#either a murder or a kis is incoming

[rayactive-factory]

✦🌊✨🌠🌟✨🌊✦

#sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonadow #super transformations #they are sharing secrets #either a murder or a kis is incoming #sketchbook #old repost

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #173: Sherlock Holmes

Yes we’re going out of order, but I have a very good reason for this! ...Well, not really. We were already in the geniuses section, and any excuse to not think about summer while it’s still 40 degrees out is one I’m going to take.

Anyway, today we’re making the man famous for discombobulation, Sherlock Holmes! Track down mysteries, show up everyone else in the party, and kick ass with Baritsu. Easy stuff.

Check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Next up: Chaldea’s other resident genius.

Race and Background

There are some theories about Sherlock’s race, but for simplicity’s sake we’ll call you a Variant Human, giving you +1 Dexterity and Wisdom. You also get Sleight of Hand proficiency for some close-up detective work, and the Keen Mind feat, giving you +1 Wisdom, the ability to always point north, perfect time telling, and the ability to recall anything from the last month in-game, a.k.a. the DM’s nightmare.

You know a lot yourself, but you also know how to build and maintain an archive, so the closest background to match would be the Cloistered Scholar background, giving you proficiency in Nature and Religion. Arcana and history would suit you better, but I’ve got something in mind for that, and good things come to those who wait.

Ability Scores

As you’d probably expect, your Wisdom and Intelligence are pretty freaking high. You are Sherlock Holmes after all. You’re pretty strong, but the reason you’re so scary in a fight is because of your technique, so we’re going with Dexterity here instead. You snort cocaine like it’s going out of style, so your Constitution has to be able to keep up. This does mean your Strength is a bit low, but you’re practically an anime protagonist, there are some things we just can’t get in a balanced build. Finally, dump Charisma. Half the reason you drag Guda along on your cases is to talk people out of thinking you’re the murderer, honestly it’s kind of embarrassing.

Class Levels

1. Rogue 1: You’re a skilled guy, and rogues get skills for days. You get proficiencies in Dexterity and Intelligence saves, as well as four skills- Deception for disguises, and Insight, Investigation, and Perception for cases and clue-catching. You also get Expertise in two skills, doubling their proficiency bonus. Right off the bat I’d suggest Insight and Investigation so you can hopefully get to the bottom of things quickly. Foiling a plan at the last second is thrilling and all, but utterly shutting down a villain is so satisfying.

To help with that, you can use a Sneak Attack once per turn if you’re using a ranged or finesse weapon and either have advantage against a target or a friend within 5′ of them. You also learn Thieves’ Cant, it’s a language that will be especially helpful when you have to navigate the criminal underbelly of a city.

2. Monk 1:None of that was Baritsu though, so we’re bouncing over to monk for some Martial Arts. You can use Dexterity instead of Strength on monk weapons (this does not make them finesse), and spending an action to attack with one also lets you make an unarmed attack as a bonus action. Your unarmed and monk weapon attacks also do at least a 1d4 of damage.

You also get Unarmored Defense, making your AC 10 plus your dexterity modifier plus your wisdom modifier. I don’t care how hot it looks, that corset isn’t armor.

3. Cleric 1: Last multiclass, I swear. Since you can literally make clues appear like magic, we kinda need a bit of magic. Clerics get Spells that they cast and prepare using their Wisdom, which you might have noticed is becoming a pretty important ability for you.

If you want clues, you’ll need knowledge, at least enough to know that the Knowledge domain can help with that. At first level you gain the Blessings of Knowledge, making you proficient in History and Arcana and doubling those proficiencies as well (hey, see what I said about waiting?).

You get three cantrips for joining the clergy, Light gives you some of those cool magnifying spotlights you carry around, Thaumaturgy for some parlor tricks, and Guidance for when you really have to focus.

For first level spells, Command gives you a basic command spell, and Identify teaches you all about the magic affecting an item or creature. Normally that would be more of a research montage, but some times you’re in a hurry. 

As far as actually prepared spells go, anything with “Detect” in the name is a good pick.

