A different kind of whale (Worm/FGO-based Gamer) Chapter 4

Chapter 4: 1-3 [Critical Hit]

January 2nd

Come next morning, a rather obvious problem with Csejte was made apparent. Namely, while the castle was a good base of operations, especially with Bounded Fields set up, it did not, exactly, come with the larders already filled. Which meant no breakfast for Outis, and no meals for the future until something was done about the fact. The Wraith which delivered the news, alongside staff’s apologies for the lack of breakfast, to her upon waking up managed to exude distress excellently in spite of her lack of clear features.

[New Objective: Supply run.]

[Rewards: 1 x Saint Quartz. Full larder. Well, fuller. ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???]

…She was going to ignore the implication of how the shopping trip would end up. At least for now.

Honestly, the only reason her morning wasn’t entirely ruined was that the bed was sinfully soft and that either Da’at or one of the Wraiths had gotten her out of the jacket and shoes after the Install timed out. Right, time to play manager. Or liege, rather. “Very well, bring me a backpack, failing that a sack. I will magick a solution. For that matter, is the larder fit with preservation or cooling enchantments?”

Looked like she’d need to go fetch groceries, it wasn’t like the Wraiths could get particularly far from the castle. Even if they could, sending them to go buy her the stuff sounded like a fantastic way to freak everyone out, nevermind help them trace her location.

The Wraith merely shook her head in lieu of speaking, once again bowing apologetically.

“Lead me there, I will fix it while someone fetches the bag.” Outis said as she hopped off the bed, violet light shrouded her so she landed on a sturdy pair of boots rather than her stocking-clad feet. “I will wake the young lady later, when everything is sorted and it is merely a question of if she wishes for something in particular from the market.”

The Wraith bowed yet again and led her out of the room and down the stairs, through the great hall and back into the keep proper. The morning sun didn’t do much to change the general ambience of Csejte, the castle still managing an impressive array of shadowy nooks and crannies even with sunlight filtering in. The larder itself was in the northern part of the castle, built slightly underground, if not properly an entire floor below, given it had a few wired windows in it. And, as the Wraith informed Outis, its stone shelves were empty, if perfectly spotless.

Hmm, for something like this– yes, best to inscribe on the ceiling. While it would be a bubble of magic at the end of the day, playing on the idea of it being draped over the room and its contents would play into the concepts behind the enchantments. Oh, and she could add a little something to mark expired food with a red glow! That’d be useful, even if she was pretty sure even END E was enough to shrug off food poisoning.

Now, triangular formation or pentagonal…

___________________________________________________________________________

“–the shadow play is simply incredible, y’know? Dunno how my ancestors managed without magic, Deerlet, but I have tried different colour schemes and different ways of lighting the corridors and they just…” Elizabeth giggled as she lounged on her throne sideways to allow space for her tail. An unexpected hiccup but she managed without missing a beat, even if it really hammered home the ‘spoiled teen noble girl’ vibe. “I suppose simple for the surroundings does it, when housing a star. Shame we can’t do anything for the staff being as they are. Bernadett here’s features were so lovely.” The teen Servant added with a sigh and a wave of her hand at the Wraith which had accompanied Outis since waking up and who bowed towards her mistress.

“Young lady is too kind.” The ghost replied, her voice echoing and muted, giving it stereotypically ethereal quality.

“Aye. Even if we somehow got a few bricks from the original castle, I wouldn’t know where to begin with solidifying them.” The Caster sighed with a shake of her masked head, the pools of violet light over her eyes turning into downturned crescents, “Maybe if the right Servant chooses to join us? Although I can’t think of anyone specialised in spirits off the top of my head. Circe, perhaps? Greek necromancy mainly deals with ghosts.”

[You do have Quartz to try and fish for the right experts.]

[You also have a lot of shopping to do.]

“That she does. She also needs more money for better shopping.” Elizabeth nodded her head with her eyes closed, wagging her finger towards Outis. “Some people have minimum standards of living, y’know?”

“Hah, not wrong. Right, may as well do a ten-pull, especially given how spicy the supply run may get. Do you mind if I open the Chamber of Guf here, Elizabeth?” The Magus asked the Idol with a tilt of her head. The grand hall was meant for receiving guests, after all. But it was Liz’s castle so it was only polite to ask before doing major magic in the middle of her living room.

