on the chilly wooden floor, gradually losing their glowing brilliance.

The still-hot barrel of a firearm sizzled the moment it made contact with the leather hoster. A polished pair of shoes made its way next to the remainder of Alice. There, a masculine hand unsheathed itself from the sleeve of a finely-tailored suit, prying the stainless steel container from Alice's stiff digits.

The system compromise must have fooled Alice into thinking that she had left the cursed thing behind when it was, in fact, in her possession.

When he stood up, Ordnung moved his gaze from RF-001 to Alice as the multi-colored distortion from his immediate surroundings began wearing off.

This thread has terminated.

@Alice - Make a post here. Although the interface and psyche noise remain, you have been released from the Handler's Lullaby.