The lost is found, the blind now see.
---Part 2---
Old buried-away Nikolai is finally dug up. There is much rejoicing, except from the SMC, who decide it's just not worth the trouble.
Neg zooms into the main square on her chair, already receiving updates from the teams out rapidly moving through the streets of Strange.
Trilogee is digging. Frantically. With her hands. For the depth she's reached, her hands haven't started to bleed yet. Galahad's hand tinks against something metallic.
GrayZero simply stands in the center of the square for now, watching.
Galahad scoops away the earth rapidly now. "Found something..." He keeps his voice low, trying to find some edge to what he's struck so he can try and wrestle it out of the ground.
Slight raises an eyebrow at the scene, and looks at Zero. "Tell me what's going on, or I'm going to maim the next living thing that comes within reach," she says, a hint of severe annoyance in her voice. "What happened to Nikolai? And if Mother's already gone and displaced him, tell me where I have to go to murder him until the end of time itself." Her voice has raised from simple annoyance to something along the lines requiring *vengeance*.
GrayZero glances to Slight and says only two words. "Backup clone."
The buried thing is a large cylinder, not liable to be picked up while it's as buried as it is.
Slight growls as she says, "That answers precisely half of my comment. Where is Nikolai, and has Mother already eradicated him?"
Figures slide toward their destination, red crosses upon black...
GrayZero shrugs. "Perhaps you should ask the Corps as to his location. Certainly they wish to know."
GrayZero adds, "I would caution you against carrying out your threat, by the way. It is unlikely to have any useful lasting effect."
Trilogee gently pushes Galahad to the side, smiling gently. A hollow voice, like blowing across a bottle, ripples from her. "I can handle this." And she digs her fingers into the metal. And wrenches. The sound isn't horribly unexpected, nor horrible. Though the rending of metal is quite the sight from the slight woman.
Slight shakes, her eyes practically lighting up. "On the contrary. It would make me feel very, very good. And I have promises to keep, and debts to pay, especially to Nikolai. I owe him my life."
GrayZero smiles. "I stand by my earlier statement." She turns her attention to the Corps members.
Neg seems yelling at something not there where the rest inside the main square are. It's not directed at them. "...a chance!...benighted stubborn...We already..."
Galahad kneels at the side of the pit they've dug and observes.
In rubber, agents line up, facemasks all oriented toward Trilogee and Galahad and the canister. They have arrived.
Slight flicks out a fingerclaw and prods it at the illusion, not knowing any better. "Self-righteous chep," she hisses, the assault simply passing through. "Full of yourself, as if you're the one who's right and knows everything." She pauses, grinning madly at the fox. "Just like Diafeara. And ultimately as worthless."
GrayZero suddenly... isn't in the square anymore. Instead, she's suddenly between the agents and Tril and Galahad.
The metal of the cylinder is dark and apparently brittle. Flakes chip off it, and a liquid starts oozing off it.
GrayZero reaches down, sticks two fingers... into the ground, without resistance. They come up tipped with silver.
Slight is, of course, left in the square with Neg, alone again. "Damned..."she starts, then settles for growling.
GrayZero speaks in a calm voice to the agents. "The Virus can't harm me, but it can harm you. I cannot physically affect you, but I can reach through you. And if you threaten the situation unduly, I can implant this - " she indicates the silver-tipped fingers " - through that facemask and right into your brain."
Trilogee continues breaking, cracking, and breaking, tearing as if it were good cardboard. Once she's sure she can, she reaches her hand in for the figure she knows is inside.
Neg is muttering irriatedly to herself, "Papa Legba's thinking crazying things about... but... others don't...I the only one...agees with?"
Galahad pushes himself to his feet and glances over the line of medics. And then at GrayZero. He walks around the pit to place himself between the medics and Trilogee. He doesn't understand what's going on, but has no intention of letting any of them interfere with her.
Neg simply turns and wheels her chair off, toward where the others have disappeared to.
GrayZero looks every agent in the eye. Every one. "How much Faith do you have?" It's a general question.
