The Reality Vortex: Red Reputations

[meta knight]

May ordering "04 I think its time for you to go back in to storage." 04(the maid) walked up to it's mistress and says "gladly mistress." The thing is 04 seemed truly glad to obey May. May put her back in her hammer space and thinks "that all my packing and its best to not let 04 out for a bit. I did tell them that as long they tend to be a little zealous in there loyalty towards me." 

May headed out with the rest of the group in the control center. May seemed completely unpraised with Spawn told them.

 

[~ Z ~]

"Whole world? What's that mean?" Avalon stared at Berserk and tilted his head, not getting what Lucifer meant. "I thought we're supposed to care for our teammates? Sounds like you never had anyone you cared about. And will ya' quit talkin' about my universe already?! Just because you met a few of us doesn't mean we're all like that! Yeesh, talk about a broken record... Anyway, I'll go look for Spina."

Avalon held up a hand sign before vanishing into a poof of smoke.

Zenta listened closely to Lucifer's remarks, ignoring everything he said about their universe. Instead, he remained still, thinking about Cuki then about himself. It seems that Lucifer's remarks and sly comments about Cuki seemed to make Zenta think about some things before glancing up to stare at seemingly nothing. The beast remember his adventures with Cuki prior to arriving in Vortex. A small pain fluttered in his chest as he raised a hand to touch the tuffs of fur on his chest.

A void...

In a quick motion, he patted his chest fur clean of dirt to mask his concern. An annoyed sigh came from his lips before shaking his head disappointingly at Lucifer's remarks.

"As I said before, it is nothing serious. If my Lady wishes to spend her time with the others, then so be it. I simply enjoy Bernkastel's company," Zenta said before turning his back to the Angel and exposing canine teeth through a yawn. "And do not speak of my student, Lucifer. You know nothing about her."

The beast flicked his tails and walked past Bernkastel when he would normally accompany her. There was no hint of anger or depression from him, but it was eerie to barely see much of a reaction or expression from him. As he walked down the hall, he made his way to the Rouge Command Center, listening to Spawn, Cayde, and May. He bowed his head to each of them politely.

"I believe Avalon will be arriving with Spina shortly."

Avalon walked down a hall with empty rooms. From the little time he saw Spina leave, he knew that he isolated himself to some part of the city and managed to trace him back to this area. Only one room had the door closed and he knew it was Spina's. He cleared his throat and spoke out in Bernkastel's familiar voice, feeling he would respond faster to her than to himself before shocing the door open to glance inside.

"Spina, if you are done sulking, come out and go to the Command Center. I grow tired of waiting for you, so hurry up."

 

[Z-Fighter]

Brachi went off to fetch Bara and Jize, before the three made their way to the command center as well to meet with Spawn and the others.

"Looks like things are getting ahead now..." Brachi said.

"I only hope the situation has not grown any worse." Jize muttered.

 

[ShineCero]

Once Avalon opened the door, the immediate thing that will catch the ninja’s eye was a gruesome scene of his own body parts and paints of blood splattered across the room. The walls were littered with holes, highly created by the massive blows from the older Saiyan. Due to the lack of lighting in the room, it was hard to see where Spina was located within the darkness.

Upon Avalon speaking like Bernkastel to get his attention, it accomplished such task. A battered hand emerged from the darkness and held a tight grip on Avalon’s neck and lift his feet from the ground. Seconds later, Spina finally appeared in full, but his state was that of a horror. Half of his face was missing; there were several parts of his body where his bones were visible to the naked eye. Yet, despite the body horror, his right eyes locked onto Avalon as he tightened his grip and unleashing his malicious pressure. “Finally decided to come and fight me, Witch of Miracles.” The Saiyan assumed it was Bernkastel that approached him, since he was distance from the others for the entire month. However, after a glance or two, he noticed something was off about her. Narrowing his eye and furrowing his eyebrow, Spina squeeze harder. “No… who are you.”

