"I'm sorry, Professor. I'm still experiencing some residue from the shift."
"That's okay. Even the abnormal has been exceptionally abnormal of late. I was asking you the Ruffo-Haskins screening questions to determine what your Prime Version was prior to my experiment."
"Did you identify it? Wait, what experiment?"
"I transmitted a vector-feedback signal into the XXXXXXplex in order to generate a pulse of Continuity in the hopes of creating the conditions for one of the Dragons' to discover the source of the current Agenda War. And yes, I believe you had recently escaped some sort of facility in which you had undergone an Upgrade of some kind?"
"Yeah, that does sound familiar... And yes, it worked. Your experiment. Did Aki make it out?"
"His arrival seems to have been an iteration of an event that occurred earlier in one of the beginnings of the current Crisis, when he intervened on the Subway to thwart an Agent that was attacking Aqua. If I am interpreting the data correctly."
"So he's not here? Where is here, exactly?"
"We've gone Liminal. It's not ideal but it's the only way I've been able to maintain any perspective on the Crisis. Akimoto is one of the signals that I have had a great deal of difficulty tracking. His and Darius'. Oh, and Suki's."
"Who do you have a lock on, then?"
"Records show a number of intersections with Angst, Frank and Goner, Aqua too, all Upgraded as well. And Wraith, Dex and Callan appear to be in a parallel stream... There's also these sporadic but intense signals regarding someone named Summer. Everything has gone a bit bonkers, honestly."
"The War, like you said. The Metaplex is at war. The System vs The Counter-System vs The Anti-System."
"It's a good thing I know some truly excellent warriors," the Professor said with a smile. Maggie was handed a cup of tea.
"Thanks."
"I'll download you a copy of the most recent analyses and then we need to start working on what might be the most important question."
Maggie sipped the tea, glanced at the files downloading onto the tablet on the table in the cafe. "What's that?" she asked. The person seated at the table beside at her glanced over, then away.
Analysis One
Analysis Two
Analysis Three
"Whose side is Max on?"
Showing posts with label maggie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maggie. Show all posts
20160208
20160130
C2IP: The Agenda War IX
Mags and The Masked Man surrounded by fire and screams and blood.
Sugarcube used to love this town, she thinks, feeling her heart breaking again.
"The Mayor and the oil and the companies and the Law," the Masked Man shouts. "Drawing their lines and digging their holes and dispensing and withholding. This town's fortune and fate in their hands and everyone here is just a resource to them. Another means to an end. Sucking up life and love and dreams like the crude stuff and leaving ruined desperate husks. And Que will die and Mode and someone else will take their place. Let's call it The System. But the truth is there's no homes here, no jobs, no future without them.
"And the Wagoners with their hopes and their ideas and their ideals, doing what they can to get people well, keep them safe, make things better and stronger. Maybe make a change. Let's call it The Counter-System. All the ways they argue and fight it out. Who's using the schools and the papers and the places of gathering for what ends.
"Truth is, Maggie, and you know this in your heart, in your bones... It's all lies, all of it. This whole damn town is an infection, an open sore. This was free land once and a whole other people lived on it and with it and were murdered for it and enslaved. Omega Canyon, Temperance City, all the ranchers and cowboys, all the bounty hunters and Marshals, all the gamblers and the priests, all of it is a plague, a shadow, all of it rooted in native blood and suffering. If there's ever going to be any real future all this has to be torn down and burned away and the truth be owned and shared. That's the only way anything real is ever going to happen.
"That's why the only safe place in Omega Canyon is Judgement Grotto. The only part of this cursed enterprise that's even a little bit real: the graveyard.
"So that's why we're here. We're finally going to make everything real and send it all to the grave."
Maggie understood it now. Understood why things were in crisis.
Anti-System.
Sugarcube used to love this town, she thinks, feeling her heart breaking again.
"The Mayor and the oil and the companies and the Law," the Masked Man shouts. "Drawing their lines and digging their holes and dispensing and withholding. This town's fortune and fate in their hands and everyone here is just a resource to them. Another means to an end. Sucking up life and love and dreams like the crude stuff and leaving ruined desperate husks. And Que will die and Mode and someone else will take their place. Let's call it The System. But the truth is there's no homes here, no jobs, no future without them.
"And the Wagoners with their hopes and their ideas and their ideals, doing what they can to get people well, keep them safe, make things better and stronger. Maybe make a change. Let's call it The Counter-System. All the ways they argue and fight it out. Who's using the schools and the papers and the places of gathering for what ends.
"Truth is, Maggie, and you know this in your heart, in your bones... It's all lies, all of it. This whole damn town is an infection, an open sore. This was free land once and a whole other people lived on it and with it and were murdered for it and enslaved. Omega Canyon, Temperance City, all the ranchers and cowboys, all the bounty hunters and Marshals, all the gamblers and the priests, all of it is a plague, a shadow, all of it rooted in native blood and suffering. If there's ever going to be any real future all this has to be torn down and burned away and the truth be owned and shared. That's the only way anything real is ever going to happen.
"That's why the only safe place in Omega Canyon is Judgement Grotto. The only part of this cursed enterprise that's even a little bit real: the graveyard.
"So that's why we're here. We're finally going to make everything real and send it all to the grave."
Maggie understood it now. Understood why things were in crisis.
Anti-System.
20160127
C2IP: The Agenda War VIII
Mags, the smoke thick in the night, steps over Mode's corpse, the blood leaking from his gut reflecting the firelight, the flames thick in the night. She has the sudden thought that she's somehow killed this man before.
The citizens of Omega Canyon are screaming.
After shooting their way out of The Emperor, Dex ran for the schoolhouse, Wraith for the Star office, Cal for the old Hanged Man. They knew already, in their bones, that they were all already burning. People still needed protecting though.