4. Rogue 2: Now that we’ve got our spread, let’s build some of these classes up. Second level rogues can make Cunning Actions, Dashing, Disengaging, or Hiding as a bonus action. If you already spent your action rifling through someone’s files and they’re about to burst into the room, you’ll thank me.

5. Rogue 3: There’s really only two possible picks for your subclass, and we’re saving the Mastermind for Moriarty. As an Inquisitive, you have an Ear for Deceit, giving your Insight rolls a minimum of 8 on the die. On top of that, your Eye for Detail lets you make Perception and Investigation checks as a bonus action, further speeding up the process. On top of that, your Insightful Fighting uses your bonus action to make an Insight check versus a creature’s Deception check. On a success, you don’t need advantage to make sneak attacks against that creature for up to a minute. Finally, your Steady Aim uses your bonus action to get advantage on an attack if you don’t move that turn. I’d just use your insightful fighting, but your rival might push you to your limit.

This is a lot of stuff to do on your bonus action, and it’s only going to get worse from here.

6. Monk 2: Back at the school of Baritsu, you gain Ki Points that you can spend to make two unarmed attacks, dodge, disengage, or dash as a bonus action. Doing either of the latter two also doubles your jump distance for the turn. You also gain Unarmored Movement, increasing your movement speed by 10 feet while not wearing armor.

7. Monk 3: We need the most technique in the fewest levels, so that means we’re turning to the Way of the Open Hand once more. Your Open Hand Technique gives extra benefits to your flurry of blows. On each hit, the creature either can’t take reactions for a round, must succeed on a dexterity save or be knocked prone, or must make a strength save or be pushed 15′ away.

You can also Deflect Missiles as your reaction, catching an incoming attack and reducing its damage, possibly sending it back at the enemy if you bring it down to 0.

8. Monk 4: Our first Ability Score Improvement will instead be used to make you Observant, bumping up your Wisdom by 1, giving you +5 to passive perception and investigation, and allowing you to read lips. You can also Slow Fall as a reaction to take less fall damage. Hey, any help to survive the Reichenbach is well appreciated.

9. Rogue 4: Back in rogue now, your second ASI is going towards your Dexterity for stronger and more effective attacks, as well as a higher AC. 17′s pretty good for a corset.

10. Rogue 5: Fifth level rogues get an Uncanny Dodge, allowing you to react to an incoming attack and halve the damage. 

11. Cleric 2: You didn’t think we forgot about this one, did you? Knowledge clerics get two Channel Divinity options each short rest. Turn Undead is your bog standard option, or you can gain the Knowledge of the Ages, spending an action to gain proficiency in one skill or tool for 10 minutes. Protagonist powers, activate!

12. Cleric 3: Third level cleric, second level spells. Suggestion is a more open ended command spell, and Augury is more “telling the future” than deduction. That being said, you do get Calm Emotions to keep your cool, as well as Find Traps, Locate Object, and Zone of Truth. 

13. Rogue 6: You know I’m a sucker for quadrupling things, so for this round of Expertise double up on History and Perception. You’re good at everything, but especially current events.

14. Rogue 7: At this level you get the powerful Evasion feature, turning your failed dexterity saves to avoid damage into successes and successes into no damage at all.

15. Rogue 8: Use this ASI to bump up your Intelligence. It’s a shame we had to wait this long for it, but better late than never.

16. Rogue 9: Your Steady Eye gives you advantage on perception and investigation checks as long as you’re moving at half speed. Unless your DM’s really keen on mapping out rp situations, this is pretty much permanent advantage.

17. Rogue 10: Another ASI, another bump to Intelligence. Does it really do anything? Probably not, but you can feel smug about it regardless.

18. Rogue 11: Your Reliable Talent means you skill rolls are always 10 or greater on checks you’re proficient with. And thanks to your knowledge of the ages, you can be proficient in just about anything.

19. Rogue 12: Use your last ASI to max out your Wisdom for more AC, stronger spells, and more skilled Baritsu.

20. Rogue 13: Your capstone ability is your Unerring Eye, an action to sense illusions, shapechangers, and the like around you. You can sense something’s off, but will have to investigate yourself. You can use this a number of times per long rest equal to your wisdom modifier.