Slight follows Neg at a distance, uncertain of where the bat's going.
Something stirs in the general wreckage of the cylinder. A figure somewhat familiar, though covered in black liquid.
Trilogee grabs it, grinning and cackling, pulling.
The agents' responses is mostly sullen silence, stubborness. One yells, "Don't be stupid!" They approach, simply, some chanting repetitive mantras to themselves.
GrayZero smiles at that one. "Perhaps you should follow your own advice." She doesn't retreat.
A gasp, a sudden intake of breath. Whispering to nobody, to anyone, "...is it...is that the sky? who...where..."
Neg wheels onto the scene... and doesn't take a side with her fellows. She just says, "If you didn't have your channel to it turned off, you would know Papa Legba's now refusing to treat this one. Calling it a waste of resources."
Angry shouts from the majority of the agents.
GrayZero just smiles.
Neg looks toward GrayZero irritatedly. "Don't be smug."
Trilogee pulls, hard, and spreads her wings wide. She laughs, lost in her own little world.
Slight runs up to the group, glaring at Zero. "Words. Later." She looks down into the pit at the figure in black, recalling things from before, why Nik stumbled into Strange a while back, shattering the Watcher at the Gate, and ultimately cracking his personaly backup. "Nik?" she says very quietly, hoping.
Galahad turns at the sound of Trilogee's laughter, crouching to look into the hole. The medics are dealt with, so far as he can tell. He can give a round of thank-you's later.
Dark liquid streams off the matted fur on the figure curled in a fetal position, half-out of the broken excavated tube. It opens its eyes once more, staring out at the world. First sight alighting on Trilogee. Just barely, a crooked grin emerges.
GrayZero glances back at Neg. "Smug? For the situation, no. But it is gratifying to know that my evaluation of his intelligence was beneficially inaccurate."
GrayZero says, "It's nice to know that Papa Legba is not a blind fanatic."
Nikolai coughs, staring up at Trilogee. "You...found me..."
Trilogee beckons Galahad over, heaving a slow sigh. "Yes. I did. I promised I would."
Galahad climbs down to Trilogee's side, looking at Nikolai with some concern. "The medics aren't going to hound us anymore, I think. What now?"
Trilogee chortles quietly, letting her head fall back. "We get ourselves cleaned up, and I get a few things off my back."
Neg has a firm grip upon her own forehead, still mirgrained and likely feeling it worse with all the stress. She just says, "Papa Legba does what it has to do. If it didn't have to waste enormous resources toward an uncertain end in order to cure Nikolai, it would." A glare toward the other, now dissipating agents, displayed more through her ears' aggressive posturing than her unseen eyes. "Time to find patients worthwhile the effort."
Nikolai tries to move his limbs. They haven't moved or even been felt in likely several Wheels. He just stays curled up instead. The liquid has mostly pooled off, revealing some differences from the other Nikolai. Less scars, for one, and no Strangetaint wings. But his eyes glint slver all the same.
Trilogee, fully expecting this, just starts to cry, laughing madly.
GrayZero smiles to Neg. "Very well. If you would do me a small favor though; when next you communicate with him, send my apologies for my having underestimated him in such a manner. I hope he does not take offense."
The silver on GrayZero's fingertips seems to condense and drip back into the ground, vanishing.
Slight looks over the edge of the pit, tapping the bottom edge of the chrome 'ribcage', a small tube with a blue-glowing core, swirling around a sphere of solid black, emerging from the flowing chrome. "Nikolai?" she says aloud, looking down. "Is Mother there? Is she still there?"
Galahad doesn't seem frightened by the silver glimmer... mostly puzzled by Trilogee's tears. He puts one hand on the shoulder of her wing.
Neg speaks clearly, "Papa Legba knows what triage is, GreyZero. Most of those are relatively new and it hasn't sank into them."
Neg speaks clearly, "Prioritize the most threatening but above all the most treatable. More gets achieved that way."
Nikolai's head wobbles up to look at Slight. His eyes try to focus on the blue glow. "...that...I know that name, have I met Her? No...no, She is...left behind. All head-explody, hm?"
