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robininthelabyrinth · 7 years ago

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FFXV: Eschaton - 1/4

Fic: Eschaton (ao3 link) - chapter 1/4

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Pairing: None (gen)

Summary: Sure, it's the end of the world, but that just means someone's got to fix it.

And then the world found its somebodies.

(aka, with Noctis gone into the Crystal and no one sure when he'll be back, Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto end up saving the world one piece at a time)

A/N: So, the lack of actual change in the World of Ruin segment of FFXV made it feel like it was set three months after Noctis' disappearance, not ten years. So I took all the detail we saw from the supposed "ten year" mark, set it at "three months", and then went through the ten years from that starting point.

...aka I really wanted to write a proper post-apocalyptic fic. So here it is.

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THREE MONTHS

"We don't know how long the darkness will last," Ignis says again, hoping that by repetition he can finally impress the seriousness of the point. "As a result, it is urgent that we gather as much of the harvest now as possible, before it is befouled by daemons and blighted by the lack of sun."

“We can’t give up our hunters!” the man – an important merchant-man of some variety from one of the towns, unaccustomed to not being listened to even now as a refugee – argues.

Ignis feels bad for him, uprooted from his home, forced to take everything he owned and put it in a carriage, fleeing the daemons, fleeing the night, heading to the only place that was still known to have light.

Lestallum.

Lestallum might not have the Titan crouched beneath its meteor any longer, the dread Archaean who once was sleeping and now is dead, but the power plant still works, and their city has light.

Light, the final barrier against the daemons that prowl freely through the forests and the hills.

With the sun gone, what do they have to fear?

Nothing. Only humans have fear, now, fear from the daemons that hunts them for sport, fear from the Astrals that abandoned them, fear from the Starscourge that still sweeps through the countryside and changes men into daemons – a fate worse than death.

Fear of starvation, as the far-sighted look into the future and realize that no new harvests would grow as long as the sun was gone. You could only hide in a Haven for so long, after all, until someone stronger or more desperate came and pushed you out, or until hunger itself drove you forth, and then the daemons would find you.

Hunters do what they can to hold off the daemons, but only light – clear, consistent light – can hold them off for good, long enough to rest and recover.

And the only place with that sort of light is Lestallum.

And so people come from all over, come to the temporary gates that the Lestallum hunters so painstakingly constructed around the city, the gates they watch every day, with endless patrols; the gates that are protected by hunters going out daemon-hunting, meat-hunting, hunting – hunting – hunting –

And, sometimes, doing other things.

"—with the proliferation of daemons attacking –" the man is continuing to argue.

"The decision is final," Ignis says firmly. "The hunters accompanying your caravan will be reassigned from guarding your belongings to ferrying in crops from the nearby fields; the farmers have arranged several shipments, but require assistance in defending the transport from daemon attack."

"Should’ve expected it. Of course Lestallum prefers to rescue its own – always favoring the farmers –"

"I am not a resident of Lestallum," Ignis says, very slowly and glacially calm. "I am a citizen of Insomnia, as it happens, so I can sympathize with your feelings as a city resident. That does not make them appropriate now. Our origins are irrelevant. We are all citizens of the world now, common in our humanity, and we must work together to do what we can to hold back the darkness.”

The man is still grumbling, still unsatisfied, still displeased. Ignis can’t really blame him – those hunters would have represented the only hope of safety he and his family have had for weeks now, and they arrived at a refuge only to have them taken away. Ignis wouldn’t have particularly appreciated it, either.

“You have been assigned to a housing unit. The information will be posted on the posting board in the center of the town within several hours,” Ignis says, moving on to other business. “When you leave this office, you can pick up your daily ration ticket which you will be able to turn in for a meal –”

Ignis had ordered them to go down to two meals a day, a morning and an evening one. The part of Ignis that is still a chef aches at the thought of the meals they are mostly able to provide.

They aren’t great, but they're nutritious enough.

At the very least, it is all free. All food has to be given to the central administrator and set aside for redistribution, with the focus of each daily meal on the food that is on the verge of expiration or, if they are lucky, whatever amount of the meat that was brought in by the hunters that couldn’t be smoked or preserved or frozen. This applies to everyone: Lestallum no longer discriminates by wealth, no matter how many times the rich men who come to their city in search of shelter try to bribe their way to extra food or additional benefits.

They usually try it on Ignis, which is – less than successful.

To say the least.

“Why’s a blind man making these sort of decisions, anyway?” the man challenges Ignis.

Ignis doesn’t even grind his teeth at the slight. This isn’t the first time this has happened, either. He understands that angry, scared, tired people have the urge to lash out and use any weakness they can against someone they perceive to be taking away their food and their protection, even though he doesn’t appreciate it happening to him. It doesn’t matter, in the end.

The only thing that matters now is keeping the order and the peace of the city.

“I speak now not for myself,” Ignis says clearly and calmly. “But as a representative of King Noctis."

That gets the grumpy merchant to shut up, but it starts up whispers from elsewhere in the room, mostly whispers about the King in Exile, as they've taken to calling Noctis.

In exile, because that's easier: easier to think that Noctis is just far away, gathering more resources, physical and technological and magical. Easier to think that Noctis left his people to the guidance of his lieutenants, purposefully installed to govern them in his absence, while he was on his journeys, than to think that they had been abandoned, that all of them had been abandoned, because of a trap no one could predict. Easier to think that Noctis is only unavailable because of the distance, than it is to think of him trapped away in a glowing treacherous rock filled with magic, a rock that took away all their hope at the very moment that they thought they had won.

The King In Exile, they call him, because while no one wants to give up hope, most people don't really believe the story about the Crystal.

Ignis scarcely believes it himself some days, and he'd all but witnessed it.

Not with his own eyes, of course – the blindness from Altissia remains as stubbornly incurable as ever, and Ignis isn't willing to continue to uselessly waste increasingly precious potions on a wound that seems unlikely to heal.

At any rate, it doesn't matter. He’s found his own ways around it.

Ignis feels the pad beneath his hands with its upraised series of bumps and dashes – a language designed for the convenience of the blind, Cor explained in one of his brief visits between daemon hunts; he brought several of the pads, which functioned as translators for the paperwork Ignis had to review, and two typewriters that could conveniently type simultaneously in both common and the physical-language.

Ignis immediately gave one to Cindy and Cid, with the request that they supply Lestallum's central office with as many of duplicates as possible to make with the machine parts they had to spare, and installed the other in his office at once. Honestly, given the utility of communicating by text in the dark, he's thinking of insisting that everyone learn to read the blind-language. Hunters are already picking it up at speed, following Cor’s example; he loudly announced his intention to learn the language alongside Ignis in order to ensure that messages could be passed secretly between hunters when trying to sneak through the darkened towns outside Lestallum, but with the engineers warning that even the power plant would need to go through occasional black-out periods for maintenance and repairs, it isn’t necessarily a bad idea to suggest something like that universally.

No time for that now, though; Ignis has enough to worry about already without adding in concerns about universal education, no matter how useful. His assistants have all learned how to read the language – that's good enough for him.

Between the typewriters and the pads that let him read, albeit in a slow and clunkly fashion, handwritten documents, Ignis feels almost like his old self again.

Almost.

Noct...

The sharp pang of his friend and prince's absence stings as bitterly as the day he disappeared. It's been two months – no, nearly three months, now.

Three months of loss, of grief, of pain.

Of loneliness.

Noctis' absence had shattered not only their hearts, but their unity.

Gladio buries himself in hunter work, barely coming back to Lestallum long enough to shower and pick up a new assignment and supplies. Ignis speaks to him at times when Gladio has something new to report that he’d found in his hunts, but that's not often; the only thing out there are daemons, daemons and more daemons. Ignis doesn’t hold it against him: the sight – or sound, in Ignis’ case – of each other simply causes too much pain.

Prompto acts as a messenger to Hammerhead, flitting to and fro whenever possible, flirting with almost savage desperation with Cindy as if she could ever fill the hole left in his heart. He doesn't even notice that he's unsuccessful, but that isn't the point of it. The point is to forget. Instead of returning his flirtations, Cindy is using the time Prompto spent at Hammerhead to teach him how to fix cars, and possibly also weapons. At least, that’s what Ignis thinks is the case; he’s not sure. Prompto usually only comes to see him when he has a message for Lestallum from Hammerhead, or if he’s planning on heading out and wants to see if Ignis has any messages for Hammerhead.

Ignis himself stays in Lestallum. He intended to continue helping with daemon hunts at first, his vow to stay until the end still thick on his tongue, but Gladio and Prompto didn't want him around, and the town did. They needed him. He helped the town come together to reactivate the power plant and, when that was done, began working with engineers to help set up outpostings of light to try to guard against daemons, and, after that, the gates they built around the city to aid in patrolling. It worked to start with, but as more and more refugees arrive, Ignis is starting to worry about how long they'll be able to keep this up.

At least there were some hunters in this group. Ignis will be able to assign them to assist the farmers, who have come to Ignis with frantic complaints about food starting to rot in the fields. Food that wouldn’t come back, next harvest. The fall is here, and the harvest, and when the spring comes there will be no new growth without the sun.

No new food, if they don’t harvest and carefully ration what's left.

Ignis would say he doesn't know why they came to him with their requests, but he does. He's the closest thing Lestallum has to a government right now – Six, the closest thing they have to any type of authority, what with all the refugees. The Long Night, as people are calling it already, does not discriminate between rich and poor, meek and powerful, healthy and sick.

It kills everyone.

At the start, Lestallum was wracked with chaos. There wasn’t been any order or anything: everyone giving contrary orders, imposing conflicting priorities, confusing everything. Everyone wanted desperately to preserve what mattered most to them, family and property and safety, and no one was giving any thought to the long term, to the needs of the community at large. They were all too scared, and those who were not scared were often merely selfish. The old authorities were ignored, and a new authority was needed: an authority that could decide what they needed to do now and what could wait for later. An authority that could convert the scrambled individuals of Lestallum into a unified force, bent on preserving life.

Ignis stepped in because there was no one else to do it, and he used Noctis' name in vain to accomplish it.

Gladio didn't like that.

Cor accepted it without words, merely placing a hand on Ignis' shoulder in what Ignis liked to interpret as approval.

Prompto – Prompto, Ignis wasn't sure even noticed what Ignis was doing. Prompto was hollowed out by Noctis' disappearance, hit as hard if not harder than the rest, blaming himself –

They all blamed themselves.

Ignis has reviewed the events leading up to it, but it never changes. Their goal had always been to retrieve the Crystal. Whether or not it was in Gralea, whether or not it was at Ardyn Izunia's taunting, it mattered not. They would have obtained the symbols of Noctis' kingship, the Royal Arms; they would have obtained the Ring; and they would have sought out the Crystal.

The logic is straightforward and clear.

The logic doesn't help.

Ignis finishes signing off on the transfer order and holds it up. One of his assistants (he's not sure which one – they keep dropping out to become hunters) takes it and hands it to the hunters, who mumble agreement and thanks before going out.

Ignis only hopes they'll actually follow the directions he's given them. Sometimes they don't. A blind man with no authority but the name of a missing prince...

Well. There's nothing he can do about it now.

He turns back to reviewing the reports on his desk, clearly dismissing the merchants; they walk out grumbling, but at least they walk out.

Ignis is too busy to care.

The reports –

This isn't working.

This. Lestallum. The Long Night. Any of it.

They're taking in too many refugees. The hunters that focus on food can't bring back enough meat. The vegetables are running low, as is the rice, and grain, and –

They have too many people, not enough food, and not enough light – and more people are arriving by the day.

They're going to have to start turning people away.

Ignis shudders at the thought, true as it might be. There's nowhere for people turned away to go to. Hammerhead can only hold so many, and most of the other main cities are too far away to even check in on, much less send people.

No, Ignis can't lie to himself. Anyone they turn away will be left alone, in the dark, for the daemons and the Scourge.

They will die – if they're lucky.

And how to pick who to turn away? the traitorously practical part of Ignis' mind hisses, the horrifying logic already going to its reasonable conclusion. We need hunters, skilled and trained. We need farmers. We need engineers. But who's left? Women and children? Unskilled laborers? Are they to be cast aside to die? Is it first come first serve? What about the sick? The wounded? Who gets chosen to die? And who makes the choice?

Ignis bites his lip. He doesn't want to think that way. He doesn't want to have to make that decision.

But there's no one to do it but him.

He bends back over the reports, searching desperately for a way to divide their food and housing yet again so that they can squeeze in just a few more refugees.

Just a few more...

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Gladio's not expecting to find anything in the shabby sparse room he claimed for himself in Lestallum – it's not like he really has anything of his own there, maybe a few of Prompto's old pictures of sunny days, a few novels he'd been carrying around with him.

He's not expecting to open the door with a grunt and find a family of eight staring at him, wide-eyed and terrified, from where they're all huddled together around the few Cup Noodles that Gladio'd stashed behind the desk.

Their knuckles are white around the cups and there are guilty looks on their faces. They know they shouldn't be eating them. They know they weren't theirs.

Four of the eight are under the age of thirteen, and one more barely over.

"You can keep 'em," Gladio grunts, uncomfortable, and he backs out of the room, closing the door in front of him. That room is fit for a bachelor like him; he has no idea what on Eos Ignis is thinking, renting it out to so many people.

"Your clothing's been moved," a calm voice says from behind him.

Gladio jumps a bit, but turns with a smile. "Marshal," he says. "Shoulda known. You're the only one who can sneak up on me nowadays."

Cor doesn't really smile, but his face softens a bit. He's happy to see Gladio too. "That's for the best," he says. "Given your current choice of profession."

Gladio shrugs. He was born and raised a Shield – and what's a Shield without a King? Nothing, that's what. All those years, focusing all his time, all his skills, everything that he is, all devoted to the singular purpose of defending his King, and he fucked it up within months.

What's left for him now, other than hunting? What else is someone like him, a self-made weapon good for nothing but destroying things, destroying threats, going to do? What else is he possibly useful for, now that there's nothing left but the fight?

Gladio swallows those poisonous thoughts back down. He's not useless, not as long as he has his strong right hand and his swords.

And anyway, he doesn't want to go spilling this poison in Cor's ears, burdening the older man with all of Gladio's fears and worries and grief. Cor – the only one who understands. The only one in the same position.

Both of them weapons needing use, and no one left to use them.

"What're you doing here?" Gladio asks instead. "Would've thought you'd still be out hunting."

Cor goes further and farther than any of them, now. His eyes are shadowed by the same emptiness and grief as Gladio's, but for all that Gladio mastered Gilgamesh's challenge where Cor didn't – and Gladio's increasingly less sure that Cor didn't master the challenge, in his own way; Gilgamesh, the Blademaster, seems to know the best way to temper steel, and Cor even by his own account emerged stronger and more cautious than ever, letting him survive the battles he did, the battles against overwhelming odds that no one could have survived, earning himself the name of the Immortal – Cor has the skills to go alone where others don't dare go.

Gladio missed him, these last few weeks. Barely any time at all.

In the Long Night, a few weeks without word is an eternity. If the unthinkable happened, if Cor fell – if Cor died, they would mourn. If Cor became a daemon, well, they were all fucked. Might as well turn in their swords then and there and go straight for ritual suicide.

But the Immortal still stands.

"I returned," Cor answers vaguely. His brow is furrowed.

"Something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," Cor says. "Just a hunch."

"Your hunches are as good as Bahamut's prophecies to me," Gladio says with a shrug. He knows it's blasphemous to say, but he doesn't much care anymore. Not like the Astrals would get off their asses and do anything about it. They never do.

Cor's lips twitch in amusement. "I'll show you where your stuff is," he says. "The old corner store has been converted to hunter's barracks."

"Great," Gladio says, images of hunters sleeping on metal racks meant to hold supplies drifting before his eyes. "What's Ignis thinking, putting that many kids into a small room like that?"

"He's thinking that they'd rather be shoved in together in the light with running water than left out in the dark," Cor says, amusement gone. "You haven't seen the tents."

Gladio frowns. "The tents?"

"You'll see it on the way to the barracks."

He does. The old parking lots have been cleared, and in their place, on the hard asphalt, a virtual sea of tents has popped up. Tents of every color, every quality, pitched claustrophobically close together, and in each tent there are people. People still covered in the dust of the road, sleeping or eating or just sitting there, staring into nothingness, the shock of everything that has happened to them setting in.

And outside of the sea of tents, there are lines. Lines to use the showers, lines to get a bowl of stew spooned out by a tired-looking cook in a ragged old apron, lines for everything.

"What the Six," Gladio says. "Where'd they all come from?"

Cor shrugs. "Everywhere," he says, answering Gladio's question even though he knows it was rhetorical. "Not a lot of places still have light enough to keep the daemons back."

Gladio knows that, in his brain, but he's still having a hard time wrapping his skull around it. It's like the entire population of Insomnia tried to all move into Lestallum.

Except it isn't just Insomnia, is it? It's Galdin Quay, it's Hammerhead, it's everywhere. All of Lucis is coming to the light.

All of Lucis is coming here and dumping their problems into Ignis' lap.

"Shit," Gladio says. He feels bad about his uncharitable thoughts from earlier. He almost feels bad for not being here to help, but it's not like he can do anything to help. He's no administrative wiz like Ignis is. He just hits things.

Once, he thought his greatest fear was not having the strength to be the Shield Noctis deserved.

How naïve he was. There's so much else to fear, here in the Long Night.

They just have to hold out until Noctis comes back, though. Noctis will come back – he has to come back.

Gladio doesn't know what they'll do if he doesn't come back.

They waited next to the Crystal that first day, shivering. Then, when nothing happened, they took it back with them, guarding it closely with their lives, but nothing happened after the first week, either.

They split apart after that, unable to look at each other, unable to do anything more than bury themselves in different types of work – Ignis throwing himself into the power plant, Gladio with his hunts, Prompto going to learn car maintenance from a patient and pitying Cindy.

They all came together at the end of the first month, standing there, hoping – praying –

But there was nothing.

"Vector points," Gladio said dully at the time. "This is the Astral's design: it works like a fairy tale. One day, one week, one month – one year. Next time he might come out is one year."

"Three months," Ignis replied, his mouth tight. "It might be three months. Or six. The Astrals have always appreciated the number six."

"Or the number thirteen," Prompto snapped bitterly. "Thirteen royal arms, right? It could be three months, six months, a year – and what about after that? Three years? Six years? Ten years? Forever?! How long do we have to wait before we just give up?"

"We can't lose faith," Ignis said.

"We've lost Noctis," Prompto raged, his eyes overflowing with tears. "What else is there to lose?"

No one answered his question. There was nothing to say.

The three month mark –

It's soon.

Tonight.

It's why Gladio's back.

Maybe that's what Cor felt, with his hunch. But no, he was concerned, not pleased.

Besides, the Astrals favor the numbers one, six, and ten. Three is half of six, but it isn't a special number.

Doesn't stop them from having hope.

Gladio follows Cor to the hunter's barracks, split roughly down the middle for men and women – hunters don't much care about gender, or in fact about propriety, but it seems reasonable enough a split – and Gladio gets his shower and change of clothing, which is all he really wanted. His novels are still there.

Iris is there, too. She insisted on becoming a daemon hunter herself. Gladio fought it at first, but he was just so tired after losing Noctis that he couldn't sustain it, so he instead made her promise to start with coeruls and sabertusks instead of going straight to daemons.

Looks like she kept her promise. She has a dozen yellow stripes down the arm of her leather jacket – achievements marking a dozen successful meat hunts – and only a single red stripe, for a dozen daemons downed.

She waves, but doesn't come close.

Still sore about that fight they had last time, Gladio guesses. He doesn't even really remember what he said, just that he knew it was below the belt when he said it, and that Iris needed time away from him after that. They said their 'I love you's by rote at the end of the encounter – they never parted without it, nowadays - but she was still stewing.

Just another thing Gladio managed to destroy.

Great.

Cor leaves off to go patrol after that, leaving Gladio nothing for it but to go to the administrative center to see Ignis, who'll know where the Crystal has been hidden this week. They agreed it should be moved around after the first few attempts to steal it.

Prompto is already lurking at the steps.

He's trying to grow a goatee. It doesn't suit him.

"I'm good at hunting daemons," Gladio announces in lieu of a greeting.

Prompto blinks owlishly at him. "Um," he says. "Yeah, you are..?"

The ending is less a question and more a request that Gladio explain what exactly he's on about.

"I could take care of the one you've got clinging to your chin for you," Gladio clarifies. "No problem. Won't even charge you."

"My chin –" Prompto raises a hand, then realizes. "Hey! Gimme a break, I’m still growing it!"

But he's smiling, just the littlest bit; Gladio can see that the smile is coming despite Prompto's best efforts, but it's there. A little lightness, amid all this darkness.

Prompto smiled the most out of all of them, before.

"Just saying," Gladio says gruffly. He shakes his head. "How's Cindy?"

He doesn't ask how Prompto's doing. He knows the answer – he feels gutted and empty and numb. Just like Gladio does.

"She's tough as nails," Prompto says, his voice fond. Gladio doesn't comment on how that fondness sounds more like the way he talks about Iris than it does the way it sounded a few months back, when he was still dorkily crushing on her. "Nothing gets her down."

"Not even having to wear long pants to keep back the chill?" Gladio teases.

"Hah! You think a little bit of chill is going to stop Cindy?"

"Goosebumps aren't attractive."

"Cindy makes everything attractive," Prompto says firmly. His best attribute has always been his loyalty.

Loyalty –

Like his loyalty to Noctis.

Oh, Noct.

As if his ghost were summoned by the thought, Gladio and Prompto move apart from each other, unable to look at each other.

"Three months, huh," Prompto says, trying and failing to keep his voice light.

"Probably no chance of it," Gladio warns.

"Still worth a shot," Prompto says with a shrug. "Don't want him coming out of it alone."

Ignis appears at the door then. He has his cane, and he's found a visor to protect his still-useless eyes. "Gladio," he says. "Prompto."

"Ignis," Gladio says, his voice rough. Ignis is too thin, the work and the loneliness taking its toll on him. He was their chef and their snappiest dresser; now his fancy clothing hangs loose on him and the tightness of his cheeks suggests that he hasn't been eating right.

Gladio knows that he should stay here in Lestallum, offering his strong right arm and his eyes and his company to help ease Ignis' burden as Ignis does the work that should have fallen by birthright to Noctis. But he can't. He's just a Shield without a King. He can't help.

"Let us go," Ignis says.

The Crystal is in a sub-basement of the building. It was in a cave, last time.

They wait.

There are a few stilted attempts at conversation that quickly die – what do they have to talk about? Ignis knows everything about Gladio's recent hunt from the report Gladio turned in at the gate when he arrived, and the sea of tents says everything about Ignis' activities, and Prompto's attempts to fix cars in Hammerhead are the same as they've always been – and they wait in silence.

It's midnight (or at least the hour that used to mark midnight, before it was all night) before Ignis stirs with a sigh and rises with a creak to his back. He's too young for his bones to be groaning like that.

He states what's obvious to all of them, but which none of them wanted to say.

"He's not coming back today."

"He might," Prompto says stubbornly, his eyes fixed on the Crystal.

"He won't," Gladio says, bitter despair coloring his voice. "He's left us here, alone. He's not coming back."

He doesn't add the 'today' that Ignis does.

Prompto's cheeks flush red. "You always were the first one to give up on him."

Gladio's hands curl into fists. Gladio's never given up on Noctis, not once, not ever; he was angry at him, but it was always for Noctis' own good, to help push him forward. Gladio gave everything to Noctis, everything he had, from the second he was born, from before Noctis had even been conceived; he'd always known his duty, and knowing Noctis himself had turned that duty into a pleasure. Prompto has no idea what he's talking about, with his cars and his girl and his machine repairs, the insipid little –

"That was uncalled for, Prompto," Ignis says, his voice chilly. "Your pain is no greater than our own, and you know it."

Prompto ducks his head, ashamed, conceding the point.

"It doesn't change the facts," Ignis says. "Tonight isn't the night. We should go."

"You go, then," Prompto says. "I want to –"

They never find out what Prompto wanted, though, because the door opens and it's Cor.

"There's a disturbance outside the gate," he says. "You should come see this."

"Daemons?" Gladio asks, his fingers already flexing for the grip of his sword.

"No," Cor says, and his eyes are dark. "Magitek soldiers."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I thought they were all disabled," Prompto says, gnawing at his lower lip. "The MTs, I mean."

He still doesn't like talking about them, about the MTs, about –

Well. It's not like they don't all know about him now, about his past, about where he's from, about what he was meant for. That moment of acceptance, from all of them, from Noct, is still one of the most precious memories he has, one that he pulls out in the darkest moments of the night and replays time and time again. He's not letting that memory fade, not ever.

"We thought so, too. Guess we were wrong," Cor says, his face lined with concern as he looks out of their ring of light to the troop of MT troopers standing a reasonable distance away. Far enough away that a sword strike would be difficult, and, in the dark, a gun shot would have only limited accuracy. Prompto could probably get one – he really is that good, and he knows it – but that wouldn't help against the whole troop.

Noct could've warped the distance, no problem.

But Noct's not here. He's not coming back today.