 

[~ Z ~]

The Bernkastel clone gasped as soon as her throat was grabbed by Spina. She gripped his wrist in a futile attempt to free herself before the clone poofed into smoke, revealing Avalon in Spina's grip. Avalon stared at Spina's condition and there was nothing but horror in his eyes. Seeing Spina practically look like a zombie, the ninja flailed in his powerful grip.

"B-Boss! It's me..!" He said in a strained voice. "It's Avalon! I was pretending to be Bernkastel..!"

Lifting his legs up, he kicked Spina right in the chest to free himself from his throat grab. Falling flat on the floor, he coughed profusely before backing away from Spina in case he attempted to attack him. Only now did he realize the state of Spina and his room. He had no idea who's body parts were here and why Spina looked the way he did, but he was entirely petrified.

"E-Everyone is waitin' for you in the Command Center, Boss... Y-You--I... What happened to you..?"

 

[ShineCero]

Spina slid back just a couple of inches from Avalon’s kick, but did not offer much of a reaction. Instead, his attention was focused on his transformation to Bernkastel, after hearing that it was merely a disguise. “Hmph. It’s you…” Slightly disappointed that it wasn’t Bernkastel inching for a battle, he lowered his arm to show indication that he wasn’t going to attack anymore. In turn, the malicious pressure emitting from his body receded. “Just letting out steam.”

“The Command Center…” Spina repeated Avalon’s words. If he’s needed to be present at the command center, that means that the mission is most certainly about to happen relatively soon. He cracked a smile, as his body started to repair itself: bubbles of flesh appeared before being completely healed. “Finally… some action…” As half of his face was restored in full, and his pilpuls narrowed to indicate his excitement towards their next task. “I’m going.” Spina walked past Avalon and headed towards the Command Center to join the others.

 

[LoopyPanda]

"Last I checked those two weren't on speakin' terms. Doesn't that answer plenty?" Berserk inquired, no filter since she was a nosey girl. "Avalon's just a dweeby nerd who can't get a girlfriend! Lucky I'm a nice girl. Brat would just eat him alive... she likes to mess with his type."

Bernkastel remained silent as she locked eyes with Lucifer, his rhetorical question causing a very small flinch of the eyes among otherwise placid features. She stared off into space as if to sift through her thoughts, though it looked as if her mood had gone foul. "... 'Complicated' is a good way of putting it," came her only reply as her expression flattened out.

She turned on her heel away from Zenta, gesturing for him to follow the others to the command centre. "Go on ahead, Zenta. I only need a moment to go get the two stooges."

"Yeah, let's not keep the nerd detectives waitin'. I wanna get right into the action soon as possible!" Berserk said excitedly, willing to accompany Zenta in the meantime. Bernkastel's form dissipated into particles without any further word, having teleported to the Chamber.

=======

The Witch of Miracles phased in on the field before Gogeta and Vegetto, arms behind her back with a frown on her face. Puzzlement crossed her features as she seemed to arrive at what might have been an inopportune moment; she looked Gogeta over with a somewhat somber look before her gaze slid over toward Vegetto. Instinctively she straightened her posture as her gaze hardened into a serious expression.

"We're all gathering at Command for the briefing. It's time."

 

[Vegetto]

Hyperbolic Vortex Chamber 

Gogeta panted lightly, his eyes narrowing in frustration while he prepared to lunge and resume the training. However, both fusions averted their eyes at the sudden surge of distortion, looking over to see Bernkastel's arrival. Gogeta's frustrated expression instantly vanished once he looked upon the witch, blinking once in confusion that also quickly faded at the command given.

He slowed his breathing, doing his best to stand up and straighten his posture as well. Vegetto met Bernkastel's serious stare with a strong glare, inhaling deeply through his nose and turning his attention to the side.

"Alright."

The curt one word answer resonated with the same energy that described the two's relationship: sour and frank. Vegetto suddenly lifted his fist, swinging it forward and his entire arm jolting as if he slammed into an invisible object. The fabric of reality before him shattered like glass; another portal opening widely that led back into the Command center of Rogue City's main tower. Without a word, Vegetto stepped through to leave Gogeta and Bernkastel alone.