Mags shoots another man who is about to shoot her. She's trying to size things up, make a count of things. Who started the shooting?
She can see, in the distance, the smoke parting like a curtain in the hot wind conjured up by the fire, that Que's manor is burning too. Glancing back, through more gunfire and screams, she sees that The Emperor is on fire.
War's come to Omega.
And then a figure in the midst of it, standing opposite Mags. She realizes that she's wandered into the main street, where Sugarcube and Logollos had drawn on each other. Do some things have beginnings?
Their hat is pulled low, a bandana pulled up high, face covered, thick duster and smoke and firelight making it hard to measure size, posture.
"You see what's happenin', Maggie?" they shout. Something about the voice. A knowing in it.
She thinks for a moment that it's Darius. Then she wonders if it's him, if Sugarcube's come back. She knows that she should know, that she should be able to tell, feels embarrassed that she can't. Truth is that things have never been quite right since the journey to the Horsebreeder's ranch.
"Tell me what's happenin', stranger!" Mags shouts back.
20160123
C2IP: The Agenda War VII
"Well, the bounty hunter was already there. She had rode in the night before, took a room at The Emperor. After checkin' The Hanged Man and learnin' it was shut down.
"So she's sittin' at the table in the corner with her rifle laid right out in front o' her, like she's darin' anyone to cross her. See, the clientelle was a lot o' hired guns workin' for the oil folks, mostly to guard shipments and the like, and sometimes keep the workin' folk in line. They were generally a fairly surly group, the kind you'd reasonably 'spect to trouble a lady sittin' by her lonesome in a Saloon.
"None of 'em troubled Mags Magenta though.
"And after a time the other three showed up and it was almost a reunion of the posse from the Incident last year, 'cept the Preacher wasn't there. The ex-sheriff, the ex-Marshal and the ex-gambler. They got to talkin' - I figures they were catchin' the bounty hunter up on all that had come to pass. The oil, the Mayor, the Law and the Wagoners.
"Part o' me woulda loved to been eavesdroppin' on that chat, just to know how exactly all this mess sounded in the tellin'. If any of it made any gorram sense or whether it was sense that died the day of the Logollos-Sugarcube showdown, if it was the corpse of normalcy and reason and right-thinkin' that they found in that coffin...
"The part left o' me though, if I'm to be truthful, is glad I never heard just what they said. They were an odd bunch, spooky and dangerous. For some reason, imaginin' what their conversation woulda been like makes me feel like when Pa would tell us ghost stories 'round the fire on cold winter nights.
"It wasn't long after that when the gents seated by the window began whisperin' that the Sheriff was outside.
"And then the first explosion happened.
"And then the shootin' started."
"So she's sittin' at the table in the corner with her rifle laid right out in front o' her, like she's darin' anyone to cross her. See, the clientelle was a lot o' hired guns workin' for the oil folks, mostly to guard shipments and the like, and sometimes keep the workin' folk in line. They were generally a fairly surly group, the kind you'd reasonably 'spect to trouble a lady sittin' by her lonesome in a Saloon.
"None of 'em troubled Mags Magenta though.
"And after a time the other three showed up and it was almost a reunion of the posse from the Incident last year, 'cept the Preacher wasn't there. The ex-sheriff, the ex-Marshal and the ex-gambler. They got to talkin' - I figures they were catchin' the bounty hunter up on all that had come to pass. The oil, the Mayor, the Law and the Wagoners.
"Part o' me woulda loved to been eavesdroppin' on that chat, just to know how exactly all this mess sounded in the tellin'. If any of it made any gorram sense or whether it was sense that died the day of the Logollos-Sugarcube showdown, if it was the corpse of normalcy and reason and right-thinkin' that they found in that coffin...
"The part left o' me though, if I'm to be truthful, is glad I never heard just what they said. They were an odd bunch, spooky and dangerous. For some reason, imaginin' what their conversation woulda been like makes me feel like when Pa would tell us ghost stories 'round the fire on cold winter nights.
"It wasn't long after that when the gents seated by the window began whisperin' that the Sheriff was outside.
"And then the first explosion happened.
"And then the shootin' started."
20151229
C2IP: The Agenda War I
Previously in v.Western...
*
It was a dark time for Omega Canyon.
A year had passed since The Incident at Judgement Grotto. The rumours about what had happened far outnumbered the facts and the townsfolk were content to let the tales be, as if telling them was like to summon trouble.
While the certainties about what had transpired in the graveyard that night - and about how it had led to the ranch of a mysterious horsebreeder being burned down - were few, there were some details about what followed that were plainly agreed upon.
Logollos and his corrupt ways were gone. Driven out or shot down, folks wouldn't offer a guess either way. He wasn't missed.
The lawman Dexter Washington had given up his badge and taken up residence in the Canyon, opening a small schoolhouse.
The marshal Wednesday Wraith had also unpinned her star and become a part-owner of the local printing press. She had began publishing a newspaper.
Callan Lokk had won The Hanged Man Saloon in a card game, kept the original owner in his employ, and given up gambling.
A new graveyard had been fenced-off and consecrated - the final act of the priest Darius Angelus before he disappeared.
The last of the strangers who had ridden into town the day before The Incident had also disappeared, the bounty hunter Mags Magenta.
Those were the handful of facts but out of the many, many rumours one was generally considered to be true: that when the grave of the strange drifter Sugarcube had been opened that mysterious night it was not his body they found inside.
However odd, The Incident and what came of it had actually changed the fortune of the Canyon for the better. The reversal of that fortune, and the cause of the current troubles, began shortly after when the Office of Frontier Affairs arrived and announced the discovery of oil in the land surrounding Omega...