Pros

Your minimum rolls in Insight and Investigation are 27 and 26 respectively, making you an ace detective. Your ability to root out lies, plus your photographic memory, will make any mystery you play through a breeze. (You the player still have to connect the dots, though.) Also, literally being able to see through illusions is a big plus.

Maxed out wisdom also means your open hand techniques are as strong as possible, giving you a good amount of battlefield control to beat down enemies and push them around.

Knowledge of the Ages plus Reliable Talent equals you being really good at everything when you need to be, and you’re much faster a switching things up than Hundred Personas. 

Cons

Since we only splashed into monk, your baritsu isn’t that great an option for damage. It also comes with the caveat that you can’t use your sneak attack unarmed, so you will have to carry the murder weapon around with you.

Despite being a melee fighter, your hp is pretty low, making straight confrontations a bad idea.

We really wanted Unerring Eye, but as a consequence we could only get a couple levels of the other classes. This means your ki points and spell slots are rather limited. But I mean, you’re Sherlock freaking Holmes, you’ll know when you need to use them and when you don’t.

#Fate Grand Order #fgo #D&D 5e #Sherlock Holmes #Fate and Phantasms #Rogue #Monk #Cleric

[shararsblog]

Bharatiya Janata party celebrates selection of Basavaraj Bommai as Karnataka chief minister as gangwars continue unabated on the streets of Bengaluru.

(03/08/2021)

Prime minister Narendra Modi and BJP should not celebrate Bommai's elevation to chief minister's post, they should be mourning for the pitiful state that so called world class city Bengaluru is in today. And predecessor Yeddyurappa's failure to free Bangalore from gangsters grip.

Basavaraj Bommai - New Chief Minister of Karnataka.

So finally the BJP parliamentary board on Yeddyurappa's recommendation choose Basavaraj Bommai as CM. That the chief minister's responsibility is towards all the cities within the state, but in Karnataka's case the problem of one city Bengaluru has been gigantic more than compared to cities like Hubli-Dharwad Mangaluru, Mysuru, Belgaum and others. And 61 year old mechanical engineering graduate Mr Bommai is well versed with Bengaluru's problems and who better than him, as he was the home minister before. And as rowdies go on wreaking havoc in city, my question is who is going to stop them? The hardworking family of Bengaluru and poor people who are struggling to provide the best for their families have completely lost faith in the Bengaluru police and it is they who get caught in the cross hairs of these gangsters. Can the new chief minister end the rowdies menace in Bengaluru? Can Basavaraj Bommai make a difference and show he has it in him to wipe out the rowdies from Bengaluru's every nook and corner unlike his predecessors Yeddyurappa, Kumaraswamy, Siddaramaiah, Jagadish Shettar and SM Krishna who were mere fence sitter chief minister's.

Why are the Bengaluru police hesitating to go in an aggressive mode against the gangsters? One reason here can be attributed to lack of support from the chief minister or home minister, and the political patronage provided by politicians to criminals. 6 out of every 10 MLA's in Karnataka assembly have links with notorious rowdies in their own constituencies. BJP on its part cannot wash hands off its sins here, because BJP is the party in power in Karnataka and Amit Shah holds the home portfolio here in central government. But the shame and irony within BJP remains and so does lawlessness in Bengaluru. The only good thing that Amit Shah has done in his capacity as home minister is to target opposition parties in rule in states like Kerala, West Bengal etc. He has continuously targeted West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee over law and order issues in Bengal and goondaism by Trinamool Congress leaders, true that TMC leaders have indulged in goondaism and also urged it's party workers to create terror, but Mr. Shah before pointing fingers at others, you should first clear garbage in your own backyard. Amit Shah being the home minister of central government, you are right in your concerns of lawlessness in West Bengal, but what about the lawlessness in Bengaluru in Karnataka.