GrayZero nods. "As is well for him."
Neg sighs, "I hope this doesn't lead into a schism."
Slight smiles, and falls to her knees, the tube being sucked back into the chrome, the substance flowing over to protect it once again. "She's gone, she's gone," she says, satisfied, falling backwards onto the tiles and looking up at the sky. "She's finally gone."
Nikolai scrabbles to get up, his limbs flopping around but getting stronger already. "Must...gotta get home. Back....back, ah, to work..."
GrayZero turns to Nikolai. "Hold. Rest first. She's staying at the Lab still, and now is not a good time to run into her."
Trilogee grins up at Galahad, tears still falling freely. She giggles like a schoolgirl, still not standing, still gripping Nikolai with a grip that resembles Death. "I'm sorry, Galahad. I haven't had the chance to tell you how much I love you."
Slight's eyes focus on GrayZero as she sits back up, a little too quickly. "Mother exists? Show me. Show me now."
GrayZero's attention turns to Slight. Four words. "Downwarp. Darkunder. Nikolai's Lab."
Slight snorts. "Why am I not surprised..." she murmurs. She taps her chest, scowling. "I'm going to have to get this thing replaced..." She pauses for a moment, and looks over the edge of the pit. "Nikolai? I'm going to totally ruin your Lab, and hopefully wipe the last traces of that infernal wretch from this Mess. Is this going to be a problem?"
GrayZero chuckles.
Galahad crouches down at Trilogee's side, smiling in his perplexity. "We can spend a few hours on that, soon. As you said... we should go. Clean up. Should I help carry your friend?" He looks down at Nikolai again, who seems to him utterly pitiable in this state.
Neg growls, her voice nearing inaudible range for some here. "This area infection outside Strange is a big problem. What the hell is going on? All this craziness, the many new cases, and now a spreading outside the Warp."
Trilogee stands, still holding Nikolai, and shakes her head. "I can carry him. It's not difficult."
GrayZero glances to Neg. "Like I said. It's running scared."
Nikolai gives a crooked smile, still rather dazed from finally merging with his completely insane otherself. "Blow away, little wolf, blow away....I explode Lab all the time, it always comes back..."
Trilogee wrinkles her brow. "That does it, I'm mending you, Nik."
Slight grins at Nik, and looks down at him. "If I felt it safe to do so, Nik, I would *kiss* you. Thank you!" She pauses, looking at Neg impassively for a moment, then back at Gray. "Were it that you ever met the One and Many," she says, and turns, running off to Darkunder.
Galahad rises alongside Trilogee and nods. "Alright. I'll follow you." And eventually get an explaination, he hopes, so he can stop being merely decorative.
Slight is suddenly enclosed in a wobbly sphere of liquid mirror, which then disappears with a >pop<.
Slight has left.
Trilogee sways slightly, eyes closing for a moment. "We need privacy. Suggestions?"
GrayZero says, "The Museum?"
Trilogee gently caws, "People go there, no."
GrayZero hrms. "I do not know of any truly quiet corners. I'd been hoping to develop one sometime, but I have not yet had the chance."
Neg speaks clearly, "The Galleria. An alley in Bottom, so quiet that there's nothing else but yourselves."
Trilogee nods, and shrugs. The rich, sultry voice sounds again, her posture following suit. "I'll figure out something. Come on, boys."
GrayZero glances towards Tril. "Privacy from me as well?" A vauge smile.
Trilogee blinks, then grins. "Thanks for the suggestion. I think we'll find that alley. I need to talk with these two about a few things."
GrayZero then shakes her head. "Nevermind, it's a silly question to ask." She grins.
Neg looks firmly at Trilogee. "Tell me if yur... method for dealing with him, making him better, works."
Trilogee slides, wings spreading slowly. "I'll be talking more with -you- later..."
GrayZero nods.
Trilogee winks at Neg, grinning softly. "I'll do that. I'll be seeing you again. And I won't even try to rip your heart out."
Galahad hooks an arm around Trilogee's neck, ready for the flight.
