magisteriatxt | Magisterian News Services Alert

Magisterian News Services Alert

[OOC: This is a series of broadcasts and transmissions that go out across Magisteria. Characters are free to respond with reactions to the footage. CW: Violence, horror.]

Emergency Alert Transmission, going out across Magisteria.
Attention, all citizens and Otherworlders. This is an emergency broadcast. A situation is ongoing at the Chrome Hills Entertainment and Shopping Center in Eden-6. The area has been cordoned off and law enforcement have moved in. Do not approach. The situation is highly dangerous. For your safety, evacuate the surrounding area.

News Service Coverage, already in progress.
"—to you live with developments in the ongoing situation at Chrome Hills. We are now able to confirm that...yes, there has been an attack. We have reports of gunfire and explosions within the shopping complex. Law enforcement officials have moved in and set up a perimeter around the mall, but we do not know if they have moved in yet. We are waiting for an update. An evacuation order has been issued for the surrounding area, and all businesses are being ordered to—"

"More news on the situation in Chrome Hills. Survivors inside the mall have been posting images and video taken to social media, and we can now confirm that the perpetrator is a single‐yes, that is correct—a single mechanical being of currently unknown origin, but heavily armed. We have been given permission to air some of the footage, but be advised, the content IS disturbing."

Cell footage of a party of demons in the central park plaza of Chrome Hills Mall

"Hey what's up all? It's ya boi and his gang, hanging at Chrome Hills, here to celebrate my man Squeezy getting engaged! Goin' out for a night on the town, gonna start out here, but later on we'll be headed to the Red Light District for the REAL—"

Sound of shattering glass, debris falling from the ceiling in the background, causing the plaza to rumble, and kicking up a cloud of dust. Something large and dark drops through from above into the middle of the plaza.

"Whoa, what the fuck was that?! Everyone okay? What happened?"

Phone pans upward to the large glass dome that tops the plaza. Something has clearly dropped through from above and gone straight through it.

"Did something fall outta the sky?"

"Hey, hey, yo, dude, over this way, I think I see someone."

The camera pans back down to the smoke-filled park. A figure is approaching, its steps heavy and mechanical.

It raises an arm. The limb seems to shift and transform.

"Bro, is this a movie thing or—"

Cut back to the studio

We are unable to show more, but we are told the attacker deployed some form of arm-mounted weapon and opened fire on the crowd. We've received an update...it appears immediately after the attack began, the mall entered a security lockdown and all entrances and exits were sealed, trapping everyone inside. Outside interference is suspected, and authorities are working to lift the security lockdown from outside, but have not yet had luck. We do not yet have an accurate count as to how many were trapped inside, but we will be continuing to update you with—"

Static. Screens go dead. Seconds pass.

The Phantom Cipher logo appears.

Gooooooood evening Magisteria! Enjoying the show? Don't worry, we wouldn't leave you hanging. We got some choice clips coming for your viewing pleasure!

A quickly-edited montage of clips, stolen or hacked footage from inside the Chrome Hills plays. People running. Sounds of gunfire. People running in a panic down a maintenance hallway, trying to find a way out. One wall explodes as something crashes through it. The camera catches a single shot.

It reaches down. Someone begins to scream.

Bodycam footage of a Magisterian security officer emptying his weapon at a giant that moves impossibly fast from across a food court. It seems to almost blink across the area towards them, tables and chairs flying as they are simply steamrolled through. The officer is knocked over. He looks up.

"WASTE OF MY TIME." For the first time, it speaks. The voice is heavily synthesized, but dripping with contempt.

Picture goes dead. Phantom Cipher logo re-appears.

Did you really think YOUR Otherworlders were the only ones? You're getting so many of your own we brought in a "contractor". His name's Adam. Adam Smasher. Definitely our kind of guy. Decided to let him have a little fun by way of saying hello.

Hey...wanna see who's tougher? Send your Otherworlders to Chrome Hills, that is assuming you have any to spare! Adam's waiting for you. Better hurry, if you wanna have a hope of saving anybody. We told him not to kill EVERYONE, but...

He gets bored easy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do not engage with Adam Smasher.

You cannot beat him. You cannot win. Don't even try. If you see him, run as fast as you can. If you can't run, hide and don't come out.

Do NOT engage.

But what of the people there!? We cannot leave them to be slaughtered!

If you go, you'll die. Bloody, and in pieces. That's if he's feeling lazy. Otherwise you'll end up a smear on the mall floor.

Please. Don't go.

[It is hard to read the pleas. The words feel sincere. But he cannot ignore his heart.]

...Pray forgive me, but I must.

[ There's no reply.

There is, however, an unwelcome visitor not long afterwards. ]

[It's a massacre, no two ways about it. Smasher is like a rabid dog let off the leash. There's no honour, glory, or wisdom in what he's doing. This is bloodshed for its own sake...but Musashi can't deny Smasher looks like he'd be one hell of a fight.]

So, you've met this guy before, haven't you? So give us some deets, choom! We have a better chance taking him on if he we know what he can do.

Don't.