Also police reforms which needs to undergo a gigantic change here in India despite the Supreme court of India clearly stating that it be done at the earliest, the Modi government seems unperturbed and casual in its approach. Police reforms are a slew of measures that need to be undertaken to break the police-criminal nexus at lower ranks and many more problems in police department. But despite the police reforms remaining unchanged, that cannot be the yardstick of excuse for police commissioners for failure to bring down crime in their respective cities. In my view the police chiefs leave Bengaluru city but in any part of the world, their foremost priority should be to bring down crime to zero, if not zero but at the level at least where people can breath easy and feel safe, they must instill fear in the minds of criminals for law enforcement agencies, and above all no political interference in working of police. All these things are completely missing in Bengaluru. Its high time Bengaluru's police stop flexing their muscles on innocent public, I wish they take on rowdies seriously. Because the rowdies of Bengaluru have gone beyond the police lathis, it has no more effect on them, the only language they understand now is the language of bullets. Also we need to understand here that the servants learn what their masters teach. Now look at how much rotten subsequent Karnataka governments have become in terms of corruption, either it is congresses Siddaramaiah who was the chief minister or Kumaraswamy's tenure as CM and BJP's Yeddyurappa, these very Chief minister's who before elections blabbered about good governance, various schemes for poor people and other promises, once they got elected showed their true colours. For instance, post covid and the brutal second wave that led to lockdown all over India, in Karnataka things have come to such a pathetic state, that police have been entrusted with imposing fines on people without masks, I have no objection in them imposing fines for those without masks, but when these very politicians and their rowdy party workers did break the covid protocol by not following rules, the same police remained mute spectators. So law in Karnataka is only for common public the minister's, rowdies are free to break law. The police machinery in Bengaluru has been turned into hafta collection force more than law enforcement force. Increasing harrasement of motorists by Bengaluru's traffic police for fines, is another indication of frustration of Karnataka government. That the biggest investors in real estate industry in Bengaluru have been the Karnataka's politicians and it is not a hidden secret. Malls, flats and commercial complexes in every nook and corner of Bengaluru city, you name it and some other minister's, MLA'S are involved in investment. Also Bengaluru being an IT hub the main buyers or customers for real estate sector are the software professionals, post lockdown many of these IT employees played safe by not buying these properties, also those who came to Bangalore from other states went back to their homes as companies started work from home policy. And new upcoming real estate projects with huge investments by politicians faced the brunt, with construction work stopped and losses to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees. Now this has resulted in more frustration for government with fresh property registrations going down in huge numbers and extremely low income from real estate market. The frustrated Karnataka government has now taken to loot the public through police, by way of targeting motorists, for false traffic violations, wearing of masks etc, whereas rowdies have a field day on the streets of Bengaluru.

Also when I am saying false traffic violation cases, people may say it as an exaggeration of comment, but this is the fraud being committed by Bengaluru traffic cops for some time now. An incidence of proof of this fraud by police, was highlighted by my own family member, whose friend who had been staying in France for close to three months on his return back to India, received a slew of messages from Bengaluru traffic police for violations relating to traffic in various areas within Bangalore, irony as it is when the concerned person was not even present in India, just look at the desparate attempt to loot the public by the police and government. This is just a tip of the ice berg in corruption within Bangalore police. So deep rooted has the rot of corruption become in Karnataka state, that not just the Police department but even BBMP, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has officials neck deep in corruption, I will come to the blog on irregularities in BBMP later on.

Left to right: Karnataka state BJP affairs incharge Arun Singh, former Chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and newly appointed CM Basavaraj Bommai.

Also Arun Singh the incharge for BJP party affairs in Karnataka needs to urgently address the happenings in Bengaluru to Prime minister Narendra Modi, if BJP on its part is serious in removing the dent on reputation of the city, which has happened not only at national level but at international level too, then they should take steps to turn it into a world class city as claimed by Yeddyurappa which in reality is not, also focus on one objective to end rowdies menace which has spread its ugly tentacles throughout Bengaluru.

(Above news of crime in 'Times of India' edition Bengaluru section dated 29th July 2021). Complete Lawlessness: Rowdy Harish Kumar who was murdered by his rivals in broad daylight.

