Lightweaver/Fulton, 6/24/2016

WorstMirari: "Senator, can you meet me in the sparring room? I want to give you a feel for how that bracelet works, and I have some documents to show you"
Grimely: It's just the Stately Manor HQ from the book but with the dock swapped for a defense system and cells added on
Grimely: "I'll send two of me then."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver has set up 3 hardlight Ted Cruz figures, spaced evenly throughout the area. They pace around and snigger.
Grimely: "You're a hero, Yanhu."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver smiles "This seemed like the right choice. Start by practicing with the ranged, and then switch it to melee when you feel you've got the hang of it?"
WorstMirari: Lightweaver turns her attention to the other Fulton "And, here are those documents. Ante emailed them to me."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver projects the documents onto two hardlight screens
WorstMirari: The Ted Cruz figures accelerate, moving much faster as they attempt to evade the kinetic cannon
Grimely: Senator Fulton dons the bracelet as Senator Fulton starts reading the documents. The first Fulton fires, the construct around his wrist locking into place as it sends out a burst of energy.
WorstMirari: Ted Cruz 1 fails to evade, the blast being instantaneous. The force knocks the construct back, slamming it towards the wall before Lightweaver arrests its momentum. It scowls.
WorstMirari: Lightweaver turns to the fighting Fulton "Nice! As long as you line up your shot, it should be basically impossible to dodge: it corrects for minor delays and there's no travel time."
Grimely: Both Senator Fultons pause, their faces growing pale as they shake their heads. "It's... no... that's..."
Grimely: "Ascalon is a tachyon lance."
WorstMirari: "Oh."
WorstMirari: "...Joe didn't know that."
Grimely: "Who?"
WorstMirari: "I don't actually know what a tachyon lance is, but Terreanfor's file said it was weak to them. What are they?"
WorstMirari: "Uh, a coffee shop employee."
Grimely: "...how did you get Terreanfor's file?"
WorstMirari: "I asked the system for it and gave it to me."
Grimely: "I have it."
WorstMirari: A third document shows up, and then winks out of existence
WorstMirari: "...how did you get it?"
Grimely: The sitting US Senator and metahuman part of UNMETA-US looks at Lightweaver like she should know better.
WorstMirari: "...ah, of course."
WorstMirari: "I'm not exactly sure how I got the permissions for it. Rex Babel changed my permissions before I tried to access a document I should have last week."
WorstMirari: "I think this might have been a side effect of that."
Grimely: "You should know, the angel banished is how UNMETA knew about the Monsters."
Grimely: "Terreanfor will arise, tomorrow, in Seattle and cross the nation to Salt Lake City."
WorstMirari: "The angel banished?"
WorstMirari: "...The one that the others fought at the convention??"
Grimely: "Yes."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver pales
WorstMirari: "Oh no."
Grimely: "You shall send Terreanfor to Salt Lake City as soon as he rises up from the Earth."
Grimely: "It is the only way to prevent the destruction of the city."
WorstMirari: "Ummm... Send?"
Grimely: "Yes, create a hardlight platform beneath it and fly it to the Salt Lake."
Grimely: "It will arrive there one way or another, and will destroy everything in its path."
WorstMirari: "...Um."
WorstMirari: "What if I threw it into the sun instead?"
Grimely: "Really you can let it go as soon as there's nothing but open desert between it and Salt Lake City."
Grimely: "Then it will destroy you."
WorstMirari: "I've looked at the records for the amount of force it can output. I'm not sure it can?"
Grimely: "You read the file, it can destroy tinker devices."
WorstMirari: "Oh, right."
WorstMirari: "Um, then why would it let me take it to Utah?"
Grimely: "Because you will be carrying out the Will of the Lord."
WorstMirari: "Um."
Grimely: "Yes?"
WorstMirari: "...I should go over this with Andre to make sure that he won't interfere, so Seattle isn't destroyed."
Grimely: "Andre will not."
WorstMirari: "I talked to him about some of this yesterday. He won't interfere with us stealing the Sword of Wisdom."
Grimely: "Rex's plan requires that Terreanfor be delivered unto him."
WorstMirari: "Andre said he's instructed to stop us from interfering with 'the launch of Deseret'"
Grimely: "The death of Terreanfor shall be the fuel."
WorstMirari: "He interpreted this to mean 'Their creation as a sovereign state', but I thought it might refer to a rocket launch."