Trilogee hits the air, easily, and glides through the mirror.
Trilogee touches the transit mirror and vanishes.
Galahad has left.
Trilogee carries you along with her.
Tril, Nik, and Galahad went off to have a talk somewhere. Meanwhile, Slight went off to attempt something in Nik's Lab. But of course, the lab is used to being exploded.
Slight pages, "Can you get this? How the hell am I supposed to kill Mother if your damned room keeps bringing her back? [enraged voice!]" to you.
You page-pose, "Nikolai's tired mind-voice over the ether: "Hm ahh...forgotten that, yes hm. Lab always blow up, always come back. Would need reboot systematic...take a while. 'M tired...so tired..."" to Slight
In a page-pose to you, Slight pauses for a moment. "...You're kidding me. And you're tired?...Okay, I'll grant you that. I remember my time in Up after dealing with the bitch. Um...thanks for helping me out back then. Sorry that I got you involved in all of this, too."
You page-pose, "Nikolai mrrrms. "Ah hm, ah hm, would needs rebuilding entirely. I still halfmad supressing years of darkness entrapment AND Mothertaint sametime."" to Slight
In a page-pose to you, Slight chuckles. "At least you didn't get to have your brain on fire. Still...Thanks for making it. For surviving her. I wish I could have done more for you...but I'm glad things have worked out."
You page-pose, "Nikolai mutters. "She will be gone, somehow. Must get back to work, eh, without danger? Still Strange I am, ripe for those seeking...but not Her. "" to Slight
In a page-pose to you, Slight chuckles, and smirks. "I can live with that. I approved of and appreciated William, and it's harder to get more tainted than he. Still, should you retain your own mind...things have worked out well. I want to see Mother wiped out as completely as possible...and thank you. All right, I think your door is sealed now, though I had to borrow some things from the forge to fuse it to the frame. It'll be...ah, safe...until you return to do with it what you will.
You page, "Hm, hm, ah, thank you. Won't make mistake of running in there now, yes yes. Need to...recover myself." to Slight.
Old buried-away Nikolai is finally dug up. There is much rejoicing, except from the SMC, who decide it's just not worth the trouble.
Neg zooms into the main square on her chair, already receiving updates from the teams out rapidly moving through the streets of Strange.
Trilogee is digging. Frantically. With her hands. For the depth she's reached, her hands haven't started to bleed yet. Galahad's hand tinks against something metallic.
GrayZero simply stands in the center of the square for now, watching.
Galahad scoops away the earth rapidly now. "Found something..." He keeps his voice low, trying to find some edge to what he's struck so he can try and wrestle it out of the ground.
Slight raises an eyebrow at the scene, and looks at Zero. "Tell me what's going on, or I'm going to maim the next living thing that comes within reach," she says, a hint of severe annoyance in her voice. "What happened to Nikolai? And if Mother's already gone and displaced him, tell me where I have to go to murder him until the end of time itself." Her voice has raised from simple annoyance to something along the lines requiring *vengeance*.
GrayZero glances to Slight and says only two words. "Backup clone."
The buried thing is a large cylinder, not liable to be picked up while it's as buried as it is.
Slight growls as she says, "That answers precisely half of my comment. Where is Nikolai, and has Mother already eradicated him?"
Figures slide toward their destination, red crosses upon black...
GrayZero shrugs. "Perhaps you should ask the Corps as to his location. Certainly they wish to know."
GrayZero adds, "I would caution you against carrying out your threat, by the way. It is unlikely to have any useful lasting effect."
Trilogee gently pushes Galahad to the side, smiling gently. A hollow voice, like blowing across a bottle, ripples from her. "I can handle this." And she digs her fingers into the metal. And wrenches. The sound isn't horribly unexpected, nor horrible. Though the rending of metal is quite the sight from the slight woman.
Slight shakes, her eyes practically lighting up. "On the contrary. It would make me feel very, very good. And I have promises to keep, and debts to pay, especially to Nikolai. I owe him my life."