Prime minister Narendra Modi who on every Sunday gives his opinion to the people of India through government run 'Doordarshan' channel titled, 'maan ki baat' is far away from reality of problems that the public faces. His speech can best be described as chest thumping of his governments scheme's, though there is nothing wrong in the prime minister of a country reach out to people and air the good work done by govt and it's benefits to the people, but will the prime minister be transparent and speak out his maan ki baat about the rising crime graph in Bengaluru? His own party rules Karnataka and his own partyman former Chief minister Yeddyurappa has called Bengaluru as a world class city. So honourable prime minister, what does your inner subconscious mind tells you? Do you agree with Mr. Yeddyurappa's comments? Prime minister Modi you need to rise above politics first, and talk about increasing lawlessness in your own party ruled state. But despite my severe criticism of BJP rule in Karnataka and it's failure of law and order in Bangalore, I must admit that Narendra Modi is the best prime minister India has had till date. Uri surgical strike and Balakot airstrikes go on to prove that he stood by his words before coming to power, about befitting reply to Pakistan, also aggressive combing operations in Jammu and Kashmir to flush out Pakistani terrorist's, shows the free hand given to Indian army by Prime minister Modi. The result in the past 2 years the highest number of Jaish and Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist's including their top commanders have been killed. So PM Narendra Modi has delivered on his promise of hammering terrorist's, the result today we see is Pakistan became wary and quiet and Kashmir largely peaceful. So his efficiency in fighting terrorism has been largely successful, but when it comes to rising crime graph within India, and especially Bengaluru the Modi government has failed miserably. Now that Bengaluru is officially India's crime capital, looking at Bharatiya Janata party and it's leaders lethargic attitude, the city will very soon become the world's no 1 crime city.

#bengaluru police #bengaluru #politics #karnataka bjp #bs yeddyurappa #kamal pant #crime news #bengaluru crime #basavaraj bommai #karnataka #karnataka politics

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Supercorp SAO AU, Pt 3

Kara hasn't ever met Lena's husband. Honestly, she isn't entirely sure Lena has either. He's never home, Lena's apartment very much her own from the art to the books to the furniture. If not for the occasional tabloid photo, the wedding portrait on Lena's mantel, and the rings on her left hand, Kara might have assumed the husband to be a specter to dissuade would-be suitors. Even so, she can't help but notice the way Lena's smile dims when she sees his number on her phone during movie night. "It's nothing," Lena says, when Kara works up enough nerve to mention it. "He likes to pick fights. I used to enjoy the debates we'd have, but lately... I don't know. It doesn't feel like debate anymore. And at the end of the day I don't have the energy for it." Over the weeks and months, Kara learns about him in bits and pieces. That he was a friend of Lex's, and that they fell in love over the course of several summers. That he had his own tech company, who had just migrated to a new market on another continent, hence his absence. One time, Kara arrives to movie night to hear Lena almost shouting into her phone. Her tone is the kind Kara only heard once in all their time in Aincrad-- when she'd been on the verge of committing murder, against a player who had nearly poisoned Kara to death. Dark, menacing, and inhumanly cold. 

"Come anywhere near my company again, and I will slap you with enough lawsuits to keep you and your pathetic excuse for a firm underwater for the next thirty years. Do you understand me?" She barely pauses long enough for her victim to open their mouth before interrupting, her voice pitching even lower. "I said-- do. you. understand. I want to hear you say it."