WorstMirari: "...Fuel?"
Grimely: "The Salt Lake is a place of great mystical power. It shall only grow if Terreanfor is slain in that spot."
WorstMirari: The Ted Cruz dummies have entered a stable shell game pattern, swapping positions among the three of them.
WorstMirari: "Um, what exactly will happen?"
Grimely: The Senator bites his lower lip, and finally sighs. "I do not know."
Grimely: "But if Terreanfor is not killed, then Salt Lake City will be destroyed, and all its inhabitants slain for their apostasy."
WorstMirari: "I don't... want that to happen. Andre won't either, and if they need to kill Terreanfor for their launch, then stopping that would count as interfering."
WorstMirari: "But... they seem to think Joy will  show up soon after, and I really don't want to see Joy."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver shudders
WorstMirari: "Ever."
Grimely: "The Lord shall send his Angels, each more terrible than the last, until the Celestial Engine is once again safe."
WorstMirari: "Though my life support system is sufficient to prevent infection. I checked the specs."
WorstMirari: "... the monsters are Angels?"
WorstMirari: Lightweaver looks aghast
Grimely: "Yes?"
WorstMirari: "...it was right there, in the file. I just... thought it meant something else. I..."
Grimely: "Well not all of them are. Probably."
WorstMirari: "...If the monsters will keep attacking Salt Lake City, are we sure it can be saved? I'm not sure what to do."
WorstMirari: "The only safe bet seems to be stealing the sword. Everything else..."
Grimely: "The Monsters Monsters might not be. But Terreanfor is an Angel of the Lord, the God of Abraham and Jacob."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver shrugs helplessly
Grimely: "The Ring of Ten Thousand Suns must be taken from the Mormons, and the ceremony at the Soft Hour ceased."
Grimely: "...I have an idea but it is distasteful."
WorstMirari: "Um?"
WorstMirari: Lightweaver looks nervous
Grimely: "The Great Salt Lake does not encompass the City."
WorstMirari: "Yes. It borders it."
Grimely: "If you release Terreanfor near the City suburbs, so that his path to the capital does not cross the Salt Lake, then Ante will have no choice."
Grimely: "He will slay the monster, when it is not upon the Lake."
WorstMirari: "But, um, then...."
Grimely: "There is the possibility that Rex told the truth, yes."
WorstMirari: "Also, Andre."
Grimely: "...but if Rex did tell the truth..."
Grimely: "While the Monster is in contact with the mantle..."
WorstMirari: "He knows when people are lying, and that would be intentionally going against his promise, so he'd have to stop me, and I'm worried he could. I suspect he can do more than he lets on."
Grimely: "Then do not lie."
Grimely: "Tell him that you will take Terreanfor to Utah so that it will not kill anyone on the way."
WorstMirari: "He knows about about my sleep-interference modifications and was still confident that he could defeat me, and he does not lie."
WorstMirari: "And if he asks if this will interfere with Utah's launch? Wouldn't it be lying to say no?"
Grimely: "Then do not say no, and do not say yes."
WorstMirari: "Um, I guess if I interpret the question to mean 'taking Terreanfor to Utah' and not 'putting Terreanfor on a path to not cross salt lake city'"
WorstMirari: "He will find that suspicious."
Grimely: "Does Andre even know the importance of the Lake>"
WorstMirari: "Perhaps we could not tell the others about Terreanfor arriving from Seattle?"
Grimely: "It will not be subtle."
WorstMirari: "If you all are already in position in Utah, would that matter? I can move it alone, and..."
WorstMirari: "...how much does it weigh?"
WorstMirari: "Let me run some simulations"
Grimely: "I do not know. The shell appears to be a mountain."
WorstMirari: "Um. I've never moved a mountain before..."
Grimely: "Luckily it leaves the shell."
WorstMirari: "So it will leave the shell here?"
Grimely: "I can hope."
Grimely: "But... If you create a platform for Terreanfor to walk upon, it will not be in contact with the mantle."
WorstMirari: "Even if it's on the ground, it won't be, right?"
Grimely: "If this is created at the instant that Ante slays it with Ascalon, then Terreanfor will not have time to take revenge on you."
WorstMirari: "Crust is not the mantle."
WorstMirari: "...Ohhhhhh."
Grimely: "Stop thinking scientifically, we left that realm long ago."
WorstMirari: "What if they have someone capable of moving Terrreanfor?"
