Arc 1 ~ Canon 2: Lock-In in Berghain [R, DE]

[Deleted]

OOC: I got nothin

Fuel just did not stop being added to the fire that was this shitstorm. Shizuka’s demands to be informed about who this mysterious woman was were met with a explosion of alarms and the subtle hiss of something being released from the walls. However, Luke didn’t actually know what Zyklon-B was. What he did know, however, was when someone was bragging about it meant that it wasn’t good. If she was trying to fill the hall with gas then that meant it was poison. Shizuka, surprising Luke, slung the unconscious Kenji over her shoulder and began to make her way back the way they came. Luke noticed the expression of anger on Shizuka’s features and had to agree with that emotion. He was angry. Angry at all this. Angry at his own weakness. But, for now, he prioritized survival. There would always be a second chance to bring these people down.

But, regardless, survival was their top priority. Kenji was comatose, his arm was falling off, and there was no way Shizuka could do this by herself. The question had to be asked though...why didn't Luke use one of his Dolls? Question was rather simple, honestly. He couldn't. Not with Kenji around. He had no idea how the Shinigami would react to him being a Bount. Luke was aware that Bount weren't supposed to be a thing in Soul Societies eyes, to the point that the spirit military had actually tried to exterminate them. While Luke had met many Shinigami that didn't have those biased mindsets, he could never get comfortable or not be careful.

[Johnwaluigi]

Even though the three were retreating with their tails between their legs, it was technically true to say that none of them had failed in a technical sense. Luke and Kenji had simply been asked to investigate the location by their respective organisations, and that they had. They had valuable information about what was going on here, the kind of operation that was being performed and the kind of enemies that could be expected to arise from such a place. All of this would be absolutely necessary for those who were to come in for the clean-up job.

But in a very real sense they had also failed. They stood before an enemy, and were unable to take it down. The continuous layers of augmented Hollows and the in-built defences of the building were simply too much for them to handle - especially as Luke refused to take a leap of faith with Kenji and reveal that he was a Bount. The scars of what had happened between the Shinigami and the Bount ran deep, and were not so easily overcome. As insurmountable for Luke as the Seki-Seki barriers were for Kenji’s Kido, in fact. But regardless of their excuses, of their weakness in the face of the enemy, it would be impossible to excuse that failure.

Shizuka had also failed in a very concrete way, though it was also fair to say that she had partially succeeded. While she had not been able to negotiate with the prisoner, she had prevented the prisoner from being recruited by either Soul Society or UE - which would have been disastrous in the power race that Xcution found themselves competing in. But was this really what her orders had allowed for? Simply leaving the prisoner to her own devices was something of a risky business - though she at least knew that it would be difficult, extremely so, for anyone else to plumb the depths of the Berghain and reach her. For the moment, almost certainly, she was cut off from the other organisations.

But all three of them were leaving a growing rot behind. As they ran out of the door, slowly growing dizzier from the increasing concentration of the gas, they would have to come to terms with the fact that whatever was happening here was only going to get worse. Xcution had held off the World of the Living police forces for a long time now, and that couldn’t last forever. Soon, the barriers that had been erected between this place and the outside world would fall down - and even more souls would fall into the gaping pit. The three would just have to hope that nothing else would come crawling out. And if it did? Well, then they would have to be ready for it.

What was perhaps most unclear from their investigations though, was how this was connected to all the other incidents occurring around the world? What did a prisoner breaking out of a secret prison beneath a nightclub in Germany have to do with the deaths of several members of the American Government? Or the sharp spike in Hollow activity? There were common threads that could be drawn, sure, but the three had very little concrete information to work on. But, they were smart, surely they could work something out - especially in conjunction with what the others in their organisations had found out.

And this concludes this Canon thread - and indeed this Part of the Arc! Stay tuned for more story opportunities in future!

As this was a DE thread, please be sure to pay appropriate costs for all necessary Healing in the Universal Healing Centre!

[Johnwaluigi]

Alright, I’m happy to award participants in this thread 2 pages of Medium Difficulty and 3 pages of Hard-Extreme Difficulty! This results in:

+4400 TP and +22,000 Ryo to all characters involved!

[Zeich Yajuu]

On that same scaling, +3400 TP and 34,000 Ryo to the character of your choice for DM rewards, John. Enjoy!