Gogeta cleared his throat slowly after a brief moment of silence, his eyes dodging Bernkastel carefully and nodding to the portal. He shuffled his feet across; the damage inflicted from the training clear in his injured state, but the man walked with a visage of confidence and attempted to hide the severity of the wounds. Gogeta soon disappeared through the portal.

---

Rogue City Command Center

Cayde threw up his arms slightly in protest to Detective Spawn's ultimatum, groaning slightly.

"But I don't have anything planned!! I-"

The android sighed, seeing the detective walk away before he could finish his rebuttal. He placed his hands on his hips, shaking his head from side to side.

"Right, ok. Just gonna have to wing this one too, I guess."

He glanced over his shoulder shortly after, hearing May dismiss her servant. Cayde blinked hard at the sight of the maid vanishing, raising his right eyebrow.

"Woah, wait. Did you just...put her in a storage unit? Isn't that illegal?"

The portal from the Vortex Chamber soon opened up before May could retort, and both fusions arrived into the room shortly after. Vegetto kept a mostly neutral stare, but a clear air of disgust could be noticed in his facial expression. He stood with his arms crossed near the table, and shortly after, Gogeta walked up next to him while clutching his side and littered with battle scars across his skin. Vegetto raised his right eyebrow, glancing around and taking note of the current occupancy of the room.

"Is this everyone taking part in the mission?"

 

[~ Z ~]

Avalon watched Spina walk off, remaining still with the look of fear in his face. He took a few seconds to compose himself before rushing off to the Command Center. He arrived just in time to listen to Spawn, May, and Cayde but his face was entirely shaken at what he saw from Spina. He seemed a little paler than usual and kept himself far away from Spina. Looking down at his hands, he saw them tremble, and his throat even had light marks on it thanks to Spina's rough grip; he quickly covered it with his scarf.

What was that..? That wasn't Boss.

"Whelp, I think everyone is here!" Avalon said, clearing his throat. "What's the big plan for this mission?"

 

[ShineCero]

Rogue City Command Center

Seeing that everyone is present, Detective Spawn wastes no time to get into the purpose of this gathering. “As I said before, my informant had alerted me about her arrival in Reflection City. With her in the city, that will give us access to head to the Reality News Network headquarters and speak with the president. From there, you Breakers will be able to detail the information you gained about these Xy’phers. Assuming no clownery at all, not only it will give this city and other cities a chance to be prepared, it also, at least, grant some positives on your shitty reputation. That’s the easy part—I highly doubt you can mess this up, even if you try.”

Spawn turned his head slightly towards Vegetto and Avalon after hearing their questions. “That’s where the hard part comes in. I would like to bring most of you on this mission.” The detective eyed at Gogeta before continuing. “Just a refresher: Reflection City has a mechanism that tracks one’s energy signature to alert the task force if there’s any “new signatures” not recorded in their database. In addition, you have those Xy’phers are clearly looking for you, waiting for their opportunity to strike the moment it takes a swift of your energy. I have a way to get around the first option. I can mask your energy signatures to take on my own, so we can move freely into the city. People will still react to you, but considering you are with Bage and I, they will at least calm down and relaxed knowing that we’re there. Since I doubt the Red King will be interested in the me; his aim is at the Breakers. So long I’m masking your energy, we should be fine.”

He paused for a moment. “However, I can’t do it constantly. I can only do it for so long, so we need to find her and go to the RNN headquarters. Furthermore… all of you should get your emotions in check. If you start powering up, I can’t mask my energy to match yours in quick burst. So, whatever happens, don’t act like a dumbass. Once we alert the president with the information, we will take cues from Lucifer’s overall plan: lure the Xy’phers out by using some of you as bait. If the Red King considered you prized rewards, he won’t hesitate of sending his armies to you. That way, we can split into two teams: one can be bait, while the rest can stay idly by and attack them when their focused is on one group. That way, we can take them out as much we can, while leaving one or two standing. Then we can extract information, while saving the city. Another point for your reputation.” He turns to Bage, Cayde and May. “They have further information regarding the civilians with the generators and their safety, along with a replica of Reflection City to show how different it is compared to Reality Metropolis.”