Grimely: "Then Deseret can shake the mountains and sunder the seas, and their victory is only a matter of time."
WorstMirari: "Um. Right."
WorstMirari: "Uh, hypothetically... what would happen if we sent it over the lake, but I grabbed his corpse with a hardlight platform right after the slaying, and threw that into the sun?"
Grimely: "I.... that may work to stop their plans."
Grimely: "I do not know if they need the body, the mystical resonance of an angel slain upon that point, or both."
WorstMirari: "It puts Salt Lake City in a lot less danger, gives Rex Babel less warning of our interference, means we don't have to lie by omission to Andre about moving Terreanfor..."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver's simulation pings her.
Grimely: "And if Rex tells Andre that you are interfering when you whisk the corpse away?"
WorstMirari: "...We might need it be a backup plan either way. Terreanfor has manifested before at sizes I could not move at all."
Grimely: "When he arises, I will speak with him."
WorstMirari: "There's an upper limit to how much force I can generate with hardlight propagation, no matter how much I tweak the variables."
WorstMirari: "....?????"
Grimely: "Yes?"
WorstMirari: "Um. Will that work?"
Grimely: "Ideally."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver sighs
WorstMirari: "If he's too big to lift, I suppose I would want to be here anyways, to try and stop it  from flattening the city."
Grimely: "Whatever Rex's plans are, they cannot be allowed to come to fruition. ...but neither can I let such blunt instruments slay millions of innocents."
WorstMirari: "So, do you think I should send it on a path that doesn't cross the salt lake? Or..."
WorstMirari: "Assuming I can, I mean."
Grimely: "Let's play it by ear."
Grimely: "If Terreanfor can be lifted, then send him on a path that does not cross the Salt Lake."
WorstMirari: "If not, steal the remains?"
Grimely: "If he cannot, we mitigate his passing as much as possible and then hope that his corpse is reduced to something small enough to lift away."
WorstMirari: "...I could always make a barrier permeable to normal rock, and try and break away the mundane body."
WorstMirari: "...In fact, if I can move him, I will probably use a rock+sand permeable barrier to have a platform under him prepared."
WorstMirari: "Or would that be too risky?"
Grimely: "Can you make it invisible?"
WorstMirari: "Yes."
Grimely: "If Andre sees it..."
Grimely: "Good."
WorstMirari: "But Terreanfor might sense that there's a connection to the earth broken, though maybe not if the barrier is permeable."
Grimely: "....wait."
Grimely: "The destruction of the engine. The launch of Deseret. Rex is... Rex has promised to send the Mormons to Heaven."
WorstMirari: "...oh no."
WorstMirari: "....oh nooo."
Grimely: "Know this about Rex Babel, Yanhu."
Grimely: "He never lies, but his promises are not what they seem."
WorstMirari: "Um. We will need to tell Ante that it's safe to kill Terreanfor outside of the lake."
WorstMirari: "Otherwise he might not use the weapon."
Grimely: "Remember, you must sever his connection to the mantle at the instant before Ante slays it."
WorstMirari: "I can do that."
WorstMirari: "Assuming the slaying will be obvious."
WorstMirari: "Will a single strike with the weapon be enough?"
Grimely: "That is not what I'm afraid of."
WorstMirari: "If I don't know exactly when it dies, I can't make the barrier at the right time..."
Grimely: "I have every belief that it will die in one strike from the spear."
WorstMirari: "Ok. Then I can time that properly."
WorstMirari: "Um. I think you should be in charge of the briefing. You will be better at telling Andre what he needs to hear. If he finds out about what the launch actually is, I don't know what he'll do."
Grimely: "Yanhu, you didn't ask me what I am afraid of."
WorstMirari: "What are you afraid of?"
Grimely: "That you will not survive the blast."
WorstMirari: "Nobody else can do this."
WorstMirari: "But.. my shields are strong, and I could do this from very far away."
Grimely: "Good."
WorstMirari: "I could create a sufficiently large barrier from several miles away. It would be much weaker than my strongest, but it's not there to stop attacks."
WorstMirari: "...what will happen to Ante?"
WorstMirari: "Or Andre? When I talked to Andre we concluded we would send him after Ante."
Grimely: "I suspect that the wielder of the weapon is shielded from its attack."
WorstMirari: (brb i need to move my car and have a meeting)
Grimely: "Andre is likely immune to this, like everything else."
WorstMirari: "Ok."
