Goro Akechi (Shadow Weapon AU) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gorobo) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
personavelvetroomdr2024-04-05 09:00 pm
gorobo) wrote in personavelvetroomdr2024-04-05 09:00 pm
A strange invitation
[OOC: Locked to the users tagged in the post!]
Raven's message had been... curious, to say the least.
Falcon's still not sure what to make of it; he clearly hurt Raven quite a lot, and nearly killed him- a child- over bad-mouthing Shido. Not that he could help it, but still...
Perhaps he wants to pledge his eternal loyalty to Shido-san this time! We did show what a great man Shido-san was, after all!
... Right. Not likely.
Really now, he'd rather get this over with as quickle as possible. He doesn't even know why this couldn't have been done over text, but he's already agreed to meet up in Shibuya. Not that he could really refuse; no schedule means no excuse means no reason to politely decline. Any info he gains could be useful for Shido-san!
The trains here are strange, and before he knows it, he's arrived in Shibuya station, stepping out alongside a sea of cognitions, carefully avoiding bumping into one; a habit he's gotten quite good at, since he is a little... more sturdy than the average human. He allows himself to follow them as they go out to the streets, before he finds a quieter corner to himself. His scanners don't pick up sight of Raven quite yet- maybe the boy has yet to arrive.
With his ever-polite smile painted on his face, he leans against the outer wall of the station entrance. Raven probably won't be long- or maybe he set up Falcon, and is making him wait for nothing. Not undeserved, really- but that's a rather mean-spirited reading of the situation. He knows himself, he's not the type to do that, even if Raven is... a child. He doesn't think he'd do that, didn't seem the type either.
For now, all he can do is wait, so he does. He has nothing to lose from doing so, after all.
Raven's message had been... curious, to say the least.
Falcon's still not sure what to make of it; he clearly hurt Raven quite a lot, and nearly killed him- a child- over bad-mouthing Shido. Not that he could help it, but still...
Perhaps he wants to pledge his eternal loyalty to Shido-san this time! We did show what a great man Shido-san was, after all!
... Right. Not likely.
Really now, he'd rather get this over with as quickle as possible. He doesn't even know why this couldn't have been done over text, but he's already agreed to meet up in Shibuya. Not that he could really refuse; no schedule means no excuse means no reason to politely decline. Any info he gains could be useful for Shido-san!
The trains here are strange, and before he knows it, he's arrived in Shibuya station, stepping out alongside a sea of cognitions, carefully avoiding bumping into one; a habit he's gotten quite good at, since he is a little... more sturdy than the average human. He allows himself to follow them as they go out to the streets, before he finds a quieter corner to himself. His scanners don't pick up sight of Raven quite yet- maybe the boy has yet to arrive.
With his ever-polite smile painted on his face, he leans against the outer wall of the station entrance. Raven probably won't be long- or maybe he set up Falcon, and is making him wait for nothing. Not undeserved, really- but that's a rather mean-spirited reading of the situation. He knows himself, he's not the type to do that, even if Raven is... a child. He doesn't think he'd do that, didn't seem the type either.
For now, all he can do is wait, so he does. He has nothing to lose from doing so, after all.
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The golden dragon complies, showering the party with more Salvation. A pity it's not enough to break Call of Chaos, but at the very least, it should ease the damage from Heat Wave.
He cannot allow this clusterfuck to get any worse.
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A fist to the solar plexus drove the breath out of his lungs. One palm at center of mass, another grabbing his arm, twist, and throw- and let Eva freeze him to the ground.
"Deal with that problem later Everyone! Hold fast! He's getting desperate and nearing the end! It's almost over!"
Don't mind her, she's just. Going to move to assist Crow in not getting stabbed.
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"Get the fuck off me! Go tackle MAGPIE—I HATE you—I'll RIP YOUR HEART OUT THROUGH YOUR BEAK, PHOENIX—"
yeah, their mothers' deaths mentioned
Someone, no two, disappeared off her screen, they weren’t dead, not yet. She can read dead bodies fine. This wasn’t it. It was like they teleported away, that might have actually happened. If the damn bird hadn’t covered her eyes then she could fucking actually give them a little bit of help and back up. If it wasn’t for the fact she didn’t think anyone else could handle this on their own then she’d be one of the first on the line to fight this fucking bot. Fuck him. Fuck Shido.
The next thing she felt was a hit to her. To her. She heard Ren losing it, but barred her teeth, shooting a warning shot out in whichever direction the hit came from, watching her screen to make sure she didn't shoot anyone. It would be a pain to have to heal them at this point. She really didn’t want that to happen right now. Not when she didn’t know that she would heal them.