Lena hasn't registered Kara's arrival yet, and so Kara shifts awkwardly as she waits, trying not to watch as Lena's lips twist into a cruel smirk. "Good boy." She ends the call shortly thereafter, and starts in surprise when she turns to find Kara standing in her foyer. "Kara! Gosh, you startled me!" She sounds like herself again, but Kara eyes her warily. "Is tonight a bad time? I can come back--" "Don't be ridiculous!" Lena beams, rolling her eyes. "Marital squabbles might be a bitch, but it'll take a lot more than that to keep us from movie night. What's on for tonight? Die Hard?" Before long, Kara is curled up against Lena's side on the couch, sharing a blanket as Bruce Willis yippee-ki-yays across the screen. The call lingers at the back of her mind, and she decides right then and there that if Lena's husband is someone who brings out that side of her.... he doesn't know Lena at all. Perhaps Kara's favorite part of their friendship is their party. It happens by accident-- Kara stumbles across her during a trial period of a new VR. She's an elf this time, and her username is Kieran, but her avatar still looks mostly like herself. "I didn't know you played," Kara says, scuffed her dwarven boot against the ground. She's a little hurt that Lena hasn't ever mentioned it. "I should have told you," Lena admits. "I'm sorry I didn't, but after what you told me about your time in SAO, I was worried if we connected in a game, I... I guess I worried I wouldn't measure up to her. It sounds really silly to say it out loud. I really cherish our friendship, Kara, and I was scared I might lose it if you spotted too many differences between us. Between me and her." Kara smiles, and throws her short, but strong arms around Lena and squeezes right. "Not possible." After that, they're inseperable in the VR world. They try new games together, and the nature of Lena's position grants Kara beta access to countless games still in development. They explore entire worlds together, and Kara finds that Lena needn't be worried at all. She is Lena. The Lena Kara loved in Aincrad didn't stray far from the template of her creator's personality and fighting style, and in VR Lena comes alive in a way she doesn't in the real world-- as though anything could top that. In VR Kara watches Lena lead raid parties with expert precision, sharp and intense but also warm and inviting. More than once Lena helps inexperienced players level up, and shares the secret spawn points for creatures that drop rare items. Kara misses Lena-in-Aincrad, misses what they shared together, but she loves this Lena, the whole of Lena, with her entire being. Eventually, they beta test ALO together, by virtue of the fact that Lena's husband headed the development team that produced the matrix for it. It's a world that rivals Aincrad in beauty and scale. Better yet, it allows magic use, and every race has the ability to fly. One day, they spend an afternoon simply flying through a rainstorm, dodging lightning bolts and collecting thunderbells to smith armor with. Somewhere between the rain on her skin and laughter that gets swallowed by thunder, Kara simply stops and watches as Lena loops into a tight corkscrew to snag an escaping ingot. Her grin is as bright as the lightning, and when their eyes meet Kara's chest tightens at the heated expectance that opens Lena's features into something intimately familiar. Before either of them can speak, the in-game alarm alerts them to the end of their scheduled session, Kara immediately wakes and rolls to her phone. I love you. She almost hits send, but the phone buzzes in her hand before her finger can tap the button. Not a bad way to spend the last day of beta, Lena texts, with pulsing dots following to warn of an incoming note. I think that might be my favorite quest so far. Catch you next rainstorm? Kara deletes her previous message. Launch Day is marked on my calendar. Can't wait. The pulsing dots appear and disappear several times before Lena's next message finally comes through. You're my favorite. Kara rolls over, clasping her phone to her pounding chest. As she drifts off to sleep, those three words sear themselves across the back of her eyelids. You're my favorite. --- "So when will you be back online?" Kara asks over the phone almost a month later. The ALO launch is coming up, and their standing date (it's not a date) looms in the back of Kara's mind. Across the line, Lena sighs. "I'm not sure." Lena's work has kept her busy since their night chasing lightning. They've barely spoken, let alone lunched or gamed. "Were still on for the ALO launch, though, right?" Silence answers her. In a rare moment of petulance, Kara pouts. "Lena, you promised." "Yeah," Lena breathes. "Yeah, you're right, I did. At this point it looks like I might be traveling that day, but I'll try to reschedule some things. I don't know how much time I can spare though." "That's okay!" Kara chirps, grabbing at the compromise with both hands. "I just want to see you. I miss you." "I miss you too, you have no idea." A rumble of voices on the other end cuts their time short. "Sorry, I have to go," Lena says. "But I'll do what I can, I promise." "Okay. See you then." From that night on, Kara counts down the days. When Launch Day dawns, Kara logs in immediately. She waits for hours, selecting an avatar that looks almost like herself. In fact it's  a dead ringer except for the white feathered wings that fold up snugly against her back, and unfurl between the slats of her armor. As she waits for Lena to log in, she