He's not coming back –

No. He is. He has to.

But right now, they have a different problem, and the problem is the rows of dark silhouettes with glowing red eyes, standing at attention in the dark. They don't move forward, but they're clearly watching the camp.

"What do they want?" Prompto asks. He's taking a leap here, assuming that MTs actually want something, but they're here, and they weren't here before, and that has to mean something, right? Most likely it just means that someone is commanding them, but that person has to want something.

"Excellent question," Ignis says. He can't see them, of course, but they've described the scene to him.

Well, sort of.

Cor gave a brief report, numbers and approximate placement, as well as a quick overview of the terrain and the fighting advantages and disadvantages (positive: lots of hunters; negative: lots of civilians).

Prompto described the atmosphere – the words 'creepy' and 'spooky red eyes' and 'like statutes but homicidal' came up.

Gladio rolled his eyes at both of them and described it in a way that actually explained what they were seeing (dark silhouettes, glowing red eyes, surrounding some sort of box, one standing somewhat ahead of the rest).

He's always been best at it.

"We should just attack already," Gladio grumbles, but it's clear he doesn't mean it. "The longer we wait, the closer they'll get; the more civilians might get hurt."

"They're not doing anything," Ignis points out, sounding thoughtful.

"They're MTs," Gladio says flatly. "Robots."

Prompto doesn't feel the usual sting he does when MTs get discussed in harsh terms; it helps that Gladio knows, and still stays the same tactless ass he’s always been. It shows that he doesn't think about Prompto that way, not even in the back of his mind.

"They came here," Cor says. "That means they want something, or, rather, someone with access to them wants something. We need to figure out what that something is."

"We should approach them," Ignis says abruptly.

Everyone looks at him.

"We have no other means of obtaining information. Cor, call for some of the hunters and set them up on the perimeter to cover us, and to keep watch and make sure this isn't some sort of distraction –"

"Already done," Cor says.

"And we'll go ourselves," Ignis continues. His face is set. "Between the four of us, we can defeat a group this small. Even if there's a greater ambush out there, we have enough power together to keep it back to cover our retreat. We should be able to question them without difficulty."

Nods all around.

"I am the local authority," Ignis adds, forestalling the objections to his presence that no one actually raised. "I need to approve any agreement, or even the opening of negotiations on behalf of Lestallum."

"We'll protect you," Gladio says. Cor murmurs an agreement.

Ignis relaxes infinitesimally; his fears of being left behind are as strong as ever. Prompto can sympathize.

After all, Prompto –

Well, they don't really need Prompto, do they?

"I'll hang up a pan on the gate," Cor says. "Prompto shooting it down will be the signal that the gate should be closed and not opened to anyone, even us."

Everyone looks at Cor.

"In the event they have a biological weapon," he clarifies. “And we don’t want to come back.”

Get turned into daemons, he means.

"Prompto's always been the best shot," Gladio agrees. "And we'd need something that precise to convince them here."

"Then we're agreed; we all go," Ignis says.

Prompto's throat is tight. He doesn't want to deal with MTs, not really, but the feeling of being needed, of being part of the team again, of being useful –

He wouldn't give that up for anything.

"You can count on me," he says.

They make the last few arrangements and they head out into the dark.

The MTs watch them approach.

As they (and their lights) get closer, more details become clear. It's a group of riflemen, tall and dangerous but not as giant as the axemen, and standing some few steps out in front of their perfect formation is a single MT, his armor slightly more fancy than the others. A unit commander, maybe; Prompto doesn't remember seeing that distinction, but it's a reasonable one. At some point, the Empire had more MT squads than captains to lead them, and an MT commander made sense. Robots (not-quite-robots, Prompto's mind reminds him, as you know best of all) commanding robots.

Why are they here?

They don’t move for a long while, just watching the group approach, their red eyes glowing above those fixed, metal smiles.

It’s only when they’re standing less than fifteen feet away that the commander moves with that jerky, inhuman motion characteristic of a puppet with badly pulled strings, or an MT out of battle. Same thing, really.

He (it?) raises a hand, and the MTs who were standing around what is now recognizably a large box all stir to life.

Cor, Gladio, and Prompto all tense for an attack, Ignis tensing when he feels them all brace themselves, but nothing happens.

Instead, the MTs just peel apart, perfect formation reforming several steps behind the box, the commander still out in front.

Gladio’s voice is a quiet murmur, letting Ignis know what happened.

Prompto glances at Cor, whose face is calm and serious as ever.

The MT commander gestures at the box, his metal palm open and welcoming, and then returns his hand to his side and stills again.

“He wants us to see what’s inside the box,” Prompto surmises.

“I don’t see anyone else,” Cor says, scanning the horizon, his hand still on the hilt of his blade

Prompto gulps. That means – could the MTs be doing this themselves? After all, they were human, once. But they were reduced to mindless, obedient robots…

Well.

They’re not going to find out anything just standing here.

“I’m going to open the box,” Prompto says, and holds his hands up before Gladio or Cor can volunteer to go in his stead.

He knows he’s the least useful one here. Gladio and Cor destroy daemons; Ignis runs Lestallum; and what does Prompto do? Run messages back and forth between Lestallum and Hammerhead, like a child, and sometimes fix cars?

No, he’s the right one for the job.

He moves forward slowly, carefully, knowing Gladio and Cor are at his back, watching him, ready to leap in at a moment’s notice, knowing that Ignis has his sharp ears and sharper mind bent on the situation, ready to call out instructions.

But nothing happens.

He gets to the box.

The MT commander is standing only a few steps away, but he’s as still as a statute.

Prompto looks down at the large box – big enough that it would take four men to carry it, easy.

Only one way to see what’s inside.

He opens the box, and then freezes, staring inside.

“What is it?” Ignis asks, breaking the quiet.

“It’s – it’s a – it’s a generator,” Prompto exclaims, rocking back on his heels. “Guys, it’s a generator!”

Generators are worth more than gold, more than diamonds, more than hunters – they mean more light, and more light means more space that can be protected from daemons, and that means more people, more safety. This one is disconnected, too, and it isn’t reliant on the power plant for power, and that means it could maybe be sent to Hammerhead, to help them maintain their boundaries – it means they could hold out longer –

This is great.

“What do they want for it?” Ignis asks, and Prompto stops, abashed.

The MTs didn’t just bring this as a gift, of course. That isn’t exactly characteristic of them.

They’ve correctly identified the thing Lestallum wants most, and they brought it here, in the dark.

Prompto looks at the commander. “What do you want for it?” he asks, unable to keep from addressing the MT directly. He knows it’s probably just a person using a transmitter or something – not sure why they’d send the MTs in that case – but he was very nearly one of these creatures, and maybe, a long time ago, they looked like him, or like someone else.

The commander stays standing still for a few more moments, almost considering, and then he very slowly reaches for his sword.

“Prompto, be careful,” Gladio calls, his voice tense.

“No,” Prompto says, watching the painfully slow process by which the MT commander draws the sword. “I think it’s okay.”

Sure enough, once the sword is fully drawn, the MT commander puts it on the ground, hilt facing towards Prompto.

Prompto’s not sure what that’s supposed to mean.

“It’s an offer of truce,” Cor says. “They want to negotiate.”

Oh. Okay. That makes sense.

“We can negotiate,” Ignis says. “Not here, though. We need light.”

“We can’t let them into Lestallum!” Gladio protests.

“Not all of them, and we’ll be in front of the gate,” Ignis says patiently. “In front of dozens of hunters. It’ll be fine. Negotiations take time; we need a place to sit while we do it.”

The MT commander nods creakily and raises his hand again.

Four MT troopers step forward and come to the box, lifting the heavy weight easily.

“They can carry the generator forward,” Ignis says a moment later, after Gladio has narrated their actions. “But then they return here. The negotiation will be between you and me.”

The MT commander shakes his head.

“No? What do you want, then?”

The MT commander raises a hand and points, first at Ignis and then –

At Prompto.

“Me?” Prompto asks, surprised.

“You want Prompto involved in the negotiations?” Ignis asks.

The MT commander nods.

“Why?” Prompto asks, entirely befuddled. He’s no negotiator!

“It doesn’t matter why,” Cor says. “You’ll agree to come alone to negotiate with Ignis and Prompto?”

The MT commander nods.

“Let’s get this moving, then,” Gladio says. He sounds worried.

Prompto can’t blame him.

They come back slowly towards the gate, the four of them, the four MTs and the MT commander.

The MTs put the generator – the top open and the contents clearly visible – down next to the gate and retreat.

There’s lots of excited whispering from the giant crowd of people who have gathered – Prompto sees Monica, Talcott, and Vyv among them. Another generator could mean opening another field for people to live in – more space to live, more space to breathe.

The MTs retreat, marching in perfect two-by-two order, leaving the MT commander alone before the gate. Not entirely alone, of course; Prompto can see well enough in the dark that he knows that the MTs back at the meeting point have drawn their rifles, though they’re still pointing them down at the ground to signify their lack of threat.

It’s clearly a defensive gesture, meant to show that they will act if they need to.

Whoever is running these MTs is very smart.

Six, Prompto hopes it’s not some leftover remnant of Verstael Besithia.

You killed him, Prompto reminds himself. He’s gone.

He hopes.

The MT commander is looking at the crowd and then, suddenly, moves forward, heading towards the crowd.

“What are you doing?” Gladio growls, his sword half-drawn. He’s not the only one; half the hunters in the crowd have drawn weapons. “Get away from there!”

The MT commander stops in front of some of the crowd. It reaches out a hand towards – Talcott?

Talcott stares up at him. He’s clutching his little two-way radio, which he uses to call Cindy and some of the truckers on the road; he likes to talk to them as they go down the empty roads, keeping them company in his own small way.

The MT commander’s hand remands extended. He does not move.

“Do you want my radio?” Talcott asks shyly.

The MT commander nods.

“Um. Okay?” Talcott says, and offers it.

The MT commander takes the radio and turns back to where some of Ignis’ assistants have brought out a table and three chairs, as well as notepads and typewriters to keep a record of the negotiations.

Ignis sits in his seat, with Gladio standing close by his side to act as narrator and not-so-secret bodyguard, but the MT commander doesn’t seem to object. Ignis gestures for Prompto to sit at the other chair.

Prompto gulps. “You sure this is a good idea?” he hisses to Ignis.

“They want you in the negotiation,” Ignis points out. “It’s an easy concession on our part.”

“But why?” Prompto asks. “Do you think it’s because I…?”

“I don’t know how they’d know,” Ignis says gently. “We can ask once we’ve gotten started.”

The MT commander is doing something to the radio while walking slowly and stiffly back towards the table, fingers moving quickly over the machinery as he takes pieces apart and puts other pieces back together, changing the configuration of wires and gears inside.

Prompto makes a mental note to ask Cindy for a spare radio for Talcott. He has a feeling that what Talcott gets back isn’t going to resemble what he gave away.

Suddenly, a horrible mechanical screeching comes out of the radio.

Everyone flinches, but the sound moderates itself quickly, resolving into crackling static which, in turn, dies down a soft hum. The MT commander is holding the radio in both hands now.

“Did you get what you wanted from the radio?” Prompto asks, curious.

The radio crackles with static again for a second and then, almost unbelievably, a voice comes out.

“Affirmative,” it says.

For a second there, Prompto thinks it’s one of Talcott’s trucker friends with a terrible sense of timing, but Ignis straightening up in surprise next to him leads him to put two and two together.

It’s not a trucker.

It’s the MT commander.

The MT commander is speaking.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Growing up, Ignis was part of a number of high-level, high-risk negotiations – first as an observer and then, later, as a participant.

This is by far the strangest.

He didn’t even know MTs possessed the ability to speak.

Though, to be fair, it doesn’t look like they do – after all, the MT commander is using the radio to speak through.

That’s a horrifying thought – that they have the capability of speech, but not the ability; the brains but not the mouths.

“You can sit, you know,” he hears Prompto say, followed by a few moments of pause and then, very slowly, the sound of metal contorting as the MT commander gingerly lowers himself down to the chair.

Ignis folds his hands in front of him. He wants to take a deep breath to steady himself, but he won’t; that would be revealing weakness, and he’s not going to do that.

This is no different than any other negotiation, he reminds himself. You need to figure out what the other side wants, what they can get you, and how to come to a compromise between the two without exposing your side to betrayal.

That last part is a new addition, added following Insomnia’s fall.

“The people of Lucis –” Ignis is going to go with Lucis, rather than Lestallum as he typically does, both because it sounds better and because he might as well be representing them as anyone else. “– thank you for the generator.”

The MT commander crackles static for a moment. “Offer to open negotiations,” it finally says. “Negotiations can now proceed.”

It takes a second to puzzle through that, but it makes sense: the generator was used to entice them to open the current negotiations, which they would never have entered into without the offer of the generator, but the MT commander seems to think that that was its sole use and there is no further need to discuss it.

Cutting straight to the chase, as it were.

Not quite what Ignis is used to in negotiations, but he can adapt.

He’s good at adapting.

“Of course,” he says smoothly. “You wanted negotiations; you have them. What can we do for you?”

The MT commander makes that creaking sound that Ignis has figured out is a nod. “We have offer. We have desire. We will reach agreement.”

A fairly mechanical description of negotiating, yes, but not too different than what Ignis had just thought. Good to know they are on the same page – albeit a slow page determined to go through each step of the negotiating process. Negotiation by machine…

“Who are you working on behalf of?” Gladio asks, even though he’s supposed to just be there as narrator. Ignis kicks him under the table.

“Unclear query. Please resubmit.”

“Um, what he means,” Prompto says, sounding uncertain, “is – are you answering to anyone? Who’s running the MTs now?”

The MT commander is silent for a long moment.

Finally, it speaks. “Superior orders have ceased,” it says.

“What does that mean?” Ignis asks, though he’s starting to have a distinct suspicion.

“Superior orders have ceased,” the MT commander repeats.

“You’re on your own,” Prompto breathes. “You don’t have orders – you’re doing this yourself!”

Another long pause and then, reluctantly, the MT commander answers, “Affirmative.”

Ignis tries very hard not to think of all the MTs he has killed over the years, thinking of them as nothing more than empty robots. They were the enemy, and they were attacking; it was nothing more than self-defense.

MTs thinking for themselves.

They really have reached the end of the world.

“So you represent the MTs?” Ignis asks, instead of focusing on that.

“Affirmative.”

“And the MTs wanted – to negotiate with us?” Ignis can’t help but ask.

“Affirmative.”

“Very well,” Ignis says, struggling to regain his footing a bit. “Do you accept myself and Prompto as adequate representatives to negotiate with?”

“Affirmative.”

“What do you want, then?” Ignis asks. “What do the MTs want?”

“Repairs,” the MT commander says.

“I thought MTs were self-repairing,” Prompto says.

“Affirmative.”

“Then why do you need repairs?”

“Finished units require location to complete self-repairs. Unfinished units require additional repair,” the MT commander says.

“And you want our help to repair them?” Prompto asks, sounding dubious.

“Affirmative.”

“I see,” Ignis says. “And what would you be offering in exchange for our provision of these repairs?”

“Assistance,” the MT commander says promptly. “Scouting and transportation through regions without light. Assistance in removal of obstacles.”

“Obstacles?”

“Physical or biological.”

“You mean daemons,” Prompto says.

“Biological obstacles,” the MT commander agrees.

“We already have hunters,” Ignis points out.

“Limited in number,” the MT commander points out in return. “MT units are more efficient.”

“I’d argue that,” Gladio mutters.

The MT commander crackles static for a few seconds. “Contrary to hunter units, MT units operate at peak efficiency in darkness,” it finally says. “MT units do not face biological obstacles, which will enable swifter activity.”

“Daemons don’t bother you,” Prompto interprets, which is good, because Ignis was starting to get confused. “Why not?”

“MT units are not recognized by biological obstacles as a source of sustenance or opposition.”

“They recognize you as fellow daemons,” Ignis says, feeling nauseous. “And they don’t bother you. So you can go quicker – that’s what you mean?”

“Affirmative.”

Ignis is negotiating with daemons. Oh, they may have been human once upon a time, as Prompto’s story made clear, but they were so infected – deliberately infected – by the Starscourge that they transitioned into daemonic machines. Machines designed to be obedient and mindless, but here they are anyway, negotiating on their own behalf.

Ignis doesn’t know what to do with that.

“MT units can provide additional support in protection of light-given areas,” the MT commander says again. It must be concerned that it’s losing their interest. “Additionally, MT units have located additional generators.”

That gets Ignis’ attention. “How many more?”

“Greater than four,” the MT commander says, clearly opting for its own version of vague.

“Four,” Prompto whispers. “Four – Ignis, you know what we could do with four more?!”

“Where did you find the generators?” Ignis asks.

“Cities,” the MT commander says. “Forts.”

“Were there people left in the cities?” Ignis asks.

The MT commander crackles in static. “Affirmative,” it says, though it sounds confused as to why Ignis would care. “Hiding inside.”

The MTs had made it into the cities.

Ignis clenches his fists under the table, a small nervous twitch he’s picked up ever since he stopped being able to close or roll his eyes.

No one, not even Cor, has managed to make it into the larger, further cities. There are too many daemons encircling them, tearing at the bodies of dead humans; no one dares to make it through.

This is the first confirmation they have that there are refugees left in the cities proper.

“Were the people left in the cities infected by the Starscourge?” he asks.

The MT commander crackles again, in what Ignis is starting to recognize as a thinking sound – much like a human might hum thoughtfully. This time it goes on for some time.

It occurs to Ignis that he’s posed a difficult question for a machine (I don’t know if it’s a machine) to answer, as some of the people were undoubtedly infected and others were not.

But just as Ignis opens his mouth to clarify, the MT commander speaks first.

“No extensive survey was conducted,” it says. “But of humans identified during initial walkthrough, estimated that 80% living humans are currently free from pathogen infection.”

Eighty percent!

Eighty percent of the living, mind you, which could mean 8 people out of 10 total, but it could also mean 80. It could also mean 800. It could mean –

So many people.

We don’t have space for them.

But if they had additional generators – if they were able to properly cannibalize the machine parts from the cities – if they had a few dozen MTs to help bring in the harvest in the dark of the night, untroubled by daemons, they could feed so many more people.

They could rescue so many more people.

“Do you represent the small squad you arrived with?” Ignis asks abruptly. There are only dozen of them. “Or are there more?”

The MT commander is silent for a while. “There are more.”

“And in return for your services as protectors and transportation and scouting on our behalf, all you want is a place to conduct your repairs, and assistance in repairing unfinished units?”

The MT commander hesitates. “Additional desire,” it says.

“What?”

“Orders.”

Ignis blinks. That was not what he expected from an additional request.

“MTs are made for service,” the MT commander explains.

“Wait,” Prompto says. “Are you saying you guys are bored?”

“Negative,” the MT commander says. “MTs do not get ‘bored’.”

“But you want something to do? Someone to give you orders?”

“Affirmative.”

“And you came here?” Gladio asks, clearly skeptical. “There are plenty of other places you could have gone – some of which still have soldiers from the Empire, no less. There were fortresses, scientific laboratories, administrative outposts – Six, even if you weren’t looking for military, you could’ve gone anywhere in Niflheim and found someone who would give you orders. And you came to Lestallum?”

“Affirmative.”

“Why?” Ignis asks.

The MT commander is silent.

“I’m afraid we will need to know why,” Ignis says. “It’s non-negotiable. We must be assured of your good faith, and for that, we need to know your motives.”

The MT commander’s neck creaks.

“Um,” Prompto says. “Why are you looking at me?”

Ignis’ eyebrows go up. They had demanded that Prompto be part of the negotiations…

“Why are you interested in Prompto?” he asks. “What does he have to do with your decision to offer Lestallum your services?”

The MT commander hesitates, static crackling.

Ignis hears Prompto swallow. “Is it because of this?” he asks, and Ignis can’t see what he does, but he can hear a hand be placed on the table. Palm up, if he had to guess; Prompto, one of the bravest souls Ignis has ever met, offering up his barcode for the MT commander to see. “Is this why?”

A moment of quiet, and then – “Affirmative.”

“Why?” Prompto asks. “You know I’m not – I am not an MT. I’m not. I was stolen as a baby, and raised in Lucis.”

“Unit NH-00O6-O204-1987 was never finished,” the MT commander agrees. “MT units have observed over time that Lestallum Base has reacted positively to the present of Unit NH-00O6-O204-1987.”

“Reacted positively – you came here because we’re nice to Prompto?” Gladio exclaims, getting the answer before either Prompto or Ignis do.

“Affirmative. No contingent of Niflheim has demonstrated similar tolerance. Unit NH-00O6-O204-1987 has been given repeated missions selected to his preferences and has been repaired regularly when damaged.”

“Don’t call me that,” Prompto says automatically. “My name is Prompto, not Unit…whatever. Also, are you referring to the fact that they heal me when I get hurt? That’s – that’s not getting damaged. I’m a person, not a machine.”

“Unit NH-00O6-O204-1987 was never finished,” the MT commander says again, clearly agreeing.

A terrible realization strikes Ignis.

“Wait,” Prompto says, and Ignis can hear that same realization in his voice. “You said – you said earlier, that you needed assistance repairing unfinished units. Are the unfinished units – are they like me? They’re people, not machines?”

“Negative,” the MT commander says. “Unfinished units are unfinished. Unit NH-00O6-O204-1987 was never finished. Unit NH-00O6-O204-1987 underwent a different process of development, resulting in person designated as ‘Prompto’.”

Ignis doesn’t care if it’s a gesture of weakness. He presses the back of his hand to his lips until it’s white from the pressure, as if that will keep the bile crawling up the back of his throat back.

“Children,” Prompto says blankly. “You mean you have children. Children that were supposed to grow up into MTs.”

“Affirmative,” the MT commander says, its mechanical radio-voice as emotionless as always. “Unfinished units require non-MT units to provide repairs, or they begin to become dysfunctional.”

“Do you even feed them?” Gladio demands, horror seeping through his words. “Do you even know that you need to touch them? Have the babies started dying?”

“Touching is necessary?” the MT commander asks, sounding surprised.

“Oh, Six. You have to bring them here, right away,” Gladio says. “Babies die if no one holds them.”

“Non-MT units can provide necessary repairs,” the MT commander says. It almost sounds relieved.

“You bet we can,” Gladio says. “We can do our best, anyway.”

“Negotiations are agreed?” the MT commander asks.

“Ignis?”

“No,” Ignis says, putting his hand down.

“Ignis!” both Gladio and Prompto exclaim.

“I’m not saying we’re not agreeing,” Ignis says sternly. “I just want to work out some additional terms with – I’m terribly sorry, I just realized I never asked. What should I address you as?”

The MT commander seems equally taken aback by the question.

“Designation Commander Unit NH-00TX-U514-1553,” it offers after a moment.

“That’s a bit of a mouthful,” Prompto says. “How about just, uh, ‘U5’ for now?”

“Acceptable,” U5 says warily.

“Okay, then,” Prompto says. “Ignis, what are the remaining terms you want to work out?”

“The children,” Ignis says. The concern had occurred to him while they were talking. “What happens after we, uh, ‘repair’ them? Are they going to become MTs?”

“Affirmative.”

“Uh, no,” Prompto says. “Not okay.”

“Query – why not?”

“What if they don’t want to be MTs?” Prompto asks. “What if they want to be more like me?”

“They are MTs,” U5 says.

“You’re making decisions for yourself now,” Prompto says savagely. “Why not give them the same chance?”

Ignis doesn’t interrupt. It’s not his place.

U5 is silent for a moment.

“Acceptable,” it finally says. “Unfinished units will be advanced to the finalization stage, but prior to finishing, will be permitted to select preferred development path of MT unit or Prompto unit.”

“Prompto unit?” Prompto squawks.

“That sounds fine to me,” Ignis intervenes. “When the children are old enough, they decide for themselves. We’re agreed. Dustin, do you have a final version of the terms?”

“Yes, sir,” Dustin, who had been taking notes, says. “The MTs will get us generators and provide help with necessary services, including but not limited to transportation through the dark, fighting daemons, and scouting and retrieval from cities. In return, we provide them with a place to, uh, repair themselves, and we help them raise their children, which will get an option as to whether they turn into MTs or not. And we give them orders.”

“Does that sound acceptable?” Ignis asks U5.

“Acceptable with one revision,” U5 says. “Orders will be delivered through Prompto unit.”

“Wait, what?” Prompto yelps.

“Prompto unit will promote the interests of the MTs,” U5 says firmly. “Prompto unit will ensure that MT units are repaired and not discarded. Correct?”

Prompto says nothing.

Ignis suspects he’s probably gaping.

“Prompto, are you comfortable taking a leadership role in relation to the MTs?” Ignis asks. “I understand that it might remind you of things you don’t want to think of, but they seem to trust you more than anyone else here. Can you do it?”

“Yeah,” Prompto says faintly. “I mean…yeah, I guess.”

“Then we have an agreement,” U5 says.

“Good,” Ignis says. “First things first – what do you know about harvesting vegetables? And how many generators does ‘more than four’ mean, exactly?”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gladio did not expect to end today by attempting to explain how Cup Noodles work to a bunch of MTs.