“Go ahead, Deerlet.” The Countess waved her permission as she opened her eyes. “I am actually curious how it looks from this side.”

[Deploying Chamber of Guf.]

[For multi-roll, simple intent works if you don’t feel like pulling each card individually.]

Curiously, this time there was no monochrome, just a brilliant, blue circle in front of the Master and a deck of cards waiting to be pulled. Outis smiled behind her mask as a thought occurred. Her hand reached out, ten jolts racing through her arm and into her heart as her fingers touched the deck– and slid out ten cards in a smooth streamer, spreading them in a floating circle. She was rewarded with Elizabeth’s delighted giggle and clapping.

[Show off.]

The Cards glowed white, even as their Classes solidified on their backs in sequence. Caster, Berserker, Assassin, Archer, Saber, Alter Ego, Lancer, another Assassin, another Caster and another Lancer. The first Caster Card’s stock image glowed and then peeled away in a shower of back-purple particles, revealing…

[Caster: Gilles de Rais obtained.]

“Burn it.” Outis ordered flatly, the cheerful lights of her mask hollowed into thin rings of violet around impenetrable voids.

The Card was immediately consumed by the white flames. They didn’t literally burn the Card away, instead seemingly mostly just consuming the image of the Servant on the back of it, pulling the generic Class picture back onto the suit before turning violet and colouring the card.

[Chromatic Card of Caster obtained.]

___________________________________________________________________________

Shopping list and leather bag received, and enchanted for extra holding space and cooling in latter’s case, Outis set out for the Docks, intent on doing her shopping there. Particularly hoping to hunt for any places run by Chinese, hoping to bank on her fluency in Mandarin and the Asian tendency to give out extra freebies to people they liked.

She was going as Indigo Assassin, of course. No sense showing more of her hand if she didn’t have to. At this point she was more or less resigned to her female form being for business and male for whenever she wanted to go full incognito… which she sure as hell wasn’t doing right now because Da’at had flashed all sorts of warning signs at her. Better to be ready to rumble at a moment’s notice.

She was halfway through her shopping list when the shooting and explosions started, coming south of where she was. The atmosphere around her shifted immediately, people vacating the streets immediately, going for the closest buildings. Men and women in ABB’s colours poured out in turn, armed with an assortment of improvised (and purpose made) melee weaponry, while some of their numbers on the surrounding rooftops pulled a variety of guns.

“Year just started and the nazis already looking to ruin it.” Someone muttered angrily on their way deeper into the building.

“Starting shit where Firefly can get’em? Fuckers are getting dumber by the week.”

“Might have a cape. Empire has the most.”

“Gotta love superpowered nazis. I’ll go check it out and give a hand if need be. Twenty bucks for watching my groceries while I do that?” Outis chimed up, addressing the people around her, drawing some attention. 

For a moment, there’s no takers, before an older man, hair already completely grey, in an impeccable black suit with a small pin on the lapel stepped from the side. “Kamen really can’t help themselves, eh?” He commented languidly before offering a thin smile. “Go, gaijin, your shopping will be where you left it.”

“If she comes back.”

“Damn right I can’t and I will.” Outis chuckled as she handed off the old fashioned leather backpack, before giving a jaunty two fingered salute, “See ya in a few!”

With that, she was off, a single leap taking her over the rooftops and racing to the fireworks. God, but she loved her powers.

As she got closer to what had to be the centre of the gang fight, any doubt of it being anything but a cape fight quietly left the room. A horrific, grindy screech of metal against stone, the explosions trailing off into smaller noises, almost like fireworks, the steady, regular bang of a high-calibre firearm dominating an otherwise mostly small-arms gunfight. Landing on the final rooftop, she got the overview of the situation.

There was a nazi raid going on, just as the residents of the Asian district suspected. Led by a large, metal wolf-beast. 