*
It was a dark time for Omega Canyon.
A year had passed since The Incident at Judgement Grotto. The rumours about what had happened far outnumbered the facts and the townsfolk were content to let the tales be, as if telling them was like to summon trouble.
While the certainties about what had transpired in the graveyard that night - and about how it had led to the ranch of a mysterious horsebreeder being burned down - were few, there were some details about what followed that were plainly agreed upon.
Logollos and his corrupt ways were gone. Driven out or shot down, folks wouldn't offer a guess either way. He wasn't missed.
The lawman Dexter Washington had given up his badge and taken up residence in the Canyon, opening a small schoolhouse.
The marshal Wednesday Wraith had also unpinned her star and become a part-owner of the local printing press. She had began publishing a newspaper.
Callan Lokk had won The Hanged Man Saloon in a card game, kept the original owner in his employ, and given up gambling.
A new graveyard had been fenced-off and consecrated - the final act of the priest Darius Angelus before he disappeared.
The last of the strangers who had ridden into town the day before The Incident had also disappeared, the bounty hunter Mags Magenta.
Those were the handful of facts but out of the many, many rumours one was generally considered to be true: that when the grave of the strange drifter Sugarcube had been opened that mysterious night it was not his body they found inside.
However odd, The Incident and what came of it had actually changed the fortune of the Canyon for the better. The reversal of that fortune, and the cause of the current troubles, began shortly after when the Office of Frontier Affairs arrived and announced the discovery of oil in the land surrounding Omega...
to be continued
20151224
Paraplex: Archival
The third punch knocked the heavy metal door off its hinges. After the clanging, silence. Some oddly coloured vapours drifted from the dimly lit room. Strange smelling too but since the Upgrade toxins didn't seem to affect her anymore.
She was here to try and understand how and why the Upgrade had happened. She was here to try and learn what was happening to Max, if he was having another breakdown or if everyone else was or both.
A man named Marshal had texted her this location. She thought she recognized the name but couldn't be sure. Couldn't be sure if her memories of being a secret operative throughout history were real or just TV shows she had watched once. Had she always been like this or was this something Max had done to her?
Stepping into the chamber.
Six suspension-tanks. Not unlike the ones she and Max had climbed out of in the Atlantis base one of the first times they had met. I think I was blonde then. She couldn't make out the figures floating inside them but each one had a digital screen.
Riveta - Status Unknown
Stone - Version Indigo
Scorpio - Version Elephant Tiger
Mayganne - Version Sting Ray
Donnelly - Signal Lost
Susanna - Signal Corrupted
That made her feel sad. She had vague, dream-like memories of a woman with that name who took care of her at a time she was lost and alone and hurting.
Beyond the tanks and the clusters of wires and tubing that fed into them were four doors. Each had a label.
PROJECT ELLIPSES
PROJECT HORIZON
PROJECT BEAST
SUBJECT A-443-C
Maggie suddenly felt afraid.
She was here to try and understand how and why the Upgrade had happened. She was here to try and learn what was happening to Max, if he was having another breakdown or if everyone else was or both.
A man named Marshal had texted her this location. She thought she recognized the name but couldn't be sure. Couldn't be sure if her memories of being a secret operative throughout history were real or just TV shows she had watched once. Had she always been like this or was this something Max had done to her?
Stepping into the chamber.
Six suspension-tanks. Not unlike the ones she and Max had climbed out of in the Atlantis base one of the first times they had met. I think I was blonde then. She couldn't make out the figures floating inside them but each one had a digital screen.
Riveta - Status Unknown
Stone - Version Indigo
Scorpio - Version Elephant Tiger
Mayganne - Version Sting Ray
Donnelly - Signal Lost
Susanna - Signal Corrupted
That made her feel sad. She had vague, dream-like memories of a woman with that name who took care of her at a time she was lost and alone and hurting.
Beyond the tanks and the clusters of wires and tubing that fed into them were four doors. Each had a label.
PROJECT ELLIPSES
PROJECT HORIZON
PROJECT BEAST
SUBJECT A-443-C
Maggie suddenly felt afraid.
20151221
Hyperplex: Battle Part Two
Shortly after the Dragons began infiltrating the Museum the building came under attack from a LEGACY tactical team. A furious three-way battle erupted.
The Ashen Tradition deployed their psycho-theurgic toxins, transforming infected LEGACY soldiers into ravenous human-beast hybrids that turned on each other.
LEGACY operatives fired swarms of nano-enhanced smart-rounds that used echolocation-sensors and micro-fluid architecture to course-correct in mid-flight and track their targets.
Aqua, safe in the armour of her Mech, alternated pulses of autonic energy to disrupt the AT toxin fields and quantum-chaff to destabilize the trajectories of the LEGACY munitions.
Goner fired bursts of energy from his upgraded arm and Angst evoked designer combat-spirits from Liminal Space.
And Mags jumped into the middle of it all, punching and throwing and kicking.
From the shadows, Frank scanned the minds of the Tradition Mages and the LEGACY Agents, infiltrating their psychic defences like a ninja or occasionally smashing through their conditioning like a tank.
He learned that the source of intel that had tipped off the Ultraviolet Lodge to the Tradition's portal was someone they had pegged for a System operative. Which suggested that the Tradition were in sync with Counter... Except that more hidden thoughts revealed that the Tradition had been pointed to the Hyperplex by another operative who also seemed to be serving System. And that same operative appeared to be the one who leaked the Tradition's plan to LEGACY.
Was one of the leaks actually a Counter agent? Or had the System set all of this up as a trap for the Dragons? Or did they want the Dragons to reach the Hyperplex?
The Ashen Tradition deployed their psycho-theurgic toxins, transforming infected LEGACY soldiers into ravenous human-beast hybrids that turned on each other.