They seem bizarrely intrigued by it, if by intrigued you mean ‘red eyes creepily watching Gladio bring noodles from cup to mouth in repetitive motions’, and Gladio has to start explaining or else he would have to punch someone just to make the awkwardness stop.

And that’s not nice to do to allies.

He’s in the back of the truck the MTs used to get close to Lestallum, while Prompto rides in the front with the MT commander – U5, Gladio reminds himself, we’re calling him U5 – and Cor, who insisted on coming along to scout out the size of the MT group.

This left no seats in the front, which meant Gladio got to sit in the back with the MTs.

Who are watching him eat.

Original best case scenario for today: Noct comes back, Gladio thinks wryly. Updated best case scenario: MTs turn out not to have accidentally let the babies die.

Gladio really hopes the MTs don't actually have babies in their care. He doesn't have much experience with babies, just hanging around a lot when Iris was small, but the thought of Iris when she was small and wrinkled and red and helpless, trapped in some sort of test tube...

That would be intolerable.

The MTs are definitely still watching him eat.

They're not moving their heads or anything as obvious as that, but he can feel himself being watched. By the Six, he still has that secondary alarm ringing in his head, the one that warns him of nearby MTs because MTs mean danger, the alarm that saved their lives (Noct's life) a hundred times over.

Except now, they're allies, and that means Gladio has to be nice to them.

“You should definitely pick these up when you’re in cities,” Gladio tells the MTs encouragingly, and really only mildly sarcastic. “They have different flavor varieties.”

“Gladio, stop recruiting MTs to satisfy your Cup Noodle habit,” Prompto calls from the front of the truck, his voice somewhat muffled. “I’m the one who gives them orders, remember?”

“I’m just saying, if they happen to see a few packs –”

“Generators first!”

“Fine, fine,” Gladio says, but he’s smiling, just a little bit.

He’s smiling. At MTs.

What the fuck is he doing.

The smile goes away.

Prompto goes back to talking with U5 in the front seat about generators.

Apparently, U5's little "more than four" wasn't deliberately vague so much as his best attempt at an answer he didn't know. Several MT squads apparently reacted to the total stop of orders from the top by joining up together to try to figure out what to do – a most un-MT-like behavior, born of desperation – and decided to take several actions at once: U5 to go negotiate with Lestallum for repairs and orders with one of the four generators in their possession, and several other squads to go out to obtain more generators in the event that the negotiations were successful.

U5 assumed that said other squads were successful, but could not, without reporting to his base, confirm how many generators were obtained.

Thus the current trip.

Prompto's asking about the attrition rate of the squads sent out on mission, because he's trying to deal with his newfound role as 'leader of the allied MT units' with responsibility.

He's a better man than Gladio, if he can learn to care about the wellbeing of a bunch of MT troopers – especially given his own traumatic experience with them.

Well, Gladio's always known in his heart of hearts that Prompto's better than he is.

Not a better fighter, of course – Gladio's trained his whole life, where Prompto started in his early teens. But that's just it – he came and he did the same thing Gladio did, try to protect Noct with his life, and he did it without any family duty, without any outside impetus, without training, with nothing but friendship. And where Gladio willingly abandoned Noct's side in his quest to assuage his own fears of not being enough, Prompto had to be thrown off a train before he would leave.

All things considered, Gladio doesn't mind helping Prompto through a few panic attacks (he'd had two before they set out on this trip, and he's still talking a bit too fast). It's quite literally the least he can do.

And the MTs are still watching him eat.

Six, they're creepy.

Gladio supposes they can’t help it; they’re MTs, after all. They’re born (made?) creepy.

Yeah, Gladio doesn’t want to think about this one too hard.

It doesn’t help that only U5 has a radio, so none of them can talk.

Though –

Damnit, Gladio's job has always been people. Ignis, for all his strategy and cleverness, preferred math and administration to diplomacy, even if he was better at the formal push-pull of negotiations. It was always Gladio who went out and befriended people, charmed them with a smile and a discussion of things that interested them.

Gladio's the one who bridges the gaps between stranger and friend.

And right now, he's letting his prejudice against MTs stop him from doing that. Six, the MTs are probably not watching him eat out of interest, but out of fear – a dozen MT troopers like this would be nothing for him to take out. He could probably wipe them out with a few swipes of his sword.

He's done it plenty of times before, after all.

Six, he’s being an ass. Worse, he’s being an ass who isn’t doing his job.

Okay, Gladio. Can't change what you've done. Just do better.

Gladio finishes his Cup Noodles and tosses it aside, then turns to look at the MTs, which are still staring at him.

“So, how do you communicate?” he asks one of them.

It blinks at him from behind its mask.

“I know you guys do. I just don’t know how,” Gladio says reasonably. “I’m willing to learn.”

He doesn't actually get a response from any of them, which he supposes is fair. He hasn't exactly been trying to make conversation so far.

"Information exchange is important for any well-trained group of soldiers," Gladio continues. "You must've seen – or at least heard of – the way my team yells at each other mid-battle –"

At least, the way they used to, when they still had Noct – shouting compliments and friendly insults with the same breath.

Now isn't the time to think of that.

"— but that's because we weren't trained together, not until late. You guys were. But you can't react so well to new input – and I know you do – without communicating about it. I've always been curious as to how you do it," Gladio lies. He'd always assumed there was some controller back on the drop ship, playing a video game but with soldiers; it would explain the slowness of their response time.

But he's trying to make friends, not insult them.

No response.

Red eyes blink at him from behind frozen metal faces.

Gladio shrugs. He tried. "Think on it," he advises. "I don't blame you if you don't want me to know, but if we're going to be allies, then, well, I figure we may as well get to know each other."

The MTs are clearly considering his question, from the way they're squinting, and some of them even turn their heads away from Gladio to look at each other in silent consultation.

Gladio feels pretty good about that. It's progress. It’s something.

Of course, that's when the truck shudders to a stop.

"We're here," Prompto announces unnecessarily. His voice is kinda breathy and high-pitched.

He hates MT laboratories; just hearing that they were going to one had triggered his second panic attack. Reasonable, given that he'd been captured and kept captive in them twice. The first time, after the train, he’d had to fight for his life to escape and barely made it out. The second time, he'd been literally strung up to a rack and left there as a gift to lure Noct to the trap that waited on the other end.

Not great memories.

The first panic attack had been about being the envoy to the MTs, which Gladio honestly couldn't blame him for, either. Even if it'd been only the dozen MTs in this squad, rather than some uncertain number more (Gladio does wonder how many survived – a few dozen more? A hundred more? Two hundred more?), Prompto's understandably tender about his past, and having actual MTs seize on it...

Yeah, Gladio can't even imagine.

Especially if what Prompto haltingly reported about MT units being clones – in at least one factory he knew of, clones of him – is true.

"Gotta run," Gladio tells the MTs, and slips out of the back of the truck and around the front.

Cor has his hand on Prompto's shoulder, grounding him, but they both seem relieved to see Gladio.

Gladio nods his thanks at Cor and nudges Prompto with his shoulder. "So, tell me," he says.

"About what?" Prompto asks, doing his absolute best to breathe evenly and not descend into a third panic attack.

"What's wrong with this architecture? I mean, I know it's ugly, but –"

Prompto snorts an involuntary laugh.

Good, he's distracted. A bit more of that, and he'll start to calm down.

Gladio clowns around for a few more minutes – Prompto always did find Gladio saying the words 'flying buttresses' really funny, and this time is no different, even though the laboratory (of which they can really only see the top, since most of it is underground) definitely doesn't have any – until Prompto is back to his usual color.

"Okay," Prompto says. "Let's go."

The MTs are already in formation, waiting patiently, U5 in the front.

They go inside.

The laboratory is, well. All jokes about architecture aside, Gladio really can only describe the place as ‘classic Niflheim creepy’ – lots of shapeless, colorless walls, industrial ceilings, soulless straight lines built entirely for utility and not even a little bit for aesthetics. Even basic human comfort wasn’t a factor considered in building these walls.

Gladio thinks he heard someone refer to it as ‘Brutalist’, meaning ‘brutally grabbed a handful of walls and put it up without any concern for appearance’, and he thinks the term fits.

Not that they don’t have a certain vibe to them, what with the aura of evil practically dripping from the dirty blood-speckled walls.

The majority of the laboratory is underground, meaning that the unobtrusive looking building hiding in the mountain is actually the entrance to a giant complex.

At least it has light. If they had to explore this place with nothing but their flashlights, Gladio’s pretty sure Prompto would have another panic attack.

“The unfinished units are on level three,” U5 says.

“Children,” Prompto says. “They’re called children.”

“Negative. ‘Children’ units are on level four,” U5 says.

Gladio frowns. “What’s the difference? The age?”

“Negative. Unfinished units are designated for processing into MT units. ‘Children’ units are designated for processing into researchers.”

Gladio glances at one of the rooms they pass by, in which the ripped-apart bodies of researchers are quietly decomposing. “The kids of the researchers, huh? They still, uh, alive?”

“All ventilation aimed at levels three and four automatically seals to prevent contamination of units,” U5 says. “Strict quarantine procedures have been maintained and there have been no signs of contamination of the remaining ‘children’ units.”

“Remaining?”

“Several of the researchers attempted to retrieve their ‘children’ units prior to shut-down. Their status is unknown.”

Dead or refugee, in other words.

They go down in a large elevator.

“Working power,” Cor murmurs thoughtfully.

Gladio nods. That means there’s some form of generator here, too; presumably a massive one if it’s lighting a facility this extensive. If they evacuate this facility, they’ll be able (hopefully) to take it with them.

Maybe they can use the Empire’s portable fortresses to build additional refugee homes. Gladio’d almost forgotten about those things, in all the mess, but surely one of the MTs would know how it was done, or could direct them to some paperwork detailing it…

The elevator doors open, and Gladio stops thinking.

Children.

There are so many children.

They’re on level three, which means ‘unfinished units’, and Gladio can tell, too. The kids have all been let out of their tubes, thank the Six, and they’re of all ages – everything from red-faced babies just lying out there on the floor to blank-eyed teenagers.

“Wow,” Prompto says. “Those are…definitely children.”

Only child, Gladio reminds himself.

He glances at Prompto, who’s gone wide-eyed and vaguely terrified, and at Cor, who, amusingly enough, has a better hidden but otherwise fairly similar expression on his face.

Only child and perpetual bachelor, Gladio amends. Is he really the only one here with experience with children?

Not that these are normal children.

They’re all eerily quiet, waiting for instructions. The older ones have the tell-tale red eyes of the MT units, along with pale skin and what almost look like tear-tracks of black blood dripping slowly down their faces. The younger ones look more normal, albeit still terribly pale – Gladio doubts they ever saw the sun, even before it went away.

They don’t look like Prompto, which is some small relief.

They do look like each other, particularly ones in the same age group. Just at a glance, there seem to have been three distinct ‘types’ for each age group, and about a dozen or so of each ‘type’.

It’s awful.

“Clones,” Cor confirms, crouching before some brunette children, about six years old, that stare up at him. He frowns at them, his brow furrowing. They frown back, similar furrows appearing in their chubby little faces.

It’s…creepily similar actually.

“Are those miniature versions of you?” Gladio asks, mildly horrified.

“Just similar, I think,” Cor says, though he looks disturbed. “Though I wouldn’t put it past the empire to try to harvest our blood to try to create clones of us…”

“Never say that again,” Gladio tells him. Even if it’s true, he doesn’t want to think about it.

Six, there have to be at least a hundred kids in this room.

“Why are the babies on the ground?” Gladio asks, already wading in that direction.

“It was necessary to uncork the unfinished units prematurely,” U5 says, and isn’t that a horrifying way to describe the process. “It was unclear what to do with them once they’d hatched from the pods.”

“So you put them on the ground?”

“It was unclear what to do with the unfinished units once they had hatched from the pods,” U5 repeats, and even though his voice is emotionless, Gladio would swear that there is a tremor of uncertainty and confusion in there.

The MT units had no idea what to do with kids, and all the researchers had either died, turned into daemons, or fled.

Six, what a mess.

Gladio sits down next to the babies and picks one up.

It makes a little choked-up sound and immediately tries to curl up to Gladio as much as possible.

Touch-starved, just like he thought.

“Let’s check out level four,” Gladio hears Cor tell Prompto. “The children of researchers may know more about the facility.”

Gladio doesn’t really pay attention to them going (or, more correctly, fleeing the prospect of having to deal with all the kids). He has other business to attend to.

“I need people to pick up the babies,” he instructs.

Several of the older teenagers come and mimic what he’s doing.

Surprisingly enough, so do some of the MT units that accompanied him.

One of them kneels next to Gladio, holding something out.

“Yeah?” Gladio asks, twisting to look at it, then flinches.

It’s an empty MT helmet.

“I don’t want that,” he says.

The MT just keeps holding it out.

“I’m not an MT, you know that, right?”

The MT doesn’t move.

Gladio looks around, but U5 has gone with Cor and Prompto, so there’s no one to explain what’s going on.

At least the people are picking up the babies, who are sighing with relief – babies gone so long without touch that they don’t even cry anymore, that are probably about to die from lack of attention, babies –

Babies that probably never saw anything other than MTs and researchers, and Gladio does not want them to think he’s a researcher.

Not with the barcodes already seared onto the babies’ flesh, and the ports buried under their skin.

“Fine,” Gladio says. “I’ll put on the damn helmet.”

The MT moves before Gladio can, gently positioning the helmet over Gladio’s head and bringing it down.

It’s absolutely terrifying, even though Gladio knows, rationally, that the MTs probably can’t be created just by adding a helmet.

Looking down at the baby through the mask, though, the baby does seem more comfortable. More relaxed.

Certainly the kids around him are relaxing. Visibly relaxing.

Yeah, they definitely thought he was a researcher.

“Ding! Gladiolus advances to MT Wrangling Level 2,” Gladio mutters.

“What’s a Gladiolus?” a voice crackles into his ear.

Crackles, as though transmitted by radio.

Gladio looks up.

The MT unit next to him is looking at him. “Your unit designation is Gladio, correct?” it asks.

The voice is female.

Gladio would never have known.

“Gladio is a shortened designation for Gladiolus,” another voice chimes in. Male, this time. “All units are assigned shortened designations.”

“But that’s because it takes 8.3 seconds to state a full unit designation and only 1.4 seconds to state the shortened designation,” the female objects. “The time advantage between Gladio and Gladiolus is minimal. Is one used in more formal situations?”

“Yeah,” Gladio says, after swallowing down his shock a few times. “Gladio’s what my friends call me.” He hesitates for only a moment. “You can all call me Gladio.”

Suddenly, he has a feeling of surprise and pleasure.

It’s not his feeling.

In fact, it feels like it’s coming from multiple other people.

“Is that you?” he asks. “You – you guys communicate through your helmets? With feelings as well as words?”

“Affirmative,” several voices chorus.

“MT units have implanted devices which use an equivalent of radio waves to interface with the mind,” the female MT says. “The helmets act as a back-up method in the event the device is broken. It permits conveyance of reports, as well as emotional output for additional context. Is this permitted?”

“Permitted?”

“The researchers did not permit exchange of emotional output,” the male one says. “Emotional output can be suppressed for the link, if Unit Gladio prefers.”

“Uh, no! No need. Emotions are fine. Good. Emotions are good.”

Sensations of relief.

They weren't sure.

“You can all do this?” he asks, thinking of all the MT soldiers he’s slaughtered. They were enemies, so he doesn’t feel bad about it – self-defense in the time of war – but it’s still disturbing. “All the time?”

“Negative,” one of them responds. “Only within link-groups. Link-groups can be modified.”

“Modified?”

“Small squad link-group, twelve units. Large squad link-group, one hundred units. Link-groups are designed to more efficiently create unified movement.”

Marching together without any of the whole ‘training’ business, Gladio interprets.

He looks at the kids, who remain silent.

“Is there a reason they’re not talking?” he asks.

“Unfinished units are not permitted to speak aloud,” the female MT says. “We can broaden the link-group to include them.”

“Uh, yeah. Let’s – let’s do that.”

Suddenly, he can hear them.

Children, whispering to each other, wondering what’s going to become of them; toddlers, babbling happily now that they’re being held because the MTs seem to be assuming ‘baby’ is anything under the age of 5; teenagers discussing –

Okay, there’s three teenage girls actively talking about the size of Gladio’s biceps, absolutely shamelessly.

By the Six, they’re really kids.

Mute kids, traumatized kids, but kids.

A six year old – too old to be held, by the totally arbitrary division imposed that Gladio’s really going to have to fix, given the jealous looks the babies are getting from all the other kids – toddles over and tugs on Gladio’s sleeve. He’s one of the ones that look a bit like Cor.

“Yeah, kid?”

“Unit Gladio will be responsible for future maintenance of unfinished units?” he asks shyly. He doesn’t move his mouth, but Gladio’s getting a bit better at placing the voices that come out through his helmet with the individuals transmitting the signal.

Gladio opens his mouth to deny it – he’s a hunter now, not a babysitter; he only came on this trip to protect Prompto and make sure there wouldn’t be any trouble – but the kids are all looking at him with big wide eyes that, regardless of color or shape or age, remind him of Iris.

“For now,” he temporizes.

They all look deeply relieved.

Gladio comforts himself that ‘for now’ really only extends until they get back to Lestallum and set up an appropriate place for all of them to stay. Then people who actually know what they’re doing can be assigned to take care of them.

Gladio is definitely not one of those people. He’s leaving to go back on hunting missions the second they get back to Lestallum and the kids are no longer his responsibility.

Though he will have to make sure that none of the people assigned to take care of them end up being prejudiced just because they’re Niflheim, or MTs…and are willing to wear the helmet to communicate with them, at least at first…and take special care to make sure that the older kids get some serious touching therapy, not just the babies…

Okay, maybe Gladio will have to stick around a bit.

Just until the kids are settled.

“Hey, Gladio!”

Gladio looks up.

Prompto, Cor and U5 are back. Prompto has a weird look on his face. Cor is trying very hard to look like he’s carved out of stone.

“I’ll be right back,” he tells the MTs. “Do me a favor and try to make sure that everyone in this room has some physical contact, whether it’s the teenagers holding the babies or kids hugging each other, okay?”

“Order received, Unit Gladio!”

Gladio will deal with that later.

He hands his baby to the male MT and jogs back to Prompto and Cor.

“Nice headgear,” Prompto says.

Gladio is confused for a second, then realizes he’s still wearing the MT helmet. He pulls it off, but doesn’t discard it. “They use it for communication,” he explains.

“You were permitted into speaking link-group,” U5 observes. He sounds – surprised?

“Is that weird?”

“Unusual. Researchers only very rarely accessed link-group.”

“Even under orders?” Cor asks.

“Link-groups in which researcher access was permitted rarely involved speaking beyond reports,” U5 tells him.

Gladio feels – complimented? Is that the feeling?

Well, it’s a nice feeling, anyway.

“What’s up?” he asks Prompto, whose weird expression hasn’t gone away.

“U5 says there’s more MTs than just in the complex,” Prompto replies. “He says there’s more laboratories out there, too. With, uh, unfinished units.”

“There’s more kids?”

“Yeah. And more MTs. Apparently they’re camped in the back or something?”

“Why not in the building?”

“That’s what we want to know,” Cor says.

U5 leads them to balcony that seems to look into some sort of underground cavern. Gladio says seems to, because the light is only on inside the building, not in the cavern; everything more than a few feet beyond the balcony is pitch black.

“They’re there?” he asks, marginally suspicious. He sees why Cor and Prompto wanted him there. If there’s a lot of MTs there – or worse, daemons, hiding in the dark – that’s a good ambush point.

“Affirmative,” U5 says.

“Can we get some light?”

“Affirmative.”

U5 goes over to a giant wall of control panels and begins pressing buttons.

After a few minutes, the lights in the cavern start flickering on. Weak lights, reddish in color – clearly back-up lights that drain the generators, but enough to see by.

Enough to see the frankly gigantic cavern.

Enough to see the army of MT units there. Hundreds of them, thousands of them, all standing in perfect formation. All of them looking up at the balcony, awaiting orders.

Gladio tries to count by units, but quickly loses track. There have to be three thousand of them, at least.

U5 steps forward to the balcony. “Lestallum Base has agreed to terms,” he announces. His voice isn’t any louder than usual; Gladio suspects the message is being heard through the helmets of each and every MT unit perfectly well regardless. U5 is only speaking through the radio for their convenience. “MT units are now in the service of Lestallum Base. Units must register change in chain of command.”

The crowd ripples as each MT nods once, sharply, confirming the receipt of orders.

“Amended command hierarchy will retain MT unit classifications and squad orderings until alternative groups are imposed,” U5 continues. “Ultimate superior is to be registered as NH-00O6-O204-1987, designated ‘Prompto Unit’. Acknowledge.”

And the armies of MTs all move at once, faces swinging around to focus on Prompto, and their arms rise up in merciless, perfect unity in the traditional Niflheim salute, swearing loyalty.

To Prompto.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, shit, Prompto thinks in the frozen second spent staring at the saluting legions before him, right before he faints dead away from shock. What in the Six have I gotten myself into?

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #noctis lucis caelum #prompto argentum #ignis scientia #gladiolus amicitia #cor leonis #my fic #YES a new fandom who would have thought

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erza-mj · 8 years ago

Text

Episode Prompto

i though it will be useful for all the writers in the ffxv community to have a written record of all the stuff that appear in Episode Prompto in chronological order ;)

You’re Welcome

Prompto production code: Unit 05953234

Research log 722-VII-6th

Research log: Year 722, Day 189. I received a proposal regarding a way to improve the infantry’s performances by leaps and bounds: Outfit all the troupers with magitek cores. Preliminary tests suggest sublimating daemons for fuel will result in an unstable infantry unit for the field. If the calculations he provided are correct, though, this could solve all our problems. The Deadless Project marks the advent of a new age. No longer will our soldier fall on the field of battle. The Empire shall rise, and soon, all the world shall bask in our glory!

Research log 722-X-21st

Research log: Year 722, Day 294. I acted on the proposal mentioned in my log of Day 189. My attempt to infuse the troopers magitek cores with daemonic energy proved successful. Only in the most basic sense, however. While the soldiers are indeed deathless, they are far from fit for fighting. Thus I’ve decided to take a different approach: rather than relying on daemons to power the magitek infantry, why not use human instead? Frankly, I had never considered employing my fellow man in any magitek-related experiments. But countless men and women succumb to the plasmodia each day. Rather than let them die victims of an ignominious disease, why not help them ascend to nobler heights? I’ve lost many a comrade on the field of battle, and I’ve no intention of allowing any more of their deaths to go in vain.

Research log 722-XII-5th

Research log: Year 722, Day 339. Another Day, another mental breakdown. All my test so far have resulted in the former soldiers suffering ego deaths. Today, however, I developed a new hypothesis: I will continue to sublimate daemonified humans to harvest the miasma, but if a sense is the source of these snags, why not inject infants with the plasmodia instead? We’ve little time. If we are to combat the Lucian threat, we must explore new options. I too, will set aside my personal misgivings and do what I must for the empire.

Research Log: 723-III-11th

Research log: Year 723, Day 70. I pondered how I might found the necessary number of infants, and then it downed on me: why not make them myself? If I clone them from my own genes, I can eliminate the pesky process of breeding them. Mass production remains a pipe dream for now, but I’m confident a can create a massive infantry once the process picks up. If everything goes according to plan, the empire will boast a million-man army in no time at all.

M.E. 723-XI-26th

A New Hope

Construction finished today on the first magitek production facility. Rising military star and leading authority on magitek Verstael Besithia has been selected to oversee the plant’s operation. Reports say Besithia will relinquish his field duties in order to serve at the compound full-time.

Research log: 724-X-24th

Research log: Year 724, Day 297. Mass production of the magitek infantry was a success. We’ve overwhelmed the lucians with our numbers and surrounded insomnia. But to rest on our laurels now would be unthinkable. On Occasion, harvesting the plasmodic miasma produces some “side effects.” The daemons born of this process have been disposed of on sight-until now. How foolish I was to let these sublime creatures go to waste! What they lack in adaptability, they make up for in sheer power. I realize now that I ought to channel my efforts into exploring the true potential of these daemons for the sake of the empire. Perhaps this has been my true calling all along.

Research Log: 736-V-3rd

Research log: Year 736, Day 123. It seems my laboratory is not nearly as secure as I once believed. Some thief – likely a Lucian- made off with one of my experiments. Absconding with a single infant will do nothing to enlighten them of the grandeur of my research. That said, I will see to it such incident never arises again. I’ve posted magitek troopers around the facility and instructed them to keep a vigilant watch. It is their home, after all.

Research Log: 745-XI-21st

Research log: Year 745, Day 325. Today marks a momentous triumph for our great nation. The Glacian herself graced us with her presence in Ghorovas Rift, and, through the combined efforts of the magitek infantry and my precious daemons, we killed her. The resulting causalities were great, but these sacrifices afforded us something far more valuable than a few units. With the data I collected, I intend to begin developing a new magitek weapon codenamed “Godslayer.” Soon, all the Astrals shall bow before me and the might of my magitek. Soon, they shall know my wrath.