[Berserker: Hookwolf]

The shifting mass of metal in the rough shape of a canine was currently grinding against the grip of a stone statue bearing semblance to a Qin Dynasty soldier. And while Da’at was quiet about the stone statue itself, it identified a similar one, except made from clay, standing beside Firefly as [Caster: Terracotta]. Firefly herself had a red-and-green mask with insect-like eyes covering her face and wore a kimono which could only be described as ‘chaotic’ in its aesthetic, wild whorls and streamers of the ABB’s colours at their most eyesearing cobbled together into a rough approximation of the traditional outfit. She twisted and swirled around, her feet tapping to an unheard rhythm as she did her best to stay in one spot with all of her movements, arms waving in intricate arcs before straightening out to shoot out whistling, colourful trails of light and heat which exploded into dazzling displays against cars, corners and bins Hookwolf’s men took cover behind. There were some ABB men peeking from the alleys behind the duo of Asian capes, taking potshots at the covering nazis, timing their shots with pauses in Firefly’s fireworks to keep their opponents suppressed. Another stone statue was locked in a duel against a tall, black haired woman who, unlike all other parahumans on the scene, had her face uncovered, save for a blindfold over her right eye. [Rider: Challenger] wore a red bodysuit with golden epaulettes and wielded a massive, full body length axe, swinging it with ease against a stone soldier’s halberd as she laughed.

Outis wasn’t going to tango with Challenger. She had no idea to what faction the cyclops belonged other than ‘not the nazis’, so best to let sleeping dogs lie (even if she looked like a barrel of fun to fight). Which funnily enough, meant she was left with the knife puppy. There was a weak point behind the hollow eyes, she could tell, but she had no way to reach it even if she attacked from ambush. So all she’d serve as would be an annoying distraction that’d be ignored in short order… or a very unpleasant surprise for the henchmen, she realised with an ugly smile.

Looked like she had her job picked for her. No sense letting the unpowered nazis scamper off to make a mess elsewhere, or take potshots at Firefly. At least all the light, smoke and bangs of Firefly’s projectiles meant it wasn’t particularly hard to go unnoticed, especially with no one expecting her. She fell on the first group with ease, indigo steel flashing as she swung for tendons and stabbed into kneecaps, aiming to disable over anything more… final. The gangers screamed as the blades cut into flesh, falling to the street writhing in pain, some dropping their guns as their hands no longer obeyed them. They panicked and started flailing and cursing, trying to shoot at the cape in their midst, not content to stay in place and get chopped up. Firefly’s offence didn’t quite help as the woman’s colourful fireballs were both indiscriminate and flung only vaguely in the direction of the nazis which didn’t exactly do wonders for her accuracy, or full awareness of the situation. Fantastic smokescreen for Outis, though, even if the grazing hits were less than pleasant despite her superhuman toughness.

To his credit, Hookwolf showed immediate concern for his men falling behind his back. His form shifted, from purely quadrupedal and wolf-like into something more humanoid, almost like a werewolf, revealing a crop of dirty blond hair. Most importantly, it gave Hookwolf a pair of arms with opposable thumbs back, the fact he used immediately to grip the statue grappling him and, with a horrific screech of metal on stone, threw it in Outis’ general direction. Or, at the very least, in the direction of the latest group of nazis she had mutilated.

Challenger gave an appreciative whistle at the sight.

It was a bad call, Outis was fully aware of this as the idea formed in her mind. She had no need to show more of her hand and the blind throw would go long. Unfortunately, she wasn’t what you’d call a paragon of logic and good decisions, so that awareness amounted to nothing as blood red light exploded from her body.

“▇▇▆▆▇▇██████” Red Berserker roared, protruding jaw open like a ragged wound full of broken glass as corded muscle strained and bandaged fingers dug furrows into the stone. Concrete buckled under her shoes as she twisted the statue’s momentum, sending gangoons flying every which way with the savage swing, moth-eaten pupils only having eyes for the beautiful sight of the massive pile of rocks sailing at the steel werewolf.

[Challenger Bond Level raised to 1]

Hookwolf growled and waited until the statue almost hit him before bringing his hands down in an overhead, two handed hammer strike, finishing the process of breaking the poor statue. He grunted and straightened up, the mass of blades shifting across his body and revealing his mouth. Surprisingly, the man wasn’t snarling underneath the mass of blades, or even scowling hatefully. His lips formed a thin, flat line across his face as the man cautiously turned sideways to keep both Outis and the two Asian capes somewhat in his field of vision. Then, the man smiled.

“Found you.” He exclaimed with a satisfied, guttural growl. He rolled his shoulders, throwing Terracotta and Firefly a quick look then turned his head slowly towards Challenger, before coming back to focus on Red Berserker. The Asian capes stood tense but seemingly willing to give him time, while Challenger leaned against her weapon with unrestrained curiosity. “You made a mess of my ring, girl.”

