AUDIO. UN: LOKI

[selfimage]

[ as the cures and vaccines are passed through ALASTAIR recruits and the population alike, Loki takes a moment to address Audentes. it's the end of one story, after all, he feels that the lingering strings have a chance to be tied up in a neat bow.

there's an odd sort of feeling that accompanies the announcement. while his easy, casual manner still guides his tone, there's a hint of pride in the cadence of his words. ]

As everything comes to an end in Woodhurst, I suppose it would be satisfying to get some closure. There are those of us that are still recuperating, and those of us aiding in the efforts to spread the cure. To all, I bring news.

A fair number of us found dear "Doctor" Percy holed up in his sewer abode, alone aside from his brigade of robotic guards. The work he did to conceive the alien virus and spread the infection, it was all due to his personal efforts. He was a single Zymandis agent, alone, with a grandiose plan to infect the entire universe, and watch it suffer before it crumbled. [ he's leaving a few gruesome details out, but it's probably better for those who already feel nauseous. ]

If the cannibalistic sickness proved effective, Zymandis meant to use it to spread destruction, causing the premature death of other vulnerable timelines to harvest their energy.

[ a pause, and there's a part of him that can't help but be satisfied. ]

He thought he may have a chance for making it out. Instead, he seemed to have met a well-deserved fate. The last vial of his precious sickness has been collected, so it's bye-bye virus for the time being. He won't be reporting to anyone of his unfortunate successes and even more questionable failures.

A pity. [ he says it in the way that it doesn't sound like a pity at all. ]


OOC | threadhopping is great. anyone who was there, feel free to add!

Comments

video; un: deathweaver

[respired]

[ Koltira's jaw is set. He's satisfied, for now, but there's still rage simmering behind his teeth. As always. ]

Yes. He deserved to die. He caused suffering with glee in his vile heart, and he was a simpering coward, besides. He did this because he wanted to, because he enjoyed it.

I will never suffer mercy for these monsters.

Ever.

[selfimage]

Suffering and deserving to die aside, the virus should be well-contained now. Between the last samples that were confiscated by us and the vaccine itself, we've got the monopoly.

We wouldn't want it used for anymore unfortunate demises, would we?

[predomination]

[well, that changes everything. if Urahara was waiting for another shoe, there it is. and it's not necessarily the worst thing ever- obviously the situation has been contained- but the implications are far-reaching.

he'd thought because the Audentes were comprised of people stronger than average that perhaps they were worth note- he'd put value on them, enough to believe Zymandis might have trapped them, and he was wrong. what he proposed as a worst case scenario wasn't even close to a real worst case scenario. people who are petty can be tripped up.

people who simply don't care, on the other hand...

one agent- one single agent- nearly wiped them all out on accident. he'd believed Perdition's Rest was a step towards Zymandis paying attention, which was a terrible thing in its own right. the fact that they simply don't care is good, but it comes with a horrifying truth- if Zymandis turns their attention on them fully, rather than simply because of incidental circumstances...

he's going to have to throw out everything he's believed up until now and start fresh.]

Well. That's fascinating... and terrifying.

[his deadpan hides a nightmarish amount of other feelings. he's boiled it down to simple terms, because he doesn't know what else to say.]

[selfimage]

[ Loki's delivery is still without qualm. ]

I even spared you the gory details.

NOT HERE

[deemed]

[You're a pity.]

HERE ALL DAY EVERY DAY

[selfimage]

[ your face is a pity. ]

audio; un: Evening Spider

[araigneedusoir]

[It's probably the best/worst news she's heard since all this mess started. Her reply is short, terse, as she's absolutely still feeling one hundred percent like crap.]

Good.

[selfimage]

[ while Loki doesn't usually find pleasure in killing (control, moreso; the game, even better), he does find some vengeful satisfaction that this sick fellow had met an unfortunate end. ]

...