M.E. 745-XI-22nd

ATTN: Research Chief Verstael Besithia

It has come to my attention thet the Glacian’s recent assault was quelled by your magitek infantry. As commendation for your service to our great nation, I have approved your petition to increase funding for your research. Your Work is the centrifugal force that will propel the empire beyond our borders to greatness on the world stage. I eagerly await further reports of your progress.

Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt

M.E. 746-VI-3rd

Prototype Numbering Instructions

In order ro better monitoring the large number of new magitek models enetering production, the Imperials Defense Council motions to reform the coding system as follows

- Troopers: 5-digit model number + 8-digit production code

- Infants: 4-digit production year + 8-digit production code

754-VIII-25th

I’ve been assigned to Chief Besithia’s lab! Not many people can say they’ve worked under the supervision of a living legend. I mean, this is the guy who saved the empire from eternal winter. He’s practically our savior.

754-XI-17th

My boss pulled me aside today to issue me a “special task.” Said it’s “highly confidential” and that I’m the only one qualified for the job. But how? I barely even know my way around the compound. Well, whatever the “task” is, I’ll deal with it in the morning.

754-XI-18th

I found out what my “special task” is today- and frankly I wish I hadn’t. if only I could unsee the things I saw today… I really ought eat something before I go to bed, but that shit totally killed my appetite.

755-II-16th

I had the honor of seeing His Imperial Majesty in person today. To think His Radiance would travel all that way through the ice and the snow just to observe our progress… if the Emperor is putting all his faith in magitek, then so should i.

755-VII-24th

Just my luck. One of the plasmodium samples strted leaking, and your truly was the blessed with the “privilege” of cleaning it up. And then my boss had the nerve to yell at me-as if the whole thing were my fault. If he wasn’t to criticize the real culprit, he ought to look in a mirror.

755-VII-25th

So thanks to yesterday's fiasco, my boss made me throw all the remaining plasmodium samples into the incinerator. What a waste of resources! My boss told the chief we used them in a series of experiments, but the thought of lying about what happened doesn't sit well with me at all. The whole thing is eating me up inside.

M.E. 755-VII-25th

Termination Report

ATTN: Research Chief Verstael Besithia. The Following specimen have been eradicated: 0755-06000326 0755-06000327 0755-06000328

0755-06000329 0755-06000330 0755-06000331

0755-06000332 0755-06000333 0755-06000334

0755-06000335 0755-06000336 0755-06000337

0755-06000338 0755-06000339 0755-06000340

0755-06000341 0755-06000342 0755-06000343

0755-06000344 0755-06000345 0755-06000346

0755-06000347 0755-06000348

All 23 samples listed have been incinerated to avoid potential daemonification of personnel.

755-VII-29th

So I ended up telling chief Besithia the truth about the other day. Here I was, ready for him to tear me a new one - and he ended up praising my loyalty instead! Everyone made it sound like the chief was some kind of hardass, but he seems to be a really reasonable guy if you actually take the time to sit down and talk with him.

M.E. 755-IX-18th

Proposal for Operation:Countersign

As deputy High Commander, I hereby propose a large-scale assault on the Lucian capital of Insomnia. Preparation are to begin next month. Our future is far too precious to entrust to our enmy. We must retrieve the Crystal and the Ring of legend, only then shall our worl know true peace.

Deputy High Commander Ravus Nox Fleuret

755-XI-2nd

Another one of the plasmodium samples started leaking today. How does this keep happening!? Clearly someone isn't doing their job. The worst part is that some of the researchers seem to have been infected. I need to get out of here ASAP.

755-XII-3rd

There's a rumour going around the lab that those "leaks" from before weren't accidents at all. My buddy says he thinks the chief is actually trying to expose us all to the virus. I don't want to believe it, but...

756-I-14th

The whole compound is crawling with daemons these days... I shiver every time I turn the corner. What the hell am I doing here? When can I go home?

756-II-12th

We are all... Together, we... Insomnia. As the ultimate... we... Thank you... Farewell...

Research log: 756-IV-8th

Research log: Year 756, Day 98. Finally my daemon-infused magitek armor is complete. I have christened my creation “Diamond Weapon”. It has exhibited an extremely unstable psyche, immediately unleashing unmitigated horrors upon activation. It’s destructive capabilities, however, are indeed beyond compare. Not even the “impenetrable” Insomnia could withstand its onslaught. Why, the Crown City would fall in a mere matter of minutes. The Stone of Legend will soon be mine. To think that, in less than a month’s time, the Crystal will be mine to play with as I please!

M.E. 756-IV-8th

Diamond Weapon Report

ATTN: His Imperial Majesty Iedolas Aldercapt – It is with great pride I inform Your Radiance that development has finished on the new deamon armor. Codename: Diamond Weapon. I encourage Your Radiance to visit the First Production Facility at Your Radiance’s earliest convenience. I am most confident the final product will prove to Your Radiance’s Liking.

Verstael Besithia

Chief of Magitek Research

M.E. 756-V-21st

Report on Unit SAS-0822

After several years of experimentation, we have finally succeeded in fusing mammal and magitek. Although we are still conducting various tests on Codename: Barbarus, the unit should be functional enough to fend off would-be intruders until development finishes on Unit XDA-1002: Immortalis.

Research Log: 756-VII-9th

Research Log: Year 756, Day 190. At last, my life’s work is complete. Not only I have found a way to preserve the ego, I’ve also managed to sustain that consciousness through the sublimation process and transfer it to my magitek troopers. The prototype has proven slightly less powerful than the Diamond Weapon, but this presents no real problem. After all, one’s consciousness can be transmuted again and again and again. All that remain is to fully surrender myself to my research and become my own final test subject. I will conclude my mortal life by offering a word of thanks. Chancellor Ardyn Izunia, your assistance has provided invaluable. You have my eternal gratitude. It is through your aid that I completed my work and begun my ascension to an existence beyond divinity.

thanks @ace-of-babes-98 for the ones that i missed

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terbnapwallti-blog · 5 years ago

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The Basic Principles Of My Personal Frequency Audio Program Review

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The frequent things for normal men and women isn’t deep or total enough for this wave of Twin Flames together with other Lightworkers.

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nicklesthename · 5 years ago

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Looking for a new game to play? I have found a ton of awesome games on Steam for really great prices and I want to share them with you. They are not triple-A titles by any stretch, but they are a great way to burn a couple hours. Some of them are co-op only and some are single-player.

Phoning Home

This is a really fun single-player game of exploration and problem-solving. You play as a small robot that was shipwrecked on a planet while looking for natural resources. You’ve got to find a way to contact your home planet and get back home. As you explore this new world, you run across another stranded robot and the two of you must survive together on this inhospitable land. It’s a mostly chill experience as you figure out different puzzles and challenges that you come across.

Hot Tin Roof: The Cat That Wore A Fedora

Picture this. You’re a classic noir investigator. Your sidekick? A talking cat named Franky. Your mission? Solve a string of murders by interviewing various rats, pigeons and other cats. It’s up to you to dive into the dirty underbelly of a city full of mobs, secrets, and perhaps a conspiracy? This is a super fun, hilarious, 3D sidescrolling game. It’s mostly a puzzle game. You get a revolver with different types of projectiles that you have to use to figure out all the different levels. Also, you save by going to the bathroom, so there’s that.

Maize

This game is very hard to explain. Honestly, I think the Steam blurb is as close as you can get.

Maize is a first-person adventure game about what happens when two scientists misinterpret a memo from the U.S. Government and create sentient corn. And that last sentence is pretty much the least ridiculous thing about the game.

It’s a surprisingly beautiful game where you explore an abandoned farm and try to piece together a truly bizarre storyline including a sentient teddy bear and talking corn. I really don’t know what else to tell you. Go play it.

We Were Here

This is a really interesting co-op game. The game has a built-in walkie talkie system for communication and that is supposed to be the only method of communication that you use. Then you are separated within a mysterious castle and must work together to solve puzzles and be reunited. You will sometimes be solving the puzzle and sometimes you will have the answer that you need to communicate with your partner. It’s very straight-forward but still challenging and fun. There are also several sequels that I also recommend.

Whispering Willows

This is a great 2D scrolling adventure game with an interesting story. Basically, your father has gone missing and you’re trying to find him. This leads you on a crazy adventure through haunted catacombs, a spooky mansion, and the surrounding grounds. You have a special amulet that allows you to astral project yourself into a ghostly apparition of yourself. Using this ability you can talk to ghosts and solve puzzles. You meet a crazy cast of characters and explore a beautiful world of mystery. It’s a short game but a good one!

The Initiate

This is basically an escape room game, but it is a really great one that is very fleshed out and complex. The story is you wake up in this weird house and have to find your way out. You are contacted by a strange man talking about how this is your trial, set forth by a secret society looking to recruit you. It’s then up to you to explore the space, crack codes and puzzles, and unravel the mystery of who your captors are and what exactly they want from you. It’s a tense game that always keeps you on your toes, wondering what will happen next.

The Painscreek Killings

This is another investigative game. You are a journalist that is sent to the small community of Painscreek to investigate and report on the abandonment by all the inhabitants. Your editor thinks that you will find some sort of interesting story among the ghost town as to why everyone left. Instead, you seem to find secret after secret of the previous inhabitants. Secrets that were meant to remain hidden. This is a great game if you love the tension and a good atmosphere. At times it feels like a bit of a walking simulator, but one in an immersive world with a great story and a cast of characters that feel really real, despite never actually appearing.

What are some of your lesser-known favourite games to play? Leave them in the comments!

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Looking for some fun new game to play? I've got you covered right here! Looking for a new game to play? I have found a ton of awesome games on Steam for really great prices and I want to share them with you.

#entertainment #fun #game #gamer #gamer girl #games #gaming #geek #indie #no name #opinion #recent #recommendations #Reviews #small #Video Games