When did she start laughing? Why was it all her ears could hear? Who the fuck cared? She was tired of playing nice, tired of trying to appease to their ideals, Ren fucking knew how much of a monster she was, Crow heard about some of it, it wasn't like she had really any opinions about the others. She noticed some hit on Ren, it wasn't a spell or anything, probably him punching someone, but damn that fucking made her more pissed.
She was so close to hitting the pause download button, letting his systems overwhelm each other, forcing him to shut down. She wanted to. She wanted to tear him apart. Damn the part of her that cared for anyone with her brother's face. If he hadn't share it, if he had shared Ren's. She wouldn't fucking care, but no he was made in Goro's image. It was a foolproof method against her. She might deck Goro for causing this fucking weakness. If it wasn’t for that she could have handled things on her own long ago. She would have made a different plan and make Shido on his fucking knees begging for a quick death, but he didn’t deserve it. That’s the luxury their mothers had gotten. One shot and it was over.
All of their problems were that man. She should have taken the shot when she had that chance. This might be a stupid decision but she needed to fucking see. So she dropped down, leaving her persona attached to him, gun and knife drawn.
“Get your hands off my god damn brother, Crow!” Her grip tightened on her knife, her personal choice of weaponry.
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He growls out, "Helel." And so a new Persona appears, almost statuesque in his angelic beauty. "Physical attacks won't hurt me, and I have no desire to hurt you. Now, are you all going to fucking calm down?"
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[E̴R̶R̸O̷R̶:̷ H̸E̷A̷V̴Y̵ ̷D̷A̶M̷A̸G̶E̷ ̸S̸U̶S̵T̴A̶I̵N̸E̶D̴]
[E̸R̶R̷O̵R̷:̸ ̵ALL S̶Y̴S̸T̴E̸M̶S̴ ̴F̵A̶I̴L̸I̴N̵G̸]
[A̸B̵O̷R̵T̵ ̵O̶R̶G̸I̴A̵ ̴M̴O̶D̴E̸?̶
̵Y̶
̷>̷N̷ ]
[O̷V̵E̸R̵R̶I̵D̵D̴E̶N̶]
[A̸B̸O̷R̴T̶I̸N̷G̷ ̸O̸R̵G̴I̸A̶ ̷M̴O̷D̷E̶]
With a whining, metallic screech, Unit #018 comes to a juddering halt, smoke rising from from its limbs, mouth, from every place smoke can possibly escape. It twitches and jerks, as if attempting to keep going, but there's a distinct clicking sound, and its remaining good arm falls uselessly next to its body.
"M̵e̶-̷m̵e̴-̵g̷i̶d̸o̴-̴l̶a̴-̸l̷a̶-̴l̷a̵-̴l̷a̸o̶n̶-n̵n̶-n̸," it stutters, the word drawn out and glitched, and Loki obeys, but the spell goes wide, purple-white explosions going off randomly without a target in mind. It tries to take a step forwards, limbs shuddering and spasming, but one of legs gives out, dropping it to its knees with a terrible clunk.
[D̴O̷W̷N̵L̵O̸A̵D̸ ̴C̵O̴M̸P̸L̴E̸T̷E̸]
[R̵U̷N̷N̴I̴N̴G̵ ̴"gitgudloser.exe"]
For a moment, Unit #018's eyes brighten, awareness returning, but just as soon, its eyes dampen again, the combination of Orgia Mode, Call of Chaos, and the general damage done to it finally taking its toll.
[E̶R̸R̷O̴R̵:̵ ̷S̵Y̶S̷T̵E̸M̵S̷ ̴D̶A̶M̶A̷G̶E̶D̷]
[E̷M̸E̴R̷G̶E̴N̷C̴Y̵ ̷S̷H̷U̴T̶D̴O̶W̷N̵ ̷I̷N̸I̶T̶I̶A̶T̵E̴D̷]
"S̷h̴-̷s̴h̴u̵t̵t̵i̵n̸g̵ ̴d̷o̶-̷o̸o̷o̸o̵w̴n̴n̷n̷n̸n̶.̵.̶.̴" it says, the words horribly glitched with a slowly lowering pitchs as they leave its mouth.
Then, its eyes go grey completely, and without ceremony, it teeters forwards and falls to the ground with an echoing thunk.
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It's enough for Crow to get off of Ren, and though Helel's physical immunity is useful, that's not what they need right now.
"Kohryu." The dragon returns. "Samarecarm, then Salvation. Include the robot this time. And I swear to god, if the rest of you still want to fight, I will see to it personally that you are knocked out before you do anything stupid."
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She went back on the task at hand, she was definitely going hunting later. She ran an external check on the bot, seemed he was alive still. He most likely just overheated. If anyone other than Ren stepped near them, she couldn't promise she wouldn't stab them.
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...
...
Rebooting systems... Please stand by...
Reboot successful.
Timestamped: dd/mm/yy ??.??.??
Error. Date and time unknown
Error. Systems overheating. Please stand by until cooler temperatures are reached.