LEGACY operatives fired swarms of nano-enhanced smart-rounds that used echolocation-sensors and micro-fluid architecture to course-correct in mid-flight and track their targets.
Aqua, safe in the armour of her Mech, alternated pulses of autonic energy to disrupt the AT toxin fields and quantum-chaff to destabilize the trajectories of the LEGACY munitions.
Goner fired bursts of energy from his upgraded arm and Angst evoked designer combat-spirits from Liminal Space.
And Mags jumped into the middle of it all, punching and throwing and kicking.
From the shadows, Frank scanned the minds of the Tradition Mages and the LEGACY Agents, infiltrating their psychic defences like a ninja or occasionally smashing through their conditioning like a tank.
He learned that the source of intel that had tipped off the Ultraviolet Lodge to the Tradition's portal was someone they had pegged for a System operative. Which suggested that the Tradition were in sync with Counter... Except that more hidden thoughts revealed that the Tradition had been pointed to the Hyperplex by another operative who also seemed to be serving System. And that same operative appeared to be the one who leaked the Tradition's plan to LEGACY.
Was one of the leaks actually a Counter agent? Or had the System set all of this up as a trap for the Dragons? Or did they want the Dragons to reach the Hyperplex?
20151119
The Battle for the Hyperplex Part One: E.S.P.ionage
The intel indicated that the Ashen Tradition was seeking a powerful relic called The Hyperplex.
Collateral information referenced the Hyperplex in contradictory fashion; sometimes it was described as a Staff, others a Chalice, sometimes a Sword and, of course, a Disc. Max had lots of ideas about what the Hyperplex could be, what it might mean, how it might relate to the other Plexes they were learning about; he was the idea guy, after all.
The rest of the team knew that ideas were important but sometimes not as important as taking action. So Max hunkered down to try and figure things out and the other Dragons went to work.
Angst learned from a contact in the Ultraviolet Lodge that the Tradition had a large-scale portal operation running in a secret sub-basement of the local Museum.
Angst learned from a contact in the Ultraviolet Lodge that the Tradition had a large-scale portal operation running in a secret sub-basement of the local Museum.
Frank conducted some psychic eavesdropping on people entering and exiting the Museum; he confirmed that the portal was indeed active but could not determine where it led to.
Goner was able to hack the Museum's security and Angst was able to counter the protective wards that the Tradition had set up.
They had put the call out to Aqua and to Maggie, anticipating that things would likely get hostile once they made a move on the portal.
When the team gathered, after a few minutes of warm reunion, they prepared to enter the Museum...
20151113
Spilling Milk
Mags Qute looked up from the book she was reading and over at Axie and waited for him to speak. His bright blond hair stood up in messy tufts as the sun streaked through the dark room. Providing light in the abandoned house.
"We've been here for three days now," she stated. Or has it been longer? Placing the tome on the table as she reached for the coffee. "When do we move again?"
Haven't we moved already?
Axie glanced at her and smiled. He had been sharpening his knife on a whetstone. "As soon as Franz and Loner return."
"Maybe they got captured?" Mags stated. They've been captured already, we know they have, so what are we doing here? Back here? "Then what do we do?"
"I guess we can cry over the spilled milk then," he replied.
No, not again...
"We've been here for three days now," she stated. Or has it been longer? Placing the tome on the table as she reached for the coffee. "When do we move again?"
Haven't we moved already?
Axie glanced at her and smiled. He had been sharpening his knife on a whetstone. "As soon as Franz and Loner return."
"Maybe they got captured?" Mags stated. They've been captured already, we know they have, so what are we doing here? Back here? "Then what do we do?"
"I guess we can cry over the spilled milk then," he replied.
No, not again...
20151031
Happy Halloween 3
Previously on Halloween...
The Dragons' Costumes (version.Sense8)
(Max, Tatter, Suki, Goner, Frank, Angst, Marshal, Maggie)
The Professor and Morganfokker's Costumes (version.Sense8)
Morganfokker's Costume (vesrion.HalfLife)
Max's Costume (version.Multiversity)
20151028
FLASHBACKORFORWARDORSIDEWAYS
Max snapped a fresh clip into Joy then another into Pain. He blinked his eyes, steadied his breathing. The wall was cold against his back, and for a second he flashed on a vague memory of being in some sort of Dome, like a sci-fi underworld. Sometimes the flashes of alternate versions shook him to the core, left him dizzy and spinning. And other times they reminded him that he was a superhero after all. Max spun into the hallway and started sighting, squeezing, repeating, breathing. The guns sounded like a giant beating a drum, shattering the air, the arms and chests of the targets shattering, their black suits exploding in red, their sunglasses hiding eyes gone wide and empty. Max was graceful in the violence because he wasn’t really there; his mind was drifting in a vision of reciting poetry to a shining hologram of his one true love. The rhythm of the words and the rhythm of the weapons ended and the hallway was quiet, the LEGACY hit squad destroyed, Max breathing steadily.
Speakers imbedded in the walls crackled on. “That’s quite alright Mr. Cube. Even as you stand there reloading and no doubt indulging in some fancy psychic technique the nanofabric of the carpeting is absorbing DNA from the blood you have spilled and funneling into microtubes that will be launched into orbit, retrieved by one of our satellites, and bonded to alien-robot hybrid hunters we have in stasis. They will be set loose to track you down, all their superkilling talents infused with the vengeance of the guards you just killed.”
“That’s actually really cool,” Max said.
The speakers crackled. “… Um, sorry?”
“I said that’s really cool. How you’re doing all that stuff with all your crazy technology.”