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lesfanfic · 7 years ago

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War, Love, and Commitment…a Sci-Fi Story Chapter 8- ONSLAUGHT Beyond the Hellmouth, similar coordinates than Sunnydale, earth date, Sunday 10:00 am. November 3, 2058. Helldom Planet – Hexepolis- Headquarter of the First Evil As has been indicated, the Hellmouth is a wide rare portion of a wormhole containing multiple gateways to different universes and at the same time protected from the rest of the wormhole, which is connected to the lab, by a portal, and it is originally located on a planet called Helldom, where the First Evil dwells; the malign entity has his headquarters in Hexepolis the capital city of the underground Kingdom of the Evil; he has summoned some of his commanders and aids, and today they have to go through a row of information and prepare a plan of attack. First Evil: “I have called all of you today to discuss the battle we had around six months ago at the portal of the world of the dead, our army was destroyed by powerful weapons built by humans, we have lost one fifth of our Uber-vamps, many of our living dead and even an important group of our demons, my intel informant told me, then, that the weapons and the executors were a combined group of people of Porter and Rossi allied with Giles’ people, the slayers; however, my source also informed me that Rossi’s army is even more powerful than those slayers and they have high technology armaments developed by her students…; students that we couldn’t control and a professor we couldn’t dominate, I blame for that to General Wilkins, Tianna Buckley, and Franklin Phillips…, you three were commissioned, two years ago, to destroy Rossi by kidnapping her daughter and, on the contrary, we lost potential followers and Rossi’s child, who, I am sure it could have been an important addition to our team” General Wilkins: (embarrassed) “I assure you that it wasn’t my fault, Dr. Buckley was in charge of kidnapping the girl, but the friend of Franklin didn’t work” Franklin Phillips: (shaking) “I have done the best I could, but the boy who had to bring the girl suffered psychologic problems” First Evil: (annoyed) “and who was to blame for choosing such a sick boy…? Didn’t you know she was a lesbian? Why didn’t you choose a girl to do the job?” Franklin Phillips: (defensive) “it was Dr. Buckley decision” Tianna Buckley: (scared) “it was a matter of honor, we are against homosexuality” First Evil: (angry) “WE…? That is too many people, it was you, only you and your stupid mind…, well, well, you have to make up for your huge mistake…, fortunately I have a plan to destroy Porter, I will take the most valuable thing in his life, but I need to travel to the past to get the gadget, and you Tianna, and when we get it, you will have to take care of that part… otherwise, you will be expendable” Tianna Buckley: (begging) “I will do anything to please you, my lord, just name it and I’ll do it…” First Evil: “fine…, recently that woman, Louise Rossi, made an astral trip to the world of the dead with an unknown mission, and we need to find out what are her plans, no that it would affect our conquering plot, but we need to be sure they are not going to be an obstacle in our glorious path; so, we need to open a gateway to Rossi’s lab, destroy their equipment kill her and snatch her daughter, but in case it doesn’t work, someone will travel to the past and bring an especial device to divide them” Tianna Buckley: “I could take care of the daughter…” Firs Evil: “no…, you already failed to do that…, we need another person…, a woman, one that could seduce her…, we’ll see…; on the other hand, our informant in the wormhole will tell us the next move of the slayers and Rossi’s group and then, we will enter the lab and kill Rossi and her allies… now I want all of you out, only Glory must remain here” After all his commanders left, the First Evil has a conversation with Glorificus, AKA Glory, who is a goddess of the Hell universe; she fought with Buffy for the life of Dawn (Buffy’s sister) and was defeated and later killed by Giles, but rescued by the First Evil who made her, his allied. First Evil: “As you heard, Glory, I need a device to destroy Melvin Porter and I need your help to get it” Glory: “how do you plan to kill Porter?” First Evil: “I don’t plan to kill him, I can’t kill him…, do you know who his father is?” Glory: “there is a rumor that goes around; they said that Michaela Porter was abducted by a multidimensional ace” First Evil: “that’s right, and multidimensional aces are very powerful and rare, no one wants to mess with them” Glory: “and what are you going to do?” First Evil: “there is a very ancient type of object, which, by activation could send you to other universes without possibility to be tracked, if it's activated when is in the hands of Porter’s daughter, she would be sent through different dimensions, moving constantly and being there for short periods of time; that could annoy the multidimensional aces, but it would be my last resource in case we are on the verge of defeat” Glory: “are we in such a dramatic situation?” First Evil: “the attack at the portal of the world of the dead was brutal…, if they repeat it, we will need to make a truce and regroup” Glory: “that’s pretty bad…, what do you want from me?” First Evil: “I need you to bring the device here, you need to travel to the past and take it evading the Paititia’s schism” Glory: “no…, I can’t do it; the Paititia’s schism will destroy me” First Evil: “no, he won’t, I will show you how to trick them…, besides, remember you owe me…, I saved your life…, when Giles killed you” Glory: “is there anybody else who could travel to the past?” First Evil: “we are few, you, the 'Powers that be', the other two deities that ruled with you and of course me, and besides you and me, the others are out of this war and even against it” Glory: “what will be the next step, I mean after I bring the device...? Should I attack Porter’s daughter and send her to limbo using it?” First Evil: “no…, Buckley will take care of that girl…, you will seduce Rossi’s daughter and bring her to me” New Pasadena. 9:00 am. Monday, November 11, 2058. New CalTech-Biochemistry building – Louise's office The board of projects is gathered to discuss the war strategy; Louise has received important information from a secret source from someone that is in the enemy rank, a counter-spy, someone who didn’t choose to be there, someone that as Robin, was captured by the First Evil, while dying, but the difference with Robin, is that this person was wiser and compassionate; the First Evil captured her because she died angry, because some apparently ‘religious’ cult deceived her, tricked her to take her most valuable and beloved possession; which made the difference, between going to the world of the dead or being a slave of the First Evil. When Louise’s group attacked the world of the dead as a distraction to bring Louise back from her astral travel, the outcome was more than a diversion to unsettle the First Evil’s troops around that portal, it destroyed important part of his army and weakened his control on his slaves, but while some of them as Kaleb and Warren unified forces with the malign leader, some others regained partial freedom and flew away toward their original planets and/or universes, but this person, knowing the importance of this war, stayed in Helldom to supply information to the only human she would always trust, to Louise Rossi. The information transmitted to Louise, indicate the amount of damage in the First Evil’s militia, the possible next steps of the damned entity, the plans to counterattack the lab, the distribution of the evil army, and more information this person was gathering; Louise didn’t want to mention who this person was, and how they communicate, but she shared most of the information with her group, with her allies, and kept for herself, some valuable and dangerous data. Melvin: “I understand that we will discuss the war strategy today, but I would like to know if we have any new information about the Hellmouth” Angus: “we know is that the mole is no longer a spy from the First Evil, at least not against us, he has been awaked and wants revenge against the First” Sharon: “we were able to close more portals and there were fewer attacks from vampires, zombies, demons; reptilians apparently have vanished” Kit: “the security around the main cities has increased, as Louise told us, our planet may endure strong attack from the Hellmouth” Melvin: “I have teleconference with the ambassadors of the United Nations, they reassured their confidence in us, but they want us to train people from their countries” Louise: “it’ll be hard, they need to change first, and that is not in our possibilities, the change is voluntary not an obligation, they must choose” Melvin: “I can tell them we don’t have resources to train new people” Angus: “what if they attack us?” Louise: “they can’t, they tried to do it before, but not even their police nor their army could do something…, we are faster, stronger and can 'read' them before they act” Melvin: “okay…, Louise do you have any other information?” Louise: “just my dreams…, but I already have a plan to attack the evil” Melvin: “fine…, we’ll listen” Louise: “the smart probes reported considerable deploy of evil militia in several portals, my proposal is starting making isolated attacks to those positions, as we did with the portal of the world of the dead, in that way we could debilitate the First’s army, we must attack the evil on different fronts; but we need to recruit more students able to change and form more battle groups, but in the meantime, I think Willow is ready to change” Sharon: “I strongly agree, but I think Kit should do the same” Kit: “I know that I’m ready and I’m doing it slowly” Louise: “do you need any help?” Kit: “no, I think I’m fine, I’m still dealing with my mother dead and Angus is helping me with that” Louise: “good, the change is quicker if your partner helps you, it happened to Bette and Tina” Sharon: “and it happened to me when Louise was there to help me” Melvin: “who will take care of forming the new attack groups? Louise: “I think Angus and Sharon will take that responsibility” Angus: “I agree” Sharon: “me too” Kit: “what will happen if some other entities from another dimension want to join us?” Melvin: “we'll see it in the way, but if that happens, I’ll deal with that” Louise: “I agree” Melvin: “when the isolate attacks will start?” Louise: “the building is already protected, so…, we could do it immediately” Melvin: “fine…, keep us posted” Louise plan started the next day and in the following few days, the smart probes were sent through different portals to places where the First Evil had created dimensional gates to record the military activity, as well as, the amount and type of fighters, and to determine the best way to defeat them. Somewhere in between space and time- probably 5:30 pm. Friday, November 22, 2058- New Lab inside the wormhole. The New lab inside the wormhole is bigger than the one in the biochemistry building; the instruments have been configured to work from the wormhole by code protected using an encoded-cipher system known only by Louise, Tina, and Melvin. Willow had started ten days ago her ‘change’ and already had released a huge amount of anger and hatred, anguish against her bullies classmates at the high school, the deception for the lack of confidence from her friends and Giles, the ingratitude when she tries to use her knowledge to favor them in their fight against evil, the desolation when she broke with Tara, the devastation when Tara was killed, the rage and revulsion when she caught Warren, the wicked criminal who killed Tara and almost murdered Buffy, the abusive demanding from Kennedy, who wanted more and more to use her skills; all the frustration was accepted and she achieve peace with herself, now she could communicate with Louise, Bette, and Tina through her thoughts, and she could also see faraway, she already could have astral trips and telekinesis, but now what she could do is amazing. As Willow was focused on her thoughts, she didn’t hear some steps approaching. Faith: “hey Will…” Willow: “huh…, oh…, hi Faith…, what is new?” Faith: “I just came to visit…, how is the new lab?” Willow: “is good…, similar and even better than the one in the building” Faith: “where are Bette and Tina?” Willow: “they are lost in each other, still in their honeymoon” Faith: “oh…, then it is true that they married…, lucky them…” Willow: “how is going between you and Buffy?” Faith: (sighing) “I don’t know?” Willow: “aren’t you two sleeping together?” Faith: “yes, we are…, but for the rest of the gang, we are just friends, who share a tent…, Spike and Angel are after her, they don’t know that Buffy is with me…and Buffy doesn’t want them to know” Willow: “too bad, because the vamps would still have hopes of being with her” Faith: “that is the problem…, you know, Angel proposed” Willow: “WHAT…! and Buffy…, did she accepted?” Faith: “no…, because Spike proposed too” Willow: “those vamps are going to kill each other” Faith: “I don’t know, Buffy was telling me that once the war finish, she wants to stop being a slayer …, she wants to have a family” Willow: “oh…, and what are you going to do about that?” Faith: “this is what I wanted to talk to you…, remember you told me that Louise’s team has a method for the girls to impregnate their partners and have children… is that true?” Willow: “yeah…, they have done it with dogs and cats” Faith: “WHAT… a mixture of a cat and a dog?” Willow: (laughing) “don’t be nuts, Faith…, they have couples of females cats and females dogs, and many offspring of the same species” Faith: “ah…, so, they haven’t experimented with humans” Willow: “I think they did, not with young people, but with people of Louise's and Sharon’s age” Faith: “did they have babies?” Willow: “I’m not sure, but Bette is the one who knows best about those experiments…, are you planning to get Buffy pregnant?” Faith: “perhaps…, when can I talk with Bette?” Willow: “I’m afraid you have to talk with both Tina and Bette, they are always together and they share everything, their problems, and their information” Faith waited in the lab wandering around and asking questions about everything; after almost 40 minutes when Bette and Tina arrived at the lab. Bette: “hey Faith… is there something wrong?” Faith: “hi Bette…, Tina, no exactly, I came here, because I’m interested in some device, one that you already produced in your lab” Bette: “and what that could be?” Faith: “the inseminator” Bette looked at Faith and then at Willow, who shrugged and at Tina who raised her eyebrow. Bette: “what do you want to do with that?” Faith: “are you serious?” Tina: “babe, isn’t it obvious that she wants to use it?” Bette: “does your partner know?” Faith: “oh please…, don’t make it harder than it already is” Tina: “isn’t it obvious, she wants a family with her girlfriend” Bette: “what if the girlfriend doesn’t want a family” Tina: “if she could impregnate the girl it's because they are partners, is a matter of time for them to agree” Willow: “Bette, Tina has a point, in these times of war, if there is no partnership there is not sex, and if there is no sex, there is no impregnation” Bette: “and you think that the opposite also works?” Tina: “are you talking about casual sex babe?” Bette: “of course not…, well, first, we have to train you on how to prepare the genetic material and how to use the device” They went to the basement of the biochemistry building to teach Faith about human reproduction and the use of the inseminator. New Pasadena, 9:00 am. Sunday, December 8, 2058. New CalTech-Biochemistry building – Dining room-Cafeteria. It has been almost two months and a half and Jane, Maura, Stef, Lena, Olivia, and Alex have prepared all the requirements for their secret wedding, it is ‘secret’ because they didn’t tell their mothers, fathers and other adult relatives about that, but almost all the other ‘changed’ knew, because Alice was the one helping and organizing the event, and now she is also the under covered-weddings counselor in Louise’s group. Alice has created a weddings' catalogue file with information of when, how, and where with all the details of the marriages already performed, included Bette’s and Tina’s wedding, and the ones in process, as well as, the information of all her new ‘clients’, the file is ‘open to see’ for all those interested in a quick, safe and perfect legal wedding without complications with nosy relatives; her fees are low, but she assumed all the task because the honeymoon trips, clothes, holovideos, rings and all the merchandize and entertainment is provided by T.net, the business owned by Tina and shared with Bette, Alice and Dana; which are giving very high dividends to the four of them; the business was promising because almost everybody, boys, and girls, hetero and homo couples, all of them want to marry. The young people are stressed with the war, they have not assurance of surviving, and all of them want to wed, they need someone at their side, a companion, someone to make them want to stay alive, an incentive to keep going, but most of their parents don’t understand that, because they do not want to believe in the danger to which their children are exposed, and they do nothing about that, most of them, want to think their daughters and sons are in the lab doing experiments and not fighting a war for the survival of humanity. So, there was a big disagreement between the ‘changeds’ and their families that mainly want a ‘gala wedding’ and try to do anything to restrain the younger from secret marriages, even the New Pasadena governor was persuaded to issue some regulations about weddings, most of them involving underage situations, but there were not new regulations for young adults, Joyce Wischnia had intended to pass an amend on the enacting clause # 2304, a national regulation, to increase the waiting time for marriage from 3 months to 9 months, but she had to withdraw her petition, because she has just proposed to Phillis Kroll, and the university president didn’t want to wait. But Alice was the solution for all that mess, she has all the needed information to help the young adults, even some underage, the only couple who didn’t ask for her service were Bo and Lauren, and Alice was intrigued by that, so, along with Dana, she decided to talk to the girls, before lunch. Alice: “guys, do you have any plan for the future?” Bo: “like what…?” Alice: “I don’t know, any plan…, look Dana and I married and we want to start a family, Bette and Tina did the same, indeed we did it together (Bo and Lauren raise their eyebrow)… I mean Bette with Tina and Dana with me, but at the same place and same time…, what about you girls?” Lauren: “oh…, so, you are interested in knowing if we plan to marry?” Alice: “well… yes of course I am…; you are my friends” Laurel: “too late…, (showing her wedding ring) we already did, and we really didn’t have interference, my father is in the governing board in New L.A. and my mother doesn’t like Bo, she wanted to meet her parents or any family of her, before we marry, so we decided to keep the maximum secret…, we just marry on Friday, November 29th” Alice: “wow…, well…, congratulations, well done…” Bo: “Alice…, you are our friend and we would like to help everybody; you know, there are ways to allow people to marry even if they are underage” Alice: “really…? How…?” Bo: “compassion…” Alice: “compassion…? What do you mean?” Bo: “parents care deeply for their children, and if they knew they are dying they would do everything to fulfill their last wish” Alice: “are you suggesting that some people should pretend they are dying?” Bo: “not exactly pretend…, just, exaggerate” Alice: “let me see if I understand…, let say, Helena wants to marry Dylan who is underage, and to be allowed to do it, if she is wounded in battlefield she could say that she feels she is dying and then, her wish would be granted, is that what you mean?” Bo: “aha…, I read in some place that in those cases, even if the underage’s family doesn’t give permission, but the younger wants to marry to her or his almost dying girl or boyfriend, the authorities will allow the wedding, and they are exonerated from the waiting time, the house and the engagement ceremony” Alice: “really…? And where is that ‘someplace’ you said you read it?” Bo: “in the legislation for war times, it was created a little before the hecatomb when disasters and wars made the everyday news and it hasn’t been changed…, hmm..., but you didn’t hear that information form me” Alice: “sure…, we just meet here to congratulate you on your recent wedding” Bo: “and that is still a secret, besides Louise, few others and now you both, know” Alice: “okay, then we just meet here to talk about the new tasks of our shift group…, wait… how is that Louise knew and she didn’t alert anybody?” Bo: “she is not against our weddings, but she doesn’t want to go against the law and the other parents, but she knows about all those legislations and she helped us” Alice: “really…? Where did you guys marry?” Lauren: “in the border with the Reformed Mexican republic, in Texas, in a city called El Paso Nuevo, they almost don’t follow the national rules for weddings” Alice: “good to know, because New Las Vegas authorities have been warned to not perform weddings without informing the relatives if the couples are younger than 21, it is abusive…, by the way, how long it took to go there and come back?” Lauren: “we used an instant wormhole, so, we just expended the necessary time for the wedding ceremony, which was very short, and the reception; but you know the problem is the parents, they want to be present on their children’s weddings, or at least to know if they are marrying” Dana: “you know…, sometimes parents are nosy” Bo: “come on…, you guys did easy, you even had a very nice reception” Dana: “oh, sorry, you said you have a reception, which means you weren’t alone” Lauren: “well, Louise made prepare the little reception, she was there with Sharon, as well as Bette, Tina and Dyson, and it was a small but nice party” Alice: “you said that only Louise knew but Bette, Tina, and Dyson were there” Bo: “I said Louise and few other, well those are the others, sorry, but it is supposed no one should know Bette, Tina, and Dyson traveled there while they were on duty” Alice: “well, I won’t tell anybody” Lauren: “we are serious about that Alice; if someone else knew they were there it would be a big problem for all of us” Alice: “I won’t write anything about your wedding in the weddings file…, I promise” After Lauren and Bo left, Alice looked for the information in the legislation for war times and Dana called Tina to find the availability to use the instant portal generator to take the couples to El Paso Nuevo to get married. It was noon when Stef, Lena, Jane, Maura, Olivia, and Alex arrived at the cafeteria to have lunch with Alice and Dana, Alice quickly explains them her new plan and the new venue, and the three couples decided to be ready for their marriages after Christmas day. Alice: “let me do the reservations and I need your case files with the engagement ceremony, the responsible parenthood course, and the house, and I will confirm the date by this evening; check the catalog for the wedding clothes and choose what you want, and for the reception, rings, honeymoon, the prices are at the side…, as you could see it is not expensive, isn’t it?” After eating and two hours later, the three couples left the bistro satisfied and happy with their rings, clothes and gifts choices and the prices; indeed it was a pleasure to make business with Alice, let's see how the weddings will go. New Pasadena, 9:30 am. Sunday, January 5, 2059- New CalTech-Biochemistry building – Louise's office. Louise has gathered the board of projects to decide the plan of attack to the evil army, Bette, Tina, Bo, Willow, Giles, and Buffy have proposed a series of sporadic battles on different fronts already established with the help of the reports attained from the smart probes, each combat required the presence of a small group of allies using the luminous balls but still they will need the smart probes to destroy zombies and they all still need to use small but powerful chainsaws. However, demons are hard to kill; to do it, the allies would freeze them with liquid nitrogen one by one for sure, though it was a slow method, nonetheless but the only way at the moment. Tina and Willow, however, have found information about a special material called ‘adamas’, apparently a very strong alloy recently discovered by the smart probes in the bright planet at a very far point in the Hell universe, they have received the message from inhabitants of one of the closest planed saying it could be useful to kill demons; Willow has investigated in the writings of the old Wicca, and she found the use of a similar material used, in ancient times, to construct a powerful weapon called the Seraph blade; but they still have some research to do, to produce the desirable armament; in the mean time they will need to use the smart probes and its ability to obtain liquid nitrogen from air. Louise: “the tactic we'll use is the attack on different fronts by small groups of our warriors, as most parts of the First’s army are Uber-vamps, our people will use luminous balls to kill them, additionally they will carry light chainsaws and fire guns to kill zombies, they will combat along with smart probes able to produce liquid nitrogen from air to kill demons” Melvin: “have you already formed the groups?” Louise: “they will be the same shift groups of attack we, originally, had; they will be converted in the combat squads, those girls and boys are already skillful in the use of the weapons, but we are training twelve new warriors” Angus: “have they been ‘changed’ before the training?” Sharon: “yes, they have” Kit: “good, it sounds that everything is going well” After the meeting, Louise went to the lab in the wormhole to hurry Bette, Tina, and Willow on the information about the Seraph blades. Somewhere in between space and time- probably 2:00 pm. Wednesday, January 15, 2059- New Lab inside the wormhole. Two groups of changed along with Scoobies have crossed two different portals, in the first group were Bette, Helena, Jane, Maura, Stef and Lena along with Kennedy, Angel, and Oz, in the second group were Bo, Lauren, Alice, Dana, Jenny and Marina along with Buffy, Faith and Spike; all of them wear special clothes, to protect from fire, and different types of radiation, they carry wrapped on their wrists a handgrip they could activate at volition to release the powerful light that produce the special fire to kill the vamps and which will affect neither Angel nor Spike; attached to their belt they transport a small tank of liquid nitrogen that could freeze and kill demons, but also have small chainsaws for the same purpose, and to behead the living dead. In the lab, commanding the probes were Tina for Bette’s group and Willow for Bo’s group; in both battlefronts, the outcomes were more or less the same. As they crossed the portal, Bette and her group saw a huge amount of Uber-vamps gathered around what seemed to be a portal, it wasn’t clear if this was a white or black hole, some demons were doing some rituals as if they try to open the gate; Bette commanded the motion of probes to the side of the location of that possible gate, to study what exactly the demons were doing and to prepare the luminous balls to kill the vamps; Angel could see where the source of Uber-vamps was located and told Bette; Jane and Maura ordered some probes to move to that position and when everything was ready the luminous balls, from the probes and the ones from the allies were activated producing a gigantic fire on the Uber-vamps, who were dying and with them most of the zombies and some of the demons, the survivors try to escape through the portal already blocked by the probes and many of the demons were frozen and killed by the liquid nitrogen produced by the probes; some of the demons attacked the girls, but, as they have also liquid nitrogen tanks, they froze them, while other ones faced their dead under the chainsaws of the allies. In Bo’s group things happened in a similar way, however, a fist of demons in her battlefield ran away through a portal toward the Hellmouth; the battles were epic; very important branches of the evil army were destroyed and, for sure, the First Evil will be desperately trying to counterattack the human forces, that was something Louise was expecting and now she knows her whole team has to prepare a new attack to the evil force, or she'll need to brace for a dangerous counterattack; she has summoned the six combat squads the same day after the battles. Louise: “As you know, today, we have defeated the evil army on two fronts, and we will keep fighting them, but we need to be aware, the First Evil will fight back without mercy, and we have to protect each other, all of us are precious for the whole team, and all of us are in danger of suffering an isolated treacherous attack, so, report yourself with your mates, and if someone notice a suspicious absence, report it to me immediately, we need to fight a new battle to assure our superiority and avoid unpleasant surprises” Bette: “when are we going to attack again?” Louise: “tomorrow; Tina and Willow have found four new places where the evil army is fighting, the 12 students of the two new groups will accompany the four active groups we have” After the meeting ended, Tina approached her mother. Tina: “may I talk to you in private?” Louise had a very clear idea what Tina wanted to talk with her; her daughter will never give up; they went to a small office in the new lab, under the sight of Bette. Jane: “what’s up Bette?” Bette: “Tina is talking with Louise” Alice: “are you guys having problems?” Bette: “she is having nightmares since a long time” Willow: “about you, being taken away?” Bette looked at Willow astonished. Bette: “did she tell you” Willow: “no…, but sometimes her feeling is too loud” Bette: “you read her thoughts” Willow: “no her thoughts, but her pain…, she is in pain about you...; but only she, or perhaps, you, could find the reason of that fear” Bette: “I know…” In the meantime, in the small room, Tina and her mother are talking. Tina: “mom, I need your permission to go with Bette to the battlefield” Louise: “baby…, you know that I can’t let you go with her, we need you here…, Tina, baby, I am doing my best to keep you both together; every day, you see each other, you sleep together, you can watch and protect her using the smart probes, she is fine and if we are lucky, the war will finish soon…, what are you worry about?” Tina: “she is in danger, mom, I want to stay with her, if she is kidnaped I want to be with her, if she will die, I want to die with her, it is for better or for worse, is in our vows, if we fail or succeed it will be together, nothing makes sense to me if we are not together” Louise: “you still have those nightmares, don’t you?” Tina: “yes…, I think someone is trying to give me a message” Louise: “who…?” Tina: “I don’t know…, but is not mom Kris; I don’t think is Bette’s mom; I don’t even think it’s human…” Louise: “hmm…., I think I understand, what you’re saying…, I will make my own inquiries…, but, no, I can’t allow you to leave the lab, we need you here, as we need Bette, there, in the battlefront” Tina: (sighing) “… fine…, at least I tried…” Somewhere in between space and time- probably 9:00 am. Thursday, January 16, 2059- New Lab inside the wormhole. The four groups of warriors have left the headquarters ten minutes ago; instant portals have been generated to allow them to travel in seconds to the battle fronts where the First Evil is attacking other universes, a rough calculation made by Louise Tina and Willow, predict that the 40% of what remains of the evil army is on those locations, if they succeed today, the victory will be on their side, but the response of the enemy will also be brutal. Tina, Willow, Frank Rizzoli, and Carmen were in the lab commanding the probes and protecting the warriors of the four groups, Louise and Angus were constantly checking on them, and again in few minutes all the Uber-vamps were burned permanently, all the zombies were destroyed, but still some demons managed to survive and withdraw through portals toward the Hellmouth, after two hours, the four groups returned to their headquarters. Next day Louise went to the lab to speak with Tina and Willow. Louise: “we have problems with the demons, we need to get those Seraph blades, Wil, Tina; did you get more information about those?” Tina: “we have sent probes to the distant planet with a petition” Louise: “petition… to whom?” Tina: “the humanoids, the pigheaded ones, they sent us a message about the metals in the bright planet; we explained them our problem...; sorry, but I thought if they knew about that, they would get the material for us” Louise: “I hope we are not making more enemies” Willow: “I think they could help” Tina: “besides…, they may be dead by now…, I mean, the probes have traveled time back to reach them, but they may not exist right now” Louise: “or they may have migrated to another dimension…, well let’s wait for their answer” Tina had sent the message with the probe to the pigheaded people immediately after the last battle and today, when she talks with Louise, they received a strange visit through a portal in the wormhole; a humanoid entity has arrived at the lab and immediately uses telepathy to communicate with them. Entity: ‘I am Vira, from the planet Paititia, the First Evil is a common enemy; he belongs to an ancient and powerful race, he is ambitious and he deceived and killed all his congeners, to take their power and get stronger, his race, lived in the planet called Xibalbia, the one located beyond the bright land called Nibiria, where the precious metals abound; the First Evil couldn’t destroy us, and he left toward Heldom; we try to heal his race, but they are still there in a different dimensional plane, they are submissive to the First because is the only one of them who remains alive; however we were able to use genetic material, from the dead, to recreate their race, and they resulted in reptilian beings, the initial corporeal form of the creatures as the First Evil; we discovered how him dominated Uber-vamps, zombies, and demons; we have what you need to destroy those, you need Seraph blades which can be made only from adamas, we will provide you with the material to build the weapons, but you should promise that you won’t stop until the First is defeated and dead’ Louise: ‘why can’t you do that? You are powerful and superior’ Entity: ‘we are not here anymore; we evolved and changed, but before, we sow our seed in some universes, we did also here in your planet, this was the best crop…, do we have a deal?’ Louise: ‘yes…, we have a deal’ Entity: ‘I will come back when you are ready to defeat the First…, don’t worry Louise… when the first is defeated, she will be released into the world of the dead’ Saying the last words, the entity crossed the portal and disappeared, and in its place a box with small dark circle on its wall appeared, it came along with brief instructions ‘push the button to produce a Seraph blade; as they followed the instructions, the weapons were produced, they were light but strong; now there is nothing to stop the allies to defeat the evil army, but the First Evil is another story, that merciless creature will require a special treatment to be defeated. Somewhere in between space and time- probably 9:00 am. Sanday, January 26, 2059- Battle field inside the wormhole. The teams have worked hard; the support group has built the Seraph blades and had attached them to a handle and made them work as retractile swords, which now replaces the small chainsaws, and are useful for killing demons, as well as, living dead; they also have the luminous balls embedded in handgrips, both weapons are wrapped to their wrists, they also carry other small tools and weapons, as liquid nitrogen, holly water, a small survival bag with first aids medicines and nutrition kits attached to their belts, all of them have also two micro- hphones, for emergencies; they wear protective tight clothes for shielding their bodies against high and low temperatures, bites, fire, sharp weapons and others. The combat squad groups have been dressing her clothes and testing their arms, while the support team was monitoring the battle field and setting the smart probes in position; Louise has convened both teams for the final instructions, and, there, it was for the first time that Tina saw Bette wearing her warrior clothes, the blonde was jaw-dropping, her wife was so hot and attractive with that attire, so powerful and strong carrying those weapons, she was astonished, speechless, the view was more than sensual, it was lustful, the idea of her body naked in front of Bette ordering her to dance, turn around, bent letting her touch her ass again and again… Louise: “Tina…, Tina…, are you listen to me… (snapping her fingers) hey…” Tina: “huh…, what…, hmm mom…?” Louise: “I asked you if the probes are on their positions in the battlefield…” Tina: “probes…, oh…, yes, they are, let me verify…” Louise: “are you, okay baby…” Tina: “yup…, let’s see…, all the probes are in position” Tina turned toward Bette after answer her mom and bit her lower lip, the brunette smiled and approaching her whispered in her ear. Bette: “when I come back, I’ll be yours…” Tina: “take care of yourself and... your clothes..., I want you in those clothes…” Bette: “I’ll do it” After the combat squads left, Louise told Tina. Louise: “what’s up with you honey…?” Tina: “hmm…, nothing…, it’s…, just…, I’m nervous…” Louise: “everything will be fine; just do your part baby” The battle has been hard but all the girls have done well, the army of the First Evil has been downed to 10% of its original power and capacity, and all the fighters have come back safe. Bedroom Some of the warriors changed clothes as soon as they arrived, though most of them kept in their clothes during their celebration meal, but even when the party ended Tina took Bette’s hand and dragged her to their bedroom, where Tina pulled her wife against the wall, they kissed intensely, the blonde opened her legs Bette: “oh baby…, let me change my clothes…” Tina: “NO…, I want you to be the fierce warrior and I want to be your prisoner…, please..., make me do things…” Bette: “hmm…, you want to play…? Let’s play…, you are the demon I just captured and you’ll do anything I want…” Tina: “YES…, yes…, please…” Bette: “okay, demon, you fear the cold…, undress…, slowly, let me see how each garment falls off your body…” Tina: “yes ma'am…, I’ll do it, but please don’t hurt me…” Bette: “fine…, I need to check if you have any hidden weapon…, take out that underwear…” The blonde did as the warrior said. Bette: (looking Tina’s body from the toes to the head) “hmm…, what do we have over here, let me see your weapons…, show me where are hidden…” Tina: “I have no weapons…” Bette: “liar…, doesn’t matter…, I’ll check every fold of your body until I find them…” Tina: (smiling) “you’ll need to dig deep” Bette: (smiling back) “deep and hard…, now turn around, put your hand on the edge of the bed… and spread your legs wide” Tina felt her wet dreams come true; as soon as she bent opening her legs; Bette was already behind her coping with her two hands kneading her cheeks. Bette: “let’s see, what do we have over here…? You know, this will take time, I need to be sure you’re not keeping anything away from me…” Tina: “you can do anything you want, I would tell you nothing…” Bette: “ha-ha…, you’ll be telling me everything, I want to hear… and you'll beg me” Bette surrounded and embraced Tina’s hips with one arm, placing her hand on the blonde’s mound below her belly and pulled her closer and in position, she introduced one finger in her anus, the blonde moaned. Bette: “maybe I’m missing something, let’s use more fingers…” The brunette introduced another finger and pumped in and out rubbing the walls of the cavity carefully not to produce pain but pleasure; immediately Tina felt an electric shock toward her brain and back down to her core, which made her wet, and shiver, the more, the brunette, rubbed her ass the stronger the contractions of the inner walls of her core, increasing the amount of nectar falling from her cunt; Bette felt the moisture on her other hand that was already touching and caressing the curly hair of Tina's pussy. Tina: “oohs…, yeah…, that’s good…” Bette: “there is nothing here, let’s look in the front…, stand up, turn around and support your hands on my shoulders…, yes that is fine…lift your right leg and keep them open…” Bette held Tina’s thigh with one hand while putting the other hand open on her core. Bette: “shit, demon, you are very wet, you are melting…, I’ll check where this is coming from” Bette introduce two fingers between Tina’s folds Tina: “ahs…, more…” Bette: “more…? What…, deep? Hard? Or fingers?” Tina: (fainting) “all of them…” Bette pulled her closer and pressuring her against her own body, moved her knee between Tina’s legs pushing her own hand and the three fingers she was introducing inside the blonde’s folds; she supported her foot on the border of the bed and lifted Tina, who was left sitting on Bette’s fingers and ultimately Bette’s knee; Tina closed her eyes, the sensation was the strongest in her life, the long fingers of her wife have reached deepest than any time before, and the thick of the penetration due to the three fingers was building a huge orgasm; Tina’s walls were tight but Bette managed to pump her fingers slowly, in and out rubbing the soft spot on her front wall, making her delirious” Tina: “BABE…, yeah…, yeah…, I need you there…, always, pleaasseee…, Beettteee…” Bette was totally horny and wet in her squad clothes. Bette: “tell me you surrender…; tell me you’ll give me everything I want” Tina: “everything for you babe, I’m yours…” Tina cum with a huge orgasm, then, Bette sat Tina on their bed, and start removing her pants. Bette: “I want you to suck my pussy” Tina: “yes baby, I’ll like that very much” Now was Bette’s turn to have Tina inside her, she was standing with one leg on the blonde’s shoulder while her wife's tongue was on her clit, and her fingers inside her walls. After few minutes both girls lay naked on the bed and Bette was softly touching with the grip of her retracted sword every inch of Tina’s body, pinning her and kissing her whole body, finally she topped her, and placed one leg between the blonde’s, at the same time that she was wrapping with her both legs one of Tina’s, and then, both start grinding her bodies and whispering sensual phrases of love; they made love for several hours and orgasmed together Somewhere in between space and time- probably 1:00 pm. Sunday, February 2, 2059- Dining room in the cabin. The mood was swinging among the warriors and the support team, while the first ones were exhilarated for the successive victories, the last ones worried about the counterattack of the evil army, which, though weakened, it was still very dangerous, because now the First has nothing to lose and a lot to gain and all of them, especially Louise knew the evil leader has a couple of tricks under his sleeve. But what worry Louise is the situation and health of one of the allies’ leader, Buffy, the scientist has been observing the slayer closely and has seen the changes in the last few weeks; the powerful blonde slayer, has become more emotional, less risky on the battlefield, and very worn out, fortunately, Faith was always there at her side, mainly protecting her, Louise also noticed that Tina, Bette, and Willow knew something, because the brunette insisted on going along with Buffy, and when it wasn’t possible, Tina set Bo and Lauren or Jane and Maura in Buffy’s battle team, so, the slayer was always surrounded by powerful warriors; Louise has interrogated Tina several times about Buffy, but her daughter didn’t answer her and Bette and Willow were always elusive each time she wanted to talk about the subject, but something will happen today that would bring light into her inquiries. As most of the warrior and support team, Louise usually eat in the bistro inside the refurbished cabin, she was eating with Sharon and Angus on a table, Bette, Tina, and the new wed Jane and Maura were in line gathering their food, while at their table were Bo and Laurel, in another table was Willow waiting for a Buffy and Faith, also in line; whilst Louise was listening to Angus calculating the age of the planet Paititia, based on the distance by the light recorded near Heldom, she observed Buffy stumbling while picking her food and Faith holding her avoiding her falling, the blonde slayer composed herself quickly, and walked toward her table, followed by Faith, but in her way, she staggered, dropping her tray of food and fainted falling in the arms of her lover, Willow reacted immediately helping them Bette and Tina left their line to help to take Buffy to the nursing station followed by Louise and Sharon; in the health station a young doctor named Callie, took care of Buffy, whereas Louise started questioning the girls about Buffy’s condition. Louise: “well, we have gone too far pretending that nothing happened to her…, I want to know the truth…, I promise that whatever we talk here will remain here…” Faith: (after a long uncomfortable silence) “I’m afraid that we can’t hide it any more…, well…, Buffy is pregnant” Louise: “hmm…, I see” Then Louise looked at Bette and Tina raising her brow, Tina just ducked her head and looked askance at Bette, who looked back with a questioning sight, all the eyes moved to the others and finally to Faith. Louise: “let me guess…, (looking at Faith) the perpetrator is in this room (then, looking at Bette and Tina) and some people have a lot to explain on how impregnator devices were used without supervision and training” Willow: “that’s not true, Louise, they trained Faith” Louise: “they…? Who are they?” Tina: “mom…, Faith wanted to know…” Faith: “Louise…, Buffy wanted to have a family..., and I love her” Louise: “was it consensual?” Faith: “kind of…” Louise: “what…? Don’t tell me that she wasn’t aware of the possibility to get pregnant” Faith: “is not like that…, I never lied to her…, but she said that it could be impossible for me to fathered her child, she just couldn’t believe, so, she let me do it several times, she was thrilled, it was like a game a dare game, she said it was the best sex she ever had, and we had done very well before…” Louise: “Faith…, please spares me the details… I don’t want to know…, but are you sure it is yours?” Faith: “who else can be…, she is not sleeping with anybody else since a while ago, I’ll say more than one year, perhaps two” Louise: “look, Faith, I don’t want to be a party pooper, but, have you talk to her; has she confirmed that the baby is yours?” Faith: (nervous) “no, but she hasn’t denied…, Louise, why don’t you ask her?” All the eyes were on Louise, the biochemist understood, Faith has that begging look on her face, she is probably right, the baby should be hers, but she still can’t believe it; Willow, Bette and Tina are also fearful that the father could be someone else, because they were on Faith’s corner during all her 'coming out' process and they hope for Buffy to do the same if she is really pregnant carrying Faith’s baby; Louise didn’t say a word, she just walked inside the room where Callie was examining Buffy. Louise: “hey Buffy, how are you feeling?” Buffy: “I’m fine…, where is Faith?” Louise: “she is outside, waiting, what happened to you, honey?” Buffy: “I’m fine…” Louise saw the fear in Buffy’s eyes. Louise: “everything is going to be okay…, we all will take care of you” Buffy: “NOOO…, Louise please don’t tell anybody” Louise: “tell what, Buffy?” Buffy: “I’m pregnant…” Louise: “and you want Faith at your side, right?” Buffy: “oh…, Louise…, what are we going to do…? I am pregnant from her…, how could that happened…?” Louise: “well, the biological process is not very complicated, but the way you reached this situation is not conventional but is good” Buffy: (sobbing) “oh, Louise…, those were the most wonderful moments in my life, having her inside me, but… how are we going to explain this…, the baby..., is the baby going to be fine…? What will we tell the baby when she or he grows up? There won’t be any father…, is the baby going to be normal?” Louise: “calm down Buffy, everything will be fine…, we have been in your shoes before…, I mean many of the adults; look, I raised Tina with my wife, there was no father, the sperms came from my wife’s dead brother, he was her twin, and we weren’t the only ones; we have a very big population of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender; it is perfectly normal for raising a child by parents of the same sex, and the conception should be fine, we have already some couples conceiving babies in the same way you did” Buffy: “I’m scared, Louise, we are fighting a war and I’m pregnant, who is going to protect my baby if something happens to me?” Louise: “I guess that could be Faith, but don’t think in a negative way, we all are going to take care of you” Buffy: “who else know...?” Louise: “I don’t know how many, but at least Willow, Bette, and Tina knew” In that moment Faith entered the room. Faith: “B, honey; how are you doing? Is the baby okay?” Buffy: “yeah…, the doctor said it is normal to have this nausea and dizziness” Faith: “when can you leave, I think you should rest in the tent” Louise: “I think Buffy should take a rest outside of the wormhole, we can set an apartment for you both in the annex building to our lab” Buffy: “I’m feeling better; I want to keep fighting on the battlefield…” Faith: “B, I don’t think that is good for you and the baby” Buffy: ‘I need to stay here, fighting; besides, we almost do nothing, just use weapons that kill the evils of faraway” Louise: “I think Faith is right” Buffy: “I won’t cross my arms and wait for the war to end, I need to be there” And with that decision, the slayers left the health station and returned to Buffy’s tent where she could rest and eat waiting for the new battle. Beyond the Hellmouth, similar coordinates than Sunnydale, earth date, Sunday 8:00 pm. February 2, 2059. Helldom Planet – Hexepolis- Headquarter of the First Evil The alleys of the Hellmouth are desert, if it wasn’t for the faint lights in few buildings in the proximity of the portal to the Helldom planet, anybody could think the place has reverted to be the filling of the old void in the planet Xibalbia; the portal to Helldom is located in the subterranean city of Hexepolis, less than quarter mile from the headquarter of the first evil, the place is very well guarded not only by demons but also by every sort of spells. A blonde woman appears out of nowhere and knocks the door of the building, a dark cloud enveloped her and she vanishes. Inside the building, the blonde walks toward the main room and the door opens. Glory: “why is so quiet everywhere? Are vamps and demons in some especial battle?” First Evil: “no, there is no battle, and I don’t know when we’ll fight again…what took you so long?” Glory: “you didn’t mention the Paititians don’t like you, I was more than one month hidden… and it was hard to come back too” First Evil: “do you have the gadget?” Glory: “yes, I have it” First Evil: “good, we’ll give it to Buckley, she is in charge of putting it in a place where Porter’s daughter could find it and we should teach Buckley how to activate the mechanism, it will take less than 5 minutes to program the sequence of portals and take the carrier far away” Glory: “I brought two with me just in case we have to try again…, what's next” First Evil: “I already told you, you will seduce Louise’s daughter, and at the end, the victory will be mine” P