Falcon's eyes flutter open as a wave of healing magic hits him, his deep, maroon eyes coming into view as he tilts his head up haltingly, only to drop it down again with a groan as error reports pop up in his head, his fans spinning audibly. Nope. Too hot. Can't think right now, call back later.
He feels hazy on how he overheated so much- he activated Orgia Mode? He thinks? There was a sense of... betrayal? Is that why? But his systems are still too hot to pull up the relevant memory files and view them, so instead he just lays there, waiting until he doesn't feel like a stuttering old laptop trying to run the newest high fidelity software.
Nope. No thinking for now. He'll sort out how he feels about everything in a minute or so, when his fans are done cooling him down.
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"Try and relax, I'll help cool you down." She said softly. The first time she was calm, only due to her task.
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No. He stalks over to Futaba instead and looms behind her, shoving his mask up onto his head beneath his hood so everyone can see the fierce warning glare he sweeps across the gathering. You'll stay the fuck away from her if you know what's good for you, says the expression, but he's not trying to attack Phoenix anymore or screaming his lungs out, so that's... something, anyway.
Then he turns his gaze on Falcon, if, indeed, it is Falcon in front of them again and not a mindless death robot. He'll believe Falcon is himself when he sees some proof. And although he believes in Futaba's code, all kinds of things could have gone wrong with implementing it. Or maybe Falcon's uninhibited self is also hostile. In short, they don't know if Falcon himself is safe. His hand rests on his gun.
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Phoenix staggered to his feet, murder in his eyes- but his breathing was slowing down, his expression calming.
Renee glanced at Ren, searching for a moment as if affirming that he wasn't still under Call of Chaos's sway, before returning to her guest's side.
"Look at me. You do not get to beat yourself up over this, Birdbrain. I mean it. You weren't in your right mind."
He drew a breath. Released it. Nobody had been seriously hurt, thanks to Crow. It'd only lasted a few seconds. "Okay."
He glanced around, taking stock of the situation. "Thank you, Crow. This didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but without you here, it would've gone a lot worse. Is anyone still hurt? I really hate that fucking spell."
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As such, Crow turns to the recovering robot. "...Raven is sorry, by the way. I don't believe any of us wished to harm you in such a way, and I think a majority of us can understand the cruel sting of betrayal. We acted out of... I'm not certain if 'necessity' is a fair way to put it, but we knew that a straightforward approach would have ended in failure."
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"Is Raven okay? I mean I know he isn't, but is he physically unhurt?"
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And so, like Ren, he directs his attention to Falcon, waiting for his next move.
oh yeah. he's having a panic attack babes
"Straightforward approach?" he replies to Crow's words, mind still catching up. "Your plan?" he asks Phoenix, "what are you...?"
Wait. Metaverse. This is the Metaverse. His scanners confirm it. Why are they in the Metaverse? His brows furrow, putting some extra processing power behind recovering his memory files to speed up the process-
-oh.
Flashes of a fight, of not being in control, of- of- someone (Futaba, it had to be Futaba) crawling into his systems, pushing itself inside of him, forcing files in, changing him from the inside out-
In less than a second, he's gone from lying prone to hastily flipping backwards and away from the group, putting distance between himself and them, eyes wide open and systems running at top speed. They hacked him. They tricked him. Raven- Raven didn't want to talk to him, not at all, how fucking stupid can he be? They fucking hacked him, and he doesn't know what exactly they did- and-
And-
What is... why isn't he...
Why doesn't his body...?
He's... not... immediately shooting at them?
"What the fuck," he says, out loud. There is no filter. There is no polite tone. There is nothing buzzing angrily in his mind.
Cautiously, he lifts his hand up, staring at it. The caps on his fingers are in place. His battle protocols aren't running- not quite yet. He's ready to put them to action with less than a thought but they're not- they're not being forced-
He- he feels like he should be happy. Elated, even, and in a way, he is, a shock of static electricity sending a shiver up his spine. He blinks. Opens and closes his hand. He's not in disguise.
But- but-
Instead, horror pools in his soul, head lifting towards the group again, his stance shifting into something more... defensive. Almost scared, though everything in his expression denies it. A scan reveals a foreign file in his systems, next to Shido's bug. He can't interact with it. He can't- can't do anything to it, it sits there, running in the background, the phantom sensation of tendrils pushing around in his mind-
"What did you do to me," he hisses, because even if this doesn't seem to be doing anything harmful now-
He remembers the first time Shido's goons booted him up, alright. He won't be fooled.
"What the fuck did you put into me?! Answer me now!"
His fingers flex, not quite uncapping the protective covers yet, but ready to do so at a moment's notice. Everything inside him is on high alert, HUD displaying the strengths and weaknesses of everyone before him, just in case- but is that to be trusted? What if they fundementally fucked him up, what if they made him into their little butlerbot, what if-
"Don't look at me like that," he snarls, "tell me what the fuck you did!"