Between you and me, I don't even think he was liked by his colleagues.

audio; un: man of still

[figureitout]

[ when the side-effects of the cure finally stop, when his head no longer spins and his stomach no longer tries to turn itself inside out, he manages to reach for his magitek, to see if there's updates, something, anything —

but nothing could have prepared him for what he hears, not even the piles of bodies he still sees when he closes his eyes, distorted, grotesque. gathered there to be fed on. he still doesn't know whether the people, the ones who seemed to bear no signs of infection, had been dead when they'd been brought down — it's never a thought he dwells on for long.

he listens, and he shudders. this... is worse than he thought, than anything he could have come up with. he had a lot of worst-case scenarios, theories — but Zymandis being powerful enough for one single agent to nearly wipe out an 80-person crew with abilities magical, supernatural, otherworldly... no. that was never in the cards, and now that it is, he just feels like the mountain he thought they'd have to climb before has turned out to be nothing but a hill.

the true mountain looms, still, large and casting its shadow on all of them. ]

... shit,

[ is the succinct response, though not the only one — ] At least the bastard's dead now. [ the words are tight, vibrating with carefully controlled anger, the cold certainty that their good doctor got exactly what he deserved. ]

[selfimage]

[ part of it was circumstance, really, and that part doesn't escape Loki. it's enough to wound his pride, and to remind him that there are more different kind of lifeforms out there than squishy human mortals. the unfortunate reality was that this virus was made to specifically target humans.

the gory details of Percy's signed alien celebrity photograph standing on top of a human corpse was tastefully left out of his post. ]

It may signal a few alarms when he doesn't return, but hopefully it'll be brushed off as his own incompetence. We don't need eyes turned toward us.

[voice; un: METTATON]

[ex_mettacrusher33]

[That's...

Objectively, he already knew this entire situation was horrifying. Still, there was a small part of him hoping the result was just a mistake. That the intention was only to enslave or control instead of... this, the entire time.

Someone MEANT to do this.]

Well, I'm certainly open to popping a few bottles of champagne for our brave heroes when we return to Oska. Congratulations, darlings.

[selfimage]

[ someone not only meant to do it, but took sadistic glee from it in the process. while Loki hasn't exactly been the poster-boy for treating mortals well, he's begun to both integrate himself among the Midgardians and appreciate their collective habits and array of different cultures.

it seems that there were those that were specifically targeted in the epidemic. ]

I'm holding you to that. A bath, a good meal, and few bottles of wine.

audio | un: redlion

[secondnature]

[It's just more evidence that Zymandis and the Galra are really the same type of people. Leaving a guy to handle something alone so that he could be exposed to the brunt of his mistakes ... yeah, that's definitely the Galra way. Of course, the Galra who do that happily aren't any better. That's where Percy comes into play.

But that just leaves this question: why would a group like Zymandis start like ALASTAIR and eventually become more ruthless? Is it power or something else? And is all of Zymandis just as evil as this guy was? Other people seem to think so, but Keith wonders if that's true.

Then again, he has a lot of reason for his doubts these days.

He also doesn't sympathize with Percy, either. Of course he doesn't.]

You're absolutely certain that's the last of what he had? He didn't leave anything behind before he got here?

[It's worth checking.

The good thing is that he's pretty sure ALASTAIR can store any remaining cure if something like this pops up again.]

[selfimage]

[ when they had found the signed photo of the alien in Percy's pocket, poised over a human corpse, he knew. it was evident in his glee when he talked about the slaughter. it was a malicious disregard that made Loki stir, and he had never found himself someone invested in helping others. ]

He was under the curse of truth when he confessed to those being the last of the samples. If there are others, they're not known to him.

Video | sn: Sieglindesullivan

[grunehexe]

[There is a lot to digest. "Doctor" Percy is dead, and as much as Sieglinde liked to think herself better than that, than revenge or murder as a solution... she's glad. She feels a wave of relief that someone who could create such a sickness is dead... until she realizes that she'd done the same thing, albeit with chemicals rather than biological agents.

Yet she's still glad, for all that could imply.

Still, it's not done yet.]

That vial needs to be studied to make sure it's the exact same strain as has already been released- and after that, it needs to be destroyed.

[Now that they have a cure, they had to purge its existence from the earth to at least delay its inevitable use again when someone else manages the same discovery.]

[selfimage]

[ Percy's gone, and the relief has washed over Loki too, for the same reason, and for different ones. they may be able to slide under the radar for a little longer.

Zymandis' eyes on them does not seem like a good thing. ]

Graham has it, you can request it from him. Though its destruction seems the best course. It's not a tool meant to be used by anyone.

[ Zymandis and ALASTAIR alike. ]

audio; un: cardmaster

[fateality]

Commendations to our crackshot, for the record. Hats off to Fiona.

And now it's time for a bath for an entire day, now that we're done with the sewers.

[selfimage]

Oh, please don't mention the truth sword that I keep handy.