War, Love, and Commitment…a Sci-Fi Story Chapter 8- ONSLAUGHT Beyond the Hellmouth, similar coordinates than Sunnydale, earth date, Sunday 10:00 am. November 3, 2058. Helldom Planet – Hexepolis- Headquarter of the First Evil As has been indicated, the Hellmouth is a wide rare portion of a wormhole containing multiple gateways to different universes and at the same time protected from the rest of the wormhole, which is connected to the lab, by a portal, and it is originally located on a planet called Helldom, where the First Evil dwells; the malign entity has his headquarters in Hexepolis the capital city of the underground Kingdom of the Evil; he has summoned some of his commanders and aids, and today they have to go through a row of information and prepare a plan of attack. First Evil: “I have called all of you today to discuss the battle we had around six months ago at the portal of the world of the dead, our army was destroyed by powerful weapons built by humans, we have lost one fifth of our Uber-vamps, many of our living dead and even an important group of our demons, my intel informant told me, then, that the weapons and the executors were a combined group of people of Porter and Rossi allied with Giles’ people, the slayers; however, my source also informed me that Rossi’s army is even more powerful than those slayers and they have high technology armaments developed by her students…; students that we couldn’t control and a professor we couldn’t dominate, I blame for that to General Wilkins, Tianna Buckley, and Franklin Phillips…, you three were commissioned, two years ago, to destroy Rossi by kidnapping her daughter and, on the contrary, we lost potential followers and Rossi’s child, who, I am sure it could have been an important addition to our team” General Wilkins: (embarrassed) “I assure you that it wasn’t my fault, Dr. Buckley was in charge of kidnapping the girl, but the friend of Franklin didn’t work” Franklin Phillips: (shaking) “I have done the best I could, but the boy who had to bring the girl suffered psychologic problems” First Evil: (annoyed) “and who was to blame for choosing such a sick boy…? Didn’t you know she was a lesbian? Why didn’t you choose a girl to do the job?” Franklin Phillips: (defensive) “it was Dr. Buckley decision” Tianna Buckley: (scared) “it was a matter of honor, we are against homosexuality” First Evil: (angry) “WE…? That is too many people, it was you, only you and your stupid mind…, well, well, you have to make up for your huge mistake…, fortunately I have a plan to destroy Porter, I will take the most valuable thing in his life, but I need to travel to the past to get the gadget, and you Tianna, and when we get it, you will have to take care of that part… otherwise, you will be expendable” Tianna Buckley: (begging) “I will do anything to please you, my lord, just name it and I’ll do it…” First Evil: “fine…, recently that woman, Louise Rossi, made an astral trip to the world of the dead with an unknown mission, and we need to find out what are her plans, no that it would affect our conquering plot, but we need to be sure they are not going to be an obstacle in our glorious path; so, we need to open a gateway to Rossi’s lab, destroy their equipment kill her and snatch her daughter, but in case it doesn’t work, someone will travel to the past and bring an especial device to divide them” Tianna Buckley: “I could take care of the daughter…” Firs Evil: “no…, you already failed to do that…, we need another person…, a woman, one that could seduce her…, we’ll see…; on the other hand, our informant in the wormhole will tell us the next move of the slayers and Rossi’s group and then, we will enter the lab and kill Rossi and her allies… now I want all of you out, only Glory must remain here” After all his commanders left, the First Evil has a conversation with Glorificus, AKA Glory, who is a goddess of the Hell universe; she fought with Buffy for the life of Dawn (Buffy’s sister) and was defeated and later killed by Giles, but rescued by the First Evil who made her, his allied. First Evil: “As you heard, Glory, I need a device to destroy Melvin Porter and I need your help to get it” Glory: “how do you plan to kill Porter?” First Evil: “I don’t plan to kill him, I can’t kill him…, do you know who his father is?” Glory: “there is a rumor that goes around; they said that Michaela Porter was abducted by a multidimensional ace” First Evil: “that’s right, and multidimensional aces are very powerful and rare, no one wants to mess with them” Glory: “and what are you going to do?” First Evil: “there is a very ancient type of object, which, by activation could send you to other universes without possibility to be tracked, if it’s activated when is in the hands of Porter’s daughter, she would be sent through different dimensions, moving constantly and being there for short periods of time; that could annoy the multidimensional aces, but it would be my last resource in case we are on the verge of defeat” Glory: “are we in such a dramatic situation?” First Evil: “the attack at the portal of the world of the dead was brutal…, if they repeat it, we will need to make a truce and regroup” Glory: “that’s pretty bad…, what do you want from me?” First Evil: “I need you to bring the device here, you need to travel to the past and take it evading the Paititia’s schism” Glory: “no…, I can’t do it; the Paititia’s schism will destroy me” First Evil: “no, he won’t, I will show you how to trick them…, besides, remember you owe me…, I saved your life…, when Giles killed you” Glory: “is there anybody else who could travel to the past?” First Evil: “we are few, you, the ‘Powers that be’, the other two deities that ruled with you and of course me, and besides you and me, the others are out of this war and even against it” Glory: “what will be the next step, I mean after I bring the device…? Should I attack Porter’s daughter and send her to limbo using it?” First Evil: “no…, Buckley will take care of that girl…, you will seduce Rossi’s daughter and bring her to me” New Pasadena. 9:00 am. Monday, November 11, 2058. New CalTech-Biochemistry building – Louise’s office The board of projects is gathered to discuss the war strategy; Louise has received important information from a secret source from someone that is in the enemy rank, a counter-spy, someone who didn’t choose to be there, someone that as Robin, was captured by the First Evil, while dying, but the difference with Robin, is that this person was wiser and compassionate; the First Evil captured her because she died angry, because some apparently ‘religious’ cult deceived her, tricked her to take her most valuable and beloved possession; which made the difference, between going to the world of the dead or being a slave of the First Evil. When Louise’s group attacked the world of the dead as a distraction to bring Louise back from her astral travel, the outcome was more than a diversion to unsettle the First Evil’s troops around that portal, it destroyed important part of his army and weakened his control on his slaves, but while some of them as Kaleb and Warren unified forces with the malign leader, some others regained partial freedom and flew away toward their original planets and/or universes, but this person, knowing the importance of this war, stayed in Helldom to supply information to the only human she would always trust, to Louise Rossi. The information transmitted to Louise, indicate the amount of damage in the First Evil’s militia, the possible next steps of the damned entity, the plans to counterattack the lab, the distribution of the evil army, and more information this person was gathering; Louise didn’t want to mention who this person was, and how they communicate, but she shared most of the information with her group, with her allies, and kept for herself, some valuable and dangerous data. Melvin: “I understand that we will discuss the war strategy today, but I would like to know if we have any new information about the Hellmouth” Angus: “we know is that the mole is no longer a spy from the First Evil, at least not against us, he has been awaked and wants revenge against the First” Sharon: “we were able to close more portals and there were fewer attacks from vampires, zombies, demons; reptilians apparently have vanished” Kit: “the security around the main cities has increased, as Louise told us, our planet may endure strong attack from the Hellmouth” Melvin: “I have teleconference with the ambassadors of the United Nations, they reassured their confidence in us, but they want us to train people from their countries” Louise: “it’ll be hard, they need to change first, and that is not in our possibilities, the change is voluntary not an obligation, they must choose” Melvin: “I can tell them we don’t have resources to train new people” Angus: “what if they attack us?” Louise: “they can’t, they tried to do it before, but not even their police nor their army could do something…, we are faster, stronger and can ‘read’ them before they act” Melvin: “okay…, Louise do you have any other information?” Louise: “just my dreams…, but I already have a plan to attack the evil” Melvin: “fine…, we’ll listen” Louise: “the smart probes reported considerable deploy of evil militia in several portals, my proposal is starting making isolated attacks to those positions, as we did with the portal of the world of the dead, in that way we could debilitate the First’s army, we must attack the evil on different fronts; but we need to recruit more students able to change and form more battle groups, but in the meantime, I think Willow is ready to change” Sharon: “I strongly agree, but I think Kit should do the same” Kit: “I know that I’m ready and I’m doing it slowly” Louise: “do you need any help?” Kit: “no, I think I’m fine, I’m still dealing with my mother dead and Angus is helping me with that” Louise: “good, the change is quicker if your partner helps you, it happened to Bette and Tina” Sharon: “and it happened to me when Louise was there to help me” Melvin: “who will take care of forming the new attack groups? Louise: “I think Angus and Sharon will take that responsibility” Angus: “I agree” Sharon: “me too” Kit: “what will happen if some other entities from another dimension want to join us?” Melvin: “we’ll see it in the way, but if that happens, I’ll deal with that” Louise: “I agree” Melvin: “when the isolate attacks will start?” Louise: “the building is already protected, so…, we could do it immediately” Melvin: “fine…, keep us posted” Louise plan started the next day and in the following few days, the smart probes were sent through different portals to places where the First Evil had created dimensional gates to record the military activity, as well as, the amount and type of fighters, and to determine the best way to defeat them. Somewhere in between space and time- probably 5:30 pm. Friday, November 22, 2058- New Lab inside the wormhole. The New lab inside the wormhole is bigger than the one in the biochemistry building; the instruments have been configured to work from the wormhole by code protected using an encoded-cipher system known only by Louise, Tina, and Melvin. Willow had started ten days ago her ‘change’ and already had released a huge amount of anger and hatred, anguish against her bullies classmates at the high school, the deception for the lack of confidence from her friends and Giles, the ingratitude when she tries to use her knowledge to favor them in their fight against evil, the desolation when she broke with Tara, the devastation when Tara was killed, the rage and revulsion when she caught Warren, the wicked criminal who killed Tara and almost murdered Buffy, the abusive demanding from Kennedy, who wanted more and more to use her skills; all the frustration was accepted and she achieve peace with herself, now she could communicate with Louise, Bette, and Tina through her thoughts, and she could also see faraway, she already could have astral trips and telekinesis, but now what she could do is amazing. As Willow was focused on her thoughts, she didn’t hear some steps approaching. Faith: “hey Will…” Willow: “huh…, oh…, hi Faith…, what is new?” Faith: “I just came to visit…, how is the new lab?” Willow: “is good…, similar and even better than the one in the building” Faith: “where are Bette and Tina?” Willow: “they are lost in each other, still in their honeymoon” Faith: “oh…, then it is true that they married…, lucky them…” Willow: “how is going between you and Buffy?” Faith: (sighing) “I don’t know?” Willow: “aren’t you two sleeping together?” Faith: “yes, we are…, but for the rest of the gang, we are just friends, who share a tent…, Spike and Angel are after her, they don’t know that Buffy is with me…and Buffy doesn’t want them to know” Willow: “too bad, because the vamps would still have hopes of being with her” Faith: “that is the problem…, you know, Angel proposed” Willow: “WHAT…! and Buffy…, did she accepted?” Faith: “no…, because Spike proposed too” Willow: “those vamps are going to kill each other” Faith: “I don’t know, Buffy was telling me that once the war finish, she wants to stop being a slayer …, she wants to have a family” Willow: “oh…, and what are you going to do about that?” Faith: “this is what I wanted to talk to you…, remember you told me that Louise’s team has a method for the girls to impregnate their partners and have children… is that true?” Willow: “yeah…, they have done it with dogs and cats” Faith: “WHAT… a mixture of a cat and a dog?” Willow: (laughing) “don’t be nuts, Faith…, they have couples of females cats and females dogs, and many offspring of the same species” Faith: “ah…, so, they haven’t experimented with humans” Willow: “I think they did, not with young people, but with people of Louise’s and Sharon’s age” Faith: “did they have babies?” Willow: “I’m not sure, but Bette is the one who knows best about those experiments…, are you planning to get Buffy pregnant?” Faith: “perhaps…, when can I talk with Bette?” Willow: “I’m afraid you have to talk with both Tina and Bette, they are always together and they share everything, their problems, and their information” Faith waited in the lab wandering around and asking questions about everything; after almost 40 minutes when Bette and Tina arrived at the lab. Bette: “hey Faith… is there something wrong?” Faith: “hi Bette…, Tina, no exactly, I came here, because I’m interested in some device, one that you already produced in your lab” Bette: “and what that could be?” Faith: “the inseminator” Bette looked at Faith and then at Willow, who shrugged and at Tina who raised her eyebrow. Bette: “what do you want to do with that?” Faith: “are you serious?” Tina: “babe, isn’t it obvious that she wants to use it?” Bette: “does your partner know?” Faith: “oh please…, don’t make it harder than it already is” Tina: “isn’t it obvious, she wants a family with her girlfriend” Bette: “what if the girlfriend doesn’t want a family” Tina: “if she could impregnate the girl it’s because they are partners, is a matter of time for them to agree” Willow: “Bette, Tina has a point, in these times of war, if there is no partnership there is not sex, and if there is no sex, there is no impregnation” Bette: “and you think that the opposite also works?” Tina: “are you talking about casual sex babe?” Bette: “of course not…, well, first, we have to train you on how to prepare the genetic material and how to use the device” They went to the basement of the biochemistry building to teach Faith about human reproduction and the use of the inseminator. New Pasadena, 9:00 am. Sunday, December 8, 2058. New CalTech-Biochemistry building – Dining room-Cafeteria. It has been almost two months and a half and Jane, Maura, Stef, Lena, Olivia, and Alex have prepared all the requirements for their secret wedding, it is ‘secret’ because they didn’t tell their mothers, fathers and other adult relatives about that, but almost all the other ‘changed’ knew, because Alice was the one helping and organizing the event, and now she is also the under covered-weddings counselor in Louise’s group. Alice has created a weddings’ catalogue file with information of when, how, and where with all the details of the marriages already performed, included Bette’s and Tina’s wedding, and the ones in process, as well as, the information of all her new ‘clients’, the file is ‘open to see’ for all those interested in a quick, safe and perfect legal wedding without complications with nosy relatives; her fees are low, but she assumed all the task because the honeymoon trips, clothes, holovideos, rings and all the merchandize and entertainment is provided by T.net, the business owned by Tina and shared with Bette, Alice and Dana; which are giving very high dividends to the four of them; the business was promising because almost everybody, boys, and girls, hetero and homo couples, all of them want to marry. The young people are stressed with the war, they have not assurance of surviving, and all of them want to wed, they need someone at their side, a companion, someone to make them want to stay alive, an incentive to keep going, but most of their parents don’t understand that, because they do not want to believe in the danger to which their children are exposed, and they do nothing about that, most of them, want to think their daughters and sons are in the lab doing experiments and not fighting a war for the survival of humanity. So, there was a big disagreement between the ‘changeds’ and their families that mainly want a ‘gala wedding’ and try to do anything to restrain the younger from secret marriages, even the New Pasadena governor was persuaded to issue some regulations about weddings, most of them involving underage situations, but there were not new regulations for young adults, Joyce Wischnia had intended to pass an amend on the enacting clause # 2304, a national regulation, to increase the waiting time for marriage from 3 months to 9 months, but she had to withdraw her petition, because she has just proposed to Phillis Kroll, and the university president didn’t want to wait. But Alice was the solution for all that mess, she has all the needed information to help the young adults, even some underage, the only couple who didn’t ask for her service were Bo and Lauren, and Alice was intrigued by that, so, along with Dana, she decided to talk to the girls, before lunch. Alice: “guys, do you have any plan for the future?” Bo: “like what…?” Alice: “I don’t know, any plan…, look Dana and I married and we want to start a family, Bette and Tina did the same, indeed we did it together (Bo and Lauren raise their eyebrow)… I mean Bette with Tina and Dana with me, but at the same place and same time…, what about you girls?” Lauren: “oh…, so, you are interested in knowing if we plan to marry?” Alice: “well… yes of course I am…; you are my friends” Laurel: “too late…, (showing her wedding ring) we already did, and we really didn’t have interference, my father is in the governing board in New L.A. and my mother doesn’t like Bo, she wanted to meet her parents or any family of her, before we marry, so we decided to keep the maximum secret…, we just marry on Friday, November 29th” Alice: “wow…, well…, congratulations, well done…” Bo: “Alice…, you are our friend and we would like to help everybody; you know, there are ways to allow people to marry even if they are underage” Alice: “really…? How…?” Bo: “compassion…” Alice: “compassion…? What do you mean?” Bo: “parents care deeply for their children, and if they knew they are dying they would do everything to fulfill their last wish” Alice: “are you suggesting that some people should pretend they are dying?” Bo: “not exactly pretend…, just, exaggerate” Alice: “let me see if I understand…, let say, Helena wants to marry Dylan who is underage, and to be allowed to do it, if she is wounded in battlefield she could say that she feels she is dying and then, her wish would be granted, is that what you mean?” Bo: “aha…, I read in some place that in those cases, even if the underage’s family doesn’t give permission, but the younger wants to marry to her or his almost dying girl or boyfriend, the authorities will allow the wedding, and they are exonerated from the waiting time, the house and the engagement ceremony” Alice: “really…? And where is that ‘someplace’ you said you read it?” Bo: “in the legislation for war times, it was created a little before the hecatomb when disasters and wars made the everyday news and it hasn’t been changed…, hmm…, but you didn’t hear that information form me” Alice: “sure…, we just meet here to congratulate you on your recent wedding” Bo: “and that is still a secret, besides Louise, few others and now you both, know” Alice: “okay, then we just meet here to talk about the new tasks of our shift group…, wait… how is that Louise knew and she didn’t alert anybody?” Bo: “she is not against our weddings, but she doesn’t want to go against the law and the other parents, but she knows about all those legislations and she helped us” Alice: “really…? Where did you guys marry?” Lauren: “in the border with the Reformed Mexican republic, in Texas, in a city called El Paso Nuevo, they almost don’t follow the national rules for weddings” Alice: “good to know, because New Las Vegas authorities have been warned to not perform weddings without informing the relatives if the couples are younger than 21, it is abusive…, by the way, how long it took to go there and come back?” Lauren: “we used an instant wormhole, so, we just expended the necessary time for the wedding ceremony, which was very short, and the reception; but you know the problem is the parents, they want to be present on their children’s weddings, or at least to know if they are marrying” Dana: “you know…, sometimes parents are nosy” Bo: “come on…, you guys did easy, you even had a very nice reception” Dana: “oh, sorry, you said you have a reception, which means you weren’t alone” Lauren: “well, Louise made prepare the little reception, she was there with Sharon, as well as Bette, Tina and Dyson, and it was a small but nice party” Alice: “you said that only Louise knew but Bette, Tina, and Dyson were there” Bo: “I said Louise and few other, well those are the others, sorry, but it is supposed no one should know Bette, Tina, and Dyson traveled there while they were on duty” Alice: “well, I won’t tell anybody” Lauren: “we are serious about that Alice; if someone else knew they were there it would be a big problem for all of us” Alice: “I won’t write anything about your wedding in the weddings file…, I promise” After Lauren and Bo left, Alice looked for the information in the legislation for war times and Dana called Tina to find the availability to use the instant portal generator to take the couples to El Paso Nuevo to get married. It was noon when Stef, Lena, Jane, Maura, Olivia, and Alex arrived at the cafeteria to have lunch with Alice and Dana, Alice quickly explains them her new plan and the new venue, and the three couples decided to be ready for their marriages after Christmas day. Alice: “let me do the reservations and I need your case files with the engagement ceremony, the responsible parenthood course, and the house, and I will confirm the date by this evening; check the catalog for the wedding clothes and choose what you want, and for the reception, rings, honeymoon, the prices are at the side…, as you could see it is not expensive, isn’t it?” After eating and two hours later, the three couples left the bistro satisfied and happy with their rings, clothes and gifts choices and the prices; indeed it was a pleasure to make business with Alice, let’s see how the weddings will go. New Pasadena, 9:30 am. Sunday, January 5, 2059- New CalTech-Biochemistry building – Louise’s office. Louise has gathered the board of projects to decide the plan of attack to the evil army, Bette, Tina, Bo, Willow, Giles, and Buffy have proposed a series of sporadic battles on different fronts already established with the help of the reports attained from the smart probes, each combat required the presence of a small group of allies using the luminous balls but still they will need the smart probes to destroy zombies and they all still need to use small but powerful chainsaws. However, demons are hard to kill; to do it, the allies would freeze them with liquid nitrogen one by one for sure, though it was a slow method, nonetheless but the only way at the moment. Tina and Willow, however, have found information about a special material called ‘adamas’, apparently a very strong alloy recently discovered by the smart probes in the bright planet at a very far point in the Hell universe, they have received the message from inhabitants of one of the closest planed saying it could be useful to kill demons; Willow has investigated in the writings of the old Wicca, and she found the use of a similar material used, in ancient times, to construct a powerful weapon called the Seraph blade; but they still have some research to do, to produce the desirable armament; in the mean time they will need to use the smart probes and its ability to obtain liquid nitrogen from air. Louise: “the tactic we’ll use is the attack on different fronts by small groups of our warriors, as most parts of the First’s army are Uber-vamps, our people will use luminous balls to kill them, additionally they will carry light chainsaws and fire guns to kill zombies, they will combat along with smart probes able to produce liquid nitrogen from air to kill demons” Melvin: “have you already formed the groups?” Louise: “they will be the same shift groups of attack we, originally, had; they will be converted in the combat squads, those girls and boys are already skillful in the use of the weapons, but we are training twelve new warriors” Angus: “have they been ‘changed’ before the training?” Sharon: “yes, they have” Kit: “good, it sounds that everything is going well” After the meeting, Louise went to the lab in the wormhole to hurry Bette, Tina, and Willow on the information about the Seraph blades. Somewhere in between space and time- probably 2:00 pm. Wednesday, January 15, 2059- New Lab inside the wormhole. Two groups of changed along with Scoobies have crossed two different portals, in the first group were Bette, Helena, Jane, Maura, Stef and Lena along with Kennedy, Angel, and Oz, in the second group were Bo, Lauren, Alice, Dana, Jenny and Marina along with Buffy, Faith and Spike; all of them wear special clothes, to protect from fire, and different types of radiation, they carry wrapped on their wrists a handgrip they could activate at volition to release the powerful light that produce the special fire to kill the vamps and which will affect neither Angel nor Spike; attached to their belt they transport a small tank of liquid nitrogen that could freeze and kill demons, but also have small chainsaws for the same purpose, and to behead the living dead. In the lab, commanding the probes were Tina for Bette’s group and Willow for Bo’s group; in both battlefronts, the outcomes were more or less the same. As they crossed the portal, Bette and her group saw a huge amount of Uber-vamps gathered around what seemed to be a portal, it wasn’t clear if this was a white or black hole, some demons were doing some rituals as if they try to open the gate; Bette commanded the motion of probes to the side of the location of that possible gate, to study what exactly the demons were doing and to prepare the luminous balls to kill the vamps; Angel could see where the source of Uber-vamps was located and told Bette; Jane and Maura ordered some probes to move to that position and when everything was ready the luminous balls, from the probes and the ones from the allies were activated producing a gigantic fire on the Uber-vamps, who were dying and with them most of the zombies and some of the demons, the survivors try to escape through the portal already blocked by the probes and many of the demons were frozen and killed by the liquid nitrogen produced by the probes; some of the demons attacked the girls, but, as they have also liquid nitrogen tanks, they froze them, while other ones faced their dead under the chainsaws of the allies. In Bo’s group things happened in a similar way, however, a fist of demons in her battlefield ran away through a portal toward the Hellmouth; the battles were epic; very important branches of the evil army were destroyed and, for sure, the First Evil will be desperately trying to counterattack the human forces, that was something Louise was expecting and now she knows her whole team has to prepare a new attack to the evil force, or she’ll need to brace for a dangerous counterattack; she has summoned the six combat squads the same day after the battles. Louise: “As you know, today, we have defeated the evil army on two fronts, and we will keep fighting them, but we need to be aware, the First Evil will fight back without mercy, and we have to protect each other, all of us are precious for the whole team, and all of us are in danger of suffering an isolated treacherous attack, so, report yourself with your mates, and if someone notice a suspicious absence, report it to me immediately, we need to fight a new battle to assure our superiority and avoid unpleasant surprises” Bette: “when are we going to attack again?” Louise: “tomorrow; Tina and Willow have found four new places where the evil army is fighting, the 12 students of the two new groups will accompany the four active groups we have” After the meeting ended, Tina approached her mother. Tina: “may I talk to you in private?” Louise had a very clear idea what Tina wanted to talk with her; her daughter will never give up; they went to a small office in the new lab, under the sight of Bette. Jane: “what’s up Bette?” Bette: “Tina is talking with Louise” Alice: “are you guys having problems?” Bette: “she is having nightmares since a long time” Willow: “about you, being taken away?” Bette looked at Willow astonished. Bette: “did she tell you” Willow: “no…, but sometimes her feeling is too loud” Bette: “you read her thoughts” Willow: “no her thoughts, but her pain…, she is in pain about you…; but only she, or perhaps, you, could find the reason of that fear” Bette: “I know…” In the meantime, in the small room, Tina and her mother are talking. Tina: “mom, I need your permission to go with Bette to the battlefield” Louise: “baby…, you know that I can’t let you go with her, we need you here…, Tina, baby, I am doing my best to keep you both together; every day, you see each other, you sleep together, you can watch and protect her using the smart probes, she is fine and if we are lucky, the war will finish soon…, what are you worry about?” Tina: “she is in danger, mom, I want to stay with her, if she is kidnaped I want to be with her, if she will die, I want to die with her, it is for better or for worse, is in our vows, if we fail or succeed it will be together, nothing makes sense to me if we are not together” Louise: “you still have those nightmares, don’t you?” Tina: “yes…, I think someone is trying to give me a message” Louise: “who…?” Tina: “I don’t know…, but is not mom Kris; I don’t think is Bette’s mom; I don’t even think it’s human…” Louise: “hmm…., I think I understand, what you’re saying…, I will make my own inquiries…, but, no, I can’t allow you to leave the lab, we need you here, as we need Bette, there, in the battlefront” Tina: (sighing) “… fine…, at least I tried…” Somewhere in between space and time- probably 9:00 am. Thursday, January 16, 2059- New Lab inside the wormhole. The four groups of warriors have left the headquarters ten minutes ago; instant portals have been generated to allow them to travel in seconds to the battle fronts where the First Evil is attacking other universes, a rough calculation made by Louise Tina and Willow, predict that the 40% of what remains of the evil army is on those locations, if they succeed today, the victory will be on their side, but the response of the enemy will also be brutal. Tina, Willow, Frank Rizzoli, and Carmen were in the lab commanding the probes and protecting the warriors of the four groups, Louise and Angus were constantly checking on them, and again in few minutes all the Uber-vamps were burned permanently, all the zombies were destroyed, but still some demons managed to survive and withdraw through portals toward the Hellmouth, after two hours, the four groups returned to their headquarters. Next day Louise went to the lab to speak with Tina and Willow. Louise: “we have problems with the demons, we need to get those Seraph blades, Wil, Tina; did you get more information about those?” Tina: “we have sent probes to the distant planet with a petition” Louise: “petition… to whom?” Tina: “the humanoids, the pigheaded ones, they sent us a message about the metals in the bright planet; we explained them our problem…; sorry, but I thought if they knew about that, they would get the material for us” Louise: “I hope we are not making more enemies” Willow: “I think they could help” Tina: “besides…, they may be dead by now…, I mean, the probes have traveled time back to reach them, but they may not exist right now” Louise: “or they may have migrated to another dimension…, well let’s wait for their answer” Tina had sent the message with the probe to the pigheaded people immediately after the last battle and today, when she talks with Louise, they received a strange visit through a portal in the wormhole; a humanoid entity has arrived at the lab and immediately uses telepathy to communicate with them. Entity: ‘I am Vira, from the planet Paititia, the First Evil is a common enemy; he belongs to an ancient and powerful race, he is ambitious and he deceived and killed all his congeners, to take their power and get stronger, his race, lived in the planet called Xibalbia, the one located beyond the bright land called Nibiria, where the precious metals abound; the First Evil couldn’t destroy us, and he left toward Heldom; we try to heal his race, but they are still there in a different dimensional plane, they are submissive to the First because is the only one of them who remains alive; however we were able to use genetic material, from the dead, to recreate their race, and they resulted in reptilian beings, the initial corporeal form of the creatures as the First Evil; we discovered how him dominated Uber-vamps, zombies, and demons; we have what you need to destroy those, you need Seraph blades which can be made only from adamas, we will provide you with the material to build the weapons, but you should promise that you won’t stop until the First is defeated and dead’ Louise: ‘why can’t you do that? You are powerful and superior’ Entity: ‘we are not here anymore; we evolved and changed, but before, we sow our seed in some universes, we did also here in your planet, this was the best crop…, do we have a deal?’ Louise: ‘yes…, we have a deal’ Entity: ‘I will come back when you are ready to defeat the First…, don’t worry Louise… when the first is defeated, she will be released into the world of the dead’ Saying the last words, the entity crossed the portal and disappeared, and in its place a box with small dark circle on its wall appeared, it came along with brief instructions ‘push the button to produce a Seraph blade; as they followed the instructions, the weapons were produced, they were light but strong; now there is nothing to stop the allies to defeat the evil army, but the First Evil is another story, that merciless creature will require a special treatment to be defeated. Somewhere in between space and time- probably 9:00 am. Sanday, January 26, 2059- Battle field inside the wormhole. The teams have worked hard; the support group has built the Seraph blades and had attached them to a handle and made them work as retractile swords, which now replaces the small chainsaws, and are useful for killing demons, as well as, living dead; they also have the luminous balls embedded in handgrips, both weapons are wrapped to their wrists, they also carry other small tools and weapons, as liquid nitrogen, holly water, a small survival bag with first aids medicines and nutrition kits attached to their belts, all of them have also two micro- hphones, for emergencies; they wear protective tight clothes for shielding their bodies against high and low temperatures, bites, fire, sharp weapons and others. The combat squad groups have been dressing her clothes and testing their arms, while the support team was monitoring the battle field and setting the smart probes in position; Louise has convened both teams for the final instructions, and, there, it was for the first time that Tina saw Bette wearing her warrior clothes, the blonde was jaw-dropping, her wife was so hot and attractive with that attire, so powerful and strong carrying those weapons, she was astonished, speechless, the view was more than sensual, it was lustful, the idea of her body naked in front of Bette ordering her to dance, turn around, bent letting her touch her ass again and again… Louise: “Tina…, Tina…, are you listen to me… (snapping her fingers) hey…” Tina: “huh…, what…, hmm mom…?” Louise: “I asked you if the probes are on their positions in the battlefield…” Tina: “probes…, oh…, yes, they are, let me verify…” Louise: “are you, okay baby…” Tina: “yup…, let’s see…, all the probes are in position” Tina turned toward Bette after answer her mom and bit her lower lip, the brunette smiled and approaching her whispered in her ear. Bette: “when I come back, I’ll be yours…” Tina: “take care of yourself and… your clothes…, I want you in those clothes…” Bette: “I’ll do it” After the combat squads left, Louise told Tina. Louise: “what’s up with you honey…?” Tina: “hmm…, nothing…, it’s…, just…, I’m nervous…” Louise: “everything will be fine; just do your part baby” The battle has been hard but all the girls have done well, the army of the First Evil has been downed to 10% of its original power and capacity, and all the fighters have come back safe. Bedroom Some of the warriors changed clothes as soon as they arrived, though most of them kept in their clothes during their celebration meal, but even when the party ended Tina took Bette’s hand and dragged her to their bedroom, where Tina pulled her wife against the wall, they kissed intensely, the blonde opened her legs Bette: “oh baby…, let me change my clothes…” Tina: “NO…, I want you to be the fierce warrior and I want to be your prisoner…, please…, make me do things…” Bette: “hmm…, you want to play…? Let’s play…, you are the demon I just captured and you’ll do anything I want…” Tina: “YES…, yes…, please…” Bette: “okay, demon, you fear the cold…, undress…, slowly, let me see how each garment falls off your body…” Tina: “yes ma’am…, I’ll do it, but please don’t hurt me…” Bette: “fine…, I need to check if you have any hidden weapon…, take out that underwear…” The blonde did as the warrior said. Bette: (looking Tina’s body from the toes to the head) “hmm…, what do we have over here, let me see your weapons…, show me where are hidden…” Tina: “I have no weapons…” Bette: “liar…, doesn’t matter…, I’ll check every fold of your body until I find them…” Tina: (smiling) “you’ll need to dig deep” Bette: (smiling back) “deep and hard…, now turn around, put your hand on the edge of the bed… and spread your legs wide” Tina felt her wet dreams come true; as soon as she bent opening her legs; Bette was already behind her coping with her two hands kneading her cheeks. Bette: “let’s see, what do we have over here…? You know, this will take time, I need to be sure you’re not keeping anything away from me…” Tina: “you can do anything you want, I would tell you nothing…” Bette: “ha-ha…, you’ll be telling me everything, I want to hear… and you’ll beg me” Bette surrounded and embraced Tina’s hips with one arm, placing her hand on the blonde’s mound below her belly and pulled her closer and in position, she introduced one finger in her anus, the blonde moaned. Bette: “maybe I’m missing something, let’s use more fingers…” The brunette introduced another finger and pumped in and out rubbing the walls of the cavity carefully not to produce pain but pleasure; immediately Tina felt an electric shock toward her brain and back down to her core, which made her wet, and shiver, the more, the brunette, rubbed her ass the stronger the contractions of the inner walls of her core, increasing the amount of nectar falling from her cunt; Bette felt the moisture on her other hand that was already touching and caressing the curly hair of Tina’s pussy. Tina: “oohs…, yeah…, that’s good…” Bette: “there is nothing here, let’s look in the front…, stand up, turn around and support your hands on my shoulders…, yes that is fine…lift your right leg and keep them open…” Bette held Tina’s thigh with one hand while putting the other hand open on her core. Bette: “shit, demon, you are very wet, you are melting…, I’ll check where this is coming from” Bette introduce two fingers between Tina’s folds Tina: “ahs…, more…” Bette: “more…? What…, deep? Hard? Or fingers?” Tina: (fainting) “all of them…” Bette pulled her closer and pressuring her against her own body, moved her knee between Tina’s legs pushing her own hand and the three fingers she was introducing inside the blonde’s folds; she supported her foot on the border of the bed and lifted Tina, who was left sitting on Bette’s fingers and ultimately Bette’s knee; Tina closed her eyes, the sensation was the strongest in her life, the long fingers of her wife have reached deepest than any time before, and the thick of the penetration due to the three fingers was building a huge orgasm; Tina’s walls were tight but Bette managed to pump her fingers slowly, in and out rubbing the soft spot on her front wall, making her delirious” Tina: “BABE…, yeah…, yeah…, I need you there…, always, pleaasseee…, Beettteee…” Bette was totally horny and wet in her squad clothes. Bette: “tell me you surrender…; tell me you’ll give me everything I want” Tina: “everything for you babe, I’m yours…” Tina cum with a huge orgasm, then, Bette sat Tina on their bed, and start removing her pants. Bette: “I want you to suck my pussy” Tina: “yes baby, I’ll like that very much” Now was Bette’s turn to have Tina inside her, she was standing with one leg on the blonde’s shoulder while her wife’s tongue was on her clit, and her fingers inside her walls. After few minutes both girls lay naked on the bed and Bette was softly touching with the grip of her retracted sword every inch of Tina’s body, pinning her and kissing her whole body, finally she topped her, and placed one leg between the blonde’s, at the same time that she was wrapping with her both legs one of Tina’s, and then, both start grinding her bodies and whispering sensual phrases of love; they made love for several hours and orgasmed together Somewhere in between space and time- probably 1:00 pm. Sunday, February 2, 2059- Dining room in the cabin. The mood was swinging among the warriors and the support team, while the first ones were exhilarated for the successive victories, the last ones worried about the counterattack of the evil army, which, though weakened, it was still very dangerous, because now the First has nothing to lose and a lot to gain and all of them, especially Louise knew the evil leader has a couple of tricks under his sleeve. But what worry Louise is the situation and health of one of the allies’ leader, Buffy, the scientist has been observing the slayer closely and has seen the changes in the last few weeks; the powerful blonde slayer, has become more emotional, less risky on the battlefield, and very worn out, fortunately, Faith was always there at her side, mainly protecting her, Louise also noticed that Tina, Bette, and Willow knew something, because the brunette insisted on going along with Buffy, and when it wasn’t possible, Tina set Bo and Lauren or Jane and Maura in Buffy’s battle team, so, the slayer was always surrounded by powerful warriors; Louise has interrogated Tina several times about Buffy, but her daughter didn’t answer her and Bette and Willow were always elusive each time she wanted to talk about the subject, but something will happen today that would bring light into her inquiries. As most of the warrior and support team, Louise usually eat in the bistro inside the refurbished cabin, she was eating with Sharon and Angus on a table, Bette, Tina, and the new wed Jane and Maura were in line gathering their food, while at their table were Bo and Laurel, in another table was Willow waiting for a Buffy and Faith, also in line; whilst Louise was listening to Angus calculating the age of the planet Paititia, based on the distance by the light recorded near Heldom, she observed Buffy stumbling while picking her food and Faith holding her avoiding her falling, the blonde slayer composed herself quickly, and walked toward her table, followed by Faith, but in her way, she staggered, dropping her tray of food and fainted falling in the arms of her lover, Willow reacted immediately helping them Bette and Tina left their line to help to take Buffy to the nursing station followed by Louise and Sharon; in the health station a young doctor named Callie, took care of Buffy, whereas Louise started questioning the girls about Buffy’s condition. Louise: “well, we have gone too far pretending that nothing happened to her…, I want to know the truth…, I promise that whatever we talk here will remain here…” Faith: (after a long uncomfortable silence) “I’m afraid that we can’t hide it any more…, well…, Buffy is pregnant” Louise: “hmm…, I see” Then Louise looked at Bette and Tina raising her brow, Tina just ducked her head and looked askance at Bette, who looked back with a questioning sight, all the eyes moved to the others and finally to Faith. Louise: “let me guess…, (looking at Faith) the perpetrator is in this room (then, looking at Bette and Tina) and some people have a lot to explain on how impregnator devices were used without supervision and training” Willow: “that’s not true, Louise, they trained Faith” Louise: “they…? Who are they?” Tina: “mom…, Faith wanted to know…” Faith: “Louise…, Buffy wanted to have a family…, and I love her” Louise: “was it consensual?” Faith: “kind of…” Louise: “what…? Don’t tell me that she wasn’t aware of the possibility to get pregnant” Faith: “is not like that…, I never lied to her…, but she said that it could be impossible for me to fathered her child, she just couldn’t believe, so, she let me do it several times, she was thrilled, it was like a game a dare game, she said it was the best sex she ever had, and we had done very well before…” Louise: “Faith…, please spares me the details… I don’t want to know…, but are you sure it is yours?” Faith: “who else can be…, she is not sleeping with anybody else since a while ago, I’ll say more than one year, perhaps two” Louise: “look, Faith, I don’t want to be a party pooper, but, have you talk to her; has she confirmed that the baby is yours?” Faith: (nervous) “no, but she hasn’t denied…, Louise, why don’t you ask her?” All the eyes were on Louise, the biochemist understood, Faith has that begging look on her face, she is probably right, the baby should be hers, but she still can’t believe it; Willow, Bette and Tina are also fearful that the father could be someone else, because they were on Faith’s corner during all her ‘coming out’ process and they hope for Buffy to do the same if she is really pregnant carrying Faith’s baby; Louise didn’t say a word, she just walked inside the room where Callie was examining Buffy. Louise: “hey Buffy, how are you feeling?” Buffy: “I’m fine…, where is Faith?” Louise: “she is outside, waiting, what happened to you, honey?” Buffy: “I’m fine…” Louise saw the fear in Buffy’s eyes. Louise: “everything is going to be okay…, we all will take care of you” Buffy: “NOOO…, Louise please don’t tell anybody” Louise: “tell what, Buffy?” Buffy: “I’m pregnant…” Louise: “and you want Faith at your side, right?” Buffy: “oh…, Louise…, what are we going to do…? I am pregnant from her…, how could that happened…?” Louise: “well, the biological process is not very complicated, but the way you reached this situation is not conventional but is good” Buffy: (sobbing) “oh, Louise…, those were the most wonderful moments in my life, having her inside me, but… how are we going to explain this…, the baby…, is the baby going to be fine…? What will we tell the baby when she or he grows up? There won’t be any father…, is the baby going to be normal?” Louise: “calm down Buffy, everything will be fine…, we have been in your shoes before…, I mean many of the adults; look, I raised Tina with my wife, there was no father, the sperms came from my wife’s dead brother, he was her twin, and we weren’t the only ones; we have a very big population of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender; it is perfectly normal for raising a child by parents of the same sex, and the conception should be fine, we have already some couples conceiving babies in the same way you did” Buffy: “I’m scared, Louise, we are fighting a war and I’m pregnant, who is going to protect my baby if something happens to me?” Louise: “I guess that could be Faith, but don’t think in a negative way, we all are going to take care of you” Buffy: “who else know…?” Louise: “I don’t know how many, but at least Willow, Bette, and Tina knew” In that moment Faith entered the room. Faith: “B, honey; how are you doing? Is the baby okay?” Buffy: “yeah…, the doctor said it is normal to have this nausea and dizziness” Faith: “when can you leave, I think you should rest in the tent” Louise: “I think Buffy should take a rest outside of the wormhole, we can set an apartment for you both in the annex building to our lab” Buffy: “I’m feeling better; I want to keep fighting on the battlefield…” Faith: “B, I don’t think that is good for you and the baby” Buffy: ‘I need to stay here, fighting; besides, we almost do nothing, just use weapons that kill the evils of faraway” Louise: “I think Faith is right” Buffy: “I won’t cross my arms and wait for the war to end, I need to be there” And with that decision, the slayers left the health station and returned to Buffy’s tent where she could rest and eat waiting for the new battle. Beyond the Hellmouth, similar coordinates than Sunnydale, earth date, Sunday 8:00 pm. February 2, 2059. Helldom Planet – Hexepolis- Headquarter of the First Evil The alleys of the Hellmouth are desert, if it wasn’t for the faint lights in few buildings in the proximity of the portal to the Helldom planet, anybody could think the place has reverted to be the filling of the old void in the planet Xibalbia; the portal to Helldom is located in the subterranean city of Hexepolis, less than quarter mile from the headquarter of the first evil, the place is very well guarded not only by demons but also by every sort of spells. A blonde woman appears out of nowhere and knocks the door of the building, a dark cloud enveloped her and she vanishes. Inside the building, the blonde walks toward the main room and the door opens. Glory: “why is so quiet everywhere? Are vamps and demons in some especial battle?” First Evil: “no, there is no battle, and I don’t know when we’ll fight again…what took you so long?” Glory: “you didn’t mention the Paititians don’t like you, I was more than one month hidden… and it was hard to come back too” First Evil: “do you have the gadget?” Glory: “yes, I have it” First Evil: “good, we’ll give it to Buckley, she is in charge of putting it in a place where Porter’s daughter could find it and we should teach Buckley how to activate the mechanism, it will take less than 5 minutes to program the sequence of portals and take the carrier far away” Glory: “I brought two with me just in case we have to try again…, what’s next” First Evil: “I already told you, you will seduce Louise’s daughter, and at the end, the victory will be mine” P