The Berserker grinned back, settling into a low, ready stance. She couldn’t quite help the Bruce Lee come hither wave, “By all means, come get your prize, cabron.”

Hookwolf barked out a laugh. On the other side of him, Terracotta gave subtle signs to the ABB members, who quietly slinked away. The statue near Challenger crumbling as Firefly leaned towards Terracota, the two Asian capes clearly trying to discreetly converse regarding further plans of action.

“You’ve got guts, girl, more than that bitch who can only run. That, I will give you.” Hookwolf replied as his mouth twisted in an approximation of a smile. The showing teeth, as well as encroaching mass of sharp and stabby metal made it look very ugly and unpleasant.

Man, it was such a pity this guy was both a nazi and a dog fighter. He seemed fun to hang out with. Ah, well, it just meant she wouldn’t feel bad about giving him a few scars to remember her by.

“As amusing as it would be to see another young and hopeful do-gooder contribute to the statistics,” Challenger interjected languidly from where she backed away towards a bike fallen to the wayside and pulled out a rifle as long as her axe was. “It is my job to make sure you don’t. Sorry, Wolfie, I’m sure your boss would love to hear how you spend your mornings fucking around with unapproved people. So heel, boy, ‘cage time for you.”

For a hero, Challenger’s smile wasn’t the nicest thing either.

Hookwolf snorted, shifting on his heel as his metal covered body tensed and the man knelt low. “I have fought Protectorate before.” He was slowly assuming more canine shape.

Outis would’ve charged him already, but the ABB were still chatting and she wouldn’t say no to extra backup. She didn’t need any research to know Hookwolf was one mean customer and she’d much rather end things here rather than have to swap back to Assassin and slip away. Or show more of her hand. 

“You might have business with her, gou,” Terracotta interjected as his armour opened at the back, allowing him to walk out of it before it sealed again. His ‘inside’ costume was disappointingly minimalistic, just a green balaclava over a set of civvies. “But you also made it our business.”

“Shouldn’t hide my property in your dirtholes, boy.” Hookwolf growled, his body shifting its position again. “Then we wouldn’t have a problem when I come looking.”

“Perhaps. But you did come, and we do. Besides, I want to test just how good my clay is, compared to less optimal materials.” Terracotta replied as he crossed his arm over his chest even as Firefly shook her head.

“You two twigs couldn't take me. New girl can’t take me.” Hookwolf boasted, almost fully back to wolf-like form.

“Oh, I’m probably coming out of this looking like I got nasty with a woodchipper, but all in a good day’s fun.” Outis snorted, completely unconcerned. Her survival wasn’t in question, she had healing and a whole lot more firepower on tap if need be. Her suffering also wasn’t in question, Madness Enhancement made little annoyances like pain fuck right off.

Instead of answering, Hookwolf finished his transformation into what appeared to be his preferred form and charged at Red Berserker, dodging Challenger’s shots with surprising nimbleness as he barrelled towards Outis. Behind him, Terracotta’s golem-armour charged after him, faster than its stone brethren moved before but still left in the proverbial dust by the metal wolf.

Outis decided to take a page out of Hook’s own book, waiting until the last second before exploding into motion. Berserker, unlike Assassin, had no technique, no grace. This didn’t mean it was a mindless brute, because it had traded those for absolute awareness and control of the body. Her knee smashed into the industrial grinder that passed for the monster’s mouth with all the finesse and subtlety of a runaway truck, her leg snapping open to introduce him to the taste of her shoes a split second later as her whole body pivoted to fuel the motion.

The full metal canine’s head snapped upwards at an angle that really shouldn’t be healthy even before its throat was caved in, but for Hookwolf apparently barely counted as inconvenient as the man let out a screeching growl. On the downside… thrusting your knee into a blender was not a good feeling. Outis was sure without Madness Enhancement, the pain alone would leave her screaming. Hookwolf’s body shifted again, in a snap, giving the nazi arms back again as he stomped a step back. He held one arm up to shield himself from Challenger’s bullets which dug into the mass of blades, jerking the limb around. His other arm reached for Red Berserker, stumbling slightly as Terracotta’s golem thrust its polearm into his back.

It still didn’t look like it was doing more than inconvenience him. The man still drew back from Outis and elbowed the golem in its face, just for emphasis. The clay shattered without much resistance, but instead of filling the hollow shell of the soldier with pieces of its head, the clay just melted and reformed around Hookwolf’s limb. Not for particularly long, but it still aborted any potential one-two follow-up on Outis in front of him Hookwolf might’ve otherwise attempted.