GrayZero smiles. "I stand by my earlier statement." She turns her attention to the Corps members.
Neg seems yelling at something not there where the rest inside the main square are. It's not directed at them. "...a chance!...benighted stubborn...We already..."
Galahad kneels at the side of the pit they've dug and observes.
In rubber, agents line up, facemasks all oriented toward Trilogee and Galahad and the canister. They have arrived.
Slight flicks out a fingerclaw and prods it at the illusion, not knowing any better. "Self-righteous chep," she hisses, the assault simply passing through. "Full of yourself, as if you're the one who's right and knows everything." She pauses, grinning madly at the fox. "Just like Diafeara. And ultimately as worthless."
GrayZero suddenly... isn't in the square anymore. Instead, she's suddenly between the agents and Tril and Galahad.
The metal of the cylinder is dark and apparently brittle. Flakes chip off it, and a liquid starts oozing off it.
GrayZero reaches down, sticks two fingers... into the ground, without resistance. They come up tipped with silver.
Slight is, of course, left in the square with Neg, alone again. "Damned..."she starts, then settles for growling.
GrayZero speaks in a calm voice to the agents. "The Virus can't harm me, but it can harm you. I cannot physically affect you, but I can reach through you. And if you threaten the situation unduly, I can implant this - " she indicates the silver-tipped fingers " - through that facemask and right into your brain."
Trilogee continues breaking, cracking, and breaking, tearing as if it were good cardboard. Once she's sure she can, she reaches her hand in for the figure she knows is inside.
Neg is muttering irriatedly to herself, "Papa Legba's thinking crazying things about... but... others don't...I the only one...agees with?"
Galahad pushes himself to his feet and glances over the line of medics. And then at GrayZero. He walks around the pit to place himself between the medics and Trilogee. He doesn't understand what's going on, but has no intention of letting any of them interfere with her.
Neg simply turns and wheels her chair off, toward where the others have disappeared to.
GrayZero looks every agent in the eye. Every one. "How much Faith do you have?" It's a general question.
Slight follows Neg at a distance, uncertain of where the bat's going.
Something stirs in the general wreckage of the cylinder. A figure somewhat familiar, though covered in black liquid.
Trilogee grabs it, grinning and cackling, pulling.
The agents' responses is mostly sullen silence, stubborness. One yells, "Don't be stupid!" They approach, simply, some chanting repetitive mantras to themselves.
GrayZero smiles at that one. "Perhaps you should follow your own advice." She doesn't retreat.
A gasp, a sudden intake of breath. Whispering to nobody, to anyone, "...is it...is that the sky? who...where..."
Neg wheels onto the scene... and doesn't take a side with her fellows. She just says, "If you didn't have your channel to it turned off, you would know Papa Legba's now refusing to treat this one. Calling it a waste of resources."
Angry shouts from the majority of the agents.
GrayZero just smiles.
Neg looks toward GrayZero irritatedly. "Don't be smug."
Trilogee pulls, hard, and spreads her wings wide. She laughs, lost in her own little world.
Slight runs up to the group, glaring at Zero. "Words. Later." She looks down into the pit at the figure in black, recalling things from before, why Nik stumbled into Strange a while back, shattering the Watcher at the Gate, and ultimately cracking his personaly backup. "Nik?" she says very quietly, hoping.
Galahad turns at the sound of Trilogee's laughter, crouching to look into the hole. The medics are dealt with, so far as he can tell. He can give a round of thank-you's later.
Dark liquid streams off the matted fur on the figure curled in a fetal position, half-out of the broken excavated tube. It opens its eyes once more, staring out at the world. First sight alighting on Trilogee. Just barely, a crooked grin emerges.
GrayZero glances back at Neg. "Smug? For the situation, no. But it is gratifying to know that my evaluation of his intelligence was beneficially inaccurate."
GrayZero says, "It's nice to know that Papa Legba is not a blind fanatic."
Nikolai coughs, staring up at Trilogee. "You...found me..."
Trilogee beckons Galahad over, heaving a slow sigh. "Yes. I did. I promised I would."
