⇨ AGENTS HAVE ARRIVED [CLOSED PLOT]

[ringleaders]

Who: Tamaki, Childermass, Carly, Susan, Peridot, and Sherlock. And AGENTS.
Where: Inside The Matrix.
When: D28
What: The Agents have been watching your activities over the last week, and they’ve decided it’s time to act.
Warnings: Violence and most likely body horror.

THE ABDUCTION↴ The visitors have not be subtle in their intrusions, and for a time the Agents have held back, analysing the true effects of these new entities before deciding to make a move. But now, their patience has run out. The source of this infection must be found, and eliminated, or else the whole system could be dragged apart. These aren’t just the rebelling humans. These are something else. [OOC: Tamaki, Childermass, and Carly were selected from the danger raffle to be fully abducted by Agents. Susan, Peridot, and Sherlock will be attacked by Agents, but will escape when Resistance members intervene. Please make a top level below with your characters doing something in the Matrix that is relatively secluded from big crowds of people, as that is when the Agents would most likely strike. You can bring other characters along if you like for the initial confrontations, though only the selected characters will actually be captured by Agents. Any injuries sustained in these fights will equally damage character’s real physical forms, no matter how damage resistant they may normally be. Unless they are bending the Matrix to use their powers or to alter it with One powers, they will be as vulnerable as a normal human. Agents and Resistance members will be played by the mods in this log.]

Comments

[puddingemote]

It's not quite clear when he started to do it, but after watching other carnival workers manipulate the Matrix to their will, Tamaki had started to do it, too, perhaps through sheer force of want. He doesn't use this newfound ability for much, other than jumping really high and running really fast; things that are fun and exhilarating. He hasn't done anything that he would consider too ridiculous, but it might have been enough to attract some attention...

At the moment, though, he notices nothing amiss, walking alongside Mitsuki down a mostly deserted road near twilight. He's munching on some candy he got from somewhere, and musing on how eating fake candy can make him feel full. It's a strange phenomenon.

If there's danger anywhere near, he doesn't know it yet.

[OOC: Porto wanted Mitsuki to be involved in the kidnapping thread so I've written him in. We don't need a real set tagging order though I would think. o/]

[npcarnival]

Out of seemingly nowhere, a gun will cock right behind Tamaki's head. If he turns, he will see the barrel of a handgun pointed directly at his face, and the man in sunglasses and suit that's holding it. His physical appearance is entirely unremarkable, and almost supernaturally forgettable, but the entire ensemble has something intimidatingly stern about it.

"You are coming with us."

[otokogi]

Mitsuki's involvement with the Matrix has been largely limited to keeping an eye on Tamaki. He's got enough of his own concerns with the changes starting to happen to his own actual real body to bother trying to mess around with a virtual one but he's not about to let anything happen to his friend. Besides, Tamaki's his best friend here in the Carnival. He can't just let him wander around this place on his own.

He's a little nervous when their surroundings start to drop away but he also doesn't know how the Matrix works; maybe there's nothing suspicious about the place seeming so desolate and spooky.

Then he hears a sound he's only ever heard in movies and it makes him stop in his tracks. "Tamaki, did you h--"

And then there's a voice to go with the sound and Mitsuki's turning around. "Hey, what're you trying to do!?"

[puddingemote]

At the sound of the gun cocking, Tamaki does indeed turn around to see what it is. His eyes widen when he sees the gun pointed at him - something he's only ever seen as a prop in one of IDOLiSH7's dramas.

"What? What!?"

He looks in confusion from the man with the gun to Mitsuki. What's going on? Is this some kind of elaborate prank? Or is this real?

"I'm not going with you!"

[npcarnival]

If they try to escape in the opposite direction, they'll find themselves cut off by another similar man, with an equally threatening gun trained on them.

"We have some questions for you, Mr 'Tamaki'," he says, with a certain kind of vindictive satisfaction at having a name for the creature.

[insidescoop]

[The fire has been 'set'. She did a wonderful fire show right out in the open, and surely-surely, she thinks as she ducks down an alley to catch her breath, that'll get rebel attention. It should, right?] Hahhhhh...

[She looks at her hands, chewing her lip somewhat. That was actually... Really hard, honestly. Turning out from being a hummingbird was one thing, but that? It actually did hurt, still hurts, despite the lack of burns. And she swears the fire was different...]

Huwaaaahhh...I need to log out, get a good coffee... [She slumps down the side of the building and sighs for now however. Break, break...she needs a break...]

[npcarnival]

[It's probably the pain that stops her from noticing him at first.]