[ Lucy can't come up with the proper words for this fresh horror: the concept of Musashi trying to fight Adam Smasher. She composes, deletes, re-composes, re-deletes, a dozen messages. Trying to stay anonymous. Trying desperately not to just beg Musashi to stay away. ]

No matter how much you know about him, you'll die.

[Just before everything went to hell, the other stuff and now this, Musashi had received another gift. A new sword. One inextricably linked to Lucy by their...deep connection to each other. The one they both know exists but haven't acknowledged yet. The sword can allow her to access Lucy's memories, her experiences. It's a deeply intimate thing, and one Musashi would absolutely never use without her permission. But the appearance of Smasher, Lucy's heightened emotional state, well...the Kintsugi responds, and Musashi gets a vision.

Lucy is being loaded into the backseat of a car by a petite young woman in a coat too large for her and neon blue skin. They are surrounded by the sound of gunfire, dinging across the doors of the heavily-reinforced armoured car. The petite woman (Rebecca. Her name is Rebecca, and the memory of her is filled with regret) is pulling a large autocannon out of the back. Her hands are augmented, huge and reinforced, able to handle the weight of the weapon.

"Ugh. No rest at all." She mutters, resting the autocannon against her shoulder. "Hey. Glad you're back safe." They exchange tired smiles, and they both know this is the last time they'll ever speak. "For XXXXXXX sake, I mean." The sound is static-y, like nails on chalkboard, distorted. Something Lucy has locked deep away and can't let go of, even now. It makes the memory ripple and glitch.

Then both their attention is drawn upwards. Something is plummeting out of the sky, firing at them. Rebecca raises the autocannon skyward and returns fire. "WE'RE HAVING A MOMENT HERE! FUCK YOU—"

The enraged shout is cut off as the thing from the sky hits the ground. For a moment, a horrifying split-second Lucy sees Rebecca be torn apart by cannonfire right before...

Right before Adam Smasher lands on top of her, and the force of the impact causes the entirety of Arasaka Plaza to collapse downwards, and the car, and Lucy plummet into the darkness below.

A second to blink that all out, and Musashi switches to a private channel, to Lucy's own account.]

Lucy, talk to me. Please. You can't close this off.

I need to know what he can do.

Edited 2024-11-18 02:19 (UTC)

[ Fuck. How did Musashi figure it out?

No no no. This just makes everything worse. If Musashi knows she's scared, she's even more likely to try to rush in and be a hero.

Her message in return is as haphazardly composed as her thoughts are, messaging pinging off as soon as the words translate from thought to text. ]

No
Just stay away from him
Please
You can't fight him
I can't lose you too

Lucy. Take a breath. I know you're scared, but breathe.

I'm sorry, I got something, this sword—

[Arrrrgh. This is not how she wanted to discuss this but the metal gonk tearing up the mall has sort of forced things.]

[She takes a deep breath.]...Okay. I have a sword. It's new. Just arrived. It's tied to you. Because I...because of what we are to each other. You know how we get things, how they change on us. I didn't want it to, I didn't ask it to, but it showed me...

I'm sorry. I saw what he did to Rebecca.

[And probably not just her. This is her nightmare, isn't it? Lucy's been running since she arrived here, and now Musashi knows why, because he's followed her. And there's something worse, something she buried deep, and Smasher is tied to that, too. He has to be. And it's why she's so terrified of him.]

I won't let him take me from you. But I can't sit back and do nothing.

You know I can't.

[ Hearing Musashi's voice goes some of the way toward helping, but then Musashi has to go and say-- all of that.

For a long few moments, Lucy just stares at the wall of her apartment, uncomprehending. Musashi got a new sword, cool, understandable. Musashi got a new sword that's tied to Lucy because of what we are to each other and it showed her the moment Adam Smasher pulverized Rebecca? Lucy's struggling to understand that one.

There must be bands of iron around her chest and throat, because she can't breathe. ]

You saw--

[ And that's all she gets out before Musashi's aXess link device starts freaking out. It's Lucy's fault. She doesn't know she's doing it, though, her panic reaching through the digital connection and fucking up the aXess link. Flashing screen, high-pitched noise, glitching text. The works. Despite that, a few words still manage to flash onscreen. ]

But you'll die

[There's no easy way to say it, but she can't not tell Lucy about the invasion of her memories, however accidental or unasked for. Neither could she exactly tip-toe around the fact that the sword ties them together...because they already are tied together. Musashi knows it and she knows Lucy knows it, but she's been so afraid of trying to take another step. She'd pushed too hard at the bath house and Lucy had run. Musashi had been afraid she'd ruined it, without meaning. They'd pretended afterwards it hadn't happened, an unspoken agreement to leave it there, and yet it was still hanging over them, even now. There was no getting around it. And now she's said it and it's out there and Lucy is...silent.]

Lucy, look I—

[Her aXess explodes in a cacophony of flashing lights and sound. Her words on the screen glitch and writhe through the screen's rapid blinking. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. And then the words appear.]