WorstMirari: "...Maybe we could tell Andre to start shadowing Ante now?"
Grimely: "Yes."
Grimely: "Can you find out where the mine shaft entrance is?"
WorstMirari: "I know where the central shaft is just by looking at satellite data, though they plugged it up."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver creates a map construct. Public Grammyre data shows a single shaft, plugged a week later, depth unknown. it was straight vertical and they put up dykes to prevent drainage or cavitation.(edited)
WorstMirari: "I'll see if i can find better than that, but until then, this is the best I've got."
WorstMirari: "Um."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver bites her lip
WorstMirari: "Can you be the one to ask Andre to go start tailing Ante?"
WorstMirari: "I'll send you the transcripts of my conversation with him so you can get a good handle on what he does and does not know."
Grimely: "Sure."
WorstMirari: http://pastebin.com/hgqt9c3Y
WorstMirari: "So, to review:"
WorstMirari: "We send everyone but me and Andre after the Sword of Wisdom. Andre tails Ante. Another of you and I attempt to move/convince Terreanfor to the far side of Utah. If we succeed, I set up my trap construct and observe from a distance, cutting off Terreanfor's connection to the earth as the fatal blow is struck. To the rest of my team, my job is containment if Terreanfor or the weapon goes critical. Alex uses my form in the mission to steal the ring."
WorstMirari: "If we cannot redirect or move Terreanfor, I attempt to limit the damage it does and attempt to steal its remains."
WorstMirari: "Um. Do you have a way of making sure the others aren't tempted by Rex?"
WorstMirari: "Earplugs?"
WorstMirari: Lightweaver looks unconvinced by her own suggestion
Grimely: "There's little that can be done save inoculation."(edited)
Grimely: "Rex tells you what you want to hear."
WorstMirari: "In the original version of the plan, I was going to use constructs to keep him physically away from the team."
Grimely: "UNMETA is right by the way."
WorstMirari: "...About?"
Grimely: "When Rex's plans are stopped, so will the monster attacks."
WorstMirari: "That's good. Um. How do you know that?"
Grimely: "Because Rex is the Devil."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver blinks
WorstMirari: "It says a lot about the past few months that this doesn't really surprise me."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver sighs "I liked atheism. It was a lot cleaner."
Grimely: Fulton's expression suddenly changes, Lightweaver having been around him long enough to know that this was a sign that another him had a distressing conversation. "I need a favor."
Grimely: "Can you make two invisible platforms?"
WorstMirari: "Um."
WorstMirari: "Yes, but they'd both be weaker."
WorstMirari: "Why?"
Grimely: "I need a platoon of spider tanks to cross the Salt Lake and get to the mine shaft. That one needs to be significantly less powerful, if that helps."
WorstMirari: "...It doesn't, actually. Why are we sending tanks?"
Grimely: "The engine must be destroyed."
WorstMirari: "When is that happening relative to Terreanfor's attack?"
Grimely: "Simaltaneously."
WorstMirari: "Does it need to be invisible?"
Grimely: "If it is not, Andre will know what you're doing."
WorstMirari: "What if it's underwater?"
Grimely: "That would work."
Grimely: "Wait. Can you make one big one instead? Would that be easier?"
WorstMirari: "I can make a permanent construct hidden underwater that looks like the lakebed, and move it up to the surface when the time is right. Um. Maybe I should try doing that now? So we can adjust plans accordingly?"
WorstMirari: "One big one wouldn't work. that's an area of dozens of square miles."
Grimely: "One more thing. I also need the waters around the mine shaft parted when the tanks get there. Can you control what the construct looks like? Press it down in the center?"
WorstMirari: "...That's too complicated for a permanent construct. They're not designed to be as flexible. We need..."
WorstMirari: Lightweaver pauses, then sighs
WorstMirari: "How much do you trust Alex?"
WorstMirari: "I can temporarily disable the safeguards preventing him from mimicing the Hardlight Omnitool."
Grimely: "I bring him with me as my personal nullifier to classified briefings."
WorstMirari: "And he could guide the tanks across. Give them a moving, invisible platform, and when they reach the shaft entrance, part the waters with an expanding construct cylinder. Can spider tanks jump straight down?"
Grimely: "They can climb vertical surfaces."
WorstMirari: "Ok. Can they drill?"
Grimely: "No, but they can blast."