Speakers imbedded in the walls crackled on. “That’s quite alright Mr. Cube. Even as you stand there reloading and no doubt indulging in some fancy psychic technique the nanofabric of the carpeting is absorbing DNA from the blood you have spilled and funneling into microtubes that will be launched into orbit, retrieved by one of our satellites, and bonded to alien-robot hybrid hunters we have in stasis. They will be set loose to track you down, all their superkilling talents infused with the vengeance of the guards you just killed.”
“That’s actually really cool,” Max said.
The speakers crackled. “… Um, sorry?”
“I said that’s really cool. How you’re doing all that stuff with all your crazy technology.”
“You mean you aren’t scared by it?” the speakers blurted.
“You’re going to all that effort to customize an advanced multi-type team of assassins from space just for me. I’m flattered. And slightly insecure that I won’t live up to the hype.”
The speakers fuzzed and went quiet. Just then Max’s cell rang. The Professor’s voice barged in as soon as the phone flipped open.
“Max, while you’ve been battling LEGACY in their Tower Maggie had been targeted by another supervillain! I believe the villain may be in league with Morganfokker! Her name is-“
“The Cheerleader. I know her. We’ve actually met.” Max lit a smoke.
“You’re going to all that effort to customize an advanced multi-type team of assassins from space just for me. I’m flattered. And slightly insecure that I won’t live up to the hype.”
The speakers fuzzed and went quiet. Just then Max’s cell rang. The Professor’s voice barged in as soon as the phone flipped open.
“Max, while you’ve been battling LEGACY in their Tower Maggie had been targeted by another supervillain! I believe the villain may be in league with Morganfokker! Her name is-“
“The Cheerleader. I know her. We’ve actually met.” Max lit a smoke.
“Max, this is serious! All the data I have on The Cheerleader indicates that she is an Omega Level- waitaminute… You’ve met her?”
“Listen Prof, I’m not surprised to hear Maggie’s going at it against DeeGee.” He inhaled, staring down at the carpet, imagining the tiny robots in the carpet gathering up the molecules of blood. It was beautiful in a way. Maybe when the alien-robot hunters finally caught him they could figure out a way to reprogram them or something. A way to give even a bit of these guards a second chance.
“DeeGee?!?! Max what are you talking about?”
“Maggie’s undergoing a ritual and-“
“Another one? She just got out of the Initiation Chamber?!?!”
“Calm down, Prof. She’s invoking the arcana of the High Priestess in order to attain a greater level of wisdom, self-understanding and inner peace. Sacred combat against her shadows and dark sides is part of the ritual. Maggie’s no doubt engaging the Cheerleader to serve as an iconic manifestation of that darkness.”
“Ahh…” The Professor went quiet for a moment and Max could hear the sound of typing and some beeping. “I’ve updated my file, but I still think we have a problem and that Mags might be in danger.”
Max pushed the button on the elevator. Getting out of the LEGACY tower would be a hard job, even with the initial hit squad stopped.
“Why’s that?” Max’s tone grew serious.
“Based on my readings Maggie’s psychic waveform is oscillating between her identity as Ms. Magenta and, if you can believe this…”
The elevator doors slid open. “Think who you’re asking.”
“Listen Prof, I’m not surprised to hear Maggie’s going at it against DeeGee.” He inhaled, staring down at the carpet, imagining the tiny robots in the carpet gathering up the molecules of blood. It was beautiful in a way. Maybe when the alien-robot hunters finally caught him they could figure out a way to reprogram them or something. A way to give even a bit of these guards a second chance.
“DeeGee?!?! Max what are you talking about?”
“Maggie’s undergoing a ritual and-“
“Another one? She just got out of the Initiation Chamber?!?!”
“Calm down, Prof. She’s invoking the arcana of the High Priestess in order to attain a greater level of wisdom, self-understanding and inner peace. Sacred combat against her shadows and dark sides is part of the ritual. Maggie’s no doubt engaging the Cheerleader to serve as an iconic manifestation of that darkness.”
“Ahh…” The Professor went quiet for a moment and Max could hear the sound of typing and some beeping. “I’ve updated my file, but I still think we have a problem and that Mags might be in danger.”
Max pushed the button on the elevator. Getting out of the LEGACY tower would be a hard job, even with the initial hit squad stopped.
“Why’s that?” Max’s tone grew serious.
“Based on my readings Maggie’s psychic waveform is oscillating between her identity as Ms. Magenta and, if you can believe this…”
The elevator doors slid open. “Think who you’re asking.”
“Well. Maggie, even as she is in combat with The Cheerleader, is phasing back and forth into a tiny little faerie named Misfit…”
Max stepped into the elevator. “Gotcha. I’ll give her a call.”
The cellphone signal sputtered slightly inside the shielded elevator. The Professor’s voice warbled, “Which one?”
Max flicked the cigarette through the closing doors. “Think who you’re asking.”
Max stepped into the elevator. “Gotcha. I’ll give her a call.”
The cellphone signal sputtered slightly inside the shielded elevator. The Professor’s voice warbled, “Which one?”
Max flicked the cigarette through the closing doors. “Think who you’re asking.”
20151005
The Stars Aligned
Derek Moore sat on the car looking up at the stars; his father, Andrew, leaned against it making sure that Derek didn't move too far on the hood. It was dusk and the evening was claiming the sky, fading away the blanket of blue and revealing the stars slowly but surely.
"I think I see Max," Derek said as he looked up to see a group of stars clustered like a man flying through the air in some gun-fu maneuvers. "And Maggie is right next to him."
Andrew's eyes looked to the heavens and saw that Max and Maggie were there in the clear evening sky, his eyes taking in the constellations of the cat, Trump, and the bird, Crow, as well.
"It's beautiful sight," Andrew said.