Lucy! Lucy, listen to me. Listen. Just listen. Okay? I'm sorry, I really didn't want to do it like this. I wanted us to be face to face, I wanted to show you the sword, I wanted to explain what it could let us do, what I wouldn't do unless you wanted me to...I wish I'd gotten it sooner. I wish Phantom Cipher hadn't found Smasher. I wish...I wish I'd been braver with you. About who I wanted to be for you. I know he's hurt you, and you're afraid that he's going to take more from you than he already has.

But I am Shinmen Musashi-no-Kami Fujiwara-no-Harunobu, the Flower at the Apex of Heaven. He will not kill me.

That is the oath I swear to you now. And I will keep it.

[ For the first time in her life, Lucy wishes she had an old physical phone. That way she could clasp it to her heart, like she might be able to inject Musashi's words straight into her veins.

She wishes she'd been braver with Musashi, too. She wishes she'd... been more honest, maybe. Told her about things. The hard things. She wishes she'd been more honest with herself, and what she's feeling.

She wants to believe Musashi. She so desperately wants to believe. But David had been confident, too. Confident he could win any fight, survive any day. They're worlds apart and so painfully similar in some ways, and it's all too easy to imagine-- Musashi's bright cocky grin faltering-- Smasher shattering her swords--

No. She won't let this happen.

Lucy doesn't know what she's going to do, only that she has to do something. Make her way to Smasher and bargain, or find Musashi, or warn other people, she doesn't know. She only knows that her feet are carrying her out of her apartment, she flicks off one final message. ]

you won't have to

[ Which is followed by Musashi's device sputtering and dying. It'll revive itself in a few minutes, but by then, Lucy won't pick up, because she's too busy being corrupted. ]

Have to agree with the people above me. If you know Last Year's Apple Model, then give us some details on how it operates. Any information is something we can use against him.

And, we don't have to engage him head on to save the people that are trapped there. We just need someone to distract him long enough for the people to get out - herd the guy far enough away so a smaller team can evacuate the civvies. I have speed and long distance shots, and I don't give a fuck about how strong that walking iPhone *thinks* he is.

I'll play tag with him a while, if nobody else has the guts.

Law enforcement is already there. They can figure out those same tactics.

They don't need us rushing in to kill ourselves.

Thanks for not answering my question. Really appreciated. 👎👎

And sure they can figure that out - it's basic can and mouse shit - but them employing it, and doing it *well enough* to evacuate enough people doesn't exactly seem plausible.

You may know this joker, but you don't know the rest of us, our skills and capabilities. And, while you clearly don't give a rat fuck about those innocent people getting *killed*, a lot of us have a responsibility to help out those who can't help themselves. Don't underestimate what we can do.

[ If Lucy had a phone, she would have thrown it clear across the room. As it is, she's composing messages on her neuro-gear, thought-to-text translation. And she's managed to keep her texts clear and composed up until now, but this... this fucking self-sacrificial idiot... this fucking guy who just wants to help...

Why is everybody saying they'll go after him. Why are they all so desperate to die? Does Lucy have to beg them to avoid this fucking nightmare? Because she fucking will. She'll do it whether she likes it or not because she's so panicked she can barely think straight. ]

Please
I don't want to beg but I will if I have to
He'll kill everyone if you go
If you don't go maybe he won't
Maybe he'll just
Leave
Please

[Getting this text back actually kind of sucks, but it does curb Katsuki's anger a little bit. He takes another minute to just take a deep breath and reply, slowly, because he knows how he might sound to a stranger. He'd be pissed too, he'd probably want to nail peoples' feet to the floor as well, if he was in this person's shoes. However--]

I *can't*.
You may not understand why, but if there are people who are in danger right now, I CANNOT walk away.

Not without a guarantee that the "MAYBE he won't kill everyone" is a definite.
If you want to help, then give me any information that can assist.
Otherwise, you can beg all you want, but your voice isn't nearly as loud as all those people who are probably begging for someone to save them.

[ For a second, there's no reply. And then Katsuki's aXess link just goes beserk. Ringing high-pitched noise, red screen, text glitching. Only one word manages to make it through: ]

no

[ And then it goes dead. It'll resurrect itself a few minutes later, seemingly fine, but Lucy is no longer responding to any texts. ]

[Jesus FUCK. Katsuki nearly blasts the damn thing to pieces as a failsafe - better his explosions over someone else's, he can control his - but after it doesn't detonate, and goes back to normal...aside from a VERY clear message, he just sighs and picks it up again (having dropped it when started going haywire). He doesn'r anticipate a response, but he might as well say something.]

Sorry.

[He gets it, he does, and he'll even...be a little cautious, for this person's sake. Go there, scope the place out, make sure this behemoth isn't making chili paste out of any of the hostages, then ease off if things don't escalate. He's experienced enough to know that he doesn't have to "win" to save people - he can take this one step at a time.]

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Magisterian News Services Alert

OTA BROADCAST TO ALL OTHERWORLDERS | unknown number

Voice/Audio | @warder

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un; berserkersashi (Text)

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Switching to private message

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Text | un: Dynamight

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wrapped...sob...