Berserker didn’t need any further invitation, not when she knew where the wolf’s weak point was. She may not have AGL D, but her strength made up the difference as she leapfrogged from the pavement to one of Hook’s limbs to the bastard’s face.

‘Include: Indigo Assassin!’

A flash of light was all the warning he got before a fairbarn-sykes was shoved to the hilt in his warform’s eyesocket, only her inhuman strength keeping it steady as blades tried to batter it out of alignment, and her own body from being thrown off as he shook his head. Then her other hand came up, thin wisps of dark red steaming from her shirtless top as she pumped every scrap of magic power she had into a single punch. 

Hookwolf howled in a horrific screech of metal on metal that drowned out the wild laughter as Outis rammed the knife as far as it would go into his form. She didn’t care an iota as his blades slowly chewed through bandage, skin and muscle, only that she’d punched in all the way to the goddamn elbow. The man stumbled back, flailing his head, as Terracotta’s golem flowed open like an oozing, clay iron maiden, attempting to hold him down.

Distantly, Outis realised the laughter was coming from her, arm digging in deeper as she clutched the knife’s hilt and wrenched it like the world’s rustiest key.

[Hookwolf Nemesis Bond Level raised to 1]

For a moment, Hookwolf laid motionless in Terracotta’s grasp as the ceramic armour slowly seeped into the gaps between the suddenly motionless mass of metal. Then, his form exploded with transformation, no longer humanoid, or even canine, just a mass of blades whirling and shifting as it forcefully splattered wet clay all over the street and ground against the bone of Outis’ arm as the thing simply flowed around Berserker before reforming into a metal-covered man, gasping and breathing heavily as he held a hand over his unfortunately not bleeding eye. Then, he looked up at her. His mouth twisted into a grin. Ironically, a much more pleasant smile than his previous one.

“Definitely got guts. And the skill to go with them.” Before he could say or do anything more, his head rocked back from the impact of Challenger’s bullet. The man, frustratingly enough, just grunted as he stumbled back. He flipped the heroine the bird, before shifting into fully canine form again and turning tail.

“And so, he runs, again. The mutt is smart.” Challenger grunted before turning around to eye Firefly and Terracotta. “Y’know, I really shouldn’t allow criminals to get away from me.” She began in a faux-conversational tone as she dropped her rifle and hefted her axe in a two handed hold. Because the woman was swinging two weapons matching her height in size, which definitely hinted at at least a portion of her power package.

“Can’t you leave them off the hook this time?” Outis asked, unable to help a low chuckle at her own horrible pun, “You got a lot of people in need of medical attention here, hero.”

For emphasis, she waved her mangled arm at the thirty something groaning and bleeding E88 goons laying on the ground, uncaring of how it looked like a pile of minced meat held together by bone splinters. ME was one hell of a drug. Maybe Asclepius and Nightingale would pop up next time she summoned to scream at her about aggravating her wounds?

Challenger looked away from the ABB capes to give the other gangers a once over before shrugging. “The boys are on their way, they just kept back ‘cause it was Hook involved. They will take care of those and then BBPD will get to earn their meal ticket. Do you require medical attention? I could, maybe, convince [Panacea] to fix the consequences of your actions if you aren’t just a particularly slow regenerator.” The woman slightly relaxed her grip on her weapon. True to her words, Outis could hear the sirens in the distance getting louder.

“Nah, no regen. And it would be nice to be right as rain without a trip to the hospital, I was in the middle of shopping when I heard the explosions.” Outis said the complete truth while leaving some conspicuous blanks between the lines, strolling over to the E88 to start fishing for wallets with her good arm. Movement and the colour red had a way to hold human attention.

“Y’know, hotstuff, looting is generally frowned upon, yes, even criminals, but I suppo- motherfucker! These two are smart too.” Challenger cursed as she turned back away from Outis and the E88 goons, only to find Firefly and Terracotta gone. Probably not far, but gone nonetheless.

[Firefly Bond Level raised to 1]

[Terracotta Bond Level raised to 1]

[Reputation with ABB increased. Reward: ???]