experiments with her new wings (during beta, she'd chosen fairy wings), and revels in the power of every stroke. She feels the most like she did in Aincrad, and it feels like coming home. But as she waits, the faces who greet her aren't Lena's. She passes on joining other survivors for a commemorative hunt, even as the sun dips below the horizon, and in her heart she knows Lena won't make it. Still she waits. Just in case. When she finally logs out, Kara texts Lena, but sends only a frowning emoji. Then she turns it off and goes to sleep, determined to let whatever apology Lena sends sit unopened until she wakes. But no response is waiting for her when she gets up the next morning, and none comes for the entire week that follows. That week spreads to two, and then three. Kara's disappointment shifts to irritation when she assumes Lena is trying to avoid her after missing the launch, but then snaps to concern when even her calls go unanswered until her voicemail is too full to record any more. Something is wrong. She calls Lena's office, her assistant, sends countless emails, but gets nothing except a cagey brush off from Lena's assistant. When Kara goes to L-Corp herself, she's rebuffed at the door. "Orders came down from the top, Miss Danvers. You're no longer permitted in the building." "What? That's ridiculous! Lena wouldn't--" "You'll have to take that up with her, ma'am." "I'm TRYING." But to no avail. Kara gets nowhere, and is left bewildered and hurt and afraid for Lena who she can't quite believe would cut her out so abruptly. Alex doesn't have any advice to give her, except to be patient and keep trying. So all Kara can do is log in to ALO every night, and watch her friend list, praying that Lena will log in. She never does. Then, one night, Kara receives an anonymous message in her inbox. She doesn't know how a player could send an anonymous message, as the privacy on her inbox is set to friends only. Nevertheless, she opens it. "Meet me tomorrow night at 1am." It includes a National City address. She doesn't need Alex to tell her it's a bad idea. But her gut tells her it's about Lena-- maybe even Lena herself-- and so she goes to the location at the designated time with her heart in her throat. It's not Lena. Rather, it's her assistant, Jess. "Come with me," Jess tells her. Kara obeys, and after a furtive drive through the city, Jess leads her into a nondescript building that has more locked doors than Fort Knox. Finally, Jess swipes her security pass over the final sensor, and pushes into a room filled with medical equipment. For a moment, Kara sees her own hospital room, when she woke up from her SAO coma, filled with the same equipment. She's had this dream before. But the figure lying prone in the sterile bed isn't herself. It's Lena. "Oh my god." "She logged in the morning of the ALO launch," Jess informs her, her voice quiet. "She cleared her schedule for it. But she never woke up, and when we reviewed the game data, it never showed her syncing up to the game." Lena's features are slack inside the visor of the NervGear. When Kara takes her hand, her skin is cool, and waxy, like it isn't even human. But it is. Kara recognizes the scar on Lena's wrist, from a soldering accident when she was twelve. "I don't believe them," Jess murmurs. Kara blinks. "What?" "The new Nerv models are designed with multiple redundancies after the SAO incident. If she didn't connect, Lena would have woken up instantly." "Is it possible it could have been tampered with?" Jess shrugs. "Maybe. But the logistics of doing so without Lena noticing just aren't feasible." Kara regards her solemnly. "It sounds like you have an alternate theory." "It would be easier to alter the game data than tamper with the gear. Someone involved with the game's development would have easy access and ample opportunity." Someone involved in the game's development? Like... "Her husband?" "He's already assumed her seat on the board as interim chair. And he's already proposing changes Lena vetoed earlier this year. There enough members who agreed with Lena's veto that they've resisted him so far, but it won't be long before he wears them down." Rage burns low in Kara's belly. Bastard. Gritting her teeth, she meets Jess' gaze. The woman's face is well past angry-- she's exhausted, and at the end of her rope. It's clear that Kara is her last hail mary. "I'm going to lose my job the moment they find out I brought you here," Jess warns. "After that, I won't have any access. But I can't help her from here anyway." "You think she's trapped in the game," Kara surmises. Jess nods. "My guess is there's a backdoor that lets them control a small area of the game. To avoid detection by the moderating algorithms, they've probably built it into the context of the game-- an uncharted area that only becomes available after completing a legendary quest." Or clearing the final floor boss, Kara thinks bitterly. Her hand tightens on Lena's limp fingers. This is SAO all over again, except this time... This time, Lena is alone. "I've been searching every second I spend at home, but haven't found anything," Jess continues. "But I'm certain the answer to waking Lena up is in the game itself. That's why I reached out to you." Kara's head lifts sharply, surprised by the admission. Jess returns her gaze solemnly, her features hard. "If anyone can beat a broken game from the inside, it's you."

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#supercorp #sao au #angst #the plot thickens #supercorp endgame #does this count as slowburn?