"That it is, Dad," Derek said. He loved the nights he spent with his dad since it meant sitting out under the stars and looking at the constellations.
"Look, there's Aqua," Andrew pointed. "Looks like she has her friend with her as well."
"I think I see Max," Derek said as he looked up to see a group of stars clustered like a man flying through the air in some gun-fu maneuvers. "And Maggie is right next to him."
Andrew's eyes looked to the heavens and saw that Max and Maggie were there in the clear evening sky, his eyes taking in the constellations of the cat, Trump, and the bird, Crow, as well.
"It's beautiful sight," Andrew said.
"That it is, Dad," Derek said. He loved the nights he spent with his dad since it meant sitting out under the stars and looking at the constellations.
"Look, there's Aqua," Andrew pointed. "Looks like she has her friend with her as well."
20151002
C2IP Update.2
The ground shook again, dislodging more rubble from the bombed-out buildings. Shadows swept across the ground from the light of the flares in the night sky, voices hollow and fuzzy with static calling out over malfunctioning sound-systems, repeating emergency protocol directions that were very 'too-little-too-late'. Mick strolled down the centre of the cracked and scorched street as if all the lights and noise were a massive party; this wasn't his first apocalypse. In a lot of ways he felt at home in disaster zones; they were somehow more honest.
His contacts were less brazen, with good reason Mick figured, given that of the ever-increasing number of factions in what appeared to be a cold-war-turned-hot-turning-nova most likely had capture or kill orders out on them. They signalled to him with a pre-arranged series of flashlight blinks from the shadows of a ruined hotel lobby.
"Okay," Mick said, hunkered down behind the front desk. "First off, no I haven't gotten any leads on who the double-agent is. I don't doubt your intel, especially given the source, but there are so many variables in play right now...
"Second, Goner's rejoined Max, Frank and Angst, so they're active again as a cell. Plus they've gotten a lead on Mags - sounds like she's changed too.
"As for Suki, it looks like she's actually shifted along the Chronoplex - that's what we're calling it now, right? She seems to be in a much older version of herself. I know, it's not the first-time Suki's age has altered. No idea if or how she's going to intersect with the others.
"The Diner crew... Things are still different with them too... Like they're on a different frequency from the other Dragons? I dunno, I feel like something's brewing there.
"Max has got his spirit guides in play, the bird and the talking cat. Still nothing from Aqua. Oh, but get this - I found this weird urban legend about this strange warrior-monk type-guy who wanders the globe, actually walking, no planes or buses. He's this dirty bearded vagabond, stops briefly to debate about things like Confucianism or Norse Mythology. Sometimes does a bit of intervening on a street-level if there's some injustice happening, and ain't there always? There's versions of the tale where he seeks out a vision at holy places, the hidden Temple of the Sky on Everest, the sacred glass monolith at the centre of the Sahara Desert, the keystone of the Great Wall of China that contains the last essence of the demon Hrarchuta who sacrificed his immortality to save his love, the angelic Yuriti... It's great stuff; I wish I'd written it. But it's got to be our boy Akimoto, right?
"And lastly, just so I'm keeping track, so far there's the Chronoplex, the Paraplex, and the Ultraplex? Now, how about you share with me: do we know yet what exactly has kicked off this whole mess between the System and Counter-System?"
The contacts exchanged glances.
Suddenly a swarm of sirens began wailing outside and the thunder of helicopters erupted overhead. Mick sighed. "I get it, 'to be continued'."
His contacts were less brazen, with good reason Mick figured, given that of the ever-increasing number of factions in what appeared to be a cold-war-turned-hot-turning-nova most likely had capture or kill orders out on them. They signalled to him with a pre-arranged series of flashlight blinks from the shadows of a ruined hotel lobby.
"Okay," Mick said, hunkered down behind the front desk. "First off, no I haven't gotten any leads on who the double-agent is. I don't doubt your intel, especially given the source, but there are so many variables in play right now...
"Second, Goner's rejoined Max, Frank and Angst, so they're active again as a cell. Plus they've gotten a lead on Mags - sounds like she's changed too.
"As for Suki, it looks like she's actually shifted along the Chronoplex - that's what we're calling it now, right? She seems to be in a much older version of herself. I know, it's not the first-time Suki's age has altered. No idea if or how she's going to intersect with the others.
"The Diner crew... Things are still different with them too... Like they're on a different frequency from the other Dragons? I dunno, I feel like something's brewing there.
"Max has got his spirit guides in play, the bird and the talking cat. Still nothing from Aqua. Oh, but get this - I found this weird urban legend about this strange warrior-monk type-guy who wanders the globe, actually walking, no planes or buses. He's this dirty bearded vagabond, stops briefly to debate about things like Confucianism or Norse Mythology. Sometimes does a bit of intervening on a street-level if there's some injustice happening, and ain't there always? There's versions of the tale where he seeks out a vision at holy places, the hidden Temple of the Sky on Everest, the sacred glass monolith at the centre of the Sahara Desert, the keystone of the Great Wall of China that contains the last essence of the demon Hrarchuta who sacrificed his immortality to save his love, the angelic Yuriti... It's great stuff; I wish I'd written it. But it's got to be our boy Akimoto, right?
"And lastly, just so I'm keeping track, so far there's the Chronoplex, the Paraplex, and the Ultraplex? Now, how about you share with me: do we know yet what exactly has kicked off this whole mess between the System and Counter-System?"
The contacts exchanged glances.
Suddenly a swarm of sirens began wailing outside and the thunder of helicopters erupted overhead. Mick sighed. "I get it, 'to be continued'."
20150901
Spilled Milk
Matt Khoob looked up from the book he was reading and over at Aggie and waited for her to speak. Her bright red hair hung to her shoulders as the sun streaked through the dark room. Providing light in the abandoned house.