[A man in a suit turns to walk down the alley only a moment after Carly does. He's nondescript, black suit, black tie, black sunglasses, nothing about what he's wearing stands out. Somehow that makes everything about him stand out. The tap of his shoes, black and business like, echo off the alley's brick walls as he approaches. He's just a gentleman out for a stroll it seems, but there's something about him that makes your skin itch if you pay attention long enough.]

[fortuneglass]

[Indeed, something makes her skin crawl about this person. Quite a lot, in fact, though she does her best to ignore it to stand and dust her capris off. Best be polite, best be polite...and maybe 'best' head the other direction once she's done being polite, yes that would be good.

Politeness first. Nothing is wrong in the world today, lalalaaa..] Ahh...Hello!

[Nailed it.] Is there something you need? I'm the only other person in this alley, so... Ahhahaaa... [This is lookin bad, oh.]

[npcarnival]

There is something...

[The man replies, as he moves nearer. He reaches into his jacket pocket to retrieve his gun. Stepping closer he stops, right in front of her with the pistol aimed at her head.]

Your cooperation.

[atouts]

Childermass has, unsurprisingly, not been up to anything that could be considered flashy. He doesn't do flashy, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been up to something, and that something has chiefly been him figuring out how to force the Matrix to allow for magic. It might not draw the attention of the average Matrix-bound human, but it's there, in this case twisting the reality of the Matrix to make him unnoticeable to the average, everyday eye, and it's fairly constant.

Because when no one's looking, he can go more or less anywhere he pleases, right? Which is exactly what he's been doing while exploring the city. This evening, he's chosen the Lincoln Park Zoo to wrap up before heading back to the carnival proper, an hour after it's been closed to the public.

It's just him, a pipe (as close to his own as he could get from the White Room), and the wide open, wonderfully empty paths from exhibit to exhibit. There's barely even any workers still in sight by now, though any that might pass him by will inevitably be treated to a mysterious tobacco smoke smell, seemingly trailing along from nowhere at all alongside the kangaroo exhibit.

[npcarnival]

In the dim light ahead of him, Childremass will see two figures - men dressed in neat black suits, with eyes shadowed behind reflective shades. They approach him unflinchingly, walking at a moderate but steady pace. For all he knows they might walk on by, but there is something uncomfortable about their movements - something deeply unnatural to the senses.

Can they even see him?

[atouts]

That's a good question, because where Childermass would normally dismiss any other person here walking by, the strangeness surrounding these two grab his attention. They're unsettling, whoever they are, and he has to wonder the same thing: can they see him?

It's not impossible. The spell itself is made with chiefly human awareness in mind, though these two certainly look human to him. Still, the unnatural feeling is enough that he turns to cut down another walkway before they reach him, one that branches off towards the lion enclosure. He'll continue down that way for a bit, just enough to put space between himself and the two men in black, before stopping to look back. Surely he was only being paranoid...

[npcarnival]

Whether he believes it to be paranoia or not, when Childermass turns around he will see one man in a suit is still on his tail. It's impossible to tell where the man is looking because of his shades, and he is in no way acknowledging Childermass' presence, but he is still there and moving closer. The other man, however, is no where to be seen.

The air is cool and the only sounds are those of the animals in their exhibits and a lone janitor emptying out the trash. The sun hangs low in the sky and soon enough the day will turn to night.

[wild_magic]

Susan may not have been doing anything especially flashy in the Matrix, but that didn't mean he didn't stick out like a sore thumb. It wasn't hard to stick out when he hadn't bothered to change his appearance at all and he kept doing things that most people weren't really supposed to do...

Like sneaking into the employees only area of the zoo. It wasn't too hard to get away from the crowds, and getting in wasn't trouble at all with a quick Mage Hand spell - the kid was basically made of pure magic and willpower, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that a simple cantrip he'd been casting since being a toddler was something he could manipulate into manifesting. The thought of his magic not working hardly even occurred to him.

And that's how he got to where he was now: wandering behind the scenes of the exhibit him and Lauren had been looking at, trying to find the best way in. He still hadn't figured out if the animals here were just illusions, like the city, or if they were real trapped animals stuck in the illusions, like the people, but either way he didn't think it was fair for them to be stuck here all the time, and he was going to try and get them out.

[npcarnival]

It's not long after the use of that spell that Susan will find himself discovered. There's no real foreshadowing, no looming threat before that moment - and then a strong hand grabbing his arm, and something metal tapping the back of his head.

"You don't belong here, do you?" a voice growls, low and filled with malice.

[wild_magic]

Susan may not know what a gun is, but that doesn't mean he can't recognize a clear threat when he's presented with one. He doesn't struggle against the hand grabbing him, even though normally he might, and just goes completely still instead, thinking his words over for only a moment.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see the animals better... I can go!"