Galahad climbs down to Trilogee's side, looking at Nikolai with some concern. "The medics aren't going to hound us anymore, I think. What now?"
Trilogee chortles quietly, letting her head fall back. "We get ourselves cleaned up, and I get a few things off my back."
Neg has a firm grip upon her own forehead, still mirgrained and likely feeling it worse with all the stress. She just says, "Papa Legba does what it has to do. If it didn't have to waste enormous resources toward an uncertain end in order to cure Nikolai, it would." A glare toward the other, now dissipating agents, displayed more through her ears' aggressive posturing than her unseen eyes. "Time to find patients worthwhile the effort."
Nikolai tries to move his limbs. They haven't moved or even been felt in likely several Wheels. He just stays curled up instead. The liquid has mostly pooled off, revealing some differences from the other Nikolai. Less scars, for one, and no Strangetaint wings. But his eyes glint slver all the same.
Trilogee, fully expecting this, just starts to cry, laughing madly.
GrayZero smiles to Neg. "Very well. If you would do me a small favor though; when next you communicate with him, send my apologies for my having underestimated him in such a manner. I hope he does not take offense."
The silver on GrayZero's fingertips seems to condense and drip back into the ground, vanishing.
Slight looks over the edge of the pit, tapping the bottom edge of the chrome 'ribcage', a small tube with a blue-glowing core, swirling around a sphere of solid black, emerging from the flowing chrome. "Nikolai?" she says aloud, looking down. "Is Mother there? Is she still there?"
Galahad doesn't seem frightened by the silver glimmer... mostly puzzled by Trilogee's tears. He puts one hand on the shoulder of her wing.
Neg speaks clearly, "Papa Legba knows what triage is, GreyZero. Most of those are relatively new and it hasn't sank into them."
Neg speaks clearly, "Prioritize the most threatening but above all the most treatable. More gets achieved that way."
Nikolai's head wobbles up to look at Slight. His eyes try to focus on the blue glow. "...that...I know that name, have I met Her? No...no, She is...left behind. All head-explody, hm?"
GrayZero nods. "As is well for him."
Neg sighs, "I hope this doesn't lead into a schism."
Slight smiles, and falls to her knees, the tube being sucked back into the chrome, the substance flowing over to protect it once again. "She's gone, she's gone," she says, satisfied, falling backwards onto the tiles and looking up at the sky. "She's finally gone."
Nikolai scrabbles to get up, his limbs flopping around but getting stronger already. "Must...gotta get home. Back....back, ah, to work..."
GrayZero turns to Nikolai. "Hold. Rest first. She's staying at the Lab still, and now is not a good time to run into her."
Trilogee grins up at Galahad, tears still falling freely. She giggles like a schoolgirl, still not standing, still gripping Nikolai with a grip that resembles Death. "I'm sorry, Galahad. I haven't had the chance to tell you how much I love you."
Slight's eyes focus on GrayZero as she sits back up, a little too quickly. "Mother exists? Show me. Show me now."
GrayZero's attention turns to Slight. Four words. "Downwarp. Darkunder. Nikolai's Lab."
Slight snorts. "Why am I not surprised..." she murmurs. She taps her chest, scowling. "I'm going to have to get this thing replaced..." She pauses for a moment, and looks over the edge of the pit. "Nikolai? I'm going to totally ruin your Lab, and hopefully wipe the last traces of that infernal wretch from this Mess. Is this going to be a problem?"
GrayZero chuckles.
Galahad crouches down at Trilogee's side, smiling in his perplexity. "We can spend a few hours on that, soon. As you said... we should go. Clean up. Should I help carry your friend?" He looks down at Nikolai again, who seems to him utterly pitiable in this state.
Neg growls, her voice nearing inaudible range for some here. "This area infection outside Strange is a big problem. What the hell is going on? All this craziness, the many new cases, and now a spreading outside the Warp."
Trilogee stands, still holding Nikolai, and shakes her head. "I can carry him. It's not difficult."
GrayZero glances to Neg. "Like I said. It's running scared."