WorstMirari: "He could use an invisible waterproof barrier to guide them along the lakebed. That might be better. It wouldn't be obvious that it was my power shielding them; any forcefield generator could do that."(edited)
Grimely: "And if Andre asks, you can say that's not you."
WorstMirari: "Yes, but if he starts questioning, we'll be in trouble anyways. Hopefully he'll be more focused on Ante."
WorstMirari: "You should probably send him to tail Ante ASAP. We might even get more information."
WorstMirari: "Well, I think that's everything?"
WorstMirari: Lightweaver turns to watch the other Fulton spar
WorstMirari: "It seems like you've got the hang of that, too."
Grimely: "Mm, not quite. Distribute all of those to my clones. Then I need to pack."
Grimely: "Can you fly me to the Vatican?"
WorstMirari: "I'll need a list of everywhere you need one delivered. I can't say i keep track. And yes, I can take you there. Pack while I start the distribution?"
Grimely: "Sounds good."
WorstMirari: "Once I finish with that and Andre has left for Utah, I'll start training Alex on how to use my omnitool. I'll leave explaining why to you."
WorstMirari: 'I'll start the deliveries now, then. Let me know when you're ready to head to the Vatican."
Grimely: "Already explained."
WorstMirari: "Alright."
WorstMirari: "See you in a bit, then."

Grimely: (Telepathically) "Yanhu? Do you like having powers?"
WorstMirari: (TP) "Yes. Why?"
Grimely: (TP) "Do up think the world would be better or worse if no one had them?"
WorstMirari: (TP) "If the crystal sphere had never shattered, Rex Babel had never appeared, Monsters didn't attack?"
Grimely: There is a telepathic equivalent of a nod.
WorstMirari: (TP) "Maybe today things are worse, because of it. And there's a lot less we understand about this world than we did about that counterfactual one. But... I think that with these abilities, we could eventually unite the world, solve problems on a scale that wouldn't have been possible before, and build a future where nobody has to suffer. And I think we can do that in our lifetime, if we really try."
WorstMirari: (TP) "Like... when I get some free time, I'm going to clear up the major garbage patches in the ocean and clean up the space debris in low earth orbit. I can do that on my own, and I'm only 16. "
Grimely: (TP) "But we know the counterfactual one. Metahistorians have studied many. New York City still exists in almost all of them discovered so far."
WorstMirari: (TP) "And maybe if I were evil, or crazy, that would be too much power for me to have, and that's sobering. But the only solution I have to that is to not be evil and to try and understand everyone, or work together against those we cannot work with."
WorstMirari: (TP) "Yes. Things are worse today."
WorstMirari: (TP) "But they don't have to be. We can change everything with these powers, Senator."
Grimely: (TP) "That's exactly what I'm afraid of."
WorstMirari: Telepathic Shrug
WorstMirari: "It's easy to be ok with the status quo for us. There's a lot of misery in the world."
Grimely: (TP) "It's been forty years. The world is still worse."
WorstMirari: (TP) "It took thousands of years after agriculture started for there to begin to be an improvement in average quality of life across all humans."
WorstMirari: (TP) "And... a lot of what's making the world worse right now isn't people with powers. It's the monsters, and Rex."
WorstMirari: (TP) "If we can stop him, and it stops them, we can break the world out of panic mode and start moving forward."
Grimely: (TP) "And if stopping him means that powers stop?"
WorstMirari: (lightweaver is silent for a while)
WorstMirari: (TP) "...It would suck. to go through all of this suffering, all this damage to the world, and to lose the one thing we gained as the price of our victory? I..."
WorstMirari:(TP)  "this is selfish of me to say, but... My powers change how my brain works, and I've had them for most of my life. I'd become someone else, someone who would remember being smart and capable and useful, and... I wouldn't be able to protect Mark, or anyone anymore. The world comes first, and if Rex and powers are a package deal, I'd press the button to remove both, but I can't imagine the person I would end up as wouldn't hate me for doing it."
WorstMirari: (ok gotta drive Brb again)
Grimely: (TP) "Thank you, Yanhu. I think I'll fly coach, actually."
WorstMirari: (TP) "Um, are you sure? there was some anime I wanted to watch on the trip anyways, and it's a 12 hour plane ride..."
WorstMirari: (concerned tone)
Grimely: (TP) "There are nine of me. I can afford for one to feel mortal for a day."
WorstMirari: (TP) "have a nice flight, then. I'll go teach Alex how to use the omni tool."