[npcarnival]

"No. You can't."

And the Agent will start leading Susan away from the enclosures, only using as much force as necessary while keeping a gun trained on the child. They're heading towards what looks like a back exit out to where the roads were.

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock had found a sort of delight in the mere concept of the Matrix, and had been spending most of his time as possible within it. Even to the point where he'd begun sleeping there. It was a welcome respite from the world of the Carnival, plus he felt relatively 'normal' here. True the only changes he'd 'suffered' so far were a set of fangs, but still. It was as close to home as he'd get for a year, most likely.

Plus, free guns.

Sherlock had been snooping around, as detectives were wont to do, taking on a case here and there for fun. Helping a couple find their daughter, helping an old lady solve the murder of her sister, that sort of thing. If he saw some kind of petty crime, like pickpocketing, he'd pickpocket the pickpocketer right back and slip the wallet into the victim's purse without them even knowing.

This particular night, he had chased a small-time burglar into an alleyway full of steam from a broken vent. His long dark coat flapped behind him as he brandished a gun, his own concept of gun safety very poor.

The thief, just like the purse snatcher when he'd first gotten to the Matrix, thought he could lose the persistent detective by climbing up a fire escape and getting to the roof.

"Again?" Sherlock huffed as he chased after him, pulling down the metal stairs and dashing towards the roof. Maybe it was the same guy? He'd gotten away the last time. Probably thought it'd work again. Sherlock remembered the last time he'd done this he'd made an impossible leap. It seemed to be a function of the Matrix, he figured. He'd been able to replicate smaller leaps that should have been equally impossible, and had figured gravity worked funny in a computer simulation. He wasn't as afraid of heights as he should be now, at least.

The detective scrambled onto the roof, where the burglar was nowhere to be seen.

[npcarnival]

The burglar was nowhere to be seen, for the simple reason that he no longer existed. Where a burglar had once stood, hiding behind a piece of the roofs architecture now only stood an agent. A man in a suit with sunglasses waited for Sherlock to move closer, before stepping out and aiming his own gun at the detective.

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock raced forward, only to halt in an instant when a man in a suit stepped out and aimed a gun at him.

Er, what? The burglar was long gone it seemed, but where could he have possibly gone in such a short period of time? He should have heard him jump to another rooftop or something...who was this man? He looked like an American federal agent of some kind. Was he after the burglar? Maybe he knocked him out.

Sherlock raised his hands, but he kept his own gun within his right.

"I was trying to stop him," he explained.

[npcarnival]

"There's no need." The agent replied, slowly stepping closer, his gun still raised.

[periphrasing]

Peridot probably keep a low profile if her life depended on it (which in this case it does? Kind of?). She's way too excited about this incredible world of LOGIC and INFINITE POSSIBILITY, and the fact that she might have super powers here, to have any kind of chill about the situation whatsoever.

Today, though, she's extra excited. She may still not have been able to exactly replicate her trick with the truck from earlier in the week, but she has figured out how to break the usual limitations of movement. Which is why she has Steven in this shady back alley with her, so she can unveil her newest discovery.

"Are you ready to witness my ultimate discovery?" Peridot asks him, barely containing her enthusiasm.

[starseedling]

"Ultimate discovery?!" Steven parrots in delight, raising his hands to his face with a small gasp of genuine enthusiasm. He's been hoping that Peridot would get the hang of this, and ultimate discovery sound pretty darn ultimate.

"What are you going to do?" he prompts.

[periphrasing]

She knew she could count on Steven for an enthusiastic audience.

"Watch closely and you'll see," says Peridot, totally hamming it up. She steps back and then goes into a sort of lunge pose, holding her hands out to her side, and starts making sounds like some sort of character out of a kung-fu movie:

"HOOO-aaaaaaa.... YAH!"

Percy, mild-mannered camper of Camp Pining Hearts fame, suddenly leaps backwards into the air to a height far beyond normal human capacity, does a somersault, ricochets off the opposite wall and back several times, continues to ascend up several stories, and then plummets back down to punch the ground without injuring himself even a little bit. All while making more absurd kung-fu sounds.

"Shaaaaaaa," says Peridot after she sticks the landing, glancing back at Steven to soak in his reaction.

[starseedling]

Steven stares in awe, at first completely baffled and then more and more glowing with glee as it sinks in that she's really doing it. She figured it out! He's so proud and relieved for her that for the first few moments he doesn't even know what to say.

"Peridot, that's amazing!" he yells, throwing up his hands in praise. "That was like something out of Lonely Blade it was so good! Or even New Ninja Squad!"

Of course, he also isn't paying attention to what attention they might be gaining with this either.