“Alas, not everyone can be a bloodthirsty dumbass like me. It takes effort and dedication.” Berserker snorted even as she kept working. It was a lot slower going without Assassin’s light fingers, but not taking the time to destroy their cards should have most of them looted by the time the paramedics told her to shove off. Good thing she was a leftie, too, “Spar sometime? This whole thing ended up pretty anticlimactic for you, I can tell. Plus, I want to see how you work that shaft.”

“They might actually last Lung for a hot moment.” Challenger nodded her head wisely. Then, she chortled at the double entendre before she struck the butt of her axe against the street, held the weapon straight and looked Outis in the eye. Then, once she knew she had Berserker’s attention, she loosened her grip and moved her hand up and down in an unmistakable motion. “Smash and dash or wanna make it a regular thing? Won’t even try to pretend it's to get you to commit to a relationship?” She sounded… actually hopeful for a regular sparring partner there. Or for casual sex friend. The flirting made it hard to tell which it was.

Either or both, Berserker won no matter what, so she flashed her a grin and a thumbs up around the wad of cash in her hand, “Just gimme a phone number and we can talk schedule as soon as I get a new one. Old ‘un is kind of a lost cause. Surprising, I know, given how I’m the poster girl for care and safety.”

[Challenger Bond Level raised to 2]

The woman nodded, visibly happy, as she went back to her bike and slid her weapons into the holsters on it. “So, about that meeting with one of the rare healing capes I offered?”

“All for it, even if it gets me screamed at for being an idiot. I’m friends with a marine doc and I can only assume capes trade the sphincter spelunking for five times more stupid wounds.” Outis chuckled, wiggling her hamburger arm, “Case in point, fisting a murderblender.”

“Oh, I dunno, New Wave don’t like the Empire for more reasons than just ‘nazis’ so she might wave it off, this once.” Challenger shrugged as she leaned against her bike, looking at both the grounded gangster and Berserker and her getup. “Normally, I would question going unmasked but hey, Changers. Given the ensemble though, I’ve gotta ask.” The woman smirked as she pointed at the sarashi keeping Outis decent. “That modified or does it do more than just give resting bitchface and a paint job?”

“HAH! Nope, all natural, unless you count the muscle under ‘em.” Berserker laughed, the sound more like a bark than anything a human throat should produce.

“Nice.” Challenger commented, closing her eyes with a content smile before she schooled her features into something more serious. “Jokes aside, I do hope you won’t bleed out waiting for us to get a move on. Would be rather awkward, especially given you don’t have a name yet… You don’t, right?”

“You’re actually the first cape out of…” Bitch, Firefly, Kanabo, Terracotta, Hookwolf, Challenger, “Six I’ve met so far in the Bay that bothered asking. Epopeia, at your service. Anyways, I’m pretty tuff like this, but if you got some spare bandages I wouldn’t say no.”

The bleeding was a lot less profuse than it’d been a few minutes ago, but that didn’t mean it had stopped altogether. Probably not about to bleed out, though, she didn’t even feel lightheaded. Although that may be ME propping her up.

“Decent name. Definitely better than Hellhound’s preferred, if I got Hookwolf’s implications of your recent extracurriculars right.” Challenger nodded as she pushed off her bike and turned around to rummage through its underseat compartment. “Can’t exactly call a girl bad words on national news but it can be confusing sometimes, especially when she is running with that fresh team of hers. Villains tend to cuss heroes out, y’know? Ah, here, first aid kit.”

“Funnily enough, she’s the first cape I met after rolling into town. Dogs sniffed me out, I told her I wasn’t about to start shit, and five minutes later I was hired to help her bust a dog fighting ring. An hour later I had a pocket full of ganger cash and a belly full of unagidon.” Outis chuckled as she tucked away the last of her haul into her pockets. Well, ‘pockets’, Da’at was slurping up everything into the inventory the moment it was out of sight. That done, she held out her mangled arm so they could get to bandaging it. “God, I wish all employers were like that.”

“I am supposed to discourage you from associating with known supervillains, especially ones with body counts but it’s not like we aren’t already looking the other way every single time a shelter in this godforsaken city reports an influx of new abused dogs a ‘helpful volunteer’ dropped with them and offered to help soothe them into normalcy.” Challenger once more dropped the party line in the laziest, most phoned in way possible as she got to work on the hamburger meat. She did, however, perk up when the first of the law enforcement’s vans pulled from behind the corner. “Aight, just gonna process these guys and we can get a move on.”