Beyond the Hellmouth, similar coordinates than Sunnydale, earth date, Sunday 10:00 am. November 3, 2058. Helldom Planet – Hexepolis- Headquarter of the First Evil As has been indicated, the Hellmouth is a wide rare portion of a wormhole containing multiple gateways to different universes and at the same time protected from the rest of the wormhole, which is connected to the lab, by a portal,…

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vrheadsets · 7 years ago

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26 new Companies Join the Vive X Accelerator Programme

In 2016 HTC Vive launched its $100 million USD Vive X accelerator programme with the aim to encourage advancement and innovation in the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) industry. There’s already been some notable successes, with TPCAST’s wireless module the most well known from the first batch of start-ups. Today, Vive X has announced its third batch of start-up companies to join its ranks, alongside expanding operations into a fifth location,Tel Aviv.

Twenty-six new companies across the world have been selected to participate, all with the goal of building and advancing the global VR/AR ecosystem. Through the Vive X programme they’ll get access to expertise, resources, planning and an extensive network to help nurture their projects and bring them to market.

“Our focus with Vive X is to partner with companies across the globe that will solve industry pain-points and improve user experiences across AR and VR. This third batch is filled with incredibly talented and promising teams who are focusing on foundational technologies and key verticals including enterprise, healthcare, entertainment, and education,” said Marc Metis, Vice President, HTC Vive in a statement. “We continue to invest very actively in both VR and AR, and are excited to work with the next group of innovative teams and technologies that will shape the future.”

The companies included in Vive X Batch 3 are:

San Francisco

Apelab seeks to democratize content creation for VR/AR. Its software toolkit Spatial Stories allows developers, designers or anyone without coding knowledge to build fully interactive XR content quickly and efficiently within an immersive environment, then export it to various platforms.

CALA offers a full-stack software solution that empowers fashion designers to turn ideas into garments faster – from first sketch to production and everything in between. Its 3D scanning technology allows consumers to easily take body measurements with smartphone photos and AR technology, then receive their orders with perfect fit.

Cloudgate Studio is an acclaimed game development studio behind hit VR titles Brookhaven Experiment and Island 359. A brilliant team of industry veterans, Cloudgate is on a strategic path to build game tech modules that will culminate in the first hit title for VR eSports. Virtual Self as an example allows users to see their body in VR and stream their gameplay without expensive setups.

eLoupes provides a real-time surgical imaging system for the operating room. Combining light field rendering and head mounted displays, hospitals can bring surgeons a solution that is superior to traditional imaging systems like microscopes while saving costs and improving patient outcomes.

Nanome seeks to democratize science and engineering using VR and Blockchain technology. Today’s legacy systems are outdated and create enormous inefficiency in the innovation process. With an intuitive and distributed platform to interact with scientific data, Nanome will help accelerate scientific innovation like never before.

Neurable develops brain-computer interface for VR control. The result of innovations in neuroscience and machine learning, Neurable interprets electroencephalography (EEG) signals for real-time interaction input. Think, “mind-controlled” experiences.

Quantum Capture is building the behavioral engine that will power the world’s AI-assisted virtual agents. Combining photo-real 3D characters, procedural animation systems and support for cognitive AI, Quantum Capture aims to equip developers with the necessary tools to create amazing, virtual human- based applications, while substantially reducing costs and compressing production timelines.

QuarkVR is the next-generation compression and streaming technology for untethered VR and AR experiences. It is a hardware agnostic software solution that supports 4K per eye resolution and is capable of streaming to a dozen simultaneous users in the same environment with minimal latency.

Beijing

Future Tech is a Chengdu, China- based studio that creates quality games and VR content for users around the world. The team is founded by industry veterans with deep experience from global content powerhouses like Ubisoft, Gameloft, PDE, and Virtuos. Their current project “Mars Alive” has won numerous industry awards globally.

Genhaosan (GHS) is the first-ever available VR entertainment solution for karaoke. The GHS VRK systems installed in karaoke rooms allow users to enjoy immersive experiences like singing like a rock star on stage, interacting with their audience and sharing their performance on social media.

JuDaoEdu is dedicated to the research and development of VR labs for K-12 students. The product is applicable for Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Science education and the company’s vision is to provide students with authentic and safe VR lab environment.