[ but Fiona's Ok or something. ]

audio; un: steelsamayarai

[feytality]

[...]

Um..... how can we be sure Zymandis won't try to hurt this timeline again...? With something else?

audio; un: cardmaster

[fateality]

'Fraid there's not a 100% way to be sure, other than ALASTAIR tellin' us what's up. I figure they got their sights set out pretty far. I've seen them keep an eye on previous places they've been to, so I don't think they're ignorant as to not look out for this timeline.

Dunno if that helps, but there you have it.

audio■ un: virtuoso

[fourscores]

A rather typical end to the story. Shame, but whatever works.

audio; un: fiona

[cachemoney]

How is this typical? Do you deal with a lot of weird, salamander-y aliens causing viral outbreaks where you're from?

text | un: Sasaki

[ex_adept136]

Thank you for bringing the squad up to speed on this, Loki.

[Sharing of information is essential among their team, but he certainly couldn't have managed so handily in the aftermath of that encounter. Leave it to a deity, eh?

It's that fact that prompts his question though]

I happen to have what I assume to be his jewelcomm. I'm not sure it'd be safe to bring it back with us, considering we can use our own to track each other. At the same time, leaving it here might be problematic as well. Do you know of any way we might safely dispose of it?

voice; un:odinson

[deemed]

[Finally, Odinson's time to shine. No, he hasn't been stalking all these conversations, what are you talking about]

It seems a simple enough matter to destroy it, if that is what is needed.

video; un: unknownrealms

[headlining]

[Of course it had to be the creation of a megalomaniac intent on destroying the world. Keats would complain about just how ridiculous it sounds, but they've been through countless missions to the point where this seems pretty much an ordinary turn of events.]

[He doesn't really care about the fate of Percy. What's done is done.]

Well, guess we got that taken care of. I wonder when Zymandis will learn of their failure and try to pull something else out of their timeline-conquering bag.

audio; un: fiona

[cachemoney]

Luckily, he's dead, so it's not like he can report back. Hopefully it'll take them a long time to figure it out.

audio | un: RHY5-W1NZ

[dbag]

So what you're saying is all the conspiracies, "Oooh, it's an inside job, the mayor's cat did it," that was all BS. In-ter-est-ing. And by interesting, I mean duuuuhhhh.

So, if it was just one guy and he wasn't here stalking us, that means we should prrrobably try to stay on the DL? We basically almost all died because of one agent on accident. I kind of don't want to find out what's gonna happen if they actually ever want to kill us, so.

[selfimage]

Not probably and more absolutely. We have to be on our tippy-toes from here and hope that they thought Percy was a fluke and don't go further in their inquiry as to what did happen to him.

audio | un: chihiro

[onethousen]

( this is all horrifying. which is probably expected, but... piecing it together in her head isn't a happy thing. except that now, again, less dramatically in ways than last time, they've managed to prevent this really big group's destruction of a world (or universe) in order to harvest energy. she wonders if this is a pattern they'll be drawn into. are they going to keep being the flea circus that runs into the mad tiger stalking the timelines for its prey?

she shakes her head to shake out the odd mental image, shifting gears since there's less she can say to "I'm glad we managed to work together to stop this person:" or maybe that's exactly what she can say when she uncurls herself from the chair she's tucked into in the boarded up apartment she's been living in with Anakin (and now, Padme). )

I'm glad the team managed to work together to stop Dr. Percy, and the spread of the virus. The cure, too. I guess we really did run into Zymandis again... without all the fighting in the skies this time.

( she breathes in, quiet, and closes her eyes. her jewelcomm stays in her hands, fingers curled loosely around it. )

How are you doing, Loki-san?

[selfimage]

Reveling in this unsettling victory. [ "unsettling" on many levels. the gory, twisted mind of Percy, as well as their close encounter of Zymandis. ]

It's over, for now, at least. We can only hope that no one turns a head to put their eyes on us. Percy was a fluke, we don't need him to become a catalyst.

text; un: @daria

[conqueress]

[ And Loki thought to join them once. Hello from the bedroom, or perhaps the bathroom, as the case may be. There is no voice accompanying this. ]

Death was kind.

[ The fury doesn't come from any sickness; it is her own. ]

Are you certain he made no other reports?

[selfimage]

[ it wouldn't have been the death that Loki would have offered, but he can't say that he's disappointed. ]

I'm not, but the crucial ones will be missing. There could have been others, none that will make mention of us, however.