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"Took away Shido's restraints. That's all, and you have my word on that. Right, Futaba? Look- all of us know what Masayoshi Shido is like. Really like, not what he shows to the media. Half of us know, personally, what it's like to be under his thumb. One of us died at his hand. Every single person here came here to help you get away from that."
"I am... truly sorry it went down like this. Based on how you reacted when the subject of the Metaverse came up, and Shido, and everything else- there wasn't a way I could think of to get your consent for this. It was the best of a lot of shitty options."
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He doesn't draw a weapon or summon Veles; nothing has quite called for it, and the situation is fraught enough without him escalating it. But his hand tightens on his holstered gun, and unlike Phoenix, who seems to be trying out an apologetic angle, he watches Falcon in grim silence.
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"You have an internal log of everything. You can check against what I say. Then I need to run a few tests to make sure you are running properly."
She couldn't exactly do what she did best for people to relax. That wasn't possible for a robot. She didn't know if he could feel.
"I implemented a file, one that treated Shido's like malware, isolating it and everything it controlled. Then deleting it. The new file now provides you with a detailed explanation of what someone does to you, an option to over ride it yourself, which means we can't do this again. That means Shido can't either."
The next step was something Ren really wouldn't like. So she took a breath. "Falcon, I need you to use your persona and attack me, but don't kill me. Then switch and do the same. The other test is smaller and just a simple say 'fuck shido.'" Then she smiled widely, not like someone who just asked to be attacked.
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If Futaba had said that ten seconds sooner, it would've all been over; the lingering effects of Call of Chaos would've had Ren calling Veles down to destroy Falcon before he could touch her. He's more in his right mind now, better able to process, but even so, he's not fucking happy.
"Nee-san, does it have to be you?" he says in a halfhearted attempt at an undertone. "You're exhausted. I can take a couple hits." He wants to say, Don't you fucking dare; if you have to attack someone, attack me. But he has a bad feeling that the test isn't whether Falcon can attack one of them but whether he can attack Futaba, specifically.
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Ergo, he would be the ideal target. In fact, he eyes Falcon wryly. "Perhaps it would even help you blow off some steam, given the circumstances."
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dead mom mention, also continuing to panic
He quickly runs a scan of the file again, pulling open folders, files, and... it checks out, what she's saying. There's a new log, and when he looks inside,there's a brief rundown on what was done to him. What changed, what got deleted, what got added.
It sounds like she's telling the truth.
He doesn't trust it for even a second.
What's in this for them? For any of them? They lied to him before- why wouldn't they now? They ambushed him. Lured him into a trap to, what, get rid of Shido's bug and nothing else? He doesn't even know them that well- he thought he and Phoenix might have had some sort of alliance, sure, but what does any of that mean in a fleeting world like this?
His head feels full. His limbs feel heavy. They fucking hacked him. Nobody roots around in his brain without some ulterior motive. The Kirijo Group did. Shido's goons did. Isshiki did.
Who's to say they didn't plant that log? That it's a distraction? A fake-out? They have pretty words, and yes, Shido's bug seems to be gone, but at what cost? What's the catch? And there is a catch. He fucking knows there is. There always is.
"Attack you?" he laughs hollowly, his fingers twitching as he grows more and more anxious. His Plume of Dusk feels like it might explode, buzzing in his throat-
He's not going to let them just- just do whatever the fuck they want to him. He's not. He doesn't know why she wants him to attack her, but it can't be good, no matter what she claims. He's not- he's not staying here to find out what she has in store for him.
"Robin," he hisses, and the Persona appears behind him. He raises his hand towards Futaba, as if going to attack her, but then-
"Trafuri."
With a wisp of magic, Robin surrounds Falcon with a blue light, and suddenly, he's gone. Not far, of course- Robin just teleported him out of their sight, landing on top of one of the buildings surrounding Kaneshiro's Palace. Despite himself, his arms are shaking, fans spinning audibly.
"Estoma," he whispers, and once again, Robin's magic surrounds him, cloaking him in magical camouflage.
With all that done, he slides down against the edge of the wall, hidden behind an airco unit, out of immediate sight and invisible to scanners ans sensors, his legs failing him. He can't- he can't fucking think, his mind zeroing in on the new file again and again and filling him with dread, horror, anger. All his scanners are active, Loki humming in the back of his mind as he keeps track of the group. Robin brushes against him inside his soul, sending out waves of comforting energy, but it just disappears in the haze of dread, of fury.
No matter what he does, the new file won't delete. He can't isolate it. It's just there, just like Shido's bug. No matter what they claim, it feels wrong and intrusive.
He misses his mom. So fucking much.
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Not that he expects everyone to be on board. The important thing now is that it's over.
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