"We've been here for three days now," he stated. Placing the tome on the table as he reached for the tea. "When do we move again?"
Aggie glanced at him and smiled. She had been sharpening her knife on a whetstone. "As soon as Hank and Toner return."
"Maybe they got captured?" Matt stated. "Then what do we do?"
"I guess we can cry over the spilled milk then," she replied.
"We've been here for three days now," he stated. Placing the tome on the table as he reached for the tea. "When do we move again?"
Aggie glanced at him and smiled. She had been sharpening her knife on a whetstone. "As soon as Hank and Toner return."
"Maybe they got captured?" Matt stated. "Then what do we do?"
"I guess we can cry over the spilled milk then," she replied.
20150829
“I've Got Thick Skin And An Elastic Heart” [version.Upgrade]
“I miss the Bookstore but the food here is good at least,” Angst said as she took another bite of the curry.
Max sipped on his mango milkshake.
“So...” she continued. “If everything Control told you was true, about the weapons and costumes and the subway and all that, does that mean we were working for the Counter-System all that time?”
“I honestly don't know, Angst.” He looked at her. He still trusted her and knew that she trusted him but things were different now.
Crow entered the restaurant, looking like a young black woman with short pink hair. Max waved and explained to Angst that Crow had arrived; only Max could see her. Angst slid over to make room in the booth.
“I've got news,” Crow said as soon as she was seated. “Maggie was being held in a System facility. I don't know how They got her, but it does conform to her recurring Initiation arc.”
Angst watched a serious expression come over Max's face as he stared into the air beside her. His beard made him look older, more worn out.
Crow continued. “She got out though, like she always does. Apparently she was locked in a vault of some kind but she eventually escaped. By tearing the doors off their hinges. Big doors. Metal doors.”
Angst saw Max's eyes widen slightly, the hint of a smile.
“And when the guards opened fire on her... the bullets bounced off of her. She punched a hole in a wall and leaped into the sky.”
Now Max was smiling.
“No idea if They were experimenting on her or if this is the result of all that Angel/Demon magic she used to be into. And no clue where she ran to.”
Angst watched Max pull out his wallet and gesture to the server for the bill. He asked the space beside her, “Do you have the location of the facility?”
Max sipped on his mango milkshake.
“So...” she continued. “If everything Control told you was true, about the weapons and costumes and the subway and all that, does that mean we were working for the Counter-System all that time?”
“I honestly don't know, Angst.” He looked at her. He still trusted her and knew that she trusted him but things were different now.
Crow entered the restaurant, looking like a young black woman with short pink hair. Max waved and explained to Angst that Crow had arrived; only Max could see her. Angst slid over to make room in the booth.
“I've got news,” Crow said as soon as she was seated. “Maggie was being held in a System facility. I don't know how They got her, but it does conform to her recurring Initiation arc.”
Angst watched a serious expression come over Max's face as he stared into the air beside her. His beard made him look older, more worn out.
Crow continued. “She got out though, like she always does. Apparently she was locked in a vault of some kind but she eventually escaped. By tearing the doors off their hinges. Big doors. Metal doors.”
Angst saw Max's eyes widen slightly, the hint of a smile.
“And when the guards opened fire on her... the bullets bounced off of her. She punched a hole in a wall and leaped into the sky.”
Now Max was smiling.
“No idea if They were experimenting on her or if this is the result of all that Angel/Demon magic she used to be into. And no clue where she ran to.”
Angst watched Max pull out his wallet and gesture to the server for the bill. He asked the space beside her, “Do you have the location of the facility?”
20150817
C2IP Update.1
Mick opened the locker and removed the satchel, headed to the nearest washroom. The intercom rattled off train arrival and departure notifications in a bland, synthetic voice. A security drone hummed over the swarm of commuters. Mick had taken two capsules of Glamour before arriving at the station and run some invisibility mantras - he'd be cloaked from any surveillance for about an hour. Unless the Sidhe showed up, which meant things were fucked anyway.
Hunkered in a stall, Mick unzipped the satchel. There was a hardcover book, one of the sourcebooks for the Aeon Triumph Gun Messiahs RPG. A pencil and a piece of paper. Mick used the book as a firm surface to write on, scrawling notes quickly with the pencil on the paper.
Four System operations identified.
Two Counter-System activities being monitored, plus one potential.
Pretty George might be dead.
Max has made contact with Dexter, Wraith and Callan - still not sure if they've joined the System or have been recruited by Counter. No contact with Darius (he's been running on a parallel stream ever since the Millennium Incident I think, which Max doesn't know much about, either because he wasn't there or can't remember).
Max is still working closely with Angst and Frank.
Goner's gone dark. Suki seems to be missing.
Aqua disappeared with the remains of the Subway car.
I've got some rumours on Akimoto to follow-up on.
The name Summer keeps coming up...?
No confirmed contact with Maggie.
No clues yet to which one is the double-agent.
Any idea what the fuck exactly is going on?
Mick folded the paper once and tucked it inside the book. He noticed the page he had randomly opened to: the description and stats for one of the Vatars that players could summon once they reached level 13 as a Gun Messiah. 'The Void'.
He shivered. Then sneered. Mick was not the superstitious type.
Hunkered in a stall, Mick unzipped the satchel. There was a hardcover book, one of the sourcebooks for the Aeon Triumph Gun Messiahs RPG. A pencil and a piece of paper. Mick used the book as a firm surface to write on, scrawling notes quickly with the pencil on the paper.
Four System operations identified.
Two Counter-System activities being monitored, plus one potential.
Pretty George might be dead.