Nikolai gives a crooked smile, still rather dazed from finally merging with his completely insane otherself. "Blow away, little wolf, blow away....I explode Lab all the time, it always comes back..."
Trilogee wrinkles her brow. "That does it, I'm mending you, Nik."
Slight grins at Nik, and looks down at him. "If I felt it safe to do so, Nik, I would *kiss* you. Thank you!" She pauses, looking at Neg impassively for a moment, then back at Gray. "Were it that you ever met the One and Many," she says, and turns, running off to Darkunder.
Galahad rises alongside Trilogee and nods. "Alright. I'll follow you." And eventually get an explaination, he hopes, so he can stop being merely decorative.
Slight is suddenly enclosed in a wobbly sphere of liquid mirror, which then disappears with a >pop<.
Slight has left.
Trilogee sways slightly, eyes closing for a moment. "We need privacy. Suggestions?"
GrayZero says, "The Museum?"
Trilogee gently caws, "People go there, no."
GrayZero hrms. "I do not know of any truly quiet corners. I'd been hoping to develop one sometime, but I have not yet had the chance."
Neg speaks clearly, "The Galleria. An alley in Bottom, so quiet that there's nothing else but yourselves."
Trilogee nods, and shrugs. The rich, sultry voice sounds again, her posture following suit. "I'll figure out something. Come on, boys."
GrayZero glances towards Tril. "Privacy from me as well?" A vauge smile.
Trilogee blinks, then grins. "Thanks for the suggestion. I think we'll find that alley. I need to talk with these two about a few things."
GrayZero then shakes her head. "Nevermind, it's a silly question to ask." She grins.
Neg looks firmly at Trilogee. "Tell me if yur... method for dealing with him, making him better, works."
Trilogee slides, wings spreading slowly. "I'll be talking more with -you- later..."
GrayZero nods.
Trilogee winks at Neg, grinning softly. "I'll do that. I'll be seeing you again. And I won't even try to rip your heart out."
Galahad hooks an arm around Trilogee's neck, ready for the flight.
Trilogee hits the air, easily, and glides through the mirror.
Trilogee touches the transit mirror and vanishes.
Galahad has left.
Trilogee carries you along with her.
Tril, Nik, and Galahad went off to have a talk somewhere. Meanwhile, Slight went off to attempt something in Nik's Lab. But of course, the lab is used to being exploded.
Slight pages, "Can you get this? How the hell am I supposed to kill Mother if your damned room keeps bringing her back? [enraged voice!]" to you.
You page-pose, "Nikolai's tired mind-voice over the ether: "Hm ahh...forgotten that, yes hm. Lab always blow up, always come back. Would need reboot systematic...take a while. 'M tired...so tired..."" to Slight
In a page-pose to you, Slight pauses for a moment. "...You're kidding me. And you're tired?...Okay, I'll grant you that. I remember my time in Up after dealing with the bitch. Um...thanks for helping me out back then. Sorry that I got you involved in all of this, too."
You page-pose, "Nikolai mrrrms. "Ah hm, ah hm, would needs rebuilding entirely. I still halfmad supressing years of darkness entrapment AND Mothertaint sametime."" to Slight
In a page-pose to you, Slight chuckles. "At least you didn't get to have your brain on fire. Still...Thanks for making it. For surviving her. I wish I could have done more for you...but I'm glad things have worked out."
You page-pose, "Nikolai mutters. "She will be gone, somehow. Must get back to work, eh, without danger? Still Strange I am, ripe for those seeking...but not Her. "" to Slight
In a page-pose to you, Slight chuckles, and smirks. "I can live with that. I approved of and appreciated William, and it's harder to get more tainted than he. Still, should you retain your own mind...things have worked out well. I want to see Mother wiped out as completely as possible...and thank you. All right, I think your door is sealed now, though I had to borrow some things from the forge to fuse it to the frame. It'll be...ah, safe...until you return to do with it what you will.
You page, "Hm, hm, ah, thank you. Won't make mistake of running in there now, yes yes. Need to...recover myself." to Slight.