Lenqiy is a leading VR content developer providing innovation and creativity education to teenagers. Their current product portfolio includes science, engineering, technology, art and mathematics VR tools. By bringing creativity into product design, Lenqiy wants to make learning an enjoyable journey of exploration for teenagers.

PanguVR is an AI-driven VR technology company with a focus on advanced computer vision. Its core engine, powered and refined by deep learning and processing thousands of terabytes of data, allows users to create 6DoF VR environments in minutes simply by uploading 3D assets or even 2D pictures. The process is fast and produces stunning quality output at only a fraction of the cost associated with manual process.

Pillow’s Willow VR Studios creates fairytale games for both 3DoF and 6DoF VR, excelling with its high-quality visuals while maintaining maximum performance. Their non-violent casual VR games featuring curious, likeable characters, are fun, easy to play and suitable for all ages.

Yue Cheng Tech aims to become the Netflix in VR. The company has selected more than 300 top-quality VR contents from 50+ partners in 15 countries, introduced them to China, and created world’s first professional VR cinema. YCT also produce world-class contents with the world’s top talents in visual effects and movie industry.

Shenzhen

Antilatency specializes in positional tracking solutions for VR/AR that enable multiplayer VR experiences within the tracking area without scale limits, using mobile or tethered VR headsets.

Configreality understands deeply how human spatial perception works across physical and virtual space simultaneously. With its proprietary spatial compression algorithm, users can feel as if they are walking in an infinitely large space even when the physical space is limited.

Super Node is a visual intelligence company with full-stack solutions that enables machines to learn its surrounding environments. The solution brings low-cost, high-accuracy obstacle avoidance, 6DoF tracking and SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) capabilities to VR, AR and robotics.

VRWaibao offers a multiplayer collaboration platform in VR, while also creating a wide range of enterprise VR applications for customers in banking, manufacturing, real estate, healthcare, military and more.

Wewod is focused on delivering high-quality, location-based entertainment and educational VR content. The team has deep experience delivering 3D production work for renowned clients like Disney, Bandai Namco, and Nintendo.

Taipei

COVER provides a virtual livestreaming platform which users can perform with their avatars for audience to watch via mobile devices. It also offers live shows featuring their own virtual celebrities.

Looxid Labs has developed an emotional analytics platform optimized for VR using bio-sensors that measure users’ eyes and brain activities. Its machine learning algorithm is capable of accurately analyzing users’ emotional state, providing valuable data that can be leveraged to make a real impact in users’ VR experiences.

Red Pill Lab applies deep learning algorithms to optimize the workflow of real- time character animation. Its voice-to-facial engine and full body IK-solver work together to add a new level of realism to virtual characters in VR games.

VRCollab takes BIM (Building Information Modelling) to the next level, enabling architects, engineers, planners and consultants to collaborate seamlessly on construction projects. It is a software solution that instantly converts BIM models for use in design reviews, building requirement approval and construction coordination, as well as automated document generation.

Tel Aviv

Astral Vision turns existing amusement park rides into VR attractions, offering a compelling and refreshing customer experience without engaging in capital-intensive upgrades.

REMMERSIVE is founded by award-winning technologists and race driving champions, and creates a new breed of fully immersive driving simulators with technology, providing a far more engaging and true-to-life experience.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Vive X, reporting back with the latest updates.

from VRFocus http://ift.tt/2ilO7rA

#VRFocus #vr #virtual reality #canada

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fictioncareercreativity · 7 years ago

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Fictional Career Imagination Building Story Number 2 by Stella Carrier

Fictional Career Imagination Building Story Number 2 by Stella CarrierSunday October 8 2017 Start time; 327 amFinish time 534 amI must preface this fictional story profile by making it clear that I intend to only apply for jobs within the current company I am employed at for the rest of this year in order to see if there is a chance for me to secure year round employment as I am fully aware that I am blessed with a job with good pay and fair managers/a fair boss. Rather, I am gathering these career profiles as a way to window shop so to speak in case I have to search for year round employment in 2018-January 2018 at the earliest due to the fact that my current job is a temporary billeted position just for the traditional school year (employment for the months August to May with a gap between May to August and fortunately just a short gap between December to January).Inspired by My Current Food Services Job at University of Maryland College Park Edition19 year old Sofia CarrollWorks at Chef’s Table at the University of Maryland College ParkRecent dish they had fun serving to the customers;Cauliflower mac and cheesehttp://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/g2962/50-most-delish-mac-cheese/?slide=1one of multiple ways she taps into her genius abilities; writing short stories of various genres, 2 have been secretly published under pen names and she is also training to be a paralegal.Education; currently undergoing paralegal training at Anne Arundel Community Collegehttp://www.vcc.ca/programscourses/program-areas/program-highlights/culinary/testimonials/#d.en.2001120Is told by friends that she bears a physical resemblance to Nina Sky twins from the music video and song to Move Ya Body feat. JabbaPrevious jobs; This is her first job as she has been with the University of Maryland College Park Food services for approximately 5 months now.Current annual income; She prefers to avoid saying for now after being inspired by a more senior coworker diplomatically explaining why she keeps her after tax monthly pay secret. However, she is happy to report that she has saved 1800 dollars after taxes after just four months on the job.Volunteer work; sometimes she helps out at her church training kidsHow she likes to spend time with family and friends; likes to spend time with her sister going to the movies andor restaurants, goes to concerts with various friends andor her sister.Favorite dvds, music, tv shows, celebrities, magazines etc.; likes to listen to various forms of music yet is sometimes interested in the Scandal tv show.Life goal; still pending, although she intends to save at least 500 more dollars within the next 6 weeks or less.Rents or owns; she prefers to avoid saying for now to protect the innocent.Places she has traveled to; She wants to explore more during her lifetime yet she does have a positive memory of traveling to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg Virginia with her family 2 years go.Relocation Edition40 year old Father of Sofia Carroll named Logan Carroll currently training to be an instructor of some catering courses at Vancouver Community College for the past three yearshttp://www.vcc.ca/programscourses/program-areas/program-highlights/culinary/testimonials/#d.en.2001120is told by friends that he resembles musician Pitbull in the Calle Oche I Know You Want Me music videoprevious jobs; worked as a grocery store stock clerk from age 18 to 23 at a Ralph’s Grocery store in the Los Angeles California area, from age 23 until 30 he worked as a janitor at one of the buildings on the San Diego California Naval base, from age 30 until 33 he worked as a stock clerk at Target, then from age 33 to 36 he worked at Amazon also as a stock clerk before taking a chance on moving to Canada to try out new experiences by age 37 and voluntarily living in a different country such as Canada and is glad that it paid off, although he had a back up plan to live in California if he needed to.education; completed catering courses at Vancouver Community College five years ago and did a 6 month stint for the U.S. Navy in California before finding out about current position through Linkedin and then hired.com about 40 months ago and getting hired after visiting and staying in Vancouver Canada for two weeks.https://hired.com/Current annual income; makes at least 2800 dollars a month after taxes, current he has over 17,000 American dollars after taxes in one of his banking savings and checking accounts.Current role; Culinary instructor at Vancouver Community College in Vancouver Canada instructing students in catering courses.How he likes to spend his free time with family members, friends etc,; he likes to sometimes partake in the dance clubs in Canada, concertsVolunteer role in his free time; he has recently been helping with the school plays at a nearby grade school as one of his older sisters and her husband was inspired by his example and has moved to Canada with her children.Favorite dvds, music, tv shows, celebrities, magazines etc; his interests are many although he has recently watched the travel channel more often and sometimes listens to new age music such as Enigma, Enya etc. as well as mainstream music musicians and music genres.Life Goal; One of his life goals is to successfully own a home within the next 23 months or less from now in Vancouver Canada. Currently he lives in a rent to own with 9 other female and males also employed in various positions with Vancouver Community College.Rents or owns; as referenced previously he current rents.Places he has traveled to in his lifetime; Hollywood California, Berlin Germany, Tokyo JapanFuture Earth Life Edition January 3, 2061Weight Loss Edition46 years old Iva ElliottCurrent role; Food Services Manager at the University of Maryland College Park for the past 8 yearsIs told she resembles Taylor Swift in her Shake It Off video and actually passes for a woman in her 20s due to her short height of 62 inches and bodyweight of 115 pounds that she has maintained since age 39. Many people actually think she is joking with them about being in her 40s.Previous jobs; from age 16 in the year 2031 to age 24 she worked as a human resources assistant for Georgetown University’s Public Relations department as her mother was an instructor for one of the courses. By age 21 in the year 2036 she herself completed an associate degree from Montgomery College and then transferred to University of Central Florida online to complete a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and Advertising by the year 2039 all while juggling her job as a human resources assistant at Georgetown University. She planned on joining the navy as a public affairs officer until she read a tragic story about a prior enlisted woman who accidently died less than a year after voluntary military retirement at age 58 and having a successful career in the navy as a prior enlisted eventual public affairs officer due to a car accident at the tender age of 59 as a result of being unexpectedly hit by a drunk driver. Several thousand people in the Hampton Roads Virginia area showed up at her funeral to mourn her as she became a well-liked and popular woman known for her creativity, imaginative and intuitive abilities, inner and outer beauty, and being an expert both in her public affairs job and in other multiple happy ways outside of work. By chance her mom connected her to her current food services manager job by the year 2053 through a now 25 year old younger nephew who was a descendant of a kitchen cook employed at the University of Maryland College Park university in his 20s around the time period of 2016.Education; online associate degree from Montgomery College in Rockville Maryland and a bachelor’s degree online in public relations and advertising from University of Central Florida in Orlando Florida.https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/https://www.ucf.edu/academics/advertising-public-relations/current annual income; She prefers to keep it secret for good reason yet she is at least comfortable with reporting that she has over 75,000 dollars after taxes in today’s money saved and comfortably owns a home in what is now Hyattsville Maryland as more affordable housing was built between the years 2030 to 2040 to be more inclusive of private sector employees as well as government employees for affordable housing as it was actually becoming cheaper to own a home than rent in the Washington D.C. area by the year 2030.How she likes to spend her free time; she likes to attend practice trials where she is tasked to be a volunteer of presiding as a jury over a made up court scenario with friends she met through college, enjoys going to various concerts and sporting events in the Washington D.C. areaHer volunteering gig; She volunteers helping to set up parties in downtown Washington D.C., she was actually inspired to do so by her mom by the year 2035 who shared that she (the mom)was inspired to do this by the year 2018 after noticing a married female in her 30s helping to set up parties and events in some of her free time.Rents or owns; She has been happily living in a home since the year 2057.Sleeptime Dreams Content; She once had a sleeptime dream of coloring her hair blond which helped inspire her to relax more.Travel to Heaven Content; She has made use of certain guides to astral travel to different worlds in either her meditations andor dreaming.Life goal; She intends to travel moreSome places she has already traveled to; Switzerland, England, Hollywood CaliforniaFavorite dvds, music, tv shows, celebrities, magazines etc; She enjoys travel themed magazines such as Conde Nast Traveler and Travel and Leisure, She also subscribes to Writer’s DigestWeight loss success story; She has succeeded in going from 200 pounds in the year 2051 to 115 pounds by the year 2054 and has maintained it since. Heaven Future Life Akashic Records EditionInspired by Ideas I got from both the Good Place and the Last Ship tv shows100 year old male in earth life years Paul LakeIs told by most supportive family members and friends that he resembled influential singer Pharrell Williams in his happy music video in his younger years.Current role; transitioned from the earth plane to a celestial realm about 12 months ago, is training to help certain parents and adoptive parents.Most recent role before transition from the earth plane; a retired university professor for five years, made local news in the eastern part of the United States for the amount of time he voluntarily agreed to work as a university professor.Previous jobs; with exception of his most previous job he prefers to avoid saying for now. However, he does feel comfortable saying that he was recently on an advisory panel less than 7 years ago giving valuable advice about the curriculum for various online courses through Arizona State University online formatshttps://go.asuonline.asu.edu/lpppc-brand/?utm_campaign=Retargeting+Brand&utm_medium=internet&utm_source=THETRADEDESK&st-t=ttdEducation; he prefers to keep that secret for now too to protect the identities of his family members and friends, what he does feel comfortable saying is that he was able to supplement a Master’s Degree education and segue into being a professor coupled with both military and civilian experiencecurrent annual income on earth; has to be kept secret as well to protect the identities of still living friends and family due to some of them being very famous. Yet, he does feel comfortable admitting that he left two paid for houses in two different cities in one state each worth over $200,000 dollars for 2 children and 2 different wives (both the first wife and the second wife, he is also only prefers to say only one wife had children and the other wife voluntarily chose not to and he must also protect their identities). He left a 5 million dollar after tax money fortune for them to divvy up among themselves and to work out with one of his long-term lawyers currently in his 50s that he chose to hire in his 90s.how he likes to spend his free time in heaven; helping many people still living on earth to read the akashic records in one of the celestial libraries that he lives close to.Life goal while on earth andor in heaven; he prefers to keep both secret for now as sharing them may expose still living family members andor friends that he must keep their identities secret.He must also keep his earth life volunteer gig secret for identity protection reasonsPlaces he visited on earth life; Iceland, Canada, California, Singapore, Switzerland, France, Germany ItalyPlaces he visits in his new celestial afterlife; celestial replicas of New Zealand, Australia, Canada etc.Favorite dvds, music, tv shows, celebrities, magazines etc he enjoyed from his most recent earth lifetime; Dynasty tv show from the 80s time periodRents or owns; feels comfortable sharing that two homes were bought and completely paid off 40 years ago in earth time during his most recent earth life. Resources 5 Scripting4 Aimee gates3 A day in the life of-5 profiles8 times higher self-future afterlife a monthVital Intuitive InsightPart oneDivide into travel to future heaven worlds for career guidance and future earthCurrent earth life-relocation/travel edition plus communication with celestial spirit ally teamSave for Friday October 6, 2017Sleeptime dream entry career diary, future higher self in already created script entries and new ones on my off days at least once a week aim to do daily, Weight loss richer life edition career life before and career life afterwards, Every Day I Stella Carrier Become More Creative, Intuitive, and Imaginative.Each Day I Stella Carrier increase my self-confidence and become more proficient with sharpening my genius and writing abilities.my interest from volunteermatch.org list for accountable intent I Stella Carrier Humbly Call Upon What I Imagine To Be The Influence of Benevolent Spirits From the Heavenly Realms, my higher self, and my celestial spirit ally team for creativity in both my writings and all other areas of my life both present and future. I also welcome any and all forms of spiritual assistance and divine intervention in all areas of my life both present and future. I Stella Carrier give thanks for the blessing of a sweet and handsome husband who is supportive of my education and career goals for both present and future.I Stella Carrier feel blessed to be an American born woman who has the freedom to live wherever I desire within the United States regardless of my economic andor career situation. https://american.campusdish.com/ContactUs.aspxResources first partThe Last Ship tv show most recent episode LazarettoAffirmationsAffirmationsI mark a new beginning in the book of my life and wisely use the free time I have been giving to rest and tune even deeper into various aspects of my life-spiritual, athletic goals such as walking more, balancing my writing time with some online courses I have enrolled in etc.I am in the process of becoming more cool,level-headed, and wise when it comes to how I conduct myself around my current work colleagues and future coworkers as I am now logically and intuitively aware that some of them may follow me to where I may reside within 7 years from now or less regardless if I am a private sector andor a government/military worker/employee.I am well provided for. I live in an abundant universe.http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/stage-names.php#.WTqvpOvyucwhttp://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/dimension-names.php#.WXs6PVWGOcw Each Day I am in the process of improving upon creating heaven on earth for myself and my husband in all areas of my life both present and future as well as for the highest and greatest good for everyone involved.I Stella Carrier am in the process of balancing my earthly concerns with areas pertaining to my celestial/spiritual growth as they intersect with my pursuit and intent to tap into the essence of wisdom and my genius abilities in all areas of my life both present and future.I Stella Carrier enjoy the blessings of my imaginative abilities, intuition, creativity, and my gift of resourcefulness all increasing each day in all areas of my life both present and future.Affirmations I am creating heaven on earth. I am learning to be in the right place at the right time at all times. I am learning to live all areas of my life in alignment with my divine life purpose for both the present and future My psychic/intuitive abilities, creativity/imaginative abilities, and my ability to tap into my wisdom are expanding each and every day. These before-and-after photos show how much fast food has changed over the years by Mary Hanbury of Business Insiderhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodculture/these-before-and-after-photos-show-how-much-fast-food-has-changed-over-the-years/ss-BBAK571 Storytelling Ideas Career outlookhttps://scs.georgetown.edu/programs/70/master-of-professional-studies-in-public-relations-and-corporate-communications/career-outlook ResourcesShe Is Love by ParachuteAmazon music playlist Indie Electronic Dance PartySome standout songs; Dangerous by Big Data feat. Joywave, Move by Saint Motel, Home by Mount Dreams, Something Good Can Work (The Twelves Remix) by Two Door Cinema Club In My Head by Jason Derulo Beach PartySome of the standout songs from the Amazon Beach Party; All Summer Long by Kid Rock, Summer by Calvin Harris, Temperature by Sean Paul, Drunk In Love by Beyonce and Jay-Z, Trumpets by Jason Derulo, Glitter by Say Lou Lou Summer Jam by Jake Owens feat. Florida Georgia Line, Bruno Mars, I’m Yours by Jason MrazAmazon playlist of; 50 Great Songs from the Last 10 YearsSome standout songs; Shake it off by Taylor Swift, Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke feat. Pharrell Williams T.I.,Radioactive by Imagine Dragons, Super Bass by Nicki Minaj,Earned It by the Weeknd,Take Me to Church by Hozier, What I’ve Done by Linkin Park, Happy by Pharrell Williams etc. ‘Weekend Woman” by Weezer is a different music take from their Feels Like Summer song, I think I will go ahead and give it more time to listen to the Weekend Woman song to give it more of a chance.Listen to Weezer’s New Song 'Weekend Woman' https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/listen-weezer-song-weekend-woman-150434083.htmlhttps://scs.georgetown.edu/programs/410/master-of-professional-studies-in-integrated-marketing-communications/?utm_source=mediaiq&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=fy18-pg-imc-stu-display-miq-rtg-gen-300x250Michelle Obama’s 5 Best Music Momentshttps://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1236-michelle-obamas-best-music-moments/?mbid=synd_yahoomusicThe song “Offering” by the Cults is both sublime and jumped out at me musically in an ethereal way.New This Week: Marilyn Manson, Liam Gallagher, Dhani Harrison, and moreBy Wendy Gellerhttps://www.yahoo.com/music/new-week-marilyn-manson-liam-gallagher-dhani-harrison-200610895.htmlThe music selection for the 2017 Life is Beautiful festival sounds both eclectic in a brilliant way and unique; Lorde, Chance the Rapper, Two Door Cinema Club, Kaskade, Sean Paul, Cage the Elephant, Damon Albarn etc.Gallery: On the scene at the 2017 Life Is Beautiful festivalBy Yahoo Music Staffhttps://www.yahoo.com/music/gallery-scene-2017-life-beautiful-slideshow-wp-145810103.htmlI admit that a multiple number of these celebrities pictured in this yahoo article at the 2017 iHeartRadio Festival look either happy andor they are having a fun time such as;Chance the Rapper,Bebe Rexha, Ryan Seacrest and Rob Lowe, Chris Stapleton and Harry Styles, Bebe Rexha, Keke Palmer, Miley Cyrus, Gallery: On the scene at the 2017 iHeartRadio FestivalBy Yahoo Music Staffhttps://www.yahoo.com/music/gallery-scene-2017-iheartradio-festival-slideshow-wp-180615270.htmlI admit that back around February 2011 I first became intrigued by Ivanka Trump as she seemed to be a highly driven professional who shrewdly made the best of the opportunities given to her coupled with the work she put in well before I or anyone knew that her father was going to seriously run for President in 2015. Even now, I only wish her the best yet even as someone who voted for Hillary Clinton last year, I would have to see what her policies are andor if her policies are inclusive of more people from various socio-economic classes before deciding whether to vote for her or whoever she was competing with for the Presidency. Even with the controversial legacy President Donald Trump is creating with his political power I would not say never because even I though Hillary Clinton was going to win the Presidency last year when I voted for her on my way to work. My point; I would have to first see who Ivanka Trump is competing with for the Presidency before making my decision regardless if my view is in the minority or popular. Why you may ask; I feel that Hillary Clinton was robbed of her chance to become President last year and I truthfully feel that there is only a slim chance of a woman becoming President in the U.S. within the next 16 years unless a woman is on both the Republican and Democratic tickets. Before you ask not I as an American born woman did not vote for Hillary Clinton simply because she was a woman. Rather, I voted for Hillary Clinton because I felt that she was more inclusive of American citizens-both male and female- of different ethnicities, religious andor spiritual faiths andor even atheists andor agnostics, and more inclusive of people from various socio-economic classes regardless if they had children or not. It was apparent to even a woman like me that President Donald Trump may not be capable of showing concern for many Americans from the middle andor more economically challenged socio-economic classes due to his background. Yes, I understand that there are many people born into wealth who are actually compassionate towards people of all socio-economic classes. However, it was obvious to me last year when I voted for Hillary Clinton that she had a higher probability of caring more for many American citizens from socio-economic classes that are still aspiring to be middle class in addition to upper classes and upper middle classes. My additional point-I would say the word never to Ivanka Trump due to me seeing the good in her yet I feel that she is going to have to overcome the public perception that her father President Donald Trump is obviously creating with the legacy of still being in progress of caring to help more of the socio-economically challenged voters that he pledged to help during his Presidential campaign and who were probably pivotal in helping him sail into the White House.Get Ready for President Ivanka Trump, Her Mom Says In New Book https://www.yahoo.com/news/ready-president-ivanka-trump-her-173407336.html?.tsrc=jtc_news_indexI must preface the beginning of my comment by making it clear that as American born woman who is both pro-choice and for the rights of women to choose the birth control they wish in addition to not having anything against parents or kids. Additionally, I feel that President Donald Trump’s rollback of contraceptive mandates sends a slippery slope to women in the private sector who are just getting by and need that insurance to pay for birth control that would otherwise eat into maybe money to feed themselves andor any family members. This could even open them up to an employer who may be tempted to overstep the boundaries of interfering with a female employee’s right to use birth control not necessarily because they are religious but because they may feel it is the woman’s duty to bring a child into the world (yes even I have met men before who have implied that I am bypassing my duty as a woman by voluntarily choosing to be child-free). However, this rollback of reproductive options covered by healthcare fortunately does not affect me because I voluntarily underwent tubal ligation surgery back in 2004 at the age of 23 and fortunately my husband was emotionally supportive of my decision. However, I still felt the need to speak up as I intuitively and logically sensed that President Donald Trump was going to tragically make good on his promise to interfere with a woman’s reproductive rights and options when he made the controversial statement less than 18 months ago that he was going to punish doctors who dared to be brave enough for helping a woman exercise her right to choose via abortion. Before you ask, I am fortunate to not ever have to be faced with such a difficult decision yet even though I have a healthy respect for both men and women, I feel that reproductive rights and whether or not to get an abortion are for a woman to choose as it is her body that is going to be affected by whatever she chooses (and it is obviously not my place to judge).States and organizations are gearing up to battle the president over birth control https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/states-organizations-gearing-battle-president-birth-control-192915135.html Why the federal 20-week abortion ban is up for a vote — againhttps://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/federal-20-week-abortion-ban-vote-172413082.html Hayley Williams Explains Why Hair Is a “Very Emotional Thing,” and Why She’d Never Wear This Hair Colorhttps://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/hayley-williams-explains-why-hair-224500503.html Salma Hayek Looks Totally Different As a Blonde https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/salma-hayek-looks-totally-different-150000075.html Congressmen press White House to revoke Jared Kushner's and Ivanka Trump's security clearanceshttps://www.yahoo.com/news/congressmen-press-white-house-revoke-jared-kushner-ivanka-trumps-security-clearances-130004929.html Trump ambassador qualifications: Wrote a cookbook, sang in a church choirby oliver knoxhttps://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-ambassador-qualifications-wrote-cookbook-sang-church-choir-195041927.htmlI have to admit that Ming Lee Simmons successfully and wisely makes use of her beauty, self-confidence, and wisdom passed on to her from her parents Kimora and Russell Lee Simmons to create the best life for herself.Ming Lee Simmons, Daughter of Kimora Lee and Russell Simmons, May Be the Next Gigi HA https://www.wmagazine.com/story/ming-lee-simmons-kimora-lee-daughter-modelMing Lee Simmons, Daughter of Kimora Lee and Russell Simmons, May Be the Next Gigi HA https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/m/235670b8-b330-31f2-b8c1-eb2c1ab7885a/ss_ming-lee-simmons%2C-daughter-of.htmlhttp://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/stage-names.php#.WdnwV1tSycw

Get Smart kindlebook by Brian Tracy

Amazon music storytelling playlist shuffle modeHeathens by Twenty One PilotsLove Rollercoaster by Red Hot Chili PeppersI Think We’re Alone Now by TiffanyCloser by Nine Inch Nails Step by Step by New Kids on the Block

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