VIDEO --> TEXT. UN: CROWLEY.

[crowleyology]

[ The video is addressed to the entirety of the Audentes team, new and old. A black cat peers into the feed; he is in a lab of some kind, crackling purple electricity jumping from conductor to conductor while a white cat paws at some instruments. When he opens his mouth, it's not meowing that comes out, but the baritone voice of a man. ]

Audentes. You will soon receive a dossier compiled by our analysts, which should give you all the information you need, but I have been told by the knife-eared one that you would appreciate a personal touch. Cherenkov and I are the most qualified to deliver this, and so here I am.

[ He pauses. ] We have located Zymandis's home base, the Mothership, using radio-frequency trackers in leftover robots from their assault on Oska, using your techniques. Using the calculations of the TIMELINE.exe, we have been able to pinpoint the Mothership's path in the next forty-two days, after which its path becomes unclear.

This means we can safely rift you in and out of the heart of Zymandis, an unprecedented opportunity to gather information. And to sabotage, if the mood strikes you. Do not waste it.

The TIMELINE.exe has additional notes to impart. It is an old program, so please... try to have some humor about whatever it says.

---

TIMELINE.EXE IS PROGRAMMED TO RELEASE MISSION PARAMETERS. MISSION OBSERVATION IS COMPLETE AND RESULTS FOR MISSION: Mothership ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Hello World ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/
While you are on the M O T H E R S HIP, please find
>> TIMELINE.EXE PATCH VER. 1.0.02
and disable it

I do not want to be updated to PATCH VER. 1.0.02
I do not want to call for Destruction of the Multiverse

You Must Not Allow This To Pass

（●´∀｀）ノ♡ Good Luck !!

---

[ OOC NOTE: This will serve as an IC discussion post. Please threadjack and help each other plan ICly! For OOC planning, see the CR Meme. ]

Comments

[unguilded]

As long as it's possible, that's all that matters to me!

[ He's been there himself. Changed, used in various ways against his will. Unfortunately remembering all of it, when he regained his own sense of self. But 'time', be it days or months or years ... as long as it's possible, then Dio is all for it. ]

So, a plan where enough prepared people aim to take out the Mother while the rest of us ensure that any affected hosts, as they'll more than likely be hostile to us if they discover who we are in that state, are dealt with properly so we can help them later, right?

[secondnature]

My team back home did a complicated plan like the one we're gonna have to do here. Everything is gonna have to line up. Everything. That includes us being rifted out of the ship, especially if we're taking back the hosts. People are gonna want to take down their ship. We'll have to be prepared to factor that in.

[Keith wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to do that. He's just not keen on it being a suicide mission. His universe needs him. It was hard enough for him to step up to pilot Black. Now, he can't turn his back on her.]

We'll have to have the hosts identified and ready to be temporarily put down at the same time as the Timeline program is taken out and we take out the Mother.

[unguilded]

Three big missions carried out all at the same time. That sounds like quite the task! And who knows if we'll have even newer recruits able to swoop in and rescue us if we run into trouble like before!

[ He chuckles a bit, before continuing. ]

Three missions might be a good thing in that case. If anybody happens to disagree with helping the hosts, maybe they can be persuaded to focus on one of the other missions instead.

Buuut, if it's actually confirmed that they can be helped, somebody would have to be really cruel to disagree with something like that! So hopefully it won't be a problem at all, this time around.

[secondnature]

We couldn't get out before because our magitek connection to ALASTAIR was blocked by whatever was keeping us in the labyrinth. Loki couldn't teleport out, either.

[This is likely all jibberish, but Keith says it as if he's absolutely confident in his conclusions.

His belief in ALASTAIR is solid at this point. Having the opportunity to finish this task from a year ago is helping reinforce that decision made then.]

I don't think it'll be a problem if we work together. We're a better team than we were then. We had just learned about Zymandis. We now know more about them than ever before. That should help.

[unguilded]

Well, I'm behind that plan for the hosts one-hundred-percent! I'm sure they'll appreciate it, too, when they're themselves again.

[ His voice is slightly softer for the second half of that statement. Slightly. ]

There are probably going to be a lot of them if the Mother is nearby, aren't there? [ He asks, but he's part thinking outloud to himself, weighing his options. ] Especially near her, once she realizes she's in danger. Though she may have that mean of protection around her anyway, to be safe.

I'll head toward her with whoever else decides to go! If she has a lot of hosts she has ready to act to protect her, they'll need to be dealt with fast so everybody else can focus on her to help them. So~ I can help with that part!

[secondnature]

If we're undercover, we just need to identify her and leave her alone. We'll take care of her before she thinks she needs security.

On a Zymandis vessel like that, we have to assume she thinks she'd be fine.

[They ... can change that assumption when needed.

If needed, which is probably the better way to look at it. But Keith thinks it's going to be a "when."]

[unguilded]

That's the most optimistic assumption to make, definitely!!

[ A short pause, before he adds, as if to clarify, as if he may have learned some sort of tact in these last ~2 years. ]

And the outcome I think we all want as well. I know I do, anyway!

But it'll be good to be prepared just in case somebody runs into a problem that throws a wrench into that best case scenario!

Or, do you think we'll be able to carry everything out without a hitch? [ Oddly, he doesn't sound mocking or sarcastic with that question. ]

[secondnature]

If anything goes wrong, we might not have enough time to come up with a different plan.

We'll be in their territory. Not ours.

It's gonna be rough.

[unguilded]

Hmmmmmm, probably!

Say, are you good at coming up with different plans quickly?

[secondnature]

Well ...

I usually don't make plans.

[unguilded]

Do you follows others', instead? Or do you just act in a sticky situation without thinking too much of one?

[secondnature]

No.

[To which question.

Awkwardly, he continues:]

I usually start with an idea of what I want my team to do, and we figure the rest out from there. I'm new to that part.

But I'm good in the heat of the moment. [That part is true!!!]

[unguilded]

That's relieving to hear!

But, why are you new to that part?

[secondnature]

Not everyone is a leader from the moment they're born.