Max has made contact with Dexter, Wraith and Callan - still not sure if they've joined the System or have been recruited by Counter. No contact with Darius (he's been running on a parallel stream ever since the Millennium Incident I think, which Max doesn't know much about, either because he wasn't there or can't remember).
Max is still working closely with Angst and Frank.
Goner's gone dark. Suki seems to be missing.
Aqua disappeared with the remains of the Subway car.
I've got some rumours on Akimoto to follow-up on.
The name Summer keeps coming up...?
No confirmed contact with Maggie.
No clues yet to which one is the double-agent.
Any idea what the fuck exactly is going on?
Mick folded the paper once and tucked it inside the book. He noticed the page he had randomly opened to: the description and stats for one of the Vatars that players could summon once they reached level 13 as a Gun Messiah. 'The Void'.
He shivered. Then sneered. Mick was not the superstitious type.
20150721
A Night At The Lab
Max stepped out of the car and walked around to the entrance as he tossed the keys to a young fellow rushing up to pull the car into a private lot. Max opened to door for Maggie who was dressed to kill in a red Baroness Lumiche dress with a dazzling necklace by Ammon Pryce that cost as much as a small nation.
Max looked spiffy in his Hugo Nass suit, diamond cufflinks and tie pin as well. His $3000 hairstyle didn't even budge in the slight breeze. Glancing at him one would think that he was a dead ringer for that 80's icon, Max Headroom.
"Max over here!" he could hear the ladies calling him. All with fPhones ready to snap a picture of him and flood the intrawebs sites like Fall'n, Tweetie and Novelhead. His agent said it was golden to be snapped up around town and his ratings would hit the roof, making his brand even more known.
Tonight was the opening of the hottest club in town, The Lab, owned by Morganfokker Productions and catering to the filthy rich and lavishing luxury. The place was going to be all over the news in the morning...
Max looked spiffy in his Hugo Nass suit, diamond cufflinks and tie pin as well. His $3000 hairstyle didn't even budge in the slight breeze. Glancing at him one would think that he was a dead ringer for that 80's icon, Max Headroom.
"Max over here!" he could hear the ladies calling him. All with fPhones ready to snap a picture of him and flood the intrawebs sites like Fall'n, Tweetie and Novelhead. His agent said it was golden to be snapped up around town and his ratings would hit the roof, making his brand even more known.
Tonight was the opening of the hottest club in town, The Lab, owned by Morganfokker Productions and catering to the filthy rich and lavishing luxury. The place was going to be all over the news in the morning...
20150614
Instability - Prelude to Crisis
Max picked up the cellphone as soon as he heard 'Gotta Get The Job Done' by The Plastik Kyngdom. It was his ring tone for messages, alerting him that something was up. A series of long numbers appeared:
Lat: 38.990156264858015
Long: -94.61059659719467
Temporal Instability: 88.89%
Liable Crunch: 98.02%
3 Days and Counting.
"Sweet Mother of all things ..." he muttered as he slid his phone across the table and showed the screen to Maggie. "We need to get there in a hurry."
"That's pretty damn high," Maggie replied. "The Professor sure about this?"
"As sure as toast landing on the buttered side once it's been dropped," he replied. He dialed #333 on his phone and sent it. It was the call sign for the team to gather pronto.
Whatever was going to happen in 3 Days was going to be big.
Lat: 38.990156264858015
Long: -94.61059659719467
Temporal Instability: 88.89%
Liable Crunch: 98.02%
3 Days and Counting.
"Sweet Mother of all things ..." he muttered as he slid his phone across the table and showed the screen to Maggie. "We need to get there in a hurry."
"That's pretty damn high," Maggie replied. "The Professor sure about this?"
"As sure as toast landing on the buttered side once it's been dropped," he replied. He dialed #333 on his phone and sent it. It was the call sign for the team to gather pronto.
Whatever was going to happen in 3 Days was going to be big.
20150607
20150601
Continuity
Control says, "Current analysis of the newest Iteration of the Metaplex suggests that there are increased levels of Continuity occurring between events... That there are higher amounts of cause and effect... That things are starting to connect, to make more sense... Whether this is helpful or harmful to Max remains to be seen."
The Professor says, “Don't pretend that this isn't all part of your design. Whatever your intentions, I have to believe that by achieving Continuity Max will finally have some peace...”
Morganfokker says, “Continuity is the greatest of all lies, and the greatest of all traps.”
Maggie says, “Maybe it means something finally coming true, for better or worse.”
Max says, “I barely remember it now, being in the mansion, fighting that monstrous cyborg, and hoping that maybe it would be the thing... I was hallucinating messages from a television producer, or maybe the cyborg was the hallucination... I believed that if things worked out we would get picked up, if we were a TV series, or get to stay together if we were a team of supernatural warriors... I kissed a girl – was it Maggie? I hoped that the romance would make it count more, mean more. I wanted it all to mean something. To matter. I wanted Continuity more than anything. Now, sometimes, it scares me... I can't make up my mind.”
The Professor says, “Don't pretend that this isn't all part of your design. Whatever your intentions, I have to believe that by achieving Continuity Max will finally have some peace...”
Morganfokker says, “Continuity is the greatest of all lies, and the greatest of all traps.”
Maggie says, “Maybe it means something finally coming true, for better or worse.”
Max says, “I barely remember it now, being in the mansion, fighting that monstrous cyborg, and hoping that maybe it would be the thing... I was hallucinating messages from a television producer, or maybe the cyborg was the hallucination... I believed that if things worked out we would get picked up, if we were a TV series, or get to stay together if we were a team of supernatural warriors... I kissed a girl – was it Maggie? I hoped that the romance would make it count more, mean more. I wanted it all to mean something. To matter. I wanted Continuity more than anything. Now, sometimes, it scares me... I can't make up my mind.”
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